Fic: Reclaiming the Sky (McKay/Sheppard, G)
Title: Reclaiming the Sky
Author: rinkafic
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis - AU
Characters/Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, Sils OCs
Rating: G
Size: 4,330
Notes: For kisahawklin
-o-
John stood and stomped his foot, working his toes into the front of his boot. He glanced out the window, open for the first time in nearly two moons, now that the Winter Storms had passed and the aurors declared the skies clear. Finally. He opened his wardrobe and took out his leather riding coat. His gloves were tucked into the sleeves for safekeeping, as was his leather cap. He pulled a heavy scarf from the pile folded on the shelf. It might be warm down in the valley, but up here in the Aerie, winter had not yet fully left them. It was always windy and one needed to bundle against the bite of the wind.
"Don't forget your gauntlets," Rodney called helpfully from the doorway.
He just nodded at the reminder. There was no chance that John could forget them. He wouldn't be able to ride without the protection on his left forearm and wrist, thanks to the injuries he had sustained in the ambush by the genii working for Kolya two summers before. He could use the hand, but the recovery had been long and painful.
"Think they'll behave well enough to get us assigned a route?" Rodney asked as John fell into step beside him.
"Hope so. Can you do my clasps?" He extended his arm and Rodney worked the straps through and fastened them, all without missing a step.
The yard was a bustle of activity, once the morning bell had rung, every rider in the Aerie had been in motion, eager to be outside and about their duties once more. There had been a hatching in the night, the first of the season, and everyone was looking upon it as a portent of good luck. There was a stream of people coming and going from the brood pens, each taking their peek and perhaps a touch of the new dragonlet.
The previous autumn, John and Rodney had spent a lot of time in the pens. Grounded because their mounts had been lost, they had helped care for any wounded or sick dragons, and looked after the eggs. Much of the aggressively protective instinct had been bred out of their females over the years, and they were not always the most diligent about nesting and keeping their eggs warm. The grounded riders had kept the fires burning and covered many an egg with a heavy blanket.
Their seniority gave them pick of the hatchlings last season. Rodney had chosen quickly, within days of the hatching of a green ridgecrest male that would be light and fast, which suited Rodney's fighting style. He had named him Vadil, after one of the most decorated dragons that had ever served the Aerie. More particular in his preferences, John had been hesitant to make a final choice, which irked the others that were waiting to choose but had to wait for him to make his decision first. Early on, he had favored an orange firetongue, but one of the last to emerge had stolen his heart, as well as the heart of Rodney's new dragon, who immediately chose her for a nest mate. They were inseparable from the day she hatched. She was a golden splaytail and would be huge when she reached her full growth. Ordinarily, John would have chosen a mount for speed, rather than a fighter bred for durability and strength, but John had looked into the wide emerald green eyes and his decision had been made. She was his.
And he was hers. John named her Lannie. The dragonlet was fiercely possessive of John, she nipped at the heels of anyone, man or dragon, that tried to get near him. Except Rodney. From the first day, she seemed to accept that Rodney had the first place in John's heart and she had accepted him, allowing him to pet and groom her when John was not able to do so.
Vadil and Lannie had taken time to learn to work as a team with their riders. The training up of young dragons was dangerous, frustrating and time consuming, but ultimately fulfilling. Like most ridgecrests, Vadil was smart but headstrong, he would respond to a new set of commands and do an exercise perfectly one day and the next, it would be as if he had not learned anything at all. The young dragon seemed to understand inherently that all of Rodney's shouting and insults were mere bluster and that he was in no danger whatsoever of being cut up and sold as purses and rucksacks at the marketplace. Lannie sensed it too, and frequently, John could feel her sides vibrating with her version of laughter. Despite her growing size, Lannie moved well. She worked well with other teams, when they left the juvenile pens and started training with the rest of the riders of the Aerie.
"Where is he?" Rodney muttered as they rounded the corner to the yard where their mounts were quartered. Lannie was sitting primly, already in harness, waiting for them to arrive. There was no sign of Vadil.
John walked over and patted Lannie's neck. "Where's your boyfriend, Lannie, hhmm?"
She swung her head around and nuzzled at John's hip, knocking him slightly sideways, though he caught himself on the straps of her harness. It was still only training tack. But if the pair performed well today it would be replaced with a set custom made for Lannie. She purred and nudged him again, giving his face a lick with the very tip of her tongue.
"I swear, she's tasting you every day. One of these days, she'll decide you're done to perfection and she'll have you for lunch." Rodney said as he raised a hand to shield his eyes as he searched the distance for his own dragon partner. He had been growing increasingly uncomfortable with Lannie's size. There were not many purebred splaytails in service. Males grew to an unmanageable size, and there had been incidents in the recorded past of wild male splaytails making a meal out of people. But the females were docile, their temperament allowed them to train up as good mounts, and so they were still bred and kept in service.
"You wouldn't eat me, would you? No of course not." John rubbed her nose and cooed at her quietly.
