The Dragoneer Trilogy

by Vickie Knestaut

  What should have been minutes felt stretched into hours as Trysten watched the two hordes approach. The one before her didn’t seem to approach fast enough, while the one to south screamed towards them. Finally, as they nearly drew within range, Trysten slowed Elevera a bit with her heels as she ordered a maneuver designed to focus a barrage of arrows upon a single target. As Elevera dropped to form the base of a U, Trysten grabbed her bow and slipped an arrow from her quiver. As the other dragons filled in around her and formed the stems of the U, Trysten gasped as Verillium sailed over her, then began to drop down in a twisting motion that was not at all part of the plan. As the dragon twisted around in her spiral, she revealed Issod, who notched an arrow and pulled his bowstring back while taking aim at the Western alpha.

  “Issod!” she called out. It was too late. Verillium twisted around with her wings folded nearly to her side. Gravity had embraced the dragon as it fell towards the hordesman’s target.

  Trysten dug her heels into Elevera’s sides. Her arrow sailed uselessly into the void beneath them before she slung the bow over her shoulders. With the other hand, she clutched the edge of the saddle and shoved downward. Elevera, however, hadn’t waited for the commands. Before Trysten’s hand had even touched the edge of the saddle, the golden dragon hunched its shoulders, arched its back, and with a swoop of wings, dove after Verillium.

  What a fool she had been for allowing Issod to fly! His loss had indeed been too much for him to bear. But what was done was done. Her only chance to save him was to order Verillium down, to allow Elevera to assert her dominance and force the subordinate dragon to ground where she would largely be ignored by the fray.

  As Verillium dove, Issod’s arrow flew. It missed by a wide margin, hampered perhaps by nerves as much as the injury to his shoulder. In response, the Western Dragoneer wasted no time. An arrow arced up from his bow and disappeared behind Verillium as she continued to twist around in her spiraling dive. Her pale belly flashed before Trysten, and then as she spun back around, a bow dropped away.

  Issod lay back against his dragon, limp and leaning into the momentum of Verillium’s fall. An arrow protruded from the young man’s neck.

  Trysten gasped.

  A volley of arrows erupted from the Western hordesmen. They arced up and whizzed towards Trysten, who was within range of their bowstrings.

  Elevera whipped around. Pain fell upon Trysten’s stomach and arms like blows from a hammer. The ache and throbbing then fizzled away as she realized what had happened. Elevera had taken a number of arrows in her belly and wings in order to shield Trysten, and their connection, their bond allowed her to feel it.

  A long, pained growl escaped Elevera’s throat. Trysten grasped the edge of the saddle and prepared to pull Elevera out of the dive as soon as they slipped under the Western horde. Hopefully, they would manage before the enemy horde could take aim again. As she watched the speed with which they pulled arrows from quivers and notched them in their bowstrings, it seemed unlikely. She sucked in a deep breath, then held it as arrows streaked past her from above and sent the Western horde scrambling to avoid the onslaught.

  Gratitude lit Trysten’s face as she glanced back at her horde, diving down behind her. Pain exploded through her again. She lunged forward and gripped the edge of the saddle. Her arms howled with pain. Her head tingled. A blow sent her back arching and her fingers digging into the saddle’s lip.

  She turned towards Elevera but knew immediately it was not her dragon that felt the pain. Arrows had pierced several wings. A dark orange dragon flashed by underneath with an arrow protruding from its back, down near its rear left haunch. The rider glared up at Trysten, his face wrenched into anger, hatred, hurt, as if the whole war was her idea and he and his dragon were nothing but innocent bystanders.

  Horror exploded in her, left her numb for the briefest second.

  By all that was wild! She not only experienced what her dragons felt, but she felt what those of the enemy horde experienced as well.

  And then she was out of time.

  With a yank back on the saddle, Elevera spread her wings wide. Pain ripped across Trysten’s arm as a hole in Elevera’s wing widened slightly under the sudden punch of wind. She let out a roar as they slid beneath the Western horde.

