As we walked through the woods we came to a clearing. Over the tops of the trees you could see the Aresty Mountains to the east. We decided to stop for a rest. We got off our horses and Garven started to make a fire. Oh! Excuse me! My name is Iea! Some know me by that name or just as the Assassin. I am an expert at my trade but I don’t kill for warlords. I can see into the souls of the people that want to employ me and my husband, if I see that their intentions are evil my husband and I take them off the map if you know what I mean. We’re known as the assassins because we’ve gotten rid of over 100 warlords and their crews by just our skill as warriors. Right now we aren’t currently employed by anyone but when we are hired our price is very high and we get paid well. Anyway, we started setting up camp and I started making the evening meal. As it started getting dark we had just finished eating when I looked up to the sky to look at the rising moon when a bright light on the mountain caught my eye.
“Garven! It’s the Fire of the Call! The Monks of Knowledge are calling every warrior to their monastery!” I said pointing to the fire on the mountain.
“Iea, don’t you think we should wait ‘till morning?”
“Are you kidding! You know how I am when I get excited about something like this! That fire hasn’t burnt for 100 years!”
“But, Love, we aren’t warriors! We’re assassins!”
I narrowed my eyes at him with my arms crossed over my chest.
He threw up his hands, “Fine! Fine! Whatever! We leave as soon as the horses are ready.”
We started packing our horses back up and headed for the mountains. It was about midnight when we reached a winding path which led up to the monastery that was built into the mountain. The path was narrow and rocky. On my right was a sheer rock face and on the left was a thousand foot drop. The monastery was a 30 foot oaken door which led into a thousand torch light cavern spanning a hundred leagues high and fifty leagues wide. There were already about 30 warriors gathered in the antechamber. Garven and I left our horses with a young monk but not after we hid the small weapons of our trade under our cloaks and in random spots in our clothes.
We were taken into a large dining hall where there were thick, long cedar tables laden with any sort of food you could desire. The Monks of Knowledge are well known for their expertise as cooks and the most random ways they get information from across the planet. Anyway, after we dined and conversed with various warriors a strong bell tolled and we were all ushered into another hall that was smaller but it was decorated with tapestries on the walls and colorful, ornate rugs along the floor. This was ebedi başdan geçirmeleriň zaly – The Hall of Eternal Adventure. The tapestries depicted past warriors and their deeds, monsters defeated and wondrous designs that seemed to move with your eyes. This was where we found out what was going on in the world. A very, very old monk hobbled over to a tall chair on a stone riser. Everyone quieted as he sat down. This was Abbott Frederix, the oldest monk in the entire monastery, he was about 105 years old and was the wisest man in the land.
“Warriors all, thank you for hearing and responding to the call of need for this world. I was but a child when the last call was sent out, and now we must send out the call again. The world needs warriors to take down an evil that has come into the world. My dear brothers will give you individual instructions because only one group of you will achieve this mission. May the Shepherd protect you.”
This was an odd speech… usually all warriors band together to form a large alliance to take down an evil, they don’t usually take separate paths. I looked at Garven and he shrugged a little but barely noticeable.
A young monk approached Garven and I and bowed, “Lady Iea and Lord Garven, I am Brother Barath, I will be your guide.”
“Before you go on brother, why don’t we all band together to fight this evil?”
“The evil you will be facing is dangerous and there are many.”
“What is the evil we are facing, brother?”
“They are multiple hybrid dragons with strange powers that are not just flying and fire breathing. They’re breathing acid rain clouds destroying both plants and animals vital to the survival of the Telishi.”
“The Telishi? They are not our friends.” said Garven.
“The dragons aren’t just in Telisha, sir, theirs starting to widen their reach. They’ve been seen in Morica and Grovusha. Father Abbott is trying to think of a way to help them but he is getting very old and he decided to give the call for warriors. The Monks of Knowledge tend to try and take care of whatever evil comes up but this is beyond our skill I am afraid.”
“Dragons you say?” Graven looked at me, “Iea, do you think it’s possible?”
“It’s impossible. I haven’t been in contact with them for years. They don’t have the knowledge to breed them. They haven’t had the knowledge since I left.”
“If you have knowledge of how this came about, the monks would know.”
“The monks don’t know about the Riders of the Storms. They are a group that I myself started because of my knowledge of dragon breeding. They are the best and worst kept secret in all of Katava. One only finds out about them after getting to know a member very well. But the catch is that if you come to be a Rider, you are gone from what you used to know, you have no family or friends but the Riders, you have no home but the caves and you trust no one but the Riders. I only left because I was done with the secretiveness and unfriendliness, even to your fellow members, I didn’t realize how bad my rules could make people. I thought they would just disperse after I left but after 10 years they made the dragons I was trying to make so long ago. How? I don’t know.” I paused, “I will make this right. I still have the power of dragons in my blood, I can still control the dragons we raised. Garven, we ride to Jova at dawn.”
