Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

“Eliana!” Caelum shouted. “I know that you can do better than that, now fight like it matters!”

She ground her teeth and plunged forward, swinging the sword with all of her strength. He easily blocked her strike and stepped around her, smacking her lightly on the back with the flat of his blunted blade.

“Stop rushing!” he barked, like he was a commanding officer training a soldier. “Think before you attack!”

Eliana let her sword hang down by her side, breathing heavily. “Caelum, this is ridiculous,” she panted. “This isn’t even a fair fight. You’re stronger and faster than I am! You’re an elf, and I’m just—.”

His sword rushed upwards and pointed at her throat. Eliana stiffened and looked down its shining length to his burning blue eyes on the other end, reminding her of the first time she’d seen him, pointing a sword at her on the bank of a river.

“Don’t you say it,” he growled under his breath. “You are an elf. Now stand and act like one!”

He lowered the sword and gave her a hard shove with his left hand, making her stumble backwards. She caught herself, then scowled at him.

“What is wrong with you?” she snapped.

He smiled in his usual, disarming way, and some of her anger dissipated. “You asked me to teach you, didn’t you? So I’m teaching you. Now, are you ready to learn?”

Eliana gave a curt nod and lifted her sword, sliding into the fighting stance he had taught her.

“Good,” he said with a satisfied smile. “Now, you need to relax. Don’t use your anger to fight. Your anger will work against you. It makes you foolish. It makes you take stupid risks. So control it. Rein it in. If you can control your emotions, you can control your body. And once you can control your body, you can control your magic.”

She took a slow breath and tried to clear her mind, calming herself. He’d had her practicing meditation for two weeks now, and she took her mind into the calm, open state of meditation, thinking of nothing but what was happening around her in that moment.

She watched as Caelum’s feet slid into the same fighting stance and he raised his own sword. This time, she waited for him to move first. In one swift movement, he stepped forwards and swung his blade towards her head. She quickly lifted her sword and blocked the blade. She used his sword’s momentum to force it downwards, away from her, and brought her own sword back up towards his chest.

She still had not learned to anticipate his speed, and he quickly dodged her thrust and moved to her side. He brought his sword downwards again in a shining arc. She blocked the swing and stepped sideways, dancing away from his flashing blade. He moved forward again, coming towards her and swinging the sword low.

Eliana jumped backwards, and she spotted an opening. She parried a quick inwards strike and raised her sword towards his neck. But once again, his speed surprised her, and he ducked away, spinning behind her.

She turned quickly to face him, sword raised to block the next attack. To her surprise, she found Caelum standing with his sword resting at his side, his lips curved into a small smile. Eliana lowered her sword, panting, and tilted her head to one side, confused by the sudden cessation of action.

“Well done,” he said, smiling still. “If I had been human, you would have easily bested me.”

Her lips curved a little in self-satisfaction. “Too bad it took me two weeks to figure it out.”

He laughed and stepped up to her, putting a hand on her flushed cheek. He smiled at her. "You've done well," he said, and her pink cheeks turned a shade darker. "When you learn to not let your anger control you, you're actually quite a good fighter."

Over the past two weeks, she had spent nearly every waking hour with Caelum. He drilled her at the sword, showed her the city, and sat telling her stories about his life growing up in Iterum. He accompanied her to the library and sat with her through Mara's lessons about elven history. His gentle attentions was nearly impossible for her to ignore, unused to it as she was, but it no longer unsettled her—at least, not in the usual way.

Eliana blinked and pulled back from the touch on her cheek. "Yes, well, you're a good teacher," she answered quickly.

He returned his sword to the rack at the edge of the practice field, and Eliana did the same. “That’s enough for today,” he said, stretching his arms skyward. “Tomorrow, we’ll begin on archery.”

“Archery?” she repeated. “I thought you said we’d do magic.”

He shook his head. “Sword, then archery, then magic. You need to learn more control before Mara and I can teach you magic.”

“But I’ve already used it!”

“You’ve used human spells,” he corrected her, “and you only used elven magic once, by chance. Elven magic is much more attached to your emotions, your state of mind, than human sorcery. All elves learn this way. First, you must learn to control yourself, to check your mind and your emotions. You can’t control the earth’s magic without first being able to control your own mind.”

