Mariel woke up in the middle of the night to gentle knocking on her door. She hastily threw on some clothes and opened. In the hall stood Charne, whom hurriedly asked to be let in. He was in full battle gear and brimming with excitement. He put down the big backpack he was carrying with a metal clank.

“Sorry about showing up this late, but we’ve got a mission.”

“What happened?” She yawned, wiping her sleepy eyes.

“A small nearby village lit its emergency beacon, and I’m despatched with six other official dragon riders. So I thought of you. Want to ride a dragon?”

“I… Really should ask my friends…”

“No need to, I already found and woke them up.”

“Hi Mariel… Before you say anything, I’m going with you. Cassy will stay here; on the condition, I’ll look after you.” Saya appeared in the doorway, wearing battle gear, while not as heavy; reinforced in the important areas by metal plates.

“She agreed immediately when I told her there would be some risk.”

“Well, please put on the content of this backpack, and meet us outside, please hurry.” Charne turned on his heels and he and Saya disappeared down the hallway.

“Well, at least it’ll be good to spend some time with fellow kin.” Siah, who had as of late, been remarkably quiet, added her thoughts.

“How long has it been since you were last together with another dragon?” She asked while putting on and tying in place the various pieces of armour.

“Ah… Some, seventy years now I think? I lost track of that one… What does interest me though is that Charne… He knows, and I suspect our ride will also know.”

“Will it cause problems?” Mariel pulled on her leather boots and fastened the belts in place.

“No… Unless… Any of them directly suffered from my ancestor’s… Escapade.”

Mariel nodded, while fixing her leather and metal chestplate. Her fitting time had vastly improved since she had started out, and the usual set of training gear would only take her five minutes to get on. This heavier and stronger set gave her some initial difficulty, but she soon could enjoy her splendour in the dim light of the nightstand candle. She hurriedly attached the sword to her belt, and fixed the small parry shield to her wrist before making for the door.

Outside the temple, in the small courtyard, sat a large looming shadow. Upon approach, its blue scales and imposing head revealed it to be a dragon, readily mounted by Charne. Another dragon, a deep red, swooped in and landed just next to it, lying down to allow her to climb on. The rider introduced himself as Johnas.

To a muted roar, the dragons took to the skies and joined up in the air with three more, and staked out an eastbound course.

“So! You’re the apprentice Charne has been talking so much about! It’s nice to meet you finally!” Johnas struck up a conversation.

“Nice to meet you too! What exactly has he been saying about me?”

“Only very flattering things I promise! We grew up together you see!” Johnas pulled the reins, and the beast made a sharp rise, to recover its position in formation.

“This is Zanasthil by the way… I’m the only guy on the force with a female mount. She’s headstrong, but very loyal and forgiving!”

Just then, the dragon made a roar and flew a playful zigzag pattern.

“Oh! While I remember. You’re up for a duel against Winqas right? Be careful when you face him… That you put him to the ground has… Made him obsessed with your utter destruction. Even Commander Rantrink has had to suspend him.”

Mariel’s expression faded into one of worry, but any time she had to think about the news were taken from her by his next words.

“I’m happy to see that you survived. We didn’t expect to find anyone alive back at the watchtower. Zana singled you out, and she wouldn’t take anyone else before you.”

“I’ve never thanked you all for coming to our rescue… We would’ve died without you… And thank you Zanasthil!” She patted the scales along the dragon’s side, and received a strangely paternal growl in return.

“She’s never cared about a stranger this much… Only Charne and myself. Are you a dragonblood too? You look nothing like Charne though.”

“Hey! Listen up!” We’ll be at the site shortly; we’ll dive down to the treetops and follow the river until we reach the village… We’ll make an observational pass and then dismount outside. Any questions?” The leader, a scar-faced woman with a massive two-handed sword strapped to the dragon saddle shouted to the group. A collective affirmative was returned to her, and she pointed downwards. Immediately, the formation began to dive hard and approaching the ground, Mariel closed her eyes and held onto the saddle handle for dear life. With a rough pull, Zanasthil and the other dragons levelled out just above the treetops. With small manoeuvres, they dodged the taller treetops and soon flew along a big river, snaking through the landscape. At a bend in the river, Mariel could see a pulsing, bright light. As they got closer, the fires in the village became clearer, and they soon arrived over it, circling it while appraising the situation.

From above, Mariel could see that the situation was largely resolved. A few dead bodies lay on the ground, their clothes made them out to be villagers. Three apparent survivors were scouring the area for other survivors. The air was thick with the smell of burnt wood and blood. Mariel and Charne’s dragons were ordered to remain airborne, while the rest began to land. Immediately, arcs of lightning erupted from the surrounding treeline. Most missed, but three arcs found their target, and one of the other dragons, a big purple one fell a short distance to the ground, landing with a thud. The two warriors had soon recovered and began their attack, deflecting the incoming spells with warded weapons. Johnas made a quick pass, dodging a stream of fire, and with a mighty roar, Zanasthil unleashed a raging inferno into the treeline. The trees burnt with such intensity that there was soon nothing left but blackened remains of charred stumps left. Among the trees, she could see flickering orbs, recognizing them as wards. The wards shattered, and the occupants drew their swords and charged into the uneven fight with the dismounted dragon riders.

