Finally, when the moon stood high in the sky, the cargo was fully loaded onto the wyverns. Both the gold and silver knights felt worn out. Empress Maria, Desmond, and Avery kept to the Heaven’s Cloud. Consort Loralei stayed close to the wyverns’ landing. Besides a few knights, both groups got over their problems and cooperated. “We take flight tonight!” Consort Loralei, still fuming from earlier, snarled her command. A kneeling knight was before her, his golden armor almost bronze in the dying torchlight.

He wanted to protest. They had been awake before first light and had been working tirelessly throughout the day. The Heaven’s Cloud had many items that had to be stripped and loaded onto the wyverns, but none of this mattered to this woman. Consort Loralei may be beautiful, but she had a heart full of venom. Six vice-captains had been killed under her command, all for a simple disagreement. Their captain would’ve been in an early grave as well if he’d been assigned to this woman. Lucky for him, he was the Emperor’s guard.

Her face furrowed as she bit on her lip and thought. Her deep-black eyes narrowed with frustration as she shifted through ideas. Most ideas were ways to give her knights reason to kill that insufferable brat, but they only ended up tossed away. That brat had already killed one guard, and she was sure the Emperor would lecture her on the loss. The loss wasn’t important so long as she redeemed her face. No, what was important was she didn’t lose her standing with him. With her bodily charm, it wasn’t hard to win the old pervert over. The difficult part was keeping her antics tolerable. Theft, murder, arson, bribery, and among other crimes she had committed – or ordered – was left unsaid…

Because it couldn’t be traced back to her officially.

Officially, she was in charge of this ‘rescue’ mission. As if it could be called that, she retorted to herself. No, it was a simple recovery operation, not of the Empress, of Heaven’s cloud and it’s national secrets. Her being alive was just an unfortunate happening. After a long while, she heaved a fed up snort. She decided to leave the issue for the old man, figuring he’d do something.

The orders to move out echoed throughout the entire area. Knights began to disassemble the camp in an orderly fashion, leaving only enough behind for the few that were unfortunate to draw guard. A golden knight had brought two fine wyvern mounts for the Empress and the two young ones. Empress Maria only sighed a relief. She was hoped Consort Loralei hadn’t been stupid enough to give them improper mounts. Such a large flock of mounts would be flying back into the Capital, there would be many eyes on them.

The last thing any of them needed was to embarrass the Emperor with their petty little games. Seeing the mounts up close, Avery felt a ping of loneliness as memories of Athena surface, her dragon. It was only for a moment before Desmond’s voice rippled the image in her mind. “Will you be riding with me, or -” Avery answered before hearing the rest. “You.” Her voice steady and casual. No hesitation could be heard, as if she had already made that choice before he thought of it.

Empress Maria and the few nearby guards only grinned at Desmond. He was already embarrassed by the speed of her response, so he nervously helped her onto the Dragon’s back. Desmond then mounted the wyvern skillfully as Avery let out an amused coo with her head leaning forward at an angle”Oh, can you actually fly?” Desmond’s body shivered. He had only known her a few days, but he could feel that teasing in her voice. He wasn’t used to it as he replied”Y-Yeah… We ride them all the time in the Academy…” Avery grinned but decided to leave him be.

By the imperial family’s decree, Empress Maria and her son should have been the first to take flight, but Consort Loralei’s wyvern had used its powerful legs to leap close to twenty feet off the ground and used it’s powerful wings to suspend itself. Only afterward, when Empress Maria was sure she was satisfied with the attention, did she take off as well followed by Desmond. Then, one by one the others took off and headed off in the direction of the Capital, looking no different than a flock of crows in the distance.

Wyvern could only fly seven hours before needing to rest for the day. Luckily, the wyvern could fly to the capital within four hours. They were slower than flying ships but incontestably faster than a fast horse. This was also accounting for the weight of the gathered packs.

