Sky Riders: The Rising Sun
Ambushed

Everyone’s nerves were frayed as they continued on theirweary journey through the thick forests of the Kaers. Any movement around themsent arrows flying into the shadows. Every soldier had his weapons at theready. Nobody was ready to face another ogre attack.

As the sun began to set and they still had not escaped fromthe darkness under the massive trees, Eliana began to worry. “Caelum,” sheasked quietly, “I thought you said we would have reached the Shyrn Plains bynow.”

He nodded grimly. “We’ve been traveling more slowly than Iwould have liked, and that ogre made us lose some time. We have several morehours ahead of us before we’re free of the mountains.”

“Should we stop for the night?”

Caelum hesitated, considering this. “I think we should keepgoing into the night. I don’t want to be in these cursed mountains any longerthan is necessary, and I don’t think anyone else does either.”

Denio piped in from behind them; it was the first timeEliana had heard him speak in several days. “Not that I think you were going toactually ask for it,” he jested tensely, “but you have my permission tocontinue to lead my people through these forests of hell until we are free,nightfall or not.”

Caelum gave a smile over his shoulder. “Thank you, littlebrother.” Then, he shouted to the rest of the company, “Light more torches! Wewill continue into the night until we are out of the Kaers!”

The message was passed along the ranks. There were nomurmurs of complaint; every man and woman was eager to be out of the forests assoon as possible. New fires flared up in the increasing darkness until therewas a line of torches on either side of their company. The sun completelydisappeared behind the jagged edge of the mountains, plunging them back intothe familiar blackness of night that permeated the Kaer Forests.

Suddenly, Caelum jerked his head skywards, his blue eyestrying to glare through the thick canopy above them. Instinctively, Elianaopened her mind to search for a disturbance in that direction. Caelum must havehad his mind expanded a great distance, because it took Eliana a long timebefore she sensed anything. Finally, she came upon a massive creature suspendedin the air on broad wings.

“What is it?” she whispered to Caelum.

It was Oriens who answered, his golden head also turned uptowards the trees. “A Roc. A large one.It feels large enough that it could carry away one of our horses for a meal.”

“What should we do?”she asked.

“Nothing,” Caelumresponded silently. “Perhaps it willleave us alone.”

They continued on their journey, saying nothing to thosethat followed them. If anyone else in the company sensed the creature, theyweren’t saying anything either. As they walked, they came upon a smallclearing. With no trees to block their view, Eliana looked up to replace a largepart of the stars blotted out by the Roc’s wingspan. In the pale light from themoon, she could just make out its form, floating above them.

It seemed to be circling the clearing, watching theirprocession closely. Eliana prayed the torches would be enough to deter thecreature from trying to take one of their horses—or worse, one of theirsoldiers. Others soon noticed the presence in the sky, and frightened whisperstrickled down the line of soldiers. Eliana heard a few of them wondering if itwas a dragon. A few of the horses snorted in fear, prancing beside theirhandlers, who tried to calm them.

The head of their line soon reentered the forests on theother side of the clearing. They continued forward quietly, and Eliana began torelax, thinking the Roc had let them pass. Screams suddenly rent the air fromthe tail end of the ranks. Eliana reacted automatically, swinging into Oriens’saddle. There was only one way to fight a giant bird, and that was with adragon.

“Go!” she screamed at Oriens.

He immediately threw his body upwards, the talons of hishind legs ripping into the mossy, wet earth. Thick branches threatened to tearher from the saddle, but Eliana clung on with all her strength, wincing in painas the branches clawed at her arms and face. At last, they burst into the skyand turned immediately towards the clearing.

The troops had nearly made it through the gap in the trees;only the very end of the line remained in the open. They were now in disarray,shouting and pointing at the sky. Eliana turned in the direction they pointedto see the Roc beating its great, red-feathered wings as it flew towards thetops of the mountains. A horse dangled from the beast’s talons, screaming inpain and terror. A saddle was on the horse’s back, and in it, a female elfclung to the animal’s neck.

Oriens and Eliana raced after the Roc and its prisoners,quickly closing the gap. But they didn’t dare to attack the bird in the air;the horse and woman would fall straight to their deaths if they did. Theyfollowed the Roc at a safe distance. It continued to fly up the face of themountain until the atmosphere became chill and the air grew thin. At last, thered wings folded and it landed in an enormous nest that seemed to beconstructed from full branches.

They hovered over the nest for a moment, trying to decide onthe best course of action. The Roc was nearly as large as Oriens, and he was stillbattle-worn from his struggle with the ogre that morning. Eliana worried abouthis ability to fight another monster.

“I can handle it,”he assured her, as the Roc eyed them from its nest. “If we can lure it away from the girl and the horse, some fire shouldsend that feathered tail flying as far from us as possible.”

