Sky Riders: The Rising Sun
The Other Enemy

Oriens’ voice spoke in Eliana’s mind, waking her beforedaybreak. “Someone is coming.”

She rubbed her eyes and sat up. Caelum seemed to have heardOriens as well; he was just stirring, sitting up and looking at the door withsome consternation. When he saw that she was awake, he gave her a tender smile.

“Looks like our sleep is over,” he said.

She moaned and dropped back onto the mattress. Her peacefulnight of dreamless sleep in Caelum’s arms was over, and another day of warawaited them. She turned and propped herself on an elbow, watching Caelum as heput his tunic back on and pulled on his boots.

“Does it have to be?” she grumbled.

He chuckled at her pouting expression and leaned over tokiss her forehead. “Believe me, if I could make it any other way, I would,” hesaid. “But we both lead this army, and we will both be needed today.”

Eliana sighed and crawled discontentedly out of bed, tryingto smooth her rumpled green tunic as she tugged her boots on. With a yawn, shewent over to Oriens and patted his neck.

“Good morning, oldfriend,” she said. “So who is comingto see us at this ungodly hour?”

“Felsen,” heanswered, his eyes on the door, as if he expected it to open at any minute, “and a number of other dwarves, if I’mcorrect. And I usually am.”

A moment later, a loud knock echoed through the emptycathedral. Caelum strode forward and pulled one of the large doors open. Justas Oriens had said, Felsen stood in the doorway with many other dwarves behindhim, each of them holding a large, shining piece of metal in a variety ofshapes and sizes.

“Captain Caelum,” Felsen said in surprise, “I did not expectto replace you here.”

“I was just speaking to Lady Eliana about our plans fortoday,” Caelum answered.

“Please, come in, Captain,” Eliana called from where shestood.

Felsen and the other dwarves filed in, lining up in front ofthe Rider and dragon. The dwarf captain cleared his throat before he spoke. “Mymen have worked through the night with many of the elves and humans, makingarmor for our troops. It occurred to us late into the night that we had not yetcreated armor to protect our greatest asset—Oriens Fehr Zuhnden.”

Eliana’s eyes ran along the line of dwarves and the piecesof metal they held. “This is all armor for Oriens?” she asked.

Felsen nodded. “We made the metal as light as possible so asto not hinder his flight. It’s not much, but these plates will provideprotection for his underbelly.” He held up the piece in his own arms and added,“And this will cover his head.”

Oriens surveyed the armor with satisfaction. “It truly is excellent work for such a shorttime,” he said.

Eliana added, “You have my deepest gratitude, CaptainFelsen. I cannot express enough appreciation for your efforts in protecting mydragon.”

“We have not forgotten you, Fehr Zähmer Eliana,” he saidwith a smile. Two of his men stepped forward at a motion from their captain,and they held out the smaller burdens they carried. “We made your armor of thesame metal. It is minimal, as there were limited materials, but I hope it willhelp.”

She opened her mouth to thank him again, but she wasinterrupted as a yellow-haired human burst through the partially open door. Thegroup in the cathedral turned to look at him with some concern as the young manstood, hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

At last, he managed, “Rider… enemies… at the wall…”

Eliana frowned at him, trying to comprehend his butcheredsentences. “Are we under attack?”

He shook his head. “Come and see.”

The dwarves carefully piled the armor along one of the wallsand they all followed the messenger back out into the streets of Thys. Theydashed through the square to the western wall. Captain Tadal stood atop theparapets, looking down on the other side. His face was creased in a deep frown.Caelum and Eliana climbed up beside him and peered over the stony ramparts.

Caelum grimaced. “I had forgotten about them.”

Goblins and their massive wolf mounts milled about below thewall, glaring up with matching black eyes. They had, indeed, forgotten aboutthe tracks they’d seen and the news they’d received from Bolandri. They’d beentoo concerned with intercepting Nocens’ armies.

As Eliana looked down at the fearsome army beneath her, theyseemed to somehow know who she was. The moment they saw her, the goblins beganto shout and shake their weapons. Even the wolves howled and snarled deep intheir throats.

She drew back from their sight and looked at Caelum. “Whathappened to the human army?”

