Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

It was still dark when Eliana and Oriens slipped from their cave. The forest surrounding Amiscan was filled with the heavy silence that preceded dawn. Eliana moved to stand in the field just outside of the trees, her dragon lumbering along behind her.

“Where are they?” she wondered.

“There,” Oriens answered.

She squinted at a spot between the trees. There was a flicker of movement as someone stepped between the trees. Then, as silent as a shadow, a large, white wolf stepped out into the open.

“Astrum!” she cried in surprise. She had only caught glimpses of the Seer since they had arrived in Amiscan; the humans had not taken well to a talking wolf, so he chose to remain out of sight most of the time. “What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“The same as you, I suppose,” he answered as he sat in front of her, wrapping his tail around his front paws. “I am here to see our soldiers off, then to wait patiently for their return.”

“Are they coming?”

He gave a small nod of his graceful head. “Yes. They should be here now.”

As the last word escaped from his pale muzzle, dozens of shapes appeared between the broad tree trunks. She soon recognized Caelum’s form, followed by Denio, Barus, Kana, Ivi, Iocus, and hundreds of others.

Her eyes darted between the various members of the royal family. Kana wore a loose, long dress; it was clear that she would not be going with the soldiers. But when Eliana’s eyes settled on Ivi, she was stunned to see the former queen wearing the army uniform of green and brown, her gray-streaked hair pulled back in a knot, a sword at her hip.

“You’re going?” Eliana asked incredulously.

She raised an eyebrow at Eliana, “And why shouldn’t I?” she asked in a defensive tone.

Eliana had no answer for Ivi, but she had words for Caelum, and she turned to him now. She scowled at his tense figure beside her.

“You’re letting your mother go, but you keep me here like a child?”

He shook his head shortly. “I tried to convince her otherwise, but she wouldn’t listen.”

Agitation ground her teeth together. “If she’s going, then there’s no reason I shouldn’t!”

He narrowed his eyes, glaring at her. “You’re not going,” he hissed, emphasizing each word.

“And how will you stop me?” she snapped.

“Rider!” he shouted, startling her with his tone and the title he so rarely used for her. “You will remain here! That is an order! Do you understand?”

She stared up at him, stunned and wounded. Then she sneered and growled back, “Yes, sir.”

Turning quickly on her heel, Eliana marched angrily back to Oriens’ side, where she crossed her arms and leaned against the dragon’s shoulder. Caelum’s eyes followed her for a moment, then turned back to his waiting troops. He began relaying instruction to them in his clipped, commanding tone. Eliana stared at the back of his head, considering whether or not it would be wise to throw a rock at it.

He gave them the signal, and the armed soldiers began their march to the mountains. Denio paused to embrace Kana, as one blonde soldier made his way to Eliana’s side.

Iocus gave her a crooked smile. “You’re not the only one who wishes you were coming with us,” he said quietly. “If I’d known about all of this before this morning, I would have fought to have you come.”

She scoffed. “Yes, well, our captain is an idiot.”

The elf chuckled and reached out a hand to touch her cheek. She flinched, but he didn’t seem to notice. “Wish me luck?” he asked in a soft voice.

She smiled at him weakly. “Good luck.”

He dropped his hand and stepped away, still facing her. “We’ll return soon!” he called, then he turned and trotted after the troops.

Denio stopped to bid her goodbye as well, and she embraced him before he ran off after the retreating line of soldiers. He trotted up to the head of the line, where his mother already marched, her head held high. Caelum hung back as the troops moved away, his blue eyes on the Rider who leaned against her dragon’s golden shoulder.

She purposefully kept her eyes away from him, glaring at the mountains. She heard his footsteps approach slowly, then stop. From the corner of her eye, she saw him gazing up at Oriens, and she forced her way into Oriens’ mind, listening to their conversation.

“Please, promise me you will not let her enter the battle.”

“I will do my best,” Oriens answered. She could sense his annoyance at her eavesdropping again, but he made no attempt to block her from the conversation. “She may hold it against you though. She knows it makes sense for her to not enter the battle, but the fact that your mother and brother are permitted to fight when she is not upsets her.”

“I know,” Caelum answered wearily, “but it doesn’t matter if she never speaks to me again, as long as she is safe.”