Rodney whistled sharply. That drew Lannie's attention and she stretched her neck out towards him. He ignored her hot breath on the back of his neck as he whistled again for Vadil. She bumped his shoulder with her nose, but Rodney merely brushed her off with a wave of his hand.
John laughed heartily when she raised her head and let out a huge bellow that echoed back to them off the cliffs of the Aerie. It was the first time she had made such a noise, and even she looked startled by the new sound.
"She's helping," John remarked when Rodney shot him a dirty look.
Coming to investigate the call - along with every other dragon quartered on these fields - was Vadil, galloping and twisting his way over the sparse grass. He twined around Lannie when he got to them, completely ignoring Rodney, much to Rodney's irritation. "Hey!"
"Aw, leave him alone, Rodney, he's showing her how proud he is of her. What a good bellow that was Lannie!" John patted her hide with the palm of his hand as he reached for the leads that were dragging the ground. He tugged and Lannie began to waddle after him obediently. Looking back over his shoulder, John had to stifle another bout of laughter as he saw Rodney running back and forth beside Lannie, jumping up to try to reach Vadil's lead as the male perched on Lannie's broad back and watched him with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
Their team leader, Taltren Sils, was waiting to go with them to the Central Headquarters of the Windriders. Their dragons would be tested there. "Captain Sheppard, Captain McKay," Sils greeted them with a nod and a smirk as he glanced up at Vadil, still clinging to John's saddle.
Sils gave a sharp whistle and a command gesture and Vadil didn't hesitate before jumping down and sitting at an attentive stance beside Lannie. McKay rolled his eyes and grabbed at Vadil's lead. He couldn't stay angry however, when Vadil leaned down and licked his cheek delicately.
"Oh yeah, yeah, I love you too. Now behave yourself," Rodney relented, patting Vadil's nose.
"If we don't have the opportunity to speak before the test, I wish you the best of luck today. We need you back up there on patrol, Captains." Their homeland was vast and the dragons were the only way for them adequately cover ground and see to the security of their people and their borders.
"Thank you, Taltren, I'm sure our team will do well," John replied with a confidence that he didn't feel. Vadil was a bit unpredictable, as the morning display had shown. John and Rodney both hoped that being in full harness, out on daily patrols with real responsibilities would bring Vadil properly in line. Some of their best service dragons had started out as wild youngsters, hopeful Vadil was simply immature..
The Taltren cleared his throat. "I have a question," he glanced at Vadil and then up at Lannie sitting sedately behind John. "If one of them passes..."
"They both pass or we don't fly," Rodney said firmly. "We already discussed it. Neither of us will fly solo. All or nothing, sir."
"I suspected that would be your answer. Good luck. See you on the ground!" Sils saluted and moved off to his own dragon, a bluish-black male razortail, Vadil would have no trouble keeping up with any pace Sils set, but Lannie would be weary if they did not stop to rest, she was not built for speed over long distances.
It was an uneventful flight. When they arrived at the training fields at headquarters, there were already a dozen other pairs of dragons and riders waiting to be tested. John saw only two other teams, the others all seemed to be singles, which surprised him, at the Aerie, they usually tried to pair everyone with a partner from the start. He watched a redbacked bladetongue leap into the air and like many of those watching, he gasped and was disappointed when the young rider was unseated before he was able to get fully on the wing.
"Rushed to test," Rodney said, shaking his head. "Should have waited, trained more."
"It was a long winter, I'm sure they were just eager to be on about it. He has no colors and worn, piecemeal leathers. Looks like an independant hoping to qualify," John was watching the rider lead his dragon from the field, both heads down, a picture of dejection.
When the young man walked past them, John slapped Lannie's neck and slid down her neck as she curled it around and lowered her head for him to do so. He jogged off after the young man, a dark-skinned, dark haired easterner, judging by the cut of his ragged leathers. "Hey, that was a sharp fall, are you hurt?" John called.
The red stopped but didn't look around. The man did. "Just my pride. And some of my armor is busted." He held a brace up, letting it dangle by a torn strap for John to see.
"Where did you train?" John suspected he knew what the answer would be based on the young man's attire.
He shrugged. "Here and there. I inherited the egg. Blaze is a good dragon." He stroked the hide of the small red dragon standing beside him. Bladetongues rarely grew to be much taller at the shoulder than the average man, and Blaze looked like he still had a bit of growing yet to do. Eventually, he'd be twice the size of a cow.
John walked over and patted Blaze's neck. "Hey, fella, you tried," he crooned. He tugged the harness until Blaze brought his head up. John looked at his eyes, then lifted his lip to check over his gums. His breathing sounded good and his scales showed no sign of mildew or rot. "Wanna show me that tongue, fella?" John patted the underside of the red's jaw.
"What are you doing John?" John heard movement behind him, the heavy gait of Lannie and quicker slide of Vadil. "Somebody doesn't like the attention," Rodney called the warning in a sing-song voice, just as John felt hot breath on the back of his head.
He reached back without turning and patted Lannie's jowls. "Now, now. I'm just checking on the little guy. You be nice."
