Crouching, eyes narrowed to slits and teeth revealed in a panicked snarl, a wild wyvern was backed up into a small cave, tail whipping around frantically as it followed their father’s every movement. Aliden, for his part, stood perfectly still, with his hands out to his sides while crouching in a placating gesture. He was trying to make himself look as nonthreatening as possible, in true master wyvern breeder fashion.

“Down, now,” Aliden hissed, as soon as Aiden and Valen were both there, and the two brothers obeyed. They knew better than to question their father in a situation like this. Hearing Maelienas in the sky above them, Aliden extended his hand towards Aiden, who immediately turned over the emergency bell. Moving quickly, Aliden rang it thrice, signaling the Matriarch to circle at a safe distance.

Then he slipped the bell into one of the leather pouches on his waist and returned to staring intently at the angry wyvern in front of them.

“Aiden, quick now, what breed is this?” Aliden asked. Just like their father to make an encounter with a wild wyvern into a pop quiz for his breeders in training. Aiden, of course, was happy to oblige, narrowing his eyes as he looked the drake over as best he could from the far side of the overhang.

“It’s… Breath of the Four, that’s a Highborn, isn’t it?!” Aiden exclaimed, eyes widening in what could only be described as awe. At their father’s nod of approval, Valen found his own eyes widening as well. Highborns were by far the rarest of all wyvern breeds, one of the few remaining true descendants of the first wyverns, the mythical Mandrikar and Telokira. With the scales on his back the color of the dawn, and his underbelly the deep purple of late twilight, Valen should have been able to determine that on his own.

But one did not normally just stumble across a Highborn. Only a few, if any, were still believed to exist at all. That one was right here, so close to the Galar Hatchery, was absolutely incredible.

“Valen,” Aliden began, drawing his younger son’s attention, “tell me what’s wrong with him.” So that was what had drawn them out here in the middle of the day. Their father must have seen the Highborn before it landed and sent for them immediately because he was... something? Looking the drake over carefully from where they crouched at the edge of the overhang, it took him a moment to realize that the wyvern was turned, keeping its left side towards them with its right side turned in, towards the back of the cave.

Valen’s eyes widened.

“It’s injured,” he practically whispered, heart racing. An injured wyvern was dangerous, even when they were tamed. They were facing a wild wyvern with some sort of injury that they couldn’t even see yet, and it was obvious that his father intended to intervene. Valen supposed that made sense – they were wyvern tamers and breeders through and through, and the chance to help an actual Highborn would be far too great for their father to pass up – but that didn’t mean it made him feel any less tense.

He understood why Maelienas had come along now. If they were going to help this injured wyvern, they would have to bring it into the Hatchery and among her flight, and that meant she had to be able to assert herself as the wild one’s Matriarch. Otherwise there was no telling what he might do when brought down amongst the other wyverns.

At the moment, though, Valen and his brother and father had a job to do. Slowly, ever so slowly, doing their best not to aggravate or frighten the wyvern, the three of them spread out across the overhang, taking a step closer every few seconds so as not to suddenly overwhelm the wounded drake. The Highborn inched further back into the cave as they slowly drew closer, but his space was limited, so instead he began constantly turning his head back and forth, trying to decide which of them he would strike first if they got too close.

Aliden raised a hand, indicating that they should stop, then drew the bell out again and rang it once. That was all the Matriarch needed; with a roar that shook stones from the mountainside, she descended, coming to a landing off the edge of the overhang, resting a single clawed appendage on the edge while she held herself up on the mountainside. It was easy enough, given her strength and size.

Her head alone was almost half the size of the entire wounded wyvern, coming across the overhang towards the cave on her long, sinuous neck as she growled a challenge to the Highborn.

Of course, Valen knew of the pride of the Highborn wyverns; anyone who claimed to have any knowledge of the wyverns had to. They were direct descendants of the Great Wyverns, and that nobility was entrenched in their blood; not to mention that, once fully grown, even the males could become a potential opponent for a full-blooded Matriarch. This Highborn, however, was obviously still young, likely no more than a couple of years old, and was no match for Maelienas. He still let out a roar of his own, though, and for a moment Valen thought he was going to leap out to meet the challenge.

The wyvern shifted, and he was finally able to see the creature’s wound. Its right wing was torn!

Something instinct inside of him surged forth, and before anyone could stop him Valen took off, sprinting towards the cave. The Highborn’s head snapped around, immediately moving to try and close on him with his razor-sharp teeth, and Aiden let out an involuntary cry of alarm before their father shut him up and watched, knowing that rushing in and trying to help now would only make things worse.

