Take Flight

[Trinn]

A bright morning sun shimmered down upon the pair. A young woman crouched on the edge of rocky outcropping, craning her neck to look down below. Beside her stood a brown dragon larger than a horse. His wings were outspread, fanning the air slowly. The sunlight fell on his scales, but rather than reflect the light, his scales captured it and glowed a deep amber, the brown fading away. In one swift motion, the girl hopped atop the dragon and gripped a neck spike. Her feet slid into homemade saddle straps.

Are you sure about this, Erath? Talia asked her bond, swallowing hard at the aspect of launching off the edge and into the beor mountains. Am I too heavy? Will you be able to support the both of us? It's a long way down to that valley floor...

Yes! He replied in his deep stony voice. And without any warning, Erath took one step forward and fell from the outcrop. Tally screamed.

Eraths wings were folded as he dove straight down. With a snap he pushed them open, and he and his rider went soaring back up. Tally was still screaming. Erath climbed higher and higher until they were in the clouds. Only then did he level out. Are you allright? he asked Tally.

For the moment. She replied, her hands shaking ever though they were gripping Erath's neck spike. Her stomach was flopping all over, and it was taking all of her bodily control not to throw up. Shall we just float around for a while? she pleaded, warring with her stomach. Her only solace was that the clouds prohibited her view of the ground. This was not how she imagined her first flight with Erath. It was terrifying. Ian and his group of warriors were camped somewhere below. She awoke this morning with Erath standing over her, begging her to let him carry her through the sky. And now here she was. They had sneaked off to fly, and now Tally was regretting it.

We will float only for a little. Then I will take you for a real ride Erath exclaimed. Tally's stomach lurched painfully.

[Tismri]

Raven stood in a low valley of the Beors, keeping an eye out for any of the infamously large creatures that inhabited the area. In the distance, she spotted a cave entrance that might be a bear den. She hoped that there weren't too many. Her birds wouldn't be able to take more than one without many of them getting killed. Still, she knew they were probably hungry.
She sat down about five hundred yards away from the cave opening and opened one of the bags she was carrying. It was stuffed with fruits of all kinds. She quietly went to work slicing most of them into small chunks until the bear finally seemed to smell her and emerged from the den, giving a loud, threatening roar. She stood and faced it fearlessly. When it started to walk toward her, she whistled, long and loud and echoing within that mountain range, with a very precise pitch that few could ever get just right.
For a moment, there was silence. The bear paused in its strides, as if confused by what it had just heard. And then there was a sound like thunder as a few thousand pairs of wings took flight, and what could be seen of the sky turned dark as if a cloud had passed over the sun. The bear roared agitatedly and began to charge toward her. Then the cloud of squawking midnight birds descended upon it, both coming to her defense and knowing that it was time to feed. Raven turned away from the spectacle and threw her bits of fruit into the air. The birds that hungered for cleaner things than blood flew toward her, snatching the morsels out of the air as she threw them. From another bag she threw grain and cracked corn.
In less than ten minutes, the bear was dead, with its carcass rapidly being picked clean by the black birds. Raven was confidant that it was large enough to feed them to contentment. She sat down on a patch of moss, holding out a handful of corn for a raven that landed on her wrist while she bit into an apple that she had saved for herself.

[Trinn]

Erath was taking his fourth break from the ups and downs of flight when an unusually gigantic flock of ravens rushed towards them. Tally had just started getting used to the dizzying antics of dragon flight, and the queasiness in her stomach had nearly faded away. It was strange how quickly she was getting used to flying. However at the sight of such a large Unkindness of Ravens, Tally's stomach clenched again. Was this some dark magic of a shade? Thinking quickly, Tally erected a basic ward around herself and Eridor, in case the ravens decided to try and harm them. If Eridor were old enough to breathe fire, then she wouldn't have worried so much. As it was, he was only five months old, a month away from performing such a feat.

