”Lieutenant, we’re clear for landing!”
I raised two fingers into the air and pointed them sharply toward the landing zone. My unit got into formation behind me, and I felt Lucasta raising her head before sharply bringing it down for a dive. I could already picture Captain Reon’s face when he would scold me for my unconventional landing practices. The speed decrease must start two to three thousand feet away from the landing zone, in tandem with the decrease in altitude. Any other method could compromise the safety of the dragon and the rider, he’d say. Intense diving exercises should be saved for the battlefield, when the use of the hit-and-fly tactic becomes necessary.
Luca folded her massive wings and we fell closer and closer to the large empty field carved into the mountain. The wind drowned out every other sound, but I could still feel my and Luca’s heartbeats thumping hard, hers slower than mine.
Five hundred feet before ground contact. I pressed myself closer to Luca and quickly wrapped the reins around my hands. I didn’t need to help Luca with the landing, she knew exactly what she was doing, but this time was different.
Three hundred feet. We were spinning faster and faster. Luca loved it, so I let her do a few turns before stopping.
Two hundred feet. I heard a faint voice behind me. It’s one of the newest recruits. He was coming back home from his first mission.
One hundred feet. He was still screaming something, and now Sergeant Leonel was trying to respond. I guess years of being in the air didn’t teach them that speech is virtually impossible while flying.
Thirty feet. Now.
I pulled the reins and Luca’s wings shot out to catch the wind. Our speed decreases at once and I could hear people on the ground gasping and saw them point, mostly kids. Sometimes I would let Luca get even lower, but I needed to be safe this time, to make sure the new kid didn’t shit himself or lose control of his dragon.
Luca’s hind legs hit the ground and her front legs caught the dirt in a solid, perfect landing.
“Good job, old girl,” I said to her and patted her neck. She turned her head to the side and gave me a sarcastic look before shaking her head.
“What the heavens was that?”
I unhooked the safety-belts from my suit and slid off the saddle. “What was what, airman?” I said to the new addition to my unit. His name was Clyde, and he was only seventeen.
“You can’t just do that! That’s not how landings work! You could’ve killed us all!” he said with a shaky but furious voice and slowly got off his dragon. His legs were shaking and he seemed happy to be placed back on solid ground.
“Are you questioning my leadership, airman?” I said patiently and walked closer to him.
Clyde was pale and seemed to want to throw up, but managed to get a hold of himself and leaned against his dragon. His reaction to the dive was strange. Clyde was born in Kineta, where most of the air dragons were bred. Surely he would’ve been used to this sort of thing by this point?
“Yes. I am!” Clyde said angrily after taking a moment to hold back his throw-up.
“Good. Ask your superiors for a replacement then, I don’t have time to coddle anyone.”
I ignored the angry look he shot me and took off my helmet and goggles. Twelve young field-keepers ran across the landing zone to tend to our dragons and take them to the keep, but before I could tell the girl pulling at Lucasta to calm down, Sergeant Leonel grabbed my shoulder.
“Lieutenant, do you wish for me to report to the General and inform him of the events in the Northern provinces?”
“No, I’ll do it personally. I imagine he’ll want to see me anyway.”
Leonel nodded once and held my gaze, as if wanting to say something more. I stared back at him. He was half a head taller than me and had black hair and thin, blue eyes. He’d served under me for three years now, and when he was offered a promotion, he’d declined so he could stay in my unit.
I knew he was infatuated with me, but couldn’t jeopardize our professionalism, nor could I say that the feeling was mutual.
“Report in and go say hello to your family, Sergeant,” I said to him. “Dismissed.”
“Yes, Lieutenant.”
He was so disappointed that the raindrops looked like tears on his cheeks, but he saluted me anyway and turned to leave. The rest of my unit followed his example, and I nodded at each and every one of them (except Clyde, who was still sulking) as they walked across the landing zone which was quickly turning into brown mud.
