by A. Wrighton
Jaxin bellowed again from somewhere above as Kalyna ducked a flyby of Fynix and Nylan. She pelleted the Fire Dragon on their tail with icefire bolts before returning to scan the sky for Alaister. She did not see him or Jaxin’s orange hide anywhere.
Kalyna ran towards where she had last heard Jaxin, hem whipping her shins. She stopped periodically and scanned the skies but found no familiar shape or sounds. They had to have been higher. Too high.
Nylan saw Kalyna stop mid-field when Jaxin’s piercing scream sounded from high above. He heard the buffet of wings and knew what was happening. He had to get to Kalyna. Now. Fynix obeyed his order and flew fast as he could.
It was not fast enough.
The fog echoed with the sound of a thick, hollow thud.
BATTLEGROUND
SOUTHERN DEATHWALKER CLIFFS, CREITALL
Even the Beasts heard her cry his name.
Kalyna ran towards Alaister’s body and knelt by his side.
Alaister gripped her hand with as much strength as he could muster. It was a good, firm grip. Kalyna looked to him as she had so many times before for guidance – or a lecture – but he did not speak. His gray-blue eyes stared back at her tear-filled eyes blankly.
“Alaister, please. Say something…”
The Council Dragonics hesitated at the odd display, but immediately regrouped. From atop his great teal Beast, Vestin Alyn smiled. He had always waited for his moment to take command of the First Dredth and with Druff’s disappearance in the battlesky; he proudly rose from his second seat to the top of command. His Beast screamed a gleeful bellow of pursuit. Kalyna watched the teal Dragon pierce the sky, wings pinned flat against his sides. The Beast dove fiercely forward, his eyes entranced by the prize.
Lanthar yelped at Vylain, but neither could break through the remaining Council Dragonics to get to their Commander and Runic. Callon spun around in a death spiral and Nylan was locked in close-quarters combat. They could only watch as Kalyna stared down the blue cloak of Acting Commander Alyn. His Beast gleamed turquoise in the falling sunlight, the sheen of water shining along his scales.
Kalyna’s eyes steadied. She centered – pulling in breaths and slowing their pacing until she could hear her own heartbeat harmonizing with the rupturing fog of the Beast’s approach. A dark smile climbed Kalyna’s face as she began to mutter in Drakanic. Alaister watched the hopelessness of anger and betrayal cross her face. The hurt. The frustration. The pain. Her eyes glowed red. Her lips parted, widening her grin. With a blast back of heat, Kalyna unleashed her Runes on Alyn and his Beast.
The Beast spewed icy water that met Kalyna’s fire evenly until she added air. The burst of wind knocked the Beast aside, but not long enough. The Beast wheeled back around with another water assault that Kalyna repelled easily – too easily. She exhaled, bored. Kalyna blinked and her eyes flashed with a collision of red and blue. She summoned a frosted fire between her hands. With a sickening smile, she hurled the icefire bolt at the Beast’s underthroat. There was a piercing roar. A scream of pain. The Beast wheeled up into the sky, disappearing against the backdrop of the setting sun.
Kalyna turned, her hair flowing behind her in angry swirls, and sent volleys of ice and fire at the Dragons engaged with any nearby Rogues. Each bolt found their mark and the targets receded. Kalyna returned to face the sun waiting for Alyn to return. When the Rider and his teal Beast finally surfaced, it was low and fast. Kalyna’s eyes flashed green-gold as she summoned a cascade of rocks and boulders.
The earthen onslaught slammed into the Beast with dull echoes from his scales. Two boulders hit the Beast’s neck. One hit his right wing. Another, his hind left leg. The teal Beast bellowed in agonized pain and, despite the increasing frequency of boulder impacts, looked back to his Rider. Acting Commander Alyn did not move or urge his Beast forward. He did not speak at all. His body lay crumpled over his freshly crimson saddle. With a mournful yelp, the Dragon accepted itself into an uncontrolled descent to the crashing ocean waves below.
Kalyna whirled around and blasted the three Dragons surrounding Vylain and Gage. The air filled with pained choirs of dying Dragons.
Alaister winced at the sounds.
“Kal…Please…Stop.”
Her posture fell. She hurled one last ice bolt at Lanthar’s Dragon opponent before turning to Alaister.
