t w e n t y - t w o | s k y e
SKYE FINDS HIMSELF staring into a mirror that was provided in the spacious room he was given. Earlier in the day, Bryan and Skye had been sent armour from the finest leather workers here in Halsa in preparation for the upcoming battle. He can immediately feel the quality in its flexibility and senses its durability woven in with magic.
Sighing, he stares into his reflection and has to fight a frown as he notices the blue and purple bruises decorating his pale complexion, darkening his slightly swollen right eye and framing every other curve on his face. As a layer on top of that, small and large cuts trace their ways across his skin, leaving angry red marks to blend with his bruises. The look is complete with dark circles beneath his eyes, giving them a slightly sunken in appearance. He hasn't slept much lately, and now, with a pang of shame, he knows people can see that fact.
He quickly looks away from his marred face, focusing instead on the armour his body adorns. It's a strong dark brown leather with interlocking pieces to add to its strength with different magic on each layer.
"You ready?" Bryan says suddenly, and Skye jumps at his sudden presence in the doorway but relaxes when he sees who it is.
"Since when were you able to be so sneaky?" He says with a chuckle.
"I'm afraid that may be my doing."
It's then that Raz enters the room behind Bryan and he scoffs. "Right, of course. The ever mysterious Seer."
"It is rather mysterious. He knew where to meet me before I even knew to be there myself." Bryan says, nudging the young man in question with a playful twinkle in his eyes.
Oddly, Raz's stony expression that Skye has only ever seen softens slightly into one that could be compared to amusement. "I can't exactly control everything I see but yes, I suppose that makes me sneaky or mysterious or whatever you would like to call it."
The two start discussing Raz's power once more but Skye finds himself looking in the mirror once again. His eyes are painfully to the lion stitched into the shoulder blade, the symbol for the island of Halsa. Skye should be wearing the simple but powerful crest of a dragon, meant to match the dragon marks they all have on their collarbones and the symbol of Orleyn. Orleyn has always been the center, the home, for all dragons and Riders. Now that it's been taken over...
"I miss our home too." Bryan says to him suddenly, his eyes also focused on the foreign symbol.
Skye lifts his chin, and turns away from the mirror. "We'll take our home back. I just hope our people are still alive."
Bryan nods, remembering the captives they left behind, then adds absentmindedly, "I hope Tamla is alright. My parents as well."
Skye feels a pang of sadness at the mention of Ellerin's sister, remembering how she had always cared for him when his father never bothered to heal him after he beat him. She was always understanding and knew not to say anything. She and Skye both wanted to tell the whole city about what he was doing, and Skye still does, but he knew that his father had tabs on him. Atol would never let him tell anyone.
His father's still on Orlyen, Skye realizes with a shock, and he can feel all the blood drain from his face.
He had just started to warm up the idea of leading people, especially in Halsa, and being someone important amongst them. It's a nice feeling, being respected, and the thought of perhaps giving it up for a few more years of submissiveness once his father is restored as Dragon King is paralyzing. That would mean Skye would be trapped under his control again. That would mean Skye wouldn't even get to see his people, and live amongst them, for many years. Worst of all, that would mean his father would start beating him again.
He won't let his father control him like he did before. No, Skye refuses to.
"Speaking of home, you never did mention where you were from, Raz."
The Seer seems to stiffen at the subject, his gaze glazing over slightly. "I was from Lyra."
Skye starts at the name, remembering that to be the very island that they had stayed at briefly before coming to Halsa, and shares a glance with Bryan. "The island that..."
"Yes, the island that Vyanna burned to the ground." Raz says, his voice barely a whisper and his gaze stormy with grief.
"I'm sorry."
Raz straightens, sending an appreciative glance Bryan's way. The other two young men sense the pain and anger he's trying to suppress and without words know to not push the subject further. Skye can't help but wonder what happened to his family, remembering all too vividly the sight of the charred island, and feels his stomach turn at the implications the dead landscape gave along with the many corpses they had found.
All three young men seem to silently seem to find strength in their losses and passion to reclaim what was taken from them. A sudden strength and confidence surges through them all and with that, Skye leads the way out of the room into the council room. Many of the council remains there, going over plans with their strongest Riders but as he steps into the room, they all stop and face him. He gives a slight nod.
Without words, they know what it means, and they all rush off to where they need to be. Bryan, Skye, and Raz follow the majority of them as they head towards the stables where their dragons await them. A war horn sounds through the air, sending the signal to the rest of the warrior, and as they step out of the assembly building, the town is bustling in preparation. As they walk towards the enormous building, Skye can't help but be worried for his dragon. Here he is, limping and feeling every ounce of stabbing pain go through his injured knee as he walks only a few steps, Skye can't imagine what Firedust is feeling. He took a pretty big blow as they hit the ground, shielding Skye from the most dangerous impact. Skye can only hope he's not pushing his dragon too hard.
"Bryan! Skye!" He hears Ellerin's voice ring out from outside the assembly building's doors and they all crane over the crowd to see her.
Skye finally spots her leaning against the exterior wall, effectively putting herself out of the way of the rushing crowd. Instead of joining her however, Skye waves her towards them and she joins them as they move in the direction of the crowd towards the stables.
She joins them, her eyes wide and her breath coming short from squeezing through the crowd, her gaze immediately snapping towards Raz. "You're fighting?"
He nods firmly and she sends him a smile. "What's your dragon named?"
If possible, Raz seems to pale even further, his lips pursing into a thin line. Bryan seems to sense his pain.
