Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

When she awoke, Eliana found herself staring at an endless stretch of gold. She blinked twice, trying to figure out what she was looking at. It seemed as if the sun had suddenly decided to span the entire sky, reaching down to the horizon. She stretched out a hand and touched the golden membrane, realizing with a grin that Oriens’ wing was stretched over her head, forming a golden tent.

She tapped on his scaly side. “Are you awake?” she asked him.

The wing lifted as he stretched it towards the sky. He stretched like a cat, his claws gouging trenches into the earth. His forked tongue curled at the tip, exposing his massive white teeth as he yawned. Then he looked at her with an irritated frown.

“Well I am now,” he grumbled. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you never to wake a sleeping dragon?”

She smirked as she rose from the ground and patted his shoulder. “Oh, so sorry, mighty dragon. Please forgive me.”

He snorted at her. “You shouldn’t be so sarcastic towards something that can eat you.”

She laughed and glanced around to find that the majority of the campsite had already been packed. The troop of human elves were nearly prepared to leave. Two figures approached her from amid the bustle, and she recognized the two Healers—her mother and Laurus.

Laurus curtsied and smiled broadly at the Rider. “It is good to see you again, Lady Eliana.” She turned to the dragon and curtsied again. “And you, Oriens. After our misadventure, it is truly a comfort to have the two of you here.”

Eliana smiled back. “I’m happy to see you’re safe, Laurus. Have either of you seen Caelum?” she asked, glancing around.

Ispera gestured in the direction of the distant river, which couldn’t be seen through the thicket of trees around the clearing. “He went towards the river quite some time ago with Caedis. People are beginning to wonder where their leader has gone.”

Eliana grimaced at the thought of Caedis and Caelum alone together.

Oriens responded to her worried thoughts. “Look there.”

She followed his gaze and spotted Caelum storming towards them, his face darkened with anger, a faint red light emanating from his hands.

“He’s angry,” she noted with a mental sigh.

“What was your first clue?” Oriens answered sarcastically. “The look on his face? Or the fact that he seems more likely to breathe fire than I am?”

She ignored her dragon’s comment and took a few cautious steps towards the elf. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she had the chance, he exploded, “That man is impossible! Never in my life have I been forced to deal with such a ridiculously arrogant creature!”

“What happened?” she asked in a low voice, hoping her tone would remind him that there were others nearby.

He seemed to catch her hint, because his voice dropped a few levels until he spoke at a normal volume, though it still simmered with anger. “I tried to make peace with your friend, Caedis, but he refused. He said that he would never answer to ‘the likes of me.’”

Eliana sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut. She opened them again after a moment and said, “Just… just avoid him for now. I’ll sort this out myself later.”

“I can’t believe I even tried speaking to him,” he grumbled. “Miserable, loathsome little creature. I never would have attempted such an impossible task if I didn’t love you as I do.”

She smiled slightly and rose to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “Then I suppose I’m just lucky,” she whispered.

He turned his face towards her, as if to catch her lips with his, but she was keenly aware of the eyes that were now upon them. She pulled away from him deftly and asked, “Where is Caedis anyways?”

Caelum looked briefly disappointed, then hooked his thumb towards the woods he’d just appeared from. “I left him by the river. He’ll come back soon. He knows it’s time to leave.”

As predicted, Caedis appeared a few moments later, looking just as irritated as Caelum had. He stormed into the encampment, barking orders as he went. The band of villagers quickly gathered their items and headed towards Amiscan once again. Ispera hurried back to her daughter’s side.

“You’d better saddle Oriens, Eliana,” she said. “There are enough clouds for you to hide in. Everyone will feel much safer if you’re overhead.”

She glanced briefly at Caelum, the Caedis, and nodded. “Alright. Can you keep an eye on those two for me? Try to make sure they don’t kill each other.”

Ispera smiled. “Of course, dear. Now hurry!”

Eliana swiftly scooped up the saddle off of the ground and leapt onto Oriens’ elbow, settling it into place and swinging down to tighten the straps. She’d become quite proficient at saddling the dragon, though she occasionally had to stop to adjust the straps to accommodate his ever-expanding girth.