  Several arrows flew past them, but with her horde coming behind her, the Western horde didn’t have enough time to bank their dragons enough to take a clear aim at what flew underneath them. A rash of roars exploded behind her as the Aerona horde clashed with the Western horde.

  Trysten gasped, shut her eyes a moment, and then pushed it all down, blocked it all out as if taking every blow of an arrow and blast of fire into a leather bag that she cinched tight and dropped from the heights. Now was not the time to lose herself in the sensations of the dragons. Was this why her father had told her of the dragon lords before she went into battle? Did he know that she would experience this? Then why not flat-out say so!

  There wasn’t time to wonder about that either. With a flick of her heels and a tug of the saddle, Elevera banked hard to the left and began to flap in great, downward thrusts as she climbed back up to meet the Western horde.

  The Aerona horde passed by behind her. They flew out and banked to the right as well, struggling to curtail their momentum and fall in behind Trysten and Elevera as a final few arrows chased them.

  The Western Dragoneer gathered his horde as well and flew in the opposite direction before banking to the left. He was turning to challenge them.

  Trysten glanced at the second horde. Why weren’t they flying out to meet them? That would have been her tactic if she had been in their position.

  It didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were coming about for another pass. She notched another arrow as she watched the Western hordesmen do the same. Her teeth gritted. She had to end this now. They didn’t have time to fly back and forth exchanging arrows and swipes with claws and tails. The second horde would be on them soon, and if Trysten weren’t ready for them, they’d be overwhelmed within minutes.

  Trysten pulled back on her arrow. She flicked her heels against Elevera’s side, but the dragon already knew to aim for the dark gray alpha dragon with the fiery plume of feathers sweeping back from the crown of its hood. Upon its back, a man in a matching headdress took aim at Trysten with his own arrow.

  They rushed at each other. As they approached, Trysten thought of Issod, of the arrow in his throat. Rage flew through her. The arrow leaped from her aching fingers. As it did so, fire erupted from Elevera’s maw as if chasing it. The arrow flew right over the top of the Dragoneer’s head. He released his own, but not before the Western alpha folded its wings and dropped as if ordered to ground. The arrow flew away, uselessly spent as Elevera slid right over the top of the Western alpha, carried by gliding momentum. Trysten clenched the edge of the saddle with her free hand and braced herself as she sensed what was coming. Elevera jerked slightly as her claws grasped the saddle on the Western alpha’s back.

  The leather straps snapped.

  Pain ripped through Trysten. She arched her back and sucked in a tight breath as Elevera’s claws dug through the Western alpha’s scales.

  Elevera loosened her claws. A man screamed. His scream fell away to the stones and heather below.

  Trysten collapsed forward and clutched the edge of the saddle with one hand while the other drew the bow close to her body. Several arrows whizzed past them. One struck Elevera in the flank. Her scales held and deflected the blow. They cleared the horde, and then Elevera banked hard to the left. The Western alpha spiraled downward towards her fallen rider. Great red rents stood out among the ripped-away scales along her back.

  A shudder wracked Trysten. The Western Dragoneer was dead. The Western alpha’s spell over her horde was as broken as the fallen master she chased after.

  Mere minutes remained before the Western beta and commander established command over the Western horde, and then a minute perhaps beyond that, the second horde wou
ld be upon them.

  Chapter 43

  Trysten peered over the battle and tried to pick out which dragon was the beta. The Aerona horde had passed through the Western horde behind Trysten and was continuing to shadow her as she came about. One of her dragons struggled to keep formation and had already fallen to the back of the horde. Something was wrong with her wing.

  Beyond, the Western dragons should be falling behind the beta, drifting into place for the beta to establish her new rule. Instead, the dragons flew about in disarray, left and right, forming more of a disorderly cloud than a fighting regiment. Something was wrong with their horde.

  It was imperative to know which was the beta, where to focus their attack. Trysten closed her eyes and clutched the side of Elevera’s neck. Pain flicked her side, her legs as her mind picked up on all the injuries taken by the dragons in either horde. Most keenly felt were the ache in Elevera’s belly and the gash in her wing where she had taken a few arrows. Still, Trysten took a deep breath, opened herself up, and tried to imagine the currents between the dragons, the series of subtle cues oblivious to humans that the dragons used to communicate. Which Western dragon was the beta? If they could get the beta, the rest of the horde would abscond and flee. She rubbed her palm over the rough scales of Elevera’s neck and tried to feel, to know, to be but a silkweed seed on the wind of the dragons’ thoughts and feelings.

