Page 21

“I look upon the judgment of right and wrong as the serpentine dance of a dragon, and the rise and fall of beliefs as but traces left by the four seasons.”

—Gautama Buddha

“We meet again, Lizzy.”

Ben could hear the soft words uttered by the lovely, seemingly non-threatening woman with crystal clarity despite the distance between them.

She was a stranger to him, yet she knew Lizzy.

Immediately, his protective instincts went on high alert. He edged closer from his position at Lizzy’s back, curling his hulking dragon form over and around her, keeping her within ready reach. His scales tensed and tilted like the shields of a phalanx poised for attack.

“Diana,” Lizzy returned, “I’m surprised to see you here. But somehow…not as surprised as I ought to be.”

Diana smiled.

It was an expression devoid of humor and joy. It was a cold, calculating tilt of her mouth.

“We are kindred spirits, you and I. Didn’t I tell you so? It was only a matter of time that our paths crossed again.”

Lizzy glanced over her shoulder, indicating the army across the caldera.

“I just wish it wasn’t on the eve of battle. I don’t suppose I can talk you out of it?”

Diana’s smile still hovered over her lips, turning regretful, though Ben couldn’t tell if the sentiment was honest or affected.

“I’m afraid not. Unless, of course, you find the dragon egg beneath the lake, bring it back to me, awaken it, and let me raise it for my own.”

She arched her brows at Lizzy expectantly.

“To become a soldier of war?” Lizzy challenged. “To be used as a weapon?”

“We are all soldiers of war,” Diana said.

“We are all weapons. It’s just a matter of whose side you’re on. As a Pure One yourself, Lizzy—yes, I can tell, like recognizes like—surely you must be on the side of the righteous.”

“Actually, I’m human,” Lizzy said.

“Yes, I might have a Pure soul, or so people in the know tell me, including you. But I consider myself fundamentally human. There was a time when I might have seen the world in black and white, but I’ve learned, in being human, that nothing is as it seems. Or, at least, there are layers and shades of gray. Shades of every kind of color, in fact, not just gray.”

She shook her head, seemingly coalescing her thoughts.

“What I’m trying to say is this: there are no sides, Diana. Or, at least, there doesn’t have to be.”

“Of course, there are sides, child,” the other woman rebuked, not condescendingly, almost gently. The way a much older, wiser woman advised a young one.

“Of course, there is right and wrong. The Dark Ones are simply wrong . They are parasites and predators. They must be brought in line.”

“And you think having a dragon will do that?”

“Doesn’t hurt.”

“Is this like nuclear armament? Having a dragon at your disposal will keep your perceived enemies at bay?” Lizzy guessed.

“Not perceived,” Diana corrected her.

“Dark Ones are our enemies. You have not seen their atrocities. You do not know their plots. As long as they exist, they will always hunt us. It is the nature of predators with prey. And I refuse to be the prey. No longer .”

This last she said with vibrating vehemence, her voice a primitive growl.

Ben assessed the threat with a quick survey of the army and weaponry at Diana’s back. He made the decision to take a risk—and transformed into man to stand at Lizzy’s side.

“What about King Ramses and Queen Jade?” he inserted himself and asked.

“They make sure that justice prevails under their rule. Queen Sophia works with them to protect her Kind. Our Kind. We’ve been at peace for many millennia.”

Diana pulled back her aggressive posture at his sudden transformation and speech. She paused long moments to assess him with narrowed eyes. She must have sensed his Pure soul, for she exhaled a breath she’d been holding, the tension within her unknotting a little.

But only slightly.

“Your definition of ‘peace’ is superficial,” she retorted.

“The slave trade of abducted Pure Ones is alive and well. And if the Dark King’s Chosen and the Pure Queen’s Elite warriors shut down a few illegal rings, many more always take their place. The crux of the problem is not the rule of law; it is the very nature of Dark Ones. Ramses and Sophia expect wolves to become sheep. It will never happen.”

“Besides,” she added, “their reach is limited. They have enough to deal with within their domain of North America.”

She huffed derisively.

“Less North America, more the New England territories. In truth, they have little control outside their immediate home base. My country of Mexico is ridden with illegal fight clubs and underground slave trades, just like the humans with their drugs and traded flesh. Offense is the best defense; I’ve learned the hard way. A dragon on the Pure side of war will do nicely.”