Hues of orange and yellow began to chase away the silvery night as the capital came into view. Built in a river’s mouth, the dark city had been built in a particularly even terrain. Large roads webbed outwards from the city, leading to nearby villages and towns. Some lead into the great unknown beyond. A fairly dense forest surrounded the capital with outcroppings in the tree sea of trees where homesteads and other buildings were.

The Capital was lined with dark grey weathered stone ramparts, the roofs of buildings and towers jutting out from behind. Avery couldn’t quite appreciate the city grandeur until the rays of oranges and yellows cascaded upon the city itself. Dull brick buildings, with tile roofs. Some buildings were one story tall while some were almost four. Some were even one story with large roofs. The architecture only kept the theme of tile roofs and bricks, leaving the rest to vary like grass blades in a field. In the center of the city was a large castle, looming over the other buildings by hundreds of feet. Its walls rose even higher than the outer walls, and small balls of burning orange could be faintly seen.

The wind roared in her ear, the cold wind kissing her face like a passionate lover. Even with her good sight, there wasn’t much detail to make out other than before. It only took a few minutes after that the ringing of bells could be heard. A few minutes later the flock of wyverns began to right, their direction heading at an angle downward. At first, Avery was confused to why, but it wasn’t until she got closer did she notice a large clearing, neat and organized by may ant-like people that buzzed around, preparing to accept a large influx of riders.

After a couple of minutes, the clearing turned into a large open field with people dressed in all grey overalls. One runway ran the length of the field were other wyverns were gliding into a running as they touched down before slowing down and veering into the grassy area where they soon disappeared under the forest canopy. the only thought that came to her mind was Dragon Airport!?

When it came to their group’s turn to land, they glided around the field before lining up with the runway. One by one, giving each other at least a twenty-second spacing, they too glided down. With their mount’s feet touched the ground, it broke into a run while its rear landed like a running lizard before it could slow down. It looked smooth and well train. “Brace yourself,” Desmond yelled back at her. She didn’t see the need to, but she did so anyway, holding tightly onto the wyvern’s rear passenger rope.

Desmond turned the wyvern into a dive, the air pushing fiercely against her as they swooped down and also landed. As if to curse her, the landing was fierce and she could feel the each of the wyvern’s feet hitting the group with tremendous force. The saddle absorbed a lot, only telling Avery how much weight these little dragons hand to them. Feeling slightly disoriented by the unexpected experience, the wyvern hurried off the runway.

“Why was that so ruff?!” Avery complained to Desmond. ” So ruff? That was gentle. Wyvern normally land by swooping down and just landing with a drop on the ground.” Desmond shuddered like he’d personally experienced it. ” Compared to that, this is as gentle as a mother cradling her baby!” Desmond shuddered again before dismounting, then helped Avery. A tall muscular woman came over and grabbed the wyvern’s reigns. She gently led it away to the forest canopy, in the direction of the city. Desmond waved his hand.” Let’s go.” His tone was soft and full of relief to be back in the capital.

Avery followed without commenting. She took in the sights and sounds of the field. From her understanding, it was the staging area for their wyverns and their logistical support. There were many men and women here, unloading the mounts and leading them away. The unloaded cargo was then loaded into a waiting wagon before being carried off towards the forest. Desmond also led her that way.

When she got close to the treeline, she could see large gaps between the trees. In between, there were small wooden structures resembling overly large stables. The dragons were being led into those. Wooden scaffolding wrapped around every third tree, with platforms almost twenty feet high wrapping around each tree trunk. Bridges made rope binding and wooden footholds bounded from platform to platform. Soldiers in black pants and shirts with light leather armor attached. Each carried wooden bows and leather quivers full arrows.

“The men on the catwalks are called ‘rangers’. It’s written that rangers take their tactics and fighting style from the Elves of old, back from your age.” Desmond’s eyes shined and his mouth parted with a smile. Avery could tell he was trying to boast. She was about to tell him it wasn’t anything special, but she caught that childish joy in his face. She didn’t have the heart to refute him. She only smiled and nodded, not to patronize him, but to encourage him. It was definitely an adorable expression.

