Defiance: Dragonics & Runics Part I

by A. Wrighton

  “The Rogues request your assistance, Vee.”

  Vee laughed. “Mine? You came for her.”

  “She has refused—”

  “I have a name,” Kalyna muttered.

  “You refused?”

  “I am not a pawn for them to use just because I am nearly all that’s left of my race. You told me I was saved to lead my life. Then let me lead my life. I can decide for myself what is best. Besides, we do not want the same thing.” Kalyna stood and clapped the ash from her hands resting beside the fire onto her dress.

  “What is it that you want, Kalyna? Have I not trained and prepared you well enough?”

  “Prepared?” Kalyna wanted to yell at Vee for keeping the truth about her savior secret, but she could not bring herself to do so. Vee had always done things for a reason. Some deeper reason always existed and she had to trust that, again; Vee possessed a reason greater than her own vanity and wishes. Kalyna inhaled and searched her heart. She was trained. She was prepared. But not to help a man who insisted on archaic formalities and practices. She was not a Them. She had a name. She had her own purpose.

  “Yes, you have Vee, but… I don’t want impossibilities. I want… I want the Council to know what it feels like to have every shred of happiness and prospect robbed from them. I don’t think that lies in the Order’s manifest.”

  “With your help, Kalyna, we can set things right,” Alaister said.

  “Right? You can’t bring people back from the dead. You can’t bring the Runics back, Alaister. They’re gone. Forever.”

  “Live in their honor, Child.” Vee looked at Kalyna with understanding. She knew better than anyone the hatred that burned inside the young Runic. But Vee had trained her well, too well to let the anger win. “We are all that is left of the Runics, Child,” Vee said.

  “I know.”

  “They need you, Kalyna.”

  Kalyna exhaled and looked to the three men. It was not supposed to be real. It was supposed to be a grandeur delusion of an aging woman left alone too long in the Swamp. Kalyna felt Alaister’s hand on her forearm and let the warmth of his touch calm. Something pulled at her with his soft baritone plea.

  “We need you,” Alaister said.

  “I will not go from one life of hiding to another.”

  “We cannot fail if you are with us. We won’t have to hide long.”

  Kalyna frowned.

  “We will set things right, Kalyna. You will be free again,” Alaister affirmed.

  “Promise it.”

  “I promise.”

  “Swear it.”

  “On my life.”

  “And mine,” Lanthar added.

  “Aye. Mine too,” Callon said.

  Kalyna looked to Vee who nodded with black-toned eyes. A rumble of thunder echoed through the old cottage. Alaister stared at Vee with transmuted horror. He had never seen a Runic use Runes before.

  “With you then… always,” Kalyna offered.

  “Grab your pack, Child.”

  Kalyna did not move. “Vee, come too,” she said.

  “No. I have a bit of someone’s mess left to clean, and I fear my use to you is done.”

  “Vee—”

  “I want you to listen closely to my words, Kalyna.” Vee grabbed Kalyna’s wrist and flipped it, exposing inked skin from underneath a leather wrist cuff. Slowly, as if beating a drum, Vee tapped the ink. “Do not forget what you are.” Vee squeezed harder. “Who you are.”

  “I won’t, but please… please come with us.”

  “I told you once that our existence could not always remain as carefree as it is now. That day has come, and I must play my part as you must play yours. I do not have the strength I used to. This cannot be my tasking any longer. I will protect you from here and ensure your safety.”

  “No…”

  “Yes. Those that follow will stop at nothing to see you dead. They will not harm me, child. No one would bother an old woman in the Swamps.”

  Kalyna shook her head until deep flaxen waves spilled over her face and shoulders masking the flush of frustration and anger that seared her cheeks.

  “Gather your things. Now. There isn’t much time.”

  “Bu—”

  Vee rose from the chair standing eerily straight and tall. She nearly stood the full height of Alaister and with as much youthful grace as Kalyna. “Now, Nali!”

  Kalyna obeyed then, faster than she ever had. She rallied up the stairs leaving the men staring after her. Only Alaister’s eyes remained on the standing figure of Vee.

  “Please, reconsider. You’ll be safe with us.”