Climb higher! They shouldn't be able to reach the same altitude as us. And look! They are all headed lower anyway! And she saw that she was right. The ravens swarmed together, and their flight led them lower to a destination she could not determine. Biting her lip, Tally was faced with a choice. Follow the ravens and see what they were up to, or return to her cousin Ian and inform him of this unusual activity. Eridor chose for her.

With a lurch we shot after the black birds, flying behind and above them. The ravens crowed loudly as they flew, evidently excited about something. Glancing up, Tally estimated that their morning had already slipped into afternoon. The Beor mountains were cast in sharp, crisp light. A valley ran below them, the thin glimmer of a river cutting through the middle. Was that the entrance to the old rebel Varden base? The dwarves still lived there. Perhaps she and Erath would investigate it more later. Squinting, she spied a fuzzy shape on the edge of a cliff. It was Orange and White, furry, and had eyes that watched her closely. What was a werecat doing here?

Tally, look! Erath exclaimed, drawing her eyes away from the werecat and towards the point of interest. What in the world was she seeing? Ravens flocked around a dying mountain bear, almost exactly the size of Erath. Not much further away, a woman was sitting, seemingly feeding more of the ravens. Shade? she wondered.

No, she does not have the scent of evil. Erath answered. Was it worth making themselves known? Flapping his wings, Erath climbed a little higher, and edged closer to the woman to see what there was to be seen.

[Tismri]

Raven watched as the birds feasted, some of them squabbling over scraps although there was more an enough to go around. In an odd way, they reminded her of people, who fought over little things that hardly mattered. The difference was, people were cruel. The strong would beat the weak and the helpless, who would one day learn to fight back, igniting into wars. Though her time with Elaine and Dublin had taught her that wars were sometimes necessary, she still believed that they were evil and undesirable. If there was one thing she wished she could do in the world, it would be to eliminate cruelty.
The birds suddenly started becoming agitated around her, cawing and flying in all directions. They were afraid of something, which was rather odd for them. Raven raised her eyes to the sky and scanned the craggy line between the mountains. After a moment, she spotted it. A young, brown dragon was high in the sky above them. Cautious, she gave another whistle, and the birds scattered in all directions, moving through the valley as they disappeared into trees. The one on her wrist remained, fanning his wings and screaming up at the dragon. She stroked his head gently to try to calm him, keeping her eyes fixed on the dragon, wondering if it had noticed her, or if she could get away with hiding like her feathered friends.

[Trinn]

She sees us Tally said, just as Erath said, She's staring at us. Tally stared back, although it was hard to make out the girls features from where she sat atop her bond. This was an odd moment, she thought. The ravens had flown away, back to where they came from after a fierce whistle, save one. Look, she has a companion. Erath suddenly said, and Tally felt a little dizzy as her eyesight quivered and she was looking into Eraths mind, at what he was seeing.

A male elf was climbing up the crag toward where the girl sat. He moved quickly, placing his hands and feet deftly on the rock to propel himself upwards. She found it odd that an elf was here, but then again, it was odd that a human was here with a mammoth amount of ravens. Or were they crows? Tally continued to watch the elf, gracefully scaling the cliff side towards the human.

If that is her friend, Tally began, Then why is he carrying that dagger in his mouth? She and Erath realized it at the same time. Taking immediate action, Erath folded his wings and plummeted towards the ground. Tally felt her bottom lift from the saddle, and was thankful she had taken the time to make leg straps. Her tawny hair streamed out behind her as she did her best not to feel frightened by the free fall.

They were below the elf now. Breaking from the dive Erath snapped his wings open and shot back towards the sky. He was shooting straight towards the elf now. Closer. Closer.

The elf looked back, as if he heard something, but it was too late. His turquoise eyes widened as Erath deftly plucked him from the cliff side and carried him into the sky. The elf was trapped in his talons, arms pinned. Tally looked over Erath's side to look at him better. He was wriggling fiercely, and a turquoise light began to shine from his hands. Magic!