Within a few moments, he was saddled and ready for flight. As Eliana belted her sword around her waist, Caelum came to stand beside her again. He looked calmer, though still obviously irritated.

“I see you’re leaving me with that man,” he said with a smirk that was tinged with agitation.

She sighed and answered, “My mother thinks that the people will feel safer if I’m overhead, even if they can’t see me.” She smirked at him. “But don’t think that doesn’t mean I won’t be keeping track of you. My mother promised to keep an eye on you for me, and she’ll let me know if you misbehave.”

He shook his head, smile growing. “I wasn’t aware I needed a wet-nurse.”

She touched his arm, looking up at him seriously. “Please, just stay away from Caedis. Whatever problems may be between the two of you, you can’t allow them to cause trouble. Not after everything these people have been through. You are allies now, whether you like each other or not, and you’re both leaders to these people. They need an example set for them.”

Caelum reached up and tucked a stray hair back behind her ear. “Whatever you ask of me,” he whispered, “I will do it.”

She glanced quickly around them. Finding only Oriens there, she allowed herself to kiss Caelum for a brief moment. His arms tightened around her waist, pulling her closer and making her heart flutter excitedly. She forced herself to step away; she couldn’t risk anyone seeing them.

Oriens made an irritated noise beside her and she glanced at him, then looked back at Caelum. “I have to go,” she said hastily, moving to mount Oriens. “I’ll see you in Amiscan.”

He nodded. “Be safe.”

“Be good,” she answered with a wink.

Vaulting off of Oriens’ elbow, she swung into the saddle. She’d hardly touched the leather when the dragon’s powerful hind legs pushed off the ground and threw them into the air. She quickly grabbed hold of the straps, clapping her legs tightly around him to stay in the saddle. The golden wings pounded upwards until they disappeared into the clouds.

“What’s the matter with you?” she snapped irritably, after the dragon had leveled out. She jammed her feet into the leg straps and tightened them around her. “You nearly threw me from the saddle!”

She felt him rumble in irritation beneath her before he answered, “Why has your silly infatuation not worn off yet?”

Shock silenced her for a moment, then she replied, “What are you talking about?”

“What do you see in him anyways? I tolerated this attraction because it seemed to make you happy, but I thought it would have diminished after so long. And yet you only get worse. It’s like you’re infested with some illness that you just can’t recover from.”

She was silent again, listening to the tone of his words, feeling the churning emotions in his mind, which he had clearly kept suppressed and hidden from her for some time.

“You’re jealous!” she cried in realization.

Oriens snorted derisively. “Of course I’m not! Why would I be jealous of that two-legged stick of an animal?”

Though she knew she shouldn’t, Eliana laughed at him. “How could you possibly be jealous of Caelum?”

“I told you I’m not jealous!” he roared in her mind, and she heard him snarl aloud as he said the words.

She fell silent for another moment, hoping he would say more. When nothing seemed forthcoming, she said gently, “Oriens, you know that I love you, don’t you?”

His great body heaved with a sigh, lifting her upwards with it. “Of course, little one,” he answered in a much calmer voice. “But you love Caelum as well, do you not? He shares your heart with me.”

Now it was her turn to sigh. “Yes, but… it’s different with Caelum.” She leaned forward against the great neck, pressing her face to the scales. “You are my dragon, Oriens. I love you in a way that I could never love anyone else—not even my own child. If something were to happen to Caelum…” She hesitated, her heart giving a painful twinge at the thought. “If something were to happen to him, I would live. I would continue on, though it would pain me greatly. If I were to lose you… I may not die, as you would for me, but my life would no longer be worth living without you. You are the world to me, Oriens. No one and nothing could ever take your place in my heart.”

There was a moment in which the only sound was the beating of the golden wings on either side of her. At last, the warm, familiar voice filled her mind, saying softly, “I love you, little one.”

She closed her eyes contentedly and kissed his neck. “And I you.”

They flew on in silence for several hours, their consciences brushing one another, but remaining quiet. Occasionally, they would drop from the clouds long enough to find their group, and scan for any potential danger. Then they rose back into cover.

