We turn back time to before Dread Flame killed Arcturus' family, back when he was a 12 year old. His father, Markis, is watching him in a 2v1 duel since he kept kicking the asses of one of the other boys. While there's already a rule that you're out if you get hit three times, Markis stacks the odds by asking Arcturus some questions; and getting them wrong will count as a hit against him. Arcturus tells him to bring it on and he gets teased by the other students when he brings up a dragon's genitals as a weak spot, although "a respected Lund" like Markis is quick to shut them up. The questions don't let up even when his son gets hit pretty hard after knocking out one opponent, but Arcturus stops holding back at that point, answers his father correctly every time, and manages to hit his other opponent three times in quick succession.
Markis praises him, but tells him not to get lazy and that dragons are "just as capable of dying" as mortals are. Arcturus doesn't want to be a dragon slayer just because "he was told to". His mother would have objected to it if she's still alive and it's later said she broke her neck five years ago after falling off a rearing horse. Despite this, he goes along with it at least for now, and gets excited when his father decides to reward him for his performance. Passing by a bunch of tents and some "piss-ass" drunk gryphons, we learn that Arcturus is in a tournament with other promising dragon hunters from various families and races, which includes humans, elves, dwarves, minotaurs, and even a gryphon. He's led away from the festivities and towards a locked-up tent, which Markis reveals has two bronze dragons tightly bound in flame-resistant leathers and belts wrapped around their necks to prevent breath attacks, one male and one female.
The father basically says that the "preview" is his reward and Arcturus sees that the female's eyes don't look like monstrous ones, asking what they did to deserve their fates. When Markis elaborates about their supposed crimes, the way he speaks about it and how the beasts will pay makes the boy doubtful. It's the first time Arcturus has actually seen a real dragon up close and he wonders how "something so beautiful" could be evil like everyone says; for every evil dragon, there has to be good ones. His father tells him not to worry since he's going to learn about "delivering justice" to the beasts at the end of the tournament, but since Arcturus knows what he's implying, this only makes the child afraid instead. To shake his mind off that line of thought, he thinks back to how he really likes her scales and decides that he absolutely has to paint the "majestic" creature.
Later that night, he's in his own tent looking at a drawing of a bronze dragon, since Markis is sharing his own with his gryphon nanny for some implied sex. Then a thought occurs to him: why the hell is he reading about dragons when he can just look and talk to one right now? Thinking he's not breaking any rules by observing the female from a distance, he packs up his painting materials, plus a dagger to be on the safe side per his father's previous advice, and sneaks to the dragon tent. Luckily for him, there isn't anyone guarding it since Arcturus figures is because they're either out drinking or passed out, and he goes inside. While he sees the female locked up tight, the male isn't anywhere to be seen and is probably in another tent. Arcturus can't help but feel guilty at the sight, but he's too scared to talk to her and settles for just getting started on his painting. In the middle of sketching her, however, he's spooked to see the dragoness looking right at him and asking what he's doing; enough to fall flat on his ass.
He thinks about how her eyes are like a mothers when she repeats her question, and he answers he accidentally ruined the picture by spilling ink on it. She asks to see it, but when he's hesitant to do so, she's understanding and tells him just to hold it out from a distance. Arcturus, despite his father ramming it into his head that dragons are evil, gets closer and does so. The dragoness complements the picture and we learn that Arcturus is keeping his dragon paintings a secret from Markis. When the human inquires about her crimes, she denies it and explains that they just ambushed her during a morning flight, and asks whether or not people who attack innocents are monsters. Of course, young Arcturus agrees with her and we get another mention of how her voice is motherly.
As Arcturus starts up a new painting, they chat for the next couple pages about painting, how she thinks clothing is "ridiculous," and how she knows the boy "fancies" dragons and unsubtly says how he'll have a "dragon lover in [his] future." Reminder that Arcturus is twelve here, by the way. After that moment, he confesses to her that all his father does is train him (although Arcturus likes it) and he doesn't want to be miserable like Markis, but he accidentally lets it slip to her that part of his training involves killing dragons. The dragoness notices and pointedly asks if he'll look forward to it and, when he clarifies that he's training to kill other threats as well, whether he trains to kill other mortals as well. Arcturus confirms that Markis is training him for that as well, although he's not exactly thrilled about killing people, something that apparently surprises her.
