Sky Riders: The Rising Sun
Beyond Blood

Iterum was all but empty. The majority of the city’sinhabitants had left several hours before, just after sunrise. Only one smallgroup remained, and their departure was iminent. They stood before the fourinterwoven trees that housed the archives, waiting for Mara and Astrum toreappear from the arched opening.

Eliana glanced at the faces around her—Denio, Kana, Ivi,Ispera, Caelum, and several palace guards. They all looked grim. Iterum had notbeen abandoned since it was built at the beginning of the Great War, when theirfirst city had been destroyed by the humans. It was plain on their faces thattheir hearts were breaking to leave the city now. If Nocens brought the humanarmies there, they would leave nothing but destruction in their wake.

At last, Mara appeared from the archives, the large, whitewolf at her side. They both bore the same mournful expression. Neither of themspoke, but they turned and looked up at the large trees. Suddenly, massivevines—each as big around as Eliana’s waist—dropped from the distant branchesand began winding around the trees.

The vines wrapped around the interwoven trunks, like snakesenveloping their prey. They grew larger and longer, until no gaps remainedbetween the vines, and the archives were wrapped in a solid cocoon of greenvines.

Astrum turned his golden eyes on the group and spoke, hisvoice weary. “The archives will remain impenetrable until opened by Mara,myself, Eliana, or a member of the elven royal family. Not even Dark magic willbe able to penetrate it.”

Eliana gave a short nod. “Are we ready to go then?” sheasked quietly. They each nodded in turn, and she reached out to Oriens, who wascircling in the clouds high above them. “We’reready. Stay close, but stay hidden.”

As the small party headed towards Iterum’s gates, Eliana’sdragon spoke in her mind. “Are you sureyou don’t want to be up here with me?”

“You know I do,Oriens, but I can’t yet. We can’t afford to have you land in the daylight—notwhen Nocens’ armies could be nearby. We’ll rest tonight and head out beforesunrise tomorrow. I’ll fly with you then.”

She could sense his anxiety at their separation and heard itin his deep voice as he answered, “Verywell. But I don’t like you being all the way down there when I am all the wayup here.”

“Nor do I.”

The melancholy band continued in silence for hours, the onlysound the crunching of the slushy snow under their feet; it would be gone in afew days’ time. They each had their own thoughts to tend to. Most of Eliana’swere focused on the elf that walked beside her, his head bent so that hisblonde hair fell into his eyes. He looked exhausted, as if every bit of hisenergy had been pulled from him.

She glanced briefly at the people walking ahead of them,then reached out and took his hand. He looked over at her in surprise, as ifhe’d only just realized she was beside him. She forced a smile and asked asquietly as she could, “Are you alright?” Still, her voice sounded painfullyloud over the quiet emptiness.

Caelum smiled back, but it was not the smile she’d hoped tosee—it was a broken smile, a cruel imitation of the beautiful one she knew. “Ofcourse,” he answered. “I just hate to abandon Iterum—that’s all.”

He turned his eyes back towards the snow on the groundbefore him. She continued to study him, knowing far too well that there wassomething more on his mind, something he wouldn’t tell her. She wanted to presshim for answers, but knew that this was neither the time nor the place. If hewanted to tell her, he would tell her, but only in his own time.

Eliana glanced ahead of them again to ensure nobody waswatching, then reached up and kissed his cheek lightly. “Everything’s going tobe fine,” she promised.

He looked at her again with another forced smile. “I know,”he whispered, squeezing her hand. “We’ve got you, haven’t we?”

A shout suddenly rose from the guards that headed the group.Eliana looked towards them in the fading light of the sun at her back. They hadreached a steep ledge, and the guards had dropped to their knees, reaching fortheir bows and arrows, aiming at something on the ground below them.

“Stop them!”Oriens shouted in her mind. “It’s Caedis’party!”

Eliana rushed forward, shouting, “Stop! Stop!”

The guards looked up at her in confusion, but slackened thetension on their bowstrings. As the rest of the group reached the ledge andlooked down, they saw tents and blankets set out on patches of green in themidst of the melting snow. The people below had begun to notice theirappearance and were shouting to those around them.

“Let me lead the group,” she told the guards. “They know me.The last thing we want is a fight with our allies.”

The elves nodded their assent, and she took her place at thehead of the group, Caelum falling into step beside her. They made their waydown the steep slope into the little valley below. Eliana could see a few bowsaimed in their direction, arrows on the strings. She raised her hands as theyapproached, and those with her did the same. When the villagers spotted her atthe head of the party, the weapons were immediately lowered.

