The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Eighteen

Chapter 18- Of Magma and Magical Rats 

Sharys then turned its gaze to what the Dragons had wrought and wept in horror at its children's actions.

One thing that wasn't always immediately obvious when watching a Shardmatch was that it took place high in the air, about a hundred and fifty feet above the area which it depicted. Even though the buildings with the arena of light may have been obviously false to any who observed it, Cara still felt a rush of anxiety as she watched brilliant green flames pour down towards the ground. 

Even as they hit the rooftops of light and sizzled out, the flames that passed over dragons of Face Card rank curled around their heads like petals in a forceful breeze. After forming a ring of green Flames above those dragons' heads, the tongues of flame twisted together, curling and stretching as crowns emerged from the fire, glowing white-hot with heat. A bronze circlet with filigree details appeared above the head of the small, teal dragon on whose back Bree stood, in the Ataran riding style. 

Though the dragons on the Ataran side boasted seven bronze jack crowns to the five that Netis had, Ataran also had a silver crown emerging over Princess Anya’s dragon, white metal glowing in graceful spires as the flames stretched their points upwards. 

"My, my, the Princess and her new lover do make quite a pair." Princess Petra murmured, drawing Cara's ear. She had known that Bree found a girlfriend, but her friend had been purposely vague in her last few correspondences because they were both aware that their letters were read. In hindsight, she should have guessed the connection, but Cara had been so wrapped up in her own issues lately that she hadn’t thought it through. 

Bree looked happy, guiding her dragon easily with small leaning movements as he hovered over the rooftops made of light, her seal boots firmly attached to the surface of the saddle through both magnetism and magic. A few miles away, the dotted forces of Netis hovered, looking more like gnats than dragons as they awaited their clash. The perspective zoomed in towards them just in time that Cara glimpsed the last golden flames licking away from the gilded crown above Mithrates, the great crimson red beast baring its black teeth. Cara felt her pulse jump in recognition of her previous charge, having never met his rider in person but having received many of his complaints about how his dragon was cared for.

The crowns helped differentiate and endanger the higher-powered targets on the field, and Cara secretly wondered what her little hatchling’s diadem would look like when she was big enough to carry Cara onto the Fields of Light. 

Quickly dissipating, the ring of fire faded away, leaving a white eye made of light behind that gazed over the battlefield, flicking across the occupants as the chimes across the battlefield rang a singular, pealing tone.

"Let this match be blessed by the Godbeasts so that your actions here today are pleasing to our Eternal creator. May your differences be settled under the eye of Sharys," The announcer’s voice said, and the chimes rang once more, the tone barely fading before the dragons took off. 

Shimmering, the angle of the image changed until it was hovering over the golden shoulder of General Alexander, who was issuing orders in a calm voice to his speaker, the messenger sound aligned rider that kept the chain of command in communication. 

"General Myzanti, take your troops and break to the east after we reach midway. You'll be pursued by at least one section of their forces while I take care of what remains. Captain Teotokis, take your troops the long way around and hook whatever comes our way." 

General Alexander turned his face towards the fast approaching Atarans and quickly spoke again. "Address the men. Tell them to be on their guard for close quarter attacks and that dragon to dragon combat is what will win this fight. We outsize the worms, so eat them alive!" With those words, he snapped his reins, his men roaring behind him as he took Mithrates higher into the clouds, closely shadowed by his Speaker. Underneath the golden-haired General, his troops coordinated into a tight spearheaded formation as they flew through the air, following his lead with practiced precision.

Sure enough, the Ataran forces split apart to deal with the dual threats, a higher amount dedicated to the east and General Alexander than to the west where Keti flew. The wide image split into two angles; towards the right, it showed the perspective of Alexander, and the left showed Keti's view. Unsurprisingly, Cara quickly fixated on the left side of the projection, watching as her sister pulled Plythia to a midair halt, black curls covered by the silver of her helmet. 