When she asks what he'd rather be, he says he prefers to be a knight to protect people instead. She introduces herself asks for his name, but gets a little angry when he says he's a Lund, since "every dragon family that hasn't lived centuries inside their cave knows the Lunds" and how they killed at least one member of said family. After that bit of awkwardness, she tells him her title of Howling Tempest, but the story inconsistently also refers to her as Howling
Storm for some reason. I used Quality Check to search the future books and the Tempest one is the correct one, so I don't know why the hell it's like that.
Arcturus finishes up his painting. She asks to see it and, when she can't see the "fine details," to bring it closer to her. The human's a little more trusting and takes a couple steps closer, admitting to himself that her scheme is working if she's trying to manipulate him, but his foot gets caught on a chain. He falls forward and the dragoness catches him with her head, but this absolutely terrifies him since he's in lethal range and he waits for the end to come. Fortunately for him, she doesn't attack and instead politely tells him to get off.
She responds to his flabbergasted words that
of course she didn't do something so thoughtless and senseless, why would she? Harming kids is beneath her and she's not a monster. Arcturus tells her that he wouldn't attack them either and she responds that he might be different from a Lund after all, but their conversation is cut short by the sound of a burp from the drunken guard coming back to his post. As he's packing up his things, Howling Tempest asks if he'll come back tomorrow, which turns rhetorical when she sees through the boy's attempts at acting indifferent. They wish each other a good night and Arcturus quickly returns to his tent, giddy as all hell and so eager to talk to her again that he overrides his father's words about not trusting a dragon lest he be killed.
We cut to the next day where Arcturus says it's getting harder to focus during Markis' intense training for the final test in a few days thanks to Howling Tempest. During lunch, he asks for two serving of pork from his nanny who playfully assumes he's going to date her niece despite him trying to deny it. Fun girl, but she's not his type and he's too busy anyways. Plate in hand, he's soon back into the dragoness' tent, who's grateful for the food. He can't stay for long since it's in the middle of the day, but the human promises he'll be back ASAP and returns to his training for another brief montage. When his father lists off ways to stab a dragon in the eye, Arcturus is horrified to think of the sword stabbing through Howling Tempest.
Markis notices the look on his son's face and tries to reassure him, thinking he's just nervous about fighting his first dragon. Obviously, that couldn't be farther from the truth and Arcturus does his best to tune him out in between the questions. Soon enough, Arcturus is back in the dragoness' tent when night falls. He affirms that he wants to know more about dragons instead of hurting them. She tells him that he's a sweet boy and, after some pressing to the boy, he nervously asks to look at her scales, which she obliges. After a bit of dialogue where he declines her suggestion of simply reading books about dragons and refuses to talk to his father about them, she asks him to undo a couple of the straps so he can get a better look at her.
This immediately raises the manipulation red flags in Arcturus and he initially refuses, but she sweet talks the twelve year old boy into agreeing anyways, saying he can just release one strap at a time and redo them once he's done looking. He admits that his father is so biased against dragons he "shuts down any pleasant talk about them" and Arcturus wants to learn things he wouldn't get otherwise, so Howling Tempest offers a deal: for every question he asks, he'll release one limb for the human to look at. He asks about what it's like to fly and, after some hesitation that gets ereased by how kind she looks, goes through with undoing the strap on her forelimb. He's marveled at touching her and is still surprised she doesn't take advantage to attack.
His next question is whether dragons can feel fear and the conversation turns despondent when she tells him dragons can feel sadness on top of any other emotion. She tears up explaining that she lost her mate to hunters like the Lunds, causing Arcturus to tear up in sympathy as well and get close to her head as he tells her what happened to his mother. Apologizing for assuming his mother was a hunter like his father, she gives him a lick to comfort him. We also get two more mentions of how motherly she sounds and how licking offspring is something that dragon mothers do. Gee, I wonder why she's being so motherly towards a child.
