by A. Wrighton
Synge approached, anger across his face. “Are you so Udlastian-bound on having yourself exposed?”
“Yes. They need my help. That’s what I am here for, right? To help? Let me help.” She stared at the old man unflinchingly.
Synge blinked. “Take her.”
“See!” Callon wheeled. “Wait, what?”
“Take her and fly! I have things to attend to and you have a battle to win. Now get out of here and fight!”
Kalyna and Callon stared after the old man whose voice was never more than a soft lull of sound. He had yelled – loudly. Callon nodded and grabbed Kalyna by the elbow, dragging her to Syralli. “So eager for battle. I was like that once.”
“You still are.”
“Yes well, I have a death wish. Family trait.”
“I already am dead.”
Callon snatched his rapiers from Kalyna’s hands and mounted Syralli. He extended his hand back down for her. “Then let’s get this over with, Kaly.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. If we live, we still have to explain this to Alaister.”
Kalyna smirked as she leaned into Syralli’s saddle. The yellow-orange Beast trumpeted their departure and soared back along the Southern Deathwalker Cliffs at speeds rivaling Jaxin.
Callon shouted over the roaring waves and wind. “Stay low. Fight from a hiding spot. Keep an eye on the sky and for Watcher’s sake, don’t hit us.”
Nodding, Kalyna stared at the battlesky ahead. The peculiar mass of fog now covered the entire expanse of Deathwalker Cliffs. A smile grew on her face. “Vee.”
“What?”
“She’s alive. The fog – that’s her.”
“You’re sure?”
“Positive. Fog doesn’t stay here – too windy.”
Syralli screeched and jerked left to avoid a massive boulder aimed at her wing. Callon watched it break into dust mid-air. Syralli landed, eyes on the sky. Callon helped Kalyna down and gripped tightly to her waist. “Lay low. I’ll come back for you.”
“Good.” Kalyna squeezed Callon’s forearm before stepping back, free. “Fly safe, beautiful Syralli. Wind with you.” Kalyna watched Syralli’s yellow form fade and basked in her solitude.
Free. She was free.
Kalyna rushed into the thickening fog and stumbled into a group of boulders. It was as good a hiding place as any on the cliffs. Good enough for her, good enough – possibly – for Vee.
“Vee?”
Nothing human answered.
There was a rush of air as a dark shadow passed above. Kalyna ducked between two boulders and peered up waiting for the dark form to pass by again. When it did, the Beast’s breastplate shone with the sickening hue of Council colors. Kalyna exhaled and tried to calm her breathing. She shut her eyes and stilled her thoughts.
She could not lose control now; not when they needed her.
Her eyes resurfaced and shone red. Exhaling, she manipulated her hands blasting a column of fire through the fog through to her opponent. The massive red Dragon wheeled back around, its Rider staring in disbelief. Before he had a chance to react, a wave of frosting water collapsed on the pair.
He screamed someone’s name as he drowned.
Kalyna turned and scaled the boulder, waiting for another Council to fly past. The dull roar of metal and guttural noises funneled down from above. Kalyna scanned the sky, picking up the shine of a blue and gold breastplate in the setting sun. Her eyes shone green and red, a tightly woven grimace creeping across her face.
“Closer...” she whispered, “closer....”
Alaister leapt from Jaxin's back and stabbed the Rider in the side. They toppled off the saddle and rolled the short fall to the ground as it sped past. The wind flew from Alaister’s chest and with a wheeze; he forced himself to rise first.
It only got easier.
Sword drawn, Alaister ran at the Council Rider and with two flicks of his wrist and a thrust, he finished him. Alaister caught his breath for a moment before scaling a rock formation, whistling for Jaxin as he went.
Jaxin’s roar and a gush of flame lit the foggy sky above. Patiently Alaister waited, watching what he could of the battlesky and its participants. Across the cliffs, Alaister made out Runic blasts of fire and water – together. Icefire bolts. His breath caught in his gut and festered until his lungs begged for air. His heart punched his throat. Alaister knelt down to descend the rocks, as Jaxin zipped past. Eyes distant, Alaister instinctively leapt back into his saddle, landing roughly. His mind raced. Kalyna said that icefire bolts were a Rune of her design from her nights of reading the manuscripts and scrolls at the Monastery and the ruins. Vee could not have known them.
