Month of Blue Sea Moon - How to Tame Your Wyvern
Chapter 8
The rest of the week I patrolled with Felix. The grumpy noble cooled off a bit as he realized I wasn't much for conversation outside of our work and I didn't cut any slack. We made an efficient pair, once he realized I wasn't trying to make trouble for him. At the end of the week he even managed to compliment me on my approach, though I wasn't sure it was intentional.
On the day I was due to start flying lessons, I appeared at the stables early. As I walked through the rows and rows of stalls I caught sight of Cyril. The youth was working diligently, sweat gleaming on his brow as he hauled water to and from the well. I watched him from the shadows for a bit, the summer sun beating down with no remorse on anyone who decided to venture out into the light. The ruby eyed Almyran then began laying out fresh straw, having already finished cleaning the stables for the day.
As he sprinkled the hay on the stall floor, I grabbed one of the nearby hale bales and brought it over. "Good morning Cyril, can I give you a hand?"
The youth glared up at me as his voice clipped in contempt. "No I got it. Lady Rhea asked me to clean the stables, chop firewood, and water the gardens."
I handed him the hay and shrugged. "Well I have some free time right now, sure you can't use a hand?"
The ruby eyes rolled as he finished the one stable and moved to the next. "I told you I got it. Besides don't you have someplace else to be?"
"In a bit, I am a little early for my flying lessons." I shrugged as I went to get another hay bale from the pile.
Cyril snorted as he joined me in grabbing another hay bale, the youth grabbing four to my two. I caught the ruby eyes glaring at me as we walked back to the stables.
"What, is there something on my face?" I dipped my head down towards him, wondering what he was looking at.
He didn't keep me waiting.
Cyril's scowl deepened as he glared up at me. "Why are you even here? I heard you can't ride, so why are you bothering with the horses?"
I blinked in surprise and then gave him a half grin. "Ah, I am due to start flying lessons in a bit, but while I was here, I figured I could lend a hand or something while I wait."
"Oh I see, you're trying to take my job from me!" The youth dropped his hay in the stable and turned to me suddenly furious.
I set my hay down and backed away with my hands up. "No, I am just a bit nervous and wanted to be useful. I don't really care for being idle."
He seemed to think about my confession for a second and then snorted as he started throwing more straw onto the floor. "I have done just about everything here, but if you want to be useful how about you leave me alone?"
I felt the smile on my face twitching and I quietly swore in Almyran under my breath.
Cyril picked his head up from distributing straw with interest. "What did you just say?" The youth dusted his hands off and scowled accusingly at me.
I shrugged and started wandering away from him. "You asked me to leave, I guess I will leave you alone then."
"Hey! I know what you said!" He yelled angrily after me as I walked down the long line or horse stables.
I mused as I observed the horses from a distance. The knights, groomers, and caretakers milling about their workday under the hot summer sun.
"I wonder if I can pick which mount I get to practice with." I pondered calmly as I strolled through the courtyard, in no rush to make it to the flying paddocks. My wondering was jarringly interrupted by a mighty ear spitting roar that was quickly followed by frantic yelling. The creature's roars vibrated down the alley as I picked up my pace.
I muttered as yet another ear splitting roar boomed out over the stables. The horses all around me started to whinny and pull their heads inside in fear.
"That wyvern is very angry." I looked up at the sky half expecting to see the protesting wyvern taking flight. No shadows took to the sky as I increased my pace to a jog. Realizing that the handlers might need a hand with an angry wyvern, I trotted down alleys searching for the source of the yelling as the beast roared its fury again.
My ears picked up on some strong cursing and shouting coming from the stables located in the far back regions of the stable yard as a huge tail whipped around the corner and smacked into the stone wall.
Frantic yells called out from the alley the wyvern was pulling back from.
"Get back here you dumb beast! You're going back into that stable!"
The huge male wyvern backed up further into the alley I was down despite the frantic shouting and orders being roared out by the head stablemen.
I halted my advance, analyzing the layout of the situation as the wyvern snapped and tugged on the heavy chain halter it was wearing. The deep brown of his scales, and his huge size indicated he was an older male, probably wild caught, and most likely in his prime.
