Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

The fallen orange leaves crunched beneath Eliana’s boots as she ran through Amiscan. “Caelum!” she screamed, looking around frantically. The other soldiers looked towards her with concern, stopping what they were doing. “Caelum! Caelum!” she continued screaming, running between the huts.

The elf’s reassuring form appeared from inside one of the huts. She slid to a halt, nearly colliding with him in her haste. He caught her, his hands closing around her arms, and he looked down at her pale face and frantic expression. Panic immediately flooded his blue eyes.

“What is it?” he asked hurriedly. “Are you alright? What happened?”

“We were attacked,” she answered breathlessly. “It was him, Caelum! He followed me, he knows I’m here! Oriens is hurt!”

The blood drained from his face as he took in her words. Then he seemed to quickly push the fear aside and he said briskly, “Take me to Oriens. Explain on the way.”

Caelum ran behind her as Eliana led the way out of Amiscan, to the empty field where Oriens had landed. She panted out her story along the way, concluding with, “He must be sending armies to finish what he couldn’t! It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

The elf captain didn’t respond. They’d arrived at the spot where Oriens lay. The dragon’s golden wings were spread out on the ground beside him. He had not managed to avoid all of the arrows in their battle, and half a dozen ragged holes were evident in his wings, droplets of blood forming on their edges. A single arrow protruded from between the soft scales in his neck.

Caelum moved quickly to the dragon’s chest and placed a hand beside the arrow’s shaft. “Hold very still, Oriens,” he said tightly. He gave the arrow a jerk, and both Oriens and Eliana flinched in pain. The elf pressed his hand to the wound and closed his eyes briefly. When he moved away, the wound was gone.

He darted around Oriens’ outspread wings, healing the tears in the wings, leaving taut, golden membrane behind once again. When he had closed all of the wounds, Caelum moved to stand at Eliana’s side, looking drained. She cautiously put an arm around his waist, and he let his fall over her shoulders, leaning on her slightly. Oriens folded his wings against his sides once again.

“Thank you,” the dragon said.

Caelum nodded in reply, then looked down at Eliana. “You said he controlled you?”

Her stomach turned at the memory, but she nodded. “He made me jump from the saddle when we were flying. Oriens caught me, and I managed to force him out of my mind somehow.”

His expression was both angry and anxious.

“They know I’m here, Caelum,” she said when he made no reply. “They’re going to come after me.”

He shook his head. “You don’t know that.”

“Caelum!” she snapped, exasperated. She stepped away from him so that she could stare more fully into his face. “If the human emperor thinks that the elves—his enemies—have raised a dragon Rider to fight against him, don’t you think he’s going to try to take me out of the picture? Don’t you think he’ll want to level the playing field again?”

He sighed in frustration, running a hand over his tired face. “You’re right,” he muttered. Then he straightened, his expression hardening, becoming more determined. “We’ll have to prepare. It will take several days for the emperor to gather his armies, and several more for them to reach us. If it’s a battle they want, then they’ll get a battle.”

He started back towards the village at a brisk walk, and Eliana and Oriens followed. When they reached the outskirts of Amiscan, Caelum raised his fingers to his lips and whistled shrilly three times. Almost immediately, hundreds of elves appeared, running towards them from all directions. They formed a loose circle around the captain, dragon, and Rider. Their expressions were surprised, anxious, and confused. Eliana could tell that they knew something was about to happen.

Caelum turned slowly as he spoke, his eyes scanning the faces around him. “Soldiers,” he said, raising his voice so all could hear, “we have reason to believe that the emperor has been told about our Rider, and that he is sending his armies to destroy her—to destroy us! No one can remember the last time our war with the humans became a true battle, but it now falls on us. We must fight! This is where we begin to change history! Defend yourselves! Defend your fellow soldiers! And defend your Rider!”

The elves erupted in cheers. “No!” Eliana shouted, trying and failing to be heard over them. She seized Caelum’s arm, jerking him around to face her. “They don’t need to defend me, Caelum! Stop telling them to die for me!”

He glared at her and grabbed her roughly by the elbow, dragging her behind him as he forced his way through the still-cheering soldiers. They reached the hill that hid her quarters, out of earshot of the soldiers.

“Do you want to die?” he asked angrily.

“No,” she hissed, yanking her arm from his grasp. “But I will not let others die for me! I was the one who pledged my life to their defense, not the other way around! You cannot make them die to protect me, Caelum!”