She was about to argue, but something stopped her. At the back of her mind, there was a feeling of frantic confusion, a sense of distress. She froze, staring past Caelum. Then, with a shock, she realized what the feeling was. She bolted towards the palace.

The elf paused for a moment in surprise, then followed, quickly catching up to her. “What’s the matter?” he asked, drawing up beside her.

“It’s the egg,” she panted, her voice desperate and panicked. “Something’s wrong. I- I don’t know what. But I can feel it. Something is wrong.”

He passed her and yanked open the palace doors for her. They darted past the startled guard, who called after them, “My lord! What is the matter?”

They continued without a response, passing Domus and bolting through the back doors to the courtyard. They bounded up the spiraling stairs to Eliana’s bedroom. It looked undisturbed, except for the shelf above the bed. The dirty fabric of the sling was still crumpled on the shelf, where Eliana had left it. But the egg that had rested on top of the fabric two hours before was gone.

Panic clutched at her heart, stopping a breath in her throat. Gone… she thought. It’s gone… But it can’t be gone! I promised…

A flash of white darted into the room from the bridge. It was Astrum, his golden eyes bright, his white fur ruffled as he looked up at them. “This way!” he called without pretense.

Neither Caelum nor Eliana questioned him as they followed the swift fox across the bridge and into Caelum’s home. They crossed the room without hesitation and jumped through the large, round window that opened onto the balcony. Astrum leapt onto the balcony railing, then soared to the top of the stone wall several feet away. Caelum followed with hesitation, but Eliana halted on the balcony.

She stared at them, standing on the top of the wall, which suddenly seemed to be so far away. The fox and the elf stopped and looked back at her.

“Jump!” Caelum shouted.

She shook her head and took a step back. “I can’t! I’ll go around, through the palace, and catch up with you on the other side.”

“There is no time, Eliana,” Astrum said, his smooth voice calm, yet urgent. “She will destroy your egg. She will kill that dragon if you do not stop her. And you will not reach her in time if you go back through the palace.”

Her heart was beating in her throat. “It’s too far.”

“Eliana!” Caelum shouted at her. “Stop doubting yourself! Now have a little faith, and jump!”

She took a breath and ran forward, vaulting off of the balcony’s wooden railing. The ground rushed by, a hundred feet below. Her feet struck the edge of the stone wall with a jarring sensation. Immediately, her left foot began to slip off the edge, and she teetered backwards.

One of Caelum’s arms seized her by the waist and pulled her away from the edge, pressing her close to his side. “See?” he said. “I told you that you could do it.”

“We must hurry,” Astrum urged.

The Seer turned and leapt from the top of the wall to a branch of a large tree near the opposite side. Caelum and Eliana followed, slipping nimbly down between the branches before dropping to the ground. The moment their feet touched the earth, they sprinted forward again, following the fox’s white tail through the trees.

Eliana’s heart was pounding, her breath burning in her lungs, but she did not stop. In her mind, she was seeing the tiny, jewel-toned bodies of seven baby dragons, slaughtered and ripped from their eggs. She would not allow that to happen to this egg. Not to her egg…

They had reached the wide river that she had crossed with Caelum two weeks before, and were running along its bank, heading east. Ahead of them, the churning white rapids vanished over the edge of a waterfall. There, where the swift, churning water disappeared, stood a thin figure with long, blonde hair, twisted into a braid down her back.

She was facing away from them, but Eliana could see the egg in her hands. The golden orb hovered over the edge of the waterfall, with only the slim, pale hand of the thief keeping it from plunging to the icy water and rocks below.

An animal rage swelled inside Eliana, and her lips drew back in a snarl, as if she were prepared to tear out the thief’s throat to protect her hatchling. “Stop!” she roared.

The woman jumped and turned towards the sound of her voice. The egg fell from her hands and clattered onto the rocky shoreline, coming to a halt just on the edge of the roaring waterfall. Their gazes met for a brief moment, and Eliana recognized the blue eyes, so full of hatred, the pale, lovely face. Then the thief turned and bolted into the woods.