  Vee’s voice was softer now. Younger. “No, I need to keep a track of things here. Keep you safe from here.”

  “There is room for you both at the—”

  “Alaister Paine, Rider of Jaxin, I asked your father a grave favor once, and now he has passed it on to you. Understand me boy, if any harm befalls Kalyna, if any pain comes to her, it will be on you and you alone. She is the last of us. Without her, our world will cease to exist. You cannot take her charge up lightly, but it is a charge you must take.”

  “I understand.”

  “Then, you accept?”

  “Yes. Willingly. I know what is at stake, Vee.”

  Lightning rapped about the roof tiles and thatching.

  “No child. You have no idea what lies at stake.”

  Vee’s final words were lost on a roll of thunder and the creaks of the stairs as Kalyna returned with her pack. Kalyna opened her mouth to speak at the odd state of affairs between Vee and Alaister, but found it too unnerving. It was all too much.

  Kalyna snapped her panic in check. Little time remained now. The two women scanned the horizon beyond the front windows. The men did not sense it, but they would. Soon. The rising winds carried the smell of stagnant leather and musty stone walls – Council Dragonics.

  Vee grabbed Callon by the elbow and dragged him to the side door beside the riverbank with an unusual strength.

  Kalyna grabbed Lanthar and Alaister by the arms and followed. “Not safe,” she whispered.

  Alaister nodded and followed Vee and Kalyna out the side door and into the stinging cold of night. The vine-covered terrace provided some shelter from the massive storm that hid what few stars could be seen through back-building clouds. Kalyna pulled until they reached the edge of the garden, nearest the rocks bordering the waterfall the cottage was nestled against. Kalyna paused to admire Vee’s storm with a proud smile. She scanned the sky and then the gardens before turning to Vee with a nod.

  “Call them,” Vee said, her voice young with urgency.

  “They will be seen…”

  “Do it now or nothing will matter. You have but minutes. Call Them, now!”

  Alaister nodded at Callon and Lanthar, whose faces were as distressed as his though more so about the ferocity at which the storm grew than the approaching Council Dragonics. Kalyna would have smiled, had she not feared the storm too. She knew Vee had powers and could use, but she had never seen her use like this. She had never known Vee to possess such strong powers. Only gentle ones. Ones that made flowers, not destroyed them. Kalyna snapped out of her daze when three shrill whistles of varied pitches swirled into the growing winds.

  Kalyna had always wished to see a Beast again. The first had been so beautiful. Kalyna followed the glances of the men to the sky. There was the roll of thunder and then, from behind a wall of black clouds, three Beasts swooped down to the ground. Their extended wings covered the cottage and its gardens and would have, had their been neighbors, covered their properties as well. Kalyna gasped and clutched onto Vee, who did not react to the Beasts’ appearance – her own eyes blackened, and concentrating into the storm.

  Two of the Beasts had colors of the summer sun, while the third and thicker of them was a brilliant mossy emerald green. Kalyna stared at the green Beast until the massive orange Beast with a purple throat snapped at the yellow Beast approaching the men. Alaister responded with a fi
rm tap along the orange Beast’s snout. Without another snarl, the Beasts uneasily surveyed their landing site.

  “Listener preserve us… They’re beautiful!” Kalyna whispered.

  Alaister did not hear Kalyna. He shouted his orders above the crackling of the storm. “Lanthar, catch your Dredth and fly west. Callon, fly south. Give word to Vylain to fly the First north. Do not engage. Is that clear? Do not engage. I will see to the girl.”

  Callon and Lanthar nodded in reply and leapt onto their Beasts – Callon the smaller yellow and Lanthar the large emerald. Lanthar nodded a farewell to Kalyna and took flight moments later, with Callon fast pursuit before diverting a different direction. Kalyna watched their paths until the sting of the rain and hail turned painful. Her eyes returning to the ground, she found Alaister mounted on his great orange leviathan, adjusting saddle packs to allow for more room.