The moisture from the clouds around them beaded on Oriens’ scales, reflecting rainbows onto his shimmering hide. Drops rolled down the sleeves of Eliana’s leather jacket and soaked into her hair.

“Let’s drop down out of the clouds for a few minutes,” she suggested. “I’m freezing.”

“As you wish.”

Oriens folded his wings and they dropped below the cloud cover. She scanned the trees below them as Oriens circled, searching for a sign of the band, but finding none.

“There they are,” her dragon said.

He pulled her into his sight. The group was far below them and a short ways behind, still trudging along through the trees. She pulled herself back into her own mind.

“We should slow down so they can see us before we—.” She stopped abruptly as something in the distance caught her eye.

Before she could say anything, Oriens said tensely, “I see it too.”

“But what is it?” she asked.

They hovered in the air for a moment, both of their gazes locked on the dark figure that moved in the distant sky. Suddenly, Oriens growled, smoke rising from his nostrils. Eliana looked at the curling tendrils in surprise as they rose into the air.

“It’s another dragon,” he said, letting out a hiss, more smoke rising.

“A dragon?” she repeated. “Does it have a Rider?”

“I can’t tell yet. But the dragon is black, Eliana. No dragon egg is laid black. It must be exposed to Dark magic to become that way.”

“It could be the dragon that attacked the villagers,” she said frantically. “It could be coming back.”

“Then we will stop it!” He unleashed a roar that shook her bones, then, with a powerful thrust of his wings, he hurled them through the air towards the approaching enemy.

Almost immediately, Caelum’s voice leapt into her mind. “Eliana, what’s happening up there? I thought I heard Oriens roar.”

He received one word in reply. “Dragon!”

Then her mind became focused on the new threat in the sky, and she could hear nothing more of Caelum’s thoughts. As Oriens carried her swiftly towards their target, Eliana could see that the dragon was significantly smaller than her own, and its scales were a dark, inky black. There was something unnatural about the color, as if the animal had simply been slathered in some sort of dye. When the sun hit it, the scales seemed to give off a bluish-black glow, like there was another color beneath the black.

She squinted at the dragon’s back and saw, her heart sinking into her stomach, that there was a figure astride the dragon—it had a Rider. The figure wore a black cloak, the hood pulled low over their head. A strip of black cloth covered the lower half of their face, so Eliana could make out none of their features.

Oriens roared again as he closed the gap between them and the black dragon, smoke rolling from his nostrils. The black dragon stopped mid-flight at the terrible sound, back pedaling with its wings, then wheeled around and flew quickly in the other direction.

The Rider on its back shouted something that she could catch, gesturing back at Eliana and her dragon. The black creature snarled and shook its dark hard, continuing to fly away from them as quickl as its wings would carry it. Its Rider continued to shout angrily, pounding their fist against the powerful neck.

“Oriens, stop,” she said, watching the retreating pair in surprise.

He snorted in frustration but obeyed. “We could have easily caught them. The little hatchling doesn’t fly nearly as fast as me.”

“I know,” she said, patting his neck, “but something isn’t right about that Rider. And I’m wary of the retreat being some kind of trap. We don’t know what we’re up against with these two. Things may be more than what they seem.”

Eliana and Oriens watched curiously as the dragon and its Rider disappeared from sight. Then they turned back towards their party. She could feel her dragon’s curiosity mingling with her own as they pondered the Rider’s and dragon’s behavior together.

Another voice rang in her head, tight with panic. “Eliana! Are you alright? What happened?” Of course, it was Caelum.

She quickly explained what had occurred. “It doesn’t make sense, Caelum. It was like the Rider had no control of his dragon at all. It refused to obey him. He kept shouting at it like he couldn’t communicate with it in any other way.”

“I never thought I’d see a dragon behave that way towards its Rider,” Oriens added. “She seemed afraid of him.”

“She?” Eliana asked. “How do you know?”

“I’m a dragon,” he answered simple. “I know the gender of my own kind.”

She could sense Caelum’s stress in her own anxious mind. She imagined that he would be running his hands through his hair right now, the space between his eyebrows furrowed in thought.