Kalyna was beneath the battlesky.
Alaister urged Jaxin towards her, but Jaxin refused. It was stupid to want to go closer. The fog made it nearly impossible to tell which Dragon belonged to which side and Kalyna had the tendency to cast Runes first and ask questions later. And, she was strong. Powerful.
Alaister had to convince himself that she was fine. That if he went closer, it would be him that needed the protection, not her. That she would not need him to hold her back because now she did not have to hold anything back. These were the men who had made her an orphan and destroyed her Kind. A deep part of Alaister encouraged Kalyna to push her control past its brink – to free her inner natures. Jaxin roared, announcing a steep incline that sucked the air from Alaister’s lungs. Alaister leaned into the saddle and the ascent, grateful for the distraction and eager for the next battle.
Gage and Tiryne laid in wait for Floxen to zip past. Blended into the ground below, Gage stood to the side of his Beast, hiding beneath her raised neck. The blue and gold breastplate hovered above them. The Council Rider looked behind him, annoyed that another Water Dragon had been pursued instead of something more invigorating to fight. Above, Vylain and Floxen appeared and dove for the Water Beast that stood, unamused and unflinching, waiting. The Beast never saw the massive boulder that hit the back of her neck and pummeled her Rider to the ground. Gage ran at the fallen Rider, sword drawn. Spooked, the Rider scrambled to draw his sword, his broken arm dangling to his side.
The Rider opened his mouth to speak, but a rumbling of earth below his feet drowned his words. Vines ripped open the ground, tying him in place and binding shut his mouth. The vines covered his eyes. Then his ears. He never heard Floxen’s wall of water coming.
Gage dodged out of the way of the wave. It hit with a bone crushing fizz and as quickly as it had appeared, it dissipated. The Rider crumpled lifelessly into the vines, which slowly began their descent back into the surface. Vylain tracked their retreat with Gage running after him. Vylain whispered into the winds. “Kaly?”
“Vylain,” Kalyna said, ducking out from behind the rock formation. Her smile was wilted. For all the ferocity of her Runes, her presence was timid. Shy.
“Many thanks for the assistance.”
Kalyna nodded.
“Thanks, Kaly,” Gage said.
“Behind you!” Kalyna knocked Gage down with a blast of air before turning the blast up into the sky, repelling the massive wall of flame and acid with a wind canopy.
“On me!” Vylain shouted. He leapt onto Floxen who chortled as he spun up into the sky for the unseen Fire Beast.
Kalyna helped Gage to his feet but did not meet his eyes. She scouted around for Tiryne. “Your Beast…”
“Here.” Gage smiled as he ran to his camouflaged Beast and jumped on its back. Kalyna stared at the peculiar sight; it looked as though Gage was riding nothing, his feet dangling at the sides in mid-air. It was not until Tiryne rose and shook that she saw her form start to uncamouflage. “Stay low,” Gage said.
Kalyna nodded and retreated to the rocks. She watched Tiryne spring to the sky, her mass failing to keep her earth-bound. The giant gold, brown, and peridot Beast disappeared into the fog that already refilled where the exchange had cleared its presence. In the last moment of clarity, Kalyna caught t
he visage of Lanthar, princely in his full battle regalia, atop Blythet. Though she was a smaller Earth, her size made her a viable aerial fighter and a formidable foe. Blythet clung to a boulder, chasing an oblivious Council Air Dragon.
A smile slinked onto Kalyna’s lips. Lanthar had always been the strategic one and he had, as she recalled, a grave issue with Council medics. The fog recovered, blocking her view and forcing Kalyna to listen to the ensuing roars of Blythet and her opponent blindly.
Blythet pummeled the Air Beast to the ground with the boulder and then picked it up and threw it again. Dismounted, the Council medic emptied his sidearm at Blythet breaking one of the paramount rules of the Dragonic Code – Beast to Beast – Man to Man. Only.
There was no faster way to anger Lanthar than to disregard the Code. Lanthar leapt from Blythet on a low pass and charged the Council medic. “Does the Code mean nothing to you?” Lanthar shouted, anger lacing his tongue.
