Sky Riders: The Rising Sun
Vegrandis

Otium bustled about her shop, searching among the shelves ladenwith countless bottles of concoctions and bundles of dried herbs. Her wrinkledface scowled in irritation. “I could have sworn I had more…” she muttered toherself.

After a few more minutes of fruitless searching, Otium letout a huff of frustration and turned towards the stairs. She climbed them with heraching, old knees, pushing the hair from her face with gnarled hands. “Eliana!”she called as she reached the top of the staircase.

She stuck her head into the girl’s bedroom, but there was nosign of her. Otium frowned. “Eliana?” she called again.

An upside-down face appeared in the bedroom window. “Yes?”Eliana replied nonchalantly.

The old lady gave a small, involuntary jump, gasping as shepressed a hand against her heart. “Oh! Good gods, Eliana! You’re going to giveme a heart attack!”

The nineteen-year-old girl, still hanging from the edge ofthe roof by her waist, laughed impishly, her long hair hanging around her facelike a black curtain. “Sorry,” she said. Her face disappeared briefly from view,quickly replaced by a pair of bare feet. Eliana swung herself through the openwindow, landing nimbly on the bedroom floor. She straightened herself up andbrushed off her trousers.

The old woman chuckled and shook her head. “If you keepclimbing on the roof like that, you’re going to break your foolish little neck!”

Eliana gave a gentle smile. “Did you need something, Otium?”

The woman nodded. “Yes, dear. I need you to run to themarket for me.”

“I thought you went this morning.”

“I did,” sighed Otium. “But this old brain of mine thought Ihad more calendula. Garo needs a fresh batch of the tea, and he wants it bytonight.”

Eliana nodded in understanding. “The orange flowers, right?”

“Yes. Miala should have them.”

The girl sat on the edge of her narrow bed and pulled on herboots. After a brief pause, she asked, “Was the market busy today?”

Otium heard the hesitation in Eliana’s voice and gave aweary sigh. She sat down besid her and gently stroked the girl’s hair. “Justhurry straight to Miala’s stall and come right back, my dear. Nobody shouldgive you any trouble.”

Eliana nodded quietly, and got up from the bed. Otium raisedher tired body and pressed a few coins into her hand.

“Straight there and straight back,” the old woman repeatedfirmly.

Again, the girl nodded. “I’ll be back soon.”

Otium kissed her lightly on the cheek, and Eliana disappareddown the stairs and out of the little hut. As she stepped out onto the street,she glanced around warily. A few people were making their way towards themarket, but they didn’t notice her. She started walking quickly and quietlytowards the village square, where the weekly market was held.

She kept her head down, trying not to draw any attention toherself as she hurried through the streets of Vegrandis—streets that she hadbeen walking her entire life. She made her way through the network of narrowalleys, taking the quietest roads to avoid contact with any of the villagers.

But evasion was impossible once she reached the villagesquare. Eliana hesitated at the corner of the local pub, keeping herself hiddenin the alley as she carefully surveyed the market. It was not as busy as itwould have been earlier in the day, but there were still more people around thanshe would have liked. And many of them were people that she particularly wishedto avoid.

A yellow-haired young woman passed by the pub, pulling herfour-year-old son along by the hand. Her eyes fell on the girl hiding in theshadows, and she gave a small start. Eliana forced a weak smile onto her faceand lifted a hand tentatively in greeting. She and the young woman had grown uptogether.

The woman with the yellow hair scowled at her in disgust andgripped her son’s hand more tightly, moving quickly past the shadowed alley.She gave Eliana a wary backwards glance—as if she expected her to attack themfrom behind—then disappeared around the next corner. Eliana sighed withresignation. She was used to such treatment; she’d been receiving it her entirelife.

She slipped out of her hiding place and into thestill-bustling market. At first, no one seemed to notice her. But once thenearest vendor spotted her, the news was passed on in a hurried whisper to thenext man. The whispers continued on ahead of Eliana, followed by a wave ofdisgusted scowls. As she moved through the market, the villagers and merchantsalike gave her a wide berth, as if being too close to her might infect themwith some terrible disease.

Despite the sneers and scowls, Eliana kept her head proudlyraised, just as her father had taught her to do when she was a child. She heardhis voice in her mind, firm and insistent, “Neverbe ashamed of who you are, Eliana. Your mother was a beautiful, wonderfulwoman, and you should always be proud to carry her blood in your veins. Don’t everlet anyone convince you otherwise.”