“Mariel.” Saya drew her attention to movement down a small dirt road leading away from the town. A few people appeared to be herding a bigger group along.

She told Johnas whom immediately made a u-turn and headed for the group. Immediately upon being spotted, the panic grew and the crowd scattered out of control, dispersing in every direction. A few smaller figures, bound in chains were restrained by the apparent enemies.

“We can’t attack… We risk hitting the villagers! I’ll do a flyby and see if we can grab a few of them… After that, I’ll bring Zana around and touch down briefly, Mariel, you jump off and we’ll cov…”

“I’m going with her!” Saya interrupted immediately.

“No, I need you to take a shot at them from above!”

“She needs…” Saya began to protest but Mariel shook her head.

“He’s right! Cover me while I go in!”

“Okay! Here! Take this gemstone! See the slot in your chest plate? Put it in! It’s a ward stone! It’ll keep you out of harm’s way for a bit… Likely two or three hits!”

Mariel slotted the small gem just as Johnas began to carry out the plan. A rough number could be made out from below. Some six individuals stood out as enemies, occasionally sending a charge of lightning or a beam of light in their rough direction. Through skilful flying, Zana avoided the attacks, swooped in and attempted to grab two of the enemies. The first strike of her claws impacted on the ward and shattered the orb surrounding the soldier. The second strike missed. Quickly, Johnas brought her away, and made a quick turn, before briefly touching down long enough for Mariel to jump off. Immediately, she had to throw herself aside, as a converging beam of flames torched the spot Zanasthil had just touched down on. Another bolt of darkness flew by her as she bent low to avoid another beam of water. She looked up to see one of the soldiers prepare another strike, when suddenly an arrow penetrated the shield and the soldier’s head. Seconds later, the head burst apart with a wet splash, drenching the terrified prisoners in a rain of blood and head parts.

“You need to go close!” She heard Johnas shout and she rushed forward, while cursing her inability to cast a few spells of her own. The one whose ward had earlier shattered, drew his sword, and launched into a counter charge. With a roar, he made a downwards cleaving motion with his sword, only to be blocked by her shield. Struggling under the weight of the blow, she brought her sword around to make a cut at the soldier’s side. Her sword drew blood, cutting precisely at the spot where the chest and back plate were tied together. With another furious roar, the soldier threw a savage punch aimed at her belly. Barely noticing in time, she drew back while making a spin on her heels, deflecting his heavy sword. Driven ahead by his own momentum, the soldier staggered forward, while she made a sweeping cut under the rim of his back plate, the sword slicing deeply into the man’s back.

“Mariel! On your left!” Saya shouted. She threw herself to the ground as a bolt of fire barely missed her head, punching into the beaten soldier. With a wet explosion, the soldier’s body was split in two.

Two of the other soldiers, had released their hostages and came charging at her, intent on killing her while she was still down. One of the soldiers who rushed at her suddenly had his head pierced clean through by an arrow, and the lifeless corpse tumbled forward. The last one came at her with his sword ready to strike. In desperation, she swung her whole body around on the ground, gaining just enough force and momentum on her feet to trip him, sending him crashing onto the ground next to her. Immediately, she got up just enough to shove her sword through his leather armour and into his chest. With a groan of pain, the soldier died.

At that moment, she had failed to notice another coming up behind her, barely two meters away. Another arrow whistled past his head, and she heard Saya shout her name.

She drew one of the small spike knives from the sheath behind her shield, and threw it at him. The knife flew straight into his eye and lodged itself deeply on the man’s flesh. He stopped dead in his tracks, and let out a loud scream of pain. With a forceful stab, she forced her blade into his chest, putting him out of his misery. She got to her feet, and were almost immediately knocked over again by a rough shove, and a sense of heat washing over her. A spell had impacted on the back of her armour, and was absorbed by the ward. To her surprise, the gemstone flickered and shattered, filling her with a sense of dread of the power of the attack that had just hit her.

She turned around to see her attacker, making ready for another spell. Before she could react, she saw Saya, jumping off the low-swooping Zanasthil, right onto the last soldier, causing him to fall over. She raised her hands, and rammed them home before giving the soldier another frenzied wave of deep, bloody stabs, before finishing off with a deep throat cut.

“Mariel! Are you okay?!” Saya rushed over to her as she got to her feet. Her armour was covered in blood spatter and her frenzied appearance had been replaced by an unusually concerned one.

“I’m fine… Thanks for taking him out.”

