Black Blood

Extra: The four night riders

Celeste

1 month before Christiaan's engagement

My eyes glide over the white mountain peaks just above the clouds. The cold wind blows past my face and makes my hair float through the air. The black cloak, wrapped tightly around my waist with a belt, floats behind me in the wind. Rave's wings beat through the air like two iron walls, moving us forward through the clouds. The only audible thing is the rustling of the wind, Rave's wings in the air and sometimes the sound of a protesting dragon.

It is quiet on the snowy land below us. The world is peaceful, except for minor neighbourly squabbles. It is a sign that we are doing our work well, work I love to do. Rave is my escape from busy castle life, my rest. That rest just never lasts long.

'Hurry up princess, we don't have all day.' I look up from my view of the mountains as Tristan on Zol flies past me at breakneck speed. Rave growls already flapping his wings, clearly not charmed by the one-year younger dragon. Grinning, I gently pat his black scales. A deep sigh leaves the dragon's nose before he starts flapping his wings harder.

'Calm down Rave, that's just how adolescents are,' Viko calls out as soon as he lets Yuta fly beside me. I have always found it funny that each of our dragons have their own personalities. Yuta is the oldest of the four and it is obvious. The 20-year-old dragon is more quickly content with the younger three, more attentive to her own affairs. Unlike Zol, the young 17-year-old dragon who likes nothing better than making life difficult for his older fellow dragons. They say the dragon looks like his rider, and he does.

'He just got out of bed on the wrong foot today,' I reply with a grin. Viko raises his blonde eyebrows and then starts laughing. His blonde hair flutters along in the wind as his trained blue eyes glide along the mountains below us.

'Isn't it always then?' echoes Nora's voice to my left. At Liva's presence, Rave's mood immediately turns. If dragons could have a relationship, these two would have been engaged long ago. What can I say, Rave likes older women.

'Probably so,' I answer Nora's question as I try to hold Rave back. I pull the infatuated dragon more towards Yuta and Viko.

'Control yourself,' I grumble to the dragon. He growls and stops struggling.

'Where are those two adolescents?' asks Nora referring to Tristan and Zol. I look up past the mountains, but don't see the black dragon and its rider anywhere. A silence falls for a moment before Viko raises his hand and points to the left mountainside.

'There,' he says pointing. My eye soon catches the black dot that seems to disappear halfway down the mountainside. Before long, Nora leads Liva down and the rest follow. It is that my body is made for the cold wind, otherwise I would have goose bumps all over. With a rush, the three dragons fly towards their adolescent brother. A smile plays on my lips, enjoying the wind.

It is Liva who is the first to put her paws on the mountainside. Zol immediately jumps up from the stone ground he was lying on and leaps towards the female dragon. Nora barely manages to jump off her dragon before Liva is thrown into the snow by Zol. I start laughing unabated when Rave too lands on the stones. That's the moment I look around. Tristan is lord and master at finding crazy places in the mountains. We have ended up at the foot of a large cave in the mountainside. The black-haired boy sits on one of the stones at the foot of the cave and is busy starting a fire.

'We have fire-breathing dragons you know,' Nora teases him as she walks in his direction. Me and Viko also jump off our dragons and walk in his direction.

'Real men don't need a dragon,' Tristan replies grinning as he tries to get the wet wood on. We gather around the pile of wood and look at the real man in our midst. All three of us know that Tristan will never manage to get the wood on, but we enjoy watching him fail too much. You can see the two brown eyes getting increasingly irritated as the fire continues to go out.

'Shouldn't real men be more skilled,' I say grinning. I get a deadly look when Nora too starts laughing beside me. Viko only grins as he has pulled the map from his cloak and starts making new notes.

'Aren't princesses supposed to sit in a castle and smile sweetly,' he fires back. I shrug my shoulders grinning as I wrap the cloak tighter around me. It is Nora who finally gets up and walks towards Liva. The once black dragon is covered under a layer of snow as she growls at Zol. The younger dragon keeps jumping around her, making attempts to bite her tail.

I avert my gaze to Viko, slide closer and look at the map.The four life lines are painted with clear colours on the map. The pieces of land marked with black charcoal and the notes with a pencil. During each round, he writes at each region what the state of play is, to complete it in a folder at headquarters. Safe, it says almost at each region. Only on the piece of land where the castle stands is always unsettled.

'Has your father announced any new plans?' asks Viko as he looks at me. I slowly shake my head.

'He doesn't tell me much these days,' I reply. I only get an 'mmm' as he turns back to the map.

'Tristan catch'. Not a second later, a bottle flies through the air, which Tristan just manages to catch. Dazed, the youngster looks at the glass bottle filled with brown liquid.

'What should I do with a bottle of whisky?' he asks in surprise to Nora who comes back to sit next to me.

'You can throw that on the wood real man, it will burn better,' she replies smiling. Tristan looks at her as if the wet wood has just caught fire of its own accord. I can't hold back a grin.

'Are you completely idiotic? You're not going to throw a good bottle of whisky over wood.' With those words, he twists the cap off the bottle and puts the opening to his lips. I start laughing as the wet wood actually sparks of its own accord. In the corner of my eye, I see Viko snap his fingers and pay no further attention to it. Tristan, wide-eyed, removes the bottle from his mouth.

'You know, you always spoil the fun. I had that wood on just fine,' he grumbles to Viko. The young one next to me looks at Tristan from under his eyelashes.

'In spring yes, I'm cold and hungry now,' he replies simply. Tristan sighs deeply and looks at the fire defeated while Nora and I lie in double figures laughing.