The wyvern lowered its head and huffed as I called out to the men who were handling him. "Watch out he is going to charge!"
My call out alerted one of the many stable hands present. "It's a student! Get back missy! He's mean!"
I started to run forward as the wyvern furled its wings in and stamped it's clawed feet in a temper. The heavy ball and chains on its feet jangled and screamed as it charged full speed towards it's group of caretakers.
The men working the chains promptly dropped it and ran inside the nearest building as the rampaging wyvern chased after the men. Snapping its jaws angrily at one man who was too slow to get in the building, the wyvern caught sight of another one running away. Prey instincts triggered the wyvern into dropping its horns low and charging after the stable hand. It took the wyvern only a few quick steps before it slammed it's massive into the fleeing man, lifting him high and tossing him like a rag doll onto the rooftop next to it.
The man hit the roof and rolled down the other side as the wyvern realized its chains were empty of resistance. At the same time,I managed to get up alongside the raging beast, dodging the flailing tail and talons the size of my forearm to quickly lay my hands on the slackened heavy metal links were slick with blood and I realized in horror that the chain was barbed on the shackles to prevent the wyvern from rebelling.
The abrupt change in weight on the side of the wyverns muzzle caused one deep green eye to glare viciously at me. I managed to dodged the mounts snapping teeth and quickly ran my hands up the chain to locate the heavy clip. My fingers slipped in the blood as I pressed the release on the clip. Part of the barded harness fell to the ground in a second and I was amazed to feel a sudden pain in my leg a second later.
I gulped as I looked down to see a blazing green eye snarling up at me in pain. I tried not to focus on the fact the beast had sunk its jaws into my upper calf.
"Is this how you thank me for getting this uncomfortable thing off you?" I took a deep breath and reached out between the wyverns eyes and put my hands around the second section of the harness. I pleaded as I fumbled for the next clip. "Come on now don't…"
There was a resounding crack that echoed through my body as the pain grew stronger. I winced, my hands starting to shake as I attempted to continue what I had set out to accomplish. I managed to unclip the next layer from the bridal hissing. "Really, you don't need to. Bite. So. Hard."
An intense wave of pain washed over me as I felt a healing wave of holy magic wash over me.
The beast froze as I unclipped the last clasp from its barbed headgear. The wyvern released my thigh and slowly raised its head to me. I braced myself as it opened its jaws. The maw bloody with both my blood and the beasts own. The razor sharp teeth were ridged in the back to rip and tear flesh, and I tried not to consider the hand length fangs had just been embedded in my leg. I held put my arms, trying to protect my head as my leg shuttered under me.
To my surprise, the wyvern snapped once and then dropped the barbed bit into my outstretched hands. Once free of the terrible device the wyvern let out an earth shattering roar.
Unsure of what I should do, injured, blood, and holding a cursed device I knew better then to show any weakness. My past experiences with wyverns were nothing like this. The normally docile creatures who happily let me walk among them was not what I faced now.
Lacking any ability to run, I held my ground and, in instinct, I let out a yell with it. The beast heard me, and I felt another healing spell hit me from a distance. I felt my bones setting themselves back into place as the jagged wounds on my leg slowly knitted themselves back together. The purple and blue bruises on my nose also started to heal as I roared.
The beast finished declaring its freedom and looked back at me, perhaps it was surprised I had not run off. I continued screaming as it blinked slowly at me. A dominance move, I continued yelling as it gave me a push with its giant head.
"Someone toss her the keys to his shackles." Seteth's voice snapped orders as the wyvern snorted at me.
I stopped and waited, the wyvern waited as we glared at each other - as if we were testing what the other would do next. My throat was dry, as I tried to speak out of the corner of my mouth. I didn't like this next part of my sudden plan either."I - I need everyone to leave his stall. You're all going to be at risk when I free his feet."
Seteth calmly walked over to me and handed me a heavy iron key. "I see you have chosen our most uncooperative wyvern as your mount."
I didn't dare take my eyes off the glowing green eyes that were glaring at me."I didn't have any say in the matter. This is clearly abuse, I had to step in and stop it."