Eliana was still unsure, but they had few options. “Okay. Let’s get that thing out of itsnest.”

Oriens folded his wings and dove downwards towards the bird,snapping at the feathers on top of its angular head. The Roc shrieked inprotest, trying to grab Oriens’ tail with its sharp beak. They pulled up out ofits reach and circled back. Still eyeing them, the Roc seized the horse withone clawed foot and pulled the animal to its chest. The horse’s scream was cutoff as the Roc’s sharp beak snipped its throat.

The dragon unleashed a roar and dove downwards again, thistime seizing a mouthful of the feathers as he passed. The Roc screeched loudlyand threw its wings outwards. The woman screamed and cowered against the edgeof the nest, barely avoiding the massive wings as they began to beat above herhead.

“Hang on, Eliana!”Oriens warned her.

The Roc flew up at them, beating with its powerful wings.Oriens darted away from the open, screaming beak with a roll to one side,making Eliana’s world spin. The great bird was quick to recover, and it wassoon diving at them from above. It was faster than either of them hadanticipated, and Oriens once again barely avoided the sharp beak and talons. Thedragon set off at full speed, wings pounding, the bird close at his tail.

“What happened to alittle bit of fire taking care of it?” Eliana asked frantically.

“It’s too fast!” Oriensreplied in frustration. “I have to getaround it somehow without it closing in on us.”

An image leapt into her mind of a maneuver—one they had donebefore, in their first airborne battle. The thought crossed their mental link,and she strapped herself into the saddle.

“Ready!” shecalled to her dragon.

Just as he had done when they had face Peior on that firstday they’d flown together, Oriens bent hard backwards, sending them loopingover the top of the Roc. By the time the bird realized they were behind it,Oriens opened his mouth and released a massive jet of flames. The Roc’s softfeathers lit up like a thousand miniature torches. The scream that came fromits beak was almost human as it writhed in pain in midair for a moment. Then itplummeted to the distant forest like a phoenix falling from the sky.

Eliana and Oriens gazed down at the spot where the beast haddisappeared amid the trees, both of them breathing hard. When they were certainthe Roc was not going to rise back up out of the forest, they turned backtowards its nest. The elf was trembling when they arrived, staring at the bodyof the horse in front of her. It was one of the wild horses that the elves hadcalled to serve them in battle, a large and beautiful animal with a snow-whitecoat.

When Oriens landed in the nest, she looked up at them. Hervoice shook as she whispered, “Thank you. Thank you for coming for me.”

Eliana smiled at her reassuringly. “Of course. You didn’tthink we would leave you, did you?” She extended her hand towards the woman.“Come. There’s nothing we can do for the horse. We have to get you back to thetroops and safely out of these mountains.”

She stood shakily and took the Rider’s hand, allowingherself to be pulled into the saddle behind Eliana. Once Eliana was certain thewoman was secure, Oriens lifted them into the dark sky and carried them downthe face of the mountain. The air slowly became warmer and more breathable asthey descended, and Eliana inhaled it gratefully.

As they neared the spot where they’d left the troops,Eliana’s eyes searched for the numerous torches they had lit. There were none.They circled above the clearing for a moment. On the grass below, in the dimmoonlight, Eliana spotted several dark forms splayed on the ground. Panicwelled inside of her as shouts reached her ears. Something had happened.

“Eliana!” Caelum’svoice sprang into her mind unexpectedly. “Areyou alright? Please, tell me you’re alright!”

“I’m fine,” sheanswered immediately. “What’s happened?Is everyone okay?”

“Just stay in theair!” he barked. “That’s an order!”

“If something ishappening then I should help!”

“STAY IN THE AIR!”

The Rider and dragon both let out a snort of defiance.Captain or not, Caelum would not order them to do anything. Oriens immediatelyincreased the angle of his descent and brought them gently to the ground in thecenter of the clearing. Eliana and the elf woman both pulled their swords fromtheir sheaths as they dismounted. Eliana linked her vision with Oriens’ so shecould see better in the suffocating darkness.

Dozens of bodies lay in the clearing around them, but only ahandful belonged to humans, elves, and dwarves. The others were creatures shedidn’t recognize. She cautiously approached one and rolled it over with theblade of her sword. Wide, black eyes stared up at her without seeing from alarge, round face. Two great tusks curved up from the overly large, protrudinglower jaw. The creature’s body was small, but muscled, and it probably wouldhave stood about five feet tall—shorter than most humans, but taller than mostdwarves.

A sudden, piercing howl made Eliana jerk her head towardsthe woods. One of the massive Kaer mountain wolves was charging towards her,howling as it approached its prey. Oriens was immediately beside her, snatchingthe beast up by the throat and hurling it towards the trees. The wolf slammedinto one of the wide trunks with a yelp, making the tree shudder from theimpact.

