Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Six — Introductions are in Order
Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Six — Introductions are in Order The carriage rattled and shook as we rode up towards the edge of the city. Not one of the sections that hung off the side of the mountain, or even towards one of the many ports surrounding Goldenalden. No, we were heading up, towards the taller parts of the city where it more or less disappeared into the mountain.Even after just twenty minutes of riding along steep switch-back roads, I could tell that the air had grown just a little bit thinner. It was certainly colder. Awen was stuck between Amaryllis and I with a heap of blankets on top of herself, and she was still shivering a little.I shifted around and wrapped an arm over her shoulder. “There, that’ll warm you up a little,” I said.“Thank you,” Awen said.“You know, it’s only going to get colder once we’re in the air,” Amaryllis noted. “And the air will only grow thinner.”“I’m used to it onboard a ship,” Awen said. “But being stationary makes it different somehow. Also, I don’t think we usually flew all that high with the Beaver.”I grinned. “I’m kind of excited about this. Last time, when we flew with Rhawrexdee, I could barely tell what was happening. I spent the entire flight focusing on not falling off his back.”Amaryllis gave me a look. “You’re so reckless,” she said.“I’m sure the sylph have a bunch of safety precautions. They seem like very safety-minded people,” I said.“Yes, probably because they had a few people like you in their ranks before they slipped out of the population,” Amaryllis said.I harrumphed at her. “You know, what you’re doing now isn’t legal here.”“What?” Amaryllis asked, her grin shifting away in place of confusion. “What are you talking about?”“Being so smug isn’t allowed here.”“I doubt they made a law about it,” Amaryllis said, rather smugly at that.“It’s called smuggling, and it’s not allowed.”Amaryllis stared at me, then she looked to Awen. “Can we switch seats? I need to smack Broccoli around a bit.”We tussled a bit, filling the carriage with laughter and Awen’s squeaky giggles. Eventually though, the carriage rolled to a stop and we all paused to look out and see what was going on. We were at a gatehouse that blocked the roadway. It was manned by a single young sylph dressed in an ill-fitting guard’s outfit. He spoke to the carriage driver, and we were let through.Our carriage circled around a driveway next to a tower that stuck out from the mountainside. It reminded me of the old palace where the summit had taken place. This had to be a place built with magic. There was careful stonework on the outside, but the rearmost wall seemed to almost melt into the mountain itself.“I suppose this is it,” Amaryllis said. She pushed the door open, peeked outside, then jumped out.Awen shed her blankets and did the same, with me following right behind her.“I guess we go to the tower,” I said with a gesture to the building in question. There were a few other places nearby, newer looking barracks and a warehouse with a tin roof, but there didn’t seem to be too much going on up here.“I’ll be heading back down, as ordered,” the carriage driver said. “Do you need any help with your things?”I shook my head, jumped up onto the back of the carriage, and then tossed our stuff down to Awen and Amaryllis who caught all of our gear. We didn’t have all that much. A few tools, some weapons, and packs that Caprica had found for us with survival meals and tents and such.After saying goodbye to the carriage driver, we started towards the tower only for the front doors to glide open, letting a few sylph to spill out. One of them was immediately recognizable.“Bastion!” I cheered.The paladin smiled. “Hello, Broccoli. Awen, Amaryllis,” he greeted with a nod to my friends. He planted his feet in place so that my hug wouldn’t bowl him over, patting my back with a chuckle. “It hasn’t been that long, I don’t know if I deserve such treatment.”“Of course you do,” I said as I backed out of the hug. “You’re a friend and I haven’t seen you in over three hours, that’s enough reason for a proper hugging. It’s been days. So much happened!”Bastion conceded the point with a nod. “I suppose we have all been rather busy,” he said. He half-turned to gesture to the two sylph that had come out with him. “Let me introduce my companions here. This is Menos Salvonote, and Winnow Underwing.”Menos was a very young sylph knight with a breastplate that looked a tiny bit too big for his chest. He was otherwise wearing a leather uniform, with fur ruff at the neck and sleeves and I think around the holes for his wings. He nodded, which made the leather and plate cap on his head (with big goggles) bounce a bit. “Pleasure,” he said.