47. CHAPTER 47 #3
Silence replaced laughter and jokes. Sadie was pressed low over Korra, griffin feathers flattened in the pass.
Landon’s phoenix no long held flames on her wings.
Zane and Remus maintained the lead, wings cutting through turbulence.
Nikolai’s dragon matched their pace, sharp banking and keen observation.
Below, ravines cut the mountains, shadows swallowing ground. From above, cracks in the world revealed beauty.
Esme’s voice brushed through the bond, low and particular, “Eyes forward, little Rider. The air is treacherous here. Trust me.”
I forced a hard swallow down, gaze fixed on Zane’s silhouette ahead. He didn’t show any falter in the strong gusts. The flight northwest was long but steady. Westward flight proved shorter, but it demanded every resource—wingbeat, breath, and focus. Silence had consumed us.
Sunlight reflected off the snowcaps, and the air thinned as the passage through the mountains deepened. The wind howled, pushing against wings, the cold clawed as we flew through.
“Stay tight!” Nikolai barked, his dragon banking sharply against a gust. “Keep your spacing, don’t drift!”
Esme surged beneath me, wings driving hard. I pressed low against her neck, heart hammering. Sadie and Landon had been on each side, their griffin and phoenix cutting steady lines—until the crosswind hit .
Screaming wind came down the ridge, delivering brutal force to our fliers. Esme skidded sideways, her claws scraped stone. Korra’s shriek was heard, narrowly avoided tumbling into me.
And then—Landon’s phoenix folded.
“Daphhhhneeee!” Esme shrieked through the bond.
The red-orange phoenix screamed as the gust tore its wings inward. Landon pitched forward in the saddle, hands clawing for the pommel, but the strap snapped like a string.
“Landon!” I shouted. My voice was lost to the wind.
The phoenix tumbled, fire sputtering. Landon’s scream tore across the mountains as he fell—first tangled in flames, slowly gone in the abyss below. His body shattered on the rocks far beneath us, a smear of color against the snow.
The phoenix’s death cry followed. Wings crumpled, body blazing, it struck the cliffs in a burst of fire so bright the world went white.
Then silence.
My breath caught. My stomach heaved. I wanted to dive after him, but Esme’s voice cut sharp through the bond, “do not break, he is gone. We will mourn his loss later.”
“Focus, Auri. We will stop as soon as we can.” Zane spoke to me.
“Hold!” Remus thundered, his black wings steady as stone. “Keep formation, or you’ll join him!”
We held. Gods, we held. The pass funneled narrower, each of us flying while trying to hold our composure, holding the line.
Then—light.
From the ash below, fire was whirled upward, swirling into a new form. A red phoenix was released, wings spread wider and brighter than anything witnessed before, its cry split the sky like a trumpet. It was lifted on a column of heat, rebirth achieved in flame and glory.
But the saddle was lost.
And Landon was gone.
The phoenix circled once, a keening note sent out that left hollowness behind. Wings were tucked, and a dive sent westward. The bird was swallowed between the peaks—a streak of fire erased by the horizon.
“She will rejoin us once she mourns her Rider,” Esme reassured me.
The silence in the drift had been heavier than the wind.
I clenched the pommel until my knuckles whitened, blinking hard against the sting in my eyes.
Landon was gone.
Daphne would mourn him for the rest of her years.
At last, we were spat from the mountains. Wind eased, stony walls slipped behind, and a broad sweep of pale sky opened above. Our group was left forever altered.
An orange-golden blaze was seen rising behind—Daphne soared, slicing through cold air with haunting, terrifying grace. Her cry rang out, high and mournful. Intense grief poured through her voice.
She slipped quietly back into formation, the molten glow of her feathers casting a shadow across the silent group. No words were spoken, but every gaze flicked her way, to the space Landon once filled.
Esme’s hum rumbled low in my chest, “the phoenix knows. She will stay with the drift, but the Rider is gone.”
We flew on in heavy silence, the air biting colder with every wingbeat. Finally, Nikolai’s dragon angled down toward a clearing on the mountainside—a patch of hard snow cut with dark stone, barely wide enough for all of us to land.
“Down,” he barked, his voice low, clipped. “We stop here.”
Descent was made, one by one. Snow crunched beneath Esme’s claws, and sharp, cold air forced through my boots as we reached the ground.
My legs wobbled as exhaustion and a chest-tightening weight combined.
