The quick footsteps that could be heard coming down the stone foot path caused the Queen to look past her friend. She quickly took her hand away from Valors and stepped out from behind him. She looked at the man dressed in riders gear as he approached. His gear wasn't clean nor was it in order like one would expect on such a day as today.
"By the Dragons! What happened to you Phillip?" came Valor's voice as he no doubt took in the nearly pitiful condition one of his Defenders was in.
The youngish man was quiet until he stood in front of her and his superior, he bowed quickly before handing a small scroll to the her. Before she took it she noticed how the he looked pained and anxious. She quickly looked down at the scroll as she unrolled it and began to read.
"It's much much worse then we thought..." Phillips voice trailed off a bit, which caused Kendra to look up at him. He looked like he was on the verge of tears but was trying desperately to keep from doing so. Before she could even try to comfort him, Valor's large hand took him by the shoulder in a reassuring way. Phillip nodded before clearing his throat and continuing.
"I was stationed just to the North in Alm Keep. I and two others, Sattari and Brenden, were doing our normal patrols and everything was normal. That was until we noticed smoke rising from the Keep...""What happened lad?!" Valor asked with a small bit of panic as he reached and took the scroll from her, but she didn't care at that point as she had read enough. As Valor read Phillip continued.
"It was a massacre, who or what ever they or it was killed nearly everyone in the Keep. We found Commander Stella, she looked like hell and half crazed... She... She kept saying that she couldn't leave, that..... that they had her blood and we were their only hope." Phillip took a deep shakey breath.
"Thats we heard the most ungodly sound, I don't even know how to describe it Sir. But it made Commander Stella white and she then began to yell at us to leave. We mounted and were nearly out of the Keep when Brenden and Winds Song were netted..... Phillip eyes spilled over in a silent cry, he wiped his eyes trying to stop himself.
I don't know where they fell, but I know they were dead as they hit the ground..... I felt their minds.... the pain made Sattari lose focus, she never saw the arrow coming. As she fell Luna went after her, she never saw the net either.... Sattari was dead but what ever got Luna.. Luna must of fought.... But they killed her too..... I felt them die to..... I and Birdi barely got away..... Sir, who or what ever they or it was made us feel the death of our comrades!..... I... I..." No more could be said as the young man stood there silently as tears fell from his eyes.
A chill filled the air as Phillip finished his report. Kendra could hardly believe what she had just heard, and was still having a hard time with it as she looked to her Winged Defender. She was slightly please to see that he was composed and stern, like what every leader should be in the face of such a threat.
"Then we must move up the Right. We are going to need to start training as soon as possible.""Yes but can you get them trained in time? We may need them sooner then expected." She said as she looked at her friend.
"They get the same kind of crash course that I and those of the first riders had. But they will get it, the hardest part will be to get them to work together."Kendra then looked at Phillip and thanked him and insisted that he and his dragon go rest, as it much needed. She then gave the order to blow the horn to call in the recruits. The urgency felt nearly the same as it did twenty years earlier. Only this was more frightening.
David O'Kendle
David was nearly finished his first drink when a great horn rumbled through the air, three great low rumbling blows. He had idea what that could possibly mean, as he was unsure of the customs of the Keep. For all he knew it was a dragons lunch horn, though before he had a chance to ponder it some more a dragon the size of a large horse with feathered wings landed on the road. At first he didn't see the rider, but heard him
"All those taking part in the Right please make your way up to the center of the Keep. To the Grand Garden and the Pool of Tears" They then took off again.
Taking the last swig of his drink he slowly got up and began to walk with those that seemed to know where they were going. He wondered what had caused the the Right to be moved up, as he was sure he had arrived with time to spare. As he walked through the Village and came up to to the gate of the inner wall he noticed a difference in the lay out. He noticed that there was less buildings and more open fields, most likely training areas. The the few buildings scattered about looked like barracks, mess halls, libraries and more training areas. Though there were few small temples and shrines scattered about as well.
As he was taking this all in, he caught a glimpse of a young man walking behind a rather large cart. It took David a minute to realize what was in the cart, it was a dragon almost like the one that landed by the pub. Only this dragon look nearly lifeless, though he knew it was alive as he saw it lift its head to lick the young man. He wondered what happened to cause a dragon to have to be taken by cart and look like hell. That was when he noticed a great red dragon, it shocked him how large the beast was. He suddenly hoped he didn't get such a large dragon as it would be unsettling to sit upon such a giant creature that could kill you by simply stepping on you.