“They scout out ahead on campaigns, monster cleanups, and often roam the lands looking for monsters who’d become a threat.” Desmond, a little giddier, kept on talking.”They’re amazing people, you know. Like the free-riders, they go on adventures, see the world, and better yet; don’t have to worry when they’ll be paid. They work for the empire!” Avery smiled at his adorable demeanor as he talked about something he liked.

Be it the history or the actual rangers, she wasn’t sure – it didn’t matter anyway. Both Desmond and Avery walked side by side, with no silver or gold knights glaring at each other. Desmond gave her a tour around the wyvern stables and the barracks. He gave her brief tidbits of history regarding certain buildings, certain people, and even how the wyvern came to become mounts for them. Both of them happily chatting away as the sun rose, cashing away the orange and yellow away with clear light.

“Where are those brats?!” Consort Loralei fumed with anger, a snarl distorted her expression. The golden knight from earlier shivered, his head down and one his knee. “I don’t know, my lady… ” He had a saw them dismount, but with tens of knights dismounting one after another. He had lost sight of them in the crowd. He cursed silently that he hadn’t told more people to watch them.” I have failed, please hand down punishment!” They were empty words, in hope that he’d be pardoned. It wasn’t a real fumble. Desmond was the crown prince. The girl seemed to be his friend. He took this into account and was ready to explain this, but he never got the chance.

“Take this bastard away and kill him. Bring someone more competent! Find those brats and bring them into the palace!” The woman roared her commands, her face turning a crimson red from the rage. Four golden knights grabbed the man from both sides and hauled him away. The surrounding knights pretended not to notice, continuing to help unload the cargo of the wyverns before heading to into the city.

There is a board in the Heavenly Knight barracks in the palace. Many different bulletins are pinned on this large, imposing board. Among these papers, there hangs a small piece of wood. The words “Days without incident” are painted on it.

A piece of paper was pinned on it, with ink strikes totaling thirty-two days. A golden knight walked up to it and ripped it off, exposing a large zero. The knight crumbled the paper with a frustrated grumble before walking off.

There were tens of knights resting in the room who witnessed this. A cold sweat ran down every one of their foreheads.” Consort Loralei executed another one…” A man murmured weakly. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Another one began to panic. “Damn… He had the highest streak… Really thought it’d last…” another ominously said. A golden knight with two large dragons engraved on his breastplate walked in. A cold wind of death crept in after him. Each of the knights began to pray to every god in Eos that could possibly help them.

He stopped in the middle of the room, brandished an empty bottle of ale before setting it down on its side. He gave it a quick spin before the sound of glass rubbing on worn varnish cried out. The praying became louder and louder as the bottle lost momentum. With each pass, some men even wept. One man attempted to plead to the golden knight,” Captain! Please don’t! I got kids! I got a wife! I-If-” He was cut off as more people began to get desperate.

The man called captain stood there. Staring at the bottle with a dark face as the bottle slowly came to a stop. The room became silent as the bottle pointed to the forward left of the captain. His head slowly craned as he followed the bottleneck’s direction. In the corner stood a burly man, covered in scars and a face that could send babies to the afterlife with a look. His face was stiff before the reality hit him like a bucking horse.

As if death itself had come to drag him to hell, his face turned ugly with tears and snort.” Mercy! Mercy!” Before the captain could move, the man screamed with all his might” My lord Odin, save me and I shall carve a statue in your honor. I will worship you will all my heart and fight in your honor!” His cries echoed throughout the barracks. The captain scowled at the man’s theatrics.

As if answering him, a small squeak peeped up. Looking down, everyone saw the bottle – which had stopped- turned slightly and point at the man next to him. Before the man could react to the sudden change, the Captain grabbed the man and hauled him out while saying, ” You got a promotion today!”

Years after, songs and tales spoke of a man who’d retired from the Heavenly Knights. He took up the mantle of a Warrior Priest of Odin. He carved life-like statues in Odin’s likeness and fought for justice where ever his two feet took him…