That night was sleepless as I lay next to Garven staring at the ceiling of the accommodations we were given at the monastery. The next day we rode out at dawn for Jova which was about a week and half ride to the border and about a three day ride to the Caves. When we reached the caves, we were let in immediately. The stink of dragons hung in the air and the puddles of their acid were pooled on the ground. The dragons always came back to their original nesting grounds because they were dragons that stayed in groups rather than as loners.
When I walked in the hall, a guard yelled, “Acapa Iea and Telca Garven have returned Riders!”
There was a great roar. The Riders always learned how to roar like dragons on their first day until I thought they were ready to learn how to care for the baby dragons. The Riders numbers had become larger after 10 years.
“Salona! Mosha! Tilbeneth! Ivro! Laramith! Hurlina! Marver! Jezan! Irva! Shyra! Xinder! Rakam! Where’s my babies? Come to mama!” I yelled in my loudest commanding voice that I used to summon my dragons.
All 12 of my dragons that I raised came out of their caves with deafening roars. They came up to the balcony where Garven and I were standing. Their armored skin bumpy under my callused hand, they rumbled as I pet each of them. Salona was the oldest, she was a green and yellow bellied fire breather. Mosha was black Acid breather. Tilbeneth was a yellow and green bellied fire breather. Irvo is an ice blue and white ice and snow breathing. Laramith was an orange Boiling water breather. Hurlina was a purple and gray bellied with a pointed nose that was a lightning breather. Marver was a navy blue and black bellied poison spitter. Jezan was a white and green bellied web spitter. Irva was a purple and white bellied ice splinter spitter. Shyra was a green and gray bellied fire breather. Xinder was a white and red bellied boiling water spitter. And Rakam was a gray and purple Acid breather.
“Telca Aiden!” I yelled.
A man in his mid 30’s with a burnt arm and leg came up the steps to me with his burnt hand to his chest, as was the customary salute for an Acapa was, “yes Acapa? You’ve been gone a long time.”
“What happened to you, Aiden? Which one do you blame this time?”
“Salona and Hurlina-”
“You will address them as Storm Salona and Storm Hurlina! You know the rules, Telca!”
“Apologies Acapa, Storm Salona and Storm Hurlina were fighting over their caves and it came to flames twelve Riders were in the cave when the fire came. I was the only one that survived.” he had his head down and his voice cracked a couple times with emotion.
All the dragons rumbled in a sort of laugh.
“Oh, I’m sorry that the Storms haven’t been kind to you Telca.” I paused as I saw a small tear run down his darkened face, “are you gonna cry about it? You know the rules. I only brought you in because you were alone, with no one and nothing to your name! I took pity on you and raised you to the man you are!” I paused seeing the shame in his face, “I need you by my side Aiden. Can I trust you?”
He took a deep breath, “you can always trust me Acapa.”
I could tell that he still wanted my approval like he did so long ago even though he was a grown man and didn’t technically need my approval anymore because he knew a lot of what I knew. I was still proud of him.
“Can I trust you to keep a secret?”
“With my life.”
“Good, now saddle up Tilbeneth, we’re going for a ride.”
He ran off to get the saddle. Garven followed me as I checked my dragons over to make sure they were still in good health and had no injuries.
“Do you think this is a good idea? He’s always been the most passionate of the Riders. Remember?”
“I know Garven, but he's also the only Rider I can trust. He was also the one that I found in the rubble of the first village I destroyed. I don’t want to just betray him like this. I raised him like a son. I want him with us. He will understand. He didn’t tell anyone the reason I left the first time, he is going to come with us if it’s the last good thing I do”
“You can’t force him to do this.”
“I know but…”
“You would feel guilty if you left him and then he died you would blame yourself and would never forgive yourself. Am I right?”
I took a deep breath, “as always… you know me way too well, Garven.”
Then Aiden came over saying that Tilbeneth was ready. Garven gave me a quick kiss and went to go get a bath.
I put on my old Rider armor that a newer Rider brought over. The armor consisted of a vest of dragon skin, the vest had emergency wings that came out that were made of leather that was attached to loose strings around the wrists, shin, shoulder and forearm guards covered in dragon skin and a helmet covered in dragon skin that went over the face to keep the wind out and the front of the face was on hinges so you could push it up when you wanted to. After getting the armor on I climbed on Tilbeneth and Aiden climbed up behind me.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”
“You’ll remember.” said Aiden as he put his arms around my torso from behind.
“Let's go Storm Tilbeneth!”
He crawled out of the caves and took off into the sky. As we leveled out above the clouds I marveled at the beauty of the bleak landscape of fluffy clouds. I took the reins in my left hand and patted Aidens thigh. I heard him breathe out.
“I know something is up, Acapa. What’s going on?”
I took a deep breath and pushed up the face cover, “Aiden, just call me Iea right now alright?”
“Alright… Iea”
“you know that I would never do anything to hurt you right?”
“Not intentionally.”