Tadal answered by pointing to the southwest. Off in thedistance, camped at the base of the mountains, were Nocens’ men. Even from thatdistance, Eliana could hear their laughter and singing. They were notconcerned. The pawns would go first; they would finish what the beasts couldnot when the forces inside Thys were weakened.

“Are you familiar with fighting these monsters?” Tadalasked.

Caelum gave a short nod. “They ambushed us in the Kaers.They’re strong and vicious, but their fighting style is simplistic. They attackwithout organization. So unless Nocens has found a way to make them moreintelligent and to teach them battle strategies, we can defeat them.”

Tadal grunted. “Let’s hope this will be as easy as you say.”

“I didn’t say it would be easy,” Caelum muttered. “I justsaid it could be done. There are many of them and, as I said, they are strong.It takes at least three men to bring down one of those Kaer wolves.”

“Or one person and a dragon,” Eliana interjected. The twomen turned to look at her. “I’ll go in first,” she said. “Oriens and I candistract them, turn them away from Thys, and we can do a fair amount of damageourselves. When they’ve all turned to us, your men can attack.”

“I will not use you as bait,” Caelum answered immediately.

“Don’t be so hasty, Captain,” Tadal argued. “It seems a goodplan to me.”

Caelum wheeled on him. “Captain Tadal, you have not seenhalf the things we have seen. Nocens has a Rider as well. If anything happensto Eliana or Oriens, do you think we will stand even a glimmer of a chance whenthat Rider and dragon arrive? It is pure foolishness to risk their livesunnecessarily.”

“This is not unnecessary,” Eliana said quietly, “and I don’tneed your permission to do this, Caelum.” He turned to her, obviously preparedto argue, but she went on, cutting him off. “You know that we can’t fight thesecreatures from our walls. It will take more force than our arrows to bring themdown, and we will lose too many men in basic, open combat. We need a plan, andthis is the best one we have. You know it.”

“I will not let anyharm befall her,” Oriens said from where he sat on the ground inside thecity wall.

Caelum glanced down at the dragon momentarily, then lookedback at Eliana. “Very well,” he said with a short nod. “But remember what I amentrusting to you.” His voice entered her mind, and he added silently, “The life of the woman I love.”

She nodded. “I know. I won’t fail you.”

“You should go prepare yourself, Rider,” Tadal said.“Captain Caelum and I will gather the men for the attack once you havesufficiently distracted the beasts.”

Eliana turned and climbed down the wooden ladder to whereOriens waited for her. “We are fightingalone today, little one,” he said.

“Yes,” sheanswered. Even in her mind, her voice shook with anxiety. “We will stand alone today.”

“But at least we willstand alone together.”

“Always,” sheresponded with a smile.

The dragon and Rider returned to the cathedral where theirnew armor awaited them. With the assistance of several dwarves, Eliana fittedOriens with his new armor. The metal plates overlapped one another along his neckand belly, completely covering the softer scales while still allowing himrelatively free movement. A large plate covered his face and curved down overthe top of his snout. With some adjustment of the straps, Eliana fit the saddleon over the armor.

Oriens arched his neck, baring his teeth in a menacingsnarl. “How do I look?” he asked.

“Absolutelyterrifying,” Eliana answered with a smile.

She began to strap on her own armor. She struggled with thelaces on the bracers for several minutes, her trembling hands failing to securethem properly. Finally, she allowed the dwarves to do it for her. The armor wasminimal, consisting of only a small, light breastplate, armguards, and legbracers; they would offer her additional protection, but they wouldn’t weighher down.

After twisting her hair up into a knot and strapping hergolden sword to her waist, she looked up at her dragon. “Are you ready?” she asked.

He nodded his metal-clad head. “Ready.”

They marched out of the cathedral, flanked by the dwarveswho had aided them in their preparation. The rest of Thys had begun to stir inthe early morning hours, and hundreds of pairs of eyes watched them from everydoorway, window, and side street. Thoughts from unprotected minds driftedthrough hers. All of them wondered the same thing—“Will she live?”

She found it mildly interesting that every single person’sconcern was focused on her. Of course, she couldn’t expect them to doubtOriens’ ability to survive any battle. He looked like an unstoppable force, treadingbeside her in his armor, and nobody else knew that he would die if his Riderfell.

