Thunder of Thanasis The Thunder of the War Drums [FULL]

[Tuon]

"War games? The others got to go on a real mission."

Tuon glanced sideways at the boy standing next to her. He towered above her by a good foot or so and his build was the sort that kept others from getting to close out of self preservation, but the expression on his face made him look like a petulant child. She only resisted the urge to roll her eyes because she too questioned their assignment. Last night several of their year group had been swept off on some mission to the Borderlands, to actually fight. The rest of them had been patiently waiting all morning for their own call to arms only for the High Ascendent before them to announce they were to take part in a game. Was she being punished? It made no sense. The Instructors had given her little to improve upon and she had gone from strength to strength during the last month. Even her father had given her a rare piece of praise.

So why was she only being given games?

"You will be split up and join one of the established squads temporarily. This will be as much a chance for them to lead as for you to learn to follow orders in heated situations," the woman on stage was practically smiling. Clearly she wasn't bothered about not going to the Borderlands. Tuon gave a quiet huff and folded her arms across her chest. "Treat them as you would any Wing Leader. Your mission is to try and rescue an egg which had been taken from the Hatchery. It will be fiercely guarded and only by working together will you succeed in locating it, and defeating its guardians. There are no rules to this match for there are no rules in war. Perhaps, if you survive, you will earn a place in the squad permanently."

That caused a murmur to ripple along the newer recruits. Tuon rocked onto her feet to take a look at the cohort of older riders and weighed up their pros and cons.

"Listen to your names, when called join your Wing Leader. Tuon Stryker - Fourth Squadron."

 

[Satia Lyris]

Satia raised an eyebrow as the woman on stage explained the 'games' that were about to take place. She wondered whose idea it had been and why they were doing this instead of joining the others out past the wall. But as much as she wanted to disembowel a Jarlax, she had been asked to come here instead. So here she was.

It sounded a bit like a game she had played as a child, except with the potential to become way more violent. Satia smiled at the thought. Lyraxis would have so much fun. While the thought of having to interact closely with other riders and dragons annoyed her (and she knew it would Lyraxis too), she thought it would be worth it for the experience and training.

She was about to ask if there was going to be a prize of some sort but the woman did not allow for any questions and dove right into calling out the names. She craned her neck to see if there was anyone she knew here and how many squadrons there would be.

She was the fourth rider called, and was the second one placed in the Fourth Squadron, along with Tuon. She joined the other girl with a big smile. "Hello, don't think I've met you before. I'm Satia," she said, extending her hand and arm out for a firm shake. While people weren't her first choice for company, she could still talk someone's ear off. And besides, they needed to work as a team, didn't they?

 

[Eira]

War Games.

Her father had told her of the many scenarios he went through before being sent out to the real thing, and Eira had hoped to fly alongside him and his Moon Dragon, Eirenthe, out on the front lines.

She still had a ways to go in terms of learning what she can, to move as a cohesive unit amongst dragons. And Tyafainne was as fresh as her rider, despite their years flying together.

"Eira Malennis."

Her light brown eyes watched the one that called out the names of riders closely from her perch upon her dragon. She ignored the snickering from a group to her right, knowing it was a cousin that had years of service under his belt with his dragon he earned from the Rising. He could not secure himself a Malennis Moon dragon, and so has given grief to Eira every chance he could get.

Please put me in his squadron. Please put me in his squadron.

Tyafainne shared their amusement with her. Being on the same squad meant no friendly fire, but Eira was not above making his life hell either.

"Fourth Squadron."

Eira now moved her head to see her cousin. He gave her a overly friendly wave, his squadron once more snorting and laughing. She had an idea of what he had told them, what many of the Malennis cousins were saying about her.

Malennis Princess. A real dragon would have chosen her, not a hatchling. Inexperienced. Eira heard it all, and mostly from her siblings.

Tyafainne gave no time for Eira to lift her hand and deliver a rude gesture, already moving to where the Fourth Squadron were gathered. Her scales flickered in the air, almost warping her shape as it reflected the light. Eira looked to her new squadron, squaring them up and trying to figure out the approach they would take for this objective.