After she explains the licking part to a grossed out Arcturus, she suddenly tells him to hide and he ducks behind her body as a guard comes into the tent. The man heard their voices, but is thankfully too drunk to do any kind of investigating and walks back out after a brief exchange between him and Howling Tempest. With that unpleasantness gone, she finally asks Arcturus to free her. Although he agrees they've gotten closer these past couple days, he reluctantly refuses to go against his family. He internally rationalizes that the dragoness
had to be sentenced to death for a reason instead of just being killed for glory and sport, but admits instead that he'll be suspected and she'll likely be captured again anyways. She's understandably disheartened and asks to be left alone with her thoughts.
For some reason that I'm either too stupid to figure out or the story doesn't explain too well, he asks her who her thoughts are about and why, and she says she'll tell him if he comes back tomorrow. He's feeling pretty guilty for refusing, but he
has to know about why she was captured and "where her thoughts were keeping her." Cutting to the next night, he returns to continue their conversation. Howling Tempest agrees to the previous deal and he also agrees to her changing the terms a bit so she asks some questions herself: like his honest thoughts about dragons. When he says he doesn't know, she asks whether he'd harm a hatchling for their parent's crimes, which he strongly denies. He laughs at learning the dragoness is ticklish on her foot but the humor stops when she
finally confirms that she's a mother. Her young hatchlings are waiting for her back home and won't survive without her help.
This revelation shocks the boy and, after she explains she was captured because one of the lords got pissy when she hunted one of his deer, finally convinces Arcturus to release the dragoness. He frees her from her restraints, but she immediately grabs him, runs out of the tent, and flies off into the night. Screaming and terrified out of his mind, he thinks about how his father was right about dragons being evil scumbags and the one dragoness he trusted is going to devour him as she tells him to shut the fuck up or she'll "cork [his] little snout." Arcturus has no other choice but to obey, leaving only his thoughts on making a last stand. They continues to fly for some time and she sets him down when they eventually land in a cave near the ocean.
The dragoness tells the fearful boy to not be foolish and that it's best to stay with her tonight, but he's insistent on fighting, stabbing her paw with his dagger while screaming that she won't eat him. It doesn't hurt her and just really irritate her, smacking it out of his hands with no effort. She tells him he's not going anywhere and he's lucky she bothered bringing him at all, pushing him into the cave. In the middle of the large room with glowing algae is a large nest with three bronze hatchings, two male and one female all cold and shivering, and Howling Tempest wastes no time sprinting over to reunite with them. Arcturus tries to hide while she's occupied with all of the affection she's showering on her kids, but that obviously doesn't work as she tells him he's staying for dinner.
He freaks the fuck out and begs for his life, and she clarifies that she's going hunting; threatening to actually eat him alive if he harms her kids while she's gone. The three hatchlings seem to be just as nervous of the human than he is of them, but he doesn't really know why since he still believes she's a lying bitch and he's their dinner, so he keeps his distance. Minutes pass by until Howling Tempest comes back with a dead stag and he gets disgusted by the way the dragons eat it, although he's still surprised by the dragoness still being a loving mother in the middle of their dinner. She tells him to stop hiding already and eat the last piece, spelling it out to him that she never lied about her family. When he mentions the tiny part about being kidnapped, she answers that he's insurance for a possible deal in case the dragon hunters find out what happened: his life in exchange for her hatchlings.
She's magically cooks the piece when he points out he can't eat raw meat and he devours it. As he thanks her and apologizes for his actions, he's interrupted by her licking him clean like her hatchlings. The hatchlings beg their mommy for a story, but Howling Tempest tells him a "statement of facts" instead. She tells them that they're leaving their home and Lumara, far away from the king who kills dragons based on lies and petty offenses (or no reason at all) as if all dragons are evil, unlike their gryphon allies. As she goes on with tales of dragons that fell victim to this, a couple of which includes hatchlings who were stoned to death by an angry mob, Arcturus never had the thought that the king would be just like Markis, but finds himself believing "every word" she says.
The hatchlings believe her as well with how scared they are and their mother brings them to her nest to cuddle for the night. She invites Arcturus to join her as well to escape the cold air and he takes it. He thinks about how dragoness treated him the same way as her children, as well as how protected he is by someone so big and powerful, and he soon feels at peace as he falls asleep.