Before her, the Ataran forces also halted, a small teal dragon quickly rising to match the level of Keti's dragon. 

"Good Morning, Keti." Bree said, a smile curling across her face. 

"That's General Myzanti to you." Keti replied coldly, prompting Bree to shrug. 

"It's a title, not a personality trait. Just remember that." The Countess said with a smile, adjusting her stance on the dragon's back. Ataran riding style differed vastly from Netis's, with their riders standing upright atop the dragons, feet attached via clips, straps, or magical means so that they could detach and leap from dragon to dragon when able.

“I’m about finished with your cheek.” Keti snapped, an irritated look in her eyes that was usually reserved for Cara, who was thoroughly enjoying this.

“And I’m about to hit you with a full face of a bad time.” Bree shot back, smiling wickedly as she unsheathed her weapon.

Cara's heartbeat picked up when the Countess brought out her warhammer, a thick, dark rectangular mass of intricately decorated iron attached to a wickedly twisted handle wrapped in black leather. It was an unusual choice of weapon for an Ataran, who usually favored small, quick blades, but there was a story behind Bree’s choice. It largely started and ended with the warhammer taking less time to learn and capable of causing great destruction without needing fancy lessons and the burden of practice. 

Keti's chin dropped in response to the weapon’s appearance, drawing her own short sword and leaving her halberd on her back as ice crept from her fingertips up the length of the sword’s blade. Razor-sharp spikes emanated from the edges of the glacial coating, and without further banter or ceremony, she dropped the weapon in an arc, signaling their attack. 

Deep, guttural roars and high shrieks began filling the silence left by words as dragon met dragon in the air, the dull, percussive thud of bodies slamming into one another punctuated by blasts of fire and ice. In the sky's dome overhead, pictures of the fallen appeared as they were ripped or blasted to shreds, their dragons appearing beside them if they fell in combat.

To Cara's glance, it looked as though more of Ataran’s crimson and silver flags lined the sky, but there were also quite a few Netian flags as casualties from Alexander's side of the field were accounted for. 

Looking back to the eastern front, Cara turned just in time to see Bree stepping into the shadow of an overhead dragon, whirling out atop its back when next its wings stretched upwards to flap, casting darkness on its body. A quick, brutal swing of her hammer sent the soldier flying forward over his saddle, body fading to light as his face appeared in the sky up above. 

Moments later, the image changed to a live one, showing the soldier's head hanging as he waited with the rest of the eliminated in Shary's Hold. Whenever riders suffered fatal or dismembering damage, they were teleported to this box below the arena to wait out the match; their countenance briefly displayed in the sky to assure their safety to those watching. Smoothly reading off a list of names, the announcer listed the fallen to the viewers, giving Cara a slight pause to marvel at how the Church had an entire production of riders dedicated to keeping the system of Shardmatches running smoothly. 

More Netian flags began filling the sky as the Atarans got the chance to execute their specialty: close hand-to-hand combat with a cruel focus on rider elimination. Cara watched as the Ataran forces leapt, glided, hovered, and teleported their way across Netian dragon back, sparing none who stood in their way and with little regard to their safety. Keti quickly rallied her remaining forces via her Speaker, taking them in an evasive maneuver away from Bree's regiment and spreading them apart to prevent the Atarans from continuing their wave of death.

The Ataran forces scrambled back to their dragons in the maneuver's wake, dodging the snaps and breath of the riderless beasts who remained. Keti pulled her troops into a defensive formation, a couple of earth-aligned soldiers creating a wall in front of their forces. Taking quick stock, to Cara, it looked like only a quarter of Keti's forces remained intact, while over two-thirds of Bree's were now swarming towards them with hungry violence in their eyes and hearts. Making her stand, Keti drew her polearm, pointing the tip towards the approaching Atarans, and fired a long stream of ice from its end, directing her magic up the shaft. 