Blaze's tongue darted out as he shied back slightly from Lannie. John held him in place by the harness. "Good reflexes, reared a bit when startled but he didn't bolt."
"Sir?" the young man looked perplexed, his head tilted as he watched John assess his dragon.
"What's your name?"
"Aiden. Aiden Ford, your highness." He had apparently noticed the markings on John's leathers.
John waved off the honorific. "Just Captain. I earned these, I was just born with these." He touched the winged emblem of his captaincy first, then the royal shield on his gauntlets.
"Taltren Sils," John called to his commanding officer as Sils, leading his dragon, came over to see what John was up to. John said quietly, "I think we've got room enough for one little red bladetongue and rider back at the Aerie, don't you?"
The Taltren looked Aiden up and down, then looked a bit longer at the dragon. "I'd need to see that the red obeys the lad, I'll have no rogues in our paddocks and pens."
John nodded and walked back, saying to Aiden, "Show us some commands, Ford."
"Blaze," Aiden snapped his fingers and motioned for the dragon to sit, which he did. He obeyed several other signals as well, though it was clear Aiden needed training as well, the gestures were a bit sloppy and inexpertly executed. But he had the basics and more importantly, the potential to do better. His dragon obviously cared for him.
"I'll trust your judgement, Sheppard, I'll go put you and Rodney on the lists. Don't tarry too long." Sils left them with Aiden.
"What just happened?" Aiden asked. "Am I in trouble because we failed?"
"Not at all. If you would like to be trained and have the chance to earn a place in the service for yourself and Blaze, you may come back to the Western Aerie with us. You'll have to work hard, but I think you'll make rider before the next Winter Storms."
Ford swallowed and his look brightened considerably. "A rider with the Western Aerie?" Their posting was prestigious, they only took the best into their ranks.
"If you study and work for it, yes." Rodney replied, looking towards the testing field and then back at John, his eyes telling him to hurry up.
"Ford, think it over. If you decide you want to try, collect your things and be ready at the western edge of the field at high sun. We'll meet you there once we're done with our own test."
"They make you test, sire... Captain?" Ford asked John, looking surprised.
"Lannie and Vadil are only just out of their training, today is their day to show they're ready to go out on patrol." John tugged Lannie's lead twice and gave a guttural verbal signal, which made Rodney snort and roll his eyes. She dipped her head down to him and John carefully placed a boot on her broad nose. In a single swift motion, Lannie snapped her head up and John flipped back to land on his feet upon her shoulders, sliding down onto the saddle.
Ford looked properly amazed. "Showoff," Rodney muttered, urging Vadil forward.
"I would like to watch the test, may I?" Ford called as John and Lannie started after Rodney.
"I don't see why not." John replied.
Ford and Blaze sat on the field beside Sils, watching as John and Rodney took to the skies. When it came time to be serious, Vadil proved that he could perform perfectly. They made every catch tossed for them, took down the "enemy" dummies set on the field with precision and beat the speeds required by the test when they raced from one end of the field to the other. They reacted well to the surprises thrown at them and showed that not only could they work well as a team under calm, normal patrolling circumstances, but that they could handle themselves under battle conditions. Rodney was more startled by the explosive spell that was thrown at them than Vadil seemed to be.
As required, John and Rodney switched places at the end and showed that not only could they control their own mounts, but that their partner's dragon would obey their commands as well, vital when working as a pair in the field.
They landed to applause from the others waiting to test on the field, as well as the officers administering the examination. John patted Vadil's head and scratched his sensitive ears. "There's a good dragon," he said, laughing when Vadil purred and preened at the praise.
Lannie almost bowled him over when she tried to coil around John as she had when she'd been a hatchling. John had to struggle out of her hold, while Rodney just laughed at him.
"Well done!" Sils called, coming over to them. He held out a scroll to each of them. "I had no doubt. You can start hunting down those rogue genii tomorrow." Sils - as well as every man in the Aerie - knew that Rodney and John wanted nothing more than to get the men that had ambushed them, murdered their dragons and nearly killed John. The others had been gathering information for the day when they would be ready to use it.
~*~
"I don't get it," Rodney said, holding Vadil in a hover beside John as they looked down at the valley. There was nothing there. No houses, no river, no trees, not even a rock, just a wide expanse of dirt. Nothing lived there, there was no sign that anything had ever lived there. According to the map, there should be a river coursing through the valley, but there was nothing.
"Spell? Maybe a spell gone wrong?" John replied.
"Check before we go closer," Rodney replied, holding Vadil back by tugging on his lead. They did not bridle their dragons, it was painful and quite unnecessary if dragon and rider were well trained. Dragons had minds of their owns and needed to be free to move and make decisions to keep their rider safe in the heat of a battle. "Hold up, Vadil."
John closed his eyes and waved his hand, invoking a scrying spell. Colors bobbed around him, the patterns would tell him what he needed to know. Rodney could not cast, he had no ability for it, so it was up to John to see that the way was clear. Lannie bleated her distress as they held position for a long enough time to make her uncomfortable. Her wings had a lot of weight to bear.
