Chapter 9: Raven
Something was different that day. It had started out normally enough; Scarlet had headed down to the arena to join the other SkyWing dragonets for battle training as she usually did on weekday mornings. But that's where all familiarity went right out the window.
As she approached the arena, she noticed an awful lot of dragons flying all around it-a rather strange sight since battle training wasn't exactly the most thrilling thing in the world to spectate-but she gave it little thought. When she'd arrived, she had found the recruits milling about and seemingly confused. The Sergeant wasn't anywhere in sight. But there was a new face; an amber scaled dragonet who seemed to be addressing the others.
"What's going on?" Scarlet asked no one in particular. "Is everything alright?"
The amber-scaled dragonet turned to face Scarlet and she was slightly taken aback when he scowled at her. Nobody had ever scowled at her before.
"I'm sorry," she said, trying to put as much sarcasm into her words as possible. "But did I do something wrong?"
"No," the amber-scaled dragonet said, his voice clearly conveying his irritation. "I was just telling your friends here to clear out."
"Clear out?" asked one of the recruits. "For what? We're training here."
"Well I'm not sure what your superiors told you," the amber dragonet snapped. "But the arena's already being used for something else." "Even a deaf dragon should have realized that by now," he added snidely.
There were clearly a lot of dragons filling the stands now but that last remark was completely uncalled for. Scarlet stepped up to the dragonet and growled, "Hey, I don't know who you think you are or what your problem is but that was an honest question. No need to beat someone down."
"No need to beat someone down," the amber-scaled dragonet mused, his eyes far away for a moment. Then, as soon as it had left, his glare returned. "Yeah, I wish it were that simple. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got more important things to attend to." Managing to make the last point as deliberately insulting as possible, he spread his wings and left.
"Jerk!" Scarlet called after him, determined to get the last word in.
The Sergeant arrived within moments. "Alright you lot, change of plans," he said, landing lightly. "I've been given instructions to get you to the stands. That includes you, Your Highness. Battle training's been cancelled today."
There were mixed reactions at that announcement. Some dragonets were relieved, others voiced their disappointment. Scarlet and Kestrel were among the latter group. Reluctantly, they followed the Sergeant and the rest of the dragonets to a vacant section of the stands.
"Who in three moons was that guy anyway?" Scarlet asked, tucking in her wings and sitting down. "And what's going on? Why'd battle training get cancelled last-minute?"
"No clue," Kestrel said, settling into a seat beside her. "On both counts. But it must be something pretty big given the crowd."
Out of the corner of her eye, Scarlet absently noticed Falcon ostensibly offering his seat to Garnet. Garnet rolled her eyes and went over to join Kestrel and her. Falcon sighed melodramatically and sat down, conceding defeat. For now.
"Boys," Garnet sighed. "They just don't know when you don't want to be bugged."
"Ignoring him won't help, you know. He's not going to stop till he gets a response from you," Kestrel remarked.
"And since when did you become the Sky Kingdom's leading authority on male antics?" Garnet accused. "I'm sorry to have missed such a momentous event."
"Oh, come on, Garnet," Scarlet said laughingly. "Kestrel's got a point and you know it. Just tell him whether or not you're interested. Either way this stops being a chore for you. Though I'd encourage the former-he's kind of sweet, if a little blunt."
"A little blunt? He's got all the subtlety of sledgehammer. Besides, I don't know the answer to that question myself. I need time to think. And he's not being very obliging about it."
Scarlet didn't know why Garnet was so fussed. Most of the time, Garnet was pretty outgoing around her and Kestrel. But when it came to Falcon, she seemed so socially-awkward. But then she wasn't going to judge. After all, no dragon had tried to approach her as of yet, no doubt because she was royalty and was expected to marry a dragon of noble birth at the appointed time, so she probably had no idea what she was talking about. It seemed a thrilling consideration though. Just one of the other perks of being normal, Scarlet mused.