He had never seen her eyes the color of the morning sea before. He managed a smile when her eyes faded back to the copper he most admired. “Kal…”
Vylain whistled to Gage, who had already noticed two Council Dragonics attempting to take advantage of Kalyna’s turned back. Both dove with exuberant fervor, their Beasts locking talons before they could reach Kalyna. Gage locked eyes with Commander Higath. They stared unspeaking. Gage withdrew his dragon-hilted sword, pointed it at Higath, and waited. He waited for a charge that would not come. Higath looked from Kalyna and Alaister to his remaining, bloodied men. They had their standing orders, as did the Rogues.
“Fall back!” Higath ordered and, with a final respecting glance at Gage, Higath followed the Council retreat.
“It’s all right, Alaister. It’s over. They’re retreating.” Kalyna knelt by his side and wrapped her fingers around his. “We won.” She squeezed his waning grip. He was cold. Kalyna called Jaxin to warm him with the whistle she had heard Alaister do so many times that she had committed it to memory. Her pitch was perfect. Jaxin flew in, the sun berry red behind him. Kalyna returned to searching Alaister’s face. He struggled to look pain-free despite himself and the fast-filling, blood-soaked dirt. Kalyna stifled tears and took his face into her hands.
“You should not have…”
Kalyna shook her head. “Hush…”
“Kalyna, I don’t think I am—”
“Fight, Alaister. Please…” She looked to the sky, scanning for any sight of white scales. “Drystan will be here soon, I know it. Just fight,” Kalyna said, her voice breaking.
Alaister held fast to her hand, not wanting to forget her touch. Slowly, he set to tracing her outline into his memory. When he finished, Alaister inhaled her sweet scent once more. But the draw of air was too much, too deep. Alaister shook, choking and coughing on blood.
Kalyna fought back a whimper. She struggled to remain calm despite the warmth that oozed over her fingertips resting on Alaister’s chest. She scanned for Drystan again, happy to see him dismounting and sprinting towards them.
“Move t’ere, Kaly.”
Obediently, Kalyna slid over, her hand still laced with Alaister’s. She watched Drystan’s steady, patient hands glide across Alaister. He skillfully removed his vest and shirt to reveal the bullet wound that had dismounted Alaister and sent him spiraling to the ground. Kalyna winced at the sight of the impact point; it was raw and crimson.
Jaxin’s deep voice moaned a sad melancholy cry that disturbed the captured Beasts corralled at the far side of the Cliffs. The great Beast nudged Kalyna’s neck and received an absent-minded pat before being pushed off, Kalyna’s eyes transfixed on the horror beside her.
BATTLEGROUND
SOUTHERN DEATHWALKER CLIFFS, CREITALL
Her heart hurt for Kalyna.
Vee ran full stride across the cliffs until she reached Kalyna’s side. Though her appearance was altered, Kalyna’s eyes recognized and acknowledged her without questions. They did not embrace; Vee knelt and nestled Alaister’s head in her lap, as Drystan looked him over. Drystan and Kalyna exchanged a glance. It was worse than it looked. Worse than Kalyna could admit to herself.
Vee nudged Kalyna garnering a weak smile from her. The question lingered on her lips and Vee happily responded to the distraction. “Thought I would start acting my age again… be myself again.”
Kalyna nodded without processing. Her eyes returned and followed Drystan’s every move. Vee watched him too, old memories flooding her senses. Her memories tasted of aged failure and disappointment. Vee looked down only to find Alaister staring up at her, confused.
“You look.
.. Who….”
“Hush Paine. Do not concern yourself with me. Save your strength.”
Alaister did not reply. He turned his gaze to Kalyna and her flaxen waves but found that he could barely look at her. More than anything, Alaister hated to see Kalyna cry. A chill ripped through him as he forced his eyes away from Kalyna. They rested on his finest officer.
“Lanthar…”
“Sir.”
“The Council…”
Lanthar nodded, knowing what he was trying to say. “Aye, Alaister. It will be done,” he said before retreating beyond Alaister’s vision. Lanthar found Nylan looking on from the edge of the growing crowd but still near to his Beast and the prisoners. The two met eyes. Lanthar shook his head grimly.
