The Rider's Legacy

Chapter 10 | Game Plan

Chapter Ten | Game Plan 

The Aviary was the tallest building in Brylahean. In a city destroyed by Riders, the former inhabitants had built a great tower for dragons and their Riders to rest when they visited. The name, above the simple doorway, was a rough snarling word that Dem had struggled to say. Zephyr had laughed at him, peering into the darkness as he stepped over the rotted remains of the shattered door.

"Aviary," He pressed his lips tight to hide his smile. "They named it The Aviary."

It stood, thick and tall and imposing against the sky. The rough stone exterior was dirty, but untouched by a century with no one to care for it. I stood in it's shadow, craning my head right back to see it but the sun shone in my eyes.

Inside, a great hall greeted us with tapestries of dragons and Riders colouring the tall walls. A spiral staircase, carved from dark stone hugged the wall. Up and up, it went, vanishing from sight as it reached the first floor. Dem, burning with curiosity, began to climb the stairs to count them. I followed begrudgingly, already feeling the burn in my hips and knees.

Mosaics lined the walls of the stairways as we climbed. Depicting dragons and Riders – Innochs too. There was no violence or mark of the great hatred that the people of Valaxia had crafted for the Innochi people. One wall was awash with azure blue tiles, washing over a dragon as if she was crafted by the sea. Standing there, in tiles, laughing as the ocean washed her away, was a familiar figure.

"The First Rider."

Dem's breathing was pinched. "Some belief the first Rider to be a woman from dubious origins. Some say she was a queen; some say she was a fisherwoman who found a Cassare egg abandoned on a small island off the coast. Others say they weren't a woman at all. It is as if there was something holding people back, warping their memories."

I stiffened. Though Dem's voice was light, I knew him enough to recognise that current of ice beneath it. I looked at him, breathing pinched from the many steps. He met my eyes unwavering, his mouth set into a stern line.

"You forced us to keep going." He said quietly, "When the island fell, we wanted to go back but something rooted inside of us kept us moving. We had no choice. The dust settled and we were tired, and the people needed rest, but we could not stop. We had to flee Ithrall. You were there somehow even when we considered you dead. Propelling us – keeping us going. Most of those people should have dropped dead from exhaustion but they just kept moving."

"I didn't realise," My voice was whisper soft. Our boots rang off the stone steps, too loud for the cavernous space that stretched above. The others would have made it to the top by now, exploring the old Riders' quarters. Moving the dust. Getting a glimpse into the lives of those who had come before us. "I wanted ye to flee, but I didn't want...that."

"Whether intentional or not, you took that choice from us." Dem's voice was level. Calm. And yet, great shame welled up inside of me. "I have lived enough of my life beholden to the choices others have made from me. Leaving my parents house saved me from much of that. Do not take my choice from me again, Neely. I would have willingly stood with you there in Ithrall. Even if it meant certain death, I would have been there."

"I don't think I could bear the thought of that. Of you or any of the others dying when I could have stopped it." Abner. The shock on his face when Malachi Basset drove that blade into his back.

"You have this awful habit of thinking that we mean more to you than you do to us." Dem whistled a breath, winded by the stairs. "That our deaths would destroy you, but your death would be a passing pain to us."