Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

Eliana awoke with the light of early dawn touching her face. At first, the rushing of the river nearby disoriented her, and she sat up, blinking in confusion. The first thing she spotted was the elf. Caelum lay on the grass a few feet away, his arms folded behind his head. He turned his blue eyes on her when he saw her sit up.

“Ah, you’re awake,” he said, sitting up as well.

She looked at the ground beside her and found the egg right where she’d left it, close to the base of the now-extinguished fire. She picked it up and felt the hard, smooth surface. It was warm again. She breathed a sigh of relief, and prayed that she’d warmed it quickly enough.

“How’s the egg?” Caelum asked from where he sat.

“I think it’s alright,” she answered. “It feels warm at least.”

“Can you sense the hatchling inside?”

She looked up at him. “I… hadn’t thought of that,” she said slowly.

He moved to her side. “Well, I don’t know much about dragons, but I do know that elves can often sense the presence of an unborn creature, either inside the womb or in the egg. Have you ever done that?”

Eliana shook her head.

“Can you sense the presence of creatures around you?”

She nodded. “If I try.”

Caelum gestured at the egg in her lap. “Then try.”

She looked down at the egg, resting both hands on top of it. She hesitated for a moment. What if she couldn’t sense the hatchling? Did that mean it was dead? She wasn’t sure she wanted to find out.

She pushed the thoughts aside and expanded her mind the way she had done when tracking the egg’s mother, directing it at the golden egg. Almost immediately, she felt a warm presence resonating from inside the egg, strong, calm, and beautiful. Even in her mind, the dragon’s essence was gold, humming with brilliant life.

The presence stirred, as if it had felt her touch. A flash of light seemed to stream across her mind, radiating a pure and simple joy. His mind seemed to caress hers, and somehow, she knew that he was happy to feel her touch.

Eliana laughed out loud, happiness bubbling inside her chest—half hers, half the hatchling’s.

“What is it?” Caelum asked with intense interest.

“He’s okay,” Eliana said with a wide smile. “He’s… he’s more than okay. I can’t explain it, but… I think he’s… happy. He’s happy I’m here.”

An overwhelming love for that golden egg and the little dragon inside seized her heart, and she pulled it close to her chest again.

The elf gave a half smile. “I’m sure he is,” he said. The statement intrigued her, but she didn’t have a chance to ask his meaning before Caelum stood, holding a hand out to her. “Come on. We should be on our way. My family was expecting me in Iterum by sunrise today; they’re probably worried.”

Eliana took the offered hand and he pulled her to her feet. She put the egg back over her shoulder, holding it close to her side so that it stayed warm. Caelum quickly repacked the blanket he’d given her into his bag while she strapped her sword belt back onto her waist. He slung his bow and quiver across his back and turned to her.

“Ready?” he asked.

She gave a quick nod, fighting to conceal her anxiety. “Ready.”

He started along the riverbank, Eliana following a few steps behind him. A part of her still wondered if the elf could be leading her into some kind of trap. For whatever reason, he seemed to genuinely want to take her to Iterum. What could his motives be? If he wanted the egg, he easily could have killed her and taken it. So why guide her to the elven city, which had been hidden from humans for more than five centuries?

The silence began to nag at her, and she finally spoke. “You said your family had been expecting you in Iterum at sunrise. Is the city really so close?”

Caelum laughed and glanced over his shoulder at her as he navigated his way over the rocky riverbank. “If you hadn’t been very close to Iterum, I would have passed by you on the riverbank and not disturbed you. As it was, you were within a few miles of the city, and I thought you might be a sorcerer.”

“So naturally you had to attack me.”

He gave a small chuckle. “Naturally,” he replied without looking back at her.

After a brief pause, she asked, “How old are you? I’ve heard that elves can live for over a hundred years.”

There was amusement in his voice, and she began to wonder if he was just perpetually amused by everything. “I’m 23 years old. Elves do live longer than humans, but we age at a very similar pace. We are children until about the age of 14, when we are considered adults. We simply remain at our physical peak for longer. Whereas a human male may be fully grown and at his greatest strength between the ages of 20 and 45, an elf will be at full strength from 20 to 85. Then we begin to decline, and most of our elderly pass around the age of 150.”

The number startled her, but what surprised her more was the fact that the elf was only four years her senior. There was something wise about him that had made her assume he was much older. Silence fell between them again, now walking side by side.

The quiet did not seem to bother the elf at all. He walked calmly and easily, appearing content to listen to the sound of their footsteps on the rocks and the river rushing by. Eliana sighed, trying to relax as well. But the unfamiliarity of the situation made it impossible. She frequently glanced at the elf, studying him. She had never encountered an elf in her living memory, and she was fascinated by his features.