“We should keep this to ourselves for now,” he said sternly. “If people know that there’s another Rider, it will only cause panic. We can discuss this further in Amiscan.”

“Very well.”

Caelum’s presence withdrew from her mind, and Oriens and Eliana were alone in the sky once more. Her heart was still pounding in her chest as she considered this new development and what it meant for their campaign. If there was another Rider, and that Rider was under Nocens’ control, it could mean disaster for their troops. Oriens was the only true advantage they had over the opposing forces. If they had a dragon too, then they had no advantage at all.

They reached the mountain ridge on the west side of Amiscan as the sun was beginning its descent behind them. Eliana and Oriens hovered above the ridge and watched those below them begin their climb. Caelum, his family, and the other elves leapt easily along, but were forced to stop often to allow the humans to catch up.

Eliana sighed, leaning forward on Oriens’ neck and watching the people shoving and dragging their belongings up the rocky slope.

“This is going to take all day,” she sighed in her mind. Then a thought occurred to her, and she sat up.

Oriens sensed the idea the moment it entered her mind, and he surveyed the jumble of assorted objects below him with a large, emerald eye. “I don’t think I could carry too many at once if there’s no better way to carry them than in my claws. And it would be difficult to get them, since I can’t land. But if we can figure out how to pick them up, we can make a few trips across the mountains. It would certainly make their journey easier.”

Eliana reached out to Caelum. “Caelum, do you think there’s any way for Oriens to take some of those packages?”

He paused on the mountainside and looked up at them, then glanced around. After a moment, he pointed to a small ledge, just off to his right. “Do you think you could get them if I set them there?” he asked.

Oriens answered, “I think I could manage that. I still won’t be able to land, but the ledge comes out enough that I won’t have to worry about brushing the mountain.”

“Alright,” Caelum replied, “I’ll bring you some of the bundles.”

Caelum relayed the plan to his brother and the elven guards. They immediately began gathering things from the weary humans and carried them up the mountainside to the ledge. Once they had carefully piled a few of the belongings on the cliff, they stepped back and Caelum waved for the dragon to descend.

Oriens swooped low towards the ledge, then pulled up, hovering just in front of it. He paused, eyeing the packages and trying to situate himself.

“I was not built for this sort of thing,” he said tensely.

Eliana patted his neck. “Take what you can,” she said. “We can do this.”

Hovering precariously beside the mountain, Oriens gently grasped a few bundles in his front claws. Once his front feet were as full as he could manage, he bent his head and took the cloth of another bundle in his teeth.

“Read?” she asked.

“I suppose…”

With a labored thrust of his wings, he pulled away from the mountain and headed upwards. He flew quickly, and they were soon over Amiscan. Elven soldiers rushed forwards, waving and cheering. Oriens landed on his hind legs with a heavy thud, and carefully released the packages in his front claws, setting the one in his teeth atop the pile.

“These belong to the rest of the humans who are joining us. They’ll be here shortly,” Eliana told the elves as they gathered around her. “Please take them into the village. We’ll be back with more.”

Oriens jumped back into the sky and they headed back towards the mountain. After several more trips, all of the villagers’ possessions were at last safely in Amiscan.

As they delivered the last of the bundles to the waiting soldiers, Oriens sighed wearily, “If you don’t mind, I would very much appreciate resting now.”

“Of course,” Eliana answered, patting his drooping neck. Her own body ached with weariness, and she knew that most of it was not her own. “Let’s go to our quarters.”

With a grateful sigh, he carried them up to the hidden opening near the top of the mountain, and they dropped down into the pleasantly familiar stone room. Oriens landed heavily and folded his tired wings to his sides. Eliana dismounted, removed the saddle, and settled it onto the rack against the wall.

She dropped onto the bed as her dragon curled up in the middle of the large, round room. She stretched her saddle-sore legs as she reached out to Caelum. She could sense him just near the crest of the mountain.

“Everything is in Amiscan. You’ll have to ask the soldiers where they put them. Meet me in my quarters as soon as you can.”

“I will,” he answered. “Get some rest. I’ll wake you when I get there.”

She was too tired to answer. She settled back against the pillows and closed her eyes, the image of a coal-black dragon sweeping across her mind.