The Clutch of Sharys: Chapter Nine
Chapter 9: Testaments and Test rooms
They were powerful and perfect, made in its image, so why had their sire turned away? "There must be some defect in you, something they have that you do not." The void whispered, stirring up the anger in their scaly hearts. "Or else why would Sharys forsake you so?"
Keti had been correct when she earlier stated that Cara had been on dragon back before. While the land faded away beneath the sisters into a patchwork landscape of greens, browns, and tans, she could vaguely remember having seen this sight when she was very young, on a small joyride that her father had taken her on around a large field near their crumbling keep.
Most nations had laws or guidelines revolving around young people on dragon back, all essentially boiling down to; If it isn't an emergency, don't do it. Cara supposed that there had probably been one too many children falling off or squished by the enormous dragons to necessitate such guidelines. Parents, teachers, and the church of Sharys all warned young ones from messing with the mighty creatures, and hers had been no different.
That didn't mean, however, that everyone followed those rules. Cara had seen several small children on their parents' dragons during market days or young lovers taking romantic flights around the city together before they were both of age. As far as she could tell, it was one of those things that a blind eye was turned to if you were either poor or wealthy enough that it didn't matter to you what the golden-clad crown guard thought. They were there to clean up messes and keep the peace, not to judge every minor discrepancy of the law, though, of course, some used their power in such a way.
Cara watched as towns and villages passed underneath them, the red wings of Keti's mount quickly taking them higher as they soared upwards towards the clouds. Clutching the strap even tighter, Cara made sure her arms were as fully retracted inside the sweater as she could. Even though it was not yet winter in Netis, the air still bit when this high up. Her stomach felt like it had been left behind on her family's lands, and her heart had not stopped pounding since they first left the ground. Eventually, the dragon beneath her evened out with the fields below, following the glimmering line of the Shardroad north, towards the capital.
In the air, quite a few other dragons followed the same flight path; some clustered in groups while others flew alone. Keti's dragon was still relatively young in the scheme of draconian aging, and although she was big enough to carry more than one rider at once with no problems. Her sister's dragon failed to come close in size to the enormous creatures flying over Cara's head at the moment, and she wondered if one day the little hatchling curled up in her jumper would grow to be that large.
Smaller dragons, as a rule, flew lower than their larger counterparts, both for ease of traffic flow in the air and to make use of the winds off the larger creature's wings and bodies. Keti did something similar now, pulling slightly up so that they were in the bottom of a tailwind behind a large, black creature with green markings.
"How are you feeling?" Her sister's voice drifted back, slightly elevated in volume to be heard over wind and dragon wing. "I'm fine. Does it matter?" Cara called back, still irritated that her sister had so carelessly decided for Cara about the baby dragon's gender. She checked quickly to make sure that the little dragon was still safely bundled inside her shirt, pulling the collar forward to peek down. Upon making eye contact with her, the little grey creature clawed its way up her torso, sticking her little head out of the neck hole of the knitted jumper.
Keti tensed in front of her as the hatchling happily squeaked, apparently enjoying its first time in the air. "Keep her secure; we don't need it escaping and falling to a crushing death before even getting you tested." She briskly ordered, and Cara quickly popped the small head back into the sweater with two fingers, pressing down firmly between the horns.
A bit of rustling took place as the baby dragon tried a few more times to pop back out, eventually settling into a grumbling but warm ball near Cara's stomach. The high, white walls of Cebrene winked at her in the distance, catching Cara's attention and reminding her of something that had been bothering her since the trial. "Keti?" she called up, her voice hesitant.
"What?" Keti tossed back, her sister's dark curls wavering slightly in their stiffly plaited bun with the wind's encouragement. "Why is the vault laid out like Cebrene? Even Cair Stacia was in the right spot." Cara looked out over the fast-approaching city on the horizon, remembering how it had looked painted with ruin and red light.
Keti was silent for a long time, the absence of an answer punctuated by her dragon's wingbeats as they flew over the Cebrene's white streets. “You noticed that, then," Keti remarked finally, her voice empty and flat.
“Yes? That would be why I asked."
"It's a reminder." Keti replied simply, tugging on the reins to begin their slow, circulatory descent over their nation's capital, which sat at the mouth of a large inlet that led to a gigantic lagoon that gradually opened into the sparkling blue of the ocean. Glittering in sunlight, the bluestone of the castle they now approached looked like a wave to Cara, its sapphire towers reaching up to crush her into more sand at its base.
"What's it a reminder of?" Cara said, looking up at Keti, who put the leather straps in one hand and waved another out at the blue and white city stretching out beneath them. "This. What we can accomplish side by side as dragons and riders, the two children of Sharys, bound together to create magnificence." Cara eyed several of the dragons making their descent nearby, wings flaring out to help direct their downward spiral. "I don't understand." She said, shaking her head. "Isn't that what Cebrene and every other fancy city on the sphere is a testament to? Our glory in partnership or whatever? So why is the vault in ruin?"
