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Lady Mhysra Kilpapan was blessed from birth with a distinguished family, a glorious home and a giant eagle miryhl of her own. Fully aware of her luck, she wants for nothing in life - except a chance to become a Rift Rider. The elite force...
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AFTER EVERYONE HAD completed the course, Lyrai made them fly laps while he conferred with Honra. Mhysra and her friends eyed them warily, wondering what they were up to, but the bell sounded before any nasty surprises could be sprung. Dismissing them to the eyries, the lieutenant warned that he'd see them again the next afternoon.
"We have to fly every day?" Mouse groaned, when they reached the eyries for their first lesson in miryhl care, thanks to the eyrie attendants.
"Every day," Corin agreed with far more enthusiasm, but then she hadn't fallen off.
"You'll get used to it," Mhysra promised. "Once your body adjusts."
"I'm not sure my body was built for those kind of adjustments," Derrain grumbled, wincing as he straightened his breeches. "I'm too old for these fun and games."
"Positively ancient," Dhori agreed, the oldest amongst them. "But what's the point of joining the Riders if you don't fly every day?"
"Precisely," Mhysra agreed, kissing Cumulo's beak and taking his harness to the tack room to show the attendants that she did indeed know what she was doing.
It was a sorrowful bunch who winced, limped and groaned their way through the citadel a little while later, when the bell summoned them to another lesson. Guided by an attendant, they headed up the mountain terraces of the western citadel, where all the classrooms, libraries and study rooms were. Three steep staircases later, they dragged themselves across a courtyard flooded with autumn sunlight and in through an open door.
The other half of Myran's students already occupied the back of the room, while the captain waited at the front. The new arrivals were too desperate for rest to care where they sat. By the time they settled in the sunlit room, Mhysra found herself beside a stranger. She only had time to smile at the red-headed boy before Captain Myran stood up.
"Good morning, students."
"Good morning, captain," they chorused, proving that they learned fast.
He limped around his desk to lean against the front, smiling faintly. "Are you enjoying your first day? I trust my lieutenants are treating you well."
The half that had been in survival studies with Stirla nodded, while the rest groaned.
The captain chuckled. "Those of you feeling the effects of your first flying lesson be comforted that your fellows will feel exactly the same by day's end." Half the class perked up, while the other grew alarmed. "But that's for later. Now you're with me. After yesterday I hope you all know who I am, but in any case I am Captain Myran Mylanri, from a little known province in the Lowlands. I've been a Rift Rider for more years than I care to remember, twelve of those as captain. And to get it out of the way, yes, I have a limp. It was gained on active service, some ten years gone. No, it does not impair my abilities as a Rider.
