When Katt bowed away from the last set of students, she took the green fabric back from the doctor and let it unfold its full length before the crowd. It was a long sash of silky fabric, delicately embroidered with the Hall�s crest in flat grey but radiating outwards with the Hall�s colors, yellow and red and black. The crest looked like an expanded version of their pewter pendants; the current date had been embroidered over the crest. �This will stay with me until all of you have returned� and then, it will be hung in the Hall of Memory to commemorate your class, and the times we spent together. Keep in mind, though, that there is no time limit to this test..." and she looked each student carefully in the eye, "Please be safe, and take your time; we want you to be sure that you are ready when you finish. If you loose your pendant, just return here, when you can, and you can start out on your journey anew.
"This test is the culmination of all that you have learned, and together, in your pairs, you must take the skills we have taught you and prove yourselves worthy of being Jr. Rangers,� and Katt paused, surveying the assembled students. She gestured with a wave to the right, where the stone wall crumbled into the trees and the dirt path began, running out from the shady garden into the fields before delving into the wild forests. �Your test begins now. Good luck��
The students looked at each other, shuffling with some nods of encouragement down the trail towards the fields. The crowd of family and friends followed to the field but stopped at the edge, giving their final farewells. Calley hugged and assured her parents, settled her pack on her back, and waved to a nonchalant Makzin before setting out across the field with Peiro and Nips. Pair by pair, the other students disentangled themselves from the crowd and set off over the small grassy hills towards the far treeline.
As the last of the students set out into the field, Katt, standing forward from the crowd with her dress blending into the tall grasses, began to sing. It was a slow and haunting melody, the foreign words stretching out and melting together, the syllables carrying forth the tune like a wind through the summer trees. Calley stopped on the hillside, looking back and listening, her heart beating fast as the crowd grew quiet and nothing but the sylvan�s music rang over the hills. She couldn't recognize a single word, but she knew the teacher was singing of her, and Peiro, and the other students.
Peiro tugged on the tail of her cloak, and she looked to him; the drakling was staring soft-eyed over the crowd and over the trees to where the tail of the banner fluttered from the peak of the wall�s end. Beyond the perched Scrapp, two dragons had appeared, and were watching them from afar. Peiro flapped his wings twice in a farewell to his mother and aunt.
Calley smiled, then nodded to Peiro. Wordless, they turned and continued on their way across the field and into the wilderness of Tierra, followed by the eyes of their families and the voice of their teacher.
* * * * *
Far to the southeast, the only songs were those of songbirds; but not all of the winged creatures there were singing to the late-morning breeze.
Perched crouching on a boulder overlooking the forested hills, a slim woman shaded her eyes in the sun. Her skin was pale and tinted blue, alien to this world. Long, feathered wings spread from her back; though the white and grey feathers were immaculately groomed, the sashes of white and pink that clothed her had tails long tattered and stained from mud. Her long white hair was tied back with a black ribbon, and a worn black satchel was strapped to her side, scraped and dusted with red-brown. Beside her sat a maow similar in body to Timber, save that he had grey fur and feathered wings.The blue woman was silent as she surveyed the landscape. Various buildings peeked out from amongst the thick, tall trees below. Her keen eyes could spot people moving about, black-clad and armed to the teeth. Their headquarters was like all of the other buildings in the human settlement, with walls of mud-brick and clay and a thatched roof.
"Not a very well-planned camp, is it?"
The winged wolf shook his head. "It wasn't built as a military base. The Warriors commandeered it from the families that lived there..."
The woman growled, her eyes narrowing. "Damned Warriors. Well... I can see barbed wire... and stationary gun turrets. Do you think we can fly in? It looks like we could drop through that roof."
"No, we have to go in quietly..." the maow said quietly beside her, "They might kill her if they know we're coming."
She nodded gravely.
"I will go in first," he said, looking back to the camp, "and free her if she's still there. You just need to prepare the diversion and lie low. You see that munitions shack?"
The winged woman nodded again, spotting a small wooden shed standing out about 30 feet from the building, midway between the building and the trees. Some of the human warriors, under direction of a winged Warrior, were carrying weapons and ammo and power cores and explosives into the shack from unseen sources in the forest.
"That will be our diversion."
She nodded grimly, glaring down at the village. "I'm coming, Mother..." she murmured to herself.
* * * * *
The boys, with Gideon and Calla with them, had reached their destination the next day as the sun hung heavy over the western horizon, the bulk of the Everwhite's clouds distant to the northwest and the orange light highlighting their cloaks and packs as they flew out and over a crack in the mountains. The river they were following spilt down and over the ridge, pouring into the canyonous valley as a tall waterfall and flowing out from there towards the sea.
As they broke over the edge of the crack, a city spread itself out before their eyes, filling the canyon's terraced sides with homes of stonework reaching out from the canyon walls and green, hanging gardens draping down from balconies and railing. The near end of the steep valley was lost in shadow, though the spires and towers reached up out of the dimness to be highlighted in the falling sun's glow. Many eyes turned up to them as Sadira's form glittered in the sunlight above the shadowy canyon, but no alarm was given as Zane, talking into his mic, greeted the local Guide Hall.
Lights flared up below, directing their attention to an empty terrace to their left along the wall of the canyon, not terribly far from where the river plunged down into the city-filled valley. Sadira turned lazily about, circling down into the narrow valley towards the beacons and alighting there on the terrace.
The boys slid down from the dragon's back and stretched the stiffness from their bodies, Makzin pulling off his flight-goggles and summoning Timber from home through the magic of his gem. The terrace was ringed with lights that, fitted among the cobblestones, blinked in a pattern that had outlined their designated landing area. Calla was bright-eyed as she ran to the terrace rail to stare in wonder down into the city and the river washing quietly through. The squire manning the terrace, holding a lit rod with which he had guided the dragon to land, came over to greet them, offering Sadira a cool cavern to rest in. As the dragon was led away into the adjacent cavern which the city had long ago carved out from the canyon-side, the group walked along a long, winding series of ramps, terraces, and steps towards the valley's head where, high above the city and nestled into the stone by the waterfall, sat the Diamond City Guide Hall.
(cont'd)
(pic space!)
