Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

They camped at the base of the mountains that night, their great size looming over the army, casting a shadow over them. The closeness of something so ancient and legendary gave Eliana an eerie feeling, as if she had been pulled into one of the terrifying tales from her childhood—and she felt certain she was the unwary villager who got eaten first.

“You have nothing to fear,” Oriens said, curling around her as they took the third watch. “I am here to protect you. I’m scarier than anything we could find in those woods.”

Eliana chuckled and patted his head. “I know. I should stop my imagination from running away with me.”

Oriens began to hum softly, the sound throbbing against her back in a comforting rhythm, sounding out an ancient, unrecognizable tune. She didn’t worry about it lulling her to sleep, as it normally would have; once again, her own thoughts kept her from slipping into the comforts of the dream world.

She remained where she was, staring into the star-flecked sky, even after one of Felsen’s men came to take over for the last watch. Trying to flee from her own frightened thoughts, Eliana engrossed her mind in Oriens’ dreams. They were comforting, filled with bright spring sunshine and light, soft clouds that left a layer of moisture on his scales as he flew through them.

When at last she pulled herself away from his world, the sun was rising over the now-distant eastern cliffs of Paerolia. The camp was just beginning to stir. The earliest risers began to prepare breakfast for the rest of the camp, stirring pots of stew and cutting what few pieces of fruit they had left.

Eliana took a bowl from one of the men stirring the pot and settled herself onto the grass beside the fire, bowl in hand. A moment later, someone settled down beside her. She looked up in surprise to find herself being watched by a pair of serious eyes in a child-like face. His blonde hair was disheveled and his tunic dirty from the days of travel.

“Hello, Iocus,” she said uncertainly. She’d lost track of how many days or weeks it had been since they’d last spoken. “What brings you here?”

“You know,” he said sharply, “you could have simply told me you had no interest for me.”

Eliana looked down at her bowl, embarrassment burning its way to the tip of her ears. “I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I didn’t know what to say without offending you.”

A humorless laugh escaped his lips. “I am not quite as weak as you think I am. I don’t allow mere words to wound me so easily.”

She looked up at him and repeated, “I’m sorry. Really, I am.”

Iocus shrugged, looking off at something in the distance. After a moment, he turned back to her, the old smile suddenly back on his face. “Ah, well, I should have guessed that a Rider would prefer the prince and captain over a lowly soldier like me.”

She gave a relieved laugh, then sobered herself enough to say, “If you don’t mind keeping that bit of information to yourself—at least for now—I would greatly appreciate it.”

His grin turned mischievous. “Oh, I see! Secret affair, is it? Very well. Your wish is my command, Rider! So long as you promise we can remain friends.” He fixed her with another serious look and said quietly, “I want you to know that you can trust me, Eliana. Whatever is on your mind, I should like it if you felt you could confide in me.”

She gave him a small smile and a brief nod. “I should like that as well.”

Eliana turned her attention back to her bowl, falling into friendly, idle conversation with the elf beside her. It was somewhat of a relief to have her friend back; she needed as many friends as she could get now. Too soon, she found herself looking at the bowl’s wooden bottom. As much as she wished for seconds, she knew rations were strict, and would remain so until this was all over. As she attempted to scrape out the last bits of carrot, a voice called her.

Her heart leapt, as it always did, as she searched for the face to match the voice. She found him standing a few feet away, watching the elf beside her carefully. Eliana bid Iocus farewell, then trotted off to stand in front of Caelum.

“Don’t look so stern,” she laughed quietly. “You’ll frighten away your own troops.”

The edges of his mouth softened, though he still frowned. “What did he want?” he asked, gesturing with his chin in Iocus’ direction.

“Nothing,” she answered. He looked at her doubtfully, and she sighed. “Really, Caelum, it’s all been settled. I promise, Iocus knows where we stand now, and he won’t cause any more trouble.”

“You’re sure?”

“Completely.”

He visibly relaxed, uncrossing his arms and smiling a little. “Am I being ridiculous?”

“Completely and utterly ridiculous,” she replied with a laugh. “Though I’ll admit, it’s rather endearing.”

He moved forward as if to take her in his arms, but Caedis suddenly appeared beside him. “We’re ready,” the man said curtly; it was apparent he still had bitter feelings about answering to an elf.

Caelum hastily stepped backwards and, with a firm nod, sent Caedis trotting away. He looked at her again, his blue eyes filled with yearning. “I guess we should get going then,” he said quietly.

“I suppose so.”

He hesitated for a moment, then turned away and headed for his tent. Eliana sighed, her body pining for his embrace, but she turned and walked back to Oriens. The dragon was still sleeping on the outskirts of the camp. She tossed her things into her traveling pack and tied it to the saddle.

“Wake up, you lazy dragon!” she shouted at him, prodding his nose with the toe of her boot.