  The neck beneath Trysten’s palms tensed.

  Her eyes flicked open wide as Elevera let out a great roar. A roar that shook Trysten, quaked her. She clutched the edge of the saddle and glanced about. The Western dragons, in unison, dropped and slid down through the air and approached Elevera. Their riders shouted at each other in their strange, barking language. They gestured wildly. A few drew back their bows and aimed at Elevera’s exposed belly, but the moment Trysten saw them, their mounts twisted over, flipping the riders upside-down before diving out of their bows range.

  A gasp escaped Trysten.

  Never. Never had anyone spoken of a dragoneer taking command of an enemy horde before. It was an impossibility as far as Trysten knew or understood. Defeated hordes absconded and fled, as the Hollin horde had. But, with the exception of the wounded alpha, the Western dragons were taking up a position behind and beneath Elevera. It was clear that the size of the Aerona horde had suddenly expanded. Just how far did her powers as a dragon lord extend?

  Around her, the dragons from Aerona and Hollin fell in behind her. Most of them banked slightly as the riders peered over the sides of their dragons at the scene below. The two dragons that remained steady, level, betrayed the severity of their rider’s injuries. Trysten’s heart tightened as she thought of the fallen riders slumped over their saddles.

  There was no time to mourn those who had bravely fought with her and gave their lives for the village and kingdom. Their sacrifices would be in vain if they didn’t prevail over the second horde, which would be upon them in a moment. There, in battle, she would honor their sacrifices, and hopefully, find just how far she could push her powers.

  With a thought, Trysten ordered the Western dragons out and ahead. The astonished riders continued to shout back and forth in their foreign tongue. They fought to wrest back control of their dragons, but they were no longer their dragons to control.

  As the Western horde flew out to meet the second horde, Trysten pulled up on the edge of the saddle and flicked her heels in an upward motion. Elevera climbed into the sky. The Aerona horde followed, except for one dragon, the one with an injured wing. It tried, but then fell back and circled downward to seek safety among the stones.

  As they flew out to meet the second horde, Trysten ordered her own to fan out and form a straight line. The second horde needed to see exactly what they were dealing with, and how many dragons. As they approached, Trysten gave an order to prepare for an attack on a dive. The captured horde would fly straight at the second horde and force the second horde into a dive to avoid a collision. Once they flew out from underneath the captured horde, the Aerona horde would greet them with a hail of arrows.

  Trysten patted Elevera on the neck. The ache in her stomach grew. It grew with that of several other dragons that had taken arrows in the softer scales of their bellies as well. Off in the distance, she sensed the ache in a shoulder of one of the captured dragons.

  A bevy of shouts erupted from the captured horde as they shouted warnings to the second horde. Trysten lifted her arm and signaled for all to be ready. She unslung her bow and pulled an arrow from her quiver. Her legs tightened with tension, waiting to give the order to dive. She drew in a deep breath, held it, then wished for the captured horde to spread their wings and make a screen of themselves.

  As they responded to her wishes, the second horde flew up and over the screen formed by the captured horde. Trysten’s trap lay empty. Worse yet, the second horde opened up with a hail of their arrows.

  The line held for a brief second as the Aerona horde answered with their own arrows. As soon as Trysten released her bowstring, a punch of pain struck her in the left side of her belly. Unlike the pain broadcasted from the dragons, this hit her a hundred times harder. She glanced down long enough to see an arrow lodged in the leather of her armor. Though the armor had done its job, the tip of the arrow was buried far enough for Trysten to know that it had broken skin.

  As she batted the arrow away with gritted teeth, the second horde drew into a U and headed straight for her. As she peered at the hooded faces of the dragons bearing down on her and Elevera, she could not only sense the dragons but sense the Dragoneer as well. It was a distant feeling, like knowing that someone else was in a cottage with her, even though she couldn’t say why she knew.