Oriens gave him a short nod. “Very well. You have my word.”

Eliana turned to face Caelum suddenly, unable to contain her anger any longer. “Well you don’t have mine!” she shouted at him.

He turned his eyes to her in surprise. “You were listening?”

“Of course I was!” she snapped. “I’m free to enter my dragon’s mind whenever I want.”

He nodded slowly. “Of course…” There was a long silence in which he glanced at the still-retreating line of elves. He turned his eyes to her again, taking a step closer. “Do you hate me for this, Eliana?” he asked softly.

She met his eyes and saw the pain in them, the distress that her anger caused him. She could never hate him—for this, or anything else—but she couldn’t bring herself to say it; her pride wouldn’t let her. When she didn’t respond, he took another step so that he was standing only a hand’s breadth from her. He put his hands on her shoulders, gazing down at her tenderly as she avoided his gaze.

“Please, Eliana,” he whispered, his voice filled with pleading. “Please, promise me you won’t enter this battle. My mother and my younger brother are already in the front line. Don’t ask me to watch everything I care about put into danger at once. I need to know that you, at least, will be safe.”

She hesitated. She wanted so badly to fight, to do what she knew she was meant to do, to prove to people that she could be the leader they wanted. She finally looked up into his face again, seeing the pain and fear in his blue eyes. She couldn’t tell him no.

“I promise,” she breathed.

He gave a small sigh and smile of relief, then pulled her to his chest. “Thank you,” he murmured. He kissed the top of her head, then pulled away, turning to race after the troops.

“Please be careful!” she called after him.

He glanced back at her with a crooked grin, lifting a hand in response. His long stride quickly covered the distance with the grace of a stag, and he settled himself at the front of the line, between his mother and brother.

Eliana wrapped her arms around herself as she watched them disappear into the darkness. Kana moved to stand beside her and took one of the Rider’s hands in her own. Astrum sat at their feet, gazing at them with glowing, golden eyes.

“They’ll be okay,” Kana said quietly.

Eliana turned towards the younger girl and saw the anxiety on her face, her arm wrapped nervously around her stomach; she was saying it just as much to convince herself as to convince Eliana.

“Of course they will,” Eliana replied with a smile, doing her best to return the small favor of uncertain reassurance.

Astrum sighed from where he sat and spoke, his voice piercing the predawn:

“Just one small battle, one easily won.

Before the sun peaks, it will be done.

So the war starts to end, but not without pain,

When this battle ends, things will not be the same.”

The two women looked at the wolf, neither of them speaking. They were afraid to ask the meaning of his words, and somehow, they knew that he would not offer an explanation even if they asked. And so they stood in silence, staring at the ever-retreating line of soldiers.

Kana, Astrum, Oriens, and Eliana sat together in the field as the sun continued its climb in the sky. Through their shared sight, Eliana and Oriens both watched the elves climbing the mountain as the first rays of morning touched Amiscan. Morning crept across the village, beginning to stir the humans and elves that had remained behind.

In the distance, there was a deep rumbling, and the ground beneath them trembled slightly. Those that had awoken in Amiscan looked around in surprise. Eliana knew what it was. The tunnel had been collapsed. It was starting. From the corner of her eye, Eliana saw Kana wringing the hem of her dress between her two pale hands, the perfect image of an anxious wife.

The Rider looked down to find that her own hands were white-knuckled around the edge of her tunic. She quickly released the cloth and busied her fingers with smoothing the wrinkles from her trousers. There was no reason for her to be anxious, she told herself. She was not a wife left behind, like Kana. She was a soldier, spared from this particular battle.

“What do I have to be concerned about?” she thought idly, trying to persuade herself of the truth of her own words.

As she chewed on her lip, Oriens spoke to her. “He’s going to be fine, Eliana. Caelum is one of the greatest warriors we have ever seen. No one is capable of harming him.”

“I know,” she answered, sighing inwardly. “I just wish I could be there.”