The keepers took the dragons away to the dragon keep further up the mountain and soon I was left alone in the increasing rain. I tilted my head up: Up towards the grey, gloomy sky, where the sun was hidden behind thick clouds. I closed my eyes and let the raindrops cool my face.
What would the General say? The war was growing, rapidly. Whatever the Sky Alliance had planned by starting this war couldn’t possibly be achieved now, not anymore. Even the cave-dwelling metal-families had sent seven dragons to join the war effort. Would the General send my team to war as well? I was too valuable to continue sending on scouting missions.
Whatever it was, I wouldn’t find out by standing here all day. I turned south and started walking downhill, gripping the wooden railing so I wouldn’t slip on the wet stone steps. This early in the morning the General was probably staring at a map somewhere in the war room in Stormhold Fortress. If he did anything else I’d probably find him there anyway since he hardly left the place.
The fortress was halfway down the mountain, built high enough to seem impressive to the civilians in the great valley, and low enough to not be a pain in the ass to repair if it somehow failed to hold the storm, so to speak. The two guards on either side of the main gate jumped as I walked around the stone pillar and they greeted me awkwardly.
“Lieutenant! It’s good to have you back,” one of them said.
“Any news on the war progress, ma’am?” the other one asked.
I shook my head. “Sorry. Classified.”
They muttered in mild frustration when I walked through the metal gates and across the stone courtyard. They weren’t civilians, but they still hadn’t high enough ranks to know anything about the war, seeing as they probably wouldn’t get to a battlefield anytime soon. The massive stone dragon above the wooden doors to the hold was not only there to protect the wood from the near-constant rain, but also to … I’m not sure, really. Very few non-natives had ever visited the keep, and if they had, they had authorization and wouldn’t be scared off. So why they had carved a massive lightning dragon out of stone to tower above the entrance was a mystery to me. Especially considering that they had even tried to have constant lightning flicker in its mouth, only to reluctantly settle for a fire that kept getting extinguished. You know, because of the constant rain.
Another set of guards later, I was finally inside the fortress. The sound of distant thunder and loud raindrops died out as soon as the doors shut behind me, and the silence in the great, warm hall pressed against my ears.
It seemed empty, but this was only the entrance hall. The war room was on the second floor.
“It’s spread to the east.”
Their serious voices echoed in the hallway.
“Can we assume that the swamps will take the side of the enemy?”
“They’re enemies until they prove otherwise. I sent out a scouting party two days ago, we should have intel by the end of the week.”
The two men and one woman looked up from the massive wooden table when I walked into the room. General Haeron, Colonel Loren and Major Juno, the three most powerful people in the military. Though the General had the final say, he was rarely seen without his two best war buddies.
“Lieutenant Aeron. You have already returned?” Major Juno sounded surprised.
I ignored her pointless question and walked closer to the war table, careful not to get any water drops on the map.
“I have a report on the progress in the north. Do you want it in spoken or written form?” I asked the General.
He nodded for me to proceed and I put my hands behind my back and straightened up.
“The metal clan has deployed seven units, though they were stationed not far from Shaynite and shouldn’t cause too much disturbance yet.”
“Seven? That’s pretty generous, coming from the metal clan,” Juno said to Loren.
“I didn’t know they were such great earth-sympathizers,” Loren said and rubbed his chin like this was some sort of great mystery.
I cleared my throat. “With all due respect, sir, they live in caves.”
All three of them stared at me with blank expressions, before the General sighed and asked me to continue the report.
They were all very happy to hear that there were only three casualties of our own, and that the dragons had luckily been recovered.
“Dragons? What good are the dragons?” Juno said with disgust hiding in the corners of her mouth. “We can breed new dragons, but we can’t give birth to and train new riders this quickly!”
“Calm yourself, Major,” the General said. “Only three died and we have plenty of new recruits just waiting for their chance to prove themselves.”
The Major shook her head but didn’t say more.
