Sky Riders: The Rising Sun
The Hunt

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The normally quiet village was bustling with activity andexcited, nervous chatter. Women rushed back and forth between their homes andthe village square, bringing supplies to the small group of men who weregathered there, saddling their horses and checking their weapons.

Eliana stood on the outskirts of the group of men andhorses, strapping a sword to her waist that was much too large for her slightframe. Otium stood beside her, nervously wringing her weathered hands.

“I do not think this is wise, Eliana,” the old womanmurmured.

The girl smiled calmly and put a hand on her guardian’sshoulder. “Don’t worry, Otium. I’ll be fine. Our hunters are strong enough tobring the dragon down.”

“It’s not the dragon that I’m worried about,” Otiumresponded quietly, casting a wary glance at the men in the village square. “Ido not trust those men alone with you.”

Eliana looked towards the men as well. Caedis caught her eyeand curled his upper lip in disgust before looking away. She scowled at theback of his head before looking back at the old woman.

“This is my chance, Otium,” she said firmly. “If I can provemyself useful in this hunt… maybe they will accept me, despite…”

The old woman put her hands on Eliana’s shoulders and lookedup into her amethyst eyes. “You should not be accepted despite anything, my dear girl. You deserve to be accepted because of who you are, not despite it.”

The girl gave a weak smile and embraced the woman tightly,trying to transmit her love for her through the contact. “Thank you, Otium,”she whispered. “Thank you for everything. You have been my only friend heresince my father died. I don’t think I would have survived without yourkindness.”

Otium sighed and returned the embrace firmly. “Someday, mydear. Someday, they will all see you for who you are, and not for what yourmother was.”

“Eliana!” a voice called out sharply.

She released the old woman from her embrace and turnedtowards the men. They had mounted their horses and were all looking in herdirection. It was Teleas that had called to her. He sat astride a prancing graygelding, a crossbow slung across his back.

“Let’s go!” he snapped. “The beast is nearly an hour aheadof us now.”

Eliana gave a quick nod and turned briefly back towardsOtium, forcing a smile. “I’ll be home soon,” she said.

“Be careful, Eliana. Not all beasts have claws and fangs.”

She nodded again and quickly hugged the woman.

“Hurry up!” another hunter shouted.

Eliana turned and ran towards the six mounted hunters,pulling herself up onto the back of one of their horses. She sat behind thesaddle and wrapped her arms around the man’s waist. She felt him cringe underher touch and tried to ignore it.

This hunt will changeeverything, she thought to herself. And she was determined to make it true.

Teleas turned towards the hunting party. “Alright, men!Let’s replace the dragon!”

The hunters whooped and clapped their heels to their horses’sides. The villagers parted, and the horses bolted out of the village square,plunging into the woods in the direction the dragon had gone nearly an hourbefore.

They were riding blindly, simply heading in the vague generaldirection of their prey. They were relying on her to somehow replace the invisibletrail in the sky and lead them to the dragon. Her eyes searched the sky with determination.If their party managed to replace and slay the dragon, they would return asheroes, and she was determined to be a part of the legend that would be bornfrom their tale.

As the party rode onwards, she pushed her mind outwards,touching the essence of everything around her. She had done this many times inVegrandis, feeling the presence of the people and animals in the village, butshe had never done so in search of a particular creature. She felt the minds ofthe men and horses like warm glows of light in a dark room, along with a fewpinpricks of light as birds and squirrels darted away from them.

Eliana’s mind reached outwards and upwards, scanning as farinto the sky as she could manage. She pushed her thoughts as far as they wouldgo, until her head began to throb from the focused effort. Then she felt abright but distant presence several miles ahead of them, still heading in awestward direction. “Stay on course!” she called to the riders. “Head west,towards the cliffs.”

“Are you certain?” Teleas shouted back.

She nodded sharply, and he returned the gesture.

“That means it’s probably headed to its nest,” another riderinterjected from behind them. “The lore says that dragons always nest in clifffaces.”