Reaching the cliff side where the bird lady sat, Erath flung the elf out of his talons and into the cave. The man hurtled into the darkness just as Erath landed, snarling. Tally hurriedly dismounted, looked at the raven girl, and shouted, "Friend or foe!?" She was uncertain if the elf was enemy, or the girl. "Shade friend, or rider friend?" She took a position next to Erath and withdrew a rusty longsword she had found while traveling with Ian. He had promised to find her a better one soon, but now it seemed not soon enough. Erath crouched down, prepared to pounce. He bared his fangs and lifted his tail to use as a mace. He could easily knock out the human girl in this position, or leap towards the elf whenever he decided to emerge from the cave.

[Tismri]

Raven observed the dragon, unmoving. She had no doubt it had seen her, and she only hoped that it wouldn't be interested in her. Suddenly, the raven on her wrist squawked noisily, hopping between her arm and the edge of the cliff. A few others were shrieking their warnings from across the valley. Something was coming her way. She stood and drew her sword, prepared for anything. Her bird flew to her shoulder and settled there. She felt a rush of wind from above, and saw that the dragon was diving toward her. At the same time she saw a pair of hands emerge from the edge of the cliff, and she backed away. The dragon shot past her diving down the cliff. Before Raven could even understand what was happening, it was back, and the hands disappeared from the cliff, a stranger being yanked into the air and tossed into a cave. The next thing she knew, the dragon had landed near her, the stranger it attacked nowhere to be seen, and a girl appearing from the dragon's back. She remained on guard, eyes fixated on the dragon's threatening tail.
"Which answer will prevent me from having every bone in my body broken by your dragon?" she asked. She was certain the truth would leave her unsatisfied. Although her foster parents were sworn to serve Queen Nasuada, Raven had yet to choose a side. Honestly, she wanted to keep from getting involved for as long as possible, but it appeared that time was fast running out.

[Trinn]

"I'll answer that question for you." A surprisingly feminine voice answered. Tally swiveled to face the mouth of the cave. The elf strolled from the cave, tossing a dagger with an ivory hilt from hand to hand. He had beautiful turquoise eyes framed by jet black hair. His figure was lean and his walk confident. He reminded Tally of a cat. "I serve the great Lady Katriana Shade Rider." The dagger fell in his hand with a heavy thud and he didn't bother tossing it again. "I don't like ravens." He said, all pretense of charm gone. His bright eyes turned hard. He stood there staring at them.

"Ok." Tally said, astonished first by his allegiance and secondly that his whole reason for trying to kill this girl was because he didn't like ravens? That's a bit eccentric. she said aside to Erath.

Very. He rumbled.

The elf seemed to shake himself from his apparent reverie about ravens. "Anyway, it looks like I get to kill raven girl, and you, young rider. I'm not worried about your infant dragon. See?" A sudden jet of turquoise light shot from the elf's hand and struck Erath in the chest. "NO!" Tally cried out, startled by how quickly the elf had acted.

Tally, I can't move! Erath said in panic. Tally ground her teeth together. "That's it! I am the daughter of Marola, rider of Rauthr! I am the heir to the great Celesti tribe! In my blood flows legend, and you will now pay for that!" Giving her best war cry, Tally charged towards the elf. She jumped, slashing at his chest. His hand snapped up and caught her jaw. She felt a crack while her vision blurred. Her body tumbled backward and slammed into Erath's chest. Tally's body fell at her dragon's feet in a heap. What had she done, she wondered, trying to desperately not to faint.

[Tismri]

OOC: That's my girl.

Raven eyed her would-be attacker fiercely. The elf was strong and slender. His expressed allegiance was of little concern to her; however, the declaration of his revulsion toward her birds brought anger to her. She also felt a chill. The way he said it made her think that he was talking about more than her flock.
She glanced aside at the girl with the dragon, observing the brief battle than ensued. Marola...Marola...why does that name sound familiar? she wondered silently. The name was spoken with Elaine's voice in her head, so she thought her foster mother must have mentioned her at some point. She held her sword at the ready, eyes meeting the elf's with a steady gaze. She gave a high-pitched whistle that lasted for several seconds. Nothing seemed to happen, except that the bird on her shoulder ruffled his ebony feathers. Her ravens were preparing themselves. At her next call, they would be ready to rush to her defense. For a brief moment, she touched their minds, searching through them. Though she preferred interacting with them through her voice and touch, sometimes the mental contact was helpful.
While she had been living with her foster parents, Dublin had sometimes helped her raise and train her birds. A number of them, he had blessed with spells of protection and a few ward bypasses. These spells were made to last for generations, and Raven identified the ones present quickly. Though it may take them a while, she was convinced that they would be able to attack the elf.
"I have given no offense to your lady," she said defensively. "What has prompted this attack?"

