The engine backfired again, but Ben didn’t let up on our speed. We had to get back. Damn these steam-powered vehicles, we could almost run faster.

A long day was coming to a close, and something was wrong. As we wound our way through the back roads, three dragons streaked across the sky, fast as lightning, to be lost on the horizon. I shouted out upon seeing them, getting the attention of my two friends. They looked up in time to see another group of three dragons in arrow formation, evidence they were being ridden, as the creatures and their riders flew overhead at breakneck pace after the first group.

We were still a dozen miles outside of Dracarta, our home city, when the green signal flares erupted to our left atop Karn’s Keep, a lone tower rising above the trees in the distance. Soon we began to see smoke, and passed by burning houses.

“What’s happening?” Peter asked.

“It’s hard to say,” I replied, “Perhaps those dragons escaped and set fire.”

Rounding the next bend, I knew I was wrong.