Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

Eliana woke with a start, still feeling her teeth and claws sinking into the deer's flesh. She shuddered, and cast her thoughts out towards where she sensed her dragon, a mile away in the forest.

"Would you please try to keep my dreams out of your mind while you hunt?" she asked him irritably. "It's very unsettling to wake up that way."

He laughed deeply in her mind, but made no other response. She sighed and glanced around her. The sun's edge was just appearing over the mountains to the east, where they were headed. She sat up, surprised to find her own blanket under her, and another covering her. She looked to her left, where Caelum had settled the night before. He was still there, sleeping peacefully, but the blanket that had been underneath him was now gone.

Eliana smiled to herself. Her Caelum had returned.

"Good morning, Eliana!" a voice called from a short distance away.

A few sleeping elves made an irritated shushing sound, and she looked across the circle of soldiers to see Iocus waving at her. Apparently, he had been assigned the last watch. She waved back, the uncomfortable moment from the previous night forgotten, chased away by the happiness that had followed.

"Good morning, Iocus!" she called back, trying to keep her voice low, so as not to incur the wrath of the soldiers.

She quietly stood and picked up Caelum's blanket, pausing to lay it over him before walking around the soldiers to sit by the other elf. He looked oddly cheery for someone who had been up before the sun.

"Sleep well?" he asked.

She smiled softly. "Wonderfully. You?"

He shrugged, but did not stop smiling. "Didn't sleep much at all, really. Caelum seemed to have jumbled up the watch schedule. I got assigned second and third watches. But that's alright."

Eliana cast a glance to where Caelum slept. Had he done that on purpose? She decided not to dwell on it, and looked back at Iocus with a smirk. "Are you always this happy?" she chuckled.

"Why shouldn’t I be? It's a beautiful morning!"

She looked towards the sun again, which was casting its yellow light on the thinning clouds. It truly was beautiful, and she felt oddly joyful at the simple sight.

"Yes," she answered. "It is."

"Well," Iocus said, hopping to his feet and offering her a hand to pull her up as well. "The sun has started to rise. Time to wake everybody."

After he had pulled Eliana to his feet, the elf raised his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly. Immediately, all of the soldiers, including Caelum, sat up. There was no stirring, grumbling, or slow stretching. The elves immediately stood, beginning to bundle up their blankets and prepare to travel once again.

Caelum looked at the empty blanket beside him, then jumped to his feet, casting his eyes around searchingly.

Eliana smiled and lifted a hand. "Caelum!" she called, waving.

He caught sight of her and smiled with relief. She bid Iocus good morning and walked back to Caelum. The captain watched her, his hands on his hips, but smirking.

"You're just trying to give me a heart attack, aren't you," he tried to scold her.

She laughed. "Only a little one."

With a familiar, bell-toned laugh, he knelt and proceeded to roll up his blanket. She did the same and stuffed it into her pack. Once finished, she straightened and called out to Oriens.

"Time to go, little dragon!" she called teasingly. "And please be sure to get all of that meat out of your teeth before you come back."

He laughed in her head. "Yes, mother..."

By then, the troops were entirely packed and were disposing of the remnants of their fires by covering them with conjured water and earth. There was no need to do the same to hers. When Oriens had returned from his hunt the night before, his wings had quite sufficiently doused the flames and covered the wood in enough dirt to make it impossible to reignite.

It had been a comfortable night for her, curled up close to Oriens' warm belly, Caelum sleeping close by. She had slipped in between her own dreams and her dragon's, but both were equally comforting. Her sleep had even been deep enough that she had not awoken when Oriens snuck off to hunt again that morning.

Over the line of the trees, her dragon suddenly appeared, a golden shape shrouded in the golden light of the sunrise. He swept low over the trees' orange canopies and landed heavily beside her.

She smiled up at him. "Hello, little dragon."

"Hello, little Rider."

"Ready to put the saddle back on?"

He sighed tragically. "Oh, if I must."