"Because, little sister, while Cebrene stands a shining testament to what we can achieve together, the Vault stands to remind us of what happens when we do not." Cara thought back to the bones scattering the ground, the ruthlessness in the way she and others had acted, and the lolling, bulging eyes of a round-faced nobleman staring back at her. Gulping down the weighty sickness forming in the pit of her stomach, Cara instead attempted to find something else to focus on instead.
"What's the testing like? The provincial ones just have people dig into different elements and see which one reacts, but something tells me the royal family doesn't look too kindly on getting messy like commoners."
Keti scoffed lightly, brushing an unseen speck of dust off the shoulder of her jacket with her free hand. "It is a fair bit more advanced than the provinces, that's for sure. They have researchers come in and look at all the hatchlings borne forth from the vault, both to help get a handle on element type and to glean what they can from the baby dragons."
"What kind of things have they gleaned from hatchlings?" Cara inquired, glancing down at the little grey bundle in her shirt. "I'm not sure. That's not something I've had the spare time to pursue as of late." Keti remarked dryly. Looking away, Cara could see the flat, blue-grey stone sun of Cair Stacia's landing pad clearly defined now, and it didn't appear her sister was willing to give much more for the moment. It had been a dreadfully brief conversation for such a long ride, but it was still of more use to Cara than anything her parents had told her.
The tower near the landing area must have identified Keti and her dragon on sight because a small, orderly line of soldiers was waiting for her as Plythia pulled up, her wings spread wide to slow her final descent. A dull gray head popped its way out of Caras jumper again, a long, high-pitched squeal sounding as they circled closer.
Cara tried to use her shoulder to huddle closer to her sister's back, praying the extra shelter would prevent the little hatchling from slipping out. A shudder ran through the dragon's copper body as her steady, practiced legs nearly brought them to a halt.
Immediately, a white wood staircase was wheeled up to the dragon with her sister's military symbol, a fox running over her uncle's coat of arms, emblazoned on the side. Keti sat still, looking down with a bored expression at the fuss below her. The moment that the staircase stopped moving, her leg was already released from the magnetic clips of her saddle, the General lithely dismounting and waiting impatiently for Cara to follow.
Cara scrambled to follow, releasing the strap and getting her leg over after a few stiff attempts, pushing off and awkwardly sliding down the side of the dragon, where she promptly crashed into her waiting sister. As Cara went stumbling down a step, the General easily and smoothly brought her to a stop, pushing her back and pulling her upright until she was some semblance of put together.
A soft cry reminded Cara that the hatchling was fast growing impatient with the unfamiliar sounds and smells that surrounded them, and she reached under her jumper to pull the little creature out, placing the baby girl on her shoulder. "You do remember it is your partner and not a pet, correct?" Keti asked as they descended the stairs, watching Cara wince as the dragon rediscovered a new plaything in the form of her hair. "Of course -Ow!- but she's still a baby." Cara used the gendered terms for the creature the first time out loud, still slightly uncomfortable with not being allowed to decide whether or not she even wanted to know. "She needs contact, or else she'll act up because she feels neglected."
Keti waved her words away flippantly. "The sooner you break it to her that you dictate the orders and not the other way around, the better." She remarked. Cara arched an eyebrow at her, "I thought the whole point was to have a partner, not a servant." She sniped, and Keti quickly shot an irritated look back but was prevented from responding by an approaching young man with blonde hair and a very anxious face, clutching a clipboard and stack of papers as he hurried towards them.
"That's Kelvin, my Speaker." Keti said, her voice flat as she eyed the paperwork in his arms with an apparent distaste, "It would seem the price of my excursion to fetch you would be paid sooner rather than later." She sighed, descending the last few stairs with quick, neat steps. Cara followed behind her, jumping the last few stairs and landing with her feet together, ignoring the disapproving glare shot her way.
"General!" The pale man came to a stop, quickly saluting her before pulling out the bundle of papers from his clipboard. "These need your immediate attention M'am, and there's a message waiting from Ataran that-" Keti cut him off with a waved hand, looking back over her shoulder and jerking her chin forward. Reluctantly, Cara shuffled up beside her sister, eyeing the line of emotionless soldiers still standing at attention.
"This is my sister, Lady Cara. She is here for the testing and will stay a few days after." Keti dictated as the young man furiously scribbled a note on his clipboard, nodding as her sister continued to speak. "Enter her as my guest with the Royal Steward, prepare a room...oh and have a tailor visit her. Their measurements for the Trial garb were either poorly taken or outdated." Keti spoke as she strode away, forcing Kelvin and Cara to hurry and keep up with her.
"M'am that message from Ataran-"
"Will be answered before the end of the day. Is the testing still ongoing, or do I need to wrangle some researchers?" Keti had now reached the doors leading into the receiving hall, a green-carpeted space lined by statues of previous monarchs, etched out of various stones and materials. "Yes, General, the testing is still happening. However, I feel it prudent to warn you that they may have already finished with the nobles for the day. The prince is the last one to go, and there is not much time before the arrival this afternoon." Kelvin said, his papers rustling as he matched her pace.
