"Mont, thank you for coming." She said, putting her head on my chest.
"Of course I'd come to help, Tersa." I replied. "Iethgar being so far in is strange. No, not strange, worrying, If the rest of Jorn think the Nieth are weak, there could be greater battles ahead."
Iethgar were the largest breed of dragon. They were mostly silver and had hints of blue. Due to their size they could win any battle but for one large disadvantage: they didn't have the stamina of other breeds.
Also they had the disadvantage that all dragons had: their riders could not connect to them like wyvern riders could.
A wyvern rider was a deadly force with or without a wyvern, even though all riders were blind. With a wyvern a rider could control it and feel through its various senses. Without a wyvern a rider had intense training, more than intense, that made it so that all their senses were nearly like that of a Nieth. And those creatures, the overlords of my home, were deadly. They appeared to be a combination of an insect and a lizard. Their eyes were compound like that of a fly while they had the tail of a lizard. Before the Great War they had lived all across Jorn with humans. After...after the remaining Nieth had been driven to the continent of Horngul. Horngul was my home. The Nieth my masters. The wyverns my only way to freedom.
"Do you really think the humans would risk igniting the Great War again?" My wife asked. "I think they are comfortable enough with their peace."
"But you are worried the Iethgar represent something greater." I pointed out.
"I only worry that if this rogue group thinks it can get away with their antics, other humans might make war with Horngul as entertainment."
The Great War wasn't over but it had died down. The bloodlust on each side didn't lead either side to consume the planet in war. I ran my hand through Tersa's hair as I tried to calm myself down for the battle ahead. Being a wyvern rider like I had for hundreds of years meant accepting certain facts. I would always follow the wyvern's call which meant I would change if my mount died. Affections when connected to one wyvern could fade upon its passing. This made it extremely dangerous for any rider to become close with anyone.
Another fact was that if I lost my wyvern tomorrow I would become a Ghost. Someone that was not to be talked with by anyone. I would be less than a human and humans here were less than slaves. Humans could have lives but only to the extent their Nieth lords allowed them. Some humans fared well living extravagant lives while others were killed for sport. Sometimes not even for sport and merely because a Nieth was bored. All humans dreamed of having some semblance of power and the most power a human could have was to be a wyvern rider.
My hand ran over Tersa's stomach. Already she was showing signs of being pregnant which was another reason I was nervous about the upcoming battle. When I became a Ghost I would no longer be her husband and she would no longer have to keep her child. There had been riders that had lost their love of their husbands when one became a Ghost. Sometimes to the point of killing their unborn children.
"You're thinking I'm going to have an abortion, aren't you?" My wife asked with a chuckle. "I've promised you many times that I will keep it no matter what happens to either of us."
"I ride my third wyvern, a Jornish, so I know how hard promises are to keep." I replied sadly. "Especially the kind of promise you intend to keep."
"I ride my second wyvern, my love, so I am well aware of what promise I made. And I will keep it."
I had trained Tersa. She had appeared one day and I was drawn to her. She was so much younger but that wasn't a concern for a rider. Our lives were so long, because by connecting to wyverns we got their lifespan, that if we looked for lovers our own age we would never know love. At least when I had fallen in love my loves hadn't started as riders.
"Wasn't there a difference you experienced with your first wyvern?" I asked her.
"My Bortok?" Tersa said. "Yes, there was a difference. It was like I was able to experience the world for the first time. As if everything before was just a dream. It was wonderful and terrifying all at once."
"And you became a different person afterwards."
"Yes."
I ran my hand through her hair. If I had not been blind I could see that it was blue. Without eyes I could only feel its odd texture. It felt like normal human hair but also like hair from a Nieth. If a Nieth had hair. Tersa's hair was the clearest sign of her Nieth heritage. I had no Nieth in my blood, only human. My hand then went from her hair to rest on her hips.
"I'm not going to change my mind if you lose your wyvern." Tersa said. "No matter how different of a person I become."
"You might be ashamed of me." I told her. "Sometimes just the fact a rider becomes a Ghost is enough to make the woman kill the child."
"But you've managed to get back to the position of rider before. You'll do so again."
"Nothing in this world is for certain, my love."