Her glittering dark gaze swept over Ben.

“You’d do very well, dragon warrior. You even have a Pure soul. And the other two Beasts seem to be under your command. If you took our side, we could end this now.”

“End this how?” he demanded.

“By turning those Dark vermin to ash, of course. Raze them to the ground.”

Her eyes blazed with unholy flames.

Something was unbalanced about the woman, Ben thought. Something very wrong. Pure soul or not, she seemed tainted somehow.

By bitterness and…grief.

“That’s murder,” Lizzy pointed out. “Surely you see that. It’s no better than what you claim they do to innocent Pure Ones.”

“It is war,” Diana stated, with absolute conviction that she was in the right.

“It is just. At least I am not hiding in the dark, luring the unsuspecting with tricks and persuasion .”

Her emphasis on that one word plucked at something within Ben. Where had he heard that before?

Jing Bai has the Gift of seduction and persuasion , Lizzy said through their mind link.

Clearly, Diana’s words had struck her too.

Do you think this…violent campaign is personal?

In my experience, the bloodiest, ugliest wars are always personal , Ben replied.

To Diana he said, “I am not an assassin for hire. None of my dragons are killing machines. We have existed across time to keep the Universal Balance. To protect, not to destroy. We will raise the new generation of dragons to abide by the same ethos.”

He speared her with the intensity of his gaze.

“What you speak of reeks of revenge. Perhaps even a personal vendetta. It is hardly justice. It is only destruction.”

Her nostrils flared once. Her eyes flashed.

That was all the warning they got before the first missile launched into the sky.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Ere! Ben shouted in their linked minds.

I see it!

Lizzy whirled around to see a large black bullet shoot into the sky from across the steaming lake. Ere was planning to intercept the missile before it reached its destination—

Presumably the army of Dark Ones gathered on the other side of the caldera.

Why can’t we just let them wipe each other out? the Black Dragon grumbled as he huffed and flew.

Less work. Crisp finale.

Hehe. See what I did there? Crisp—

Ere , Ben warned with a rumbly growl.

Yeah, yeah. All lives are precious. Even those who think otherwise , the Black Dragon griped.

As the missile reached midway, starting to arc in its descent, Ere unleashed a torrent of dragon fire, engulfing it.

Apparently also containing it.

There was an implosion rather than an explosion. A ball of flames mushroomed where the missile used to be, but before it could expand too broadly, the dragon fire forced it back, the way a child’s palms enclosed around a trapped firefly.

As if Ere was thinking the same analogy, he crowed, Child’s play. I can do this all day.

He was going to eat those words, Lizzy thought, because when she turned back to face Diana, a dozen more missiles launched into the sky. The helicopters also took off, followed by the screaming streaks of fighter jets.

In an instant, Ben transformed into dragon beside her, gathering her up in his foreclaw, his gigantic wings spread around them like a forcefield. She felt the tension of his powerful hind legs pushing to take off.

But nothing happened. They remained tethered to the ground.

Diana took a step forward, arching her neck way back to take in all of Ben in her view.

“You are stuck on land until I release you, dragon. Even one as powerful as you cannot fight the gravity of earth. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

She’s an earth Elemental with a Pure soul , Ben gritted out in their linked minds to Lizzy.

His whole body vibrated with tension, trying to break free of Diana’s hold on him. In his sky dragon form, it was no use. So, he transformed into earth dragon with a slight shiver of his body.

The forms were similar, but his earth dragon was far bulkier, his wings not for flight but weapons for defense and attack, similar to the way Kai was built. He was nigh indestructible, perhaps even more so, than the human tanks assembled in the back.

Diana noted the change with narrowed eyes, her entire body shimmering as she turned up her powers to keep him immobile.

Ben used his own command of earth to neutralize her hold on him. But while he could move now, her powers would slow him down significantly, and he would remain grounded.

Can you open your claw a little and release me? Lizzy asked.

What? No , Ben immediately balked .

What are you planning? Stay. At least you are safe with me.

I need to speak with her, woman to woman , Lizzy persisted.

I have a hunch.

A hunch?!

Quickly , she urged. Before Ere and Sorin cannot hold them off any longer. Before the Dark Ones engage. And before all of Yellowstone goes up in flames!