He read off the top one, written in spiky black lettering with a black and gold seal hanging off it. "There were some border skirmishes with Farca last night; we won three of the combats but lost the other five." Keti clicked her tongue, footsteps becoming an angry staccato as her pace increased. "Sabel needs to get her border troops in better shape; that’s an embarrassment."
Ignoring their discussion about borderlines and shipment routes being rerouted, Cara took in more of her surroundings as she was led up a staircase made from a deep, rich dark wood. It exited them out onto a long balcony overlooking the length of the hall, connected at both ends to passageways leading off. Servants and guards that they came across either curtsied or bowed to Keti, the mere force of her presence enough to cow and move the people around her. After a few more moments of heated discussion, Keti turned to stomp up a stone staircase, and the young man slowed down to walk beside Cara.
"So what's her name?" Kelvin asked kindly, clearly content to let Keti cool off a bit before continuing his briefing. "Huh?" Cara said, distracted away from the beautiful, sunlit hallway that they had walked into, light leaking in from arched windows lined by light blue curtains, each neatly pulled back and tied. A few people wandered up and down the hall, looming over windows or talking among themselves, clearly waiting on something. "Your dragon. What's her name?" The attaché repeated himself, gesturing towards the gray dragon happily bobbing on her shoulder.
"Oh. Dunno." Cara said dryly, shrugging her shoulders. "Haven't had the chance to think about it yet." Nodding, Kelvin opened his mouth to say something when Keti shot a comment back over her shoulder. "You really should get that thing named. Otherwise, you're going to call it 'baby' or something, and that'll be all it ever responds to."
“There are worse names than baby out there. Like Plythia, for example.”
Keti ignored the comment, but Melvin shot her a quick smile, lips quickly twitching back into neutrality once the General looked over. “What’s it like, working for my sister?” Cara asked.
“It’s a glorious job. Lots of messages and organizing, but I get to be right in the thick of things come time for Shardcombat. If you end up as a Sound rider, there’s no better occupation.”
Nodding, Cara looked over at the creature on her shoulder, tiny claws digging in to keep their hold with her movement, bright blue-green eyes looking everywhere they could at once. She reached a finger out, gently stroking the dull gray scales of her dragon's nose before following Keti to the first open door in the hallway.
The General strode in, clearly possessing no intent to announce herself, and Kelvin hurried to do his job while Cara lightly knocked on the door as she passed. A short receiving room seemed far too small to be connected to a hallway that large, stuffed with two chairs and a table, across which several sharp and hooked instruments were scattered. A rectangular door stood at the end of the small room, shut tight, and Cara could see no other occupants.
Kelvin's earring began to ring, a small clear shard of some clear crystal, and his eyes glowed a light purple as he listened to whatever the ringing told him. Cara focused on the sound, but all that came across to her was a noise like her head being struck too hard. A small part of her made the not so wild guess that sound may not have been her alignment, and she mentally marked that off her list.
"Wait here." Keti ordered, quickly striding through the door in the back of the room, leaving Cara alone with Kelvin, who was soon pulled into the hall by a young woman in military uniform marked by a messenger's white sash. Gently lowering her hatchling off her shoulder and onto her lap, Cara looked down at the wriggling little animal she held, the little creature currently intent on trying to escape and clamber up onto the table.
Standing and pacing with the dragon held in her arms like a cat, Cara walked around the perimeter of the room, trying to see if she could pick up any nearby conversations for amusement. Sadly, the walls leaked nothing in, so she had enough time to instead lightly examine a few of the papers lying on top of the table. Spaces for names, health information, and lists of letters and numbers spread across the different forms, partly obscured or left blank. Leaning forward to examine the writings, Cara jumped when the door behind her slammed open, and Keti quickly came back in, leading a woman in a long brown and gold-trimmed coat behind her.
"Cara, this is Helicity. She’ll be doing your alignment testing." Keti's introduction held no frills and was straight to the point, her attention already on Kelvin, who had bustled back in at the sound of her voice. "There's been more news about the upcoming match, General, and if you're going to have it by the end of the week…" He trailed off as Keti gave a heaving sigh, nodding her head. "I'm coming." She said, looking back at the researcher who was securing her pale blonde hair into a messy bun. "I'll be back as soon as I'm able, but she should be ready whenever you are, Heli." The woman gave her a tight smile and a nod, turning to wave Cara into the dark doorway behind her.
"The General already graciously provided your parentage and basic information, so that saves me from having to do the short interview portion." The researcher smiled at Cara, speaking in a quick, formal tone as she slowly began moving towards the door she had come from. Seeing her in motion, Keti left, quickly shutting the entrance behind her. Once the door closed, the woman visibly deflated, her short, shaved eyebrows relaxing as more loose slips of light blonde hair freed themselves from her bun. "Now that she's gone, are you ready to begin?" She asked Cara, languidly indicating the darkness behind her.
"I guess." Cara replied, shrugging and walking into the shadowed room without further hesitation. Whatever awaited her within would have to try extremely hard to top the Trial and scare her.