A shadow passed over her accompanied by a beating of wings and she glanced up. Raptor, her brother, landed beside her. "Ho, there, little sister!" he said, his face lighting up in a grin.
Kestrel and Garnet immediately recognized his ornate armour as that of a squadron commander, for indeed he was one of the army's youngest, most distinguished commanding officers, and were about to salute them but he waved them off and said, "At ease, guys. I'm not big on formality to be honest."
"I thought I'd find you here," he told Scarlet.
"What gave that away?"
Raptor jabbed a talon at the imposing figure of Roc. The bodyguard was seated not far from her, eyeballing the crowd around her carefully. He seemed relaxed but Scarlet knew him well enough to figure that he probably had about six different exit strategies to get her out of harm's way formulated and that he was ready to spring into action at any moment things seemed like turning ugly.
"Kind of hard to miss him, don't you think?" Raptor asked. "And he's never far from you."
"I guess so," Scarlet said absently, still wondering about what was going on. "I don't suppose you know what's happening?"
"I so happen to have been informed this morning," Raptor said. "Mother was called upon to mediate a dispute between two of the governors of the outlying provinces earlier. One of them didn't quite agree with her judgement so he called for a challenge."
Scarlet nearly choked when she heard that. "He's going to fight Mom?!" she cried when she managed to catch her breath. "I'm gonna go down there myself and kick him in the soft spot till he sees sense."
"Easy there, Scar," Raptor said. "He's not fighting Mother. That's not how most challenges work. Otherwise the Queen and the nobles wouldn't be able to rule in stability cause they'd be constantly caught up in these little duels of honour that come up every time some self-important SkyWing feels insulted."
"Their champions will be the ones fighting," Raptor explained. "Champions usually fight in most challenges, save those for the throne." Scarlet winced at that. "And don't worry, it's not a fight to the death either," Raptor added. "Just until one dragon submits and concedes defeat."
"I see."
Just then, a SkyWing stepped out into the centre of the arena. He puffed up his chest, taking in a deep breath before declaring in a sonorous voice, "Friends! SkyWings! Countrymen! In accordance with SkyWing tradition, we are here to bear witness to a duel of honour between the Champions of our Queen and Lord Caique. Without further ado, may I invite the combatants to step into the ring!"
The arena went wild as a mid-sized bright red dragon stepped forward. "Representing Lord Caique is veteran arena fighter, Avocet, with an impressive total of seven victories on his record!" the announcer's voice boomed.
"Is seven a lot?" Kestrel asked Raptor from the corner of her mouth.
Raptor nodded, clapping respectfully. "It's a good track record I suppose," he said with a shrug.
"You suppose?"
"You'll see."
The red dragon, Avocet, bowed and waved at the crowd in the stands which only encouraged louder applause. But Scarlet's attention wasn't on the wildly gesticulating Champion but on another dragon who'd entered the ring quietly, almost unnoticed by all but her. It was the amber dragon from just now. What was he doing down there? Surely not… He couldn't possibly be…
But any doubt she might have had vanished instantly at the announcer's next exclamation.
"Representing Queen Sparrow," the announcer bellowed. "We have the dragonet, Raven!"
"Raven," Scarlet echoed. Then she realized what this meant and buried her face in her claws saying, "I don't even want to watch this. He's going to get flattened! Why didn't they pick someone else to represent Mother?"
"Wait for it," Raptor said enigmatically, wearing a knowing smile.
"-with a total of seventeen victories to his name!" the announcer's voice thundered.
Scarlet's head came up immediately. Had he really said seventeen?! Surely she must've been hearing things.
But one glance at Kestrel and Garnet told her that she'd heard it right. Even now, both of her friends were gaping at the amber dragonet, Raven, in complete disbelief.
Unlike before, the applause died. Instead, there was a collective hiss from the gathered SkyWings, a gesture of profound respect. Scarlet had only seen SkyWings show such reverence to the Queen!