She smoothed her hand over the inside of his steel-like claw, over the Dream ring that became a metallic tattoo when he transformed.

Trust me, love. I know what I’m doing.

She hoped.

Long moments passed while the muffled sounds of screeching jets and explosions boomed in the skies. It sounded so far away. Safe within Ben’s claw, surrounded by the fortress of his dragon body, she felt miles away from the violence that escalated outside.

But she couldn’t ignore it.

Seven and the Pure Goddess might have been able to watch the human world tear itself apart through the Mirror Pond. She might have been an impartial and emotionally removed observer.

But not Lizzy.

Lilith and the Dark Goddess might have felt no qualms manipulating all those around them to their will, felt no compunction in being the cause of untold suffering and pain.

But not Lizzy.

She was human, no matter her Mate. No matter her immortality. She possessed a human heart and a human conscience, and David Winters and Serena Lin had taught her better.

Slowly, reluctantly, Ben’s dragon claw loosened just enough for Lizzy to wiggle out from within his grasp. Fighting Diana’s hold as he was, there was the chance that he wouldn’t be able to reach her fast enough should things go awry.

They both knew it.

But he was trusting that she knew what she was doing. That she had a plan.

Well…sort of.

It was a long shot, but Lizzy couldn’t stand around doing nothing.

She walked out of Ben’s massive shadow toward Diana. The other woman stood her ground, waiting. She tilted her head a little, braced her feet apart, and narrowed her eyes, as if expecting Lizzy’s approach to be part of some trick.

“I want to talk,” Lizzy had to shout above the din of aerial warfare.

Most of it happened over the caldera, not directly overhead, but it was still loud and jarring. The pressure from dragon fire and exploding bombs in the atmosphere built and ballooned. She could feel the heat wave pushing toward them. The fight was escalating.

She didn’t turn to look. She kept her sights set on Diana.

“There’s nothing to say,” her erstwhile friend returned.

“I gave you and your dragon the choice to join the right side, and you declined.”

Lizzy stepped closer. Ben’s warning growl reverberated around them. There was fear for her in that low, earth-shaking sound.

But Lizzy kept advancing until she was closer to Diana than Ben. Within reach.

“What will you do when this is all over? Don’t you care about the casualties? What if both sides lose?”

“Then so be it,” Diana said stoically. “Such is the consequence of war. I am prepared for it. I always have been.”

“But why?” Lizzy persisted.

“Why are you so set on destruction? This is personal to you, isn’t it? What happened to make you this way?”

The woman laughed, but there was no humor in it, only bitterness. She stepped back a little, as if retreating from Lizzy’s words.

And Lizzy knew she’d struck an important chord.

“You are fishing, human,” Diana said. “There is nothing to find. Nothing to reveal. I told you my reasons. Dark Ones must be eradicated. They are the bane of all Pure Ones.”

Lizzy was within arm’s length now. She stilled, so that Diana didn’t retreat farther.

She’d seen a lot as Seven, watching the world from the Celestial Realm in her self-made prison. Her mind swirled with bits and pieces of what she’d seen, countless impressions to sift through. It was like looking for one speck of sand on an endless beach. But she concentrated hard, almost as if she was outside of herself, breaking into her own infinite vault.

And then she knew.

In a flash, she took hold of Diana’s wrist. The other woman’s lips parted in surprise but not alarm, for what could an unarmed human archeologist possibly do to an Immortal who possessed far superior strength and likely trained in all kinds of martial arts?

But it wasn’t a physical threat that Lizzy presented. No, her assault was entirely mental. Entirely instinctive.

Her hand burned with a strange kind of heat. It radiated into Diana’s skin where she held the other woman. Like the dragon eggs she’d touched and “activated,” a tingling warmth began to spread from her hand into Diana’s body, first her arm, then the rest of her, making veins glow beneath her skin.

“What are you doing to me?” the Pure One gasped, paralyzed by Lizzy’s touch.

“What’s going on!”

She looked around them a bit frantically, making Lizzy look too.

Somehow, the world had receded. Reality was still there, Lizzy knew. Waiting for them. But for now, with her hand wrapped around Diana’s wrist, they were in a bubble of sorts. A blip in space and time.

It was almost as if she’d taken them through the Mirror Pond to a hidden alcove in the Celestial Realm. They were in a private corner of her imagination, apart from the real world.

