Sky Riders: The Rising Sun

Prince Nocens led her through the winding corridors, his arm still around her waist, his fingers drawing soft patterns on her bare side. She couldn’t help but feel slightly smug. She had never imagined herself capable of playing the temptress, and yet she had conned Nocens into giving her exactly what she wanted. She would be out of that cursed palace long before the prince would get what she’d promised in return.

The prince stopped in front of a plain, wooden door and pushed it open. “This is the palace library,” he said as they stepped into the room.

The library had tall shelves on all sides and, though it was nothing compared to the archives in Iterum, it was certainly something to behold. The shelves were packed with books from floor to ceiling. The only area not covered by books was the one, large window in the room. A narrow shelf ran beneath the window, and beside it, there was a large, plush armchair. Eliana started slightly when she noticed the elderly man in red-and-gold robes staring at them from the armchair.

“Father!” Nocens cried out in surprise. “What are you doing in here?”

The man gazed at them quietly. His hair was starkly white, his face wrinkled heavily. A pair of milky blue eyes peered at them from the folds of his skin. He tilted his head to one side, staring blankly in their direction, completely blind. This was Emperor Corpanis, Eliana realized—the man who had every human in the land trembling with fear.

“Is someone with you, Nocens?” he asked in a deep, raspy voice.

“Yes,” the prince answered, ushering her unwilling body forward. “This is my new concubine, Eliana.”

The emperor extended a gnarled, wrinkled hand, and Eliana placed her own in it. He sat quietly for a moment as his hands felt her fingers, palm, and wrist. “Ah, she is very pretty,” he wheezed. “Prettier than the others, is she not?”

“Yes,” Nocens responded proudly, pulling her close to his side. “More beautiful than any I have ever had. I must express my gratitude to you for giving her to me.”

Eliana’s heartbeat stuttered. Corpanis tilted his head, still staring blankly in their direction. She held her breath. Finally, the emperor said slowly, “Yes… yes, of course, my boy. I am happy she pleases you.” She sighed inwardly with relief. The old man’s senility had saved her. The emperor went on, “I can tell how beautiful she is, even with these useless old eyes of mine. She has the same lovely hands as my old concubine.”

He sighed, seeming to drift briefly into his memories. Then he shook himself. “Yes, yes. Well, I was simply enjoying the quiet of the library, but seeing as that is evidently over, I will go now.”

Responding to the cue, a young woman with short, strawberry-blonde hair rushed forward from some unseen place and gave the emperor her arm. Eliana noticed the leather collar around her neck—a slave. The emperor heaved his aged body out of the armchair and leaned on the girl as she guided him out of the room.

Nocens watched them go. When the door had closed behind them, the prince scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I wish he would just die already.”

Eliana looked up at him, not bothering to hide her surprise. “What?”

“He’s entirely useless as an emperor at his age, in his state. But I can’t assume full power as long as he’s still alive. Once he’s gone, I can assume the throne and take complete control of the kingdom.”

“And what will you do differently?” she asked, prepared to take full advantage of his braggart behavior.

“I’ll finally end this foolish war that has dragged on for so long. No more of this silly posturing, never bothering to follow through with the kill. I’ll purge the entire filthy, elven race from the land.”

“I see,” she answered quietly, unsure of how else she could respond to his bold claims.

“Well,” he said hurriedly, gesturing at the books around us, “this is the library, as promised. Ready to go to the dungeons now?”

He was in a hurry, ready to be done with the game he had agreed to play, but Eliana couldn’t leave until she’d seen what she needed to see. “Not yet,” she answered. “Where are the oldest books? The ones you said dated back to the beginning of the war?”

Prince Nocens sighed impatiently and pointed to the low shelf beneath the large window, which was opened to the starry night and cool, winter air. A pane of glass covered the shelf, which held dozens of ancient-looking books. Eliana’s heartbeat quickened. The bindings, the writings on the spine—they were all too similar to the volumes back in Iterum.

She knelt in front of the shelves and placed one hand on the glass. “May I see one?” she asked, looking up at Nocens.

He shrugged indifferently. “If you want to. Just be careful. They’re very old volumes.”

She slid back the glass and gently removed one of the leather-bound books from the shelf. She opened the yellowed pages, her eyes skimming the contents. There could be no mistake. These were elven books.

“Where did they come from?” she breathed.

Nocens smirked proudly. “My ancestor stole them from those simple-minded elves. They were so entirely clueless that he did it by himself when he was only a boy, all in one night.”

Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. The old elven legends were true. But it had not been any boy acting under the direction of the emperor; it had been the human prince.

“How?” she asked excitedly.

The prince dropped into the armchair his father had recently vacated, kicking his boots up over one arm and resting his back against the other. He linked his hands behind his head, the perfect picture of confidence and pride.

