Red Earth, Violet Skies

There weren't always dragons in the Valley. But the roar that blasted off behind me shook the very earth. I bet you can hear that all the way to Dennar’s Ford! It was the kind of sound that you felt more than heard. And I’m here to tell you, you do not want to hear it. Ever. My bones rattled to the thrum, and my heart skipped a beat or three, as I ran and… well… half fell down the valley slopes of rock and sand.

How far behind me are they? Run run run run… that’s all I can do now. Just r- Another roar echoed off of the rocks from behind me. One from much much closer behind me.

Run!

I gripped the bundle to my chest and ran for all I was worth. Not looking to die today, no thank you! My shaking legs ate the downward slope yards at a time. Leaping over a nasty looking patch of thorn covered Wakka plants, I rounded a cracked boulder, and I saw Garlen at the foot of the slope below me. He was just sitting there. Just sitting there atop our lizard.

“Garlen!” My voice cracked, the sound was half swallowed by the thrum of roaring dragons. Sand and bones, but how many were there? “GARLEN!” He looked up, and waved. “Garlen, you idiot, start the engine!”

“Heya boss! Di’ja get th-”

“GARLEN! Start that engine!” My last word probably didn’t make it to him. My ankle caught and I launched face first into the sliding sandy slope.

My nose cracked against the hill as I flipped, and I ate a mouthful of hot gritty sand. My goggles did their job and kept the sand from my eyes as I rolled head over heels, but I felt them cut into my forehead on impact. The world spun over and over as I rolled to the bottom of the hill, and the whole time I had only two thoughts.

First off, this had better be worth it. I kept my arms wrapped tight around the bundle, and felt it smash into my ribs as I continued my oh-so-delicate descent. Second, and more importantly, Garlen had better have that blasted engine started by the time I land my battered butt on the bottom, or I’ll punch that smile off of his good for nothing sandy face.

The world somersaulted over my head one last time before I found myself slamming into the back tire of the lizard.

“Y’all right boss?” Garlen’s smile deepend. “You look like you’ll be tasting sand for a month!”

I opened my mouth to yell at him, but only sand came out. And a tooth. Standing on shaky legs, I put one foot upon the back tire and leapt over the cylindrical body of the lizard. Landing in the seat behind Garlen with the bundle held tight to my chest, gasping and coughing as my lungs fought for air.

“Looks like you got the goods!” He flipped through the keyring, holding it close to his dirty goggles. “How many are there anywa-'' But my lungs had finally filled with air again, and my mouth was somewhat less packed with sand.

“GARLEN!” It was all I could manage.

His smile cracked even bigger, if that was possible, and he stuck the key into the ignition. The lizard squawked to life with a shudder. “Now now Tara, no need to waste time yelling! We gotta get movin’ ya’ know?”

Kicking up a cloud of dust, the lizard’s metal frame lurched forward. Its four puffy wheels spun out, then quickly caught their grip and sent us skittering up and over the rocks. The acceleration rolled me against the back seat, and Garlen rocketed us down the Valley.

“Clip in chief! It’s gonna get bumpy!” I did. Well I clipped the stolen bundle in, and I just held on for my dear sweet life. I thought to myself again, and not for the last time, this had better be worth it…

The draconic roar rose into a crescendo from the rocky slopes above, and I turned back to see a sight that nearly wet my pants. Dragons. Four roaring dragons. Metal mechanisms that flew. They actually flew! They looked like small metallic chariots, or boats, each only big enough for one or two people on board. Fire and smoke erupted from their aft in an impressive plume as they screamed up and over the ledge of the valley, then tore down the slope in a tight formation that spoke of precision and practice. The lizard’s engine sounded like a purring house cat next to the absolute cacophony of that which chased us. They were catching up, and they were doing it fast.

“Weapons, Garlen, where are the weapons!?”

“Tied on back, there!” He nodded his head to the long leather wrapped package secured in neat and tidy knots to the back of my seat. Tearing my eyes away from the diving dragons, I reached for it.

My fingers fumbled with the leather straps, quickly pulling them free. “Okay okay okayyyy, what do we have here…?” I yanked the last knot free, and spilled the goods into the back seat. A rusty sword, two flash-crackers… and… “Oh… oh yeaaaaaa!” A shock-bow!?

Garlen laughed, “Thought you’d like that one, ma’am! Just got it from the artificer up in Dennar’s Ford last night!”