The combined defense of the icy onslaught and midair wall might have worked if not for the shearing blade of wind that ripped through the flank of Keti's formation, scattering them apart like dandelion seeds in the wind. Overhead, a tan and gold dragon breathed in deeply once more, forcing Keti back into evasive maneuvers, the mid-air wall abandoned to crumble down into nothingness. Another enormous, arcing blade of wind narrowly missed the tail of Keti's forces as they fled, the Princess of Ataran pulling her dragon to fly up alongside Bree's.

"Thought you were taking care of General Mustard over there!" Bree called out, the perspective focusing on them as the two began chasing the Netians, followed closely by their forces.

"It was easily in hand when I left. I thought I'd give you a hand hunting down your childhood friend." The Princess called back, holding a hand straight up in the air. A quick downward slice of her arm sent another spinning air shear at Keti's forces, this one directly in the path that they were diving along. Forced to dodge the cutting air, the Keti's regiment split to each side to avoid crashing into one another. Taking advantage of the midair confusion, Ataran struck.

Her hammer gripped in one hand, the other clenched in a loop at the top of the saddle, Bree leaned far, far forward so that she was almost lying flat as she flew. sending her dragon into a tight spiral, waiting until she was directly over the head of Keti's speaker to swing. A spray of golden sparks sent poor Melvin to Shary's Hold, his glaring visage displayed in the sky momentarily before it disappeared, replaced with the newest casualty. 

Grinning wildly, Bree pushed off her dragon's back where she had still been hanging upside down and arched herself into a backward flip, aimed for Keti's dragon back. Years of training had honed the General's reflexes keenly, and Keti was able to throw herself to the side in time to avoid being brained by Bree. Her arm was not as lucky, however, and Bree's heavy hammer smashed into the appendage like a stone through wet paper, sending it flying back in a horribly limp fashion. 

A scream of agony briefly escaped Keti's lips before the sound lowered to a growl, her lips curling into a snarl as Bree teleported away, her laughter leaving its echoes behind. "F-"

The perspective and audio switched as Bree emerged atop her dragon, hovering near the Princess’s own. 

"-you, Bree!" Could still be heard in the distance, widening the self-satisfied smile that adorned the Countess’s lips. 

"Are we ready to be done playing now?" Princess Anya asked, drawing the broad golden battle-axe from her back, bending her knees slightly atop her saddle as she took a few swings.

Cara didn't get to hear her reply because the Princess that stood in front of her in real life loudly sighed, shifting her weight where she stood as she gazed up at the images above with an annoyed expression.

 "Well, that's the match over. Godbeast, Alexander's going to be so smug after this." 

Confused, Cara looked around and saw that the gazes of the other ladies were directed towards the western front, where a wave of fire was currently being blown directly into the eye of the last Ataran dragon, melting it into luminescent dust. 

Though heavy losses had been maintained in Keti’s regiments, the remaining Netian forces in the west slightly outnumbered the Ataran ones in the east, which were also greatly outranked by Mithrates and his golden crown. Turning to his speaker, who was rapidly bandaging his side, red splotches already appearing through the bandage., Alexander gruffly said, "Send a message to General Myzanti and make her aware the reinforcements are converging upon her position." 

Straightening upwards, the young man grimaced slightly in pain before shaking his head. "It's no use, Sir. General Myzanti's speaker was eliminated just earlier in the match." Turning dark-rimmed eyes towards the east, General Alexander nodded thoughtfully before snapping his reins, taking off towards the far battle towards the east.

"Let her know we're coming the old-fashioned way, then!" He called back, earning a quick, painful salute from his Speaker before the young rider leapt into action.  

The rest of his forces following his ascent into the clouds, the Speaker was left trailing behind, a hand pointed directly towards the heavens with two fingers extended upwards in a straight line. His eyes crackling with purple magic, a quick stream of amethyst light shot from the Speaker’s extended hand into the sky, cracking apart into that a roar echoed across the arena. 