  Kalyna studied the orange Beast before her. He was every bit majestic and massive as a Commander’s Beast should be. From his look, it seemed as though he would accept no other ranking of Rider. His thick red-orange scales were as wide as her torso and shone in the storm’s deluge. The iridescent swatch of purple on his throat danced menacingly in the lightning glow. Kalyna was so entranced by the Beast that she did not feel Alaister take her bag and tie it to his saddle. She did not see his extended hand waiting for hers.

  “Vee,” Kalyna started, “what about the…”

  “Forget it, Child. You must go. Quickly. And mind that Beast’s mouth – if he’s anything like his dam, he’s got quite a bit of Udlastian spirit about him.”

  With a short smile and nod, Vee dashed back inside the house just as the storm arrived full force. The windows and doors slammed shut and latched closed. Kalyna fought her survival instincts to run after Vee. To run after all she knew of as safe and home.

  Alaister smiled softly and extended his hand closer to hers. When their skin met, the giant orange Beast snarled at Kalyna’s intruding presence, hissing a grey-black smoke out his mouth and nostrils. The smell of wet, burnt wood filled the air until Alaister’s shouting got through the Beast’s skull.

  The Beast huffed out dark smoke that was quickly sucked back in. He exhaled again, this time a plume of white smoke swirled around Kalyna. The Beast did not remove his eyes as she slid into the saddle in front of Alaister, nor did she pull her eyes from him. The Beast seemed to cock his head at her persistence and then took to stretching his claws and talons impatiently against the soggy earth. His orange eyes danced with an almost apology.

  Although it could have been her wishful thinking, Kalyna swore that the shine in the Beast’s orange eyes was resigned acceptance – acceptance she was not to be considered food – that she could trust him.

  Kalyna shook the notion from her head. She knew that Dragons could not possess human emotions and that the Beast’s glance with dancing eyes and tilted head were merely coincidental. But then, she had seen a Beast like him before and she too had treated her the same way. Kalyna broke her stare with the Dragon at the feel of Alaister’s hands wrapping a leather strap around both their waists in a tight bond.

  “Just in case,” Alaister said. “Hold on as best you can.”

  Kalyna opened her mouth to question the need for the strap, only to find a mass of air enter as the Beast hurled into flight. Kalyna closed her lips to stop the feeling of drowning and closed her eyes to brace against the sudden pressure and speed of their incline. Her stomach lulled. Her ears burned. There was a funny pressure against her temples and cheeks.

  And then, darkness.

  DYING BREED

  “We will stand by your side until the Wind

  can no longer keep itself or until we

  have become a part of the Wind…”

  ALIXA CANYON RIDGE

  THE DEN, NORTHERN SOLERAN MOUNTAINS

  Everyone knew.

  It was common knowledge that the canyons of the Northern Soleran Mountains were ice tombs waiting for victims to stumble into their grasp. Located awkwardly on the border between Aleria and Caldenon, the canyon cut deep through the heart of the Northern Soleran Mountains, as if there had once been two separate ranges that collided and then thought better of the joining. No one ventured far into the northern stretch of the Soleran Mountains – not even the craziest of men.

  It was for that reason the Rogues chose their hideaway deep within the canyon walls. The Rogues knew that although it was not likely no one would look for them, but that it was likely no sane person would go where they could be found. Their bet had worked well and Alaister was glad for his father’s ability to perceive human expectations and boundaries. Though, it was not unlike Kai Paine to trust a secret with a slightly crazed person either.

  The footpath to the canyon had not been walked in decades. No one bothered with the abandoned, washed out trail. The people were too involved in the Council and their needs to take notice of what stood before them. Council patrols flew over the footpath leading to the Rogues’ headquarters daily without ever exposing it. With the Council controlling the people, their hearts and minds avoided the obvious and pursued the unseen. Until the people were free to think for themselves, the Rogues’ hideaway would provide a blissful sanctuary. With every passing cycle, more Solerans fell out of touch with the presence of the Northern Soleran canyons and the existence of the reclusive and eccentric Monastery of the Sky, nestled deep between the canyons, whose own structures hid the doorstep of The Order of the Rogue Dragonics.

