Warriors of the Dragon

The Mission

The photo is how I envisioned Isolde. The character is Brianna Randall played by Sophie Skelton on Outlander.

        The Mission

When the races met again, the Earth Kingdom was one of the first to arrive. They found it hard to choose a fitting female dragon rider not only because most of their female dragons were pregnant but also because women in the Earth Kingdom were not allowed to be warriors. It was predictable that Cain had chosen to bring an extra man who would go on the mission instead if he could get the council to agree to it.

"I don't see why we should send the women." He implored after he stepped through to join the elves waiting in the circle. His eyes were pleading when they turned to the Lord Sith.

"We have females lead our people and you have men. It seems only right that each clan sends both." The Undine Lord Sith explained, like she had at the previous meeting. She sounded as if she was explaining it to a child, but there was patience in her tone. Her male dragon lifted its antler-laden head and seemed to sigh, its sparkling white fabric draped over its neck and shoulders shimmering in the early morning light.

The dark elf leader looked impatient where she stood beside the Lord Sith sternly. Her two riders hadn't dismounted their dark dragons and the Feuryn's Vulpina was pacing back and forth outside the stone circle. The sun had gotten high in the sky and the morning was passing quickly while they waited for the other clans to arrive.

The female Duvendis narrowed her eyes when the orcs arrived with more warriors than necessary including their two dragon riders. Ruichon swallowed as he avoided meeting her gaze. He got down from his armored Hyaenadon solemnly to join the other leaders in the circle. The armor seemed unnecessary as the animal was already covered in long rows of thick red scales. It had red-tipped bull-like horns that rose from its maned head and its bulky face was covered in spiked red and black scales. Its nose resembled that of a bat and it had two pairs of beady black eyes that made it look demonic. Black fur feathered the backs of its thick legs and formed an impressive mane around its neck. Like his rider, the dragon looked uncomfortable with his hair standing on end making him appear even larger than he was.

The male orc dragon rider dismounted from his red-eyed black Vulture Raptor to follow his king through the standing stones into the circle. His dragon made a threatened clicking sound as the Duvendis female's Felis' bright yellow eyes stared over at it intimidatingly. The orc's Vulture Raptor stood on its long bird back legs and its bat-like wings doubled as its front legs. Three sets of smooth bending horns came from its bald black head. Its mouth was full of razor-sharp ivory teeth and at the front there was a shiny black beak. It had a mane of shiny black feathers and pointed triangular scales covered the windpipe and continued down the breast to the end of the keel. The male orc felt the eyes of the Felis rider strongly as she watched him enter the circle and he tried not to look unsettled under her silver-eyed gaze, but guessed his dragon's nervous reaction may've given him away.

The female orc followed their lead hesitantly, dropping down from her brightly colored bat-winged dog-like Serpentis dragon. She was a lower rank than the male rider who wore decorated armour with his posture straight and head held tall. She looked warily back at her dragon whose pink tongue was long, narrow, and forked like a snake's as it flickered out of its mouth to smell the unfamiliar dragon scents in the air. Twenty other orc warriors surrounded the three dragons on large armored horses and Ruichon's two advisors were the only ones to dismount and enter the circle behind the orcs' chosen riders.

"Is there a problem?" Rukia asked, sounding sly when he saw the discontent on Cain's face as he stepped through the stones into the circle after getting down gracefully from his grey and white Avien dragon. He had removed his scarf from his face and his armour was a mostly white to denote his highest rank among his people. The three Air Clan dragons all had long pale fur to protect them from the cold temperatures of their high-altitude homes in the Eastern Mountains and they looked small compared to the large scaled dragons of the Earth Kingdom, their closest neighbor and ally.