The wyvern's tail slammed into the wall next to us, sending tiny pebbles of stone flying around us. I accepted the key from Seteth and the advisor slowly backed away. The wyvern didn't blink as he dug his claws into the ground and the reptilian green eyes watched me duck under him without a fuss.
Quickly I slid on my knees to unchain his feet, ignoring the protest of my injured leg and doing my level best to not acknowledge the blood all over my uniform.
Seteth's stern voice made its way to me while I worked. "He has been uncooperative since his last rider died. Since then he just continues mauling the caretakers to the point that no one wants to work with him. We only did what we could to protect him, but he won't even let us saddle him to take him out flying."
I got one of the heavy shackles off with no problems, but I began to have some difficulty with the other. The huge talons on the wyverns' free foot scrapped the paver stones next to me, digging long furrows into the ancient stone.
The small chips of rock and dirt made my eyes water as I struggled with the last lock. The puffy, inflamed, scales at the base were painfully blistered and I was upset that such a magnificent bull had been forced into captivity. To endure such treatment, it would have been kinder to just let him go free.
As if to tell me I was taking too long the wyvern above me gave me a low warning growl and the foot I was working on flexed. I didn't think so much as reacted, I quickly sat down on top of the foot before the huge talons could impale me. Realizing I could quickly be thrown off, I wrapped my legs around the ankle for security and growled back up at him.
I finally was able to get the key in the stubborn lock, but the rusted iron tumblers steadfastly refused to turn. With a yell I wrenched the key and heard a distinctive snap. A second later the restrictive chain dropped to the ground and I felt the wyvern's legs tense. Dreading what was happening I wrapped my arms around the scaly leg as he leaped up high into the air.
I heard myself screaming as Seteth issued orders. "Get my wyvern mounted at once! Quickly!"
There was more roaring going on now that my wyvern taken flight, but I couldn't tell over the sheer amount of screaming I was doing.
Lucky the ride wasn't that far. My wyvern was apparently interested in other things as he dropped down a short flight over the monastery walls.
He has impeccable taste. I thought desperately as we descended, and I realized with a mixture of horror and relief that we were landings in the exact paddock I was due to be practicing in. As the ground grew closer, I saw Leonie saddling her pegasus as Claude's wyvern looked up from a freshly butchered cow with a shrill roar of fright.
"Oh no! Oh $&*%*! You *#$&$!" I let out a string of curse words in every language I knew as the ground approached, realizing now I had to figure out how I was going to land.
Claude and Leonie looked up as the shadow of my wyvern passed overhead. At the last minute, as we came into land, I spied a small blessing.
A small stunted tree.
I didn't have any time to weigh my options as my wyvern's foot extended out to take the impact of landing. Realizing I had no other options, I let out another curse and let go. My stomach met my heart as I dropped down into the tree.
The thin branches grew gradually larger as I descended down the tree, the expansive foliage breaking enough of my fall that I stopped about half way down the tree.
"Fuck that smarts…" I muttered dizzily as I hung upside down from a sturdy tree branch in a complete daze. My brain attempted to process what had just happened in the last half hour, as I started at the ground completely winded. My legs gripped the thick branches as I recovered, swaying upside down for a second longer before reaching my hand out and pulling myself upright.
"Claude look out! He's going straight for you!" Leonie shouted in a panic.
So frightened was her voice that I managed to find the strength to lean my head backwards over the tree branch that was suspending me.
Suspended between two branches, arms comfortably over one branch, the crook of my knees held the other branch, allowed me to freely suspend my beaten body in the air. I lay there, utterly exhausted as I observed my bull chasing Claude's smaller wyvern off the food source and start gorging himself.
I watched for a second as the wyvern ripped into the fresh carcass and then looked up to the sky with another earth shattering roar. Somewhere deep inside I felt satisfied with how everything had turned out.
My dazed eyes then noticed a flash of fluttering yellow approaching my tree as flashes of orange the pegasus away from the eating wyvern. The smaller wyvern circled the kill hissing while my bull glared and roared its superiority. I closed my eyes as a jarring exhaustion overtook me.