“It’s the Rider!” she heard someone shout.

The word spread around the campsite and someone emerged froma tent. He made his way to meet them on the outskirts of the encampment. It wasCaedis. His brown eyes were bright with excitement, but ringed with darkcircles.

“Caedis,” she said with concern, “you should have been inAmiscan by now. What happened? Did you meet with trouble?”

He looked at her seriously and nodded. Gesturing to thepeople behind him, he said, “You may not have noticed, but our number are muchsmaller now. We met our elven guides, as you said, and we continued walkingthrough the night.

“It was dark. There was no moon. We never saw it coming. Adragon dropped out of the sky and began carrying people off. The rest of us ranfor the trees, scattered every which way. These were the only ones that made itback to the group.”

She stared at him, stunned. Oriens spoke in her mind. “Is he certain it was a dragon? My kinddon’t ordinarily attack humans. Their livestock, maybe, but not a band oftravelers.”

She repeated Oriens’ question to Caedis, who looked up atthe sky curiously. “Where is yourdragon?”

“Close by, keeping watch. If it weren’t for him, you couldhave lost more of your people.”

Caedis nodded, then answered, “Yes, I’m certain it was adragon. I was able to make out its shape, even without the moon. It was muchsmaller than your dragon, and it was a very dark color, which made it moredifficult to see, but I’m sure of it. What else has teeth and claws and wings?”

Eliana could still feel her dragon’s puzzlement, but neitherof them could come up with another explanation; it had to have been a dragon.

Caedis still looked strained. “There’s more,” he saidquietly.

“More?”

He nodded. “The dragon itself didn’t take many of us. Mostmade it into the woods. We all hid until sunrise, then tried to gatherourselves together again. We found dozens more of our people dead around theforest—killed by swords. Someone was waiting for us, Eliana. That dragon wasworking with someone.”

Her eyes widened, and fear gripped her insides. She feltOriens echoing her own feelings at the idea—the human army may have foundthemselves a Rider. Eliana didn’t voice the frightening thought, but as shelooked at Caelum, she knew he had to be thinking the same thing.

She turned back to Caedis, trying to keep her voice calm.“We’ll stay with you for the rest of the journey. Oriens and I will keep watchat night. I promise, nothing like this will happen again.”

Caedis gave her a weary smile and placed a hand on hershoulder. “It’s good to have you with us, Eliana. The people will feel muchsafer now.”

“And what have you done to make them feel safe with you?” a voice growled beside her.

She looked up at Caelum in surprise.

“What?” Caedis asked with a scowl.

“I asked you what you are doing to protect these people. Orhave you just been hiding in your tent, waiting for the Rider to come and dowhat you cannot? You were strong enough to torment her, but aren’t strongenough to lead your people without her?”

Eliana could see Caedis’ anger flaring up. She placedherself between the two men and put a hand on Caelum’s arm, looking up into hisangry face. “Caelum,” she hissed, “what’s the matter with you?”

His blue eyes remained narrowed in Caedis’ direction,ignoring her, but he didn’t say anything more. She gave a sigh of exasperationand turned to the other man before he could say something that would cause moretrouble; though Caedis had changed his attitude since she’d returned as aRider, she did not expect his personality to change, and he had always had atendency to say stupid things.

“Come with me, Caedis,” she said, giving his arm a gentletug. “Caelum and the others will replace a place to set up camp while we talk.”

They returned to Caedis’ tent and sat facing each othercross-legged, just inside the closed flaps. “Is that the way all the elves aregoing to receive us?” he asked irritably.

She sighed and shook her head. “No, of course not. I’msorry, Caedis. I really don’t know what’s come over him. He’s never acted thatway to anyone before—not even humans.”

Caedis considered this for a moment, then made a face andsaid. “Guess I’ll just have to accept the fact that their precious princedoesn’t take well to me. You can only expect so much cooperation between twospecies… So, how long will your dragon stay up there?”

She accepted his change of subject. “Until nightfall. Wecan’t afford to have him come down in daylight, when Nocens’ troops could benear. He has to stay in the clouds.”

“Which is getting verytiring,” he interjected in her mind.

She smiled to herself and went on, “How many did you lose tothe attack?”

“Fifty-seven,” he answered grimly. “Many more were wounded,but somehow managed to fight off their attackers in the trees. I have to admitthat the guides you sent for us played a great role in that. And your Healerwas an incredible help with restoring the health of the wounded.”