Teleas seemed to mull this over as he guided his horseexpertly between the trees. “Keep it within your senses, Eliana,” he said.“We’ll see where it goes. If it heads for the cliffs, maybe we can get to itsnest.”

She nodded in understanding and they rode on.

~*~

The men’s faces were flushed and glistening with sweat. Thehorses were breathing heavily, a lather of foam on their chests. Eliana gazeddesperately up past the tree tops, pushing her mind as far as it could reach,searching for that great, terrifying presence. But the sky was empty for as faras she could sense.

“Wait,” she said, holding up a hand. “I need a moment.”

The men grumbled in irritation, but they pulled theirexhausted horses to a halt. Eliana sat perfectly still on the back of thehorse, squinting up at the forest’s canopy, looking carefully for any sign ofshadow or movement above them. Her ears strained for the beating of leatherywings. Her mind frantically searched the skies. She needed to replace it. Shecould not fail at this.

“You lost it?” anangry voice demanded.

She stiffened at the familiar, disgusted sound of Caedis’svoice. She looked towards him and scowled, pushing back a lock of raven-blackhair that stuck to her sweaty forehead. “It’s not my fault we had to replace aplace to ford that river,” she snapped back at him. “It got too far ahead of usfor me to sense it.”

“That’s the only reason we brought you along, you littlemongrel!”

She was about to give a bitter reply when Teleasinterrupted. “Caedis,” he said sharply, “I recommend that you remain quiet soEliana can pick up the trail again.”

“Yes, sir,” the youngman muttered under his breath. Then he fell silent.

Their leader looked at the girl. “Climb that tree and see ifyou can pick up the trail again,” he instructed.

She nodded eagerly. She needed this as much as they did—morethan they did. She stood on the horse’s hindquarters and grabbed a branch aboveher head, pulling herself up into the tree more quickly and easily than any ofthe men could have done. She leaptnimbly from branch to branch, ascending the giant oak with ease.

She could feel the tree’s life, thrumming beneath her feetas she climbed, and she let it guide her as she placed her feet and hands onits branches. She had never explained to anyone how she climbed trees soeasily; they already knew that it had something to do with her mother’s bloodin her veins. When she reached the top of the canopy, she peered above thetreetops and searched with her mind and her eyes for the great, shadowy shapethat she’d lost track of just twenty minutes before.

She could see the edge of the forest several miles ahead ofthem, in the direction of the western cliffs, but there was no sign of thedragon in that direction. Perhaps it hadn’t been headed for the cliffs afterall. She scanned the horizon, turning her head to the north, where tall hillsand bluffs rose above the forest canopy. Below her, Eliana could hear the menbickering.

“It’s gone,” one of them said. “We should just head backhome.”

“But it could come back at any time!” another argued. “Wedon’t know where that thing is living. It could come back to our village andkill us at its leisure.”

“Or it might just be gone. It might have just been passingover. There’s a chance that—.”

“Yes, a chance! Youmight be willing to stake your family’s lives on a chance, but I am not!”

She tried to block out the men’s voices, to ignore theterror that was so clearly driving them on this hunt. She needed to focus allof her senses on replaceing the dragon. Her eyes scanned the shadows and crevicesof the hills and bluffs to the north. She felt it before she saw it.

The strange, unfamiliar presence returned to the edge of hermind, causing a shiver to run along her skin. And then the shadow emerged fromaround the edge of the bluff, heading westward again. It was trying to evade us, she thought. But how was that possible?Dragons couldn’t reason like that. Could they?

Eliana looked down towards the base of the tree and called,“I’ve found it! I found the dragon!” The men cheered in excitement. “It’s justnorth of us,” she shouted. “It was hidden behind the bluffs, but it’s headedwest again, towards the cliffs!”

She turned her eyes back towards the great shape in the sky,momentarily entranced once again by the strength, size, and wild beauty of thedistant creature. The red scales glinted in the evening light like a pool ofrubies. She held her breath, captivated by the creature.

“Hurry up and get down here!” Teleas shouted. “We need toget back on the trail!”