Someone spat in her direction. The saliva hit her boot, butshe ignored it, her gaze focused on the herbalist’s stand a few yards ahead ofher. The woman behind the stall looked at her warily, glancing around at thesurrounding villagers. Eliana knew that the woman did not want to do businesswith her, but she also knew that money would win out in the end.

She stepped up to the stall. “Hello, Miala,” she said in acalm, cool voice.

The herbalist avoided the girl’s strange, violet eyes. “Whatdo you need?” she asked briskly.

“Calendula,” Eliana answered, dropping her coins on thecounter.

Miala nodded and turned to her stock of herbs. She shuffledthrough a few dried bundles, then pulled out a bunch of bright orange flowers.She placed them on the counter, quickly pulling back her hand, as if she wereafraid Eliana might touch her if she let her hand linger for too long.

The girl gave a forced smile to the herbalist and picked upthe dried flowers. “Thank you very much,” she said in a flat voice.

Miala did not respond, but her eyes followed Eliana as theblack-haired girl turned and started back the way she’d come. The marketplacewas quiet now, all eyes on her. Eliana kept her expression calm, meeting thegaze of each person she passed with a flat stare. Each of them dropped theireyes and drew back. As much as they hated her, she knew that, ultimately, theyfeared her. They were afraid of what she was, of what she might be able to do.

She reached the edge of the marketplace and was about toslip back into the darkness of the alley when two young men rounded the corner,heading towards the pub. They spotted her immediately.

“Hey!” the one with brown hair shouted at her.

Eliana froze like a rabbit hearing a hound’s bark, ready tobolt at any moment. She tried to keep her expression calm as she turned to facethe boys approaching her. She knew them well, just as she knew all those inVegrandis who took a special interest in tormenting her.

The brown-haired young man sneered at her. “I thought Otiumhad learned to keep her little mongrel hidden in the shop by now,” he taunted.

“I came to fetch some herbs for her,” Eliana respondedflatly, lifting the bundle of calendula slightly, as if she needed to provideevidence of her words. “I’ll be on my way now.”

She tried to move towards the alley, but the boy grabbed herarm and jerked her back. “You need to learn to stay out of the village square,”he snapped. “We don’t need something like you around our women and children.”

“Then let me go home, Caedis!” she replied through clenchedteeth.

Caedis shoved her on the shoulder, making her stumblebackwards a few steps. “Don’t act like this village is your home, half-breed,”he hissed. “If you knew what was good for you, you’d go and replace your mother’ssavage people.”

Eliana heard her voice rising in volume without meaning to,anger boiling in her blood; her father had always told her she had her mother'stemper. “This is my home as much as it is yours!” she snapped back at him. “Iwas born here, the same as you. My father died here, and this is my home.”

Caedis raised his hand and Eliana stiffened. She knew shecould have avoided the strike, but she also knew how much worse it would be thenext time if she did. She let the back of his hand collide with her cheek. Itlanded with more force than she’d expected, knocking her sideways into thepub’s wall.

He stepped towards her, raising his hand again. She liftedone arm to shield her face, her other hand curling into a fist, preparing toreturn the next blow. Then Eliana froze, staring with wide eyes at a spaceabove Caedis's shoulder. The strange, unhuman place in the back of her mindfelt something approaching—something she’d never encountered before.

Seeing the change in her expression, Caedis hesitated,frowning at her. “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded.

“Something… something’s coming,” she said quietly. Shewouldn’t have normally shared something like this with Caedis or any otherhuman in the village, except for Otium, but the strangeness of the growingpresence startled and confused her.

Caedis looked at his companion, frowning deeply. “What areyou—?”

Suddenly, there were screams from the marketplace. Peoplebolted in all directions, pointing up at the sky as they ran. Eliana and thetwo young men looked up as a massive shape appeared in the sky above them. Redscales shone in the afternoon sunlight, massive wings beating against the sky.

Eliana froze, staring up at the sky, as the other villagersscreamed and ran for cover. The dragon’s presence burned in her mind like abonfire, brighter than any human or animal mind she had ever encountered. Shestraightened, her eyes following the shape in the sky with wonder and awe. Adragon had not been spotted near Vegrandis in her lifetime.