 

[Leovold]

At first when the instructors had asked Leovold to sit in on training exercises out towards the fields, he had to suppress a scoff. They had explained that they thought he might've had interest in helping to raise up acolytes into proper riders given his earlier presence. A fine deduction of course, but surely such a task was far beneath the Lord-Apparent of House Solherre. Months of battling with the forces of Thagretis didn't exactly leave him feeling like putting on the training saddle for a bunch of novices, either.

It was when the instructors had told him the exercise would be "no holds barred" that his opinion of the opportunity changed. The chance to demonstrate what a real warrior (and a proper noble, at that) had to regularly deal with was one that held Leovold's interest. On that condition, he agreed.

So it was that Leovold had found himself in the position of Wing Leader, waiting on the field for his pupils for the day to join him. "Fourth squadron," if he recalled correctly. He was already sat atop Iralux, reins in hand. The only one with less patience than him was his dragon.

Iralux had a knack for sensing when he was about to get a good rumble in. The sun dragon was positively itching with anticipation if the sound of his claws repeatedly raking against the ground were any indication. Leovold smiled, pulled the reins taut, and stroked Iralux's scales.

"Soon, Ira, soon. You'll have your fun, I promise."

It didn't much matter to Leovold how talented or proficient his squad members were. This would be a cake walk. He just hoped the other squads would at least try to give him a challenge.

 

[Tuon]

"Tuon," the cadet replied and returned Satia's handshake with a firm one of her own. She found it hard not to return the girls infectious smile though manage to temper it so she was not grinning like a fool. Perhaps it was just the excitement of the games but she was quickly forgetting her fathers number one rule of not getting too attached to fellow cadets. Until they were deemed suitable enough any one of them could die - not that the odds after their Passing out ceremony were any better.

"I guess he's our leader," she said in an almost whisper as her eyes cut towards Leo atop his dragon already. She had met him once in passing when he had attended one of her early training sessions, but she'd attempted to keep clear of the noble rivalry that had been going on between him and Rai. Today it seemed there would be no avoiding him - or the other nobles. Glancing to Eira she offered the girl a nod that could pass for friendly. Maybe the noble drama was just something contained to Leo and Rai and the games could pass without incident.

A Stryker could hope.

Giving Satia another brief smile she then clambered onto the Jewelled dragon's back. Nazharul barely seemed to notice his rider, his attention firmly fixed on the beautiful moon dragon.

The list of names finally ended and the clearing was clearly separated into five squadrons. What she hadn't noticed until now was that others of the High Ascended and their dragons that had been watching until now had seemingly vanished in the flurry of dragons moving about. Tuon had a sickening feeling it wasn't just the squadrons they would need to be worried about. The High Ascendant who had given them their Squadrons walked from one group to the next handing out a map.

"Here are the locations of your starting bases. Make your way there, you will have thirty minutes in which time you should come up with a plan. Do not go outside the area on the map. The egg will be somewhere within this area. When you hear the rumble of Thunder, that is your sign to begin."

Once she handed out the last map she stepped back.

"Good luck."

Chaos errupted as over fifty dragons scrambled to take off at once.

 

[Satia Lyris]

Satia kept her smile up, even as others joined their group either with disdainful or nervous looks. So she had a Malennis and a Solherre on her team. If they matched their reputations at all, their group would be set. Mostly, at least. It looked as if the arrogant one was Wing Leader, unfortunately, but they would have to make it work.

Satia swung up onto Lyraxis, and the great black dragon huffed his boredom. He didn't like standing around, especially not when surrounded by other people and dragons. She patted the back of his neck, reassuring him that it would be more fun once it started.

The High Ascendant gave their Wing Leader a map and explained the next few steps. They would have thirty minutes to come up with some sort of strategy before the game would begin.

She stepped back, and all the dragons that were cramped into the space rushed to take off first. Satia held Lyraxis back, his wings twitching on either side of her. She let him take flight once the ground and air was not as crowded, keeping her eyes on their Wingleader. She would have to prove herself, especially since she was only an Ascended.