"Anything?" Rodney called when John dissipated the scry.
"No. Just like it looks, a big nothing. I'd need to touch the soil to see if there are any remnants of magic, but nothing comes to me up here. Go slowly, be cautious. Their lair is supposed to be at the far end of the valley, in the caves."
Vadil touched down first. Being more agile, if something happened, he would move out of danger more quickly than John and Lannie could. When it seemed to be safe, John let Lannie set down and slid from his saddle. He immediately touched the soil and scried again. "Something here. Old dregs. Whatever happened, it happened quickly, there is hardly a trace."
"Should we go on?"
"Yeah," John replied as he sniffed at the soil on his fingers. He signed for Lannie to remain where she was and guard their rear. The riders communicated with their dragons in a variety of commands and signs. On foot while Rodney remained mounted, John used the few magical senses that he possessed to be wary of another ambush. The genii would not take them in the same manner twice.
The mouth of the cave they reached was just wide enough for Vadil to enter without scraping his scales. Rodney had to climb down from the saddle and walk with John. "What is that smell?" Rodney asked, his hand suddenly dropping to John's shoulder and stopping him from moving forward. Vadil gave a whine behind them as he too smelled it.
"Death," John replied, patting Rodney's hand. "It's all right. We'll be fine. They did the damage already, they can't hurt us anymore." Reluctantly, Rodney nodded, squeezing John's shoulder before moving his hand away.
They entered a large cavern, like the landscape outside, it was bare, blasted to the walls. Unlike the ground outside, however, there was evidence of what had happened plainly clear. Even Rodney could see and interpret the evidence without magical sight. He pointed to the walls as he moved forward, "Are those...?"
"All that remains of the genii that were here. Someone cast in here." John moved to the center of the cavern as Rodney and Vadil moved around the perimeter. "It was here, the caster stood here."
"What would have caused this?" Rodney asked, touching his fingertips to one of the blackened outlines on the wall.
Crouching in the sand, John brushed some aside and picked up a flat stone, holding it up for Rodney to see as he came over quickly. There was engraving on it, seven odd symbols. "A Gateway spell. They tried to create a Gateway, here."
"That isn't allowed! It's dangerous," Rodney said, taking the stone and turning it over in his palm, examining it. He might not possess any ability to cast, but he was quite knowledgeable about all forms of spelling. "Everyone around the Gateway when it forms is affected, it makes people sicken and die."
"They killed this valley in the attempt. We'll have to alert the Mage's Council, they will want to send people here to investigate. I'm sure this will be an object lesson for years to come."
Rodney handed John the stone back and John slipped it into his belt pouch. "Do you think he was here when it happened?"
"If I were a betting man, I would say yes. This reeks of a power play of the sort Kolya would have attempted. The reports place him in this area."
"Are they all dead, or did the Gateway spell work?"
John blinked in surprise at the idea that had not occurred to him and turned a slow circle. "Rodney, I don't know," he admitted at last. "The person that was standing here, at the center... maybe they were transported away. Maybe the spell worked, just not in the manner they anticipated. We'll have to talk to the experts and see what they say about it."
"So Kolya might not be dead," Rodney muttered in disappointment.
Patting his partner's shoulder, John gave a reluctant shake of his head. "He might not be, at that."
"So what do we do now?"
John started for the cave's entrance. "I want to be away from here, the place is making me physically ill. Let's go to the city to see the Council and report what we found. We'll treat Lannie and Vadil to some fresh fish down at the docks, they've earned it."
"Would you like that Vadil? Some nice fish?" Vadil cooed, licked his chops and dipped his head in a happy motion, which made both riders laugh.
At the entrance to the cave, John stopped and looked back. "What is it, John?" Rodney called from the saddle.
"I feel cheated. It took us so long to find their lair. I wanted to bring them in, see them pay for what they've been doing," he replied as he walked along beside his partner.
Rodney was silent for a time before he said, "They paid for their crimes. What they did, the stains on their hands - on their souls, if you will - that was between them and whatever deity or spirit or forces of nature they chose to worship. We aren't responsible for meting out justice John. We did our duty as well as we could. I'm relieved, I'm glad Kolya is no longer our concern. I feel as if a weight has been lifted off us. We can move on now."
As they crossed the sand, Lannie spotted them, though she held her position where John had told her to wait and act as sentry earlier. John finally signalled to her and she bounced forward, rubbing her face against Vadil's jaw and curling her tail around John until he scrambled up onto her back and into the saddle.
He had to admit, he felt lighter as they took to the sky and headed for the city. They had been living with the spectre of Kolya for so long that he had forgotten what it was like not to have the hunt and the threat before them. Kolya was probably dead, and if he was not, the trail was. Their search was over, Rodney was right, their duty was done.
"So, I heard there was a settler's caravan heading out west at the next full moon. Any interest in riding escort for them?" John called to Rodney.
"That sounds wonderfully trouble-free, routine, uneventful and boring. Let's do it," Rodney agreed with a smile.
Any further conversation was impossible as a flock of birds came into range and the dragons decided to chase them.
