Forces Collide - Jamie Wilson (ebook reader macos .TXT) 📗

that held the saddle in place looped around her neck, along the sides of her back and belly. The straps from her back and belly were held together by two padded loops that rested around the top of her legs. The saddle's seat was not much to look at. Where my knees would go was padded and two firm reinforced stirrups dangled from firm strip of leather.
When everything was in place the human said, "Hop up on her and I'll see if anything else needs adjusting."
I did not want to cause my wyvern any discomfort, so I did, climbing lightly up. When Gaelira made to stand up as much as she could she wavered for a minute, clearly not used to my weight. Then she regained her balance and rose up again on her powerful legs.
“They hold well,” Gaelira snorted, carefully twisting her body in the room. She was testing the saddle, and the straps.
‘The real test will be when we fly for the first time,’ I told her.
"Thank you, we are both pleased with them," I said, peaking for Gaelira as well.
"My pleasure. I am glad the two of you like them," the human replied. The saddle maker left and Gaelira nudged me.
I chuckled and followed Gaelira towards the open balcony door. Our balcony was only small, but it was higher roofed than the rest of the room inside. Gaelira found it was easier for her to sleep outside these days. Then Gaelira crouched, and I climbed lightly onto her.
Gaelira was humming in her throat as she stood up once more, this time upright. Then her huge feathery wing unfurled as she strode towards the edge. When she was completely used to my wait she snorted, a tiny tendril of smoke issued from her nose, and then without warning me, she leapt off the balcony.
Her wings snapped open and beating in frenzy she managed to pull out of the dive. Slowly we flew higher and higher, it had been a long time since I'd flown, and I was faintly dizzy. I felt as though I had left my stomach behind, Gaelira was so quick to climb into the air. 
As we flew, I looked down on the village, and it looked extremely small now. I closed my eyes and sighed. I then reopened my eyes as Gaelira drew my attention in one direction, saying, “There is a black creature flying towards this town. It is too big to be a bird.”
“What?” I looked in the direction Gaelira was.
I could see the black dot, but I wondered what it was. “Shall we see what it is?” she asked.
“Do you think you can handle it if it proves to be another wyvern?” I asked. I was slightly worried that there was someone else up here. Well maybe someone else. If it was a wild one well, we would have to get back to the others and fast.
“Do not doubt me. I know my limits. Whatever it is, I don’t think it wants to attack us. Else it would be already,” she said. “So shall we go and intercept it?”
“Very well. You’re lucky I trust you, Gaelira,” I said. “Let us go see what it is then. I doubt it could escape you if it posed a threat to Adurna.”
She snorted. Then she turned in the air and started to wing her way towards the black dot that she had seen. I wondered why she knew it was bigger than anything else that we had seen of late.
We flew quickly through the sky and soon I recognized the shape as that of another wyvern.
The black wyvern herded us down to land and I soon noticed someone on its back. Then the person removed their helm and his face showed he was scrutinizing me. he seemed to be trying to recognize me, as if  I had met him before.
As soon as I saw his features, I recognized what he was. He had short black hair, it was shorter than a normal elf's hair, bright blue eyes and rounded chin, ears and catlike eyes. I could see that his cheekbones were high like an elf's but other than that, he was human. "Aaye, Uruohtar," I called to him.
"La stella lusin ni fin gia du lye engame, Uruohtar," the half elf replied.
"Mani to lle essa? mankoi yasa lle sinome?" I asked, wanting to know a few things. I spoke slowly; I was not used to my old language yet
He must have noticed how slowly I spoke. In the human tongue he replied, "Haemir Agrivar. I was sent here t find Princess Gem Hawksong, her wyvern, Gaelira, and several orphans."
"Well you just found Gem. That would be me, and this...”
“I am Gaelira,” Gaelira finished for me. I laughed when she interrupted me. It seemed she was eager to talk to these two. I wondered for a brief second why that happened to be so. She’d always been so slow and unwilling whenever it was Drannor who spoke to her.
"Where are your other friends?" Haemir asked. The fact that the black wyvern was watching Gaelria with eager eyes did not go unnoticed.
How did he know about them? And why the hell was he here in the first place? Who had sent him to Adurna, knowing full well that I was hiding there?
"I will show you, come with me," I replied.
I knew Drannor would be able to sort this out. No one could stop him from reading their mind. I knew that much. Hell, it was a strain to keep him out for me, though my strength was a lot weaker than his.
"Alright." Haemir mounted his wyvern again; I had not noticed he'd gotten off. "This is Ackron, by the way.” I smiled and Gaelira flicked her tail in a playful manner when she heard Ackron’s name.