I didn't mention to her, as she already knew, that I might become a different person. That my love for her might go away as if it never existed in the first place. That I wouldn't care for her or our child. The only reason that fact didn't scare me was because I had dealt with that problem before. I had dealt with that fear before. Some of my past lovers had born me children that I no longer cared about. They seemed to be things from another life. The same lack of caring I had felt before could be repeated with Tersa's child.
"Well, I am certain that you will be a loving father even if you do become a Ghost." Tersa said softly. "Even though a Jornish isn't meant for fighting, I am sure it will come out alive because of its rider."
I wanted to believe that. I wanted to believe my wyvern would be strong enough. But Jornishes weren't meant for fighting and it was only my love for Tersa that made me risk my mount.
* * *
My mind was connected with Lydia, my wyvern, so I could see the landscape around me. A wyvern's eyesight was different from a human's but not by much. We were in the air and she was nervous as we looked around. She was the smallest in the group and it was a little daunting. Her black and green coloring was a stark contrast to the Bortoks around us.
Their huge forms, though still smaller than an Iethgar, were blue and white. The colors were to help them hide in the sky before they dived down to attack prey. They were fearsome wyverns and it was no wonder the Nieth used them as fighter. Lydia, on the other hand, was a Jornish which was a breed that was meant for scouting.
I let my mind sink in fully with my wyvern's as the Iethgar were not that far from us. I was one with a creature of magic that needed more taking care of than a dragon. While I still had a human body, there was another part of me that was a different creature. One with two wings, two legs ending with sharp claws, a tail with spikes, skin that burned poison, and a mouth full of dagger-like teeth that spit out poison. Dragons, on the other hand, had four legs, two wings, a tail, and a mouth that breathed fire.
Finding a thermal, I rode it so I didn't have to expend as much energy. Unlike the Bortoks around me, I couldn't fly as quickly without wasting as much energy. While they were made for battle, I was made for scouting. It was easy for me to go from Thar to Quar without expending much energy, but battles were different. During a battle you couldn't make sure of how much energy you would spend at any given moment. While scouting there were moments you couldn't plan for, but not as many as during a battle.
Once I was above the other wyverns, I took a slight dive down. This allowed me to keep up with the others. While I kept my place on Lydia, I looked at Tersa. She was at the head of the flock and she looked regal. If she didn't have any human blood she would've made a fine king or queen of a city. Her fierceness as her hair blew in the wind reminded me why I had fallen in love with her. Tersa was a strong woman and she was to be feared. She had won many battles and had been honored by many high ranking Nieth. A rarity among humans, even those who were wyvern riders.
My mind raced over how I could come out of the upcoming battle as a rider. I had won some impossible battles on my wyvern and so I shouldn't fear the tame battle ahead of me. The battle would be more about driving the dragons away rather than killing them, after all.
I turned my head as I picked up a signal from Tersa. My wyvern senses told me to remain at the very back of the flock and as high up as I could manage. I would be used as a last resort, then. My wife cared about my safety and I was grateful for that. I wanted to remain a rider long enough to see her give birth and make sure our child had a long lifespan. At least long for a human.
The minutes and hours passed by quickly and we finally got close enough to see the Iethgar. It always made me feel ill when I saw a dragon as they seemed wrong somehow. Outwardly there was nothing wrong and yet something was off about them. Maybe it was the fact that they had too many limbs and their colors were dimmer than a wyvern's. The Iethgar ahead were mostly silver with a few hints of blue.
Tersa and her flock were quickly approaching them. Though their Bortoks overtook my Jornish by size, they were still nothing compared to the Iethgar. One wing from the dragon was about as large as a single Bortok. The only thing that made me feel this battle could be won was the fact that wyverns were much faster than any dragon. There was a reason all wyverns hadn't died during the Great War.
I stopped flapping my wings once the air grew too thin and I had to stop. I then turned my attention fully to the battle below. Only if my wife summoned me or I saw an opening would I join in. I wouldn't risk myself for my unborn child's sake.
Tersa moved her men so that she could easily direct the dragons to leave Horngul, the continent that humans were never supposed to enter. Not after all the Nieth had lost. The Iethgar looked tired and I could imagine that the long journey would make their defeat much easier. Only human pride would make them fight and that could be broken.
The wyverns yelled out and the dragons responded with their own voices. For a few seconds the sky itself seemed about to break. I grinned as this was a reason I liked being a rider. I was able to see sights like these and feel more alive than I ever had before. Being restrained to the ground was like being dead, especially when I had been a Ghost in the past. There was no steed other than a wyvern that I yearned to ride.