Morning comes and Arcturus is sitting outside near the cave's entrance; although he's reminded he's still a captive since she forbids him from leaving. He watches the hatchlings, later named Xervir, Emmess, and Briva, jumping on some large rocks and the "red-striped talon" one named Xervir falls to the ground, dislocating his wing. Despite the dragoness' instructions, his painted whines causes Arcturus to disregard her and approach him. The hatchlings are still nervous of the human, but his soothing sounds convinces Xervir to stay put and let him move the joint back in its socket, which earns their trust. Xervir introduces himself and asks if the human plays games, and we get a bit where the hatchlings mistake Arcturus' name for one of a game and think it's weird.
They have a debate what name suits him better and when Arcturus asks Xervir if dragon wings are ticklish, he badly lies and quickly has him and his siblings find out a human's tickle spots the old fashioned way. A tickle fight ensues and Arcturus manages to flip it around on Xervir, telling the siblings to continue their "assault." However, this gets interrupted Howling Tempest furiously confronting them. She yells how the human doesn't have the right to play with her kids and she's basically triggered over him using the word assault since she thinks he's "poisoning" her kids with "vile things [he] learned from his family."
This immediately makes Arcturus break down into tears, which makes her ask why he's crying and if she's being too harsh. He explains he just wanted to play with the hatchlings and he would never hurt them, and she's about to point that he's a Lund before she seemingly realizes what she's doing, kicks herself for being the "most unwise," and tells her kids to go play while she has a private chat with the human. She genuinely apologizes for kidnapping him and admits his family name caused her to mistrust him even after he freed her and that he probably wouldn't have been so mistrusting in turn if she explained herself beforehand. Likewise, he apologizes for stabbing her and she praises him for showing courage against seemingly low chances of victory like a dragon.
With that out of the way, she properly introduces Arcturus to her kids and their names, playfully siccing them on the human when he says he can handle them. The kids spend "the rest of the day" playing together and eating together while the reader probably gets diabetes-HOLD UP. THE REST OF THE DAY?!
I'm cutting ahead here to show my point, but after Howling Tempest brings Arcturus back to the fairgrounds and he gets punished by his father, he can only rest a few moments and "have a few bites of lunch" before he continues his training. Lunch, a mid-day meal after breakfast in the morning, meaning that depending on what time in the morning the dragoness gave the boy the news, the distance between the fairgrounds and the cave is between a couple to a few hours! I can buy the kids not knowing that, but why the FUCK is Howling Tempest not worried during the montage? Does she really think the human's father, a Lund, isn't going to be concerned about his son suddenly going missing for an ENTIRE DAY and not raise the alarm? At that point, it's not a matter of "if" the hunters will come like she says, but WHEN; she's just
asking for the deal to take place! Better hope the gryphons don't find something back at the fair they can use to track this irresponsible bitch, like one of her scales!
Anyways, Arcturus thinks about how it's like he's in one big family he wants to stay with and his father is 100% wrong about dragons being inherently evil as everyone cuddles to sleep again. All good things must come to an end, though, and as he continues to say how great it will be to stay with them during the next morning, Howling Tempest destroys the idea by telling him she can't bring him along and he has to go back home.
The human and the hatchlings beg her to take him along, but she points out that while it's what she wants as well and she knows about what he'll be training to do, she has to be realistic. The Lunds are powerful and his father
will get an army hunting them down and by returning him, she and her family might have a chance of eluding their pursuers. She gives him her real name of Rasionynth and draws another picture of the human in the family. He tries to beg one last time, but she doesn't relent, and they share a hug. Before they set off, Arcturus gets an idea and has the hatchlings put their pawprints on a page in his book so he can keep them with him as well, sharing one last hug with then. Howling Tempest mentions a blue dragon in Drenedar called Swirling Storm that can help them resettle and the human promises to find them one day as she carries him away.