Oriens growled slightly as he lifted his head, but she sensed the jesting attitude behind the threatening noise. “Haven’t I told you to never wake a sleeping dragon?” he grumbled sleepily.

“Haven’t I told you not to sleep your life away?” she retorted.

“No. And I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t, because that is precisely what I intend to do once I eat Nocens and Peior.”

Eliana laughed and hefted the saddle onto his back. Her body instinctually went through the motions of swinging over his neck and securing the straps around his belly and legs. She had done it so many times, she was fairly confident she could do it with her eyes closed. They were both soon ready to go, and they waited patiently for the rest of the troops to assemble.

“I could have slept longer,” Oriens grumbled.

Eliana spotted Caelum coming toward them through the crowd, his large map in his hand. His face was that of the army captain, stern and serious. He knelt in front of her and spread the map on the ground. She squatted beside him.

Pointing at the mountains labeled “Kaer Mountain Range” he said, “There is only one way to get through these mountains, and that’s here—the Vodaer Pass.”

“Do we have to go through?” she asked. “Is there no way around?”

“There is,” he answered as he straightened and rolled up the map again, “but it would add at least another fortnight to our journey, which is a length of time that we can’t spare. We’ll go through the Vodaer.”

She didn’t want to argue with him, but she felt the need to point out one more thing about this last leg of their journey. “There are monsters in those mountains, Caelum. Terrible monsters. They could destroy our entire company.”

He nodded grimly. “I know. We have our own stories about these mountains, and none of them are pleasant. But it’s a chance we’ll have to take. We’ll increase the number of men on watch and keep several watch fires burning. Hopefully that will be enough to keep the monsters at bay.”

“And if it’s not?”

“Then the gods help us.”

As the troops began their march into the Vodaer Pass, Eliana and Oriens took the sky. However, it only took a few minutes in the air for her to realize that there was no way for them to see the men through the dense trees. Not even Oriens’ sharp vision could penetrate the thick canopy.

She relayed this information to Caelum, and he replied, “You’ll have to walk with us. The trees are large, but they’re far apart down in the pass. Oriens should be able to fit between them.”

They returned to the ground, and Oriens’ long stride quickly carried them to the front of the throng. Even from her high vantage point on Oriens’ back, the lowest branches of the forest were several feet above Eliana’s head. She gazed up at them in wonder. The trees seemed to have grown in proportion to the massive mountain on which they stood. They were the largest she had ever seen—larger, even, than the trees in the Eilol Forest, outside of Iterum.

Beneath the dense canopy, the world was thrown into semi-twilight. The air smelled dank, and thick moss grew on the tree trunks. The only plants that managed to live in such a dark and wet place were a few hardy ferns.

Something about the eternal dusk set Eliana on edge. The rest of the brigade seemed to feel the same; there was a tangible tension in the air. Everyone who had a sword or ax clasped the hilt with white knuckles. Every bow was at its owner’s side, an arrow resting on the string.

Torches had been lit in the hopes that the fires would keep away what monsters lurked in the shadows. The flickering flames sent strange, shadowy shapes across theer path and did nothing to alleviate Eliana’s heightened anxiety.

Nobody spoke for the whole of that day, and when they set up camp for the night, there was no need to establish a watch; nobody slept. Several large fires were set up around the perimeter of the campsite in the hopes of warding off the creatures of the night. Even Oriens, large and intimidating as he was, seemed tense and worried.

Eliana sensed his anxiety and asked, “I thought you were scarier than anything in these forests. What are you frightened of?”

“Only the darkest parts of the unknown,” he answered ominously. “Something is not right about these mountains. No man should be here. We should get through them as quickly as possible.”

She wished she hadn’t asked. If her dragon was frightened, there seemed to be few reasons for her not to be. Whatever fatigue she’d felt from the length of the journey disappeared behind her anxiety to leave the Kaers. She spent the whole of that night against Oriens’ side, her sword across her knees and her eyes staring into the shadows of the trees.

They set off again before the pure blackness of night had changed to the dull twilight of the day. After an uneventful night, people were more at ease. Perhaps they were only stories, the things they’d heard about these mountains. After all, they were just mountains.

But Oriens was still tense and agitated, and so Eliana remained on edge as well.

Late into that day’s journey, Caelum suddenly stopped beside her. She looked down at him from where she sat in Oriens’ saddle. “What is it?” she asked, sliding down to land beside him.

He crouched and touched the ground. By now, the troops had stopped behind them and were trying to peer over one another to see what the matter was. “Look at these tracks,” he whispered.

She squatted next to him and studied the ground. She was no tracker by any means, but she immediately noticed what appeared to be excessively large paw prints in the dirt between patches of moss. Beside the paw prints were four-toed footprints as long as her forearm.

