Riders of Elysium

Chapter Twelve

----Eyre's PoV----

"Elysium is under attack!" People were running around shouting. I nearly ended up trampled.

Amias helped me up, "What's happening?"

"I don't know," I answered, "Where are Amber and Scout?"

The girls caught up to us, "We need to get to the stables before we get trampled."

"You need to get to your rooms," Scarlet appeared behind us.

"No, these people that are attacking, who are they?"

Velika sighed, "Assassins. Two of them."

"Is one of them a girl with blond hair and a stitched up hole in her shoulder?" Amias asked.

"I don't know, I couldn't see her past the boy with fiery red hair," Velika said.

Amber whispered, "We'll cover for you." She took Scout, and Velika escorted them to their rooms.

"You're not going to help them-"

"Suni is my sister," I said, "Or Rayna, whatever she's calling herself. And she's a good person. She can't fight back. If the guards get to her- they're not exactly the kindest people."

Scarlet frowned, "I hardly see how that matters-"

"Because Azariah will try to kill them if they go near her," I said, "Didn't you see the way he tried to protect her from Storm?"

Scarlet exclaimed, "You didn't see a thing!"

"I didn't have to," I snapped, "I heard the way he was talking to us about her. I heard them talking to each other. And I saw through Ash's eyes the look of fear on his face when Storm stabbed her."

"Are you sure about this?" Scarlet asked, "You know what, I can't stop you, so I may as well help."

Amias smiled, "Could you get everyone to calm down, or at least cover for us while we're gone?"

"Of course," Scarlet said, "If you need me, just whistle. Accalia will hear it."

She ran off with the rest of the crowd. Amias helped stabilize me as we pushed against the crowd to the stables. Ash was already at the cliff.

Just jump.

Ash let me see through her vision so that I could identify the two assassins by sight.

I can't by smell alone in this blizzard.

I hadn't noticed the cold until she mentioned it. Azariah and Rayna had to be in serious trouble if they were trying to climb up to Elysium in this weather.

They're running from two gangs of assassins that both want to use them against the other.

I guess Elysium was the only safe place for them.

"Eyre!" I heard shouting by the cliff's edge, "Anyone!"

Can you fly towards it-

Already there.

I saw red hair, then blond hair, "Climb on!" I yelled.

Azariah helped Rayna onto Ash, and tried to climb on as well.

"There's only room for one more on each dragon," I said.

He's not going to like that.

"Well, its the truth, is it not?" I turned to Ash's head, "Seriously, you tell me someone's not gonna like something when that's literally the only option."

Oh, I'm sorry.

"No, it's on me, I'm on edge," I sighed.

I turned back to Azariah, who was no doubt glaring at me, "Who are you talking to?"

"Ash," I said, "Telepathy. Its a dragon rider thing. Who are you running from?"

"Rogues and- well everyone," Azariah said, "It's an assassin thing."

Azariah reluctantly jumped onto Shadow, Amias's dragon, and we flew back to Elysium. When we reached the stables, I heard Azariah ask, "Can you help her?"

We half-helped, half-dragged Rayna off of Ash's back. The heat from Ash's scales would've burned her, had it not been so cold. They may have saved her life.

Azariah gave her support from her injured arm while Amias helped her uninjured arm. Put together, the two of them were practically carrying her.

We arrived at the healing room, where we surprisingly found Scarlet waiting, "I had a feeling she was going to need help."

A few healers came in, "What happened?"

Azariah asked, "She was attacked by a bunch of assassins and the only way she'd possibly have survived it was by me shoving her off of the cliff by the waterfall. I found her unconscious in the shallows. That's the small cuts and the general bruising."

"And the stab wounds?"

"She got in the way when another assassin tried to kill me," I said, "She distracted the assassin long enough for me and Ash to escape. I guess that was the result."

Azariah sighed, "Storm was mad. She twisted the dagger that was lodged in her shoulder and removed it to let her bleed out so she could claim to her master that the blood was Eyre's."

"What about the scars on her back?" A third healer asked, "Those burns are really bad."

"Plane crash," Azariah said, "The burns are from the explosion. Some of the scratches are from the king of assassins, others from loose metal on the plane."

The first healer got to work, "We'll use the gas to help her sleep through this. Otherwise, she'll be in too much pain. But first we need to ask. She has severe trauma. I'm not sure how much of it we can heal, but-"

"Unless it's life threatening, you can ignore it," Rayna muttered.

"Understood," The third healer said, "This gas is going to make you sleepy. Don't fight it."

Rayna faintly nodded. Within a few seconds, she was sound asleep.

The healers got to work. When they used their magic, it made the cut on her cheek seemingly vanish, leaving a thin scar. The hole in her shoulder left twisted scar tissue, and nothing more. They cleaned up the small traces of blood around the healed injuries.

"Before we leave- before we wake her up," said the second healer, "She'll never walk again."

"Is there any way to improve that?" Azariah asked nervously.

The healers shook their heads, "I'm sorry. We'll leave you now."

I thought through my brain until I found something, "Dragons. Ash once said that there is a way she could fix my vision, right?"

Yes, with a lot of strength. It would make me sleep for days, as well as you.

"Ash said it would work," I conveyed.

Scarlet frowned, "She can't have a dragon unless-"

"She's my sister. At least, she was before the concussion," I said, "If I got in on my father's legacy, then she should be allowed something. Please."

Scarlet sighed, "She could have a familiar. But there's no promising what it'll be. It could be a fly, and then it would die with the effort of healing her."

"Um, don't familiars always correlate to their human's personality?" I asked.

Azariah laughed, "Rayna is many things. She is certainly not a fly."

As Rayna woke up, he was right by her side. I have to admire his dedication to protecting her.

"I can't move," Rayna said.

"You know her best," I said, "We'll leave you two alone for a while."