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Chapter Seven: On Golden Wings

Turns out he wasn't joking, more so Emet was supporting such a stupid venture; I was beginning to think I was the only sane person here. I could barely get a word in before the pair of them were rushing off to gather supplies and whatnot for the first leg of this unplanned mess of a suicide mission. Kaiber wanted to see the Keep blacksmith before we left but Emet assured him the Claw Keep had one as well, as the three of them went about packing saddle bags and getting Sva'll ready for the trip; I snuck away to take care of my own business. Said business being Sawyer, Roderics little sly friend, out of all the folk here at the fortress he was the only one I remotely trusted. I told him in secret of our plans, telling him to tell Roderic if he should return, he was wary but understanding and nevertheless gave a nod before we split to go our ways.

An hour later I was strapped into a large saddle atop a Dragon well known for eating people for fun, the landscape rolling by under us some few hundred feet below. I had never liked Dragons, reptiles in general to be honest, Kaiber however, he was acting like a child, eyes wide with wonder, his voice thick with joy and excitement; my ears wishing he'd just shut up.

“This is incredible"! He would cheered aloud in that irritating, feminine voice, he sounded like an overly enthusiastic and inexperienced whore. Meanwhile I sat there at the back of the saddle, my hands clutching the horn in front of me, my knuckles probably turning white under the thick furred gloves I'd stolen from some sap back at the Keep of the Divide. I'd never liked mounts, of any sort, shape or breed, Dragon, Horse, even those Akorha things the Icarins used to pull wagons and such up in Gillian. Emet of course did his best to reassure me I was safe, going so far as to say Sva'll could fly upside down and I wouldn't fall, even if my arms were tied behind me. Though he said it in a flat and sarcastic tone that made it clear he cared little for what happened to me, though to the boy, Kaiber, Emet addressed him in an almost ashamed tone, guilt addled and defeated. As if the Paladin had failed him somehow, I didn't really care much for the either of them, I still had a debt to pay off, that took priority in my mind.

The Plan, if you could call it that, was to travel to the Claw Keep, then trek Eastwards across the Frozen Sea to the Arid Tundra of North Gillian. Then we were suppose to get a Zeppelin to take us to E'cill Meiar, in disguise. Besides the obvious flaw of Gillian being part of the Advent Sovereign, and therefore Illegal for humans to cross its border under threat of execution without trial. But Disguises? Kaiber was Advent, so that was that, but Emet? Me? What the hell were we supposed to do? The things Emet had said of the last few hours had raised a ton of questions that now swam about in my head. Though Emet had made it clear that my opinion wasn't of any importance, so I just kept my mouth shut no matter the crap I caught. I was the minority here, the unliked one, the outcast, etcetera etcetera.

“So, how exactly are we going to sneak into the Sovereignty without being arrested immediately"? I asked after some time had passed, breaking the chit chat between Kaiber and Emet, I had to shout it as loud as I could to cause of the wind; it wasn't quite roaring loud but loud enough to strain my voice.

“Easy, Doppler Charm, I know a fellow, hermet type, lives up on the Frozen Sea" Emet bellowed back, even at this altitude and speed, his voice was like thunder; the measure of a Paladin with true power. Still, his answer had my brows knit together, Doppler Charms were illegal in every country save Aldoran; no surprise there. It did answer one odd nagging question of mine, something that Sva'll had said earlier, about Emet roaming Gillian. The trinket he'd referred to had to be a Doppler Charm; though a moment later I smirked to the thought of a well aged and built man like Emet, parading about as a petit and colourful aviad.

“So Firehawk or Crow Emet? Can't imagine you with anything brighter than dull red or black" I shouted, trying to make myself sound cocky or sassy, but with the wind it just came out as nothing more than shouting. In his defence it wasn't a bad plan, it was actually rather smart, if ballsy as all hell and dangerous as well. Though he didn't respond at all and I couldn't help but poke at it; it was just to good an opportunity.

“Awe what's the matter Emet? Bird got your tongue"? I shouted, trying to provoke him, trying to pry more information from him, he clearly was in the loop with what was going on. He gave me the same impression that Fallon had back in Solitude; then again, Fallon was a king and a large green Dragon as well, no doubts he knew what was going on.