Korra landed next, and Sadie slipped down stiffly, her face pale and determined.
Remus’s black wings were folded as he stood nearby, tall and silent.
Zane landed on the frozen ground, his expression hardened, unreadable.
Daphne landed away from the group, talons pressed into icy snow. She spread her wings wide, flames flickering through crisp air, then folded in, embers fading. Her golden eyes appeared full of sorrow. She emitted pain that we all felt across the field.
We all stood in silence. Only breath and the faint crackle of phoenix fire broke the stillness. Zane came up behind me and wrapped his arms tight around me.
After what felt like several minutes, Sadie broke the silence. “I can’t believe—” She’d stopped, jaw clenching hard. “He was just here.”
Nikolai’s gaze was sharp, but not cruel. “He knew the risks, we all do. Death doesn’t negotiate. It only collects.”
“That doesn’t make it easier,” I said, my voice rougher than I meant.
Zane ran his arm down mine, grounding me. He hadn’t said anything, but the bond pulsed warm, steady. He knew just what I needed without saying it. It was more than I could ever ask for.
“Ashes don’t ask, they simply remain,” Esme said.
We sat in silence a while longer, the phoenix’s glow casting long shadows across the snow.
Landon was gone. But Daphne was still with us, flames now embers, soaring because that was what she was born to do.
We had only been bonded with our fliers for a short time, but the bond nestled deep within Rider and flier.
Nikolai ordered us to carry on, not wanting the group behind to close the gap.
Sadie and I mounted our fliers, and the formation shifted gradually.
Zane and Remus stayed in front, guiding the group.
Sadie settled far left, my position was set in the middle left, Nikolai took the middle right, and Daphne was on the far right.
This time, Nikolai didn’t give any command.
Esme relayed the order from Nikolai’s dragon, Inna.
Remus maintained his quietness. When he broke his silence, surprise jolted through me. “We are thirty minutes out, we will land on the east outskirts of the city. Afterwards, your fliers can go above the skyline, and head to Ashen Vale.”
“I can be back there quickly, if you need me,” she purred to me.
“I am sure that Zane won’t let anything happen to me.”
“He better not, or he will be a toasted bat.”
“ESME!” Sometimes she really caught me off guard.
There was a stable on the outskirts of the city, where we could obtain horses to ride into town. However, Zane told me, we would either fly or rove. Nikolai revealed that he lived near where we were landing, and he would simply walk to his father’s home.
Sadie lived on the west side of Ashwynd in the countryside, so instead of her getting a horse and traveling so far, on the way to Ashen Vale, Korra would drop her off on the other side.
The primary goal was not to bring the fliers into the middle of the city.
They were accustomed to Drusearons flying in and around, but definitely not large fliers.
“We’re approaching!” Zane announced.
We all dived low at the last moment, trying not to bring attention to us. My stomach felt like it was trying to become one with my heart. Esme’s talons landed with perfect grace, throwing a dust of snow in our wake.
“Rate your ride five stars or the next landing won’t be so gentle,” she purred.
I choked a laugh out. She caught me so off guard with that. The other Riders whipped their faces to me. I reached up and rubbed the scales on her neck.
“She told me to rate my ride five stars, or the next landing won’t be so gentle. So, everyone knows, I give Esme ten stars!” I told them before giggling more, and they all chuckled.
She stretched her leg forward. I threw my right leg over and slid down her massive tree trunk of a leg. Zane was there with his hand stretched out. I grabbed his hand, and he pulled me into his arms.
“Welcome to your new home, my love, my Anam Cara, my Auri,” he caressed down the bond.
My eyes locked onto his, “I am soooooo nervous.”
“Pep talk time, my little Rider—they will love you, you are amazing, and funny. If someone doesn’t love you, then something is wrong with them.” Esme purred down the bond.
As I turned to give her a look, she shot into the air with Korra, Daphne, and Inna. Sadie gave all of us a wave as she rose into the sky .
“Hey Nikolai, as you know, you are always welcome to the welcome home dinner,” Zane said.
“Yes, I’ll see how my pops is doing.” There was a sense of sadness when he’d said that, suggesting there was much more to all that. He looked at me, “Cadet, behave and do us Riders an honor in the palace.”
“Geez, Nik, don’t scare her before I get her home,” Zane bantered.
“Ah, it’s not too bad. I’ll more than likely be there, I have to go into town to let Landon’s parents know anyway.”
“Yeah… It’s always rough when it's one of us.”