“Don’t you think I would die for you, too?” he shouted back. “I will not watch you die uselessly, Eliana! You mean too much to these people, to this land, to everyone who wishes to see this pointless war ended. We need you! I need you!”

She blinked at him, and he drew back in apparent surprise at his own words. He took a slow step backwards. Eliana watched the old mask fall into place, the emotions that filled his eyes vanishing, his expression becoming stone.

His lips were set in a grim line as he said flatly, “When the time comes, you will not fight. You will stay in your quarters, where you will be hidden from the enemy.”

He turned away before she could respond and marched back towards his troops. She ground her teeth in anger, staring at his back. He was absurd, unreasonable, unyielding, and foolish. And she would not take orders from him. She would rather return to Vegrandis than sit, safely hidden, while the elves around her laid down their lives.

She would fight, whether Caelum liked it or not.

~*~

Two days later, the first snows of winter fell, but no one in Vegrandis took the time to appreciate them. Every elf in Amiscan had something to do, some duty to fulfill, training to complete, weapons and armor to make and mend. All around the village, swords clashed, bows twanged, and bursts of magic erupted.

An air of fearful excitement filled Amiscan. The idea of a real battle seemed to give the elves a thrill. Many had been in the village for years, but none had ever thought they would face a true battle against a human army.

Eliana stood watching, the white flakes falling around her as she rubbed the velvety nose of one of the horses that had appeared in Amiscan. They were wild animals, but they answered the elves when they summoned them. A third of the elves now had steeds, and drilled on horseback while others drilled on foot.

Caelum had not spoken to her since he’d given her his order not to fight. She was grateful for it. It was easier to make him believe she would obey the order when she didn’t have to lie to his face.

She spotted a lone figure walking along a nearby street. It was Ater, wrapped in a brown cloak, a bow in his hand. He didn’t seem to notice her. His eyes were on the ground, and he was muttering anxiously to himself something that sounded like a battle strategy. He did not look to be excited about the prospect of a battle, as so many of his comrades were.

Eliana patted the horse’s nose and stepped away, striding quickly after the young soldier as he continued into Amiscan. “Ater,” she called after him quietly. “Ater!”

He stopped and towards her. When he saw her approaching, he seemed to stiffen, and his eyes darted to either side like he was searching for an escape. She stopped several feet away, unsure of what to say to him.

He watched her warily. “Yes, Rider?” he asked, his voice tense as he forced himself to sound respectful.

Eliana bit her lip and took another step forward, she saw him twitch, like he wanted to retreat, but he remained where he was. “I… I wanted to apologize,” she said. “For what happened when you were helping me train. It was… I didn’t mean to do it.”

Ater gave a short nod, and she thought she saw him swallow hard. “Thank you,” he answered curtly. “I understand.”

It was apparent that he wanted to get away from her, but she wasn’t prepared to let him. “Caelum told me what happened to you,” she said quickly, and the young elf flinched. “I’ve met the man who did that to you. I’ve fought him twice. And he may very well be with the army when they return.”

Ater dropped his eyes, but not before she saw them become wet with fear and pain. Still, he said nothing. Cautiously, Eliana stepped up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch again. But he didn’t pull away from her.

“Will you be prepared to face that, Ater?” she asked quietly.

He raised his eyes slowly. He was as tall as she was, and he stared straight into her eyes. The terror in his eyes made him look even younger. “I don’t know,” he answered hoarsely. “I don’t know if I’m prepared for any of this.”

Sympathy welled inside of her chest, and she gave his shoulder a squeeze. “You don’t have to fight, Ater,” she said. “I can speak to Caelum. We can find you a safe place to—.”

He jerked away from her touch, cutting her off. “A place to hide?” he finished sharply. He raised his chin, looking at her with a hard, proud expression. “I am a soldier, my lady. Though I am grateful for your concern, I will not hide while my fellow elves fight.”

She blinked at his pride, startled by his courage. He was hardly more than a child, but his eyes had all of the determination of a grown man. He was facing the same army as the other elves, but he had much more reason to be afraid; he could face the very person who had tortured him and broken his mind almost beyond the point of repair.

“Is there anything else, Rider?” he asked shortly.

Eliana shook her head briefly. “No… No, that was all, Ater. Thank you.”

He gave a sharp, short bow, then turned on his heel and strode quickly away. She watched him go, his brown cloak fluttering behind him. A hand landed on Eliana’s shoulder, making her jump and turn quickly around. Iocus was grinning at her, amused. She had not seen the cheerful elf for several days; like the other elves, he had been entrenched in one task or another, preparing for the arrival of the human armies.