“Hello,” Winnow replied. She was older and just a pinch shorter than Bastion, with a serious set to her brow but bright eyes that seemed curious and happy. She had the same sort of gear on as Menos, though she lacked the breastplate and cap.“These are ladies Awen Bristlecone and Amaryllis Albatross, and this is Captain Broccoli Bunch,” Bastion introduced us. Amaryllis nodded curtly and Awen gave them a little wave. “Captain Willow and knight Menos here will be the ones escorting you to the Trenten Flats.”“Oh?” I asked. “You’re both... what do we call people who fly on wyverns here?”“Wyvern knights,” Menos said. It was clear he was pretty proud of his job. “The few and the brave. The kings of the open skies.”Winnow chuckled. “We’re hardly the kings of the sky. We are knights though, which ought to suggest a certain pattern of behaviour.” The last was very pointedly aimed right at Menos, who straightened.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.I nodded along. “That sounds really cool. Will we be flying together? Two to a wyvern?”“That was the plan, yes,” Bastion said. “It’s safer that way, and having someone inexperienced leading a wyvern, especially so far from the usual training airspace, is unwise.”“So, you’ll be adventuring with us again,” Amaryllis said to Bastion.The paladin nodded. “One more time, at least,” he said. “Though we are merely bringing you to your destination. It isn’t much of an adventure at all.”“Oh, don’t worry, there’s always plenty of things that can go wrong, monsters that can show up, and bad guys to fight,” I said.Amaryllis whapped me behind the head with her feathers. “Don’t go begging for trouble, Broccoli, the World is liable to give you more than you can handle.”I pouted at her back, but she was probably right.“Do you want to meet the wyverns?” Winnow asked. And just like that, she had all of my attention.We walked into the tower, which turned out to look more like an office building on the inside, with the first couple of floors obviously dedicated to all the paperwork and bureaucracy needed to take care of a group of wyvern knights.“This is the Goldenalden tower,” Winnow said. “We have one of these towers next to most important cities, and there are a few more dotted here and there across the mountains, some in secret locations, others out in the open.”“How many wyverns are there?” I asked.“You mean those bred in captivity? Fewer than a thousand. Half of those aren’t ever going to be used for any sort of fighting. We do have couriers and other jobs for those wyverns who don’t pass the training to become aerial combat wyverns,” Winnow explained.“What about in the wild?” Awen asked.“Far fewer,” Winnow said. “Unfortunately, wyverns are a threat to lone sylph and even smaller airships. They’ll avoid cities unless something has disturbed them, but they’re still a threat. The only wild flights are far to the north and east where settlements are sparse and there’s no real air-traffic.”That was a little sad, but probably understandable. We continued to climb up the stairs while Winnow told us more about the wyverns. They were apparently gluttonous eaters if you let them. They were also lizards, so they were cold blooded and really enjoyed a bit of warmth. It was one of the rewards they gave to a well-behaved wyvern, so we didn’t need to panic if we saw a knight spraying one with some magical fire.We reached the top of the tower. One half of the room was a ramp leading up onto the flat roof, where I imagined wyverns could take off. The rest of the tower pushed into the mountain and was filled with big pens with metal bars between them.Wyverns slept within those, and I started to feel nervous about our flight for the first time. They were so big! Each wyvern had a pen big enough that we could have parked the Beaver within it if we were willing to squish it in a little.A wyvern raised its head up from the bed of straw it was resting on and watched us walk past. Its head was taller than I was, ears and all. It could have chomped me in half if it wanted to, I think.