  This was the horde that had taken out Hollin weyr. This was a horde commanded by a dragon lord.

  Before she could issue the command, Elevera drew her wings in close to her body and plummeted out of range of the arrows. Without having to look up, Trysten knew the other Dragon Lord had ordered pursuit. The entire second horde fell through the sky behind her. As the stone-broken and heather-strewn ground raced and spun towards her, Trysten recalled Nillard’s story of how the Western horde had taken out the Hollin Dragoneer so quickly. They would crush her. They would drive their dragons straight into her in order to kill her. And if she could sense the presence of a dragon lord… Her throat tightened at the thought that he could sense her as well. What would he not sacrifice to stop a dragon lord who took control of an enemy horde while their riders remained on their backs?

  Arrows dropped past Trysten and Elevera. The two of them fell with such speed that the velocity of the arrows looked unreal, almost as if they were light as feathers, born on a stiff wind rather than propelled violently from bowstrings.

  As the ground spread out and appeared ready to swat them from the sky, Elevera’s wings snapped open.

  A groan of agony ripped itself from Trysten’s throat. She clutched her left arm as the wound in Elevera’s wing widened under the sudden change in air pressure.

  With a flap of her wings, Elevera recovered and zoomed along over a set of stone cairns heaped over the landscape. There were dozens of them, perhaps more. The amount of growth indicated that the burial ground was old, ancient.

  Trysten hunkered down over Elevera’s neck to minimize the air’s drag on them. She glanced back. The entire second horde swooped down in pursuit. Their dragons were in better shape, were not as tired and not as beaten as Elevera with several arrows still lodged in her belly along with a growing rent in her wing. The other dragons gained upon them.

  Far above, the Aerona horde twisted in a wide, steep spiral. Instead of pursuit, they appeared to be trying to come down where they expected the second horde to be. Trysten imagined a half-moon flight pattern as she and Elevera led the pursuing second horde back around and into the path of the Aerona horde. Immediately, the Aerona horde responded, shifted their spiral to bring them down where Trysten wanted to meet them.

  Without waiting for orders
, Elevera began to bank slightly to the left as well, working her way around in a large circle to meet the falling horde. Trysten patted the side of Elevera’s neck with her right hand. They hugged hills of stone and heather and swooped down through a shallow valley in an effort to shield themselves from any arrows, should the second horde come close enough.

  Once they emerged from the shallow valley and streaked over a rubble-strewn plain, she glanced back again. The second horde was no longer in pursuit of her. They had shifted off to the left. They were heading straight for the point that Trysten had told her dragons to descend upon. Her teeth ground together. By all the wilds! Why hadn’t she thought of that? If she could sense what the other dragons were doing, then the other Dragon Lord would know what her dragons were doing as well. He was going to cut the Aerona horde off when they leveled out of their dive, and the riders would be gripping their saddles instead of pulling their bowstrings.

  With few options ahead of her, Trysten ordered Elevera to make a sharp left. At the same time, she thought of the Aerona horde swooping down at full speed.

  Trysten held her breath. She glanced up at the sky and saw the Aerona dragons falling. To her relief, the riders were pulling back on bowstrings and taking up aim, ready to get a few arrows off to cover themselves before breaking their dive. She glanced to her left and saw the second horde readying arrows of their own. But every one of their arrows pointed at her atop Elevera.

  As soon as the thought popped into her head, Trysten ordered Elevera to tilt her wings up as hard as she could. The dragon peeled upward into the sky before the other Dragon Lord and his horde could react. Up Elevera went, straight into the sky before twisting back and over. From her position upside down, Trysten watched the Aerona horde snap its wings open and soar across the landscape, barely clearing the ground. The two hordes collided as if approaching at the angle of the arms of a Y. Arrows flew. Pain seared across Trysten’s body. Gouts of fire erupted as the two hordes clashed. Screams escaped the men. The world nearly shattered as she watched Paege’s mount, Leya, fly into the copper-colored alpha of the other Dragon Lord.