I looked between both of them, worried I may be in over my head. Nikolai gave a nod and headed off down a dirt road. Zane, Remus, and I were the only ones left on the field.
“Of course, Remus, you are always welcome, but I know your parents would bury you if you didn’t have dinner with them tonight. We're going to head out. You know where to find me.”
“As always, I am sure I will stop in. Be safe,” he said. He sprang his wings out wide and took off.
“And it’s just you and me now,” Zane smirked.
“That it is,” I smiled.
“Do you want to go straight to the palace, or do you want a tour?”
“Can we do a short tour on the way there and then finish the tour maybe tomorrow? I am exhausted.”
“Anything for you.”
Zane’s arms slid around me, firm and steady, before his wings unfurled with a snap that stirred snow from the ground.
“Hold on,” he murmured against my ear.
“I already am,” I whispered back, though my pulse had been a drum in my throat. He’d never actually flown with me, though he roved me several other times. I imagined it would be similar to flying with Esme.
With a single beat of wings, he rose in the air.
My heart skipped. Difference and similarity blended.
Only his arms held me. The ground dropped away, the wind cut sharply, and we soared low over Ashwynd.
The city unfurled beneath us like a living map.
Cobbled streets twisted among rows of stone buildings, and smoke curled from chimneys.
Carriages were driven over frozen ruts, iron-rimmed wheels striking sparks from the stones.
Merchants’ calls rang out from patched awnings, bread, wool, and roasted chestnuts were offered to the city.
Children shrieked below, playing in the snow with each other. They briefly looked up before going back to their games. Most others on the ground hadn’t paid any mind to us, and we hadn’t been the only ones in the sky.
Zane’s mouth brushed my temple as he spoke low, guiding my gaze. “The south quarter is filled with tradesmen, workshops. The loudest place in the city is always awake. Beyond that, there is the train where boxcars are unloaded from dawn to dusk.”
We banked slightly, and the main square opened beneath us, a vast expanse of stone framed by tall, uniform facades. A frozen fountain glittered at its heart, icicles catching the late afternoon light. The smell of baking bread and coal smoke rose even this high.
And then I saw it.
The palace. His home. His family.
It sat on a rise at the far end of the square, not gleaming or delicate like a storybook.
Heavy stone walls loomed, black and gray, built like a fortress.
Guard towers bristled at the corners, each manned with knights, their halberds gleaming.
The iron gates at the front stood tall and uncompromising, already flanked by knights who scanned the streets with sharp eyes.
My breath caught. “That looks… less like a palace and more like a fortress.”
“That’s because it is,” Zane said. His chin rested lightly against my hair. “My father doesn’t build for beauty. He builds for survival. What you see down there—that’s what keeps the Veil standing.”
The weight of it pressed on me, heavy as the stone itself. And yet, with his arms tight around me, the beat of his heart steady against my back, I breathed.
Because whatever waited beyond those walls, I wouldn’t face it alone .
The closer we swept toward the rise, the more the city noise dulled beneath the beat of Zane’s wings. The palace loomed larger with every second, a fortress of black stone and iron.
“Ready?” he murmured against my ear.
“No,” I whispered, clutching his arm tighter. “But go anyway.”
He laughed softly, the sound curling warm against my skin, and angled us down. His wings spread wide, catching the air as we descended past the outer towers, landing in the formal yard. The guards stationed there tracked us, halberds gleaming, but none moved to intercept.
Zane lifted one hand from my waist, casual as anything, and gave them a sharp, easy wave. Recognition flashed in their eyes. The tension eased instantly and they saluted back. One sheathed his sword again.
We stood in the large formal yard in front of the palace.
It was stunning. Everything was covered in snow and ice, but it was clear that the groundskeepers had done a good job maintaining everything.
Towers ringed the inner court, banners snapping from their heights—black cloth embroidered with a silver Drusearon, wings spread wide.
Troops lined the yard, their eyes snapping to us.
No one spoke. No one questioned. They only saluted.
Zane’s arm stayed firm at my back as he guided me forward. “Welcome to Ashwynd Palace, Auri,” he said low, his voice steady, even as the fortress seemed to swallow me whole.
My chest tightened, my nerves tangling. But I nodded, stepping forward with him.
And there was no turning back.
Figures started running toward us, toward him.
I certainly hoped they would like me.
“If not, I’ll be there to swoop you away, but they will.” Esme purred.