“Relax,” Lizzy said. “I just want to talk to you. I just want you to remember.”

Diana jerked her attention back to Lizzy, apprehensive.

“Remember what?”

“Remember when you loved him. Despite the horrors that brought you together. Remember when he loved you too, even though you didn’t believe it.”

Together, Lizzy and Diana watched memories unfold like ghosts that still kept vigil upon the living, removed yet invested.

It must have been hundreds of years ago, Lizzy deduced from the artifacts in the background, the clothing that people wore. A younger version of Diana had been abducted from her home in the middle of the night, her human parents slain in their beds, her siblings drained of blood before dying of their wounds.

She’d been human too, but she was the only one of her family with a Pure soul. Because of her beauty and youth, a vampire took special note and decided to rut upon her virgin body while he took her blood. There were others too; the bloodsuckers ran in a pack of rogues. They kept her alive for many days this way, not letting her die, slaking their lust for both blood and sex.

But ultimately, she was only human, and they grew tired of her. Her body broke down, and death finally came.

Lizzy saw her own aura come to Diana in that moment, giving the dying girl a choice to rise again. To become a Pure One. With vengeance in her heart, Diana chose immortality and strength.

As soon as she Awakened and got her bearings, she went hunting for her abusers. They’d left her to rot in an underground tunnel, but she could still sense them for their venom ran in her veins from the endless feedings.

It was a foolhardy thing to do—a lone Pure One just come into her second life, with no martial training, no weapons, blindly seeking retribution from her attackers. Her rage and grief blinded her, but they also fueled a burst a strength and violence. She managed to kill three of the vampires before the others subdued her.

Imagine their delight after the initial fury to find that she was now fully immortal, with Pure blood running in her veins. They used her even harder after that, for they knew her body would heal faster and she could withstand far more brutality than a mere human could.

Lizzy felt present Diana’s rage at the remembrance like a living scourge. It radiated from her in waves of pain and vengeance.

Hastily, she tried to fast-forward the memories so that she could remind Diana of better things. To show her the opposite of hate.

Decades later, after Diana had been passed around several Dark Masters through the illegal Blood Slave trade, Jing Bai came into the picture.

Like past Diana, the present woman gasped when he first appeared. The impact of her first impression of him hit her just as hard now as it did then.

It was at a lavish gathering held by prominent Dark Ones. A secret banquet for those who reminisced the old ways, when Dark Ones ruled supreme. Not all of them outright promoted war, but they all chafed against the constraints of their laws.

Diana’s eyes followed Jing wherever he went, as if she couldn’t help herself. Her gaze met his dark, fathomless one a time or two, but he never approached her.

Well, why would he? She was the ornamental Pure slave serving at her Master’s behest. But somehow, Jing’s presence reignited the fury she’d learned to bury over the years. When her Master decided to make use of her body for show in front of his guests, she rebelled.

They subdued her, of course. She was the only Pure One in a den of bloodthirsty vampires. Her Master had her bound and on display like a sacrifice upon his stone table, naked and spread, made ready to be fucked for the avid entertainment of his guests.

Then…

Jing Bai stepped in. In hushed tones, he somehow negotiated her release from her Master—and into his own hands. He wrapped his coat around her naked body and took her away immediately thereafter.

He was her new Master now. He’d consummated their Bond that very night, so that her blood and body obeyed only him.

Present Diana let out a helpless whimper seeing how he took her…and also took care of her.

Never had he touched her with violence or in anger. Even the consummation, which was a traumatic, often painful event for a Pure One, had been undeniably pleasurable.

Over time, she began to crave his touch. His looks and kisses. She looked forward to seeing him, hearing his smooth, low voice. He never treated her like a Master with a slave. He treated her with…

Respect. Appreciation. Even honor.

And…affection.

She enjoyed their conversations, though they mostly stayed to safe topics. He made her smile, even laugh. And she lived to see his eyes light up like stars in the darkest night. She awaited the joining of their bodies with breathless anticipation, not disgust.

She could never tell what he was thinking; despite their brightness when he was with her, his eyes were always unreadable. But she began to fear her own thoughts and emotions, for she was falling under his spell. Her captor. Her Master.

A hated Dark One.

She should despise him for what he was. Yet, from everything she’d witnessed of his deeds, he didn’t seem to be a bad man.