“Your Code.”
“We are all Dragonics.”
The medic scoffed and withdrew his sword. “We can’t all live.”
“Truer words have never been spoken by a Council Rider.” Lanthar lunged and kicked back the Medic in an onslaught of broadsword expertise uncharacteristic of his passive nature. But looks deceived and Lanthar’s blows were far from passive. They pounded and chased the medic to the edge where the two men fought viciously – their Beasts watching their Riders from just off the Cliffs, waiting for one to fall.
Lanthar’s eyes caught Blythet’s. He smiled and repelled another of the medic’s attacks. “Whose Beast is faster, I wonder?”
“You Rogues, you like to place losing bets.”
“Perhaps.”
“Then let’s see who prevails, shall we?” The Council medic locked up Lanthar’s sword with his own and carried them both off the Cliffs.
Lanthar never whistled for Blythet.
The two Dragons stared motionless as their Riders plunged from the Cliffs. The Air Beast moved first and dove after its Rider. His speed was remarkable and genetic. He would have made it to his Rider had Blythet’s massive tail not latched onto his and flipped him under and behind her. Blythet snapped her tail back around and placed it just under Lanthar’s path. He clasped onto the thick tail a few feet from the wave crests. Lanthar received an up-close view of his opponent’s collision onto the rocks below. The Air Beast snarled and raced along the rocks searching the waves for its Rider.
Lanthar climbed up Blythet’s tail and resituated himself in the saddle. He checked his arms and legs, then his sword. Lanthar looked at Blythet as she looked back fondly. “Cutting it a little close, Bly?”
With a trumpeting roar, she pushed into a steep climb.
Straightening against his saddle, Lanthar patted her neck. “All right, all right! You had it the whole time.”
Blythet rose steadily until they leveled and hovered above the fog. It was there that Lanthar saw Drystan tracking battles below. “Doc!”
“You hurt t’ere?”
“No.”
“Good. Try to stay t’at way.”
“Rough so far?”
“T’em new recruits… t’ey ain’t as good as we were back when. And, I still ain’t found what’s left t’ere of Vee… if she’s left at all. Ain’t had no chance.”
Lanthar met Drystan’s aging eyes and exhaled. “I’ll find her,” he said.
There was a scream of a Dragon and a Rogue’s cry for a medic. Allanox trumpeted and dove, Drystan’s thank you lost on their descent.
“Come on then, Bly. Let’s find Vee,” Lanthar muttered as he steered his Beast to where they had first seen Vee kneeling over the ground. The fog was thickest there and against his better judgment, Lanthar felt a rush of happiness. If he recalled his geography lessons correctly, fog at Deathwalker Cliffs was improbable. The shifting sea winds prohibited it. The fog had to be the work of a Runic and their Runic was safely back at the Northern Cave.
Vee lived – somewhere.
Blythet landed and Lanthar dismounted. He looked back at his Beast until she disappeared against the ground, camouflaging herself. He scanned the sky and pressed toward the edge of the cliff. The seared earth from Jaxin’s initial blast remained but nothing else.
“Vee?”
“Don’t move. Two fires are tracking you. Walk towards my voice.”
He obeyed.
“Don’t rush.”
Lanthar slowed his pace. “I’d like to live to see tomorrow,” he chuckled nervously. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”
“Steady.”
Lanthar closed his eyes and sank into the trust he had to maintain with Vee. Though it was not against his better judgment, it countered his upbringing. Somewhere inside, despite firm belief in the Cause, his uncensored self still believed Runics could be murderers. Part of Lanthar wondered if Vee were even correct about the Fire Beasts above. They should have blasted at him by now. Char-Breathers were impulsive. Impatient.
Then he heard it. The roar of flame repelled by air. Lanthar opened his eyes, looked up, and saw that a woman, looking like a youthful version of Vee, stood exposed, commanding a shield of air around them. Her eyes seared black, the color of Air Runes.
His cooler head jeered at the other. Lanthar did not fight his need to smile. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I can’t fight them while I shelter us.”
“But Kaly—”
“Is far more powerful than I. Just sit tight. We’ll make our move. Make sure your Beast stays tight as well.”
“She will,” Lanthar said.