Eliana tore her gaze from the dragon’s flight and scrambleddown the tree, dropping to the earth and landing between the horses, whosnorted in surprise at her sudden appearance.

“Hurry up!” another of the hunters shouted.

She scowled at them. If not for her, they never would havefound the dragon’s trail to begin with, much less recovered it after theirgrueling, hours-long ride. But there was no gratitude, no “Well done, Eliana,”or “Good work.” There was only, “Hurry up.”

Trying to suppress her irritation, she vaulted back up ontothe horse she’d been riding, clutching the rider around his waist, and thehunters kicked their exhausted steeds onwards once again. Eliana kept her mindexpanded, touching the dragon’s warm presence, keeping track of it.

The more time she spent touching the dragon’s mind, thestranger it seemed to her. It didn’t feel quite like an animal’s mind. She hadexpected the same dull warmth that she felt when touching the presence of thehorses or the cats in the village. But there was something different about this—somethingalmost human.

The hunting party broke through the trees and onto the openplains, giving them their first clear view of the dragon since it had passedover Vegrandis that morning. Eliana felt the hunter in the saddle go tense, andthis time it was not from her touch.

A few of the men reached for the bows on their backs, eagerto bring down the quarry that had been evading them for most of the day.

“Don’t!” Eliana shouted. The men looked at her with angerand irritation at the fact that she’d dared to give them an order of any kind.

“She’s right,” Teleas said before anyone could respond. “Ifit’s coming to the cliffs, it’s probably heading for its nest. If we fire at itnow, it won’t lead us there.”

Ahead of them, the dragon folded its wings and vanished overthe edge of the earth. The hunting party continued galloping until they drewnear the cliff’s edge, then came to a sharp halt, peering down at the churningocean below. Eliana spotted the dragon’s tail disappearing into a cave in thecliff’s face.

“There,” she said, pointing towards the cave. She slid downfrom the horse and squatted near the edge of the cliff, studying the rocky facebelow her. “It’s not far,” she said. “Maybe twenty feet, and it looks likethere are enough handholds that we can climb down without much trouble.”

“We?” Caedis saidwith a sneer, dismounting his horse. “What makes you think you’re coming?”

She frowned and opened her mouth to respond, but Teleasinterrupted her. “Caedis is right,” he said. “You stay here, Eliana. We have nomore use for you.”

And that was it. They only wanted her around so long as shewas useful to them. Now that they’d found the dragon and its nest, she waseasily cast aside. She was disposable. Despite all she had done for them on thehunt, she was still nothing to them.

“But my magic is just as strong as yours!” she criedincredulously. She needed this. She needed the hunt to change everything.

Teleas turned on her sharply, his green eyes burning intohers beneath his shock of orange hair. “We do not need your kind of magic,” he snarled.

“Stay here and mind the horses, half-breed,” Caedis smirked.

With that, the men disappeared over the edge of the cliffone by one, leaving Eliana standing, fuming on the rocky edge. She glared downas she watched the men descend, her fists clenched at her sides. How easy it would be to knock a few rocksdown on them… she thought.

She let out a heavy breath and dropped onto the grass infrustration. She wrapped her arms around her legs and glared out over theocean, watching the setting sun with a seething bitterness. Nothing was goingto change. It didn’t matter what she did. The men and the others in the villagewould continue to hate her—for what she was, and for what she wasn’t.

Behind her, the six horses tore at the grass, their reinshooked over the saddle horns. She touched their minds with her own, sensingtheir exhaustion and their relief at being able to rest and graze.Absentmindedly, her slender fingers ran along her jaw to her earlobe. Shetraced the shape of her ear, feeling the slightly pointed tip, which she alwayskept hidden beneath her raven hair. Not that it truly mattered if she hid themor not—everyone in Vegrandis already knew what she was.