As the wolf struggled to its feet again, Eliana pulled herbow from her back and tugged an arrow out of the quiver. She quickly knocked andfired the arrow, hitting the creature directly in the throat. It fell, gaspedfor air briefly, then lay still.

She turned to the woman, who stood with her sword in herhand, her blue eyes searching the woods for any sign of another attack. “Searchfor the rest of our company,” Eliana instructed. “If you replace any wounded,bring them to the clearing. If you replace our captains, our king and queen, orour Healers, bring them to me.”

The woman nodded, then took off into the forests, her bladeflashing in the dim moonlight of the clearing. Eliana moved toward the deadKaer wolf and removed her arrow from its neck, bending quickly to wipe theblood from the black shaft. A burning pain suddenly tore across her lower back.Her scream of agony was drowned out by Oriens’ roar of fury.

She fell to the grass, immediately rolling over to face herassailant. One of the creatures stood over her, grinning behind his tusks. Heheld a curved sword in his hand, the edge of its blade tinged red with herblood. His grin disappeared as her dragon came thundering towards them, fangsbared.

Oriens snapped at the creature, but it was more agile thanit appeared, and leapt to one side, swiping at the golden snout with his sword,leaving a long, shallow cut. A twinge of pain made Eliana’s nose ache as shestruggled to her feet, ignoring the burning pain in her back. As the monsterdanced away from Oriens’ swiping claws, she lifted her palm and sent a blast ofwind that knocked his feet out from under him. A curved white claw immediatelypierced his chest, pinning him to the ground.

Another figure came racing towards her from the left. As shespun to face him, she felt the earth ripple beneath her, and she fell to herback, a stab of pain tearing another scream from her lips. The moment she hitthe ground, an arrow flew above her up-turned face, piercing the air where shehad been standing a moment before.

She rolled onto her stomach and tried to push herself up,but the earth shifted again and Caelum’s voice shouted, “Stay down!”

His boots raced past her head, and she lifted her eyes tosee his sword clash against the curved sword of one of the monsters. He quicklyfelled his opponent, but two more were already charging at him. He immediatelyreached for an arrow and shoved it through the neck of his first assailant. Ashe pulled it back, he knocked it onto the string of his bow and fired the arrowinto the forehead of another.

More of their army’s soldiers had appeared from the trees.It was apparent that their forces were dominating their opponents’. Theyoutnumbered them greatly, and all around the clearing, the creatures fell tothe earth beneath swords of men, arrows of elves, and axes of dwarves. The onlystruggle seemed to be against the wolves, but Oriens was making short work of thefour-legged beasts.

Once Caelum was clear of any more attackers, he raced backto Eliana, who was once again trying to stand. He placed his hands on her backand forced her back to the ground, making her scream in pain.

He immediately jerked his hands away, seeing the long gashacross her back. She heard him curse under his breath. Eliana lay on the groundfor a moment, whimpering as the pain slowly subsided to a dull ache, then triedto stand again.

“Stay down, Eliana,” Caelum instructed, pushing gently onher shoulders.

Her head whipped in his direction, and she snarled like aferal animal. Reluctantly, he withdrew his hands and she stood, reaching foranother arrow. The last of the creatures were already retreating into thenight, and she fired after them. Her arrow struck the last of them in the back.He fell at the edge of the trees as his comrades disappeared into the forest.

Eliana picked her sword up from where it had fallen, andmarched to where the monster was struggling to his feet. When she reached him,she raised her sword to his throat. He glared at her down the length of herblade and gave an amused snort from his pig-like nose.

“What will you do?” he asked in a low, guttural voice. “Killme? I do not fear death, Rider.”

“I want to know who and what you are, and why you attackedmy men!” she demanded.

A low chuckle escaped his wide mouth and she pressed thepoint of his sword to his neck, cutting off the sound.

“I will kill you slowly if I have to,” she snarled. She felta small amount of satisfaction at the fear that flickered over the creature’sface.

“I am Gilgarn,” he answered her. “I am a goblin of theKaers. We attacked you because that is what we were sent to do.”

“Who sent you?”

His black eyes met hers defiantly. “That, I will nevertell.”

Suddenly, his long-fingered hands grasped the blade of hersword, and the goblin shoved the point into his own neck. His lifeless bodyfell to the grass at her feet, and she stared at it for a long moment. Suddenpain throbbed across her back again, and Eliana groaned, trembling. Caelum’sarms appeared around her, lowering her carefully so that she lay on her stomachon the grass.

“Go fetch the Healers,” he instructed someone nearby.