[Trinn]

OOC: haha! I thought maybe you'd enjoy that!

"I was making my way through this lovely valley here, when an ungodly amount of ravens flew by. I left my squad to find you. It was a simple task to track them back to you. And like I said, I don't. Like. Ravens!" And with that the elf sped forward, his turquoise eyes trained solely on the raven girl. A flash of rusty silver sped towards the elf and struck him in the forehead.

"Dammit!" Tally muttered, when the elf staggered a step back to rub his head. The pommel of her sword had struck him rather than the tip of the blade. She desperately needed to work on her aim. "Lady, you had better use those ravens fast!" She shouted out, and then whimpered in pain as agony lanced up her jaw. The elf turned deadly eyes on her. "I'll take out the rider first then!"

[Tismri]

Raven glowered at the elf and his irrational hatred. As he started to charge toward her, even before he was struck by the sword, she gave a long, low whistle that finished with a short, high pitch. A sound like thunder was heard as thousands of wings took flight at once, and every ebony bird took on an offensive attack formation. She whistled again, a command known only to her warded birds. They took the front lines to attack the elf in waves. Whatever magical defenses he had, they were sure to be stripped away during the ruthless onslaught as they dove at him, each giving a good peck and sometimes even a bite before rising again in the sky and circling around, attacking him from all sides. They left the girl and the dragon alone, for now. Raven still wasn't sure what to think about them, but since they had come to her defense, she decided to give them the benefit of the doubt for now, and focused her efforts on the more obvious threat of the elf.

[Trinn]

Cowering, the elf covered his face and head with his arms. He cursed the ravens and the girl, occasionally swinging his dagger with the ivory hilt at the midnight birds. Talia's vision had steadied again and she was able to get to her feet. While the elf was distracted with the birds, she checked on Erath. He was shaking himself, rattling his brown scales together. It was a short spell. He must have thought to finish all of us off quickly. he said with a rumbling laugh. Tally smiled too, relieved that he was alright. "ow." She muttered when her jaw protested.

"That's it!" The elf suddenly roared. "Brisingr!" An arching ring of turquoise fire hissed into life, encasing the birds around him. "Die you wretched, vile creatures!"

Tally cringed away from the heat. Erath leapt towards it. Fire didn't seem to bother dragons too much. Their scales were more resilient than the flesh of humans. The fire faded to reveal Erath atop the elf. I don't think he'll bother us again.

No, I don't think so. Tally agreed. The elf had taken two talons through the chest. Erath pulled free and began to lick the blood off of himself. The sudden quite left Tally feeling unnerved, and gave her time to think about her jaw. She sat down heavily and rubbed it with her hand. "I don't suppose you're any good with magic?" she asked the girl with a hopeful smile.

[Tismri]