 

[Eira]

It seemed the last squadron to leave was the one Eira and Tyafainne were a part of. She recognised some of her team from the recruit training and bid them a proper smile and greeting.

From where she sat on her dragon, Eira saw Leovold holding the map. The objective was simple, and Eira could not wait to test the flying maneuvers she and Tya had been working on in the cool evening hours.

"Well... I can say at least our squadron has the only Moon Dragon advantage." Eira peered around at her squad members, the new and old glancing at Tyafainne and her unique colouring. Once they were both airborne, they would be hard to see.

 

[Leovold]

Squadron members gathered, map in hand, and amateurs scrabbling to get out of the way; things were shaping up rather quickly. A trio of riders had joined his wing, and Leo took a brief moment to size up each. Two of the three he recognized: the Stryker girl and the heiress of House Malennis from Raimond's flight training, and their rather rare breeds of dragons. The third was likely some ascended whelp, riding a more mundane looking black dragon.

"Fall in, all of you! You heard the High Ascendant: we've got a starting position to get to," Leovold ordered the others. Iralux stretched his wings wide and let out a terrible roar as his rider gave him the cue to fly. The sun dragon lifted off with gusto, driving rapidly into the sky.

Much the opposite of Tyafainne, Iralux lit up like a bonfire in the night, radiant beacon of vigor that he was. While in no rush to catch up to the frantic swarm that had burst from the starting gate ahead of fourth squadron, Leovold still wanted to gauge just what his juniors were capable of, starting with sheer speed. If they couldn't even hold formation, what good would they be?

 

[Tuon]

Tuon grimaced as Iralux's take off created such a forceful wind that her fingers had to curl tight into the horn of her saddle just to keep her from being thrown clean off. In battle situations there was usually little time to spread out for take off in the manner they had been in training so she knew this was a part of the test, but it certainly didn't mean she had to like it. His words rang back to them and others from their Wing launched off after them, the older Cadets and full Ascended making it seem effortless.

Swallowing a curse, she nudged Nazharul off after him.

The jewelled dragon was not the fastest dragon, but for his size he was quicker than most and after a few concentrated beats he caught them up to the small Wing and settled at Iralux's tail. A fair bit smaller, Tuon imagined that Nazharul looked like the sun dragons smaller sibling from below. Whilst he did not shimmer with the powers of the sun, the light that was cast off the mature dragon splintered off each of Naz's scales making him... well, sparkle.

The dragon practically preened knowing how beautiful he looked.

 

[Eira]

Eira watched as everyone else made their move to take to the sky. The recruits made a good impression of falling into formation easily, but they were still a long ways away from working as a squad like the one they got to be a part of for War Games.

Tyafainne soared gracefully in the air, weaving and rolling to avoid collisions. Malennis was relieved that her dragon had taken to knowing proximity between her wings and others. It had taken years for the clumsy and wounded dragon to get used to her wings once they grew with her body.

Eira was also glad that her dragon could show off her prowess and keep up with the aerial squadron. The Moon Dragon absorbed the darkness that clung in the night sky, making it hard to catch where the two were in the formation for those up front. From the ground below, it would be hard to pick out where the celestial was, until she was within feet of landing.

 

[Leovold]

Flying to their starting position was a perfectly mundane task. The map was easy to follow and led to a fairly obvious landmark--sensible for the operation their wing would soon embark on. Leovold cast the hand signals Vhagor had long since beaten into his brain as the quartet of dragons soared ever onward, until eventually their landing spot came into vision.

A lake near an evergreen forest, pristine like a mirror reflecting the red mountains and azure sky it lay just beyond. Leovold whistled loudly and signaled to land before having Iralux bank, spiraling downward in a loose circle. The sun dragon's wingbeats rolled across the shore, sending ripples through the water before at last he touched down, kicking up dust with a dull boom.

Leovold drank in the scenery, noting the odd pile of branches here and there that had been dragged into the water, perhaps the den of some amphibious fauna that nested in the area.
"What a fine day for victory," the Solherre noble smirked as the rest of his flight landed. "Come! Let us discuss how we shall seize it."