“Hello, Eliana,” he said, still smiling.

“Hello,” she answered breathlessly.

“Caelum wanted me to ask you to take Oriens over the tops of the mountains for a short scouting Ride. See if there’s any sign of them coming earlier than planned.”

Eliana made an irritated face. “Why doesn’t he tell me this?”

Iocus shrugged dismissively. “I suppose he’s busy. He is responsible for everything happening around here, after all.”

She sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose agitatedly. “Alright, I’ll go.”

“Good luck.”

She turned towards the center of the village and called out to Oriens, who was perched on the cliffs by the ocean, watching for the Dark sorcerer’s return. He landed just after she’d entered the circular room. She quickly saddled him, and he returned to the sky, lifting them up through the hole in the mountain.

“Why are you angry?” he asked as they crossed over the mountain’s peak.

“If he’s going to order me around, he can at least have the decency to do it himself instead of sending Iocus as his messenger boy.”

Oriens did not respond to this, and they swooped down the westward side of the mountain. Both pairs of eyes scanned the landscape for any sign of the opposing army. There was nothing to be seen but trees, streams, and grassy plains.

“I can see Vereor,” Oriens said in her mind. “Look.”

The dragon’s vision became her own, and in the distance, barely visible above the tree line, she could see the tips of the tallest buildings in the human capitol. Though she’d never been there, she knew that the tall spire that rose above the rest of the buildings was the tip of the emperor’s palace. The palace was the pride of human architecture, and people often spoke of its beauty, even in the small, tree-shrouded villages like Vegrandis.

They flew westward for several miles, towards both Iterum and Vereor. Even with Oriens’ eyesight, Eliana saw nothing, and she drew back with a sigh, returning to her own vision. The soft flakes were gathering on her shoulders, chilling her.

“Let’s go back, Oriens,” she said. “There’s nothing to see out here.”

Oriens dipped his left wing and made a wide circle, heading back to the mountains. He flew back over the peak and dropped down the nearly-invisible hole in the mountainside, which led to their home below the surface. As she dismounted, Eliana was surprise to find Iocus there, waiting patiently in the chair he had occupied before, on the day of Raena’s departure.

He stood with a broad smile as she took the saddle off of Oriens and set it on the rack against the wall. “Hello, Eliana,” he called cheerily.

She couldn’t help but return that smile. Iocus had that effect on nearly everyone; his cheeriness was inexplicably contagious. “Hello, Iocus. Did you need something?”

He shrugged in a casual way. “Just wanted to check on the result of your scouting mission.”

She shook her head as she replied, “Nothing yet. But I think we’ll fly out every day from now on, so we can see them coming.”

He nodded shortly. “Sounds brilliant.” There was a brief pause. Eliana was about to ask if there was something else when he said, “I’ve heard Caelum’s not letting you fight.”

She gave a snort. “That’s what he thinks,” she muttered.

Iocus raised his pale eyebrows in surprise. “So you will be fighting?”

Eliana bit her lip, regretting speaking out so readily. She took a breath and tried to look certain of herself, defiant. “I am a Rider, Iocus. It is my duty to fight. I won’t hide while the rest of you risk your lives.”

He nodded slowly, the smallest of smiles on his lips. “I suppose you have every right. It’s not my place—nor Caelum’s as far as I’m concerned—to tell you what to do. As you said, you are a Rider.”

She felt relieved and bolstered by his words. “So you won’t tell him?”

He smiled and shrugged. “Tell him what?”

With a little laugh, Eliana put her arms around his back and hugged him tightly. “Thank you,” she sighed with relief.

She heard him chuckle, the sound thrumming in his chest, and he returned the embrace. She started to pull back, but his arms were still securely around her back. She tilted her head to look up at him and, to her surprise, he firmly grasped her chin in one of his hands and kissed her forehead.

Eliana stiffened, frozen with uncertainty, as his lips brushed her forehead, her temple, her cheek, her jaw. Blood pounded in her ears and burned her cheeks. She felt his breath on her skin as his mouth moved towards hers, his hands firm and unyielding on her chin and waist.

Suddenly, Oriens snarled loudly, making Iocus jump and look over his shoulder at the rows of long, white teeth that were bared at him. He gave a nervous chuckle. “I don’t think he’s too happy with me,” he said. He still had one arm around her waist, his other hand under her chin.

“Um, no,” she said quietly, her voice shaking.

“I guess I should leave,” he said. He turned back to her and brushed another kiss across her forehead, earning another snarl from Oriens. Then he released her. “I’ll see you soon, Eliana,” he said.