"Lilianna?! What is going on? Are you alright?" Claude's shout disturbed my peaceful respite and I groaned heavily in response.
"Great questions. Next question please…"
The house leader stood under the tree looking up at me with worry. "No seriously Lilianna, do you need me to come up and get you?"
I gave a deep sigh and opened my eyes. "No I'm alright I think, just, give me a moment would you?"
Claude's voice sounded skeptical as he found where I was hanging."Are you sure? That's good because I don't think I could climb up and get you."
Then why did you offer? I wanted to ask him, but it took too much effort to be sarcastic. "Just leave me alone. I'll come down when I am ready."
There was a short pause and then Claude called back up to me. "How about I catch you when you get down here then?"
I looked down at him and visibly rolled my eyes. "Na, I think I am going to take a nap up here. Do you think you can wait that long?"
Claude shook his head, his short side braid swinging to the gentle motion as he cracked a small grin. "Well I could but I think Seteth might want a word with you in a moment."
I looked up to see three dark shadows flying overhead and that spurred me into motion. I swore again, a mixture of language as I started to climb my way down.. "Shit, I am in so much trouble."
My house leader's amused laughter sounded out from somewhere down below me. "Sometimes we have to make our own entertainment here, but I think with Teach and you around I'm not going to be bored any time soon."
I gritted my teeth as I looked down at the bright green eyes staring at me from the ground below. "Happy to be of service then. Watch out, I'm coming down."
I let my arms drop and grabbed onto a lower branch. My legs let go a second later causing my weight to plummet towards the ground. I swung down and used the momentum to grab the next branch lower and then the next. The bark dug into my hands through my gloves, but I was able to make a speedy descent.
Claude was waiting with open arms as I let go of the last branch and he caught me with a sarcastic grin. "That was fast, did you just not want to keep me waiting after all?"
I looked down at him with a scowl, a heated blush started to creep its way across my face and steadily heated up as I realized how disheveled I was, as well as the situation I was in.
Claude's arms held me tightly he continued on teasing me. "Mmm, looks like you've fallen for me huh?"
My house leader's mouth tugged up into a teasing smirk as he set me onto the ground.
"Umm...thank you?" I failed to meet my house leader's playful gaze as my heart began beating wildly in my chest.
"Miss Lilianna! Do you realize the danger you have unleashed upon the monastery? Had you taken a moment to consider…"
I was much too occupied with the frantic beating of my heart and the feeling of Claude's arms around my waist to pay much attention to Seteth starting his lecture. My house leader steadied me with a chuckle and I thought I was going to die of embarrassment. I even failed to notice the strong stench of blood that was starting to drift up behind me.
My daze and confusion were lifted as I noticed Seteth's gaze moving away from me, to focus on me to something behind me. I turned my head up as my wyvern's bloody maw descended toward Seteth.
To Seteth's credit he did not balk as the wyvern's low warning growl sounded as the wyvern's wings encompassed me and Claude. Claude's easy grin didn't show any sign of concern as the dusty red hues surrounded us in a living tent.
Seteth's voice was still audible over the rumbling in my wyvern's chest. "Well I can see that this is going to be a pointless endeavor to lecture you about this presently, do you have any ideas on how to stable him?"
I stared at the dusty red hues of my enclosure. It was both amazing and sad that I could see the scars of past battles, the scar tissue that had collected on the wyverns thin wing membranes and scabbed over countless times. The wyvern's growling was only getting worse as the dark form of Seteth moved closer to the wings. My wyvern snapped at him, causing the advisor to step back out of range once more.
"How about you just take a wheelbarrow full of food back to his stall? I am sure he will follow you. The poor guy looks like he needs a few decent meals himself." Claude chirped as he released me to touch one of the heavy clusters of scales on the wyvern's chest. I also reached a hand over to feel the hard knot of scales.
"What causes that…" I whispered as my hands drifted down the scale line in wonder.
Claude's hand traveled up towards another knotted spot on the wyvern's neck. "Those are scabs, evidence this bruiser here has seen his fair share of battles."