The End
Author: rinkafic
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis - AU
Characters/Pairing: Sheppard/McKay, Sils OCs
Rating: G
Size: 4,330
Notes: For kisahawklin
-o-
John stood and stomped his foot, working his toes into the front of his boot. He glanced out the window, open for the first time in nearly two moons, now that the Winter Storms had passed and the aurors declared the skies clear. Finally. He opened his wardrobe and took out his leather riding coat. His gloves were tucked into the sleeves for safekeeping, as was his leather cap. He pulled a heavy scarf from the pile folded on the shelf. It might be warm down in the valley, but up here in the Aerie, winter had not yet fully left them. It was always windy and one needed to bundle against the bite of the wind.
"Don't forget your gauntlets," Rodney called helpfully from the doorway.
He just nodded at the reminder. There was no chance that John could forget them. He wouldn't be able to ride without the protection on his left forearm and wrist, thanks to the injuries he had sustained in the ambush by the genii working for Kolya two summers before. He could use the hand, but the recovery had been long and painful.
"Think they'll behave well enough to get us assigned a route?" Rodney asked as John fell into step beside him.
"Hope so. Can you do my clasps?" He extended his arm and Rodney worked the straps through and fastened them, all without missing a step.
The yard was a bustle of activity, once the morning bell had rung, every rider in the Aerie had been in motion, eager to be outside and about their duties once more. There had been a hatching in the night, the first of the season, and everyone was looking upon it as a portent of good luck. There was a stream of people coming and going from the brood pens, each taking their peek and perhaps a touch of the new dragonlet.
The previous autumn, John and Rodney had spent a lot of time in the pens. Grounded because their mounts had been lost, they had helped care for any wounded or sick dragons, and looked after the eggs. Much of the aggressively protective instinct had been bred out of their females over the years, and they were not always the most diligent about nesting and keeping their eggs warm. The grounded riders had kept the fires burning and covered many an egg with a heavy blanket.
Their seniority gave them pick of the hatchlings last season. Rodney had chosen quickly, within days of the hatching of a green ridgecrest male that would be light and fast, which suited Rodney's fighting style. He had named him Vadil, after one of the most decorated dragons that had ever served the Aerie. More particular in his preferences, John had been hesitant to make a final choice, which irked the others that were waiting to choose but had to wait for him to make his decision first. Early on, he had favored an orange firetongue, but one of the last to emerge had stolen his heart, as well as the heart of Rodney's new dragon, who immediately chose her for a nest mate. They were inseparable from the day she hatched. She was a golden splaytail and would be huge when she reached her full growth. Ordinarily, John would have chosen a mount for speed, rather than a fighter bred for durability and strength, but John had looked into the wide emerald green eyes and his decision had been made. She was his.
And he was hers. John named her Lannie. The dragonlet was fiercely possessive of John, she nipped at the heels of anyone, man or dragon, that tried to get near him. Except Rodney. From the first day, she seemed to accept that Rodney had the first place in John's heart and she had accepted him, allowing him to pet and groom her when John was not able to do so.
Vadil and Lannie had taken time to learn to work as a team with their riders. The training up of young dragons was dangerous, frustrating and time consuming, but ultimately fulfilling. Like most ridgecrests, Vadil was smart but headstrong, he would respond to a new set of commands and do an exercise perfectly one day and the next, it would be as if he had not learned anything at all. The young dragon seemed to understand inherently that all of Rodney's shouting and insults were mere bluster and that he was in no danger whatsoever of being cut up and sold as purses and rucksacks at the marketplace. Lannie sensed it too, and frequently, John could feel her sides vibrating with her version of laughter. Despite her growing size, Lannie moved well. She worked well with other teams, when they left the juvenile pens and started training with the rest of the riders of the Aerie.
"Where is he?" Rodney muttered as they rounded the corner to the yard where their mounts were quartered. Lannie was sitting primly, already in harness, waiting for them to arrive. There was no sign of Vadil.
John walked over and patted Lannie's neck. "Where's your boyfriend, Lannie, hhmm?"
She swung her head around and nuzzled at John's hip, knocking him slightly sideways, though he caught himself on the straps of her harness. It was still only training tack. But if the pair performed well today it would be replaced with a set custom made for Lannie. She purred and nudged him again, giving his face a lick with the very tip of her tongue.
"I swear, she's tasting you every day. One of these days, she'll decide you're done to perfection and she'll have you for lunch." Rodney said as he raised a hand to shield his eyes as he searched the distance for his own dragon partner. He had been growing increasingly uncomfortable with Lannie's size. There were not many purebred splaytails in service. Males grew to an unmanageable size, and there had been incidents in the recorded past of wild male splaytails making a meal out of people. But the females were docile, their temperament allowed them to train up as good mounts, and so they were still bred and kept in service.
"You wouldn't eat me, would you? No of course not." John rubbed her nose and cooed at her quietly.
Rodney whistled sharply. That drew Lannie's attention and she stretched her neck out towards him. He ignored her hot breath on the back of his neck as he whistled again for Vadil. She bumped his shoulder with her nose, but Rodney merely brushed her off with a wave of his hand.