There was something ferociously beautiful about the dragon’sflight. Despite its size—the creature was as large as a house—it fleweffortlessly and gracefully. Eliana could feel the wind from its massive wingswash over her like a warm breeze. The red dragon seemed to pay no attention tothe village or the screaming, scattering villagers below it. It flew on,heading west, indifferent to their terror.

Eliana continued staring as the long, spiked tail trailedpast her and the dragon flew out over the forest. Then, she turned and ran. Shebolted through the village’s streets and alleys, making her way quickly toOtium’s shop. As she approached, she began shouting the old woman’s name.

“Otium! Otium!” she cried.

Otium appeared in the doorway, looking startled andconfused. Eliana ran towards her and pushed her back inside, shutting the doorbehind them.

“What is it?” the girl’s guardian demanded. “What’s thematter?” She spotted the mark of Caedis’s hand on Eliana’s cheek and scowled.“What happened? Who did this to you?”

Eliana caught Otium’s hand as she reached to touch the markon her face. “It doesn’t matter,” she said breathlessly, with widening eyes anda vigorous shake of her head. “Otium, there was a dragon!”

“What?”

“A dragon! A great red one! It flew right over thevillage!”

Otium’s mouth opened in surprise. “A… a dragon? Are youcertain?”

“Yes, of course I’m certain!”

The old woman looked out the window by the door.

“It’s gone now,” Eliana told her. “It flew west, out overthe forest.”

Otium wrung her hands nervously. “Still, we should stayinside, in case it comes back.”

Eliana nodded in agreement, and the two women hurriedthrough the house, slamming the windows and barring them shut. Then they sat infront of the fireplace, Garo’s calendula tea completely forgotten.

A few short minutes later, there was a fierce pounding atthe door, making them both jump.

“Otium!” a male voice called. “Otium, open the door!”

The old woman hurried to the door and opened it. A bearded,red-haired man pushed his way unceremoniously inside, followed by Caedis andtwo other men from the village.

“Where’s the girl?” he demanded.

Eliana got up from the chair she’d been sitting in andturned around. “I’m here, Teleas,” she said hesitantly.

The four men looked at her, instinctively drawing back. Butthen Teleas stepped towards her.

“Caedis said you sensed it,” he said brusquely.

“What?” Otium asked in confusion.

“The dragon,” he snapped. “Caedis said you sensed the dragonapproaching. Is this true, Eliana?”

The girl glanced between the men and her guardian, uncertainwhat the repercussions of this particular offense might be. “Yes,” she finallyanswered, her eyes measuring the men's reactions, prepared to defend herself.“I could… I could feel something coming. I didn’t know it was a dragon until Isaw it, but I could tell that there was something approaching thevillage.”

The men exchanged glances, then Teleas looked back at her,his green eyes fierce with intent. “Then we need you to come with us.”

“Wait just one moment,” Otium interrupted, stepping up toEliana’s side. “Go with you where? She’s done nothing wrong. It’s not her faultshe felt it coming.”

“You misunderstand me,” he replied. “We don’t want to punishher. We need her help.”

“My help?” Eliana repeated.

“Yes. We need to track the thing down, kill it before itdecides to come back and destroy our village. But there’s no way for us totrack it on our own. You can sense it. Do you think you could replace itagain?”

“I…” She hesitated. She didn’t truly understand the strangeability she had to sense the presence of creatures around her. She certainlydidn’t know if she could use it to track a dragon, of all things. But here shewas, standing in front of the men from her village—men who had shunned andpersecuted her for her entire life—and now they were asking for her help. Forthe first time in her nineteen years of life, they needed her, and it wasbecause of this ability she had inherited from her mother—an ability thatnormally made her a monster in their eyes.

A part of her wanted to turn them down, to refuse to help. Theycertainly didn't deserve her help, after all they'd put her through. But thiswas her chance to prove herself. She could show them that her blood was a gift,not an abomination. She could prove to them that she was not a monster.

“Eliana,” Teleas said, gazing intently at her face.“Please.”

She met his gaze, taking in the slight hint of desperationin his green eyes. He had always been one of the kinder men in thevillage—shunning her, but not tormenting her. But now, he’d been reduced tobegging her for help. It gave her an odd sense of pleasure.

She nodded. “I can replace the dragon,” she said confidently.

Teleas gave a brusque nod in return. “Then grab any weaponsyou have. We head out immediately.”