With the very vocal announcement of the General's attention, Cara quickly swiveled back to her sister's side of things, hoping they had improved. 

The situation had not improved, with only about ten soldiers left to fight for Netis, excluding Keti from their number. The General was currently caught in a breakneck chase with Bree and the Ataran princess hot on her tail, their smaller but more maneuverable dragons giving them more options to attack her from. Keti shot off plumes of ice whenever they got too close, the fight taking them dangerously close to the translucent rooftops that were the floor of the arena. 

When the dull, booming roar of Alexander's signal rattled past, Bree turned to face her princess, an eyebrow cocked. "I thought you said things were in hand over there." She called, tossing some handfuls of shadow that took the shape of rats in the air before they landed on Plythia's copper scales. Now being swarmed by the creatures, Keti had to redirect her plumes of ice towards knocking off the shadow rats as they scuttled for her dragon's head, a cry overhead distracting Ataran and giving her time to do so. 

Waves of molten rock descended over the Ataran forces, the magmatic breath of Mithrates brutally taking out a good chunk of the riders and their dragons as thick molten rock encased their bodies with little care for friend or foe.

Bree cursed and took her dragon low and to the side, narrowly avoiding the enormous chunk of glowing red rock that turned her lover to beams of light when she was not as fortunate in her attempts to dodge. 

"Power doesn't mean a damn thing if you can't fly your dragon." Tamara's brassy tone remarked in amusement, drawing Cara out of her immersion in the fight.

The Aspas Princess chuckled her agreement, watching in silence as the image containing Keti's perspective slowly expanded to fill the entire projection. Occasionally, the scene would switch to quick shots of Alexander as he and his soldiers effectively eliminated most of the Ataran troops that had survived the breath of Mithrates. As Alexander skewered one dragon through the eye with his blade, bursting it to light, a breakneck chase was on below for the final Ataran rider.  

Bree, leaning back and forth to help guide her mount, avoided both dragons and arcs of different magic as she went zipping and dodging through the air, Stuk’s copper crown winking in the light. The Countess flew wide of her pursuers on dragon back, gaining enough time and distance for a great orb of shadow to be gathered within both her hands and her dragon’s claws.

Now finished with his slaughter, General Alexander turned his attention to where Keti chased Bree, a predatory smile curling his mouth. "Let's finish this!" He bellowed to his troops, leading the charge towards Bree. The General's forces spread out, creating a wall of fast approaching dragons that looked to cut off her escape. Leaning to the side and back, Bree bent her knees and arced her dragon upwards, the ball still growing as the forces converged upon her. 

Keti brought Plythia underneath Bree's dragon, aiming her Halberd towards its soft cerulean underbelly, but whatever she saw gathered in its claws made her reconsider. Yelling a warning to the oncoming forces, Keti turned her dragon away, but her cries came too late. 

Turning her dragon downward with a sudden thrust of her body, Bree leaned forward before jumping backward off her dragon, falling through the sky. She released her orb around her, a gigantic cloud of darkness covering her descent and making it hard to aim at her teal dragon, which accelerated, flying directly into the center of the forces and releasing the ball from its claws. 

Cara saw Bree twist in the air, her long dark hair beating around her face as she pointed a finger back at the ball, which immediately exploded. A dark, consuming cloud of shadow swallowed the forces, though, on closer examination, Cara realized with a small gasp that it wasn't a cloud. 

Writhing hordes of shadow rats swarmed outwards through the air, flowing like a living wave of darkness that hungrily consumed both dragon and rider, crawling into screaming mouths and chewing their way through eye sockets, nostrils, and flesh. Cara watched in equal measures of amazement and horror as a string of Netian flags lit up the sky, the solitary silver and red flag of Bree's teal dragon briefly going by as Alexander decapitated it with a mighty swing before he too succumbed to the rodents of shadow.  