"Oh, you must," she laughed, picking up the black saddle. "I'm certainly not going to carry it for you."

He made a coughing sound in his throat, laughing at her, and she smiled. Once she was certain the saddle was securely in place, she turned to Caelum, who was waiting patiently with the rest of the soldiers.

"I think I'll walk today," she said.

He smiled and shook his head. "There's no need for that. You're safer with your dragon."

"He will still be close by," she said with a shrug. "Besides, you might need me to share his reports with you."

They both knew that she could have reported to him in their thoughts, but Caelum didn't argue further. He did his best to look defeated, but his smile betrayed him.

"As you wish," he said. "You're the Rider."

Eliana turned to Oriens. "I'll walk, at least for now. Try not to be seen. There aren't many clouds today."

He nodded with a fang-filled grin. "Whatever keeps the two of you on speaking terms is fine by me. You're much less mopey when you're actually talking to each other."

She gave a sharp laugh of surprised indignation, but he didn't wait for her to formulate a response. He quickly lifted off and rose into the sky, hovering above the soldiers. She looked to Caelum and nodded that they were ready. He turned to the soldiers.

"Alright," he said in his curt captain's voice. Now that she knew the tone would only be temporary, it didn't bother her. "Let's get moving. We want to reach Amiscan before nightfall."

Caelum and Eliana led the group as they resumed their eastward march. Raena sulked close behind them, listening to their civil, cheerful conversation. Iocus was beside her, providing a stark contrast in mood. He jaunted along cheerily, whistling until Raena snapped at him to "stop that infernal noise-making."

The journey grew more arduous as the group reached the base of the mountain range. Amiscan, and the very eastern edge of Paerolia, lay on the opposite side. Though the sun rose higher, the air around them continued to grow colder. Winter would descend on them soon.

The elven soldiers darted quickly and easily up the rocky slopes, their sure feet hopping from one rocky ledge to another. Eliana felt absurd beside them, stumbling along, slipping on loose stones and breathing heavily. The troop continued to pause and wait for her as she struggled. Raena seemed to be enjoying the Rider's difficulties.

Caelum and Iocus were constantly beside her, offering her aid whenever she seemed to need it. Caelum would jump up onto a ledge, then turn back and offer Eliana his hand. As he pulled her up, Iocus leapt to the next ledge and did the same, pulling the Rider up after him by her hand.

Each time Iocus did this, Caelum's frown grew deeper. Eliana noticed this and began to worry that the cold, distant Caelum was going to return. The captain leapt ahead of her, then turned back and offered her his hand again. The slope was steep, and Iocus placed a hand at the small of her back, helping to guide her up over the rocks.

Caelum seized her wrist firmly and jerked her upwards, nearly wrenching her shoulder from its socket. "Ow!" she exclaimed, jerking her hand away from him. "What is the matter with you?"

He immediately looked sheepish. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. He glanced up at where Oriens circled above them, staying close to the mountainside in an effort to disguise his shape. "Perhaps you should Ride now. It only gets steeper from here."

She nodded, grateful for the suggestion. She felt ridiculous, struggling to keep up with the quick and agile pure-blooded elves in the troop. She looked up at her dragon, then glanced around at the uneven mountainside.

"Where will I mount?" she asked. "There's no place for him to land."

Caelum pointed behind her, at something above her head. She turned and looked at where he pointed. Not too far away, about twenty feet above where they stood, was a lip of rock that jutted out away from the mountain.

“I’ll help you up there,” he said. “That should be large enough for Oriens to land.”

She nodded in agreement, and he guided her towards the steep slope that led to the cliff.

“Need any help?” Iocus called.

“No,” Caelum snapped. “Stay with the troop.”

“Caelum,” she hissed at him as they began to climb, “he’s just trying to help.”

The elf muttered something under his breath, which she couldn’t quite catch, but she didn’t bother to press the subject further. Instead, she reached out with her mind to Oriens and told him the plan. He readily agreed, happy to have her fly with him, and soon landed on the ledge above them.