She looked up at Caelum. “What are they?” she breathed.

His face was stern. “Our stories say that creatures familiar to us change when they have lived in the Kaers. They become massive and vicious, wild and untamable beasts.” He splayed out his hands beside each other inside the pad of the paw print. They barely spanned the width of the pad. “My guess is that these belong to a mountain wolf of the Kaers. The others I’m not certain of, but I think they may be goblins of some sort.”

He stood and brushed the dirt from his hands. Every pair of eyes in the company was directed at him. They were tense and frightened. Eliana couldn’t blame them. This meant all of the stories—all of the nightmares—were true.

“Was the wolf stalking the goblin?” she asked.

“That’s what disturbs me most,” Caelum answered tensely, glancing around. “I think they were traveling together. And there was more than one pair.”

He led them to another spot of exposed earth not far from the first. Similar tracks marked the ever-damp soil there as well.

“Why would so many goblins and Kaer wolves be traveling together?” Eliana asked nervously.

“I don’t know, but whatever the reason, it doesn’t bode well for us.”

Eliana looked up at the soldiers who were watching them intently, waiting for someone to tell them what to do, for a plan that would eliminate this new threat. There was none. With a short command from their captain, the company moved forward again, the tension and fear around them higher than ever before.

Eliana threw her mind outwards, searching every shadow for an unfamiliar presence. Everything was eerily still. She sensed no life at all, aside from the troops and trees around them. Was it always like this in the Kaer Forests? Or was something amiss?

Suddenly, her mind stumbled upon a hulking life force hidden deep within the shadows. Oriens sensed it as well and jerked to a halt beside her, whipping his head towards the trees with a low, ominous hiss. Once again, everyone immediately halted.

Eliana stared at the darkness beneath the trees, every muscle in her body coiled, her magic at her fingertips. Whatever she had sensed was now moving, creeping forward slowly. A pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared in the shadows, as high as a horse’s head, moving ever closer.

A threatening growl rumbled through the forest, and the great shadow before her sunk low to the ground. Eliana held perfectly still, waiting for the creature to move, to reveal itself fully. The rumbling growl was suddenly interrupted by a deafening roar from beside her, and a jet of blue flame momentarily lit up the darkness.

The shadow yelped in surprise and pain, and retreated back into the shadows. Oriens closed his jaws, cutting off the flame, and snorted in a satisfied fashion, releasing a cloud of smoke into the air. Eliana’s heart was pounding rapidly in her chest.

“That was one of them,” Oriens told her, “one of the Kaer wolves.”

A commotion erupted amid the ranks. They wanted to turn back; they hadn’t signed on for facing wolves the size of horses. Shouts from disagreeing parties rang beneath the trees.

“What do we do?” Eliana asked, extending her thoughts to both Caelum and Oriens.

Before either of them could answer, a nearby voice bellowed, “Shut your bloomin’ mouths!”

Everyone looked around in surprise for the source of the commanding shout. Eliana looked down to see Felsen glaring angrily at the men, dwarves, and elves in front of him.

“You think you’re any better off heading back the way we came?” he barked. “I dare you to go back! See how long you last when your numbers are smaller and you’re heading right back along the scent trail we’ve left. We’re halfway through the pass and no harm has come to us yet. So you want to turn back? Do it! See where that lands you, you cowards!”

There was a moment of stunned silence. Nobody attempted to argue with the dwarf.

Caelum stepped forward, raising his voice so the entire army could hear. “Those who wish to turn back the way we came may do so now.” Nobody moved. He paused a long moment before continuing. “Very well. Then we move on.”

They pressed onwards through the trees for the remainder of the day. Eliana didn’t sense the wolf’s presence any longer, nor that of any other creature, which still unsettled her. When the night came, twice as many fires were built so that the campsite glowed brighter than the forest did during the middle of the day.

Most members of the party stayed awake through the early hours of the night, their dark-rimmed eyes staring warily out into the trees. As the night wore on, fatigue overpowered the majority of them. Eyelids began to droop and chins fell onto chests. No watch had been established.

Just before dawn, a woman’s scream tore through the camp, awakening all who had managed to fall asleep. Eliana leapt to her feet, yanking her sword from its sheath and racing towards the source of the commotion. Soldiers were bolting in the opposite direction, fleeing from whatever terror had arrived, making it difficult for her to move forward.

Suddenly, in the light from the watch fires, she saw the figure of a nine-foot creature looming over the campsite, a soldier in each hand, dangling upside down by their ankles. The men screamed and kicked at the beast with all their might, but without effect. The creature was gazing at them with a hunger that made Eliana shudder.

She raised her right hand, sending a ball of flame at the monster. The magic struck the creature in the gut. It blinked, then turned to look down at her. Its beady eyes narrowed in anger as it recognized her as the source of the attack. Dropping the screaming men to the ground, it charged at her with a bellow.