“We’ll be taking Bloodfang, Greencrest, and Little Doug today,” Winnow said.I blinked. “Those are the names of the wyverns?” I asked.She nodded. “They are. They should be saddled up for us already, but we’ll go and meet them first. It’s good form to get them used to your smell and what you look like before a flight. Especially since none of you are sylph. You’ll look and smell different from what they’re used to.”We stopped by Little Doug’s cage first, and Menos stepped up and opened a slim door in the cage and stepped in without hesitation.Little Doug had a chest bigger around than the carriage we used to get to the tower, and was as long as the Beaver Cleaver was wide. “Hey there, little guy,” Melos said as he patted the wyvern’s snout.“Why is he called Little Doug?” I asked.“Oh, he was the runt,” Winnow said. “Almost failed every test. By all rights he shouldn’t have been trained any further, but we discovered that he’s one of the most soft and docile wyverns we’ve raised. Not optimal for an aerial combattant, but he doesn’t mind new knights flying on him. So he’s the training mount for a lot of newer knights and when we need to escort VIPs around, Little Doug’s the wyvern to go to.”“Oh,” I said. So he was just a friendly little guy. I liked him already!“He seems nice,” Awen said.“Good, then you can ride on him with Knight Melos. Go on in, he’ll show you how to greet Doug, and then we’ll have some of the stablehands load your gear up,” Winnow said.A wide-eyed Awen was ushered into the wyvern’s cage. She stood back for a bit, but Awen was quite brave when she wanted to be (and the situation wasn’t a social one) so she walked over to the wyvern and gave it her hand to sniff as if it was a big dog.“A Wyvern’s sense of smell isn’t great,” Winnow said. “But their eyesight is second to none. Their hearing is awful, but enough that they can hear orders.”“How long have you been working with them?” I asked as we continued on.“Oh, nearly a decade now. Which is a long time for a wyvern knight. It’s very much a young person’s career.”“How long do wyverns... work for?” I asked.“Three, maybe four decades,” Winnow said. “Depending on injuries and how gracefully they age. We train them to be used to multiple knights, but they do have favourites. Come, this is Greencrest, Sir Bastion will be flying her.”
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Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Seven — Flight of the Wyverns
Chapter Three Hundred and Twenty-Seven — Flight of the Wyverns “You’re a good little almost-dragon, aren’t you? Yes you are! Yes you are!” I cooed to Miss Greencrest the wyvern. The big beastie’s emotions were hard to read. It didn’t have as expressive a face as most mammals, or even the few dragons I’d met, but I think Miss Greencrest was still quite happy with the way I scritched her under the chin if the way she pressed into the attention was any indication.“She seems to like you,” Winnow said. “That’s good. Paladin Bastion will be flying with her, you can ride along with him.”“Oh? I don’t mind which wyvern I fly with. They all seem very sweet and friendly. Isn’t that right, Miss Greencrest? Do you want to be my friend?”GreencrestDream: To fly and huntDesired Quality: Someone who will give her meatI chuckled, then glanced around. There was a bucket in the central corridor with a metal lid above it having the words Bones and Gristle painted on the side. I bet those were snacks. “Can I give her a treat?” I asked.“Certainly,” Winnow said. “But she’ll have to be saddled in a moment, so do so quickly. And take care not to have your hand snipped off.”“Okay!” I said.Winnow led Amaryllis to another cage deeper in where the third wyvern we’d be flying was located. Bloodfang, who was a big boy of a wyvern with reddish scales. The wyvern bumped his head against the cage as Winnow approached, looking pretty excited to see the knight.I got a honking big chunk of meat for Greencrest, who gobbled it up greedily while the other wyverns in the cages around us looked on with jealousy (I did want to give them all snacks, but I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to do that. Maybe they were on a specific diet?). Then I had to leave her cage as a group of pages and squires came around with harnesses and nets and big leather pieces that they started to strap over Greencrest.The other two wyverns were being prepared too. I noted that the barding had chainmail between layers of padding and leather. It covered a lot of the wyvern’s sternum and ribs, and they had a sort of metal helmet that fit around their heads, giving