Redemption

Resson

Chex's Pov
The moon was shining in the sky, when all dragons and riders got called in the flight field.
Andarna and I either stood close to Tairn's and Sgaeyl's wing, but some dragons, in the general scuffle, dared come too close anyway. It was only out of luck that my teeth didn't sink in their flanks.
Violet reached us and Andarna showed her some sort of harness that would clutch her to Tairn's saddle.
Xaden's scent hovered over her; I snorted and swivelled my head aside. For a moment I wished to know how the Rider from far away smelled. Most likely, they would recall their dragon's.
In the meantime, Xaden walked over to us and started quarreling with another one whom I'd sometimes seen nearby Violet. I'd never bothered learning his name, though.
The red dragon shouldered aside by Tairn glowered at us; that other Rider must be his, then.
-Where are we going to?-
My sister frowned at me, - Us. Not you. You don't have a Rider.-
-You haven't even Slept yet!-
- I have a Rider. You do not.-
My teeth snapped at her, -Where to?-
Tairn sighed, -Quiet, hatchlings. We're going to Athebyne with Sgaeyl.-
Andarna flexed her claws and flapped her wings, -Let's go, let's go, let's go!-
I followed her, -I bet you'll be flown by Tairn before the sun goes up!-
-I bet you'll crash against a mountain so hard you'll break your wings!-
Sgaeyl growled, -If you keep this up, I'll send you both to the Vale.-
Upon her glare, we snorted smoke to each other, but obediently reached the other two.
As I'd foreseen, Andarna started nodding off fairly early on and Tairn attached her to his chest. Beside me was flying the red Daggertail whose Rider, for some reason, was always around Violet.
He turned to me, -You alright?-
-Yeah. It's just that I think we're in a bit of a hurry. Do you know why?-
He grinned, -War Games, Swordtail!-
-Yes, of course. War Games. My favourite thing to play with when I was a hatchling.-
His eyes sparkled with amusement, so I snapped at him, -What are you lookin' at?-
-I'm sorry,- he adjusted himself, -Looking like we're landing now.-
Athebyne was an odd way to call a clearing with a lake, even for human standards. I frowned up to Sgaeyl as her Rider jumped off her, -It's just a lake. Why are we in a lake?-
She huffed, -Do you really think this is Athebyne?-
-Yes?-
She rubbed the outline of my snout, -Our Riders need rest. And we're waiting for gryphons to come and take their weapons.-
I groaned.
-Never fancied birds.-

Thankfully, the meeting was wrapped up quickly, although I picked up a quarrel between Tairn and his Rider, about some sort of unsaid truth.
The wingleader was tense, too.
Nevertheless, Athebyne wasn't too far off, but when my claws hit the rocky floor of some sort of abandoned human structure similar to Basgiath (an outpost, it was called), dread waved itself beneath my scales. The wind turned colder too, and my whole body itched as if those terrible, multi-legged insects that sometimes I had found in my cave back in the Vale were crawling all over me.
I tucked myself between my wings and hunched my back.
Even if Sgaeyl stepped close to me, I still felt alone and defenceless, back being nothing but a hatchling.
-Xaden sent the whole squad on it. He'll rely any information to me.-
-Do you think this is Athebyne?-
-It is not. They sent us to Resson, at the end of things.-
She scanned the surroundings, but nothing moved. It was eerily still, as it always happened a couple of wingbeats before a storm. The wind would die down, only to roar against one's wings until they would be bent unnaturally.
Tairn's heavy footsteps sounded as booming thunder in this silence.
-I can feel it. It's coming from the valley below. I just relied it to my Rider.-
-Liam says it's venin.-
We all turned to the red Daggertail. All traces of amusement had vanished in his eyes. Deigh was his name.
In that moment, seven gryphons landed next to us. With their fangless beak and soft feathers they wouldn't stand a chance against venin.
I wondered why they were there at all.
-There's a city nearby,- one of them said, -If we don't move, all townspeople will die.-
-We will feast on venin's bones,- growled Tairn.
Sgaeyl flicked her tail, -They're coming.-
Violet fretted over us and Tairn lowered his head to look straight in mine and Andarna's eyes, -Agreed. You're a target, Little One. Both of you.-
-I'll fight, too!-
-I'm not leaving you!-
Violet stroked Andarna's cheek, her voice merely a whisper, "Go." My sister nudged her,then turned and went off somewhere safe, deep in the outpost.
Half of me knew I should be following her. But she hadn't Slept yet; I had. My wings were pushed behind as I stretched myself at my full height.
-I'm staying with you. I won't be afraid.-
Even if my claws were slightly shaking.
-Stay close to us.-
Deigh said his Rider had seen a wyvern, too.
-They created abominations,- seethed Tairn.
-Abominations on whose bones we'll feast,- reminded him Sgaeyl.
Suddenly, this thought wasn't as reassuring as it'd been before.