  The Chancellor and his Council preferred conformity to social and religious practices and so the people did too. As the Realm’s time under the Council’s brutish reign grew, the people began to turn their backs on the optimistic and egalitarian Brotherhood of the Sky and any pilgrimage to worship in their company. Soon, they too would no longer exist. The non-existent shielding the outcast was perfect grounds for secrecy. Kai Paine was either a master planner, deviously lucky, or both.

  Alaister commanded his Beast, Jaxin, down atop their familiar crag and, before rousing Kalyna’s limp form, he inhaled the cold mountain air and gazed at the canyon below. A smile spread across his lips. The drop seemed shorter and the canyon lighter. They had found her. He had found her. Their Cause would finally come to light. He swore he could almost make out the bottom of the canyon floor. The weight lifted. There was an end in sight. Some point to it all.

  An upwell of cold canyon air jetted around him and Jaxin immediately shook off the cold, scales pulsing to rush warmth against his skin. The humid heat tickled Alaister’s nose and ears. An unforgivable winter was coming, but now even that was pleasant and welcome.

  Alaister slid off the saddle and pulled Kalyna’s figure into his arms. Jaxin met him with a perplexed, strained look that made Alaister wish he could be the next Kindred, if only for a moment. To be the human able to speak to, hear, and understand the Beasts – to be able to hear what his Beast and the other Beasts were thinking, to understand their quirks – would be amazing. Forget the strategic benefits of the Kindred’s gift; he could settle for the insight and understanding alone.

  Another cold gust of air rushed through the canyon. Jaxin chortled and shuddered as if the coldness could penetrate his thick protective scales. Alaister rolled his eyes at his Beast and sighed. He was nothing more than the son of the Founder. He was the son of a man who left him with having to prove his worth with every breath and step – a man who had hidden away the most crucial piece of information about the Cause for cycles. A man who had taught him about the Beasts but never stayed to watch him fly. Alaister sighed. He would settle for the hope that he could at least know the next Kindred – to see their bond and power firsthand. They would come soon enough. If they had truly found the One, the next Kindred – one of the Five Catalysts of the Prophecy – could not be far behind.

  Transfixed by the possibilities and maybes, Alaister did not notice Kalyna stirring. She cooed against his chest returning his attention to her. Gently, he set her down against a large rock and too
k to unsaddling Jaxin. He slid the metal and leather cinch off the Beast’s belly and unharnessed the chest plate. The smell of wet leather and hot metal filled his mouth and lungs. He inhaled deeply, inviting the scents into his core before gripping and pulling the entire saddle from Jaxin. He quickly set it in an opening in the canyon wall and returned to carry the only heavy part of Jaxin’s equipment – his chest plate and faceplate – to the hiding spot as well. The great weight of the armor washed over him and Alaister mumbled a quick curse at Jaxin for not refusing to wear the hefty faceplate like Callon’s Beast, Syralli.

  He set the weighty armor down and settled the pieces so they were not visible from afar. Alaister would return and rack them later to avoid bringing Kalyna in through the unkempt Underbelly caverns. Relocating the girl was traumatizing enough, but when one added in the surprising effects of supposed-to-be legend Rogues and their overly massive Beasts; it was enough to send any into hysterics. The last thing he needed was a Runic in hysterics. Especially a stubborn, edgy one.

  Alaister returned to Kalyna and stood over her sleeping form, deciding how best to approach her. Jaxin snorted at his proximity and jutted his head beneath his arm. Alaister smiled and slowly rubbed where the faceplate metal had pressed against Jaxin’s eye ridges. Jaxin let out a soft cooing noise, his red-orange eyes engrossed by the slouched girl.

  “I know, Jax. I don’t know what to make of it either. But, she is the reason for all of this. She belongs here as much as we do.”

  There was a snort of hot air and white smoke. Then, with a piercing bellow and commanding leap, the great orange Beast lurched into the air. Alaister watched Jaxin glide on the canyon updrafts before finding the perfect gap in their patterning to dive. With a blast of blue flame, the giant pinned His wings to his sides and dove into the canyon.

  “Where…. What?”

  Alaister turned to find Kalyna holding a palm to her head. He had forgotten the effects of one’s first flight. The sudden cold. The intense sting to breathe. And, the annoying effect that after landing, you were left with an irritably intense throbbing pain smack between the eyes.