“You see,” he began dramatically, “my blood is royal in more than one way. My great-great-great-grandfather was the last of the dragon Riders. He destroyed all of the elven Riders, as well as the human Riders who opposed him. The others wished to reestablish peace between the two races, but my ancestor knew it was too late for that.

“He knew Paerolia would be better off ruled by humans, and there is no need for an alliance when we have all the power. It was the best way, and he could establish himself as the emperor over the land. But before he could do all that, he needed these books from the elves.”

He gestured at the books on the low shelf beside him and went on. “Their records claim that the humans attacked first. But the elves came upon us, with their strange magic and their Riders. They devastated Vereor. And that was when the war started.

“My ancestor wouldn’t allow the lies to remain in the elves’ hands, for them to circulate and spread as they pleased. So, he and his dragon entered the elven capitol by night. He slipped into their archives, located the books, and used his magic to move them to his waiting dragon. Then they flew them back here, where the books have stayed ever since.”

Eliana stared at the cover of the book she held for a long moment, mulling over the prince’s story. She couldn’t help but wonder how much was true, and how much was constructed by the emperor’s ancestors to cast themselves in a better light. How could she separate the history from the legends?

Finally, she looked up at him again and asked, “Have you read any of them?”

He shook his head and gave a slight shrug. “Why would I need to? I know the story. It’s been passed down from father to son ever since our ancestor brought the books here. I don’t think anyone has even opened one of them until you.” Evidently this amused him, because he gave a short laugh.

Eliana nodded and replaced the book, making certain to leave the glass open. Then she stood and faced him. He flashed his perfect white teeth at her.

“Are you ready to see the dungeons now?” he asked. “I’m getting rather impatient. I may take you here and now…”

Caelum cursed angrily in her head. Eliana felt his anger, as well as her dragon’s, pulsing through her own body. It was becoming increasingly difficult to control three sets of emotions.

“Will you two please calm down?” she snapped. “You’re giving me a headache. I can’t tell which emotions are yours and which are mine!”

“Fine,” Caelum snapped. “But if he makes one more comment like that, he’s getting an arrow through his head.”

“And fangs ripping him in half,” Oriens growled in addition.

“Well?” Nocens prodded.

She jumped, remembering that he had asked her a question. “Oh! Yes, I’m ready.”

He swung to his feet and headed towards the door, grabbing her left hand to drag her after him. As the library door closed behind them, Eliana directed her marked palm towards it. Distantly, she heard the powerful wind that rushed through the open window to gather the books from behind the glass.

“Go to the window,” she told Caelum. “The books will be beneath it.”

Nocens dragged her down the halls again, clearly anxious to finish the tour. He took a sharp left turn through an open doorway, and they headed down a flight of stone steps. As they descended, the air grew cold and musty, the walls and floor becoming solid stone.

After a sharp right turn, they stepped into the dungeons. Eliana couldn’t stop her hand from coming to her mouth as she looked at the rows of cells that lined both sides of the corridor. Each cell had at least one occupant, and the prisoners were in an even worse state than the peasants she’d seen on the outskirts of the city.

Nocens frowned down at her, seeing her reaction. “Are you sure you want to be down here?” he asked.

Eliana nodded and let her hand fall back to her side. She slipped her other hand from his grasp and stepped forward, moving along the corridor. “What did they do?” she asked, looking at the prisoners. They hardly seemed to notice her presence, but remained curled up on the floor or squatting in the corner, moaning, coughing, and weeping.

“I don’t know,” he answered nonchalantly, following her slow steps. “I don’t usually come down here myself. These people are brought in by the soldiers or my father’s sorcerer, Peior. I think most of them are here for one kind of treason or another.”

They continued on silently for a few moments. The few prisoners who noticed their presence looked up at her with hollow, pleading eyes. One of the prisoners could not have been more than twelve, and he sat huddled in a corner, naked, staring at her with sunken cheeks.

“We even have an elf here,” Nocens announced proudly.

Her heart leapt and she turned to face him, trying to hide her excitement. “Really?”

He nodded and walked towards her. “This way,” he said, pointing ahead of them. “All the way at the end.”

She followed eagerly. Ater was there, in the dungeon. That meant he was not a traitor, but was being held and tortured for information. She could free him, take him home to Iterum. She could still save the boy.

They stopped in front of the last cell, and Eliana gazed between the iron bars. Her heart sank. An elven woman lay against the back wall, her chest rising and falling with a shallow sound. Her long, black hair was a tangled mess, her clothes in tatters. Her arms were crisscrossed with scars and deep gashes.

“Who is she?” Eliana asked softly, leaning against the bars.

“Her name is Ispera. She was one of my father’s concubines for ten years before we discovered what she was. She has been in the dungeons for nearly eight years now.”