John laughed heartily when she raised her head and let out a huge bellow that echoed back to them off the cliffs of the Aerie. It was the first time she had made such a noise, and even she looked startled by the new sound.
"She's helping," John remarked when Rodney shot him a dirty look.
Coming to investigate the call - along with every other dragon quartered on these fields - was Vadil, galloping and twisting his way over the sparse grass. He twined around Lannie when he got to them, completely ignoring Rodney, much to Rodney's irritation. "Hey!"
"Aw, leave him alone, Rodney, he's showing her how proud he is of her. What a good bellow that was Lannie!" John patted her hide with the palm of his hand as he reached for the leads that were dragging the ground. He tugged and Lannie began to waddle after him obediently. Looking back over his shoulder, John had to stifle another bout of laughter as he saw Rodney running back and forth beside Lannie, jumping up to try to reach Vadil's lead as the male perched on Lannie's broad back and watched him with a mischievous gleam in his eye.
Their team leader, Taltren Sils, was waiting to go with them to the Central Headquarters of the Windriders. Their dragons would be tested there. "Captain Sheppard, Captain McKay," Sils greeted them with a nod and a smirk as he glanced up at Vadil, still clinging to John's saddle.
Sils gave a sharp whistle and a command gesture and Vadil didn't hesitate before jumping down and sitting at an attentive stance beside Lannie. McKay rolled his eyes and grabbed at Vadil's lead. He couldn't stay angry however, when Vadil leaned down and licked his cheek delicately.
"Oh yeah, yeah, I love you too. Now behave yourself," Rodney relented, patting Vadil's nose.
"If we don't have the opportunity to speak before the test, I wish you the best of luck today. We need you back up there on patrol, Captains." Their homeland was vast and the dragons were the only way for them adequately cover ground and see to the security of their people and their borders.
"Thank you, Taltren, I'm sure our team will do well," John replied with a confidence that he didn't feel. Vadil was a bit unpredictable, as the morning display had shown. John and Rodney both hoped that being in full harness, out on daily patrols with real responsibilities would bring Vadil properly in line. Some of their best service dragons had started out as wild youngsters, hopeful Vadil was simply immature..
The Taltren cleared his throat. "I have a question," he glanced at Vadil and then up at Lannie sitting sedately behind John. "If one of them passes..."
"They both pass or we don't fly," Rodney said firmly. "We already discussed it. Neither of us will fly solo. All or nothing, sir."
"I suspected that would be your answer. Good luck. See you on the ground!" Sils saluted and moved off to his own dragon, a bluish-black male razortail, Vadil would have no trouble keeping up with any pace Sils set, but Lannie would be weary if they did not stop to rest, she was not built for speed over long distances.
It was an uneventful flight. When they arrived at the training fields at headquarters, there were already a dozen other pairs of dragons and riders waiting to be tested. John saw only two other teams, the others all seemed to be singles, which surprised him, at the Aerie, they usually tried to pair everyone with a partner from the start. He watched a redbacked bladetongue leap into the air and like many of those watching, he gasped and was disappointed when the young rider was unseated before he was able to get fully on the wing.
"Rushed to test," Rodney said, shaking his head. "Should have waited, trained more."
"It was a long winter, I'm sure they were just eager to be on about it. He has no colors and worn, piecemeal leathers. Looks like an independant hoping to qualify," John was watching the rider lead his dragon from the field, both heads down, a picture of dejection.
When the young man walked past them, John slapped Lannie's neck and slid down her neck as she curled it around and lowered her head for him to do so. He jogged off after the young man, a dark-skinned, dark haired easterner, judging by the cut of his ragged leathers. "Hey, that was a sharp fall, are you hurt?" John called.
The red stopped but didn't look around. The man did. "Just my pride. And some of my armor is busted." He held a brace up, letting it dangle by a torn strap for John to see.
"Where did you train?" John suspected he knew what the answer would be based on the young man's attire.
He shrugged. "Here and there. I inherited the egg. Blaze is a good dragon." He stroked the hide of the small red dragon standing beside him. Bladetongues rarely grew to be much taller at the shoulder than the average man, and Blaze looked like he still had a bit of growing yet to do. Eventually, he'd be twice the size of a cow.
John walked over and patted Blaze's neck. "Hey, fella, you tried," he crooned. He tugged the harness until Blaze brought his head up. John looked at his eyes, then lifted his lip to check over his gums. His breathing sounded good and his scales showed no sign of mildew or rot. "Wanna show me that tongue, fella?" John patted the underside of the red's jaw.
"What are you doing John?" John heard movement behind him, the heavy gait of Lannie and quicker slide of Vadil. "Somebody doesn't like the attention," Rodney called the warning in a sing-song voice, just as John felt hot breath on the back of his head.
He reached back without turning and patted Lannie's jowls. "Now, now. I'm just checking on the little guy. You be nice."