Then, we were flying. Tairn banked somewhere away from us, towards a tower. I was following him with my eyes, but Sgaeyl barked to stay focused, -Or you die.-
Tairn's quick information on a multitude of wyverns sent tremors through my wings.
Suddenly, I wanted to be a hatchling again.
When we crushed against our enemies,  we quickly understood they made up for the lack of another pair of legs with a terrible strenght in their back claws and jaw. Once locked, it was nearly impossible to wrench it open.
Sgaeyl flung herself against a wyvern as shadows splitted everywhere around her.
Above us, the sky grumbled, then roared with thunder.
A hiss behind my back told me one of them was going to breathe fire; I dove in for a steep dive a couple of heartbeats before the flames, that stung the tip of my tail.
The wyvern, however, was still behind me, its maw littered with the sharpest fangs I'd ever seen. My wings were drawn on my sides and I was hurtling so fast towards the ground the wind howled when I snapped them open to avoid crashing on the town.
An ear-splitting noise boomed somewhere behind me; when I spun around,the wyvern was gone. Tairn flashed by, impossibly fast for his rather large body.
-Go for the kill!-
It was easy to say when he was one of the biggest dragons alive.
With a shake of my head, I forced myself to fly back in the middle of the fight. A wyvern saw me and hissed steam from its nostrils, his wings flaring wide before diving for me. I welcomed it with bare teeth and immediately raked my claws on its scales. It screeched, then dug those at the tip of his wings deep in my shoulders.
A wail rose up in my throat, which was then squeezed by its teeth. I tried to kick it off me with my backlegs, but by now it was locked in.
No matter how hard I slammed my wings on its head, or how much it bled under my talons or tail, it didn't budge.
Someone roared my name, either Tairn or Sgaeyl. But I knew they were too far away to reach me in time.
The sky grumbled and exploded again, but the lightning streaks were too uncoordinated.
It was only useless.
I was slowly allowing my body to go limp beneath the creature's bite, when suddenly a pair of claws wrapped itself around its jaw and wrenched it open. The wyvern flexed its talons, but my scales didn't break this time.
Almost in awe I watched as a brown dragon inhaled deep and spewed a bright turrent of copper fire straight in the enemy's throat. Quickly, its membranes burned and smoke rose from its dislodged jaw.
The dragon flung it against another one,that couldn't dodge it and lost enough balance for a gryphon to blind it with its beak.
Then, my whole body started itching. I yelped and snapped my teeth around, until I couldn't feel any wound pulsing anymore. When I rose my talon to look for them, they were gone, as if they'd never existed.
Only then I carefully studied the dragon hovering in front of me; he was as tall as Sgaeyl, but larger than her, and saddled as Tairn, and large, bone-white spikes littered his whole upper body from his neck to his tail, and his eyes were brown and his tail inoffensive.
My heart stuttered when his Rider bent aside to look at me, their sword held up, away from the dragon's scales.
It was the Rider from far away. They had found me! I crooned of joy as my first instict was to nuzzle them both, but then the Rider's mind caressed mine. It was something odd: it didn't get in; instead it hovered for a couple of wingbeats in the edges of mine, then retreated.
I was so puzzled by it I didn't see Sgaeyl rushing by, shadows streaking under her, -Who are they?-
-They have found me! I've seen them in my Sleep!-
The brown dragon snarled, and my attention whipped back on him. Then, he fell into a dive, and I swiftly mimicked him, my wings now steady, as I flicked my tail to gain balance.
However, the enemy felt our approach, because it rolled around and breathed fire; I cried out, and panic threatened to seize me when the brown dragon didn't bank away from the flames. Instead, he was engulfed by them, and I heard the Rider screaming something in a language that wasn't Nevarrian, and that was known by a few, ("Skolir nosu fra brisingr!"), and watched as the fire branched in two and the dragon dug his teeth in the stunned wyvern's neck and clawed its belly. The Rider slashed their blade in its wing, then the dragon kicked the corpse away.
I reached for their minds, -What did you do?-, but instead of answering, the Rider yelled in their foreign language, -Swerve aside!-
Without questioning, I flanked my wings and did just so; then, I rolled and breathed fire for the first time. The wyvern roared, enraged, then pained as the tendrils of its left wing snapped suddenly out of place and it crumbled down with an ear-splitting screetch.
I knew it was the Rider's doing. They must be one of the strongest Riders of their generation, perhaps even more so than Violet, or Xaden. Pride bloomed in my chest.
-No mind here is of any threat to us,- said the dragon, his voice similarly deep as Tairn's, -We can speak freely.-
-Let's get above these Burning Planes. We must search a view point.-
When we reached it, we saw that many wyverns were sorrounding the town, and much to my worry that Xaden was currently on the ground.
