Valen was shocked at their luck; when had the storm clouds come in? He had been so distracted with trying to take on the dragon riders so that they could escape the city that he never noticed the cloud cover as it appeared. The first of the raindrops hit them, and the wind and rain began to disperse the smoke, working to put out the flames in the city below as well. It did not matter for them anymore, thankfully, but it would certainly do a lot of good in the city considering the damage it had suffered at the hands of Ravas and his beast of a dragon.

They were far enough away now that when the smoke cleared in the direction the dragon riders had been going, Raenelir and the people he carried would be far enough away that they would look like nothing more than a bird in the distance.

Valen found himself laughing uncontrollably as they flew out over the city walls and began to cross the waters of Westlake. The shock of their survival and escape from the city pulled it from him, a laugh of utter disbelief. Raenelir let out a roar that, to Valen, seemed to be filled with joy.

Then they were nearing the far edge of Westlake, and Valen realized that with rain falling now, they might not be able to see the smoke trail they were supposed to look for once they reached this side. He started to panic, and they pulled up higher into the sky for a moment so that he could get a good look at the surrounding area. Luckily, the rain had apparently not fallen hard enough here to put out a fire covered by trees, because not too far off he could make out a small smoke trail in the sky. It rose from a tighter copse of trees than some of the other woodland that surrounded it.

If they were careful, they might be able to take cover there for a while and rest long enough to figure out what they were going to do now.

Just then, Valen remembered Samuel and Simon, still being carried roughly in Raenelir’s clawed grasp and likely shaken up quite a bit from their aerial conflict. He had no idea if they were going to be alright or not, especially after everything that had just happened back in the city. Plus, they had no idea what had happened to their father in the firestorm the dragon Patriarch had unleashed…

Wheeling about for just a moment longer, Raen seemed to realize where Valen wanted him to go, because he started to descend towards a clearing a short distance away from the copse the smoke trail was rising from. When they reached the ground, Raenelir hovered just long enough to let the brothers plop from his grasp into the grass below and then set down roughly, having used up all of his strength. The rain was really beginning to pour now, though, so they could not afford to stay in the clearing for long. Even more so since it would likely not be long before riders would be scouring the skies for them.

Valen had to hope that no one would expect them to hide out so close to Lakevale when they had just escaped from there. He was sure that Orik had been thinking the same thing, based off of where he had arranged for them to pick up their supplies.

“We have… to go… back… !” Samuel was saying, his voice coming in a rasp as he tried to regain his breath and push up from where he lay on the ground. Both he and his brother looked to be in no shape to be going anywhere, let alone back into a city where they and every member of the Children of the Sky were now likely going to be hunted day in and day out by the Empire’s soldiers. If they could even get back in right now at all. The Imperials would probably be keeping anyone from entering or leaving for a good while.

Valen might not be experienced with dangerous situations like this, but even he knew that. He slid down from Raenelir’s back, every muscle in his body aching with the pain of what they had just been through, and then turned back to help Hera and Aevra down before replying.

“You’re in no state to be going anywhere right now, Sam, even if you were able to slip back into Lakevale unnoticed,” he told him, but Samuel was not having it. He turned his gaze towards Valen, eyes narrowed to glaring slits.

“Shut it… Val… what do you... know… ? If your stupid… wyvern… hadn’t –“ he started to say, but he was cut off by his brother, who had apparently managed to recover a bit faster than him and had pushed himself up into a seated position.

“Be quiet, Sam… you sound like an angry… little kid. Val is right… We don’t know if Dad made it out of that plaza… or not. But we did, and… he would want us to focus on ourselves for now. That means getting some rest, and… by the Four… not getting angry at Val for something his wyvern friend did… especially when that something probably saved our lives,” Simon hissed, obviously annoyed that he was having to reprimand his brother when they were both in pain and exhausted.

It seemed to do the trick, however, because Samuel did not speak up again for the moment. Instead he shut his eyes and let the rain pound his face. Then he finally managed to push himself up to a seated position and Valen walked over to him, reaching out a hand that, after only a short hesitant pause, Samuel accepted and allowed to help pull him to his feet.

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Simon was up even more quickly, though he definitely looked to be in pain as well.

They all needed to get some sleep as soon as possible.

So, turning to catch sight of the quickly fading trail of smoke in the sky, they set off in its direction. Before long they had reached the tightly grown copse of trees that Valen realized was even larger than he had seen from above. Raenelir was still small enough that he could follow them in, and no one would be able to see them from the skies while they were inside.