This time as we flew I thought about this newcomer. I knew him; he was a friend to my family and had been for a long time.

The two wyverns leapt into the sky quickly. All the villagers stared at them in awe again. They knew not to tell King Marcos and Rhothilon. By seeing two new wyverns in the sky, they could guess that King Marcos' enemies had not been so idle. War would come soon. They crowded together, not wanting to come very close. All this I saw as Gaelira flew over the tow once more.
Time to get this over with, I thought. “We better land in the middle of town. I have some things to tell them!”

“Alright then,” Gaelira snorted. Quickly I informed Haemir and Ackron of what we would do. Gaelira was very hesitant as she landed with a jolt on the cobblestones. I loosened my grip once she was settling into a crouch. She pulled her wings close to her body as Ackron soared down after her.

I looked around at all the humans around me, taking in their confused, and some of the afraid expressions they had. A few of them though, looked up at me with some recognition. Those few people recognized me, though many of the town's folk only rarely saw me out of the orphanage.
When Ackron landed, I could tell that they were worried by the presence of someone new to the village. These people were so easily cautious of newcomers, new people felt like outsiders when they came. Few villagers spoke to the newcomers; until the people showed they were no threat to the rest of the village.

It was obvious that they saw him as a threat, though they could not see his face. I knew they gained that assumption because of the fact he wore armour, that was not crafted the same as the armour that Lindan Marcos' troops wore. On top of that, the emblem on his silver breastplate happened to be a rearing red griffon.

That was not Lindan Marcos' symbol. The human king's symbol was a snarling blue wyvern. Not the best thing to have, we all knew it was no symbol of a wise man. It was a symbol that showed that Lindan Marcos had, in our understanding, completely lost his mind. Possibly due to the fact this war had raged on and on, at least seventy years now.

"Who are you both?" asked one man, as we got off.

"Names we shall not give you. Remember this; I in particular fight against King Marcos. I also protect this dear lady and her wyvern," replied Haemir cautiously. He was not interested in letting on who we were. Just then he saw a man riding quickly away from the town. "moec oto lle rah!" he shouted. The horse heard him, and in spite of its riders instructions, trotted to Haemir.

Haemir looked over the horse as it approached. "That is no human bred horse. If it were one of your dumb animals, he would not have come to me. Get off of that proud animal now! No elfin bred horses should be forced to bear a human against his will."

Out of sheer fright, the man dismounted. Then Haemir noticed the snarling blue wyvern on the man's breastplate.

"You bear King Marcos' symbol. You are one of his men," Haemir said, shifting his hand to his sword's hilt.

The man answered by swinging his own sword at Haladavar's head. It was blocked so swiftly, no one saw Haladavar draw his sword. All I saw was a blur of movement, and quite quickly, there was a sword on the ground. The man was shocked that he had been disarmed so quickly. Haemir swung the tip of his sword up to the human's jawbone with one quick, undodgable movement. The man froze in shock at the blade resting on his jawbone.

"You'll say nothing to King Marcos or you'll have me to deal with. Don't make me fight you again, you'll not be so fortunate as to keep your life," Haemir said. The man nodded shakily and Haemir lowered his sword slowly.

"I keep the horse, leave now," Haemir said coldly. The man grabbed his sword and ran off.

Haemir spoke briefly to Ackron, and then looked at me. "Time to move on now. Where to?"

I smiled at him. Time to get back to Drannor and the younger humans. "Come I will show you."

Haemir mounted his previously stolen elfin horse quickly. I understood that this was a hose that belonged to him, and not to anyone else. Why does he not mount Ackron? I thought. After all, I'm flying. Gaelira took two hobbling steps on her long legs and leapt into the sky, followed by Ackron. I looked down as the ground soared away and spotted the horse cantering below us.

All too soon, we got close to the inn. Find somewhere to hide with Ackron. “Drop me off now. I'll see you in a matter of days,” I said to Gaelira.

“I worry about you most when you're away from me,” the wyvern replied. “However I do trust you.”

Ackron and Gaelira took off from the ground in flurry of wing beats, raising a huge amount of dust and flew away. I coughed a few times while the dust settled and Haemir's horse trotted to a stop near me. One of the innkeepers came out to take it to the stable and we headed upstairs to my room.

I opened the door to my inn room and four other faces looked at Haemir, scared. A fifth face looked at him with mild surprise.

"Who is he, Gem? Where's Gaelira?" Collin asked.

"This is Haemir Agrivar. He's a half elf and was sent to guard me.