They finally reached the cliff, and Eliana paused to catch her breath. Caelum stood beside her, apparently not in the least bit winded by the climb, while she placed her hands on her knees and breathed heavily. Finally, she straightened.

Oriens bent his leg for her and she climbed up into the saddle. She was about to give her dragon the signal to fly, when a hand grabbed her foot. She looked down, surprised to find Caelum climbing up onto Oriens’ knee.

She parted her lips to ask what was wrong, but the words vanished as he leaned forward and brushed a stray hair behind her ear. His lips brushed softly against her cheek and hovered near her ear.

“Be careful,” he whispered. “And don’t shut me out this time.”

She smiled as he leaned back, placing her hand on his own, where it rested on her knee. “Never again,” she replied.

Caelum smiled and jumped down from Oriens’ knee. With a last look back at the elf, Eliana gave Oriens permission to fly. Her heart was already soaring. They rose into the sky and circled overhead while Caelum joined the soldiers, then proceeded slowly up the last, steep incline to the top of the mountain.

“Higher!” she cried in her mind.

Her dragon laughed, relishing in their mingling joy. “Gladly! Hold on, little one!”

She tightened the straps around her legs and wrists as Oriens shot upwards towards the sky, climbing in a straight line away from the ground. Then he dove, leveled out, and pulled his wings in tightly, sending them spinning wildly. Eliana laughed as the earth and sky blurred together, filled with joy and the feeling of complete and utter freedom. There was nothing but her, Oriens, and the open sky.

An anxious voice in her mind interrupted her joyful flight. “Would you please stop that?” Caelum scolded. “You’re making me regret sending you up there.”

Eliana laughed and rolled her eyes as she silently replied, “Caelum, I promise I’m perfectly safe.”

“All the same, I’d feel a little less nauseated if you would stay right-side up.”

“Alright, Caelum,” Oriens interjected. “I’ll keep her head above her feet until we reach Amiscan. You have my word.”

“Thank you, Oriens.”

She sighed and shook her head. “Between the two of you, you’re going to ruin all of my fun, aren’t you?”

“If we’re lucky,” they replied in unison.

She smiled, feeling their three minds mingling together in her own thoughts. Everything was as it should be. The Rider and her dragon rose above the tops of the mountain and, suddenly, a small village was in sight at the base.

“Is that Amiscan?” she asked.

“Yes,” Caelum replied.

“Why are there huts instead of trees like Iterum?” Her nightmare came rushing back to her with full force—the fog-shrouded huts, the cloaked figures, Caedis, Caelum…

“On the chance that we have to abandon it, we don’t want there to be evidence that it was inhabited by elves. It would just give someone a place to start if they decided to track us back to Iterum. We want to make it look like an empty human village.”

The soldiers finally crested the mountain’s peak and began their descent. From her seat in the sky, Eliana watched them slide and jump from one outcropping to another with amazing ease. It was obvious that they had all made this journey many times; they jumped from cliffs without pausing to judge the distance to the next ledge, moving with all the surety of mountain goats.

Despite how quickly they moved without Eliana to slow them, the sun had begun its descent by the time they reached the mountain’s base. Oriens dipped lower, flying close above Caelum and the troops. When she looked down, the captain was looking up at her, and she smiled.

Amiscan crouched in front of them. From her vantage point on Oriens’ back, Eliana could see movement within the village. Shadows flitted in between the huts, making her feel tense and anxious. They looked as if they were preparing for an attack.

“Caelum,” she called down to him silently, “they do know we’re coming today, right?”

“Yes,” he answered calmly. “Don’t worry, Eliana. Nothing will happen to anyone. They’re trained to always prepare for the worst. Have Oriens land and walk with us though, so you don’t startle anyone.”

Oriens dropped to the ground beside the troops and plodded forward beside them, taking large, slow strides. As Amiscan drew nearer, Caelum stopped. The soldiers stopped behind him and waited in silence for a brief moment.