Blaze's tongue darted out as he shied back slightly from Lannie. John held him in place by the harness. "Good reflexes, reared a bit when startled but he didn't bolt."
"Sir?" the young man looked perplexed, his head tilted as he watched John assess his dragon.
"What's your name?"
"Aiden. Aiden Ford, your highness." He had apparently noticed the markings on John's leathers.
John waved off the honorific. "Just Captain. I earned these, I was just born with these." He touched the winged emblem of his captaincy first, then the royal shield on his gauntlets.
"Taltren Sils," John called to his commanding officer as Sils, leading his dragon, came over to see what John was up to. John said quietly, "I think we've got room enough for one little red bladetongue and rider back at the Aerie, don't you?"
The Taltren looked Aiden up and down, then looked a bit longer at the dragon. "I'd need to see that the red obeys the lad, I'll have no rogues in our paddocks and pens."
John nodded and walked back, saying to Aiden, "Show us some commands, Ford."
"Blaze," Aiden snapped his fingers and motioned for the dragon to sit, which he did. He obeyed several other signals as well, though it was clear Aiden needed training as well, the gestures were a bit sloppy and inexpertly executed. But he had the basics and more importantly, the potential to do better. His dragon obviously cared for him.
"I'll trust your judgement, Sheppard, I'll go put you and Rodney on the lists. Don't tarry too long." Sils left them with Aiden.
"What just happened?" Aiden asked. "Am I in trouble because we failed?"
"Not at all. If you would like to be trained and have the chance to earn a place in the service for yourself and Blaze, you may come back to the Western Aerie with us. You'll have to work hard, but I think you'll make rider before the next Winter Storms."
Ford swallowed and his look brightened considerably. "A rider with the Western Aerie?" Their posting was prestigious, they only took the best into their ranks.
"If you study and work for it, yes." Rodney replied, looking towards the testing field and then back at John, his eyes telling him to hurry up.
"Ford, think it over. If you decide you want to try, collect your things and be ready at the western edge of the field at high sun. We'll meet you there once we're done with our own test."
"They make you test, sire... Captain?" Ford asked John, looking surprised.
"Lannie and Vadil are only just out of their training, today is their day to show they're ready to go out on patrol." John tugged Lannie's lead twice and gave a guttural verbal signal, which made Rodney snort and roll his eyes. She dipped her head down to him and John carefully placed a boot on her broad nose. In a single swift motion, Lannie snapped her head up and John flipped back to land on his feet upon her shoulders, sliding down onto the saddle.
Ford looked properly amazed. "Showoff," Rodney muttered, urging Vadil forward.
"I would like to watch the test, may I?" Ford called as John and Lannie started after Rodney.
"I don't see why not." John replied.
Ford and Blaze sat on the field beside Sils, watching as John and Rodney took to the skies. When it came time to be serious, Vadil proved that he could perform perfectly. They made every catch tossed for them, took down the "enemy" dummies set on the field with precision and beat the speeds required by the test when they raced from one end of the field to the other. They reacted well to the surprises thrown at them and showed that not only could they work well as a team under calm, normal patrolling circumstances, but that they could handle themselves under battle conditions. Rodney was more startled by the explosive spell that was thrown at them than Vadil seemed to be.
As required, John and Rodney switched places at the end and showed that not only could they control their own mounts, but that their partner's dragon would obey their commands as well, vital when working as a pair in the field.
They landed to applause from the others waiting to test on the field, as well as the officers administering the examination. John patted Vadil's head and scratched his sensitive ears. "There's a good dragon," he said, laughing when Vadil purred and preened at the praise.
Lannie almost bowled him over when she tried to coil around John as she had when she'd been a hatchling. John had to struggle out of her hold, while Rodney just laughed at him.
"Well done!" Sils called, coming over to them. He held out a scroll to each of them. "I had no doubt. You can start hunting down those rogue genii tomorrow." Sils - as well as every man in the Aerie - knew that Rodney and John wanted nothing more than to get the men that had ambushed them, murdered their dragons and nearly killed John. The others had been gathering information for the day when they would be ready to use it.
~*~
"I don't get it," Rodney said, holding Vadil in a hover beside John as they looked down at the valley. There was nothing there. No houses, no river, no trees, not even a rock, just a wide expanse of dirt. Nothing lived there, there was no sign that anything had ever lived there. According to the map, there should be a river coursing through the valley, but there was nothing.
"Spell? Maybe a spell gone wrong?" John replied.
"Check before we go closer," Rodney replied, holding Vadil back by tugging on his lead. They did not bridle their dragons, it was painful and quite unnecessary if dragon and rider were well trained. Dragons had minds of their owns and needed to be free to move and make decisions to keep their rider safe in the heat of a battle. "Hold up, Vadil."
John closed his eyes and waved his hand, invoking a scrying spell. Colors bobbed around him, the patterns would tell him what he needed to know. Rodney could not cast, he had no ability for it, so it was up to John to see that the way was clear. Lannie bleated her distress as they held position for a long enough time to make her uncomfortable. Her wings had a lot of weight to bear.
"Anything?" Rodney called when John dissipated the scry.
