It was right after the Council had been
destroyed and Moriel and his followers were killing off the remaining Ryders.
The council had forbidden Ryders to marry or mate with each other; they were
afraid of what would happen if two powerful magic users had a child. They were
afraid of the possibilities. But two Ryders fell in love. They had been married
in secret and their dragons helped to conceal the truth. On the fateful day
that Moriel showed his true colors these two were far away from the rest,
hiding in order to be together.
When the two returned they found nothing but
destruction and death left of their once beloved home. Shocked into action the
two armed their dragons and themselves. But before they set off, the man made
the woman promise that if anything should happen she would leave his side
rather than die with him. She was pregnant, and the man did not want anything
to happen to his unborn child or to its mother. The woman only promised with
half of her heart, for she loved him more than her own life and would have
gladly fought and died next to him if necessary.
But the man knew his mate well, and so turned to her
dragon and spoke with her in secret to ensure that the dragon knew to take her
as far away as possible to protect his mate and unborn child. The dragon
promised, and the four of them set off to challenge and stop Moriel. They
caught up with his army three days later and flew straight to where his dragons were kept. The
two Ryders leaped off their own and ran into the hall where Moriel and his
followers were supping.
‘Ahh yes. The two rule breakers.’ Moriel laughed and
mocked them to their faces. ‘You two and I are not so very different, you
know.’ He taunted them, poking and prodding to see if he could get them to come
to his side. The man of the pair was the best magic weaver that the Ryders had
seen since their birth, and Moriel was eager to have his cooperation.
The two answered as one, as their dragons echoed
their thoughts with roars, ‘We are nothing like you. We do not murder
innocents, and those once considered friends.’ Moriel was so enraged that he
struck first against the man and then turned to attack the woman. They battled
back and forth, the three creating such a blur of movement that his followers
had no chance to intervene. Finally
Moriel saw his advantage and attacked the man. Stabbing him through his
shoulder, the woman cried out and flung herself onto Moriel, not thinking for
her own safety. Moriel drew a dagger and it raked down her leg making her
scream in pain. A mighty roar was heard
and the roof of the hall was torn to shreds by the two dragons coming to the
aid of their Ryders. The woman’s dragon grasped her in its claw and with one
look at the man staggering to his feet, flew away while the man’s dragon turned
to face Moriels dragon head on. White dragon met Black in an earth-shuddering blow.The woman screamed, her tears flowing freely
down her face as she saw her mate rise and attack Moriel from behind without
her. She begged and pleaded with her dragon to put her down, to return and
fight, but her dragon ignored her wishes and flew on.
On their way out of Moriels grasp the woman and her
dragon were shot at. The dragon took many arrows through her wings and many were lodged in her body. She was
losing blood too fast. She managed to carry her Ryder many miles before finally
collapsing on Virend rock. The dragon knew to come to Virend rock because it
had once been a roosting place for wild dragons, and was named for the first dragon
to make an alliance with man. The memories of individual dragons are long and
hold the collective memories of those passed. The woman tried to heal her
dragons injuries, but the wounds were too great. The dragon succumbed to death
knowing that she had done everything she could to ensure her Ryder and unborn
child would survive.
The woman roamed into the town and found safety in the
tavern and with the people. They had no idea who she was. She had come to them in only her nightclothes. Before coming out
of the mountain she had buried her sword, armor and any other identifiable object
in the rock. She only kept an amulet her mate had given her as a promise of his
everlasting love. The woman had no reason to hope that her mate had lived, and so
she chose to live in exile and never reveal who she really was.
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