After the two sides started the battle I kept on the look out for a surprise. Three Iethgar did not just come to Horngul without purpose. With Lydia's eyes I looked at the dragon riders. They were all young, at least to human standards, and might actually have gone to this forbidden place for fun. The young were foolish, after all. They were also not prepared to be attacked nor were they skilled. The only reason the humans had any chance of survival was because of the size of their mounts.
I reached out with my wyvern senses to again make sure the humans didn't have a trap. Maybe a magical one that would give them more power or transport more dragons to this battlefield. Maybe they were only playing dumb. Suddenly one of the Iethgar turned its attention towards me. Tersa's flock was having trouble with two of the dragons which meant I was on my own.
There were riders who would have been afraid or reveled in the challenge. For myself, I only focused on the present so there would be less chance of me dying. My wyvern pulled her wings close to her body and dove down. It was as if she were a falling star blazing through the sky. The Iethgar was not able to turn away as I jumped off of my mount and onto the dragon.
Lydia circled the larger creature which helped me keep track of my surroundings. While focusing on her senses, I also used my own. What I was doing was a move only advanced riders used as fighting in two bodies wasn't easy. A novice wouldn't be able to cope and would get lost in one body thereby forgetting the other. I highly doubted any of Tersa's flock was attempting this maneuver as they had others to watch their backs, unlike me.
With my seeing eyes I saw I was half way up the dragon's back. The Iethgar attempted to fight my wyvern which made getting to the rider more difficult. I fell down and clutched the dragon's back, its skin so similar and different to Lydia's. Once I felt stable enough, I slowly started to make my way to the rider, a human with red hair and a thin beard. While crawling quickly I paid attention to any little detail I could see that would make this battle short.
Hearing the human's heartbeat close by I was glad he couldn't pull the same trick I was. Unlike a wyvern's rider, a dragon's rider couldn't do what I did. There had been no record of someone, human or Nieth, connecting minds with a dragon. An advantage that had helped the Nieth hide away in Horngul. An advantage that would help me win.
Making last minute calculations, I pulled my sword and swung at the human. A wyvern rider didn't have to see to fight as our senses were heightened. They had to be as all riders were trained to fight Nieth, creatures that had reflexes well above that of a human. To the human's credit, he was able to just barely dodge my first blow before pulling out his own sword.
Because of the Iethgar's movements, I was momentarily unsteady which gave the human a chance at me. Our swords met and sent a whisper to the skies as our mounts roared out. On top of the dragon we danced and after a few minutes I was able to get the perfect opening to kill him.
"Ah!" I yelled out in excitement and pain.
The excitement was because the man died, my sword going through his stomach and then back out. This left the human no other option but to fall off the Iethgar to his doom. The pain was because I felt my wing being ripped off. I could feel as every little tendon parted from my body and tears went down my eyes. Through this pain I focused on my mission, the only thing that mattered now.
As I felt myself fall from the sky I ran to the dragon's skull. Pushing away all the pain I felt, the image of Tersa killing our child, I pushed my sword through the dragon's skull. As the wind pulled us to the ground I wondered what the point of anything was now. I would lose not just a wife, but a child. There was no certainty if I became a rider again if I would love Tersa or care about my child. I prayed that I would at least never stop caring about them. Falling in love was dangerous for a rider.
Once the Iethgar breathed its last breath, I jumped onto my wyvern. The descent was hectic as I prepared myself for impact. I had Lydia wrap herself around me so that when we crashed, one of us would survive. As we fell I heard the other riders cheer and with my eyes I could see the other Iethgar flee in a direction that would quickly lead them out of Horngul.
The moment Lydia crashed onto the ground and died, I felt like a piece of me was gone. It felt as if my limbs were being torn from my body and a great pain filled my head. Among the things lost was my love for Tersa. I felt admiration for her and yearned for her safety, but I didn't love her. She was just another rider to me.
I held onto the corpse of my wyvern to keep myself mentally stable. The moment the others saw me they would leave me to do as I wished. I was a Ghost now, someone not to be talked to or about by polite society.
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The Wyvern's Call Table of Contents
The Thief and the Ghost Table of Contents
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