“Raena. Iocus,” he said. The two elves addressed separated themselves from the group and stood at Caelum’s right, as if they knew exactly what he wanted of them.

Caelum looked up at Eliana, seated on Oriens’ back still. “I’ll need you to summon a fire sphere. That’s your strongest element, right? It will need to be a large sphere.”

Eliana nodded. “I can handle it.”

He gave a short nod in reply, and the three elves beside the dragon raised their hands above their heads. Eliana followed suit. Four spheres formed in the air above them—fire above the dragon and Rider, water above Caelum, earth above Raena, and wind above Iocus. Eliana watched the others, straining to make her sphere match the size of the others, which were several feet in diameter.

There was a pause, then four responding spheres appeared above the small village ahead of them. She realized then what it was—a signal to the troops that their own people approached. Satisfied by the responding signal, the elven soldiers dispersed the spheres above them, and Eliana did the same. Then Caelum led them forward again, into Amiscan.

Elves began to appear from between the huts, eagerly shouting and waving welcome to their fellow soldiers. They stared unabashedly at the dark-haired girl in her black jacket, riding astride the shining golden dragon. A cry passed from one elf to the other, spreading the message through the village. She recognized the word as more and more voices began to chant it.

“Veholum! Veholum! Veholum!”

Eliana felt Oriens lift his head proudly, the chanting very much appealing to his ego. And, she had to admit, it appealed to hers as well.

“They seem very pleased to see us,” he said with a grin, projecting his thoughts to his Rider and the elf beside them.

Caelum smiled up at the pair. “Of course,” he said aloud. “I told you when I left that I would be telling them all about you. They’ve been waiting for you for several months now. And, I might add, you make a striking pair.”

This hardly helped to humble the dragon. He shook his head and bugled, drawing a cheer from the crowd. Eliana laughed and shook her head, but more serious thoughts were on her mind. These soldiers—trained warriors—had been waiting for her like a returning hero. Was she what they had imagined her to be? Did she measure up to their expectations? Would she measure up, if and when it came time to fight?

Oriens heard her thoughts and answered confidently, “There may be pressure here to be great. But I believe we can be far greater than they ever imagined us to be.”

“Perhaps,” she answered with a smirk, “but you are far cockier than I am.”

“It’s difficult to be modest when I can eat anything that tries to humble me.”

She laughed as they continued through the streets of Amiscan. There was just enough space between the huts for Oriens to fit down them. More soldiers fell in behind them, joining those returning from Iterum. She didn’t know where they were going, but she followed Caelum towards the center of the village without question, still riding in Oriens’ saddle.

The dirt road they traveled on ended in a grassy plaza at the center of the village. The grassy area was dominated by a large, rounded hill situated in the very center of the village. She frowned at it in confusion. It seemed an inconvenient place to build your village square; the hill made it impossible for there to be any large gathering. Even now, elves were crowding into the surrounding streets without enough space to stand around the hill.

Then, she noticed the gaping hole in the side of the hill and recognized it for what it was—a cave, formed by elven magic. She knew what it must be for as well. Caelum had had a home built for her and Oriens, right in the middle of the greatest warriors in the elven nation. There could be no safer place in all of Paerolia.

Caelum stopped in front of the hill, and Eliana slid from her dragon’s back. As soon as she landed on the ground, she was surrounded by hundreds of elven warriors, completely cutting her off from both Caelum and Oriens. Men and women alike reached for her right hand, kissing the mark in the center of the palm. She tried to smile at them, but only managed to grimace uncomfortably, searching for a way to rejoin the elf captain and her dragon.

Finally, the pair of them made their way through the crowd to her, parting the elves. Oriens placed himself firmly at her back, and Caelum stood close at her side. The soldiers drew back, giving their leader and the protective, hovering shape of the dragon a respectful amount of space.

“Fellow fighters!” Caelum called. The crowd grew silent immediately. “I know you have waited long for the arrival of our Rider. We all have. For centuries, our forbearers have only maintained hope for the end of the Great War because of Astrum’s prophecy of a Rider that would heal our land. But the prophecy has only just begun to be fulfilled.