His hair was a pale blonde and was cropped short, showing his pointed ears; their shape made her own ears seem practically human, when she’d always felt they were so elven. His features were sharp and angular, as if they’d been chiseled from a stone, and yet they were somehow delicate as well. His skin was smooth and pale, free of freckles or any other marks.

Abruptly, Caelum stopped and faced the river, startling her. She halted as well, looking at his back as he studied the river. After a moment, he looked over his shoulder at her and said with a crooked smile, “We cross here.”

Eliana looked at the river. The water flowed more rapidly and powerfully here than at any other point in the river. It was at least fifty feet across at this point, and the water swelled and churned in white rapids.

She looked back at the elf’s amused blue eyes. “You’re crazy,” she said decisively.

Caelum laughed and motioned her forward with a movement of his head. She stepped up beside him as he said, “Trust me.” Then he squatted beside the river and pulled a knife from somewhere in his boot. “Just watch.”

Eliana watched him intently as he pressed the sharp point of the knife into his left index finger. A red bead of blood welled on his fingertip as he pushed the knife back into his boot. Then he held his finger out over the water.

The bead of blood dripped from Caelum’s finger, and Eliana watched as it fell into the river. As the blood hit the surface of the water, she expected it to dissipate in the calmer waters by the bank, trailing out along the surface. But it didn’t. The blood struck the surface and began to sink like a small, red stone.

She leaned slightly over the river, watching with fascination as the drop of blood disappeared in the dark waters. Slowly, a faint yellow light began to glow somewhere in the water’s darkness. The churning river began to roil more violently, as if it was being boiled over a fire. She leaned further over the water, fascinated by the glowing, churning surface.

With a deafening roar, the river burst upwards in a wall of white water. Caelum’s swift hand grasped her shoulder and jerked her backwards. She bumped roughly into his chest as the water roared up in front of her face, spraying her skin with mist.

Then, just as quickly as the water had risen from the riverbed, it dropped back into it. Where the wall of water had been, there now stood a bridge of black stones. The rocks glistened with the river’s water. The low walls that lined each side of the bridge were covered with thousands of what appeared to be tiny, red rubies.

Caelum gave her a gentle prod in the back, and she looked up at him. He smirked at her very obvious unease. “Go on,” he said with a nod at the bridge. “I promise, it’s perfectly safe.”

Eliana took a deep breath and stepped out onto the bridge. She gripped the top of the black wall firmly, wary of the river swallowing the bridge up once again. Her hands ran over the red rubies in the top of the wall. She looked at the stones, and realized abruptly what they were—the stony drops of blood from those that had crossed the bridge before her. She jerked her hand away and stopped, only a third of the way across the bridge.

“What’s the matter?” Caelum asked from behind her.

“Nothing, I just…” She paused, steadying her voice, not wanting to sound frightened. “Why don’t you go first?”

She heard him laugh at her. “You’re not scared, are you?”

“No,” she snapped, a little too firmly to be believable. “I just… I don’t know where we’re going, so I think I should follow you.”

It was a poor excuse to use when they were standing on a straight bridge, but it was the only one she could think of. Caelum shook his blonde head with amused disbelief.

“My blood opened the bridge,” he told her, “so it will collapse as soon as I step off. It’s the way the spell was designed, so nobody could follow us across the bridge to Iterum. So, unless you want to be standing on the bridge when it disappears back into that river, I suggest you go first.”

Eliana let out a breath and continued forward without touching the blood-jeweled railings. Caelum followed close behind her on the slick, black stones. Finally, with a feeling of relief, she stepped onto the far bank of the river. The elf paused a moment to make sure that she was safely on solid ground, then stepped off as well. Immediately, the black bridge dropped below the water’s surface and disappeared in its churning depths.

She stared at where it had disappeared until Caelum touched her arm, drawing her attention away from the river. “Come,” he said, “we’re nearly to Iterum.”

She turned and followed him into the woods. “How did you do that?” she asked, gesturing back at the river.

“Any elf can open the bridge to Iterum,” he said with a shrug. “That’s why the river requires a drop of blood; elven blood raises the bridge. Human blood does not.”

Eliana paused, considering this, then asked hesitantly, “Could I open it?”

He looked sideways at her with a thoughtful expression. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. Then he smirked and added, “Perhaps you’d open half of it.”

Despite herself, Eliana smirked at the light-hearted jest. Her half-blood status had been mocked her entire life, but always maliciously; no one had ever been able to make her smile at the fact that she was a half-breed. She realized then that humans were as wrong about elves as they had been about dragons. There was nothing savage about the young man who walked beside her.

She looked around at the woods and realized that they were continuing to head south, away from the river and into the thickening trees. “Should we continue east?” she asked.

“Why?” he replied.