them a fearsome appearance.The saddle was at the front, just above the wyvern’s wing joints. There was a lot of flexible material there, probably so that the wyvern could move their wings unimpeded. The seats looked like they were padded, but I suspected it wasn’t going to be super comfy.The door to Little Doug’s cage was opened and Melos led the wyvern out with Awen clutching onto the saddle while the wyvern moved with careful grace. A few more squires approached with some last bits of equipment that were probably tricky to fit while the wyvern was still in its enclosure.Greencrest was let out next. I moved back so that I wouldn’t be in anyone’s way and I watched as the wyvern slithered out of her cage, then allowed the sylph working with the wyvern knights to equip her properly. Allowed, because I had no doubt that things would be quite different if she didn’t want to be fussed over.The wyverns all had thick, corded muscles just beneath their scaly-cool skin, especially along their backs and flanks. I walked over to Greencrest’s front with another snack, then I patted the wyvern on the snoot while she munched through what I suspected was a goat’s femur bone.“Will you need a hand climbing aboard?” Bastion asked.He had changed a bit while I wasn’t paying attention. He still wore his shiny paladin breastplate, as well as its greaves and vambraces, but he had removed most of the rest of his armour. The sylph around him were acting a bit more carefully now that he was there.“I think I can manage,” I said. “But we should probably wait until we’re outside?”He nodded. “Indeed,” he said before reaching up to Greencrest’s head and giving it a rub. We both had to step back as a squire stepped up apologetically and started to strap a helmet onto the wyvern’s head. There was lots of padding, and it looked custom made, so it was probably fairly comfortable.Another sylph passed by and handed Bastion a set of reins that led up to the bridle around the wyvern’s head. Once Greencrest was fully equipped, we started walking towards the exit, only I was stopped a few steps away. “Ma’am,” a young sylph in armour similar to Melos and Winnow said.“Yes?” I asked.“Ah, we have some equipment for you and your companions,” she said. “It was interesting, finding things in your approximate size-range.”“Will I need to change?” I asked with a tap to my breastplate.She shook her head. “No, no, the harnesses are meant to go over a knight’s armour, you’ll be fine. The overcoat will give you another layer. Trust me, you’ll appreciate it unless you happen to have self-heating magic.”“I don’t think I have any magic like that,” I admitted.The nice knight brought me aside to a small area with all sorts of other equipment, then she helped me into a harness made of tough leather straps. It ran around my chest and over my arms and between my legs, with parts strapped to my thighs and upper arms. There were lots of buckles that clinked and jingled, and I had to squish up my skirts to be able to fit into the bottom part of the harness.I probably looked a bit silly, but then the knight gave me a big coat made of some very long fur. It had slits for my arms and more slits so that we could access the harness buckles through the furry material.“Oh, this is cosy,” I said as I hugged myself. I was now the softest bun ever.“You’ll need it. It gets cold mid-flight, especially with any metal armour on,” the knight said. “Here, the caps aren’t fashionable, but they’ll keep your hair out of your face and the goggles will let you actually see.”You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.She handed me a leather cap with thick cloth pads around the outside of it. The inside was filled with more fur, and the front of the cap had a half-mask which could be buttoned up on one side to cover everything from my nose down. It even had goggles with thick glass. It was a good thing I didn’t wear glasses or else that bit would be tricky.I did encounter one big problem though. Or rather, two of them. “What do I do with my ears?” I asked.The knight blinked, then slowly looked up above my head. “Ah,” she said.A couple of minutes and a couple of holes later, I pulled the cap on tight, ears wiggling around out of the modifications we’d brought to the cap. “Thanks,” I said.New Skill Acquired: Wyvern RidingRank: DOh, that was neat!