“Oh, I like it!” I hefted the shock-bow up, its long black shaft was smooth and cool to the touch. I wound the crank, and lifted it up to aim.

“They said it fires just like a crossbow. Looks like one too, huh? You just ‘ave to wind it up and pull the-”

The thing hummed, and with a little click, it sparked from the nose. Lightning arced towards the formation of rapidly enclosing dragons. The blue forked bolt stuck one dragon down like a javelin from the Gods. And then there was smoke. And fire. A black cloud erupted into a wide dome, swallowing the other three dragons in its destructive expanse.

I let out a whooping cry, and Garlen laughed his jolly old laugh. Good old Garlen! You know, I don’t think I will punch him in his sandy face after all.

“We gotta get you one of these things, Garlen!”

“What!? That one is mine, Tara!”

The roar redoubled, and two of the dragons launched from the black of the cloud. A dark smoke streamed off of their bodies, leaving a trail of smog as the pilots spun out of the blast zone. Their formation staying tight, the duel dragons arced up high and barreled clear of the smoke. Then they dove straight for us in a scream like some mechanical menacing birds of prey.

Garlen was still laughing. But the lizard was pushing itself as fast as it could go, and the dragons were brutally fast. Faster than I had feared. “The cave’s jus’ ahead, boss! They can’t fly ‘n there! It’s too low, too small! Just like ya’ planned it.”

We would be safe. But only if we made it to the caves, which seemed less likely every second. The wind began to shriek as the dragon’s clawed their way through it. Comparatively… we were crawling.

Too fast. Too fast! Do or die.

Remember your training… Dropping my head, I took a deep breath and let it go. Slowly. And then another. Deep.

The world slowed, but my mind sparked forward.

I raised my head. The waves of dust from the lizard’s path rose like lazily drifting clouds on a windless day. The two dragons closed in from behind, flying only yards above the ground in a slow loft.

For the first time, I looked at the pilots. Clipped in at the waist with a harness, and feet stirruped onto the dragon’s deck, they rode with both hands free. How did they guide those blasted machines? Each were clad in the long red coats of an Imperial Knight, tinted goggles, and a long black scarf that streamed out from behind them as they flew. The closest dropped his lance and the other shouted an inaudible command. Knights of the Sky, huh?

I could see the stitching on their coats and the sweat on their faces. My target was set. In the moment between heart beats, I cranked the shock-bow, and brought it back to my shoulder. Aim. Fire.

I pulled the trigger with an exhale, and the world launched back into full speed as blue lightning reached towards the closest dragon. But in the flash of a singular moment the Knight barrelled, the dragon spun, and the blue fork of death shot past his head, crashing into the hillside. Rubble rained down onto the hull of his ship as it soared upside down alongside me. The Knight smirked.

I fought against the panic. How!? Do or die. breathe. slow. SLOW.

The world began to gel again, but panic shook at my concentration. I fumbled for the shock-bow crank. That damnable smirk deepened, and the Knight’s eyes locked onto mine. I froze. His eyes… they actually glowed violet behind his goggles.

His dragon belched a blast of fire from its engine. The Knight, standing upside down in his harness and stirrups, steadied the point of his lance. Like a hawk, those eyes never left their target, and that violet glow threatened to burn me away as he blasted forward.

I rose the shock-bow in a panic, and the tip of his lance bit through its haft with the sound of rent metal. The Knight’s gaze stayed locked onto mine until impact. Then the bow was torn from my grip as the dragon blasted past us, covering the lizard in smoke from his exhaust.

Garlen swerved out of the smog trail, and I saw the shock-bow explode upon the passing lance ahead of us.

“There goes your shock-bow, chief!” Garlen hooted.

“I thought that one was yours?”

“Naw! You can have that one, I’ll take the next one!” He shouted, and took a hard banking turn upon a red dune of rubble. The lizard’s tires shrieked and slid as shifting sands gave way to solid stone. Each bump nearly tossed me from my seat. But there was no better lizard pilot than Garlen.

I lost sight of the attacking Knight in the explosion, but from behind us I saw the other. Her hands were raised, and between each finger undulated small arcs of lightning.

“Nonono! GARLEN, that one’s a sandy Warlock!” The shout was all the warning I could give. But it had to be enough.