I looked towards the General. My report was delivered, but I had to wait for the General to dismiss me before I could leave. The General wasn’t very old, only forty-five, but he looked older. I wasn’t sure why. People like him hadn’t seen much battle, they usually would sit at home base and stare at maps, and he’d been promoted for his strategic brilliance rather than his battle prowess. Though I suppose the stress did wear him out.
The General looked up and met my gaze. He held it for a few moments before loosening the collar of his uniform.
“Colonel, Major, if you would excuse me. I need to speak to the Lieutenant.”
“Of course, sir,” Juno said.
“Yes, sir,” Loren added.
They both gave me strange looks before leaving the war room. I watched until their backs disappeared behind the door and then turned back to the General, who was lighting a pipe. He walked over to the large window overseeing the western part of the valley and stared out through the wet glass before sitting down in an armchair. I could only hear the sound of the rain outside and a distant storm.
“Aeron,” the General sighed after a few moments.
“Father,” I acknowledged.
“Sit.” He gestured towards the armchair in front of him but I didn’t move.
“My clothes are wet, sir.”
The General grimaced briefly before gesturing again, sharper this time.
“Just sit down, lieutenant.”
I nodded and obeyed my order. The shadows that stretched across father’s face seemed to grow a darker blue as he frowned and I saw his jaw tighten. He didn’t have good news.
“I have received a letter.”
“From whom, sir?”
Father blew out smoke trough lips twisted in a grimace. It didn’t smell like the usual stuff he smoked. It was heavier, far more dry and smelled of forests I’d only encountered while scouting outside of our borders. Perhaps northern? Strange, we didn’t have any allies in those provinces.
Instead of answering my question, father handed me a letter that he’d picked from his breast pocket. I moved to the edge of the chair to be able to read the letter in the light from the window.
General Haeron Lexius,
It would be a great honor to have You present at the United Council two weeks forth from the arrival of this letter. While this invitation may seem inappropriate during these troubled times, this matter can unfortunately not be postponed. The Grand Oak has asked for us to unite, for there is a threat greater than that of this war, and we must stand together, or perhaps build a plan to neutralize the threat before it grows out of our control.
Please,
this may be greater than any war we have faced to this day.
If the General still has doubts, or perhaps greater matters still concern Him, send a representative to the council, someone who can speak His words and help make our decision.
Awaiting your answer, or arrival
Head Priestess of the Oak, Arbor Hollow
I looked up at father. He had gripped his chin and was watching a raindrop glide down the glass; his eyebrows were so deeply drawn together that I imagined it hurt his forehead.
“You are going, I presume?” I said and realized that my voice had sounded almost accusing.
That’s when he reached back into his pocket and gave me a smaller letter, more of a note, this time.
Haeron,
Let the flame-fuel have their council. Don’t waste your time.
Amelia
Right. The general of the air-fleet. Our greatest ally in the war. Going to the council now could be seen as a betrayal. And General Amelia wasn’t the forgiving type. Even if the air-fleet couldn’t afford to cut off our troops from their army, it could still build a distrust we couldn’t allow.
So, would father just ignore this letter from the “flame-fuel”? The Grand Oak wasn’t just someone you could brush off this easily, and this letter was written by the head priestess herself! It seemed urgent, and if it truly was a matter more important than the war, then we had to ignore the risk of petty distrust to attend this council.
“Well?” I said to the General. “What do you intend to do?”
“We won’t go.”
“What?” I spat.
The General gave me a sharp look but I ignored him and stood up with the letters in my hand.
“Lieutenant, we cannot ignore the orders of General Amelia.”
“Yet we can ignore the plea of a thousand year old dragon? Are you quite serious, sir?”
“It could be a trap. A way to get me somewhere where I’m not safe.”
Right, because he’s somehow more special than all the other generals before him and couldn’t be quickly replaced? I shook my head and threw the letters on the chair that I’d been sitting on.
“Fair enough. Then I’ll go.”