“I’ll show you all!”

Rachel’s scream and the wyvern’s cry mixed into one pure note of determination just as her outstretched hand touched the beast’s snout. Immediately Rachel’s awareness shifted. The mountain plateau, Katarina lying behind her, all of it faded to the back of her mind as one emotion, one thought consumed all others: the drive to be the very best. It was an overwhelming desire, threatening to drown her in the force of it.

A small part of her mind realized what was happening. She and the wyvern had merged Wills. At the moment of contact, their Wills had aligned and Rachel began Taming the beast. The part of her mind aware of that was nothing compared with the part facing down the wyvern.

Rachel could feel its presence, its Will, as a force pushing against her own. She could feel the thoughts of the wyvern, the very core of its identity as their thoughts met. The Taming happened in an instant, their Wills connecting for only the briefest of moments, but that was enough for each to measure the other. The conversation was not through words, but feelings, emotions, desires- brief flashes of insight that conveyed a whole history.

“You dare attack my flock? Who are you to challenge Sagana, Queen of the Wyverns?”

“I am Rachel Kalos, apprentice Beast Tamer!”

“Apprentice? Ha! I will eat you and spit out your bones. Look at my body and marvel! The scars tell my story of a thousand battles fought and a thousand battles won!”

“Look at mine. I have fought my own battles and have come out on top each and every time. The other students laugh at me, mock and insult my craft. Yet here I stand! I have bested elkin and golems, chimeras, and goblins. I’ve even taken down World Protector rank professors. I will show everyone that I will be the greatest like the world has never seen!”

“Is it a new challenge you seek then? Little apprentice, I promise I will not be easy prey.”

“It is not a confrontation I seek, but a partnership. You are the clear ruler of your roost. But defending your title against such lesser threats as I see around you must grow boring. I offer you a chance for true greatness, to test your might against the strongest opponents, not just upon this rock, but in the whole world! Join me, if you think you are up to the challenge. Or sit and wait on that rock of yours for old age to make you weak enough for one of the fools around here to pick you off.”

“Your arrogance is great, little apprentice. Almost as great as your passion. It is true, I have grown weary facing the whelplings that flock to me. Very well, Rachel Kalos. I accept your offer. Thus is our pact sealed.”

In the span of a heartbeat, Rachel had Tamed the wyvern, Sagana. They both collapsed, breathing heavily as they struggled to come back to reality. Rachel looked up, meeting the gaze of the old wyvern. Her eyes were hard, filled with a steely might that broke no quarter. Rachel met that stare with one of her own, ad after a moment, Sagana lowered her gaze. The wyvern bowed her head, arching her neck gracefully as Rachel stroked the soft downy feathers that covered Sagana’s head.

“Ughhh”

Rachel jumped, forgetting that she was not the only apprentice on the mountain. She turned and found Ziris gently nudging Katerina. The other Beast Tamer was regaining consciousness, moaning as she came around. Rachel knelt down and tried to help Katerina stand. As she was getting up, Katarina let out a scream and fell down, dragging Rachel with her.

“Stars, I think my leg is broken!” Katerina said, her breath coming in ragged gasps.

“Just stay still,” Rachel said as she eased Katerina into a sitting position. “I’ll see if I can find something to make a crutch.

Rachel scanned the side of the mountain, hoping for something that she could use to help Katerina, but the mountain was barren, covered only in rocks and wyvern feathers. Neither Al’tun nor Ziris were large enough to carry Katerina down the Academy. Maybe if they took turns? No that would still take the rest of the day and most of the evening to get back. If only there was another… Sagana! The wyvern was easily big enough to carry Katerina.

“Sagana, can you bend down? I’m going to sit Katerina on your back.”

The wyvern let out a hiss, barring her teeth.

“I don’t like her either, but we can’t just leave her up here, and you’re the only one big enough to carry her back down.”

“Hey! I’m right here,” Katerina said, giving Sagana a glare of her own. “Don’t I get a say in this? I don’t want to get on that thing; it nearly killed me!”

Rachel knelt down in front of Katerina, eyes locked on the other apprentice. “The way I see it, you have two choices. 1- we put you on Sagana and you ride back to the Academy in a few hours. Or 2- we leave you up here until we get back to the Academy and send someone back to pick you up. So you could either hang out with one wyvern or a whole flock of them.”

As if to punctuate Rachel’s words, a wyvern cry sounded across the mountain. Katerina looked up, her eyes growing wide with fear as she watched a flock of wyverns circle overhead with more joining in by the minute.

“Fine,” Katerina said, her voice shaky. “I’ll go with you. But if that thing so much as looks like it may attack me, I’ll have Ziris kill it.”

“Isn’t that what the two of you had been trying to do?” Rachel replied as she helped Katerina onto Sagana’s back.

A glare was the only reply Rachel received.