The lightning flared from finger to finger, then formed into a spinning sphere between her palms. “Hang on boss!” Garlen hooted, and suddenly I felt the lizard slam up into my body. A short moment of weightlessness held me aloft, and for the fifth time in a minute my heart completely skipped a beat. This had better be worth it…

Balled lightning mangled the sand dune below us, and then the feeling of weightlessness began to suddenly drop. I felt that momentary tickle in my stomach. And then we landed. The force smashed my already battered face onto the lizard’s back seat, and I hung on for all I was worth as we bounced again and again.

“Y’alright back there boss?!” Garlen swerved, and another ball of lightning pocketed the earth, melting the sand to glass where the lizard had just been. I managed a groan, and he laughed. “Cave’s jus’ there, Tara!! Get them flash-crackers hot and we’ll be safe. Jus’ like we planned!”

I didn’t plan on bashing my face in so many times. But yea, it was going pretty smooth considering. I put the dragon-mounted Warlock out of my head, that was Garlen’s problem for now, and scrambled for the flash-crackers.

I found them, and held them up. Two clay orbs connected to each other with an arm’s length of twine. “Want me to light em’ up?”

“Spark em’ boss!”

I put the center of the twine against the red hot engine sticking out of the lizard’s back, and it flared to life, separating the two crackers. “Garlen, we’re hot!” The fuse shrunk rapidly as the spark greedily ate its way to the husk of the clay spheres.

“Hold up Tara, almos’ there!” Garlen swerved around showers of sand and pockets of blasted earth. Guiding the lizard up the slope, around the lightning, and ever onwards toward the mouth of the cave. The sputtering fuse was half gone, and the cave entrance didn’t seem close enough.

A screech in the sky brought my gaze up. Passing the pinnacle of his high loop, the charging Knight guided his dragon screaming downward. The blaze and smoke behind him leaving an almost perfect ring in the sky. The sun caught the gleam of steel, and I saw that he had a long blade drawn and ready.

The brandishing Knight fell in formation next to the Warlock, who hurled one last churning ball of lightning. There was no escape! The lizard was just shy of the cave’s mouth, turn now and we would miss the entrance. Turn now and they would have us. Stay the course and… well, I saw what that balled lightning could do. That would be it for us.

Instinct took over, and I tossed the two flash-crakers. Lightning met fire in a deafening explosion of static and crackling smoke. The Knight shot forward, the Warlock shouted, and the lizard vanished into the shelter of the cave.

Shadow cloaked our eyes. All daylight was buried in the rolling waves of smoke as they poured into the cave mouth behind us. With a jerk, the lizard screeched at its breaks. Garlen guided the vehicle to a trot, and then to a walk.

“We’ll have to slow it down, but we’ll be movin’ much faster in here than they can. If they can even enter!” Garlen moved to light the front torch with a turn of a dial. After a hiss and a spark, small flames illuminated the cavern’s maw in a dancing light from the head of the lizard. Great red stalagmites jutted up like the broken teeth of some giant beast, and our lizard began to wind its way slowly deeper into the cave.

Safety. Without the open sky above, that Imperial scum had nothing on us. Knights of the Sky weren’t much on foot, and the lizard would take us through the caves much faster than they could run. With a sniff, I wiped the blood from my battered nose. Yeap, everything turned out pretty great, all things considered. Garlen began to whistle, and I slumped into the back seat with a sigh.

But the stone rattled. Then the smoke stirred. In unison, Garlen and I turned our heads back to the shadows which cloaked the cave’s mouth.

ROAR!

Violet eyes glowed out of the darkness, and red fire raged from behind. In his hands was a double edged blade that gleamed with the reflected light of both. Steady violet on the front edge, and dancing flame on the back. He flew through the smoke, and wound his way around the stone teeth of the cave in an array of spins and turns.

“You have to be kidding me! Who under the sun is this madman!?”

“You can ask ‘im yourself soon ‘nuff, boss! I think he has us.”

“Then why are you laughing, Garlen? Why and how is that funny!?”

The dragon was speed incarnate, and its pilot a mad artist. The Knight wove the dragon around the hanging stalactites with efficiency and ease, spiraling here and dipping there just so. In the blaze of an instant his sword was poised, and our eyes locked once more. Raging violet. I shuddered. The dragon tilted so that the Knight stood horizontal to the ground as he passed. His blade swung, and the lizard shrieked as its tires were cut by the flash of steel.