Again as he pondered this, he and the others made their way to the Pool of Tears they came to another gate. The last ring in the three tiered Keep. As he stepped through the gate he noticed that they were met with trees so thick that it was hard to see five feet in. Though the path was clear and laid with stone. The path seemed to take a while to walk, but just as he thought it the trees suddenly stopped and opened into a large clearing. In the middle of this clearing was a pool make of crystal and there infront of the crystal pool stood five top commanders and the Queen herself. David had no idea that the Queen would even be here, what had caused her to come here as he could see that she had gotten some troubling news.
Once everyone had assembled, which seemed to be at least sixty people, the Queen spoke.
"I am sorry for having to speed this up, we will be skipping most of the ceremony part of this event. But we have gotten some troubling news and we don't have time to dally. So I will call up you up one at a time and you will touch of the waters of the Pool. If the waters shimmers and shows you a dragon, then know you have passed... So would Brea Hadlin please come forth.
Brea Hadlin
The landing of a dragon was pretty easy to hear, though the quick footsteps were also easy to hear. Brea turned to see who had come into the semicircle, she smirked seeing Nalastain and his dragon. Everyone who had been in the Keep for a while knew of him, the boy with a dragon but hadn't gone through the Right. It caused quite a stir when he came to the Keep, many of the recruits and some of the trainers thought that it wasn't fair. But Commander Valor quickly put a stop to such talk as he had taken up council with Old Wise about the matter. At least that was what they were told, not that this stopped the whispers of course.
Brea bowed slightly to her visitors when the summoning horn was blown. She looked towards the center of the Keep with worry in her eyes, as this wasn't normal.
"Care to walk with me?" she asked Nalastain as she was passing him, smiling coyly. She didn't quite wait for him to respond as she knew that they were heading in the same direction anyway.
She knew the route up to the Pool well as she had done it two times before, only this time there was no ceremony. No music, barely any crowds lined the path and there wasn't many dragons watching either, and to top it all off some of the Keeps flags were at half mast. Something was amiss and it made her feel uneasy.
Once at the Pool of Tears she noticed that the Queen was there, she had never been there the last two times the Right was taking place. There was sense of unease in the air, even some of the dragons that were there seemed on edge. The Queen then spoke and kind of confirmed what Brea had suspected, but before she could think on it more she suddenly heard her name being called.
She looked around for a moment as she felt lost for a minute, she didn't expect her name to be called so soon. Slowly she made her way up to the Pool of Tears. The water was as clear as glass and glowed slightly so that you had to squint a bit to look into it. Reaching out her right hand she gently touched the water before pulling her hand back, she watched as tiny ripples played across the water. At first nothing happened and she felt her heart begin to sink, but then the waters shimmered and she could see a dragon on the face of the waters almost like a painting only more realistic.
Suddenly she the silence that had surrounded her broke as a beautiful melody began to fill the air. The melody not only filled the air but her mind as well, she could feel it through her body and it made her turn around slowly. As she turned she was suddenly face to face with a black dragon. At least she thought he was all black at first but she then noticed his golden yellow underbelly and maroon tipped feathers, lastly she noticed his size. He was large but not as large as she expected, as he was no bigger than the stallion war horses that they had here. Suddenly the melody stopped and the fog that clouded her mind lifted, she then noticed that she was about a yard away from the Pool of Tears and she had no memory of even walking that far. That was when she could hear some of the trainers and dragons grumble as if they didn't like what had just happened, and she noticed how some shook their heads as if to get the melody out of their heads.
Looking back at the dragon before her, she bowed slightly to him and he to her. She then lifted her right hand as to see if he would let her touch him. She didn't have to wait long as he placed his snout into her palm.
Brea gasped as she felt her mind suddenly connect to the dragons, she could feel his thoughts and memories almost as if they were her own. A smile played on her lips as she stared into the eyes of what was now her dragon.
We are one now little one. I am called Wind Cutter, and you are.... He paused for a moment as if thinking.
You are called Brea, a pleasure to have you as my rider little Brea. HIs words bounced in her head and sounded pleasing, almost as like the melody that she had heard earlier, though not as enchanting. ((think Benedict Cumberbatch almost))
"Welcome Brea Hadlin, you are now one of our newest Winged Defenders. Please stand over there with your dragon and wait until the Right is finished." The Queen said before calling another name.
Brea didn't pay too much attention as she went a stood on the other side of the clearing with Wind Cutter. She felt so excited to finally be a Winged Defender that she forgot all about unease that had filled the air only moments before.