For some reason, this thought frightened her more thanthinking of her own death—knowing that her dragon must follow her into the darkabyss if she were to fall. More than anything, she wanted Oriens to survivethis. A world without that golden dragon seemed a dark place to her, even ifshe were not in it.

The crowd in the city square parted on their approach, andthey strode into the center of the square where the army’s leaders werewaiting. Their faces were all solemn as they met Eliana’s gaze. She felt as ifthey had already resigned her to the grave.

Tadal broke the grim silence. “How long do you want us towait before sending out our men?”

“Until we have turned them all away from Thys,” sheanswered. She was surprised by how steady and certain her own voice sounded;inside, she was trembling. “Once their backs are turned, send your men in fromall sides. They will be unprepared, and we should be able to dispatch themquickly.”

Tadal acknowledged her command with a sharp salute. “Aye,Rider.”

Eliana drew a breath, then said with a nod. “Very well. Goodluck, Captain.”

She grabbed hold of Oriens’ saddle and pulled herself up,attempting to steady her trembling limbs. When she looked down, she met a pairof worried blue eyes, watching her closely. Caelum looked ready to leap intothe saddle after her.

“Don’t worry,” shesaid, trying to soothe him, though her own heart was threatening to burst fromher chest. “I’ll see you soon.”

He answered with three words. “I love you.”

“I know. I love youtoo.”

She forced herself to look away from his face and turned hereyes skyward. “Let go, Oriens.”

He crouched for a moment, then jumped high into the air,snapping open his large wings and circling above the city. Immediately, theeyes of the goblins and their lupine mounts were on the golden dragon and hisRider. Their hoarse shouts and eerie howls tore at the air. Eliana looked downat them from her place high in the sky. All eyes were on her, just as she wanted.

She took a deep breath, preparing herself for both theinevitable and the unknown. Oriens seemed to draw a breath at the same time,and when he released it, fire rained down on the wolves and goblins. Theyscattered before the flames, but an unlucky few did not escape the inferno.Goblins and wolves screamed in pain as the fire engulfed them.

The others gazed for a moment at their burning comrades, andEliana took advantage of their distraction. Oriens dove downwards, landingheavily in the midst of the enemy, crushing a few of the slower goblins beneathhis clawed feet. Almost immediately, they were charged upon from all sides.Oriens whipped his tail, flattening the attackers behind him against the earth.

Eliana leaned from the saddle, her sword flashing gold for amoment before becoming drenched in the blood of a goblin. Oriens roared,tearing at the Kaer wolves with his long, white fangs. Those goblins that rodeastride the wolves hacked at her legs with their massive curved swords. Theblades glanced off of the metal that shielded her shins, and she made a silentnote to thank Felsen again before embedding her blade in a goblin’s neck.

The monsters seemed to learn quickly that they could notreach her from her perch on Oriens’ back. Their attacks instead turned to herdragon. The Kaer wolves—either by their riders’ commands or by their owninstinct—circled Oriens, darting in one at a time to snap at his legs and neckand tail. Most of the attacks glanced off of his armor or scales, but a fewfound the soft, unprotected under sides of his legs, drawing blood and makingEliana’s legs twinge in empathetic pain.

The Rider jumped from the saddle and landed on the softgrass. It seemed to be what her enemies had been waiting for. Two Kaer wolvescharged at her, the goblins on their backs raising their swords over theirheads. She tumbled to the side to avoid the first, rolling back to her feetjust as the other came upon her.

She shut her eyes and thrust her sword upwards, piercing thewolf’s neck. It made a pained gurgling sound as she yanked her blade away, thencrumpled to the ground. She quickly dispatched the wolf’s rider as he tried tojump from the wolf’s back.

The other wolf had turned around and was charging her again.With a jerk and twist of her wrist, Eliana pulled a stone from the ground andsent it hurtling at the approaching beast. She heard the cracking of a skull asthe stone collided with the wolf’s head. The animal tumbled to the earth,crushing the goblin beneath it.

She glanced around to replace Oriens snapping at the wolvesaround him while more of the creatures turned to her. The entire company ofmonsters had turned away from Thys and were converging on them in a howling,snarling, roaring mass.

“Oriens!” she screamed aloud.