Astrum’s white ears suddenly pricked forward, and he lifted his head from where it had rested atop his large paws. He sat up, his golden eyes staring at the distant mountains. Then, he tilted back his head towards the sky. The Seer released a piercing howl. A shiver ran down Eliana’s spine at the sound, goosebumps rising over her skin. And then, he jumped to his feet and bolted towards the rocky ridge, a streak of white against the new green sprouts of grass.

Kana looked at Eliana, fear standing out clearly in her amethyst eyes. The Rider returned the look. Astrum’s actions had been unsettling to say the least. Both of them felt that something must have gone terribly wrong for the stoic Seer to act that way. Eliana forced herself to smile reassuringly at Kana, but she felt none of the reassurance herself.

“What do you think happened?” she asked Oriens.

His face was turned in the direction in which Astrum had disappeared, his green eyes narrowed in confusion. “I don’t know,” he answered.

“Should we fly out to see if everything’s okay?”

“No. We gave Caelum our word you would not enter the battle.”

She gave a small nod of agreement, but she was itching to take action—any kind of action. She hated waiting, feeling like a fragile female left behind while the men went off to fight.

Every passing minute felt like an eternity until, at last, Oriens said, “There. They are coming.” He paused for a moment, and Eliana felt a sickening sense of shock building inside of him. “Oh no…”

“What’s wrong?” the Rider asked, looking up at her dragon, trying to see what had given him such a nauseating jolt in his gut. She met with resistance. Oriens was blocking that part of his thoughts from her, which only made panic rise in Eliana’s gut.

Kana saw the fear on her face. She jumped to her feet, her eyes on the mountains. “Are the coming back?” she asked, her voice high with panic. “Is Denio okay?”

“Your husband is uninjured,” Oriens told her.

“Then what’s wrong?” Eliana asked again, this time speaking aloud.

He shook his head. “I don’t wish to say at the moment. Because I hope I am wrong.”

Her heart beat a restless rhythm against her throat. She pushed against the wall in Oriens’ mind, trying to pull information from him, but his resistance remained firmly in place. This only succeeded in increasing her fears. He must have suspected something terrible, or he would have told her.

The three of them remained in the field, waiting for the returning soldiers to come into view. Oriens’ tail twitched irritably from side to side, gouging a short arc into the grass. Eliana sat on her hands, trying to keep herself from wringing them in anticipation as Kana was doing, pacing anxiously in front of her.

At last, the line of soldiers came into view in the distance. Kana took off in their direction, her dress billowing around her like wings fluttering in panic. Eliana was unable to keep herself from following suit. She jumped to her feet and dashed after the young queen. Oriens took to the sky, following directly overhead.

As they drew closer, Eliana was able to distinguish Astrum near the head of the line between two bent figures—Denio and Caelum. Her stomach twisted with horror as she saw the limp form lying in Denio’s arms. The young king’s tears splashed down on his mother’s tunic. Queen Ivi was dead.

Her feet seemed to stop moving of their own will, and Eliana slid to a halt, still several yards from the elves. Oriens landed beside her as she stard, disbelieving, at the sight before her. Every elf had their head bent in sorrow. Many of them wept openly. Even Astrum—that great, majestic wolf—hung his white head in grief.

A horrified cry rose from Kana’s lips as she reached her husband. She touched her mother’s pale face, as if trying to waken her. Eliana stared as Kana threw her arms around Denio’s neck, sobbing into his shoulder.

“It is as I had feared,” Oriens said softly.

“No…” Eliana whispered, shaking her head slowly. “It’s not possible. Ivi is...” She trailed off, thinking of how indestructible the queen had always seemed to her. How could such an indomitable force be gone?

Her hands trembled as Eliana moved towards the line of soldiers, who had now stopped, watching the queen and king weep over their fallen mother. The reality of the situation struck her like a terrible blow, and tears began to trail down her cheeks. At last, Eliana stood before them. She looked from Ivi’s still face to Caelum. He met her gaze with dry eyes, his expression stony and unemotional.

She opened her mouth to say something to him, but he shook his head slightly. She recognized what it meant—“Not now.” Caelum turned to his weeping brother and put his arm around the king’s trembling shoulders, saying something softly in his ear. Denio bent and pressed his lips to his mother’s forehead, then handed her limp form to Caelum. He pulled Kana into his arms, and they wept together.