They land within a mile of the fairgrounds some time later and share one final goodbye before she flies off for good. Left with no other choice, he walks to the tents towards the family "he no longer wanted" and he soon reunites with his relatives. Everybody is happy to see he's alright and pepper the twelve year old boy with questions like if he had a "fling" with his nanny's niece, but Markis is pissed off and scolds him for running off. There isn't any mention of search parties, so I guess someone as controlling as Markis just...didn't assemble them. Arcturus kicks himself for not thinking of a story and all he can come up with is that he got lost in the woods hunting a boar. His father knows that's bullshit and brings him somewhere private so he can scream at him about freeing the dragon since they're bastards. Arcturus musters up the courage to yell back that he's wrong, but this only pisses him off more and earns the boy a hard backhand across the face, accusing the dragoness of casting a spell or manipulation.
Arcturus tries to ask why she didn't kill him if she's really evil, but that falls flat since his father knows she doesn't want him going after her in revenge. Pulling out his belt, Markis punishes him by hitting him with it a bunch of times all over his body as he claims his brother was betrayed by the very dragon he decided to help. Roughly shoving him to the ground, he tells Arcturus that he'll "never be tempted by such evil ever again" and orders Arcturus to get ready to win the upcoming tournament. The dragons already took so much from him and, one day, the boy will thank him and teach his own son the same lessons. This doesn't dissuade Arcturus from being determined to free the male dragon, although he's smart enough to shut his mouth for now lest he get beat some more. Another day of training passes by where he "easily" blasts his targets in archery, ignoring his father's rants about the beasts in exchange for thinking about how lovely the dragoness is.
When he goes back to his tent for the night to enact his plan, he's surprised to find that Markis anticipated him pulling shit and stationed some of the guards around the place to make sure that doesn't happen. All he can do is get some sleep for a couple hours, and he wake up early enough so that the guards are still sleeping. Despite being aware of his newfound security measures and the very brief time before someone realizes it, he sneaks off to search for the male dragon's tent, saying he
has to do this. When he finds someone guarding it, he uses his dagger to cut a hole on the other side and makes his way in. This dragon didn't fare nearly as well as Rasionynth did, being noticeably wounded from the clearly-used torture equipment inside, and the human realizes that he's more securely chained up and needed a key to free him.
They exchange some words and the dragon introduces himself as Shining Sun, promising to reward the boy for his actions. Just as Arcturus gets the idea to pickpocket the key from the guard outside, an absolutely furious Markis catches up to him and drags him away. Knowing he's caught with his pants down, Arcturus futilely tries to plead that not all dragons are evil, but again, this only gets him a slap in the face. Markis drags his son to a pole and ties him to it, yelling that he's not going to let his only son be taken from him like his brother was. The boy's pleas continue to fall on deaf ears as his father retrieves a cat o' nine tails, answering him when he brings up his mother that she would smile and approve of "anything [he'd] do."
Markis lashes the hell out of him, only asking the bleeding boy after the twentieth whip what
really happened and what he
really thinks of the dragoness. Knowing his father just wants to hear the lies rather than the truth but left with no options, Arcturus talks about how she was a monster that enchanted him to free her, threatened him, and only didn't kill him because he was a Lund. While Markis appears to be satisfied at first, he doesn't believe his son isn't just lying to stop the pain rather than telling what he believes to be the truth. Arcturus badly tries to cover it up by asking "did [he] ever lie to [him]," although it likely doesn't matter since Markis decides to continue whipping him so many times that the screaming boy "completely lost count."
It does eventually stop and Markis forces him to drink a healing potion to keep him healthy for the festivities today, saying that he'll understand what he did was for his son's "own good." Naturally, all this does is make Arcturus despise the man even further, and he notices that Shining Sun was taken away while the torture was going on. He's led back to his room and ordered to get ready for the tournament, especially for the beast when he wins. As he's preparing himself, a light bulb pops up in his head: he would win the contest like his father wants, but he'll turn around right around and free Shining Sun to prove his father and everybody else how wrong they are. His mind set, he's led inside of the arena "surrounded by cheering people" with the other dragon hunters, where the announcer reaffirms that whoever wins gets to "finish off" the dragon.