 

[Tuon]

Nazharul landed on the soft soil of the lake bank and instantly ducked his head to take a long hearty drink; who knew when they would get the moment again. Tuon slid off the jewelled dragons back with practised ease and walked off the beginnings of cramp that had come from sitting in the saddle for an hour listening to the High Ascended prattle on. Flying was much more comfortable than standing still. She stooped beside her dragons large head and filled her own skin with water, stoppering it and tying it tightly to her belt again - if it was fresh enough for the dragon it was usually a good sign it was fresh enough for humans. It must have been fed by the mountain snowmelt.

"Are there any clues on the map?" she asked curiously, wandering over to their temporary leader with the others once they had landed. It seemed a long shot that the eggs position would be marked but there might be other clues or it would at least tell them the area they had to work in. The High Ascended would have picked a defensible position to stash the egg.

 

[Satia Lyris]

Lyraxis landed by the lake, the sound like thunder sending waves across the surface of the lake. The massive black dragon stomped over to the water's edge beside Tuon's jewelled dragon, bending his head to drink noisily from the lake.

Satia patted the back of his neck affectionately and slid out of the saddle, her joints cracking as she moved to the water to fill up her own skin. When Lyraxis had had his fill of water for the moment, he turned around suddenly, tail and wings out wide, forcing Satia to duck to avoid being wiped out. "Watch it," she muttered, but she patted the tip of his wing anyway.

She walked over to join the others where they were gathered around the map, her stiff joints popping from sitting in the saddle for so long. She thought it would be unlikely that there would be clues on the map, at least obvious ones; that would make it too easy. But at least they had a map, with other things marked. What Satia wanted to know was how big the space they had to work was.

 

[Eira]

Tyafainne was quick to move with the seasoned squad members, moving as one as they came to the lakeside of their predetermined base of operations. Eira was quick to dismount from her dragon before her feet found the earth, a maneuver she had started to practice a year after Tyafainne's wings was able to keep up a long journey flight.

The pride she felt for her bonded was what fueled her to preserve the Moon Dragons.

She caught up with Leovold, arriving just a few paces behind Satia. At Tuon's question, Eira stood on the tips of her toes to glance at the map. "We know there are not other Moon Dragons other than Tyafainne. No one can see us if we do a sweep." They needed to determine a location first, but their chances of winning seemed greater with the benefit of a dragon that could be unseen, especially in the shade of night.

 

[Leovold]

Iralux took his own turn to wander off and drink while Leovold rolled out the map. He pondered it a moment, tapping the obvious conclusion.
"Based on our proximity to the mountains, I'd wager that an egg might be nestled among them. Perhaps a in a cave. Natural citadels don't get much more defensible than that."

Leovold turned, cocking an annoyed brow at Eira. She was perhaps a bit too eager to mention her rare breed of dragon, fascinating as it was.

"If you're going to go wandering off by yourself we'll need to coordinate a place and time for you to meet back with the rest of us. I don't fancy the idea of waiting around here for you to come back while all the other wings have eight bodies in the air rather than just two."

 

[Tuon]

"I... don't think we should split up," Tuon said in the awkward pause that followed Leovalds words, her eyes cutting from Eira to Leo and back, then the others for support. For today Leovald was their leader and she had every intention of earning herself a real place in a Wing, which meant walking a line between giving her opinion whilst also accepting orders that might contradict her own thoughts.

"The mountains are the obvious place to look," she went on. "Which means, if they've put the egg there, then they haven't planned for the finding part to be the hard part. We're going to need all of us for whatever the High Ascendant's throw at us."

 

[Satia Lyris]

Satia nodded in Tuon's direction. Splitting up would be a bad idea, especially if the egg was in the mountains. In such an obvious place, there were bound to be many obstacles to get through first. They would never make it so easy.

Even still, there was a chance the egg was not in the mountains. It was likely everyone would think the egg was in the mountains, and half the challenge would come from fighting off the other teams so their team could make it through. "But what if the egg is not in the mountains?" She added. "It's all well and good for us to search the mountains, but that's the obvious spot. Maybe it's too easy."