“I’ve raised you to follow the rules of the Riders, which is what you’ve done for 30 years and I'm very proud of you. You know that right?”
“What are you trying to get at Iea?”
“It’s time to dissolve the Riders of Storms, Aiden.”
He jumped, “What?! Are you serious?!”
“I’m serious. The destruction it makes got the attention of the Monks of Knowledge. You remember right? The guys who have the warrior calling fire? Anyway, you know I left because I realized my own rules were not right. I was killing people that weren’t even hurting me, I need you with me, Aiden.”
“Have you gone crazy?! I’ve given my entire life to the Riders! You taught me everything I know!”
“I know it sounds crazy Aiden but it’s time to stop and actually think about what we do. The dragons are wreaking havoc on innocent people and now we’re the bad guys. I never meant for this to happen.”
“Iea, this doesn’t sound like you. What has Garven done to you?”
“This has nothing to do with Garven, keep him out of this. I’ve merely decided that it’s time to stop the dangerous things we’ve done!”
“You didn’t think of this when you first found the Dragon eggs did you?”
“Of course not! I was 10 years old when I left my family behind and struck out on my own with 12 dragon eggs. What would you have done? Huh? The exact same thing! I just wanted to hatch the eggs and have different types of dragons to ride! It was a childish dream but then it grew to one of the most dangerous societies on Katava. I didn’t know what I was doing! After I destroyed your village and 5 other villages I became the Dragon Storm Rider and then I turned into legend and then the Riders were born from that because I couldn’t stand being alone that’s why I took you in that’s why I never killed my own dragons. I have full control over the dragons Aiden, I can just order them to kill all the Riders if I want to. I really don’t want to do that but if you’re not going to be with me you are against me and I have to do what I must. I don’t want to have to kill you, Aiden.”
“You’re serious aren’t you?”
Tears started streaming down my face, “I’ve never lied to you, little dragon.”
He stood up in the saddle, “you aren’t the only one that controls the dragons Acapa Iea.”
Tilbeneth then tucked his wings and rolled. Aiden stayed standing on the saddle.
“Impossible.”
“Afraid you’re not the only Dragon Astale.”
I made a fist with my right hand and put my left hand over one end of the fist and then put it to my mouth and roared the calling signal for the dragons. Within 30 seconds all 12 dragons were in the air around us. I jumped to Salona as she came up underneath Tilbeneth, grabbed her horns and stood on the back of her neck. Thus began the battle for the Dragons.
“Tasa Salona, KATARACA!”
Salona blew fire at Tilbeneth and Aiden. Aiden didn’t have his armor and I didn’t want to do this to him but he was the one Rider that knew the language of the Dragons and he needed to go because if he had the dragons in his power it would be a catastrophe.
“Tasasum, KATARACA!”
They all blew their acid, Boiling water, Fire and ice at Tilbeneth and Aiden. It was too fast for Aiden to react and within three minutes Tilbeneth and Aiden fell from the sky. I screamed in absolute anguish. I never wanted any of this to happen but that was the cost of peace.
“Tasasum, kataraca craveta!” I yelled.
The dragons dove back into the clouds and we headed for the caves. Garven had already gotten out of the caves before we came and decimated the caves. The only thing I regretted was killing Tilbeneth and Aiden. It broke my heart to have to do it but Aiden would have killed me and would have kept going with the destruction I had taught him to do. Garven had grabbed a saddle before going into the woods outside the caves. I ordered Irvo and Salona to land and Garven saddled Irvo and we took off for the Monks of Knowledge’s monastery. All the monks came out armed. I had Salona and Irvo land above the Caverns door while the rest of the dragons landed at the bottom of the mountain to start to sleep for a while. Salona put one of her wings to where the monks and the last of the warriors were waiting with their weapons drawn. I slid down her wing to where the monks and warriors were waiting.
I held up my hands, “everyone, I am Iea former leader of the Riders of Storms. I am also known as an Assassin but not many know me. I was given the gift of controlling dragons. I left the Riders of the Storms 10 years ago and 5 years into my retirement all of Katava was in trouble because the 12 dragons that I had raised and the people I had trained went on with what I had started. I went back when I found this out two weeks ago and destroyed the members of the Riders of Storms. The only thing that’s left is 11 dragons, my husband and I. I only came back because it was all my fault and I take responsibility for what’s happened to Katava. You can take everything I have but all I want are my dragons.”
Garven threw me the bag of money that he had gotten from the cave's vault before leaving. The bag held millions of gold pieces and sapphires. I put it on the ground and turned to go back to Salona.
“Lady Iea, why are you doing this?”
“I am not a bad person my dear Abbott. That money is to be used to help the people that the Riders have hurt. If the money is used for anything other than that, I will track you down and I will kill you.”
I stood on Salona’s wing and she lifted it and I walked on it to her neck and stood on it.
“Remember my warning.”
I roared and the dragons took off and we flew above the clouds for a very long time.