“But, Captain, they’re Healing the other men,” a voiceresponded.

“Do it now!” he shouted. “Our Rider comes first!”

Without another sound, the soldier darted away to replaceIspera and Laurus. Oriens’ massive golden head suddenly filled her vision, hissnout red with blood. His large green eyes were filled with concern.

“Are you alright,little one?” he asked.

She managed a pained smile. “I’ll be fine,” she responded. “Whatabout you?”

“Nothing you need toworry about.”

“Good. Oriens, youneed to help patrol the area. Your vision is better than anyone else’s. Keep aneye out for any sign of a second attack.”

“Are you sure you wantme to leave you?” he asked uncertainly.

“I told you, I’ll befine. The men need your help more than I do.”

He sighed, his warm breath caressing her face and rufflingher hair. “Very well. You are my Rider,and I will do as you bid me.”

His golden form trundled away, his scales reflecting themoonlight in a strange mixture of silver and gold. After his tail haddisappeared between the trees, she turned her face towards Caelum. His eyeswere on her back, studying the wound with a look of deep concern.

“Come now,” she said quietly, trying to force some humorinto her voice. “It can’t be that bad.”

His eyes turned to her face, his expression tight andanxious. “Why didn’t you stay in the sky like I asked you to?” he askedquietly.

His voice was not angry or scolding. It was worse; hesounded wounded. She closed her eyes to avoid seeing his pained expression.“Caelum, I am a Rider. From the moment you met me on that riverbank you knewwho I would become. You knew what would be expected of me.” She opened her eyesagain and met his gaze. “So why do you insist on trying to prevent me fromdoing what my duty requires?”

He turned away from her direct gaze and stared off atsomething on the other side of the clearing. His voice was soft when he finallyspoke. “I know what is expected of both of us, Eliana—you as a Rider, me ascaptain and the king’s brother—but that doesn’t mean I like it. That doesn’tmean I will simply allow you to do the kinds of foolhardy things you’ve donetonight, flying off into every danger that presents itself. That doesn’t mean Ican, or will, stop myself from loving you. I tried that. It didn’t work.”

Caelum looked back at her then, his blue eyes hard andserious. “Every other man can protect the woman he loves. He can shelter her,provide for her, care for her. But me? I can’t do that for you, Eliana. I knowthat, and it’s a terrible feeling to not be able to protect the person youlove, because she is meant to protect youand all of your people. Do you know how hard that is for me to accept?”

There was a long pause in which the voice of the mengathering the dead and the wounded echoed around them. Taking a deep breath,Eliana pushed herself up with her hands into a sitting position and turned toface him, trying to keep herself from grimacing in pain.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know I often rush into thingswithout thinking. I know I put myself in danger more often than I should. But Ihave to fight, Caelum. What would you have me do?”

His hands cupped her face as he answered, “Just let meprotect you.”

She shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry… I can’t.”

“Why?” he asked, his voice full of pain and pleading.

She could see by the look in his eyes that there was no wayto make him understand that she felt the same way he did. She had been calledto serve and protect, but the person she loved most continued to put himself inharm’s way to protect her isntead. She didn’t want anyone to lay down theirlife for her—Caelum, least of all.

But he would never understand that. “Because I love you,”she answered, and before he could ask for further explanation, she pulled hismouth to hers and kissed him for the first time since they began their trekfrom Amiscan.

After a moment, he pulled away, turning towards the sound offast-approaching footsteps. Eliana squinted through the darkness for a momentbefore recognizing the form of her mother rushing towards her, a basket cradledin her arms.

“Lie down, lie down!” she instructed the moment she was ather daughter’s side. As Eliana slowly and painfully lowered herself back to thegrass, Ispera waved her hands at Caelum like she was trying to chase away apesky fly. “You’re no good here,” she told him with a hint of protectivemotherliness in her voice. “Go do something captain-like.”

Caelum slowly stood, as if hoping Eliana would protest andask him to stay with her. She didn’t, and he turned and regretfully plodded offto help light watch fires around the clearing.

“Oh, you silly girl,” Ispera was muttering as she cut openthe back of Eliana’s tunic, “what have you done to yourself this time?”

Eliana winced as the Healer covered the wound in a salve.“Can’t you just Heal it with magic?” she asked. “He didn’t cut me very deep,did he?”

“No,” she answered, her face grim, “but Laurus has alreadydiscovered that goblins lace their blades with viper poison. If I Heal thewound without removing the toxin, it would remain in your blood and poison you.”

Eliana grimaced at the thought. “What about the other men?How many were killed? Is Laurus Healing the other wounded?”

“Hush,” she silenced her, with all the authority ofmotherhood. “Don’t worry yourself over that. You just lie still and stay quietuntil I’m finished with you.”