 

[Eira]

Eira crossed her arms and arched a brow at the others, some agreeing to stick together and only a couple had no qualms with Eira going alone. She stared at them the longest, skewering the Fourth Squad members until they squirmed.

"Alright then. We do not leave squad members behind." Her brown eyes cut to Tuon, then to Satia, and then finally Leovold. "Satia is right. Not only are the mountains vast and full of places to hide an egg, it is the expected. Many riders and their dragons will flock to those ranges." Her head tilted, looking at the map. She rounded to stand beside Leovold to get a better look at the lay of the land.
"What of the valley? Or the ravine?" She pointed at two marks on the map. The ravine was closest to their Squadron.

Eira looked up at their Wing Leader, "But of course, at your word." She smiled, moving to stand with Tuon and Satia as the temporary recruits to the Squadron.

 

[Leovold]

Leovold ran a hand through his hair as he reassessed the map. The novices were using their brains...what a novel concept.
"Indeed, it is obvious. The most practical solutions usually are. Look at our own fair city: nestled in the natural fortress of mountains. They're easy to defend, and easier to hide things among. Consider also the mode by which we do battle; small spaces won't do, and wide open locations like that valley would see to it that the guardians are spotted easily and unable to defend themselves properly..."

He folded his arms across his chest. All of them did bring decent points to the discussion. Tuon disagreed with splitting the group, and Leovold generally tended to agree, especially in the field; Satia believed that the mountains might've been a ruse entirely, and despite the logical nature of utilizing them anyways, they could've been a red herring; and Eira brought up the ravine...

"All that said, I do not dislike the idea of scouting the ravine first. It fits the criteria: large enough to house dragons and naturally defensible. It's also close enough that if it turns out to be empty we can still double back rather easily. Being first into the mountains would put us at a disadvantage against the other teams anyways. Contemptible as it may seem, it is oft smarter--and easier--to let others do the work of searching and fighting each other for us. We can snatch victory from their jaws, if need be."

 

[Tuon]

Tuon found herself nodding as each of the other girls spoke whilst her eyes followed their suggestions across the map. The ravine was certainly where her father or brothers would choose to hide an egg. Even with a small amount of dragons they could use the many different warrens in the rocks and the height to ambush anyone who touched the ravine floor. A grounded dragon would be as good as dead then from an attack by a full enemy fist. They had said these games would be challenging... Tuon suddenly found that she was no longer jealous of the cadets who had gone to the wall. This indeed was the far greater prize than simple jarlax hunts.

"Excellent. So it's settled. Ravine of Death it is," despite her cheery smile it was rather hard to gauge if she were joking or not. At Leo's nod everyone returned to their dragons. Tuon found Nazharul in a patch of wildflowers where he was busy snuffling whilst making eyes at the pretty moon dragon to his right. Reluctantly he stood and only then when he noticed the moon dragon would be coming with them. They launched into the air a heartbeat behind them.

The ravine was closer to their starting point than the mountains and at a dragons speed the group were able to reach it within half an hour. Whilst the skies above were clear the ravine itself was ominously dark, as though its sharp edges shunned any attempts by the sun to penetrate it. From the cloud level it was hard to even make out the ground.

 

[Satia Lyris]

It seemed they were all in agreement, which would make their mission easier. Satia thought their little group was very well put together, and they had the potential to win.

They each moved to their own dragons. Lyraxis was glaring at the other dragons but at least he wasn't attacking them so Satia considered that an improvement. "I knew you were a softie," she murmured to her dragon who just snorted hot breath in her face.

The group took to the skies. Immediately, both Satia and Lyraxis' nerves were calmed, despite the heights and speeds they flew at. Half an hour later, the four dragon riders reached the black ravine. It looked quite ominous and Satia grinned. There were no other groups nearby, at least not yet. She wondered if they were all busy fighting each other over who got to see the mountain first. The ravine would be more easily defended, so one of them could search and the rest could cover. If they had gone to the mountain, they would have been out in the open, making everyone's jobs harder.