Valen ducked down under the snap of the wyvern’s mouth, got inside its reach, then dove down, under the swipe of its tail. Panting heavily, partially due to the adrenaline pumping through his system and partially due to the realization that he had just done something incredibly stupid, he knew he had no choice but to continue now. The wyvern couldn’t turn around in the confines of the cave to get at him properly, and with its wounded wing it couldn’t rush out and fly away, giving Valen a chance to do something he’d only ever used in play with wyvern whelps in the Great Roost.

He jumped up onto the Highborn’s back, as the drake thrashed around trying to get at him and shake off what he perceived as an attacker, then clambered up as far along towards its neck as he could. With the long, heavily muscled neck that wyverns possessed, Valen knew that if the cave were even just a little bit taller he would have been within reach of the wild beast’s bite. But here, he was able to get up to the base of the wyvern’s neck and, before he could think better of it, reached around and under.

Where he knew was a sensitive spot in younger wyverns, and that he hoped would still affect wyverns of this one’s age. He pressed as hard as he could, into an unprotected nerve center at the base of the neck that sent spasms through his body, making the wild drake collapse on the spot. His whole body was loose beyond his control. The only reaction the Highborn managed was to let out a sharp, shrill cry of alarm as he collapsed, confused.

In that moment, Maelienas made her move, her head reaching across the overhang between Aiden and Aliden to get right up in the face of the wyvern while Valen remained atop him. The Matriarch locked eyes with the Highborn youngling, and in the next moment unleashed the loudest, most ferocious roar that Valen had ever heard.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Stuck as he was in the cave with the wyvern, the noise felt amplified, and he almost fell off the wyvern’s back as he reached up to cover his ears. Valen could literally feel his insides shaking from the force of the sound, and it felt as if the roar would never end.

Then, just like that, it was over, and everything was still for several long moments as he recovered. It took him a moment longer than the Highborn, however, to collect himself, and before he realized it the wyvern’s snout was in his face, lips peeled back in a half growl to see him in such a vulnerable state so close.

Yet, even before the Matriarch’s snarl of warning, the wyvern calmed, then turned its head so it could look Valen in the eye. For some reason, in that moment, he could have sworn the beast was trying to communicate with him, as if he could learn how the now vulnerable human had been able to so bring him down so easily moments ago.

There passed, in that moment, a kind of connection between the two that Valen could not have explained if he tried. It felt as if the Highborn was acknowledging him in some way, though what that might mean he had no idea.

All he knew was that in the next few moments, the wyvern moved his head away from Valen, allowing him to return to his feet and creep slowly out of the cave. While Maelienas had managed to assert her dominance in a moment of weakness, as had to be done to properly bring a wild drake into the flight, he was still not ready to just leave his back wide open to the Highborn.

He felt no threat at all as a moment later the wyvern exited the cave as well, stepping carefully as it bowed its head low before the Matriarch. When Aliden and Aiden tried to come closer, however, the wyvern immediately showed its teeth and turned as if he were about to snap at them. Only the Matriarch’s interference – buffeting him with a quick but firm headbutt – kept the aggression from going any further.

Valen jumped when he saw it happen, but looking at the expression on his father’s face made him relax. Waving Aiden back, Aliden attempted to come closer on his own, but a low growl from the Highborn warned him away again. This time, at least, the wyvern did not try to snap at him, which would have elicited another intervention from Maelienas. Instead, he stepped a bit closer to Valen, twisting around as if he were trying to protect the younger Galar from the others.

At this, Aiden seemed shocked, and even their father's eyes went a bit wide. Then Aliden shook his head, smiling, and stepped back until the wyvern calmed down again. Valen, still not sure what to make of all this, looked between his brother and father, doing his best to ask for help without actually voicing the request.

“Well, Valen. It would appear that our friend here has bonded with you as flightbrother,” Aliden said. It almost sounded as if he were amused. Valen of course understood the significance of this; when the Matriarch welcomed a new wyvern into the flight, it was the primary tamer’s responsibility to insert themselves into the process, so that afterwards the new wyvern recognized them as a member of the flight.

It was necessary for a human 'sibling' to exist in order for any progress to be made with the wyvern, and now it seemed as though the Highborn had chosen Valen.

If only he had any experience with the process.