Eliana let her go, her eyes on the egg. She dropped to her knees beside the golden orb and hastily picked it up off of the riverbank. Immediately, she knew that something was not right. The egg seemed to be humming, vibrating in her hands as she held it. A crack had appeared along the shell.

A brief moment of panic seized her. It’s not possible, she thought. A fall couldn’t break a dragon’s egg. The crack lengthened, and a stream of light appeared along the jagged line. And then, she realized what was happening. In a panic, she looked up at where Astrum and Caelum had stopped. The elf’s eyes were wide with wonder. The Seer watched her with a calm, knowing expression on his pointed face, idling swishing his tail.

“What do I do?” she asked frantically.

Seeing the panic in her eyes, Caelum started to step forward.

“Don’t,” Astrum said quietly. Caelum stopped like someone had cracked a whip. “We cannot interfere. This is between Eliana and her dragon.”

My dragon? she thought. She looked back down at the egg. The light streaming through the crack in the shell seemed to grow brighter. The hatchling had pushed away a chip, and she spotted one tiny, white claw, trying to break away more of the hard casing. The tiny dragon worked away at it for several minutes, slowly widening the hole.

Then the movement stopped, and the glow from within the egg dimmed. Through the hole in the shell, Eliana could see one large, green eye peering at her. In her mind, she felt the hatchling’s exhaustion. She lifted one hand from under the shell and reached for the hole, prepared to use magic to help the hatchling escape his little prison.

“You mustn’t do that.”

She looked up at Astrum’s calm, quiet voice, her hand hovering over the shell. “Why not?” she asked.

“Escaping from the shell is what makes a young dragon strong. He must use his physical strength and his own magic to escape. If he does not do it alone, he will forever be weakened.”

Eliana lowered her hand and set the egg on the rocks in front of where she knelt, watching it intently, Caelum and Astrum nearby. After another moment of stillness, the egg began to hum and glow again. It rocked on the riverbank, pieces of golden shell slowly being chipped away. Suddenly, the light from within glowed brighter, and then there was a burst of golden light.

Eliana and Caelum both raised an arm to shield their eyes from the brilliance of the glow. The egg burst in an explosion of gold light, and the shining, wet hatchling tumbled out onto the dark rocks in a heap of scales and shell fragments. Eliana watched in wonder as the spindly creature pulled himself onto his four feet, his wings drooping heavily at his sides, wet with membrane.

He shook his angular, serpent-like head and blinked his eyelids, then turned and began to pull the membrane from his wings, devouring it with surprising ferocity for such a small creature. When he had eaten the membrane, the hatchling rubbed his muzzle on his own scales, then looked around him.

He made a chirruping noise, tilting his head from side to side as he surveyed his surroundings. He waddled over the rocks a few steps, looking questioningly at the forest, then up at the skies. Eliana leaned forward, prepared to comfort the lost-looking creature.

“He must come to you,” Astrum said quietly, stopping her before she even reached for the hatchling. “It is the only way for the bond to be properly forged.”

She leaned back, fiddling with anxiety as she watched the hatchling turn towards the sound of Astrum’s voice. He tilted his small head to one side, eyeing first the fox, then Caelum. He seemed to be contemplating something, making a very serious decision in his minutes-old mind. Then, he turned away from them and, for the first time, looked at Eliana.

The hatchling fixed her with its brilliant green gaze, and a rainbow of colors immediately streamed across her mind. Warmth and love for the little dragon welled inside of her unexpectedly as she watched him struggle over the rocks, making his way across the few feet that separated them.

When he was within reach, Eliana held out her hand to him, like she would to an unfamiliar dog. The hatchling stopped and looked at the upraised palm, then up at her face. He chirruped questioningly, tilting his head to the side in a bird-like manner, watching her with one eye.

She sat patiently, holding the emerald-colored gaze. Then, the hatchling closed his eyes and lowered his muzzle to her palm, nuzzling at her skin. A sudden burning sensation flared up in her palm, and there was a glow of golden light around the dragon’s muzzle.