Caelum moved silently away from the group towards a small hill in the open field. He reached the top and laid his mother on the earth in front of him. The elves all watched as, without any movement from the captain, Ivi’s corpse began to descend into the earth, disappearing beneath the young grass.

Denio, Kana, and Astrum moved to stand beside Caelum, watching Ivi’s burial in silence. Eliana wanted to follow, to be at Caelum’s side, to take his hand and communicate her empathy through touch, but her legs seemed to fail her. She remained where she was, unmoving, watching the former queen vanish into the earth.

Gently, Oriens nudged her shoulder with his snout, shaking her from her stupor. She looked up at him, and he met her gaze with sad eyes.

“We should do something,” he said.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He sighed. “Queen Ivi gave us a home. She was a powerful leader. She deserves more than to disappear into the ground with nothing to mark her passing.”

Eliana turned her eyes back to the hill, where all the elven soldiers now gathered, staring at the grass where Ivi had disappeared. There was no trace of her left. It bothered her as well.

“You’re right,” Eliana thought, determination entering her mind, wistfulness filling her heart. “She deserves more than this.”

She placed her hand on Oriens’ shoulder, and electricity seemed to pass between them, crackling in the air and making Eliana’s skin tingle. She knew something was happening—something they were causing—but she did not know what or how.

A murmur rose from the crowd of elves. Flowers began to spring to life on the hill, spreading over the grass in a rainbow of colors—tulips, daisies, pansies, and a variety of wildflowers—growing around the elves’ feet. At the top of the hill, directly over where Ivi had returned to the earth, a tree sprouted. It grew before their eyes, branches reaching towards the sky, sprouting green leaves. Blossoms appeared on the tree in white and violet, the colors of the royal family.

Weakness seized at Eliana’s limbs, and she dropped her hand from Oriens’ side. The hill had become a colorful, wild garden. The Rider looked up at her dragon and saw the fatigue in his eyes; the accidental magic had drained them both. The elves glanced around at each other, then two pairs of eyes spotted her, standing away from the rest of the group.

Denio strode quickly to her and caught her in his arms, holding her to his chest as his tears fell on her shoulder. “Thank you, Eliana,” he whispered. “Mother would be honored to be remembered by you and Oriens in such a way. Thank you.”

She smiled waveringly as she pulled back and looked into the king’s eyes. His expression held so much pain and grief; tears returned to her own cheeks. “I only wish I could give her more,” she whispered in reply, not trusting her voice to speak in a louder tone.

Denio gave her a watery smile and put his hand to her cheek. “You should return to your quarters. I can see the magic drained you.”

She nodded gratefully and stepped to Oriens’ side. She paused before mounting, looking towards the grieving elves. Caelum’s eyes were still on her, still devoid of the pain that was so evident in his brother. He gave her a brief nod, which she recognized as a gesture of thanks. She nodded in reply, wishing he would come to her, speak to her, but she knew better than to press him.

So, with great effort, Eliana pulled herself onto Oriens’ back, adjusting herself into a comfortable seat on his bare scales. She gave the dragon the signal that she was ready, glancing at Caelum’s stony face once more. Then, with great effort from her weary companion, they rose into the air. She leaned forward and stroked the golden scales, mesmerized by the way the afternoon sun reflected off of them.

How many will we lose? she thought distantly. She thought of her own mother, who she had only just found, and realized how very possible it would be to have her taken away again. Denio, Kana, Iocus… Caelum… Every person she cared about could be stolen from her at a moment.

She sat back with a sigh and gazed over the tops of the mountains. Dark clouds gathered in the west. She felt the moisture in the air. The storm would be upon Amiscan before nightfall. Then Oriens descended into their cave.

He landed and she slid from his back. The dragon curled up onto the floor and closed his eyes with a sigh. She could feel his own sadness and disbelief as acutely as her own.

“Why, Oriens?” she asked as she sat cross-legged on her bed. “Why must these things happen?”

“It is war, Eliana,” he answered without opening his eyes. “We have experienced a great loss in Queen Ivi’s death. But what is done is done. We will have our time to mourn, but then we must press forward. That is how she would want it to be.”

“It just doesn’t seem fair.”