“We cannot let our guard down. We cannot drop our shields for even a mere moment. Because this war cannot end without a much greater battle—one in which we must align ourselves with the humans. But we cannot do this without them.”

He gestured back at the dragon and Rider. She blinked at him in startled confusion. Why was he touting this prophecy so heavily? He knew that she had not bought into the idea herself, and yet he was setting them up like the new, great gods of the land. What was he getting at? Oriens heard her question and gave a mental shrug.

Caelum went on. “No humans will join us unless we have a Rider to lead us. We need them to stand with us at the last battle. And so, I am entrusting their safety to each of you. In your capable hands, I am placing the lives of our Veholum. I know you will protect them with your lives.”

Eliana scowled at the back of his blonde head. So that’s what it was about. He was setting her up as an idol so that he could assign her a thousand bodyguards who were willing to die to defend her on her pedestal. He continued to treat her like a helpless child!

“Then show him you are not helpless!” Oriens urged in her mind. She could feel his own irritation clawing at her thoughts; he did not like the idea that Caelum felt they needed to be protected either.

Eliana drew a breath, steeling herself as the elves whooped and cheered at the end of Caelum’s speech. Then she stepped forward, placing herself firmly in front of Caelum.

“Elves of Iterum!” she called, quieting them again. “Soldiers of Amiscan. It is not your duty to protect me. It is my duty to protect you! Whether you believe me to be the answer to the prophecy or not, I will not be the one to bring about the end of this war. You will be. Yes, we will stand and fight together, but I do not ask any one of you to lay down your life for my sake. Instead, I pledge my own life to your safety. I will stand and defend you until I draw my last breath. This is my oath to you as a Rider.”

The elves cheered again, even louder this time, and resumed their chanting. “Veholum! Veholum! Veholum!”

She smiled a little to herself, but her satisfaction was cut off as Caelum grabbed her shoulder and spun her around to face him. He looked as furious as he ever had. “Why do you insist on promising to die for people you do not know?” he hissed angrily.

Eliana scowled back at him, crossing her arms in front of her chest. “Why do you insist on treating me like a helpless child? These are my people now, Caelum, just as they are yours. I will do whatever it takes to protect them. Prophecy or not, I believe that is why I am here. They trust me to do my duty. So why don’t you?”

He closed his eyes and sighed, seeming to relax a little. He reached up and touched her cheek. “I do trust you,” he said. “And that’s exactly the problem. I trust you to keep your promises. But you continue to make promises that I don’t want to see fulfilled.”

She realized then that the crowd had grown silent, and she felt the press of a thousand eyes on her back. She glanced around, and noticed that the soldiers were watching the pair of them in interest and confusion. She pulled quickly away from Caelum’s touch and stepped aside, flushing slightly as she returned to her spot beside him.

Caelum stepped forward and addressed them again, appearing completely composed. “Routines in Amiscan will not change,” he said. “Rider Eliana will join us for training just like any other elf. You are not to interrupt or interfere with her training in any way. She is a soldier now, as are you. Now, return to your quarters. I want the first watch at their stations in five minutes.”

The elves dispersed, the women heading to one side of the camp, the men to the other. Caelum, Oriens, and Eliana remained in the square, standing in front of the hollow hill.

The Rider’s eyes followed curiously after the women before she remarked, “It looks like you have nearly as many women here as men.”

Caelum nodded. “Women train with the army as well, but only if they don’t have children. Elven women have proven to be as strong, quick, and capable as our men. We don’t shelter them as the humans do with their women. They’re more than able to fend for themselves.”

She looked up at him, raising an eyebrow. “Then why do you shelter me?”

He dropped his head briefly, then looked back up at her with a smirk. “Because half of you is a human woman. And since it is much too difficult to only shelter half of you, I have to settle for sheltering all of you.”

She rolled her eyes, trying to look irritated, but she couldn’t fully repress her smile

Caelum chuckled and gestured towards the opening in the hill. “Would you like to see your quarters?”