She suddenly felt the horse’s minds become anxious andalert. She looked towards them and saw that they had all lifted their heads,their ears pricked in the direction of the cliff. A roar suddenly shook thecliff and the horses whinnied, tossing their heads into the air, their manesflying around them. They tensed, ready to bolt to the woods. Eliana felt theirfear press against her mind, but she forced it down, forcing calm into her ownthoughts and pushing those thoughts into the horses’ minds.

With her calm presence in their minds, the horses becamestill again. “Hush,” she whispered in her thoughts. “It’s alright.Don’t be afraid.”

They snorted and rolled their eyes but stayed where theywere. Eliana glanced towards the cliff, then looked back at the horses. “Stay here,” she ordered them silently.She knew they would listen to her silent command. When she spoke to animals inthis way, they always obeyed her, though she didn’t know why.

Without looking back, she slipped over the edge of thecliff. She quickly and carefully placed her hands and feet, easily replaceingholds to guide her down the edge of the cliff. As she descended, s few loosestones tumbled off the cliff face, falling to the ocean far below her.

She looked down to the outcropping in front of the cavemouth, trying to judge the remaining distance. As she did so, flames burst fromthe cave, as if the doors to hell had been opened within. She could hear theshouts of the men and the roars of the dragon echoing inside. She hesitated,considering turning back. Then she continued climbing down. If anything wasgoing to change, she had to be a part of this hunt.

Finally, she dropped onto the rocky outcropping, trying tostay away from the mouth of the cave, in case another blast of fire should emerge.Cautiously, she peered inside. The red dragon was pressed against the backwall. The six hunters stood between Eliana and the dragon, their backs towardsthe cave’s opening.

The dragon was trying to snap and swipe at the men with itsrazor-sharp fangs and claws, but an invisible shield deflected the attacks. Theanimal let out another blast of flaming breath. The fire parted harmlesslyaround the hunters, protected by the magic of the two sorcerers, Caedis andTeleas. Eliana pulled quickly back from the cave mouth just as the fire burstpast again, stinging her skin. Then she peeked inside again.

The hunters were firing arrows and bolts at the dragon. Mostof them bounced harmlessly off of the dragon’s red scales, but others torethrough the papery membrane of the dragon’s wings, or stuck into the softerflesh of her neck and chest. The two sorcerers fired small bursts of magic,which collided with the dragon’s hide with soft booms, causing the creature’sgreat body to shudder in pain.

The men took turns darting in under the dragon’s head,piercing her soft underbelly with their swords. The dragon roared in pain andfrustration as they continued to bombard her with weapons and magic, every oneof her attacks glancing off of them harmlessly. Blood ran from the holes in hertorn wings and dripped down the soft scales of her belly. The beautiful, fierceanimal that had glided so effortlessly through the skies was being torn toshreds before Eliana’s eyes.

Over the pained roaring, Eliana heard the men’s laughter.They were playing with her, like a cat tormenting a mouse. A spell from Caedisor Teleas could have killed her quickly, but they dragged it on. They weretorturing her for the joy of witnessing her pain, their fear of the creatureturning to malice—just as they had tormented Eliana her entire life. Empathywelled up inside of the young girl, and Eliana stepped into the mouth of thecave She yearned to intervene, but she knew that if she did, the hunters couldkill her just as easily as they were killing the dragon. She was no more humanto them than the animal they tormented.

A blast of magic from Teleas finally brought the tremblingdragon to her knees, her great, scaly sides heaving with labored breaths. Thehunters took a few steps forward, and the dragon tried to pull herself towardsa pile of glittering stones nearby. Not stones, Eliana realized. Eggs. Her eggs.

“Caedis,” Teleas said gruffly. “I give you the honor of thefinal blow.”

Eliana saw the young man smile as he drew his sword andstepped up to the dragon’s side. The dragon looked up at him and gave a low,guttural moan. Eliana could sense a pleading note in the tone. Somehow, sheknew that the dragon was trying to speak to him, pleading with him for the sakeof her children. Eliana’s heart wrenched with pain, but she was rooted to thespot, her voice trapped behind the lump of tears that barricaded her throat.