And unlike his opponent, Raven didn't wave or bow. In fact, he didn't give any indication that he noticed the crowd at all. He just stood there, as still as a statue, his eyes locked on his opponent as if he hated him with every fibre of his being.
The two dragons faced each other.
"Never send a dragonet to do an adult's job," Avocet said with a smirk.
Raven didn't reply, simply electing to glare straight ahead.
"Claws up, fire ready! FIGHT!" the announcer boomed. And they were off.
"Avocet's got a point. What's a dragonet doing as the Queen's Champion?" Garnet asked, breathlessly watching the fight.
"Raven's reasons are… complicated," answered Raptor. "It all dates back years ago. His mother was the Queen's Champion at the time and he was just a hatchling. According to what I've heard, she was one of the best duelists around. But one day, one of the governors, Griffin, got greedy and started taking over land from the other governors." He spat the name Griffin with such distaste that Scarlet was actually taken aback.
"They tried to stop him through the usual challenge system; if they won, he'd back off and if they lost, he'd get to keep the land, but his Champion, a brute named Buzzard, was virtually unbeatable. Every time a champion got into the ring with that animal, he'd end up being carried out on a stretcher."
"It got to the point where the governors were thinking of abandoning the challenge system and going to outright war. To stop war from breaking out, our mother intervened. Her Champion, Raven's mother, managed to force Buzzard into conceding. Everyone was happy. Griffin would be forced to give back all the land he'd annexed."
"But Buzzard just couldn't take it. Unable to beat her in a straight up fight, he cravenly struck down Raven's mother from behind even after he had officially conceded the match. He later claimed that he never intended to kill. But that's what happened. Buzzard got off scot free. Griffin outwardly promised that Buzzard would be punished but, like everything with that coward, it was all lies. Raven was just a kid then, watching his mother die, it changed him, like something in him just snapped."
"He spent his early years training exclusively in close quarters combat. He took his mother's place as the Queen's Champion by single-handedly defeating all the other contenders for the position. And that was when he was three. Now he's looking for any reason to get back at Buzzard. He's abided by arena rules and regulations for now but if he comes to face Buzzard, who knows what he'd do. Everyone thinks it's the biggest grudge match in the Sky Kingdom."
Now Scarlet understood why he'd seemed so cold, so angry all the time. And now that she did, she felt terrible for calling him a jerk. She'd had no idea…
"Poor Raven," Scarlet lamented.
"Yeah," Raptor agreed. "He's been alone most of his life. But he's tough. And he's good."
They returned their attention to the ring. Avocet was on the offensive, forcing Raven to back up against a wall by sheer brute force. Avocet had a gleam in his eyes. Perhaps he would be the one to finally put down this dragonet? What glory would be his then! The simple thought of it made him smirk even before his victory had been won.
Scarlet watched Raven carefully. This couldn't be it. He was up to something. He had to be. And he was.
Raven swept his tail in a wide arc, kicking up a great cloud of sand and dust. Avocet lunged for his now-obscured prey but Raven was too quick. With a single beat of his wings, he propelled himself skyward. Using the momentum, he dug his claws into the side of the arena wall and ran vertically up its length for a short distance.
Then, as Avocet was thrashing around blindly in the dust below him, Raven pushed off from the wall, angling his wings behind him to streamline himself. Raven ploughed into Avocet's back claws-first and drove his larger opponent into the ground.
Pinned, it was all Avocet could do to defend himself as Raven began his onslaught. Raven rained mace-like blows with his claws and tail forcing Avocet to try and scramble away to get some room to maneuver. But Raven wouldn't let him get away so easily. Raven loosed a vicious-looking kick at Avocet's elbow, buckling it and causing his opponent to collapse.
By now Avocet's face had taken up an expression of terror. How had this dragon so easily reversed his fortunes? No, not even a dragon but a dragonet! How was this happening?
Raven battered aside Avocet's claws with contempt and pressed his talons to Avocet's throat. Scarlet watched Raven carefully. The look in his eyes made her pale in the realization of the possibility that he might not even be bothered if he killed this dragon.