She shrugged in acquiescence and followed him into the cave, Oriens lumbering along behind them. They didn’t enter a large room, as she’d expected. Instead, they walked down a long tunnel lit by orbs of light. The floor sloped downwards and curved back on itself so that they were once again walking west, towards the mountains they had just crossed.

They continued in silence for several minutes, then the tunnel opened into a wide, circular room of solid stone. She estimated that they must have been directly under the mountain at that point, and she looked up at the ceiling. It rose high above her. There, nearly a hundred feet above her head, it opened up onto the dark night sky.

The area they stood in was empty, and would make an ideal place for Oriens to curl up and sleep. Across the circular area, there was a short set of stairs up to a platform. The raised room was furnished with a small, simple bed, a chest, and a wooden washbasin.

Caelum gestured towards the room, which was set back into the stone wall. “Those are your quarters. Oriens can sleep here.” He then pointed up to the sky, visible in the center of the ceiling. “You should be able to easily enter and exit through there, as well as through the hill in the center of Amiscan. You can draw water from the mountain. A hot spring runs beneath this mountain and village, so it should already be warm for you. There are several uniforms in your trunk. You’ll be expected to wear them during your training.”

Eliana looked at him with an incredulous expression. “So, you’ve placed me in a stone vault under a million tons of rock, and guarded the entrance with nearly a thousand elven warriors. Does that about sum it up?”

He shrugged and smirked. “Half human,” he said simply.

She tried to scowl, but his relaxed smirk and gentle teasing prevented her. She realized there would be no purpose in fighting him about this matter. And, this mountain was the only place where she could easily sleep close to her dragon anyways. So she would deal with it for now.

“Alright,” she sighed, raising her hands in defeat. “If you want to continue being ridiculous, I’ll just have to let you.”

“Hey,” he said with a smile, putting a hand behind her neck and pulling her gently towards him until they stood close together. “I just want you to be safe. Is that so wrong?”

She smirked and rolled her eyes. “I said ‘okay’ didn’t I? I won’t fight you. Not about this anyways.”

“Good,” he laughed. “Because I’m tired of trying to protect you from yourself.”

“My apologies,” she answered sarcastically. “I didn’t realize I was such a handful.”

He leaned forward, touching his lips to her forehead briefly, making her breath catch. She felt his lips move against her skin as he whispered, “You have no idea.”

Then, suddenly, he pulled away, taking a long step back from her. She looked up at him in surprise, and found his flat, blank mask in place, guarding his expression. “Good night, Eliana,” he said curtly. “I’ll see you in the morning for your first day of training.”

He turned on his heel and briskly trotted off, up the corridor, without looking back at her.

“Good night,” she whispered at his retreating back.

He vanished around a curve. Eliana pressed the heel of her hand to one eye, giving a frustrated growl as she turned her back on the hallway. Oriens lay curled in the center of the room, watching her pityingly.

“Why does he do that, Oriens?” she screamed in her head.

The golden head swayed from side to side and he shrugged his shoulders slightly. “I haven’t a clue, Eliana. It is your mind I’m connected to, not his.”

“He’s just so… confusing! One moment he cares, and the next he’s cold and dismissive.” She sighed and sat between her dragon’s front legs, resting her back against his chest. “I never know where I stand with him anymore.”

“I don’t think he ever stops caring about you, Eliana,” Oriens pointed out. “Perhaps he acts the way he does to try to protect you.”

“Protect me from what? From feeling like I have a single friend among these people?”

“To protect you from himself.”

She blew out a sharp breath of air. “Well, the only one hurting me now is him,” she grumbled.

Oriens sighed in an empathetic way and lay his head on the stony floor, encircling her between his paws and his scaly neck. “Perhaps he does not know he hurts you,” he said thoughtfully. “He cannot know what he has not been told.”

“I can’t…” she thought quietly.

“What’s the worst that could happen?”

She gave a snort of derision. “Famous last words.”