Raven narrowed her eyes as the elf screamed out his spell, and she reacted by giving her birds a short, quick whistle. The warded ones circled around so that they would be closer to the fire, protecting the unshielded ones. A few had damaged feathers and aimed to land while the dragon pounced into the flames to kill the elf. The fire dissipated, and Raven was pleased to see that most of her birds were unharmed. Most of them flew away, back to their nests, but a few remain who had not had their fill of the bear earlier and greedily devoured his remains. Raven allowed them to do so, out of retribution for his attempt on their lives. One returned to her shoulder and ruffled his wings, eyeing the dragon and the girl. Raven turned toward the girl when she asked her question, approaching slowly. She was wary around people, but she still hated to see people in pain. Her days on the streets had taught her to band with others for survival. She shook her head slowly while she inspected the girl's jaw.
"Sorry, I don't," she replied. The bone wasn't broken, or else the girl would have been unable to talk. It might have been cracked, though. Raven was always surprised to see the raw strength of the elves displayed. She'd received blows just as hard in the past, but they were usually inflicted by a guard's shield or weapon. She stood and walked to the edge of the cliff, surveying the valley below. "I don't think it would be safe to stay here," she stated. She motioned toward the remains of the elf, mostly bones now. "He mentioned something about a squad in this valley. I don't think either of us want to run into them, especially if they're as gracious as he was." She brooded for a moment, thinking on what had just happened. The elf fought for Katriana, but it seemed the Shade had nothing to do with the attack. It was all because of his irrational hatred of her beautiful birds. Still, this attack on her hardened her against the Shade Rider. Perhaps Elaine and Dublin had the right of it after all.

[Trinn]

If Tally had been better at healing, she would have healed herself. Common practice dictated you sought the assistance of another healer, because usually the wound would not allow enough concentration to perform a healing on yourself, or the energy. If it was just a flesh wound, then no healing was required. It would be foolish to waste energy on a scratch. Her jaw, on the other hand...

"You're right. We need to return to my cousin, Ian. He has a group of fighters nearby. They will be able to send out a search party for the rest of this guys group. They can patch me up, and of course take you safely wherever you need to go."

I won't be able to carry both of you. Erath said, sounding ashamed. Tally turned and rested a hand on his earthy snout to reassure him. "Unfortunately, Erath is not yet big enough to carry two passengers. I fear for your safety if you were to try and make it to the group by foot. If you stay here and keep low, I can leave and return with another rider to help get you to safety." She took in the Raven girls expression, and realized that the woman probably didn't want any help at all. Truth be told, she probably didn't need it, but Tally wouldn't feel good about the situation if she didn't at least offer. "Oh, and my name is Tally Celesti." She gave a quick curtsy, hoping to get a name from the girl so she didn't have to keep thinking of her as 'raven girl'.

[Tismri]

Raven gave a slight smile at the girl's offer. It was so rare to find a stranger so ready to help. After growing up on the street, she'd long ago nearly given up hope on humanity until Elaine showed her similar kindness. There were a few people in the world, it seemed, with noble hearts and kind spirits.
"You are too kind," she said softly. "I shall wait here, then. I am intrigued to meet your cousin and his fighters." She settled down on the edge of the cliff while the bird on her shoulder bobbed up and down several times, still eyeing the dragon with suspicious, beady eyes.
"I am called Raven," she replied the girl's introduction. It was strange for her to call it her name. But it was still better to her than what she had first been called by the wretched guards all those years ago. Crows were not nearly as smart or as beautiful as ravens.

[Trinn]

"Raven! It seems I wasn't too far off after all." Tally said with a laugh. "It is a very pretty name. And I myself think Raven's are beautiful. They've been given a bad name because of scary stories, really. Well, I'll return quickly! Just hang tight!" Tally hastily jumped atop Erath's back and fiddled with the leg straps. The dragon walked towards the edge of the cliff, his talons clattering against the stone. He blinked at Raven and her bird, took a skipping step and swooped off the cliff edge. Tally turned in her saddle and waved at Raven as they dwindled away to dots. I think she's nice. Tally said.

I think her bird looked tasty. Erath replied, and she couldn't help but laugh.
***

Arucane was easy to find. They were right where she and Erath had left them that morning. It dawned on her that perhaps they hadn't moved because she had taken so long to return. Hopefully Ian wouldn't be too upset. Erath landed amid the group of ragtag fighters, scattering a few of them at his unexpected arrival. He was having a hard time adjusting to the weight of a rider on his back, just as Tally was adjusting to her stomach flopping around. Quickly she spied Castiel, whose white scales shone like a beacon. Sliding from Eraths' back, she raced to find Ian, her dragon following close behind.