"Raz is in the same position as your sister, Tamla." He says and places a comforting hand on the young man's shoulder. "But it's going to be alright because he'll ride with me."
Raz smiles softly at him as Ellerin's eyes widen. "I'm so sorry. Forgive me. I know how difficult it is."
"It's okay. Don't worry about it."
Ellerin eyes him silently but doesn't say anything more. There's a hint of guilt in her gaze but also curiosity, as if she's wondering how it happened but knows not to ask. Skye feels much the same in how their earlier discussion went and how unknown his abilities are.
As Skye thinks about Raz's magic as a Seer, a thought goes through his mind and he reaches forward and grasps Raz's arm, "Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?"
He looks down at the grip on his arm apprehensively, then meets Skye's gaze steadily. "Of course."
Bryan and Ellerin give them both odd stares but Skye looks at them both pointedly and says, "We'll catch up with you at the stables."
To his relief, they don't question his request and simply give a silent nod, moving ahead of them, easily disappearing in the thick of the crowd.They watch the others go for a moment, then Raz and Skye pull to the side of the path, and find themselves in an abandoned alleyway. There's clothes lines decorating the skyline of the unnaturally tall passage, and trash strewn about on the street below. As Skye looks around, he gets an eerie feel, seeing all that cacophony with no human life to accompany it, and makes him all the more nervous for what he's about to ask.
"So, what do you want to talk about?" Raz asks with a guarded expression, his whole body tense.
Skye chews the side of his lip, and forces himself to say, "I need you to look into the future for me and tell me if we can win this war and...tell me if we find Lana alright."
His eyes widen at the request and his features visibly soften. "I...Look Skye, it's hard to see what futures I want to see."
"Can you try?" Skye pleads, feeling desperate as his hopes slowly plummet, "Anything would help."
Raz looks at him for a moment, studying his expression, then after several long moments of agony, he sighs, "I can try."
He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and Raz turns away from him slightly and closes his eyes, concentration tightening his facial features. The scar that stretches across his face seems to stand out more as he does his magic, as if the wound is reopening itself from the inside out. A flash of concern flies through him but Skye doesn't call it off. He can't.
They stand there for what seems like eons and Skye distracts himself by admiring the strength of his magic. Skye can feel its power through the air, like a heavy feeling the air gets before a thunderstorm but it's mixed with an overwhelming electrical energy that makes his hairs stand on end.
Then suddenly, Raz gasps, his eyes snapping open and his chest heaving for breath.
"What did you see?" Skye asks him and he looks at him with a no longer emotionless expression, his eyes wide with fear.
"It's Lana," he stammers, a faraway look in his eyes, "She's in the middle of a battlefield... there's death all around her. She's the only one alive and...she was just standing there. What really stood out to me was the sword with a pale jewel at it's hilt in her hand. It was covered in blood."
His face pales, "A sword with a pale jewel?"
Raz frowns, "You've seen it before?"
"No..." Skye says, thoughts and questions flying through his mind, "But Lana mentioned it before to me. She said that it would kill one of us."
"One of us?" Raz asks, surprise and evident self doubt causing him to freeze.
Skye pats him on the shoulder, "Seems like you picked a side when you saved my life and Lana's, so yes, you're one of us."
Raz opens his mouth slightly to respond to that, but at a loss for words, he doesn't say anything. Neither of them do, and with a comfortable silence, they walk out of the alleyway.
Skye and Raz walk into the stables moments later and he feels fatigued from even that short distance of walking. His injured leg had rested for hours prior to making battle preparations, but with all this sudden walking, pain shoots up his entire body every time he puts weight on it. By the time he gets to the stables, he's panting from the exertion it puts on his body.
"Your Highness," Lady Miran addresses him coolly and she and the leader of the territory of Rhiya approaches them. She wears a very fine, and battle worn leather armour with her hair pinned back neatly, exposing her face. Skye can now very clearly see the fire in her eyes, the eagerness to take back one of the lands that was stolen from them. It lifts his spirit immensely, and inspires him into almost forgetting the pain in his leg completely. Almost.
Skye acknowledges her with a polite nod and with a nod back, she tells him, "My warriors and all the other island's Riders are ready."
He can't contain a proud smile. "Give the order. The attack on Lyon begins now."
She nods and turns around, yelling orders to all the nearby Riders, who pass on the message to those closest to them. An eager and excited feeling sweeps through the stables, as the Dragon Riders mount their dragons, ready to win back their lands starting with Lyon.
Turning away from them, Skye quickly scans the stalls and sees Firedust, resting in the area to his left with a weary expression that mirrors his own. As Skye limps his way towards him however, he jumps to his feet as if the energy of the people has suddenly reached him.
It takes several agonizing moments before Skye reaches his dragon's side, and once Skye reaches him, he leans against his side, taking the weight off his leg. It only dulls the pain slightly, and Skye grit his teeth. He doesn't know how long this agony in his leg will last, but it couldn't have been experienced at the worst time. He's expected to lead his people into battle, but can hardly move.
His father always told him that strong leaders never participate in their own wars to prevent their own casualties, and today Skye has an excuse to do just that. But to him, that would be cowardly. How could a leader expect their people to fight for them if the leader themselves won't fight and die alongside their people? No, even if Skye can't walk properly, he will fight with them. He will die with his people by his side. There's no way he'd rather go.
With a spurt of energy and motivation, Skye pulls himself into Firedust's saddle, catching the excitement of the group.
"Let's go!" Skye yells and cheers accompany him as Firedust takes a short running start out from underneath the roof of the stables before taking off into the sky, the rest of the Dragon Riders following them.
The Battle of Lyon has begun.