As always, he knew what she wanted. He charged towards her,knocking aside two wolves. As his golden form rushed past her, she seized thelower strap of the saddle and allowed his momentum to swing her onto his back.As Oriens galloped westward, Eliana glanced over her shoulder. Every wolf andgoblin in the group was following.

The wolves were faster than she had expected, and she soonfound one on either side of her, their white fangs flashing at her feet, tryingto grab her and tear her from the saddle. Suddenly, one of the goblins leaptfrom the wolf’s back, grabbing her left leg with his long fingers. His mouthfound her leg and he clamped down, one of his massive, curved tusks piercingthe back of her thigh, just above the knee.

She wailed in pain and brought her blade down hard on top ofhis bald head, splitting open the thick skull. The goblin’s grip on herloosened as his jaw went slack, and his body fell to the earth, the tusktearing its way out of her flesh.

“Up! Oriens, up!”her mind screamed.

The golden wings flew open mid-gallop, yanking them into thesky with a powerful thrust. Warm blood poured down her leg as they skimmed justabove the heads of the goblins. As they all watched her, throwing curses intheir rough language, the armies from Thys came spilling out of the forest atthe base of the mountains.

The United Army crashed against the unprepared goblins andwolves like a wave into rocky cliff. The beasts fell before swords, axes,arrows, and magic. There were howls of pain and shrieks of fury as the monsterstried to turn to face this new enemy. Eliana ordered Oriens back into thefight.

He radiated concern about her wounded leg but obeyed, divingdownwards and scattering the creatures below them. Fire roared from his openmouth, sending Kaer wolves yelping towards the mountains in pain and fear,leaving their goblin riders on the grass to be overrun by the advancing humans,elves, and dwarves.

Despite her dragon’s silent warnings, Eliana returned to theground, hacking at anything that came within reach of her blade. She felt as ifher mind had become separate from her body; she was vividly aware of everythingthat happened around her, but nothing that was happening to her. She did not feel the pain from her wounded leg, the warmthof the blood soaking her trousers, or the blows of the goblin-made swordsagainst her breastplate.

Around her, her compatriots battled furiously against theenemies. They were fighting well, clustered in pairs and small groups as theybrought down the massive wolves. Dwarves hacked at the animals’ legs with heavyaxes, while human and elven swords sought the soft flesh of their necks. Thethree races battled side by side as if they had done so for centuries.

Her eyes found Caelum, the only one fighting alone in thebattle, somehow managing incredible grace amidst the gore. He glided out of theway of a charging wolf and leapt onto its back, beheading the goblin there in aflash, then driving his blade into the back of the wolf’s neck. The beast felldead beneath him, and he leapt off, landing lightly on his feet and running atfull speed towards Eliana.

He said nothing when he reached her, but fell in beside herand continued fighting. She welcomed a second comrade in the battle, as yetmore monsters fell upon her. It seemed that for every goblin or Kaer wolf thatfell, another simply rose to take its place. Eliana’s body was growing weaker,and her injured leg began to tremble beneath her. Her head felt light, andblack dots blurred her vision.

Their troops were soon beating the enemy back against themountains. Nearly all of the wolves had fled, and only a few goblins remainedto attempt to turn the battle in their favor. But those who remained soonrealized that their fight was over, and they turned for the shelter of theforests, running after the mountains who had disappeared long before.

Cheers broke out among the men as they watched the last ofthe goblins disappear into the shadows of the trees. Eliana’s breath burned inher lungs as she wiped her blade on the grass and returned it to its sheath.She limped back to Oriens and laboriously climbed into his saddle, her teethgrit against the pain.

Caelum was suddenly behind her in the saddle, his armsaround her, holding her steady. “Hold on, Eliana,” he said. “We’ll get you backto Laurus and Ispera. They’ll take care of you.”

“I’m fine,” she muttered stubbornly, shaking her headagainst the haze of spots that clouded her vision.

He didn’t answer her, but instead said to her dragon, “Takeher home, Oriens.”

Oriens carried them both over the heads of the men and backto Thys. Once they had landed in the city square, Caelum lifted her easily fromthe saddle and carried her to the infirmary. Eliana allowed her head to restagainst his shoulder until they entered the dark room.