“I thought Iterum lay in that direction. The stories say Iterum is on the eastern-most point of the continent.”

He chuckled. “I told you it was closer than you thought. Did you think you were still correct in it lying to the east in spite of that?” The words were spoken teasingly, so she took no offense at them. The elf continued, “The story about Iterum being on the eastern cliffs was created by the elves themselves. We want humans to believe that’s where it is. On the east cliffs is Amiscan. It is a small village where we train our best archers and strongest soldiers. Any human who believes he is attacking Iterum will find himself facing the best warriors in the elven nation. Iterum is actually hidden in the southeast, only eight miles from the capitol of the human empire. We keep our enemies close, and they never suspect it.”

Eliana mulled this over in silence as they continued south. The forest grew thicker, and the trees grew gradually larger and rounder. She looked upwards, marveling at their height. She had never seen trees so tall in her life.

There was something strange, yet familiar about the forest. Somehow, Eliana felt as if she’d been there before. A feeling of connection stirred in her mind, and she felt her senses become heightened. She could hear every stirring of birds in the treetops, felt the faintest breath of wind between the trees. She became exceptionally aware of everything about her body, from the feeling of her feet carrying her along the forest floor, to every heartbeat and breath she took.

She sought for words to explain this to Caelum, but only managed to say, “This place feels… strange.”

Still, the elf nodded, as if he understood exactly what she had meant. “It’s the trees,” he explained. “The trees in this forest have grown here since long before humans or elves ever came to Paerolia. They possess a great amount of ancient magic. As elves, we can feel it. We draw magic from the earth, including from these trees. That’s why our magic is stronger here than anywhere else.”

Eliana noticed immediately how he had called them both elves, and she smiled a little to herself. He had not tried to differentiate her from himself, to make her feel less of an elf than he was. He had spoken as if she truly belonged here.

A sudden presence touched her mind and Eliana stiffened with the realization that someone was following them. There was no noise in the forest aside from the sounds of their own footsteps and the animals in the trees, but she was certain that they were no longer alone.

“Caelum,” she whispered, drawing closer to him. “We’re being followed.”

He didn’t even seem surprised, much less bothered by this information. He nodded calmly and continued walking as he answered, “Yes, I know. There are two of them. They’ve been following us for a few minutes now.” He looked down at her and saw the wariness in her eyes. “Don’t worry,” he said with a reassuring smile. “They’re elves—guards from Iterum. We’re fairly close to the city now.”

“How do you know all of that?”

His smile widened a little. “I know it the same way you knew we were being followed. I can sense it. My senses are simply more trained than yours are. But I’m sure that, in time—.”

Caelum stopped abruptly, the smile immediately disappearing from his face. His head snapped to his left, and he glared out into the forest, muttering something under his breath.

“What’s the matter?” Eliana whispered, her heart suddenly racing in her chest, preparing for flight.

He did not respond. In the silence of the forest, she heard the faint twang of a bowstring.

“Move!” Caelum snapped.

Too swiftly for her to respond, he seized her arm and pulled her towards him. A sharp pain stung at the side of her neck, and the pair of them tumbled to the ground. Above them, an arrow, fletched with green and white feathers, struck the trunk of the nearest tree with a quiet thunk.

Caelum sprang to his feet almost immediately after hitting the ground. “Where are you?” he shouted.

Eliana stared at him in disbelief, one hand pressed to the side of her neck, where warm blood was now streaming over her skin. Why wasn’t he drawing a weapon? His bow, his sword, his knife—anything would have made more sense than standing there, screaming at the trees like a madman.

But he continued to shout. “I command you to step forward and show yourselves!”

Without a sound, two shapes appeared between the trees, moving towards them quickly. One was female, with coloring as pale as Caelum’s. The other was male, with long, raven-black hair as dark as Eliana’s; his eyes were a deeper shade of violet than her own. It was apparent that it was the female elf who had fired the arrow; her bow was in her hand, and the arrows in her quiver bore the same green and white feathers.

Caelum’s pale face had reddened slightly as he glared at the woman. “Raena!” he snapped. The woman flinched. “What in the gods’ names possessed you to fire when you knew it was me?”

“I did not fire at you, my lord,” Raena answered in a quiet, icy voice. “The stranger…”

The woman’s icy blue eyes moved to where Eliana sat on the forest floor, her back against the tree. Here expression was cold, angry, and full of hatred. As soon as their eyes met, a harsh voice shoved its way into Eliana’s mind, making her flinch. “You have no right to be here. You have no right to be near him. If Caelum hadn’t pulled you out of the way, you would—.”

Caelum stepped between them, blocking Eliana from Raena’s sight, and the voice disappeared from her mind. “I told you she was my guest!” he barked. “I ordered you not to cause her any harm. You knew she was one of us!”