"No. Just like it looks, a big nothing. I'd need to touch the soil to see if there are any remnants of magic, but nothing comes to me up here. Go slowly, be cautious. Their lair is supposed to be at the far end of the valley, in the caves."
Vadil touched down first. Being more agile, if something happened, he would move out of danger more quickly than John and Lannie could. When it seemed to be safe, John let Lannie set down and slid from his saddle. He immediately touched the soil and scried again. "Something here. Old dregs. Whatever happened, it happened quickly, there is hardly a trace."
"Should we go on?"
"Yeah," John replied as he sniffed at the soil on his fingers. He signed for Lannie to remain where she was and guard their rear. The riders communicated with their dragons in a variety of commands and signs. On foot while Rodney remained mounted, John used the few magical senses that he possessed to be wary of another ambush. The genii would not take them in the same manner twice.
The mouth of the cave they reached was just wide enough for Vadil to enter without scraping his scales. Rodney had to climb down from the saddle and walk with John. "What is that smell?" Rodney asked, his hand suddenly dropping to John's shoulder and stopping him from moving forward. Vadil gave a whine behind them as he too smelled it.
"Death," John replied, patting Rodney's hand. "It's all right. We'll be fine. They did the damage already, they can't hurt us anymore." Reluctantly, Rodney nodded, squeezing John's shoulder before moving his hand away.
They entered a large cavern, like the landscape outside, it was bare, blasted to the walls. Unlike the ground outside, however, there was evidence of what had happened plainly clear. Even Rodney could see and interpret the evidence without magical sight. He pointed to the walls as he moved forward, "Are those...?"
"All that remains of the genii that were here. Someone cast in here." John moved to the center of the cavern as Rodney and Vadil moved around the perimeter. "It was here, the caster stood here."
"What would have caused this?" Rodney asked, touching his fingertips to one of the blackened outlines on the wall.
Crouching in the sand, John brushed some aside and picked up a flat stone, holding it up for Rodney to see as he came over quickly. There was engraving on it, seven odd symbols. "A Gateway spell. They tried to create a Gateway, here."
"That isn't allowed! It's dangerous," Rodney said, taking the stone and turning it over in his palm, examining it. He might not possess any ability to cast, but he was quite knowledgeable about all forms of spelling. "Everyone around the Gateway when it forms is affected, it makes people sicken and die."
"They killed this valley in the attempt. We'll have to alert the Mage's Council, they will want to send people here to investigate. I'm sure this will be an object lesson for years to come."
Rodney handed John the stone back and John slipped it into his belt pouch. "Do you think he was here when it happened?"
"If I were a betting man, I would say yes. This reeks of a power play of the sort Kolya would have attempted. The reports place him in this area."
"Are they all dead, or did the Gateway spell work?"
John blinked in surprise at the idea that had not occurred to him and turned a slow circle. "Rodney, I don't know," he admitted at last. "The person that was standing here, at the center... maybe they were transported away. Maybe the spell worked, just not in the manner they anticipated. We'll have to talk to the experts and see what they say about it."
"So Kolya might not be dead," Rodney muttered in disappointment.
Patting his partner's shoulder, John gave a reluctant shake of his head. "He might not be, at that."
"So what do we do now?"
John started for the cave's entrance. "I want to be away from here, the place is making me physically ill. Let's go to the city to see the Council and report what we found. We'll treat Lannie and Vadil to some fresh fish down at the docks, they've earned it."
"Would you like that Vadil? Some nice fish?" Vadil cooed, licked his chops and dipped his head in a happy motion, which made both riders laugh.
At the entrance to the cave, John stopped and looked back. "What is it, John?" Rodney called from the saddle.
"I feel cheated. It took us so long to find their lair. I wanted to bring them in, see them pay for what they've been doing," he replied as he walked along beside his partner.
Rodney was silent for a time before he said, "They paid for their crimes. What they did, the stains on their hands - on their souls, if you will - that was between them and whatever deity or spirit or forces of nature they chose to worship. We aren't responsible for meting out justice John. We did our duty as well as we could. I'm relieved, I'm glad Kolya is no longer our concern. I feel as if a weight has been lifted off us. We can move on now."
As they crossed the sand, Lannie spotted them, though she held her position where John had told her to wait and act as sentry earlier. John finally signalled to her and she bounced forward, rubbing her face against Vadil's jaw and curling her tail around John until he scrambled up onto her back and into the saddle.
He had to admit, he felt lighter as they took to the sky and headed for the city. They had been living with the spectre of Kolya for so long that he had forgotten what it was like not to have the hunt and the threat before them. Kolya was probably dead, and if he was not, the trail was. Their search was over, Rodney was right, their duty was done.
"So, I heard there was a settler's caravan heading out west at the next full moon. Any interest in riding escort for them?" John called to Rodney.
"That sounds wonderfully trouble-free, routine, uneventful and boring. Let's do it," Rodney agreed with a smile.
Any further conversation was impossible as a flock of birds came into range and the dragons decided to chase them.
The End