“Why do you keep her alive?” Eliana asked, doing her best to sound callused and indifferent, though her heart ached for the beaten, broken creature within the cell.

Nocens shrugged and sighed. “It’s still my father’s decision,” he answered. “If it were up to me, she would have been dead long ago. One less elf to pollute the land, as far as I’m concerned. She’s been useful for testing new methods of torture, I suppose. What I don’t understand though is why she so stubbornly refuses to die. Any sane creature would have given up by now.”

Eliana looked at the woman, who appeared so near to death. Why did she hang on to life so desperately? She remembered her father’s voice, suddenly, repeating a phrase he had said to her so many times in the few years that she’d had him with her. She had never truly understood the phrase before, but she felt as if she did now.

“Hope is a fickle thing,” she whispered, repeating her father’s words in the dank darkness of the dungeon.

As the words left her lips, the elf woman’s eyes shot open and she sat up. “What did you say?” she whispered in a voice that was gravelly from disuse.

Ispera stood from the ground and stepped towards the bars. Nocens seized Eliana around the waist and pulled her back, as if frightened the elf might reach through and strangle her. The thin, pale hands of the prisoner closed around the bars, and the elf peered at her from between them.

“Who are you?” a voice whispered in her mind. Eliana stiffened in surprise. The voice was neither Caelum nor Oriens. It was the quiet voice of Ispera. “Who are you?” she repeated. “And who is in your mind with me?”

Eliana fought to control her thoughts, which was difficult to do with three other minds mixed up in hers. “My name is Eliana,” she told her. “I am a Rider from Iterum. My dragon, Oriens, and one of Iterum’s princes, Caelum, are in my mind now. They are outside the palace, waiting for me.”

As Eliana spoke, Ispera’s eyes widened and began to fill with tears. She touched trembling fingers to her lips. “Please,” she quietly begged, “can you help me? Please, free me from this place.”

“I’ll try,” Eliana answered. “I swear, I will do whatever I can.” If she could not rescue Ater, she reasoned, she could at least save another elf.

Ispera nodded slowly, then returned to the back wall of the rom, laying down on the floor and closing her eyes as she had before. Nocens’ arms were tight around Eliana’s waist. As soon as the elf had lain back down, his grip loosened and he turned her back in the direction they had come from.

“Strange creatures, aren’t they?” he asked. “Elves, I mean.”

“Yes,” she answered quietly. “Is she the only elf here?”

Nocens nodded once. That was all she needed to know. Ater was not in the dungeons. But then where was he? The sorcerer could be holding him somewhere else. Or… Eliana sighed to herself. She did not want to believe that Ater was capable of betraying the elves, but she could no longer deny that it was possible.

They emerged from the dungeon, back into the elaborate corridors. “If you’re quite finished entertaining yourself,” Nocens said with a sneer, “I believe it’s time for you to entertain me.”

“That’s it!” Caelum shouted. “I’m going to slaughter him!” Oriens echoed the sentiment with a low, threatening growl.

“Just wait,” she snapped back at them. “Will you just trust me? Give me time to get out of this myself.”

She looked up at Nocens and forced a coy smile. “You’re right. It’s time I hold up my end of the bargain.”

As he guided her back through the palace, Eliana’s eyes searched frantically for a way out. But everywhere she turned, she saw an armed soldier. She knew she could use her magic to get away from Nocens, and even a few soldiers. But if she did that, the entire army would be alerted, and there would be no escaping from that.

And then, Nocens’ golden doors were opening in front of her. The prince guided her inside, and Eliana closed her mind to Oriens and Caelum again. She didn’t want them to see any more. She could think of only one way to escape from this, and it was when Nocens was peacefully asleep.

No sooner had the door shut than Nocens pulled her against his body and began to furiously kiss her mouth. She made no effort to fight him as he lifted her into his arms and dropped her on the bed, pinning her to the blankets again. He sat up long enough to yank his tunic over his head, then his lips returned to her throat, and his hands to her body.

She struggled to hold back the tears, but didn’t struggle against him. This is the only way, she thought. When he is asleep, I can safely leave. Fighting Nocens again would only raise his suspicion. In his mind, this was what she had come here for. In his mind, this was her sole purpose.

An idea struck her quite suddenly. In his mind… She placed her hands on his bare chest and pushed him firmly away from her. He growled in frustration as he sat up, glaring down at her angrily.

“What now?” he snapped.

Her breath was quick and shallow as she looked up at him, holding himself above her with his arms. “Just… just look me in the eyes for a moment,” she panted.

His hazel eyes met her purple ones, and she threw her mind against his. His face went blank as she tore into his thoughts. The ones foremost in his mind were about her, and Eliana shuddered at the things she saw in his imagination. She pushed her way on to his subconscious, searching for more answers there.