Everybody does a whole bunch of physical and mental challenges that eventually leaves only Arcturus and an elf who is "likely three times his age" remaining in a tie-breaker duel. The human takes a hit and they "went at it like a blur" until Arcturus gets the upper hand and hits him three times, eliminating him and winning the contest. The crowd goes wild and Arcturus confidently gets ready to enact his plan as a proud Markis does his speech about how dragons are Hitler; how his son is ready to become a true hunter by executing the captive dragon. After everybody has their fill of jeering and throwing shit at Shining Sun, he goes on about how Shining Sun destroyed a village and killed every man, woman, and child there, soon ordering Arcturus to kill him and make an example.
After a brief moment of hesitation that's dissolved by Howling Tempest, Arcturus locks in and tells his father to go fuck himself for killing an innocent before using his sword to cut the bindings, freeing Shining Sun. Markis is
shocked at this turn of events and Arcturus continues his own speech about how he's doing a good thing, how dragons are not monsters-
Only for Shining Sun to immediately blast a ball of fire towards the crowd and kill who knows how many people not once, but twice. Arcturus has the same shocked reaction like in the video to his "friends, relatives, acquantances" as the dragon says "the debt is paid," telling him to go find the dragoness. When Arcturus asks how the hell he knows about her, he explains that the drunken guard talked, claiming his father heard every word and it was another one of his tests. Markis tells him to shut his "lying" mouth and curses him out as several men attack the dragon. Shining Sun tells him to run the hell away already before it's too late, but Arcturus is still too shocked to move an inch. With a "mighty shake of his head," the dragon takes to the skies to escape. The boy wonders how "something so beautiful" could do that much damage as Markis orders the net cannons to be fired. When Shining Sun is seemingly about to get out of range, the nets catch him at lightning speed and force him back down to the ground, where the hunters immediately unleash their fury on him.
A remorseful Arcturus has no words for how badly he fucked up as his father lays onto him for the deaths he caused. He's dragged by his neck towards where Shining Sun is pinned down, where the other hunters look upon him with hate in their eyes as well. Markis turns to what's left of the crowd (wait, how big is that arena?), telling them how his son did nothing wrong since he was enchanted by the beast's magic to free him and takes the blame for not seeing the signs earlier, which Arcturus has to go along with. The father then orders him to basically torture Shining Sun before killing him or he will use the scent left on the boy's clothes to track down the dragoness.
Why Markis didn't do this already, I don't know. Very luckily, he throws his son a bone and promises to allow her to leave Lumara's lands if he goes through with it, and a guilt-ridden Arcturus readies his blade.
Even after what the dragon did, Arcturus is still reluctant, thinking about how Shining Sun tried to help free him as well, that the dragon's eyes apparently showed "no hint of malice" or "monsterous intentions," and realizes what the test was: that his father actually wanted him to off Rasionynth while she was still captive to test his convictions of being a slayer. Shining Sun, for his part, is resigned to his fate as Markis yells to get on with it already. Left with no other choice, Arcturus sadly hardens himself and obeys, stabbing and slicing into the dragon's weak spots. The torture session for the next couple pages has the boy cut off Shining Sun's wings, stab into his genitals, and slice off his fire glands before Markis finally gives the order to finish him.
All the while, Arcturus goes numb from the experience aside from a little bit of pride near the end for "getting vengeance." He takes one last look at the dragon's glare and sees that it held "no remorse" for its actions, but Arcturus still can't help but feel bad for him; apparently thinking Shining Sun just used the "wrong methods to accomplish something he considered good." Still, the boy can't forgive the suffering the dragon caused and runs his sword into his brain to end it. The crowd evidently believes Markis about his son being put under a spell and cheer. Markis tells Arcturus he did a good job, but he won't forget the boy's "treachery" and he "might as well pretend [he] enjoyed it if [he has] any respect for the dead."
Outside of that, Arcturus barely focuses on anything, still numb to the world. Despite this, it's said that his old self is still there underneath "the killer he now was." Walking back to the tent and into his own room, he thinks back to the dragoness, wishing he can be free and becoming determined to not be as cruel as his father; to become a protector instead. But for now, he can only sob alone and apologize, saying he had no choice. The last lines have him hear a roar from far away, leaving him wondering if it was real or just his imagination after what just happened.