“SongBird actually, the look rather suits him" the words rang out in my head clear as crystal, Sva'll's heavy mental presence suddenly pushed into my mind, it felt as if he were actually clawing my brain apart like a scholar doing an anatomy lecture. The intrusion was unpleasant, the sole reason I disliked Dragons, they didn't understand the concept of privacy, or at least they struggled with it.

“Songbird? Really? Ha"! I couldn't help but laugh at that, my outburst quickly had Emet turning over shoulder to glare at me as if I'd just insulted him. Meanwhile Kaiber who sat between us was simply looking off into space, seemingly preoccupied with some internal conversation; Digger was sound asleep surprisingly, hugged tight to Kaiber like a tired child.

“Sva'll why did you tell her that"! Emet growled, scolding the massive Dragon as if Sva'll were not more than a boy, I couldn't even understand how the two were friends of any sort. Sva'll was infamous, he had legends written of him, stories and shanties to, his wingspan alone was four times the length that of the main mast of a Man o'War.

“The look suits you Emet, I love the swathy sea green feathers you have, it's a colour I so rarely see and that gorgeous red of your tail feathers…" Emet looked embarrassed and furious at the same time, quickly cutting his friend off with a loud and booming, “Enough"! Which quickly silenced the lot of us and left my ears ringing.

With silence came boredom and with that came thought, so consumed with said though I was that I didn't even notice the clouds that now hung about me. Not above, not below, but surrounding me, the wind seemed still and as I came to realise and look about was my gaze drawn skyward, to the sea of stars that hung over us. In that moment the silence was blissful and I forgot that I was miled above the ground upon the back of a Dragon. I felt so small, to think that the Gods had made all this, to even try to fathom the power they possessed; it made me feel small yes, but safe as well.

“Hey! Is that the Claw keep down there"? Kaiber's voice sounded out, breaking the silence as a single streak of light soared over head amidst the stationary stars. I watched the shooting star pass before I looked down, through the clouds now below me and far far further down, clung to the mountainous landscape below were many a torchlights. The Teeth, that's what they called the mountains on the border of Sval Blaud, they sort of just, fell away into a sheer and sudden drop, a massive ravine, as if someone had cut Sval Blaud from Mirodel with a sword. And there nestled away within the chipped summit of the lowest peak, was the Claw Keep.

“Yes, that's the Keep, unlike most of the others its not made entirely of stone, the Wolves use bricks of hard ice from the Frozen sea and a stone called basalt found deep inside seaside mountains." Emet replied thunderously to an excited and hopeful looking Kaiber, the Claw Keep was a truly imposing place simply by looks alone. And it only got more so as we began our descent toward it, the main structure looked more like a run down fort made of wood and ice. But its battlements stretched across all the mountains of the Teeth, fourteen sumits all laden with huge artillery pieces, monstrous ballista like emplacements called Hel'drage that could rain fire down from miles away. The only way to spot them this late at night though, was from the tiny flickers of torchlight that banded the mountain range; few people realize that the Claw Keep wasn't just a fort on a mountain; the entire mountain range itself was the fortress.

We landed on the taller, left hand mountainside, upon a huge black, rough stone plaza of sorts, I didn't know the word to properly describe it.Sva'll was ushered into a nearby hall, dug into the mountain, its entrance was huge and the lip was bore in a mural of Kadar, carved into the stone, the Largest Dragon to have ever lived. I was glad to be inside, even if it was just a mostly empty and grand stable for Dragons, but, it was warm and held out the wind.

We all dismounted and stretched, Sva'll slumped himself into a wide and open stone stall to rest as I watched a pair of Ver'Ulf'Nii slowly approach from the far end of the stable hall, they were clad in typical Sval Blaud style, bare chests, scars, plated greaves and kilts or whatever they called those skirt like things.

Emet turned to Kaiber, pausing a moment, the boy looked scared, nervous, I didn't understand why, his mother would surely be happy to see and embrace her son, do whatever it was that Vermians did when reuniting or whatever.

“Ready"? Emet asked, once again looking as though he was a failed man, heartbroken and forlorn, I turned my lip up in disgust, Emet clearly loved Kaibers Mother, it made me sick, humans and advent shouldn't love one another.

“I think so…" Kaiber replied, sucking in a breath, putting on a confident face and marching off down the hall. Digger in toe and Emet pulling up the rear, I pondered staying put, but then again I didn't want to be left alone anywhere near Sva'll; he looked, hungry. I started off after the others, now with Ver'Ulf'Nii escort, thinking to myself.

“How did I get myself into this mess…"?