Our lizard slid out of control as the puffy rubber tires spun themselves apart. The Knight soared clear of the impending wreckage, my fingers moved to unclip the stolen bundle from the back seat, and Garlen’s laugh turned into a yell as the lizard flipped.

Too many times today. I’ve gone spinning out of control way too many times today. And something tells me my luck is about to run as dry as the sands. I went limp, and all the muscles in my body turned to jelly. The impact bounced me like a ragdoll for what seemed an hour before my tumble ended in a slide.

My body felt mostly numb, I couldn’t see a thing. But a deep throb hammered at my bones as I sat sprawled there in the darkness.

The ringing in my ears muffled the sound of crashing steel and breaking earth. I could feel the entire cave shake with the crash of Garlen’s lizard.

Garlen, I thought, I’m so sorry. This was supposed to be the last job. The last risk before we were free. The last time we had to stick our necks out. I felt tears pooling up at the bottom of my goggles. Garlen, we were so close. So close.

The clash of metal on rock echoed through the shadows, then all sound faded away to a steady and rhythmic clack. It was deliberate and slow. Clack… clack… clack..! Boot sole on stone. I was too tired to panic, too beat, too sore.

I turned my head toward the footfall, and my vision spun. Out of the darkness strode the Knight. His knee high black boots stepping over the wreckage of what had once been our lizard. Of what had once been our way out of all of this.

“You should have surrendered.” His voice was collected. Cool, calm, quiet… and stupid. I hated it. The clack of his boots stopped, and silence finally settled. He stood beside me with those bright eyes scanning over the wreckage, that gaze sweeping over me like I was just a part of it. All just a part of the collateral damage. That ghostly violet light scanned over slashed tires and broken bones like they were the same thing.

I rolled my head to the other side, searching for the stolen bundle. If I could only find it before he did… I could…

I could do what? Run? I wasn’t sure I could even stand. I’d be lucky if he just left me here to die. How long had I even been laying here anyway? My head was swimming.

When I rolled my head back to the Knight, there was a second set of boots. Or maybe they had been there the whole time. A fog had begun to fill my mind, and my thoughts were distilling into it.

“Did they have it?” Her voice was quiet, but it held that weight of distant thunder. Danger! The Warlock! My stomach turned, and I felt that cold tingle of fear wriggle through the fog in my mind.

The Knight bent down before the ruined body of the lizard, reaching out a steady hand. The stolen bundle, still clipped to the seat where I had left it, seemed to beckon him forward. He scooped it up, almost gently, and began to unwrap the leather folds that held my only ticket out of this desert.

My vision began to fade. In the darkness the Knight knelt before his prize. A Warlock stood at his back, and his foes lay before his feet. The fog rolled in deep and began to drown my thoughts, but before it pulled my eyes shut completely I saw a light. I saw bright violet light erupt from the bundle as its last folds were pulled away. Violet. Like his stupid eyes. Resonation, huh? I guess the crystal really was his.

My mind once again had only two thoughts before my slipping to complete black. First, this had not been worth it. Not at all. And second, where under the sun was Garlen? He had better be in better shape than me… that sandy brained idiot.

“Yes… they had it.”

The haze pulled me under, and consciousness melted. Violet light and soft voices faded to black. I’ll get it back. I just have to sleep a little first…

* * *

He gently folded the bundle, extinguishing the bright violet light, and set it snuggly in his deep coat pocket. Beside him, Morghen was already piecing together a makeshift litter for the two battered thieves.

“Taking them with us, ma’am?”

“Don’t call me that, Scherzo.” She sighed. “I’m not your commanding officer anymore.” she swept the dark hair from her face as she stood. “But yes. This one managed to sneak past Aldrek, and knocked out half of our guards. The other one pilots that lizard like… well like a madman.”

Scherzo smiled, “You think we have use for them.” It wasn’t a question. Morghen knew that. Scherzo was sharp enough to see their value. And he knew her well enough to see the reasoning behind it. He nodded. “Aldrek should be able to Heal them fast enough.”

Together, in the flickering torch light of the wrecked lizard, they gently lifted the thieves onto the litter for transport.

“That one’s gonna be trouble when she wakes.” Scherzo gestured towards the litter with a tilt of his head.

“Yea, I’m planning on it. We’ll just have to… direct that trouble elsewhere.”

Morghen smiled.