"Yield," Raven said in a voice devoid of all emotion. He applied more pressure on Avocet's throat for emphasis, making him choke and sputter.
"I yield, I yield!" Avocet gasped and Raven let go. Avocet scrambled away from the dragonet as fast as possible. But the crowd's attention was on Raven. He said nothing and his eyes betrayed even less. He simply glanced over the crowd, sketched a small bow, turned and flew up to a small cave in the nearby cliffs, disappearing into its shadowy depths.
For a while, the crowd was silent. Then, one by one, dragons began leaving the stands. The outcome was decided; they'd won. But why then did Scarlet find herself feeling so empty?
Later that night…
Scarlet landed at the cave entrance she'd seen Raven disappear into. She stepped quietly, tentatively. She'd been sure she'd wanted to do this but now she was beginning to have her doubts. Did she really know what she was doing?
She shook her head, trying to clear it. She was doing this because when she eventually became Queen, Raven would likely be her champion and she'd rather have him on her side. But there was more to it. Deep down, beneath her fear of the dragonet, she was also sympathetic. She squared her shoulders and stepped in before her second thoughts and niggling doubts could derail her again.
The inside of the cave was dimly lit. The light was coming from up ahead in the form of a small crackling fire on the cave floor. Outlined in the glow of the flames was a dragonet's silhouette.
Raven was seated with his back to the entrance and he looked as though he was sleeping. Scarlet approached him and tapped his shoulder gently so as not to startle him. But that wasn't how it all played out.
Raven's eyes flew open and he whirled around with the speed of a hurricane. Scarlet stumbled backwards, startled by him instead. He dropped into a low crouch just as he'd done in the arena earlier.
Scarlet backed away and exclaimed, "Whoa, calm down! I'm not here for a fight."
Raven squinted at her, studying her face carefully. Then he straightened up until he stood half a head taller than her. Glaring down at her, he said, "If you value your life, you'll never sneak up on me like that again." "Your Highness," he added, as if noticing who Scarlet was for the first time.
"Do you usually attack dragons who try to wake you up?" Scarlet accused, a hint of her old anger coming back.
"I mistook you for an intruder," Raven said flatly. "Nobody ever comes here so I assumed the worst. For that matter, why are you here?"
Scarlet sighed. Time to swallow her pride. "Look," she said. "I just came to apologise for what I said earlier. I was angry that you were being so rude to my friends when you told them that the arena was being used. That was before I found out what you've been through. So I'm sorry for calling you a jerk." She added, "And I'm really sorry about your loss."
Raven looked away at the mention of his 'loss'. He gazed into the fire, his thoughts lost in its depths. He didn't say anything for a while. Scarlet got the feeling he was ignoring her deliberately.
"Well I guess I'm not wanted here," she said, just a little ruefully. "I'll be going then." She turned and headed back the way she came. Well that was a disappointment, she thought. At least that's off my conscience.
"Wait." The word stopped her cold.
"Yeah?" she asked, turning back to face Raven.
"Thank you," he said. "But you should know that I really didn't hold it against you."
"I've spent so long on my own that other dragons' opinions don't really affect me anymore," Raven explained. "I know what I am and I know that I'm trying to do the right thing. That's the only thing that's mattered to me for a long time."
"Raven, I'm sorry," Scarlet said. Her heart really went out to him. "I can't imagine what you've had to go through all this while."
"It's alright," Raven told her with a shrug. "I never really expect anyone to understand. I'm used to it all by now." Scarlet realized that now that she looked closer, his face didn't seem to be set in a glare. Rather, he wore a sad, tired expression, like somebody who'd lived through all the disappointments life had in store. It was strange to see a dragonet look so old, so worn out.
"My life as long as I can remember has been about fighting. I've never been around other dragonets-I don't know how to talk to anyone without coming across as confrontational. So I'm sorry that I made you angry this morning. I really didn't mean to. My mind was on the fight ahead, not so much on my manners."