Eliana yelped and jumped back as the pain shot up her arm. The hatchling squawked in surprise, tumbling backwards onto the rocks. She pulled her hand into her chest, cradling it as the pain ebbed.

“What was that?” she asked sharply.

“He has marked you,” Astrum said, the fox version of a grin on his muzzle. “You are now bonded, and you belong to one another. You, Eliana, are now a Sky Rider.”

She looked down at her hand. In the center of her palm was the shape of a flame. It seemed to shine slightly in the sunlight, giving off warm golden tones. Gingerly, she touched the fingers of her left hand to it. The mark was smoother and warmer than the rest of her skin.

The hatchling, shaking his head vigorously, had pulled himself to his feet again, and was now looking at Eliana with something like a reprimand in his eyes. In her mind, Eliana saw a cloud of gray, and she could feel a sense of irritation.

Despite herself, she laughed at the child dragon’s indignation. “I’m sorry,” she said, holding her hand out to him again. “Come here, little one. I promise, I won’t do it again.”

The hatchling blinked, then waddled towards her eagerly. He came up to her knees, and placed his front claws hesitantly on her lap, looking up at her questioningly. She gently stroked his head with three fingers. He closed his eyes, and she heard him hum deep in his throat, a high-pitched, musical sound.

Then he climbed up into her lap, curled around himself, and let out a heavy sigh. A wave of calming blue swept through Eliana’s mind, and she felt the tiny dragon drift off to sleep. She stared down at the creature in her lap, her hand resting atop his thin, folded wings.

“Incredible,” she heard Caelum whisper. “I never imagined I’d see the day when a dragon and Rider returned to Paerolia.”

She continued staring at the golden infant cradled in her lap, and panic seized her. She felt like a young mother whose child is thrust into her arms for the first time. How was she supposed to care for this fragile life for which she was the sole protector? How would she hide him from the elves? What would he eat? How quickly would he grow?

She no longer wondered how long she would be responsible for him. Her thoughts of caring for him only until he was big enough to defend himself were cast out of her mind forever. Her heart was now chained to this tiny golden creature, and the thought of parting from him would have been too much for her to even bear considering.

Eliana looked up at Caelum and Astrum. “What am I supposed to do with him?” she asked anxiously.

Caelum stepped over to her and squatted beside her, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “It will be alright. You don’t have to care for him alone. Astrum, Mara, and I will do everything in our power to help you.”

“But how are we supposed to hide him?” Eliana asked desperately. “Especially as he grows. Someone is bound to notice a dragon living in the palace courtyard, Caelum.”

He paused, considering this, but Astrum spoke before Caelum had a chance to respond. “Eliana is right, Caelum. There is no use hiding the dragon, nor Eliana’s heritage any longer. It is a small wonder that Raena, in her jealousy, has not already revealed Eliana’s bloodline to the queen. It is time for all secrets to be revealed. It will be best for your mother to hear this from you, rather than from Raena or another.”

Caelum sighed, running a hand over his face. “It will not be easy to tell her…” he muttered. He looked at Eliana and confessed, “You see… there are some among the elves who are like the humans. The old hatred runs deep, and they fear change. My mother is one of those. I feared how she would react if she learned what you were.”

Eliana sighed, looking back at the sleeping dragon in her lap, irritation gnawing at her, her ferocious pride wounded by his words. “All the more reason to tell her then,” Eliana said firmly and quietly. “If she does not wish to have a half-blood living in her city, then the truth should not be kept from her any longer.” She lifted her head proudly, the way her father had taught her. “Let her pass judgment on me if she wishes.”

Caelum blew out a sharp breath, pushing aside a lock of blonde hair from his forehead. “Very well then,” he said quietly.

He straightened, and Eliana stood as well, attempting to cradle the sleeping dragon in her arms. The animal made a grunting noise of irritation and lifted his head. He looked around himself briefly, then scrambled up Eliana’s arm, his tiny claws scratching her along the way, and perched on her shoulder.

Briefly, he nuzzled her cheek with his tiny muzzle, and she smiled at him, then followed Astrum and Caelum back towards the palace. The thief and her identity had been forgotten. Eliana's dragon, and her true identity, were about to be revealed.