From outside Seteth agreed with Claude's suggestion. "You may have a point. You there go and fetch a spare cow."
One of the knights that had flown in with the advisor was dispatched to go fetch a spare carcass as Seteth continued speaking. "By the way Lilianna, how are you feeling? Any problems, are you lightheaded?"
I paused in running my hands over my wyvern's torso and let my fingers trail down to touch my leg. Claude looked down to see what Seteth was talking about and turned a strangely pale shade.
"I-I think I am alright. Most of the bleeding has stopped..."
"Wait, how did that happen?!" Claude hissed next to me as we both started reaching into our pockets.
I managed to pull out a small pack of bandages that I carried in my pocket for emergencies and was surprised when Claude handed me another roll.
I didn't answer him as I started to pull my skirt up.
"You got it, or do you need my help?" He asked as he averted his eyes.
I ignored Claude's discomfort as I started to apply padding to my leg.
I let out a small hiss of pain as I hit something tender and the wyvern above us let out another warning growl. "I got it from here, it's not that bad now."
Seteth's voice sounded less than impressed by my analysis of the situation. "I am still pulling you off duty again after this mess is cleaned up."
I was focused on securing my bandage as Seteth continued talking. "Claude, her house leader, can I trust you to see her safely to the infirmary when this is over? I would like Manuela to look her over and make sure that she receives proper medical care."
"Sure thing Seteth, just as soon as we get this situation taken care of I'll make sure to take her up to the infirmary." Claude reassured him as he ducked under the wing joint and stepped over the lashing tail to exit the wing tent leaving me stuck between an overprotective wyvern and the stern advisor for Garreg Mach Monastery.
The advisor was clearly peeved by my answers and the fact that I had yet to move out of the way of a rampaging bull wyvern. "Honestly, in the two months you have been with us you keep getting into trouble. I almost have to wonder what Lady Rhea was thinking taking you in, but alas it is no more of a mystery."
The lecture needled me and I huffed in irritation."Hey, I am trying alright! The door incident wasn't entirely my fault and neither was this!"
"That remains to be seen." The advisor's matter-a-fact answer was unconvinced and I rolled my eyes.
"Ok the magic incident might have been my fault, I'll admit it. But that was totally because I broke concentration during casting. It's not like I expected someone to just poke their head into a random wagon and say hello!"
The sky filtered in for a second as a huge bloody maw dipped under the wing enclosure and peered down at me with a keening whine.
Unsure of what was going on I reached my hand out hesitantly for the wyvern to inspect.
The emerald eyes closed as wyvern sniffed my bloody hands and I thought everything was going to be alright as the bull bumped my hand with his snout. Encouraged by the behavior I rubbed the nose gentle and cooed. "That's a good boy, easy now…"
The green eyes opened rapidly, and I had about a seconds notice as there was a pause in the wyvern's breathing. I swiftly pulled my hand away, concerned as a sudden sneeze filled the air drenching me snot, ruining the moment.
My disgusted cry echoed around the enclosure. "Echhh! That's disgusting!"
Author Corner:
Ok this one is a baby chapter - I actually had about 4 more pages of content to go with it but I realized I need to add a couple of new things to the next chapter and this made a decent end point for the short chapter.
As a recap the only thing that really happened in the chapter is Lili gets herself into quite a bit of trouble by helping out a huge bull wyvern. The bull is huge by its species standards and covered in war wounds, denoting it is well seasoned - and perhaps not all that tame. Lili isn't that well versed in wyvern care, she just has a little experience with them as its a primary way to travel around Almyra.
Incidentally the bull she saves takes quite the liking to her rather quickly. I wonder why...but he exhibits some pretty strong protective behaviors rather quickly. Perhaps its because she helps rescue him, perhaps its something more. Either way - Lili seems to have had an interesting first day - and a interesting first flight.
Is it a little interesting Claude knows quite a bit about wyverns - and Seteth isn't giving an inch either in the face of an angry wyvern. Strange he is showing a level of concern and worry for her. An interesting change in tune, but maybe its just because bonds are deepening and Lili is becoming more acclimated to the monastery. Food for thought - and something you can look forward to!
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