“Not of Mylfina then, no doubt.”
Lanthar froze and inspected the woman as best he could without staring. She looked so much like the old woman, yet so far from her. Even her voice was familiar but a bit distant. He stammered, baffled. “Vee?”
“Yes.”
“You look…”
“I decided I didn’t need my disguise anymore.”
Lanthar nodded, his eyes dancing with hesitant recognition. Though unlike what he knew of Vee, her altered image did not frighten. Something about her was familiar and well known. Lanthar started to part with the words to ask Vee about the coincidence, but the slamming of Fire breath into Vee’s shield stunned him back to battle consciousness. “No,” he smiled. “Not of Mylfina at all.”
She beamed, her full lips drawing a deeper beauty onto her face, despite their predicament. They stood sheltered from the numerous, competitive blasts of two Council Fire Dragons but remained, unable to return the attacks. They sat still, waiting to be struck down once Vee lacked the strength to uphold the air shield.
“How long can you—”
“Long enough.”
“How long?” Lanthar watched Vee. Her breathing had grown more rapid. Kalyna had mentioned the cost of air as being a painful one. He could not imagine what Vee felt – to expel the air as she did – meant that she was partially suffocating herself. He could see the pain in her face though her eyes still shone a vibrant black.
“Blythet, now!” Vee gasped.
The small Earth Beast rose at Lanthar’s immediate whistle, boulder on her tail, and wailed it towards the largest of the Council Beasts. She then crawled under the air tent and shielded Vee and Lanthar with her wings. Blythet bellowed a defiant taunt and waited for the blast wave to pierce the shield that Vee, despite her attempt to hide her lack of breath, struggled to maintain.
“On the count of three Vee – jump on Blythet with me. We can run.”
Vee started to shake her head, but Lanthar grabbed her elbow.
“I’m not leaving you,” he said. “You’re one of us.”
Vee’s chest seared with a staggering pain. She nodded.
“One…. Two…”
Blythet growled at the sight of two more shadowy forms above.
“Three!” Lanthar jerked Vee by the elbow and dragged the hyperventilating woman onto his saddle. Blythet roared and sprung to the air. Lanthar shielded Vee as best he could wit
h his body when he heard the roar of incoming flame. Blythet rose vertically and spun to take the brunt of the flame. Just before impact, the flame torrent was matched by another. Jaxin’s.
“Get her out of here!” Alaister shouted.
“Aye!”
No sooner did Alaister whistle than another shadowed form blasted a volley of frost bolts at the Council Dragons. Alaister smiled at Nylan’s reliability. It was refreshing and much needed. Fynix spiraled as the frost bolts spewed from his mouth rapidly until the two Fire Dragons fell into a soft retreat.
Nylan watched them disappear completely before turning back and leveling out alongside Alaister. “They’re well-trained,” he said.
“I know.”
“That’s their weakness.”
“Yes.”
“Divide and conquer?”
“Happily,” Alaister said with a smile. He peeled out to the north, Nylan south. Alaister stammered at what he saw. The battlesky’s fog-drawn perimeter shrank the further Lanthar flew from it. Their advantage waned without Vee. They needed her on the ground to win or face devastating defeat. Alaister jerked Jaxin from their course and urged his Beast to pursue Lanthar.
When he was no more than two Beast-lengths away, the dark-haired woman riding behind Lanthar waved Alaister back and then pointed to the ground beneath the Eastern battlesky.
Alaister pulled his perplexed stare from the woman to where she gestured. His mouth fell at the sheer power Kalyna exuded. No Beast came close to touching her. She was pure Runic domination. And, though he wanted to scold her and whisk her away, he knew they need the advantage Kalyna’s offense brought. This was her fate – and theirs.
Alaister lost sight of Kalyna in the quickly returning, dense fog. When he looked back after Lanthar and his passenger, they were gone. Instead, he was greeted by a large Council Fire Beast and two Waters. “Gavasti.”
Jaxin snarled and, with a snort of acid, lifted into the sky, the three Beasts fast in their pursuit.
Jaxin’s roar startled Kalyna. She would know his voice anywhere. Kalyna scanned the sky, but the fog was back – denser than before. A smile slid over her lips. Vee lived and was well in the fight.