She continued to throw spell after spell at the approaching creature, but none seemed to have any effect. She could hear Oriens fighting his way through the trees, trying to avoid crushing anyone and anything under his feet, roaring in frustration at his inability to reach her. The large, dirty hands of the creature extended towards her.

Something struck her from the side and threw her to the ground. She grunted in surprise and pain.

“What are you doing, Eliana?” Caelum shouted as he climbed off of her, breathing hard. “That’s an ogre! They’re not affected by magic!”

“How in the gods’ names could I have known that?” she shot back. “I didn’t even know what it was!”

They both peered around the trunk of the tree they’d tumbled behind to find the ogre looking around in confusion. It frowned, making its bluish skin wrinkle around its great gash of a mouth, and scratched at its hairy head with a large, grubby finer. It was obvious that the monster could not figure out where its target had disappeared to.

As the dumbfounded beast tried to solve this difficult riddle, Oriens reached it, fangs flashing angrily. The golden dragon bit into the ogre’s shoulder, drawing a bellowing shout from his opponent. A massive blue fist swung and collided with Oriens’ head, breaking his grip. The dragon stumbled away with a groan, shaking his head.

Eliana’s own skull rang with pain. But she shook it off and rushed to her dragon’s aid.

“Eliana!” Caelum called after her in obvious exasperation.

The ogre had its back to her as it made an advance on the stunned Oriens. She raised her sword and sliced through the back of the monster’s thigh. It bellowed in pain and turned around. As it did so, an arrow flew from behind her and struck it in the cheek. She glanced over her shoulder to find Caelum rushing forward, looking irritated.

Oriens had recovered his wits and jumped onto the ogre’s back, sinking claws and fangs in wherever he could reach. It roared in pain again and tried to grab hold of its attacker. When it couldn’t reach, the ogre proceeded to run repeatedly backwards into a nearby tree. Every time Oriens was slammed against the massive trunk, pain reverberated in Eliana’s body.

“Oriens!” she screamed. “Let go!”

The ogre slammed him against the tree once more. This time, Oriens shoved his powerful hind legs into the ogre’s back, sending the creature tumbling forwards, crushing a wagon and several tents beneath it. The dragon crouched low to the ground in front of the tree, watching his opponent as it rose to its feet.

It turned its small, black eyes on the dragon. Oriens let out a deep, threatening snarl. The ogre gave a shout of fear and thundered off into the dark forest, the sound of its pounding feet slowly receding.

Eliana rushed to Oriens’ side as he slowly stood, his golden sides heaving with labored breaths, his body trembling. “Oriens, are you alright?” she asked anxiously.

He gave her a small, reassuring smile. “Of course, little one. You didn’t think a silly little ogre would get the better of me, did you?”

She gave a shaky, relieved laugh and answered him silently, “Of course not. Who could possibly get the better of a dragon like you?”

“Precisely,” he smirked.

Caelum was suddenly beside them, but his concern was not focused on the dragon. “Are you alright?” he asked breathlessly, taking Eliana by the shoulders and looking down at her, as if searching for a sign of injury. When she nodded, his expression turned from concern to irritation. “That was a series of fool things to do, Eliana. How are we supposed to win a war when our most important weapon insists on trying to get herself killed?”

She scowled at him and answered bitterly, “I’m sorry if my trying to save two of our men interferes with your battle strategies, Captain.”

As she began to turn away, he seized her arm, stopping her. “Will you let me finish?” he asked quietly, turning her to face him. “What would I do if anything happened to you?”

Eliana sighed, letting go for her irritation, and took a small step away from him. “You don’t always need to protect me, Caelum. I am not a child.”

He nodded slowly. “I know. I’ve watched your training for a long time. I know you can fight. But I also know you’re reckless, and you’re willing to give your life for any individual in our ranks. That is what worries me.”

She shook her head, unwilling to push this subject further, knowing it would only end in another argument. “We should see if we can get everyone together and have Ispera and Laurus Heal the injured.” She silently added to her dragon, “You stay here and rest, my brave little dragon. You’ve earned it.”

It wasn’t long before people began to emerge from within the woods, some of them leading the horses that had bolted at the ogre’s appearance. Only the two men who had been grabbed by the ogre had sustained any injuries—several cuts and bruises, and a few broken bones. Ispera and Laurus tended to them quickly and easily.

The damage to the camp was where most of the trouble lay. Some of their supplies had been crushed by the ogre’s massive feet, and many tents lay in tatters from its fight with Oriens. They gathered what things they could salvage, and packed it all onto the horses, putting the two injured men on horseback as well. Then they set off for that day’s journey.

Just one more day, Eliana thought to herself. Just one more day.