“You are still young, Eliana. Life is going to seem unfair at times, but there is little that can be done. You must learn to accept what you cannot change.”

“But Denio and Caelum… I’ve never seen Denio in such pain before. And Caelum… He was so distant, like he was numb to it all. I’m worried about him.”

“Give him time, Eliana,” he said, tucking his head under his wing. “When he is ready to talk, he will come to you.”

They fell silent, then slowly drifted to sleep.

~*~

Eliana awoke to the sound of thunder overhead. The storm broke over the mountains, casting a premature dusk on the village as the angry clouds swallowed the setting sun. The thunder clapped with such force that the rocks around her trembled. Through the hole in the mountain above her, Eliana could see lightning tearing across the dark sky, ripping it like a piece of parchment.

Rain was falling through the opening, wetting Oriens, who now blinked up at the sky wearily. Without a word, Eliana raised a hand and constructed a shield over the opening. In silence, she stared up at the rain as it mercilessly pelted her shelter.

She lay on her bed, waiting for something to happen, willing Caelum to appear and speak to her. She drifted restlessly between sleeping and waking. Every time she woke, she turned her eyes to the tunnel, but the elf still did not appear.

Hours after night had swallowed the little village, she sensed the familiar presence approaching down the long corridor he had constructed himself. She sat up, her eyes trained intently on the place where he would appear. She reached out to him with her mind, but his thoughts were guarded, and she withdrew.

A few moments later, he appeared. He was soaked from the rain. His tunic clung to his chest. His blonde hair was plastered across his forehead. The unwavering light from the orbs around the cave cast his features in sharp relief, making his eyes seem dark and blank. Oriens opened one eye as Caelum passed him, dripping onto the stone floor, but the dragon made no other movement.

Eliana watched him in silent anxiety as he came towards her, his face as emotionless as it had been during those days of painful silence between them in Iterum. He stopped in front of her for a moment, gazing down at her with a strange look, as if he had never seen a creature quite like her.

Then, with a sigh, he sat on the edge of her bed and rested his elbows on his knees. Cautiously, she moved to sit beside him. His wet clothes soaked through her blankets, but she didn’t notice. She sat as near to him as she dared, their bodies just inches apart. To her, those few inches felt like an insurmountable chasm.

“Caelum?” she asked quietly.

She did not expect a response, but a whisper escaped his lips. “Yes, Eliana?”

There was a pause. She had a hundred questions she wanted to ask him, but she knew that most of them would only pain him further. At last, she forced herself to ask, “What happened?”

For a long moment, it seemed as if he wasn’t going to answer. He just stared down at the tips of his soggy boots, his hands clasped tightly before him. “It was him,” he said quietly and flatly. “It was Peior.”

Eliana’s heart stuttered.

Caelum went on in a low monotone, as if he were reciting lines rather than telling her about the battle that had taken his mother’s life. “Everything was going as you planned it. We collapsed the tunnel. The soldiers fought us briefly, then started to flee. But one of them never moved. My mother…”

His voice wavered, and she placed a hand on his damp arm. “My mother saw him before I did, and she stepped forward to challenge him. He laughed at her. That was when I recognized him. I tried to warn her, but it all happened so quickly. Just a word from his lips—a word I couldn’t hear. She fell. I tried… I tried to warn her. I tried to stop him, but he just… smiled… He smiled at me, and then he was gone.”

At last, he looked up at her, and she saw anger burning in his eyes. “I will find him, Eliana.” He growled the words through clenched teeth, his hands trembling. “I will find him, and I will kill him.”

She nodded in understanding, anger beginning to burn inside of her as well. “I promise you, Caelum, we will not let him live.” He turned away from her again. She reached out and touched his face, trying to draw his attention back to her. “Caelum,” she whispered, “please, tell me what I can do.”

His blue eyes turned back to her and, in that moment, he seemed to crumble. His face fell, tears began to stream down his cheeks, and he crumpled into her arms. She felt his arms go around her waist, and he clung to her as if she could keep him from drowning in his own sorrow. She immediately wrapped her arms around him as he trembled, his body heaving with sobs long suppressed.

“Hold onto me, Eliana,” he sobbed, his voice muffled against her lap. “Please, just hold me.”