“So Laurus is safe?” she asked in relief.

He nodded.

“The sun is nearlygone,” Oriens said. “There’s enoughshadow for me to land now.”

“Okay, I’ll meet yououtside the campsite. Be cautious, Oriens, These people truly have a reason tofear dragons now.”

She stood and said to Caedis, “Oriens is about to land.Please tell your people. I don’t want them to harm him by mistake.”

He nodded in acknowledgment and followed her out of thetent, then went off to make the announcement while Eliana went in the oppositedirection to wait for Oriens. She walked several yards away from the tents,then gave Oriens the clear to land.

His golden form appeared from the clouds above, barelyvisible in the waning sunlight. He circled above her once, then, with a rushingof air, landed beside her in the slush and show. He sighed and folded his wingsto his sides, looking exhausted.

“That must have beenthe longest day of my life,” he complained. “It gets quite boring when you’re up there alone.”

“I’m sorry,” sheanswered, hugging his nose. “But I’ll bewith you tomorrow.”

“I’ll be holding youto that.” Oriens pulled back and looked at something over her shoulder.

She turned and followed his gaze to replace Caelum approaching,his face still clouded with anger. She sighed and said to her dragon, “I was hoping he would have cleared up hismood by now. I swear, I haven’t a clue what could be wrong with him.”

Caelum looked up at her, his face softening slightly into asmall smile. “I thought I’d replace you here,” he said.

She didn’t respond until he was standing right in front ofher. “What’s wrong, Caelum?” she asked, her voice coming out much sharper andharsher than she’d intended.

He blinked in surprise at her tone. “What do you mean?”

“I thought you would be the person most eager to get alongwith the humans, with all of your preaching about how I’m supposed to unite theseraces. I never expected you to hatesomeone for their blood.”

He was clearly offended now. “What are you talking about? Ofcourse I want to get along with the humans! I don’t hate anyone for theirblood!”

“Then why are you acting so hatefully towards Caedis?” shedemanded.

His face clouded. “You think that’s because of his blood? My feelings towards Caedis go far beyond blood.” The way hesaid the man’s name made it sound like a filthy word.

“What reason could you possibly have to hate him? What has hedone to you?”

Caelum shook his head in disbelief, apparently baffled byher lack of understanding. “He’s done nothing to me, Eliana. But I know whathe’s done to you. Every time you spoke his name, it was to tell me aboutsomething cruel he’d done to you. He tortured you! And he relished it! You didn’t see the pain in your eyes that I saw whenyou spoke about all he did to you. How can I forgive him for that?”

She frowned and answered quietly, “I have.”

Caelum’s voice was equally low as he responded, “Congratulations.You’re apparently a much better person than I, because I cannot forget the painhe caused you.”

She sighed and stepped forward, folding herself in his arms.“You must try,” she pleaded. “We can’t have an alliance with these people if wedon’t trust each other. I need you to try, Caelum. Please. For me.”

He held her for a moment in silence, then sighed and kissedthe top of her head. “Alright,” he whispered. “For you, I will try.”

She tilted her head back and smiled at him. “Thank you.” Shekissed him lightly, then added. “You should get some rest. I’ll keep watch withOriens.

Caelum shook his head, though there was a crooked grin onhis lips. “I wish you wouldn’t volunteer for these kinds of things. Even SkyRiders need rest.”

Eliana chuckled. “Well, I promised, and I plan to make goodon it.” She sat down next to where Oriens had settled and smiled up at Caelum.“Now, you should sleep.”

He dropped to the ground beside her. “Very well, but thatdoesn’t mean I’m going anywhere.”

She gave a loud laugh and rolled her eyes. “You must be themost stubborn man I’ve ever met!”

He grinned back at her. “I have to be stubborn if I’m evergoing to get anything from a Rider. They’re the most stubborn of allcreatures—especially the female Riders.”

This drew another laugh from her as she leaned against hisshoulder. “And what fun would it be if you always got what you wanted?”

He looked down at her upturned face, smiling softly. “None,”he whispered, kissing her forehead. “None at all.”

They fell silent, his fingers toying softly with a strand ofher long hair. She was supposed to be on watch, she knew, but the combinedcomfort of Caelum’s presence and Oriens’ steady breathing beside her quicklytook its effect. She nestled her head into the nape of Caelum’s neck anddrifted quickly into an uninterrupted sleep.