Nylan frowned with a firm nod. “If I had sent for them—”
“It is past, Nylan.” Lanthar turned and surveyed the small mass of Council Dragonics before him who had the unfortunate inability to make it as far enough away as their counterparts. There were fifteen, most too injured to fly as they had needed to for a retreat. All of them stared at the two feminine forms by Alaister’s side breathless and wide-eyed. Lanthar and Nylan watched their prisoners’ collective gaze and simultaneously returned to each other’s presumptive faces.
“Lanthar, we must—”
“I know.” Lanthar flagged Vylain and Gage to his side. “Let it be done, quickly.”
Nylan nodded, beckoning to his men. When the six Dragonics were assembled, with varied hesitant hearts, they withdrew their sidearms. None spoke nor were any looks exchanged. In a united exhale, they discharged the witnesses turning the freshly Riderless Beasts feral.
Only Drystan winced at the succession of gunshots. He bit his lip hard until it cracked, struggling to refocus on Alaister. He went over his injuries again. Bruising. Broken bones. Bleeding. A bleeding fast and already deep underneath his skin. Deep under places that Drystan would never be able to get to – places he could never fix.
“Ah, phantos no.” Drystan wrung his hands, his chest tightening. There was nothing he could do. Not this fast. Not even if he had the clinic.
Alaister caught Drystan’s frantic hands and nodded gently.
“Kaly, love. I don’t… t’ere’s not’ing…”
Her copper eyes winced. She pushed past Drystan and cupped Alaister’s chilled face in her hands. She searched for the warm gray-blue eyes through the growing milky haze. Her stomach wilted. Her heart fluttered; it pounded in her chest and beat against its confines.
Angry.
Full of life.
Kalyna clenched her eyes shut and held fast to Alaister.
Nylan edged through the crowd, his eyes transfixed by Kalyna’s gaze. It jumped from Arwen, who perched on Jaxin, to Alaister and back again. Her eyes flashed a deep, lilac purple. Nylan shouted her name and ran for her, catching her by the elbow and wrenching her away.
Drystan leapt up and freed Kalyna. “Don’t you go interrupting her t’ere none, man. Let her be. Let t’em be.”
Nylan looked past Drystan to Kalyna. “You do what you’re thinking of doing and you both could die.”
“He is dying because of me.”
“He is dying because of what he believes in. He wouldn’t want you to do this. Paine – Alaister, tell her.”
Alaister exhaled a weak smile. He managed to shake his head side to side once before growing still. His final, shallow breath passed without remark.
Kalyna’s gasp of realization singed the onlookers’ cheeks and all looked away. He had said no final words of wisdom, no last minute order, or guidance, or insight. Their Commander – leader – brother was just, simply, gone. Alaister’s hand lay limp in Kalyna’s; she had failed to feel him grab her hand and now, all she could feel was its dead weight.
Heavy. So very heavy.
There was still a warmth in his palm and Kalyna clutched to the remaining heat as she watched the pink from riding in the icy air fade from his cheeks. A tear broke free. Then another. And another.
Jaxin ruptured the dense lull with a guttural roar. It was not a mournful cry. It was a sound none had heard before and none could deny. It was basal. Instinctual.
Vee snapped from her daze and looked from Jaxin to Kalyna. She finally saw what Nylan protected so well. Kalyna’s eyes were the vibrant purple of legend. Vee swallowed a smitten grin.
So, Kai Paine was lucky in his decision to save her. So very lucky. But, that had been his way. Luck had run well along the Paine bloodline that now ended in her lap. A bloodline that ended latching onto the grasp of the last Full Moon Runic of Solera. That ended in an all too familiar pose.
Kalyna stared at and then through Jaxin. The Dragon’s orange eyes flickered and gleamed. Recognition. It was as close to recognition as she could ever receive from a Beast. She instinctively answered him in Drakanic.
“Mighty Jaxin, tell me what to do. Please, Jaxin. What can I do?” Kalyna stared hard at Jaxin, willing an answer to come forth. To encourage. To guide. Kalyna waited for a voice that could not come, but another voice did.
It matched Drakanic with Drakanic. “Do what must be done. The world needs you both and he needs you as much as you need him. Save him, if you can,” Vee said.
The exchange not entirely lost on him, Nylan seethed. “Kalyna—” He stepped towards her again but stopped just short of reaching her – Callon’s arm barred his advance. He would have struggled against the barrier had Jaxin not stepped closer to Kalyna, swinging his massive tail in between him and Alaister. Nylan sighed. He could struggle against a Rider, but not a Beast – not Jaxin.