“No problem. Please make sure you’re well hooked onto the harnesses before you take off. It would shame us all if you were blown off your wyvern’s back mid-flight. Not to mention search and rescue missions aren’t any fun.”I nodded. I wouldn’t want to inconvenience anyone by splattering myself against the countryside somewhere.I left the room and a grinning Awen went in after me, then Amaryllis followed after her, led by another knight.“This isn’t going to be as quiet an event as I had wished,” Bastion said as I returned to his side.“What do you mean?” I asked.He gestured to the many sylph loitering around. They didn’t seem to have much to do anymore. Too many of them were sweeping the floor with brooms just to look busy. At least the place would be very clean if they continued to clean to be able to stick around.“Oh,” I said.“Oh indeed,” Bastion replied. “I think we’re all gaining a fair bit of attention. I had hoped that the mission would be discreet.”“Well, they don’t know where we’re going, do they?”“That’s true. Still, if the rumour goes around, it might reach the ears of someone who’ll feed it to the cervid, and when they get reports of your rather distinct group in the Trenten Flats it won’t be difficult to put two and two together.”“Is that a bad thing?” I asked.Bastion rubbed at his chin. “Not necessarily. Even if the right cervid learns about you, it doesn’t mean they’ll act in a way that would be detrimental. But that’s asking for the mission to go without a hitch. Never rely on your adversary doing what’s convenient for you.”"They're not really our adversary, though."“If you’re trying to talk sense into her, I’d just give it up as a lost cause,” Amaryllis said as she stalked over with a jingle of metal on metal from all the belts she wore.I blinked. That had been surprisingly mean of her. She was always a bit snarky, and didn’t mind calling me a moron but... “Are you nervous about flying?” I asked her.Her chest puffed out, feathers going poofy. “I’m part-bird, Broccoli, I’m hardly going to be nervous about flying.”“It’s okay to be a little afraid about something new,” I soothed her. “Flying like this is something you’ve never done. Well, besides that one time with Rhawrexdee, but that was different.” I nodded. “When I’m scared, I find that hugs make the scary feelings go away. Do you want a hug?”Amaryllis was glaring at me, but her puffiness had changed a bit in quality, and I think I had the measure of her. A moment later, she as much as admitted it when she huffed a ‘yes-you're-right-but-I'll-never-in-a-million-years-admit-it’ sort of huff.So I gave her a big tight hug and Amaryllis pretended that no one was watching as she returned it.“Oh, we’re doing hugs now?” Awen asked.She didn’t look the least bit nervous about the flight. Meeting so many new people might have made her a little nervous, but I think Awen was really excited about taking off and flying around.“Alright everyone,” Winnow said. “Everything’s packed up, last chance to reconsider.”“I think we’ll be okay,” I said.The knight nodded, and we followed her outside. The three wyverns we were going to ride were lined up to one side, their big talons gripping onto a set of logs bolted to the ground on the edge of the tower. Judging by all the scratches on the wood, those were where most wyverns launched from.Bastion fluttered up onto Greencrest’s back with a few flasps of his wings, then I hopped up behind him. There were a lot of buckles to clamp onto my harness, and we took our time making sure all of them were properly secured while a couple of sylphs packed our things away in big saddle bags near the wyvern’s flanks.“We’ll be flying at a brisk-but-easy pace,” Winnow called out over the wind. “Nothing showy, understood Melos?”“Yes ma’am!” the other knight said.“Alright then.” Winnow tugged at Bloodfang’s reins and the wyvern growled eagerly even as he spread his wings wide. “Then let’s go!”I gasped as Greencrest spread her own wings, bunched her legs up, then threw us up and forwards.The wyvern’s wings flapped hard and fast, with great big whups that snapped out at every beat. My tummy did a little flip as we started to rise. Then we hit some sort of thermal and our slow rise became a lot faster.I laughed as we circled over the tower. Goldenalden was spread out below us, only the highest of the airships even with us.I heard Awen laughing too, and noticed Amaryllis’ very white face as she gripped onto knight Winnow atop Bloodfang.“Follow me,” Winnow shouted over the wind. And with that, we banked around and started across Sylphfree.
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