For it to happen with the most inexperienced person there was unfortunate. There was no telling what difference there might be in working with a Highborn or working with other wyvern breeds that he and his family were more familiar with. Still, it wasn’t like he could change things now. Once a flight bond was established, it was established for life.

All that he could do now was help guide the wounded Highborn back to the Hatchery, where they could tend to his wounds.

Aliden and Aiden took up the lead, stepping carefully down the rocky slope back to the path below. The Matriarch allowed Valen to walk by alongside the newly initiated wyvern, taking up a position behind them so that she would be able to catch any hint of danger if the Highborn decided to act out again. He did not, however, and they made it back to the Hatchery without any issues.

Knowing that the new wyvern could not take up residence in the Great Roost before his wounds were tended to and he was acclimated to the rest of the flight, Valen instead led him, under the close supervision of his father, to a large building across from it, three stories tall but really just one large room. The stone structure, one of the old ones from before the Hatchery was built, acted as both an infirmary and a temporary nesting place on the rare occasions like today where wild wyverns were introduced.

Once they got inside, Valen held a comforting hand on the wyvern’s side and slowly walked around him to get a better look at his damaged wing.

It was worse even than he’d been expecting; whatever had caused it, there were several large gashes in his right wing, and it appeared as if the wing’s fourth finger was broken in the middle. No wonder he’d been so defensive in that cave; the fact that he had even been able to land somewhere like that overhang without crashing into the mountainside was nothing short of a miracle.

“How does it look?” Aliden asked him, standing near the entrance into the infirmary. Glancing over, Valen saw that Aiden was gone. Likely, their father had sent him back to his chores. No matter the circumstances, there was no way that he would allow an entire day’s worth of work to go unfinished.

“He’s got some major tears in his wing, and the fourth finger is broken as well. I can’t tell what caused it, but however it happened, we can help,” Valen replied as he continued to assess the injury. His father gave a short grunt of approval, and Valen couldn't help the grin on his face now.

“I’ll get started right away, Da,” he continued, getting to his feet with the intention of heading for the medical kit kept across the infirmary specifically meant to be used in caring for wounded wyverns.

“Wait a moment, Valen. I’d like a word,” Aliden called, grabbing his son’s attention. Patting the Highborn’s neck in reassurance, he then turned and walked over to his father, who motioned for him to step outside. Standing in the shadow of the Matriarch, who still watched the new wyvern with rapt attention, he could see in the way his father’s jaw clenched and unclenched itself that he was working something over in his head.

In the end, he simply sighed and apparently decided that being straightforward was best.

“Valen, what you did up on that ridge was… foolish, to say the least, and stupid. You put yourself in danger for no good reason, when either myself or Aiden could have handled the situation better. And yet, I cannot just pretend you weren’t successful. You did well in helping calm that youngling in there,” Aliden said. Valen glanced back to see the Highborn’s eyes still on him, following his every move. He nodded slowly, knowing full well that he shouldn’t have run in as he did.

But like his father had said, it wound up working out.

“I know, Da, and I am sorry,” he replied. Yet, now that the initial rush of adrenaline and the panic that had followed it were gone, he felt a buzzing excitement cutting through him. Despite never having bonded with a wyvern before, and even though this particular wyvern was certainly going to be far more difficult to care for than a more common breed would have been, he was ready for the challenge.

Perhaps it was because he had always felt of less importance than his brother or sister in his duties at the Hatchery, or maybe it was simply that he wanted the exhilaration of taming an actual Highborn.

Whatever the reason, he knew that this had changed things for him, and he clung to that with as much strength as he possibly could.

“I won’t fail you, though,” Valen added on. He wanted to make sure that his father knew that he could trust his youngest son with this duty. Yet Aliden was shaking his head, an almost solemn pall falling over his face.

“I don’t doubt your abilities, Valen. Never that. I trust you to do well in caring for the wyvern. But… you must understand that, as a Galar, taking care of a wyvern is more than just a job. Bonding with a wyvern is the most sacred thing we, as wyvern keepers, can do. You have to know that as a Galar, there is nothing we hold more dear than that,” Aliden responded, resting a hand on Valen’s shoulder now.

His nose scrunched up in confusion.

"Nothing at all?" he asked, and his father smiled and shook his head before finally pulling his hand away from Valen's shoulder.

“Now, I will leave you to care for your flightbrother. Do me proud, son,” he added. Then he turned and walked away, leaving Valen, still struggling to grasp the full weight of his father’s words, to his duty.