Saya rushed up and put her arms around Mariel, throwing her to the ground. In that instant, a crackling orb passed over their heads and hit a tree along the new treeline. In a large explosion, a rough two-meter wide crater was blown into the ground, releasing a shower of wooden splinters, earth and rock into the air.

Another pair of attackers had emerged, apparently fleeing from the battle taking place elsewhere in the village. The second one furiously waved his hand in front of him, preparing another attack. With a shout of anger, he crushed the sigil in his hand, and unleashed a torrent of flames in their direction. Before Saya could protest, Mariel had covered her friend as best she could, waiting for the searing pain to take her life.

No pain, or heat reached them. When Mariel opened her eyes, she could see Saya’s eyes gazing in shock at something behind her. In the air, just above them, the torrent of fire was being absorbed by a small dragon, whose scales were glowing red-hot.

“Siah!?” She shouted.

Once the mindling had finished absorbing the spell, it landed on the ground, and with a deep hissing sound, the scales let off a puff of smoke and the glow died down.

“I can’t always just sit in your mind without helping out, now can I?” Siah’s voice echoed within Mariel’s head.

Siah began to draw breath, and soon unleashed a torrent of fire of her own, straight towards the two shocked attackers. With a terrified scream, they were engulfed by the flames, their bodies disintegrating in the blaze until only a puff of ash remained.

“M-Mariel?... Why… Do you know that…” Saya kept her eyes fixed on Siah, her voice echoing her worry of seeing something appear before her out of thin air.

“Saya, this is Siasfeh’relinah… Or Siah for short.”

“Why can I hear a voice inside my head?”

“Because that’s how they communicate with others… You’ll get used to it.”

“… Okay?” Saya nodded, her scepticism written in plain language across her whole face.

“Trust me when I tell you that Siah isn’t dangerous… Despite what just happened.”

Saya nodded once more, wholly unconvinced.

Just then, Zanasthil and Johnas came swooping in and landed in front of them. To everyone else’s surprise, Zanasthil immediately bowed her head to Siah in a way reminiscent of a servant bowing before their lord.

“What’s happening?” Mariel decided to ask out loud.”

“I don’t know… Zanasthil keeps calling me ‘queen’, but I don’t belong to any royalty at all… I told her so, but she won’t listen.” Siah’s voice was equally confused as the two dragonkin were looking at one another.

Johnas had dismounted from Zanasthil and came walking over to them, his face too reflecting the confusion that the whole situation had been turned into.

“I get it now… That’s why Zana liked you so much… But why… Or how rather, did you stumble upon a mindling?”

“A shop in Adriested… But Siah came willingly though!”

“I see…” Johnas shook his head. “Okay, I don’t need to know, I’ll go free the villagers if you can keep an eye on these two and their staring competition.”

“They’re, talking actually!” Mariel added.

“Johnas threw his hands in the air, smiled and made for the group of villagers cheering and crying among themselves.

“Um, Mariel? Okay so… Zanasthil… As you humans call her, tells me that I’m royalty among my kin… Which is completely silly. I… Don’t know how to handle this.” Siah’s puzzled voice made her chuckle.

“Ah, Zanasthil? I’m sure she would remember if she was indeed a queen or princess of your kind… We didn’t exactly meet in a palace or anything similar.” A strange sound apparently equal to a scoff, was made by Zanasthil, whom simultaneously let out some smoke from her nostrils.

“She wants you to call her Zana, and she wants you to convince Johnas to make some real advances on the girl he’s sweet on.”

“O… Kay? I can do that, but that’s beside the point!”

A long silence followed. Even Mariel began to wonder whether the two dragons were still exchanging words. By their fixed gaze, she guessed that conversation was dying down. Finally, Siah turned back to Mariel and entered back into her mind. She looked up to see the other members of the squad arriving, landing shortly after with dull thuds. Some of the dragons bore scars of battle damage in the form of scorch marks, or with small cuts where crossbow bolts had penetrated the outer layer of scales. Charne had taken two crossbow bolts to his right arm, but remained in fair spirits. He was relieved to find Mariel and Saya alive, and after exchanging words with Johnas, gave the poor rider a lecture on strategy.

“Alright you two, break it up… Our work is done here and we’ve got some minor leaks to take care of… Mount up!” The leader shouted.

“Ah, excuse me! Please, let us at least offer you some coin for saving us!” An older male, likely the village elder approached their group. Despite his bruises, he firmly approached, holding a small pouch in the hand not holding his cane.

“Sir… Please spend your coin to rebuild your homes, in fact. Take this, with the magistrate’s compliments!” The leader threw the puzzled elder a sizeable leather pouch. The elder, caught by surprise, failed to catch the pouch and it hit the ground, releasing a large splash of shimmering gold coins on the ground.

“Now, we’ll return home, let’s go!”

“Yes ma’am!”