But no. He must be.

All Dark Ones were evil. She knew his Gift to be persuasion and seduction, after all. Surely, he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Surely, what she felt wasn’t real.

As if she , who vowed to bring vengeance upon every Dark One in existence, could possibly entertain even the mere notion of being in love with one of them.

Of course not! It was all a trick.

She must free herself. And the only way she could break the Bond was with his or her death.

But when the time came, she couldn’t do it.

She’d surprised him in bed one day, right after they’d made lo—rutted. When he was weakest. He was still inside her, his seed spreading warmth within her womb. His eyes had held hers as she held the dagger against his throat.

He could have fought back despite his weakness. He was far older and stronger than her, no matter that she used her burgeoning earth elemental Gift to weigh his limbs down.

But he’d simply tilted his neck to give her better access.

“Do it,” he said.

“Free me,” she hissed.

“No,” he replied unequivocally. “I will only release you with my death.”

She’d cut into him until he bled. A trail of blood leaking from his throat. And still, he lay there, his body joined to hers, his arms at his sides, not trying to stop her. Letting her do what she would.

“Let me go!” she cried desperately.

“No,” he answered with perfect calm.

“Idiot,” present Diana muttered, her hands fisted at her sides.

“He should have just let me go.”

Lizzy glanced at her profile.

The other woman was shaking. Seething. Burning with some fierce emotion.

And Lizzy could see clearly for what it was even if Diana couldn’t.

With a scream, past Diana recklessly plunged the dagger into her Master’s heart with all her might.

His eyes widened a little but that was all.

He kept his gaze locked with hers as his breath became labored and short. As a single tear of blood slid out of the corner of his eye.

She’d fled then.

She didn’t wait to see if she’d dealt him a killing blow. Vampires didn’t always die of such mortal wounds like humans. Even a knife to the heart could be healed given their supernatural abilities. You only knew a vampire was dead if they turned to ashes.

She knew she couldn’t handle that sight…not of Jing.

No one chased her. No alarms were sounded.

She crossed oceans to get as far away as possible. To forget.

But the strange pang in her chest only grew. She didn’t examine the ache too closely. She only knew that she was finally free.

His blood and body never called out to her again, even though he survived. Their paths crossed once in a while, though never directly. They were sometimes in the same city, even in the same building.

Passing ships in the night.

But there was no pull between them, except her own stupid awareness and ache. From afar, she watched him beguile countless people with his charm and beauty. So effortlessly. As easy as breathing.

Surely, that was all it had been between them. She’d fallen under his spell like everyone else. It was his Gift that made her heart pound, her skin sweat, her pulse race.

She hated his Kind, she repeatedly reminded herself. They should be eradicated from earth for the plague that they were. One male made no difference.

“No?” Lizzy asked softly, stirring present Diana out of her reverie.

“Does he make no difference to you at all?”

“He’s n-nothing to me,” the other woman said, her voice whisper thin as she tried to get the words out, as if they were stuck in her throat.

“What if he was in front of you now? Would you still feel the same?”

“I don’t care. I—”

Diana abruptly broke off as Jing’s form materialized slowly in front of her. Just an arm’s length away.

“Is this a trick?” she whispered.

“Just as I can see snippets of your past and bring those memories to bear, I can see his too,” Lizzy said.

“Do you want to know what he thought that night when you demanded your freedom? Do you want to know what he felt when you staked his heart?”

Diana flinched at the brutal description, which was no less than what she did.

She shook her head no even as her mouth said, “Yes.”

As Diana stared at the fantasy Jing before her, looking into his dark, unreadable eyes, they both heard his thoughts in their heads.

I couldn’t let you go , past Jing told the present Diana.

I was too selfish and afraid to free you by my own hand. What would keep you with me without the Bond? You hated me while I…

He huffed humorlessly, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

I’d fallen in love with my Blood Slave.

“No…” Diana whispered.

Losing you might as well mean death. But I never had you, did I? Not really.

Ghost Jing reached out a hand toward her, the tips of his fingers barely glancing Diana’s face.

She shivered.

I’m sorry. Be free.

She reached out to him too, trying to grasp his hand as he pulled it back. But his form was already losing substance, before disappearing altogether.

It was Lizzy who took hold of her hand when she clutched at emptiness.