Caedis seemed to hesitate at the dragon’s moan, but only fora moment. Then, he raised his sword and, without a word, drove it downwards, deepinto the dragon’s heart.

Eliana dove into a crevice in the cave wall and covered herface, unable to watch the ending of the hunt that she had led. But she heardit. There was a weak roar, a low moan, and then silence. The noise of the men’scheers covered any sound her suppressed sobs might have made in the cave.

And she felt it. Her chest ached, as if her own heart hadbeen pierced by Caedis’s sword. She pressed her hand firmly against hersternum, trying to repress the ache and regain some of her breath. But thepiercing pain would not subside.

“Well done, my boy!” she heard Teleas cry. “Well done! Now,help me deal with these eggs.”

Eliana peered out from her hiding place and watched as thetwo sorcerers each picked up an egg that was nearly a foot in length. Theyshone in gem-like shades of green and blue.

“You know the spell?” Teleas asked.

Caedis nodded. According to the stories, magic was the onlything capable of breaking the stone-like shell of a dragon’s egg. The other menstood back, watching the two sorcerers.

With a nod from Teleas, both men cried, “Shyjael maer!”

The eggs shattered, scattering jewel-colored fragmentsacross the cave floor. The small, lifeless bodies of the unborn dragons slippedto the ground with a quiet thud. The men pushed them aside like inconvenientrubbish and picked up another pair of eggs, repeating the spell, killing twomore unborn children.

Eliana covered her mouth with her hand, trying to keepherself from crying out, as she watched the slick, scaly bodies fall to thedirty floor. By the time the men had finished their bloody deed, seven tinybodies lay in the dirt—seven infants that had never had the chance to live,scattered in front of the body of their mother, who had died trying to protectthem.

The hunters gathered together as Teleas spoke,unceremoniously kicking the little bodies aside with their boots. “We have donea great thing this day,” he said. Eliana could hear the sense of belief andself-righteousness in Teleas’ voice, and it made her stomach turn. “We haveremoved not one, but eight monsters from this world! We will return toVegrandis as heroes!”

The men cheered again, celebrating the murders they’d just committedbefore following Teleas back to the mouth of the cave, a proud strut in theirgaits. Eliana pressed herself into the shadows of the crevice, holding herbreath as they passed her hiding place. She stayed where she was, silent andstill, listening to the sounds of the men climbing the cliff face. Then, sheheard their voices.

“Where’s the half-breed?” Caedis asked sharply. His voiceheld more irritation than concern.

“Eliana!” Teleas cried. “Eliana!”

The girl remained in her hiding place, silent tears stillleaking from beneath her closed eyelids, her head resting against the cave wallbehind her.

“Well, I call this a bonus then,” Caedis laughed. “We killedeight dragons and we don’t have totake the mongrel back with us? If we’re lucky, another dragon came ‘round andate her.”

She heard the men’s loud laughter, followed by the sound ofhoof beats as they trotted back towards the village and the celebrations that wouldundoubtedly be awaiting them there. Eliana stood with her eyes closed,listening to the silence that now filled the cave. The soft crashing of thewaves far below was the only sound that remained.

Slowly, she emerged from the crevice, surveying the bloodyscene before her. The floor was glittering with a mosaic of eggshells—green,blue, red, and brown, all catching the light of the sunset outside the cave. Thebodies of the unborn dragons lay among the shell fragments, their scaly hidesstill slick with the egg membranes, shining in the same colors as the eggs fromwhich they had been ripped.

Eliana stepped carefully between the little bodies, makingher way towards the large, unmoving shape of the mother dragon. She kneltbeside the great head, which was longer than Eliana’s entire torso, and placeda hand on the red, scaly cheek. The hide was warmer and smoother than she’dexpected.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered in the growing darkness, tryingto swallow her tears. “I’m so sorry… This is all my fault. I led them here. Ishould have done something. I should have done something, but I…”

She was suddenly aware of a presence in her mind again. Sherealized that with a shock that the presence—that strange, powerful presence—hadbeen in her mind all along. She was only just noticing it. Beneath her hand,the dragon’s head moved slightly, and the heavy-lidded eyes opened halfway,peering at her wearily.