Allowing himself a small smile of relief, Valen led the party in, with the Highborn wyvern keeping pace close behind. Even though Raen had to be exhausted as well, the wyvern seemed to be determined not to take things easy just yet, which Valen was appreciative of. Hera’s eyes were still bloodshot and she kept rubbing at her wrists where she had been bound, looking down at them as if they were the only thing she saw even when Aevra nestled her head up against his sister’s cheek. Samuel and even Simon, though he seemed to be more accepting of the situation, both limped along, and Valen could only imagine the pain they must be dealing with. He got sore just riding atop Raenelir’s back, not to mention that for some reason he had managed to avoid getting sick to his stomach when he flew for the first time.

He honestly thought that the only reason the twins had not yet been sick themselves is because they were too busy worrying about whether or not their father had survived the firestorm back in Lakevale.

Regardless, he was glad that the Highborn was up and attentive, especially because a growl from Raenelir was the only warning he had before all of a sudden they were surrounded on all sides by people wearing cloaks of green and adorned in dark leather armor. Most of them had bows drawn and arrows nocked in their direction, and all of them had their faces hidden behind dark wooden masks.

Immediately Raen was crouched low, mouth peeling back to reveal his teeth, muscles growing taut as he prepared to pounce. Valen knew better, though. The Highborn was too exhausted to take on so many armed enemies by himself. Even if the wyvern managed to fight and escape, the rest of them would still end up in chains or, worse, dead.

The twins began to reach for their weapons, but a woman’s voice cut through the air, stopping them in their tracks.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. My rangers could put you down before you even reach your weapons. We could have put you down before you ever even saw us, if we wanted to,” it said, and immediately the eyes of their whole party turned in the direction the voice had come from.

Out of the trees strode a woman unlike anything Valen had ever seen.

Her hair was long and silver with streaks of black, pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her eyes were the color of starlight. She had strange white markings on her face and arms, twisting into odd, parallel shapes and curves, though from the way they continued out of sight under her armor there was a chance that they covered her entire body. Her skin was dark, darker than anyone Valen had ever seen in his life. She had a bow as well, like the others, but it was slung across her back crossing her quiver, and two beautifully curved swords rested in sheathes on either hip.

The twins, though neither seemed happy about it, stopped reaching for their weapons, letting their arms fall back to their sides. Valen found himself breathing a sigh of relief at that, as he had not been sure if they would actually listen. The strange woman gave a pleased nod and then motioned for the others to lower their bows.

There was the sound of creaking leather and wood and just as quickly as they had appeared, most of the masked strangers disappeared back into the trees around them.

“Excuse us for the rude greeting, but my rangers have been wary ever since we saw the fire spring up in the city earlier. You’ll have to forgive their extra caution. It’s for your sake, after all,” the woman continued, giving them a wry smile as she spoke even as she seemed to be examining each of them individually from head to toe, looking for something.

“It’s… for our sake?” Hera asked, the first thing she had said since they had clambered up onto Raenelir’s back in the city. The woman nodded, then paused, crooking her head to the side for a moment before responding.

“Well, I guess specifically I should say for the wyvern’s sake. The wyvern and his Flightbound,” she explained. Then her eyes were running over Valen and she froze as her gaze traced his hands. “Hah! So it’s you!” the woman exclaimed, stepping forward to take his hands in her own and pulling them up to look at his palms more closely. Immediately he felt his cheeks flaring red; she stood uncomfortably close to him, and now that she was closer he could see just how beautiful she was. He could not tell what her age might be – something about her beauty spoke of a strange agelessness – but she had to at least be ten years his senior.

“Umm… “ he said, trying to think of what to say. Luckily, a moment later she let go of his hands and stepped back again, giving a satisfied nod as she did so.

“What’s going on? Who are you and what do you want with us?” Simon demanded, just as confused as the rest of them. With a start, the woman did something strange, taking four fingers and kissing them before placing them against her forehead and bowing deeply.

“My apologies for my rudeness. I was simply excited, you see. My name is Illaya, First Ranger of the Iron Watch, and an old friend of Orik’s. As to what I want, I’m here to bring you to safety. Orik knew we were passing nearby and sent word as soon as he met you with the news. The Last True Blood has been found, and the Bond has been made,” she told them, grinning as if she expected them to understand what that meant.

“What… ?” Valen finally asked, after several awkward moments during which none of them replied. “What does that mean?”

The next words she said came along with a laugh, as if what she said did not shake his entire world to its core.

“It means, my new friend, that you may be the key to defeating the Empire and saving us all from the darkness that threatens to swallow the world.”

Valen blinked.

“Oh,” he said.