Keti avoided the worst of it, but both she and her dragon took many bites from the few rats that made it on before being frozen to ice by Keti, still nursing her broken arm, which had the reins clasped in the elbow. Ripping the final rodent from her broken, limp arm with a painful snarl, Keti began scanning the rooftops for something, a quietly furious expression cooling her face into a stiff mask. 

Cara quickly glanced around the room, where the rest of the ladies and servants assembled were watching the rats finish their work. Ahnn showed no change in expression, the Kitisalian "visage of stone" hiding any reaction. Tamara looked upset and disgusted, the lean woman now sitting upright and glaring at the image. 

Lady Konstan looked like she might be ill; her face was pale and pointedly looking away from the gory images above her. The princess was oddly silent, considering the carnage displayed before her with a quiet delight. Her eyes were dancing as she held her hand in her elbow, slim fingers barely covering the smile on the princess’ face. Cara looked at her curiously, wondering why the princess seemed to be so delighted by the outcome.

"Bloody Atarans!" Lady Tamara said, slapping the table in front of her. "Who would use their own dragon on some death mission just for the spite of it? She had clearly already lost!" 

Princess Petra answered her, not taking her eyes off the image overhead. "It was a gamble, dear Tamara, one with minor downsides to her. " The princess nodded towards a speck on the rooftops, which both Keti and the image quickly focused on. Strolling jauntily along the rooftops was Bree, hair a mess and slightly limping, but grinning wildly and cheerily waving as she spotted Keti overhead.

Keti directed her dragon at Bree, readying the death blow even as one of the Countess's arms gracefully extended out to the side in a shallow arc, the other delicately swerving downwards towards her collarbone in a crescent shape.

While loss and death in the form of Keti bore down on her, Bree gave an exaggerated, flourishing bow. Twirling her wrist as the dragon sharply inhaled, Bree continued to smile downwards, even as Keti yelled, and Plythia's icy breath tore her to slivers of light. 

Cara let out a breath that she didn't realize had stopped within her chest. The perspective followed Keti as she pulled up on Plythia's reins, satisfied that the match was won. To any casual observer, the General looked neutral-faced and focused as the announcer's voice rang out, declaring Netis the victor of the skirmish. To Cara, she could see how her sister's eyes glittered with gathering clouds and the pulsing vein in her forehead that belied her rage. 

In the sky, Bree's death image flickered to the perspective in Shary's hold, showing her broad smile as she conversed with those around her. What happened next remained a mystery because the Princess clapped her hands, drawing the eyes of the room to her as she gestured for the Servants to wrap up.

"Well, that was an absolutely thrilling match if I do say so myself." Princess Petra said, glancing around at her guests. 

"Thrilling and pathetic." Ahnn said flatly, watching the Servants of Sharys wearily lower their hands from the shard. 

The Princess smiled down at her, pale green eyes alight with amusement. "Oh, I'm aware, Ahnn. That's what makes it so brilliant! One woman took out the great Alexander and his forces with a single blow. Oh, Alexander’s going to be furious tonight, which means Irena will be even worse." Glancing down meaningfully at Ahnn at that moment, the princess softly added, "And that I can use." 

“Are they still together?” Tamara said, sounding surprised. “He normally moves on so quickly.”

“Oh, they are.” Lady Konstan said, neatly giving her cup to the servant she had beckoned forward. 

“Unfortunate,” Tamara grinned, stretching out her arms.

“For her, perhaps.” Petra remarked, her voice quiet.

Cara was left wondering whether the girl said that out loud on purpose or not, as the princess suddenly turned back to her guests, a thoughtful smile on her lips. "Thank you, ladies, for coming, but I’ve got an important and busy evening ahead." She said, dismissing them. Cara stood to leave with the other women, following them out the door, noticing that the thick-haired Kitisalian girl stayed behind. 

"What's tonight?" Cara asked Lady Konstan, readjusting her grip on the sleeping hatchling she had scooped off the couch.

"Tonight's the decision on the format of succession." The noblewoman replied simply, walking away.