Eliana jumped backwards, her heart leaping into her throat.The dragon’s presence in the back of her mind was more than just a presencenow. It felt like a living creature, peering into her thoughts. It pressed calmand comfort into her mind, just as she’d done to the horses up on top of thecliff. But beneath the calm, she could somehow feel the dragon’s pain, herweariness, and her knowledge that she would soon die.

Eliana realized then why her chest had burned when Caedis hadpierced the dragon’s heart. Her mind had been touching the dragon’s mind allalong. They had been connected, and she had felt the dragon’s pain. And now,she was feeling her dwindling life, like a dying fire in the back of her mind.

She met the dragon’s eyes, which were warm and brown and filledwith intelligence—intelligence, and pain. Her racing heart slowed, and sheknelt beside the dragon once more. A great foreleg moved towards her, andEliana looked down as the mother dragon lifted her clawed foot, revealing ashining golden egg. She had saved one of her children.

The dragon pushed the egg towards Eliana. “Save him.” The girl jumped at the soundof a voice in her mind. It was a warm, gentle female voice that was tinged withpain. It was the dragon’s voice.

“What?” Eliana asked aloud, afraid to press her thoughtsinto the powerful, dying mind that now pressed so insistently against her own.

“Save him,” thevoice repeated. She could feel the dragon’s desperation and urgency. “He will save us all.”

“How can I…?”

“You must protect him.The fate of our races depends on him. And he depends on you.”

The dragon pushed the egg firmly against Eliana’s knees.Then, like a window shutting out a warm breeze, the presence disappeared fromher mind. Eliana felt her breath hitch in her chest as the presence thatpressed against her thoughts suddenly vanished. It felt like a piece of her ownsoul had been ripped away, and she blinked as spots and tears filled her vision.She felt the dragon die, and with it, a part of her felt like it had died aswell.

The pain-clouded eyes slid closed and Eliana bowed her head,tears streaming down her cheeks. “I promise,” she whispered, breathless fromthe sensation of feeling the dragon die. “I promise I will protect him. Nomatter what.” She bent down and kissed the scaly red forehead, then turnedaway.

Carefully, she picked up the nearest baby dragon, cradlingthe limp body in her arms. From nose to tail, he was no longer than her forearm, and his head fit perfectly into the palm of her hand. Hisscales were a shining emerald green. Eliana carried him to his mother’s sideand rested him on the ground between her forelegs.

One by one, she gathered his brothers and sisters, and layingthem around their mother’s body. Then she bent and picked up the golden egg,hugging it tight to her chest. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Jholthosi,” she whispered.

Instantly, flames began to lap at the scaly bodies in frontof her, climbing over wings, claws, and hide. With tears in her eyes, Elianaturned away and stepped out of the cave, cradling the golden egg in her arms.She looked up at the cliff face, then tore a long piece of fabric from hertunic. She wrapped it around the egg, making a strap to slip over her shoulder.

With one last look at the smoke that was beginning to fillthe cave, Eliana slung the egg over her shoulder and began the climb back tothe top of the cliff. She slipped once, losing nearly a foot of the ground shehad covered, but continued onward, the egg swinging from her shoulder. When shereached the clifftop, she looked westward, where the sun was barely visibleover the watery horizon, setting on her old life.

Eilana knew she could not return to Vegrandis. The villagersalready hated her for being half elf. If she were to return with a dragon’segg, they would certainly destroy it—and likely kill her as well. She hadpromised to protect the unborn dragon she carried, and she intended to do justthat. She and the egg needed a safe harbor, a new beginning.

The human half of her had not been enough to give Eliana ahome among humans. But perhaps the elven half of her would allow her to replace a homeamong her mother’s people. Eliana turned eastwards and began walking, cradlingthe egg to her chest. Perhaps she and the unborn dragon could replace a home inIterum, the elven city.