Maidens & Killers

Unaccounted For

     I force myself to refrain from shuddering as the cold late spring wind whips at my face. Craobh and I have been flying for hours now, in a back and forth formation, guarding our flag at the western front of Basgaith. We’re playing capture the flag, but add dragons and murderous young adults essentially. So far, we haven’t seen much action and I look through my flight goggles and squint to try to see Rhiannon and Feirge, her dragon, flying fifty feet beside me. As the dark creeps in it is becoming more and more difficult to see anything, including the enemy.
“DID YOU HEAR THAT RIDER?” Craobh asks me.
Hear what? I respond but hear the rustling in the trees before Craobh answers me. I swing around in my seat to see a second year rider from the third wing heading straight for me and Craobh.

    My immediate reaction is to charge, but I  try to take a deep breath and remain calm. I have a powerful signet that can bring this rider down without me having to get physical and I plan to use it.  I close my eyes and let the power flow through my body until I feel it at my fingertips, I feel its urgency there and release it like a slow trickle. I envision the tree line perfectly in my mind and focus on one tree.
“A LITTLE QUICKER THERE RED ONE!” Craobh directs me as I hear wing beats closing in on us.
I remain focused on the one tree that I see in my mind and ball my hand into a fist. My power does not control me, I control it. I tell myself before I take my balled up fist and punch it towards the sky.

     I hear a responding crack that makes me finally open my eyes and I see that the tree has shot up into the sky and knocked the rider coming towards us to the ground in the process.
“EXXXXXXXCELLENT.”
I worry for a brief moment if the rider is okay before one of his wing mates comes into my peripheral vision. They have somehow gotten past me, probably while I was so focused on moving only a singular tree. I try to scream out to warn Rhiannon, but nothing comes out of my mouth as I watch her turn on the rider and immediately attack. I watch as she aims an arrow at the oncoming rider and hits them with the first shot. I smile to myself with pride that my friend is as fierce as she is in battle, it’s a great feeling knowing that the rest of your squad can protect you as well as you protect them.

    This immediately brings my thoughts to Garrick, and I feel like my heart is going to enter into a tailspin. I feel bad, especially as I have calmed down, about my concerns about Violet but to be frank I haven’t changed my mind. Violet has not proven herself nearly enough to be on this mission, whether she is one of my best friends here or not. I hear a foghorn in the distance signifying all riders to return to the flight field and give Rhiannon one last glance before I head into a descent on the back of Craobh.

      Dain is standing at the front of a group of fourth wing riders, in the absence of the wing leader and the section leader, so I fall into line in front of him. I haven’t seen him since the Reunification Night disaster and I notice that he is directly avoiding eye contact with me now. That makes sense, we had both consumed a lot of wine and acted terribly. In truth, we should both be embarrassed. I try to focus on the battle game that we’ve just completed though instead of Garrick or Dain or any other distracting business. Rhiannon, Sawyer and Ridoc all join me along with the other members of our wing that weren’t a part of Riorson’s hand selected squad and we wait for any new information. From the look on Dain’s face I don’t think it's great news, but I know that no one captured our flag as I would have heard about it by now.

     General Melgren and General Sorrengale enter the flight field and all whispered conversations come to a halt.
“Riders, you all performed well this evening. One wing did outperform the rest however. Third wing was able to successfully capture all flags but fourth wing’s. We have declared them the victors of this challenge, and the final results are pending the results from the other challenge being undergone by your wing leaders.” General Sorrengail declares.
It could be worse, they didn’t capture our flag and that is something to be proud of. Rhiannon and I were able to hold the line. I hold my head high even as third wing erupts in cheers.

     General Melgren just raises a hand to quiet the crowd again, “Please check in with your squad leaders, and let anyone know of any injured. We will retire in an orderly fashion for the evening and tomorrow I expect you all in Battle Brief to discuss the goings on of the rest of your wings.”
I nod and head in Dain’s direction once we are released. “Hey.” I say as he marks everyone’s name off of a clipboard in his hand.
“Hey.” He replies not really looking up at me.
“Can this not be weird?” I ask.
Dain looks up from his paper and gives me a tight smile, “Sure. Not weird at all. Are you good? Any need to get checked out by the healers?”
I hold my hands out straight from my sides, “No holes here. I did down a third wing rider though, over by the western forest line. If they’re missing anyone they should check there first.”
Dain nods and seems to make a note of it on his paper, “Well, I’ll see you at Battle Brief tomorrow Holsten.”
“I can’t wait.” I say honestly. I want an update on what is going on with Garrick and Xaden.

     Later that evening I find myself once again staring at the ceiling of my room. If I had a gold piece for everytime that I couldn’t sleep in this bed I would be able to buy my sisters a cabin somewhere by now. I listen to the sound of the wind whirling against the windows outside and try to relax. I think about the house I grew up in, up in the northern mountains and how the wind would always lull me to sleep then. But my mind won’t stop worrying now, I have a sinking feeling that something is wrong that I haven’t been able to shrug off all day. Call it intuition if you want, but I can literally feel Garrick in danger. Which is nonsense seeing as this is a run of the mill training exercise. No matter what I tell myself, the unease doesn’t leave me as I fall into a fitful sleep.

      I am awake as the sun crests the horizon the next morning and one of the first people down to the dining hall for breakfast. I am desperate for any bit of information that I can get from the Battle Brief this morning, and I can’t stay upstairs in my room alone with my thoughts a moment longer.
Rhiannon and Ridoc are their normal chipper, joking selves this morning. I note that Sawyer is quieter and more reserved though.
“You okay?” I ask the lanky redhead.
“Ya, I’m okay. Just thinking. A friend of mine from last year was hurt really badly yesterday in the training exercise.” He explains.
I can’t help but think of the second year that I pummeled with a tree last night and hope that it wasn't Sawyer's friend.
The two of us sit in companionable silence for the remainder of the meal while dozens of excited conversations happen all around us.

      By the time we reach Battle Brief I am more on edge than I thought was possible. I don’t know how I plan to do this for years after Garrick’s graduation this week but I am going to have to figure it out. Hoping for snippets of information every battle brief, trying to guess what unit he and Xaden are on.
Professor Devera is joined by members of Navarre leadership this morning at the front of the room and everyone is sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear about how the other half of War Games is going.
“We have some terrible news. Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of our wings was met with enemy gryphon riders and about half of the wing is currently unaccounted for. We are to assume that they are all dead and gone to lie with Malek.” Professor Devera clears their throat as every rider in the room draws in a gasping breath.
Please don’t say fourth wing, please don’t say fourth wing...
I chant like a mantra in my head.
“It seems as though those in the Fourth Wing, both the wing leader Xaden Riorson and his section leader Garrick Tavis along with about half of the riders they took with them are among those unaccounted for.” Professor Devera says and my whole world comes crashing down in one sentence.

     I grip the edge of the desk in front of me and try not to pass out. I can’t compute the information that is being fed to me and I am apparently not the only one.
Rhiannon leans into me and whispers, “What does that mean?”
What does that mean? That means that Garrick finally broke one of his promises to me, that he would come back to me.
“It means that Garrick’s dead.” I say to Rhiannon before flipping my desk over in my hurry to get out of the room.

*Author’s Note*
Soooooo, this technically takes us to the end of the Fourth Wing timeline. I am going to take a break, maybe a week or so and reread Iron Flame and really nail down how I want to do that timeline for the next thirty chapters. I promise to be as quick as I can with getting you guys some more Maeve content and I truly appreciate all of your comments and support!