Nylan looked to Callon with raised, surrendering arms. Callon eased his grip, slowly at first. When Nylan did not charge through, Callon relaxed enough to creep closer to Jaxin’s hide to see. Nylan followed.
Jaxin’s head hung over the women and his Rider. He chortled a deep sound as he moved his neck closer to Kalyna. Slowly, Jaxin tilted his head until Kalyna could hear and see the colossal vein under his thin, nearly translucent throat scales. It pounded jubilantly with life.
Kalyna’s fingers begged to touch the pulsing scales. Jaxin snapped the air excitedly. Her eyes flashed purple. She understood. And, it made perfect sense. The Beast was requesting a trade. A Dragon’s life was far longer than a human’s and the loss of a few cycles – even several – would be harmless and unmissed.
“Are you sure, great Beast?” Kalyna asked in Drakanic.
Jaxin leaned into Kalyna’s touch. His gruff rumble reverberated along the cliffs. Jaxin hissed, snapping at the air.
Kalyna nodded and pushed her hands across the bloody mess of Alaister’s chest. Finding the largest open wound, Kalyna hesitated before prying it open and pushing two of her fingers inside. He was lukewarm. Her skin tingled with the prospect. Kalyna removed her left, blood-coated hand and pulled free Alaister’s third dagger. She reached for the Beast’s thin throat scales as Jaxin held still despite his anxiousness. Kalyna exhaled, her arm frozen with the dagger motionless, bloodless.
“Kalyna you could kill yourself!” Nylan shouted as he scrambled to stop her once more.
Jaxin turned to repel Nylan but was bested by Callon, who regained Nylan’s arm and whirled the Lythgorian Commander into a grip rendering him immobile.
“Do it, Kaly. It’s the least he’d do for any of us. Just… be careful.” Callon said, holding fast to Nylan’s arms. “Sorry, Commander.”
Kalyna smiled weakly at Callon, then Nylan. “I must,” she said.
Nylan stopped struggling. “I understand,” he said softly. “I understand.”
“Quickly Kalyna,” Vee urged as she felt the coolness of death spread over Alaister. “Before he is too far gone.”
Two breaths. One breath.
Gently, Kalyna lifted the throat scales with the dagger tip before piercing the thin plating with all her force. Jaxin hissed at the incision but held steady. Deep reddish purple blood flowed down Kalyna’s vertical arm as she pressed her fingers into Jaxin’s wound. The blood
was thick and burned her skin. Kalyna fought the pain and shut her mind to feeling the sting. She felt only the strength of Jaxin’s pulse and the silence of Alaister’s.
Her breathing slowed.
The burning sensation escalated until the outside world no longer distracted. With each breath, she felt more. She took the rhythmic pounding of Jaxin’s heartbeat inside her.
Down her. She felt the wind in her hair at the height of a dive through descent.
Through her. She felt the churning of fire inside her gut as it whirled out her mouth and into the sky.
Her breath nearly stilled. She felt the burn of muscles tired from hours in the saddle, guiding and steering.
The warmth pooled in her chest before slowly traveling through her, searing her body, and sealing her mind to her task.
Deep breaths. All she had to do was take deep breaths.
She felt the sting of metal and the pain of wounds, fresh and new.
Think of Alaister.
She felt the taste of freshly slain meat and spiced tavi.
Think of Jaxin.
She felt Jaxin’s heartbeat as her own, as Alaister’s.
The Dragon blood glowed iridescent purple. The heat in her hand touching Jaxin burned harsher. It blistered and seared. Kalyna clenched her teeth and fought back the need to cry. She focused on the growing cold beneath her hand inside of Alaister. The heat and cold crept up her arms and collided in her chest. Straining, Kalyna held fast, her breathing ragged. The pain grew, as did the intensity of the colliding temperatures inside her. Kalyna’s eyes flashed open, glowing a bright purple that shuddered black and gold.
Unbearable.
The cry that both Beast and Runic released stung all nearby with a pang of otherworldly fear. Kalyna’s body jerked and collapsed where she knelt. Jaxin roared, instantly taking wing with Allanox dashing after to heal the leaking Beast without Drystan.
No one moved. They shared a mutual horror and awe for what had just transpired. They all stared silently, unable to move or look at anything but the broken bodies of Kalyna and Alaister. They were both motionless. Still.