An awkward silence settled. Scarlet was the first to break it. "So where'd you learn to fight like that?" Then she realized how insensitive she might've sounded.
"My mother taught me some of what she knew before she passed on," Raven said, as if it didn't bother him the slightest. He noticed Scarlet tense up and told her, "It's okay. I've learnt to live with the pain, to separate it, contain it. I just focus on how I'm going to avenge her one day. That takes the thoughts away, at least for a while."
"I've never really had company down here before," Raven continued. "I always convinced myself that I didn't need anyone-that nobody was worth talking to. But you interest me. You're the first dragonet who's ever dared approach me."
"Well I felt bad for what I said before I found out about what happened to you," Scarlet said. "Any decent dragonet would've apologized."
"But not all dragonets would've had the courage to be able to swallow their pride," Raven said. That made her feel better about herself. Had he really just complimented her? It sounded strange coming from him.
She was startled by the crack of thunder. They both glanced at the cave entrance. A torrential downpour had seemingly come out of nowhere. Rain was coming down in sheets that swept across the arena like inverted tidal waves and lightning streaked through the skies in random, jagged lines.
"I'd better get back to the palace," Scarlet said. "Before the storm gets too bad to fly in."
"I'll follow," Raven said. "That is, if you don't mind. I just want to see you get back safely."
"You sure it's not cause you feel just the slightest bit lonely?" Scarlet asked teasingly.
"Perhaps it is."
"Well, let's go then," Scarlet said.
They took flight together. The rain was making it hard to fly, constantly pelting Scarlet's wings and blurring her vision as it streaked down her horns and into her eyes. She blinked the rainwater away. Just a few more wingbeats to the palace.
Then she realized she couldn't feel the rain anymore. She glanced up to see Raven flying right above her, blocking the rain with his wings.
Raven saw her looking and explained, "Only one of us needs to get drenched. I can stand a few raindrops."
Scarlet rolled left in midair and beat her wings twice, positioning herself just above Raven. "And you're saying I can't?" she accused.
"Besides," she said. "You'll have to fly back in the rain. You're not catching a cold on my account."
A bemused look on his face, Raven flew on and didn't argue with her. Eventually, they arrived at her window which she had thankfully left open and she clambered in. She shook herself dry and glanced up at Raven.
"You sure you don't want to come in?" she asked. "It's a lot drier in here."
"I'll dry off back in my cave," Raven told her. "Have a good night." He actually tried to smile.
"Yeah, you too," she replied. "And you smile terribly. It looks like you're trying to scare someone."
"I haven't found reason to be happy in years. I'm out of practice. Maybe you could teach me how to do it properly next time."
With that, Raven turned back. Strangely, Scarlet found herself staring after him, watching as his amber outline finally vanished into the night and the rain. Next time? He seemed sure that they would meet again. Well, Scarlet thought. He wasn't wrong.
Author's Note:
Hey guys, I'm really sorry that updates have been coming as slowly as they have. I've recently enlisted in my country's compulsory military service and so I've had very little time to write since the start of the year. I seek your understanding about all this and hope you'll bear with me through this period.
But I want to thank you for keeping with the story and reading on up till this point. You guys have been great and your constant support has helped me through some of my toughest moments. I definitely intend to complete this story as well as all my others as well and I'll be working to try to put up new chapters regularly no matter what comes up.
I hope you all enjoyed this one-it's a bit longer than usual and we've seen the introduction of a new character (as well as Scarlet's feelings about him). So please do tell me what you thought of the newest addition to our cast, Raven?
I intended for this chapter to explore the reason for the role of Champions. In the Dragonet Prophecy, Peril was introduced as the Queen's Champion but the role wasn't really elaborated on so I tried to expand on it here.
But I guess you could say the moral of this chapter could be not to judge a book by its cover (or a dragonet by the way he scowls at you for that matter) XD Thanks again for reading and bearing with me. May your claws stay sharp and your fire burn brightly! :)