He gave a casual wave over his shoulder, then sauntered away down the hall, apparently oblivious to the burning emerald eyes that followed him. When the elf had disappeared, Oriens’ head turned sharply back towards his Rider.

“Why did you let him do that?” he snapped in her mind. His teeth were still bared in anger, flashing in the light from the opening in the mountain above him.

Eliana drew a tremulous breath. “I- I don’t know what happened,” she answered in stuttering thoughts. “It was just… unexpected. I didn’t know what to do.”

“Can’t you tell he’s attracted to you?” he asked in disbelief.

She shook her head furiously. “This has never happened to me before!” she answered defensively. “I was a pariah all my life. How would I ever know what it looks like when someone is attracted to me?”

Eliana had exactly one semi-romantic experience in her history. She’d been attracted to a boy in Vegrandis once, when she was seven. He had been the only one not outrightly cruel to her, and had upon occasion defended her from the other children’s cruelty. Naturally, these small acts of decency had attracted her.

One day, he’d climbed a tree to look at a bird’s nest, and in her desperate need for companionship, Eliana had followed him. In her innocence, she’d kissed him on the cheek. He pushed her off the branch, and she’d ended up with a broken arm.

Since then, she’d avoided any kind of interaction with men. Until Caelum. Once again, his kindness and affection towards her—foreign as it was—had drawn her in. But now, she was a Rider. She had other duties—ones that could not be avoided, and that took precedence over her own heart.

Eliana groaned and rubbed her hands over her face.

“Well,” Oriens said, calming slightly, “now you know.” His lips fell back over his menacing teeth so that he no longer snarled at his Rider.

“Yes, but what do I do about it?” she asked desperately.

“You’re not going to allow that to happen again, are you?”

“No!”

“Well, he must have done it because he believes you return his affection. You must make it clear that you don’t.”

She sighed. “But how?”

Oriens shrugged his massive shoulders. “I am a dragon, Eliana. I don’t know how to handle the miniscule affairs of two-leggers.”

She scowled at her dragon. The problem hardly seemed miniscule to her, but she had no more answer for it than Oriens.

~*~

As fate would have it, Eliana did not need to address the situation quite as soon as she’d feared. Iocus once again became inescapably busy, and she did not cross paths with him again for several days. The other elves, engrossed in their own tasks, did not pay her much attention, which gave her the opportunity to train without raising anyone’s suspicions.

The troops had all been told of Caelum’s plans to hide and protect their Rider, and all seemed to agree with this course of action. Eliana feared that, if any of the elves saw her training, they would report it to Caelum, and the captain would find some way of making absolutely certain she could not enter the battle.

So, each day, Oriens and Eliana flew to a secluded field, away from the rest of the soldiers, and did their own training. They practiced aerial maneuvers, he advised her as she practiced her magic, and he helped her to strengthen her mental defenses. She realized very quickly that her own dragon should have been training her all along. He knew her mind better than she did, and she soon became good enough that she could block out Oriens himself.

On Caelum’s orders—given, of course, through other elves—they flew out in the continuing snowfall each day to check for the approach of their enemies. On the fourth day, the snow had finally stopped falling, and Eliana mounted Oriens for another flight over the mountains. They rose over the snow-crested peak, enjoying the warmth of the once-elusive sun.

As they descended the western side of the mountain once again, they became tense and alert, searching for the enemy. They both knew that the day of the army’s arrival had to be close, and they searched for signs of life in the thick trees below them.

A flash of movement caught Eliana’s attention from the corner of her eye. She turned her head towards it and saw a volley of arrows soaring towards them. She shouted to Oriens in her mind, but she knew he would not be able to avoid them all. She quickly stretched out her right hand and summoned a burst of wind beneath them. The arrows scattered and fell back to the earth.

“Go Oriens! Back to Amiscan!” she screamed in her mind.

She needn’t have bothered. Oriens had already reversed his path and was racing back up the mountain. They burst over the peak and descended rapidly towards the army outpost. The dragon dove towards a field, braking with his wings at the last possible moment. His claws dug trenches in the grass as he landed in the field outside of Amiscan.

Their rapid return had caught the elves’ attention, and they were gathering, looking at her anxiously. Her eyes scanned the crowd, searching for the army’s leader. His face appeared, moving towards her through the gathering army.

She dismounted and ran to meet him, stopping in front of him, panting, her violet eyes wide. Finally, she managed to gain enough breath to relay the news she had brought.

“They’re here!”