Images began to flash quickly through her mind as she delved into his deepest thoughts, just as they had when she had done the same to Ater. Nocens standing over Emperor Corpanis, dead in his sleep… Nocens claiming the throne… A dark-haired young man holding a large, black stone… The Dark sorcerer.

Eliana managed to pause on this image, struggling to steer her way through Nocens’ subconscious in a more controlled manner. At last, she found the answer she sought. Peior. The emperor’s sorcerer. Nocens had mentioned him in the dungeons, but she hadn’t made the connection.

She moved on, hoping to find something—anything—that could help her out of the mess she was in. A new image came to the front of Nocens’ mind. Iterum. Eliana clearly saw the beautiful elven city, perfectly mapped out in Nocens’ head. He knew exactly where it was. He had seen it with his own eyes.

There was a thundering crash outside of the room, yanking her mind out of the prince’s subconscious and into the present time and place. Nocens blinked, dazed and confused, his face still hovering close above her.

“What…?” he began.

Another crash, followed by a shout from one of the soldiers outside the doors, cut him off. They both looked towards the golden door, just as it flew back into the room with a blaze of fire. Nocens shouted in surprise and jumped to the ground.

Eliana stared in stunned surprise, as Caelum burst into the room. An intense red light burned around his form. His narrowed blue eyes darted from the shirtless prince to Eliana, who lay in the vast bed. Her clothing was rumpled, the blouse falling off one shoulder, the skirt pushed up to an indecent length.

The light around him flared as he screamed in rage. A blast of flames rushed towards Nocens, who screamed and dove to one side, narrowly avoiding the fire.

“Guards!” he screamed as he scrambled to his feet. “Guards! Peior!”

Eliana’s heart dropped into her stomach, and she jumped from the bed. “No!” she screamed. “Caelum! Run!”

Nobody heard her. The room shook with a blast that did not come from Caelum. Suddenly, the pale sorcerer, Peior, appeared in the room, his back to Eliana, facing the enraged Caelum. She stared as the two faced each other.

“Silly little prince,” Peior chided with a chuckle. “Do you really think you can beat me?”

Caelum shouted again and a blast of fire flew towards the sorcerer. Just as he had done to Eliana all those months ago, Peior flicked his cloak and the flames disappeared in its folds. In the same motion, he swirled the cloak around himself and disappeared.

A second later, he appeared behind Caelum. His long, thin fingers seemed to barely brush the top of the blonde head. Caelum instantly slumped forward and crumpled to the ground. Peior chuckled.

“The finest Iterum has…” he sneered.

Eliana’s hands covered her mouth, pressing back the scream that threated to escape. She had to maintain the façade. Nocens couldn’t know that the elf that had just attacked them was trying to free her. She couldn’t let Peior recognize her. But nothing could stop the tears from coursing down her cheeks.

“Why didn’t you kill him?” Nocens snapped.

Peior’s voice was calm. “Do you know who this is, your highness?”

Nocens scowled. “I know he’s an elf! Why does that matter?”

“He’s one of Iterum’s princes. He could be of great use to us. I’m sure he has plenty of useful information locked away in that mind of his.”

“Then why don’t you just go in his mind and take it? You can do it to anyone else.”

Peior shook his head, his white, scraggly hair falling into his black eyes. “Not anyone. Elves know how to barricade their minds. This one’s defenses are especially powerful. I’ll have to break him another way.”

The prince shrugged his broad, bare shoulders. “Very well. Do as you please with him. Just leave. I was in the middle of something.”

The black eyes turned to Eliana for the first time, as if the sorcerer was just noticing her presence. She immediately dropped the wall around her mind, forcing herself to think of nothing but what was in the room at that very moment. Oriens touched her mind briefly, but she quickly and frantically pushed him away.

Just as she had known he would, she felt Peior probe her thoughts momentarily. She struggled not to respond to it. After a moment, apparently finding nothing of interest, the sorcerer nodded and bent, grabbing Caelum’s limp form under the arms and beginning to drag him away.

“Wait!” she cried. Both men looked at her in surprise. “I… I want to watch,” she said hesitantly.

Nocens’ brow furrowed as he studied her. “You’re a very strange woman… First the dungeon, now you want to watch Peior torture the elf?”

“I’m just curious,” she answered innocently.

The prince shook his head. “Absolutely not. It’s not something a woman should watch, and I’ve waited for you long enough.”

He moved to grab her, but she placed her hands on his chest. She leaned her mouth close to his exposed neck and whispered, “Please? I promise I will make it worth your while…”

For the second time that night, Nocens sighed, his shoulders slumping slightly in resignation. “I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this…” he muttered.

She smiled up at him sweetly. He was much too easy.