War. It is all I have known my whole life; all I have seen in my short eighteen years that makes me feel as though my life has stretched centuries. Blood, both hawk and serpent has stained my armor, both from killing blows and from holding a dying comrade. It has stained my hands as I held up my dying pair-bond as she took her last breath in my arms; I watched the one I had sworn to protect from the time I could speak die from a serpent's venom. My people are all weary; no longer shocked by the news of their sons dying, no longer hopeful for the end of our conflict with the serpiente.
This war did not start with my generation, nor do I think it will end so. Our war has gone on beyond memory, for an offense neither the Tuuli Thea nor the Diente committed. Whether it started with the slaughter of snakes in their beds, or a knife in the back, it continues. No one knows, no one cares, but still we kill.
Now, Danica Shardae stands to inherit the avian throne, and Zane Cobriana the serpiente, a whole new generation of rulers, and the same pointless war. Danica has spoken of peace, but how can it be so when so many of us are ready to destroy more of the enemy? When will we cease this madness, and when will I regain control of my sanity? For I have not slept in months, not since the day I watched everything I held dear die in front of me.
This war no longer holds a reason but that of the individual. We fight to avenge, to take back what has been taken from us. It is a never-ending cycle, and I have become a victim of it. Why do I fight? Simply because I am not finished. I will never sheathe my blade until I find the one that drove his fangs into my beloved's heart. I will never sheathe my blade until it is buried rightfully into chest, and he looks upon my countenance and knows what he has taken from me and begs for forgiveness. I will never sheathe my blade until I have slain Zane Cobriana, Diente, and murderer of Mara Shardae. Zane Cobriana, whose garnet eyes still haunt my nightmares, will have no mercy from my sword.
Seamus Blacktalon, Raven
Second in Command of the Royal Flight