“She is not one of us,” Raena growled quietly.

Eliana tensed at the familiar disgust in the woman’s voice, prepared to defend herself, to fight, as she so often had, for her simple right to exist. In front of her, she saw Caelum’s fists clench at his side. The tree behind her quivered slightly, and Raena’s arrow fell to the ground beside her.

Caelum spoke again, but quietly now; somehow, this seemed more dangerous than his shouting. “She has elven blood, and so you will treat her as you would treat any elf. Am I clear, Raena?”

It was apparent to all of them that there was no room for further discussion. Raena dipped her head and let her eyes rest on the ground. “Yes, my lord.”

Caelum looked at the male elf, who until then had remained silent. “That applies to you as well, Laevis. Eliana is my personal guest, and you will treat her with the respect that she deserves.”

Laevis bowed his head briefly. “Yes, my lord.”

Eliana saw Caelum’s back relax slightly. “Good,” he said, his voice holding less tension. “Now you will both return to Iterum. Tell my mother I will be there soon, and ensure that the guest chambers are prepared for Eliana.”

“Yes, sir,” they answered in unison. As quickly and silently as they had arrived, Raena and Laevis disappeared back into the trees.

Caelum let out a sigh, then turned towards Eliana, who still sat silently against the base of the tree, one hand pressed to her neck. “I apologize,” he said quietly, kneeling beside her. “I don’t know what possessed Raena.” He softly touched the back of her hand with his own. “Here, let me see it.”

Eliana hesitated, then moved her hand away. The elf pursed his lips as he studied the long, thin scratch on the side of her neck. With a quiet sigh, he pulled a piece of cloth from the sack he carried and folded it into his hand, then pressed the cloth against the trunk of the tree. She saw him narrow his eyes briefly, as he had done when starting the fire on the riverbank, then he pulled the cloth back again. It was soaked with water.

Carefully, Caelum used the wet cloth to clean the blood away from the wound. Then he pressed the palm of his hand against her neck. Eliana stiffened slightly as a tingling sensation ran over her skin. In less than a moment, the feeling disappeared, and Caelum withdrew his hand.

Eliana reached up and touched her neck where the scratch had been. It was now perfectly smooth—no scratch, not even a scar. No sign of the injury remained. She looked up at Caelum in astonishment.

He smiled softly as he took her hand and began to wipe the blood from her palm and fingers. “More elven magic,” he said in response to her unanswered question. Once the blood was cleaned away, he stood and held a hand out towards her. “If you wish, I’m sure you could learn it.”

She took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. “You think I can learn elven magic?” she asked.

Caelum shrugged. “I don’t see why not. Your ability to sense the presence of others suggests that you have the ability. It’s just a matter of training. Now, we should be on our way. They’ll be expecting us in Iterum now.” He let out an irritated sigh. “Which likely means that they will prepare a feast.” It was apparent that the idea of a feast repulsed him.

Eliana followed Caelum as he started in the direction that Raena and Laevis had taken, leaving the green and white arrow lying at the base of the tree. After a few moments, Eliana had gathered her thoughts enough to ask the question that had been bothering her since hearing the elves’ conversation.

“Why did they keep calling you ‘my lord’?”

Caelum tilted his head backwards and gave a deep sigh towards the forest canopy. “It’s nothing, really,” he replied. “If you have any noble blood in your veins, everyone in Iterum insists on calling you by a ridiculous title, no matter how much you oppose it.” He looked back towards her. “At least I’ve gotten them to stop that infernal bowing. Well most of them anyways,” he added with a smirk.

Eliana gave a small smile in response. “Noble blood? I’m not being escorted by the king, am I?” she asked with a laugh.

Caelum laughed as well, shaking his head. “No, I can tell you most definitively that I have no claim to the elven throne.” Suddenly, he nodded ahead of them. “Look,” he said. “The gates of Iterum.”

She turned in the direction he’d indicated. Not far ahead of them, two large, white trees stood towering above the others. Their branches met and grew intertwined, forming a great arch, high above her head. Between the massive trunks, hundreds of small branches grew woven together. Vines had climbed over the branches, blooming with white flowers. Eliana stopped and stared upwards at the tall gates.

Caelum stopped as well, looking at her. “What is it?” he asked.

“I feel like I know this place,” she said quietly. “Like I’ve been here before.”

From the corner of her eyes, she saw him smile crookedly at her. “Elves feel a connection to the very soil of Iterum. So whether you acknowledge it or not, this proves that you are as much an elf as I.”

Warmth tingled through Eliana’s body as she absorbed this feeling of connection. For the first time in her life, she felt as if she belonged somewhere. Clutching the golden egg close to her side, she followed Caelum towards the gates. The blossom-covered branches swung open, welcoming her into Iterum.