"That's gotta hurt," James responded.
Quincy shrugged, "You keep your head low and you can get by. What are you doing here anyway James?"
"I've been trying to find you silly," James ruffled Quincy's hair only earning a glare from his younger sibling, "That and I'm checking up on villages. A few of the ones I visited earlier on and I came to revisit had been burned down to the ground. The damage looked like it was done purposefully, so I'm checking all villages in the region that I know of."
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"Yeah, uh just don't accidentally kill anyone and you'll be-"
Aurelius paused.
"What? The whole villages? Destroyed?" he asked, "That seems very unusual, especially since even in our small numbers, dragon riders are absolute powerhouses."
James nodded solemnly as Quincy looked in shock. She said, "That shouldn't be possible."
I don't know how, but it was," James sighed, "My bet it is was some lone dragon rider who decided to hunt down dragons."
"You mean like…" Quincy trailed off.
"Yeah," James let out a longer sigh, "Like that, but it wasn't them. They don't ride dragons remember?"
"Right."
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Aurelius felt tense. He glanced around, obviously very nervous.
"That sounds like something we need to report and investigate," he said.
"You can try," James groaned, "I tried that with the last village. They had known me fairly well but chose not to heed my warnings. Checked up on the next day, gone. Just like that."
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"We can at least get some of the population out safely before anything bad happens," Aurelius said, "I'm sure at least the younger residents will be willing to listen to warnings."
"Probably," James nodded.
Quincy began walking out of the house, "Then what are we waiting for. Let's go."
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Aurelius backed away from the front of the house, back towards Robin.
"We can try warning the Elders, but just know, James, that there's a strong possibility they won't listen."
"I figured," James responded walking with them, "You two may want to do the talking since this is my first time in this village."
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"Mmmm…" Aurelius murmured uneasily, thinking it wasn't such a great idea for him to do the talking. "I can try to help but I'm not so sure."
"I'll do most of the talking," Quincy spoke up, "I'm not in trouble yet."
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"Alright, thanks," Aurelius said, "I'll be here for moral support, and I'm sure I can input at least a little."
Quincy nodded, "Great."
James looked at Aurelius, "I will be there as well."
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Aurelius led the way towards the Hall in the middle of the village. He was rather quiet yet jittery on the way there.
Quincy walked behind Aurelius. She hadn't been in there since she first entered the village, and that had been years ago. James had never been there, but he was still worried.
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Aurelius pushed open the large door, allowing everyone else in. He looked suddenly rather fragile, mostly because of his fearful expression. Nox crawled up next to him and put her chin on top of his head to soothe him.
Quincy walked in front of Aurelius. She couldn't remember what exactly to do so just said out loud hoping something would happen, "We would like to speak with the elders."
Jade was in the back speaking to River as they moved.
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The guard on duty stood upright from where she had leaned against the wall, and she opened the door to the council room.
"They're not busy. Go on in."
Aurelius kept behind Quincy as they all filed in.
Quincy nodded and walked in first. She looked at the elders, "My brother brings news of villages being burned down purposefully. We fear we may be next."
James gave the council a slight wave, "Hello. I'm the brother."
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(Ahhh, idk why, but that's such an adorable greeting. Also feel free to control some council members. There are roughly 9 of them.)
Aurelius shifted around uncomfortably.
"I think it's best you hear this out," he suggested, "I know it's been a long time since we've faced any real danger, but it's looking like a possibility now."
(Lol. Also you can control the council. I don't like controlling multiple characters and I figured you would know more about the council reacts and such.)
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(Lol they're just old, set in their ways, and kinda grumpy, tbh.)
"I would think one of our patrols would have caught on to anything that drastic by now," one of the Elders said, crossing his arms, "Is there any proof besides your witness, young man?" He turned his gaze to James.
Aurelius let out an impatient sigh.
James was the one to respond, "Not in this room, but that could be quickly changed with a trip to one of the ten villages, I know of there could be more, that are burned down to nothing but ash."
Quincy pulled on his sleeve, "James relax."
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"There's ten…?" Aurelius murmured, his knees going a little weak. He raised his voice a little more. "We have to do something."
"What do you suggest, then? It's not like we have the numbers to send out. Besides, as much as we monitor our territory, we'd be bound to catch if something was amiss by now."
Aurelius held his tongue, for fear he would say something stupid.
Quincy spoke up, "We don't have to catch them. We can just leave and let whoever is burning these villages will burn it down without bothering to look for the people. Besides if it's a dragon rider they could enter the village and nothing would seem amiss."
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"Now, dear, why exactly would dragon riders attack other riders?" another Elder laughed, her voice echoing through the room.
Aurelius, struggling to hold back some choice words, blurted out, "Oh, I don't know. Maybe there are some bad people out there who would see us destroyed, whether it's for power or something else entirely. Perhaps not everyone who can speak to the creation of the gods is a saint, you know?"
James and Quincy both nodded. Quincy actually added on, "I know from what little time I've spent in the outside world that there are dragon riders who work for dragon hunters to hunt down there fellow riders. "
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“Well, there you go,” Aurelius muttered.
A few of the elders chattered amongst one another, and one lifted his hand to cue for the others to quiet.
“We’ll increase patrols and make sure to keep track of those who enter and leave the village.”
Aurelius frowned. That was something, sure, but it likely wasn’t enough.
"With all due respect," James spoke up this time, "I don't think that will be enough. The attacks have been fast and unseen from what I can tell."
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“What else do you expect us to do? Hah, let a newcomer tell us how to run a town we’ve been keeping safe for decades upon decades?” another man spat irritably.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’d kind of like to live…” Aurelius murmured under his breath.
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