-Just like our missions against the Ra'Zac and the Lethblaka, kid- said the dragon, his voice even, -Nothing new under the stars.-
-They can drain us,- I said, speaking in their language as if I'd always known it, -It's how Fuil and her rider got killed.-
-How so?-
-They were on the ground.-
-Let's stay in the sky, then.-
The dragon's head swivelled, -The black dragon may be in distress.-
Cold dread squeezed my heart.
-Tairn!-
I immediately pumped my wings and flung myself against the wyvern who was chasing down Tairn, in hope that the other two would quickly catch up to me. My teeth sunk in its shoulder, and it screeched and sharply swerved aside. I lost my balance, and cried out when it clamped its fangs in my wing.
However, it had relented its chase, for Tairn banked narrowly and flew back to us.
I yelped in pain when the wyvern, off-balanced, lost a wing beat and strengthened their bite.
Tairn reached us and swung his Morningstartail in its leg, and the rider shouted -Brisingr!- and balls of copper fire befell on us both. At last, shadows weaved themselves around the wyvern's throat and squeezed it until it had to gasp for breaths.
With uneven wingbeats, I kicked it away from me, and Tairn swept down to hold me aloft, while the shadows fell away so Sgaeyl could tear through its flank with several brutal bites. Then, her daggertail caught its head, and as the dead wyvern crumbled down she caught up to us and sent a menacing glare to Violet, her wing gliding under my trembling one.
My tiredness was up to the point I feared I wouldn't be able to keep it up for much longer, and my thoughts drifted to Darna, cuddled somewhere safe.
Then, the rider's mind touched mine, and a flow of energy steadied my wings.
-Waise heill,- they said, and the wounds of my wing healed up.
I gulped large breaths of air, and shuddered.
-Be more careful next time,- said Sgaeyl, -We won't always be around.-
My voice was meek, -I know, I am sorry.-
Then, Tairn climbed up, and the brown dragon shot fire to a wyvern, the rider's blade engulfed in a copper fire.
Sgaeyl looked at me, -Go reach your sister. You're too tired, and I won't risk you.-
-But...-
My head snapped to the pair I'd sought out in my Sleep, and anxiously watched as the dragon caught the wind and performed a half roll in his rapid descent.
Somewhere, Tairn roared and flared his massive wings before hurtling down.
Wyverns were all around us, and Sgaeyl urged me another time to seek out my sister.
-I'm sorry.-
-Go. We'll meet up later.-
So, I banked right and left the battlefield; I tracked down my sister's position through her mind, and when I finally found the room of the outpost she'd chosen, I crumbled down and guiltily squeezed my eyes shut.
-I know,- my sister grumbled, -Us younglings can do nothing interesting!-
-I only hope they both make out of it alive.-
-Of course they will! Tairn and Sgaeyl are the best, and the most dangerous, you smoke-breathing lizard!-
-I breathed fire today. And I don't mean our guardians.-
She snorted smoke, -They won't let anything happen to their riders. And Violet can call lightning from the sky! She's the one who has the heart of a dragon, and the mind of a scribe.-
But there was a ripple of anxiety in her voice I couldn't help but notice.
We silently laid there for a while, and suddenly Andarna closed her eyes and whispered, -Deigh's dead.-
A vague sorrow curled in my chest. Deigh was the red daggertail I'd journeyed with just a couple of hours ago, but I didn't know him that well to properly grieve.
-I'm sorry,- I tentatively said.
-It's a battle, and in battles there are casualties, brother.-
But her voice faltered, because she was just so young.
We both were.
Then, she jumped on her feet and shrieked in pain so suddenly  I was snapped awake and hurled myself upright, -What? Andarna!-
-Violet! She's hurt!-
My stomach dropped.
-What about Tairn? Sgaeyl?-
The foreign brown dragon and his rider?
I closed my eyes, and focused only to my mind; retraced back the mental presence of Andarna, and followed the deeper path that led me to the two newly forged bonds, who now were closed off. I could vaguely feel that tiredness was slowing down their movements, but they weren't too terribly wounded, for now.
They weren't in danger, and a bit of weight was lifted off my heart.
The same couldn't be said for my sister.
-Let me help!-
I quickly followed her as she ran off the outpost and flew straight up in the battle. My muscles strained in the flight, but I gritted my teeth and stayed with my sister.
We plunged back in the airspace above Resson, and I watched as both Tairn and the brown dragon rushed down to a free-falling Violet.
Fear jolted my heart as I understood none of them would make it time - she was simply hurtling down too fast.
I had to reach her rider.
None would make my sister grief before the coming of her Sleep.
Her desperate howl was heart-wrenching, and I pushed beyond the searing pain of my muscles and sped up my wingbeats.
I felt a similar strain happening in the bond of the rider, as they yelled, -Letta!-, their hands outstretched.
It all happened so quickly: Violet's descent was sharply halted, and I could clash into her and keep her in the seat with bands of magic; but my bond with the rider faltered, and I felt it snapping apart.
My heart lunged to my throat, as the brown dragon roared out their name, -Aifos!-