Once they landed by the edge of the ravine and the deafening sound of wingbeats was quiet once more, Satia would speak up. "The inside and the bottom of the ravine are inscrutable from the sky, so if we are to search the ravine, we can't be seen from the sky," As she said this, she (and Lyraxis) eyed the golden sun dragon, the shimmering jewelled dragon, and the sparkling moon dragon. Lyraxis snorted as if to prove the point that Satia hadn't said aloud.

Eira Leovold Tuon

 

[Eira]

Eira furrowed her brows at Satia from her saddled seat. Was the girl daft? No matter where one would view a moon dragon, they were prone to taking on the surroundings of their immediate area. Their scales were an enchanted curiosity, and Eira had collected enough from Tyafainne and Eirenthe, her father's bonded, to create a jacket made of scalemail.

Tyafainne moved away from Iralux's vicinity, the darkness of the night enveloping the celestial beast. Eira pulled up the dark fabric to cover the bottom half of her face, seemingly disappearing too. "Does this suit you, Lyris?" The Malennis girl was proud of her bonded, of the status it gave her within her own treacherous family.

She was not going to let anyone doubt her or her dragon, not if she could help it.

"We do not know the nature of the dragon egg, do we not? So we will not know what we are looking for... where to look to conceal it if it were left in plain sight." She still had the shell of Tyafainne's hatched egg in her room, made into a sculptural piece with glass thanks for the talented Valimir glassblower.

Leovold Tuon Satia Lyris

 

[Leovold]

"Ravine of Death it is,"

Leovold laughed.
"That name hasn't been of any consequence in decades. Not since the Jarlax infestation was cleared out of it. This shall be a cake walk, plain and simple."

Further assessments came from the other two women. Satia stated the obvious and Eira continued to flaunt her imperceptible superiority. Leovold sighed, while Iralux snarled at Lyraxis and likely would have batted playfully at the other dragon's head were they still grounded.
"Which is why only Eira will be in the air while our party is searching the canyon. She and her moon dragon will be perfectly impossible to spot and able to give us warning should another party come landing while we search. The rest of us will descend early and run our dragons into the ravine," the Solherre heir elaborated, shouting over the rush of wind. "Any other doubts the lot of you would like to cast?"

 

[Tuon]

Tuon bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at Leo's obviously rhetorical question. He was their Wing Leader, regardless of any of their opinions. If they were a good squadron they would have without question dived into that ravine, trusting him to know what was the right play. That he had tolerated their thoughts at all was a miracle, and not one she was used to from a noble. It was for that reason alone she decided to keep her mouth shut and merely shook her head, whether the question was rhetorical or not.

"Nazharul can create pretty good shields," the jewelled dragon puffed up his chest. "I'm happy to take the back position," with Eira overhead it shouldn't be as dangerous but the nippy dragon would have a better chance at manoeuvring to protect their squad should the need arise.

As the riders above planned a small shadow detached itself from the main bulk of darkness, so faint even a dragons eye would not be able to spy the movement. The black dragon winged its way back through the ravine avoiding the perilous spikes and juts of rock with practised ease and then landed against the rockface, digging its claws in to hold it aloft.

"First group spotted Sir," the scout reported. Other black dragons clung like bats to the rockface, only visible in the gloom when they opened their eyes. From the back of the largest the Commander tugged down his scarf to speak.

"Get ready to give them hell, team."

 

[Satia Lyris]

It would seem that the only member of their group that wasn't arrogant was Tuon. A rather interesting combination, and Satia wondered if the Commander had known this and put them together on purpose.

Satia raised an eyebrow at Leovold's question but said nothing. Lyraxis glared at Tyafainne who now matched his deep shade of black, the other two dragons momentarily forgotten.

Leovold proposed a plan and Satia nodded. Tuon seemed to agree as well, volunteering to take the rear position with her dragon. Satia decided the middle was just where she wanted to be, so she gave Leovold a sweet smile, Lyraxis snarling at a shadow beneath her.

"After you, Wing Leader,"

Eira Leovold Tuon