“Pure and Dark do not have to be mortal enemies,” she said. “Every living being is different; an entire race cannot be judged by a few. He was different, Diana. I can’t say whether he’s good or evil. I don’t think it’s that straightforward for anyone. But he was different with you . Search your heart. You know it’s true.”

The other woman’s shivers now racked her whole body uncontrollably. Her breaths came short and fast, as if she was gasping for air.

“He doesn’t want to war with you, even if other Dark Ones might.”

“He’s hunting the dragon eggs same as me,” Diana threw out, trying to hold onto her fury.

“To attack you or to defend his own?” Lizzy asked.

Diana frowned.

“Perhaps he knows what you plan to do,” Lizzy suggested. “Perhaps all he wants is to prevent your aggression.”

“If he loves me, he’d be on my side!” Diana cried desperately.

“To eradicate his own people?” Lizzy retorted.

“Surely, you can’t expect that of him.”

“I—”

“Love is not a weakness, Diana. What if you let go of your hate and vengeance for a moment and let yourself truly feel ? In those moments when he held you close while you slept, kept you safe and warm with his body, close to his heart. What did you feel? Truly?”

Diana gulped for breath, shuddering, shaking.

“I…I felt… cherished .”

“What did you feel for him in return?” Lizzy asked quietly.

“I…”

Diana shook her head stubbornly.

Desperately.

“Forget what you think you should feel, what did you actually feel?”

“I loved him,” Diana whispered so low, the words were barely air.

“ When True Love reveals, and old wounds heal .”

Startled, Diana looked into Lizzy’s eyes.

“What?”

Lizzy simply shook her head with a smile.

“I know there’s still a lot of hurt and rage within you, Diana. I know there are many more like you, whom you fight on the behalf of. But there’s a male out there who loves you. Who wants to help assuage that hurt and rage if you let him. If you could overlook the fact that he happens to be a Dark One.”

“He can’t be trusted,” Diana said bitterly.

“Why do you say that?” Lizzy challenged.

“He is alive after your escape. Yet he never forced you to go to him through the Bond that you must still share.”

“There is no Bond,” Diana said. “I don’t feel it any more. It must have severed when I…when I stabbed him.”

“The Bond between a Master and a Blood Slave cannot be severed unless the Master is dead or consciously releases the slave,” Lizzy said.

“Then there you have it,” Diana rasped. “He no longer wants me. There is nothing between us now.”

“Why don’t you ask him?” Lizzy suggested.

“He’s just there, across the caldera. That is, if your missiles and bombs haven’t obliterated his army yet.”

Diana gasped as the fantasy world melted away like a bath bubble, revealing the cacophony of the real world once again.

It was as if they’d never left, as if time had frozen until their return.

No, that wasn’t right. Time had rewound to right after the first missile launch. Ben was still a dragon behind Lizzy, not yet pinned to the ground by Diana’s control of earth.

“Let this be the end,” Lizzy said, still holding her wrist.

“Let this be the last shot fired.”

Diana glanced over her shoulder at the arsenal at her back, ready for deployment. But she hesitated to give the signal.

“Let this be a beginning instead,” Lizzy urged, squeezing her hand.

“ Talk to him. First, for what is clearly between you, yet unresolved. Second, to negotiate an outcome that doesn’t lead to the destruction of so many lives and this priceless national treasure!”

Diana arched a brow at Lizzy’s impassioned plea at the end.

“I get a little carried away with all things ancient sometimes,” she said sheepishly.

“Come on,” she entreated, tugging on Diana’s hand.

“Let’s get you and Jing to neutral ground so you can talk in private. It can’t hurt, right? If you still decide to fight to the death after that, just…call off the armies, okay? War doesn’t solve anything. It only leads to more war.”

“How do I know it wasn’t all a trick?” Diana asked, narrowing her eyes. “How do I know what you showed me is real?”

“Well, the real Jing Bai is close at hand,” Lizzy offered. “You can get the truth directly from the horse’s mouth.”

“Come on,” she coaxed with a tilt of her head toward the dragon at her back.

Ben unfurled his wings and extended one down to the ground.

“Our carriage awaits.”

After a couple seconds of breath-held deliberation, Diana finally moved. Hands still linked, she followed Lizzy as they climbed onto Ben’s back.