Most of the injured from the previous day’s battle had beenHealed and sent back to the ranks. Only a few of the more seriouslyinjured—those whose Healing would take time—remained in the infirmary.

“Is she alright?” Eliana heard her mother cry.

The Rider lifted her head and she managed a small smile.“I’m fine, really. But you know Caelum.”

“Oh, yes,” Caelum agreed good-naturedly, laying her on ablanket on the floor, “paranoid, bothersome, over-cautious, over-protectiveCaelum.”

“Roll onto your stomach, Eliana, so we can look at theinjury,” Laurus’ whispery voice commanded.

She did as she was told so that the three elves around hercould survey the damage. She heard someone draw a sharp breath while anotherlet out a small “Oh” of sympathy. Eliana turned her head enough so that shecould see Laurus’ face.

The Healer caught her gaze and shook her head indisapproval. “That is an uncommonly nasty wound, Eliana,” she said.

“The puncture wound tears straight through the muscle,”Ispera agreed from Eliana’s other side, her voice tight with worry. “And itlooks like it may have splintered part of the bone as well.”

Eliana sighed. “How long?” she asked wearily.

There was a pause as the two Healers considered. “A fewhours at most,” Laurus said.

“But it will be painful, dear,” Ispera added. “The wound isragged. We’ll have to guide the muscles back together very slowly andcarefully, not to mention piecing together the splintered parts of the bone.”

“Fine,” the Rider muttered, turning to rest her chin on herhands. “Go on.”

She could sense the three elves exchanging glances over herback, then heard the shuffling of the two Healers leaving to gather theirsupplies. Caelum moved to sit cross-legged in front of her. A small smirk wason his face.

“Something funny, Captain?” she asked him.

He shook his. “Not particularly, but you are a strange girl.Do you know that?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been told that once or twice.”

“Here I was, panicking over your injury and loss of blood,and you act as if you’ve simply cut your finger on a piece of parchment.”

She gave a grunt of laughter. “Pain builds character,” sheanswered. She shifted uncomfortably as she tried to adjust her breastplate.

Caelum noticed her discomfort. “Here,” he offered. “Sit up.”

Eliana rolled over again and sat up with her back to him. Hecarefully helped her remove all of her armor. As he took off her left legbrace, she noticed for the first time that her brown breeches had been staineda deep red from the middle of her left thigh down to her boots.

“Was there really that much blood?” she asked in surprise.

“I told you it was a nasty wound,” Laurus answered as sheapproached again, bandages in her arms.

Ispera was right behind her with a small vile in her hands.“You need to roll on your side, Eliana,” she said.

Eliana moved stiffly to obey her and soon found her headcradled in Caelum’s lap. She looked up at him in mild surprise.

He smiled down at her. “Comfortable?”

She nodded and turned back to her side. She didn’t protestas he began to run his fingers over her disheveled hair. One of the womenbehind her tore open the leg of her breeches to better expose the wound. Elianawinced once as they quickly cleaned it, but soon relaxed under Caelum’s softtouch.

“Okay, Eliana,” her mother said, her voice sounding far toosoothing to mean anything good. “I’m going to need you to stay as still aspossible. I’m going to apply the salve to the wound. It is going to hurt,sweetheart, but we need it to help speed the process and remove any infectionwhile we try to Heal it.”

The Rider nodded in understanding. She felt a liquidsubstance enter her wound. At first, all she felt was the surprising chill ofthe Healing salve. Then, a terrible burning sensation filled her leg. Shecouldn’t hold back the scream of pain, and her body instinctively jerked awayfrom the Healers.

Caelum’s arms immediately wrapped around her shoulders,holding her as she trembled and screamed in agony, tears streaming down hercheeks. His body bent over hers, pressing his lips close to her ear. She knewhe was whispering something to her, but she couldn’t hear him over her ownwhimpers and sobs of agony.

She turned his face against his arm as he cradled her headand bit down onto the sleeve of his tunic, trying to hold the pain inside. Hisarms tightened around her as another spasm of pain racked her body and anotherscream escaped her lips, muffled by the cloth between her teeth.

“It’s okay, Eliana,” she distantly heard him whispering.“You’re going to be okay. I’m here. I’m here.”