“Message on the wind. Gnashing teeth. Darkness. As the sun sets, fury shall ravage the town. Their screams will be heard from the tops of the hills and the lands to come. Ghosts and shadows will inhabit these homes. A spark from the sea is all that can save us. Eyes of lavender and sea foam green. A sacrifice must be made to save them now.”

With that, Arun gasped for air, clutching at her chest. There was a moment of pause as she blinked and looked into Dara’s eyes.

“My dear, are you alright? You look like someone just walked over your grave,” stated Arun. It was chilling to the bone, but something about it rang true to Dara. She looked back to the shells and looked to the lake behind her.

“Do you… not remember?”

“Remember what deary?” asked Arun. This was too unnerving. This was too strange. Did what she thought happened actually happen? Did Arun tap into something?

“I… have there been any weird reports in town, Arun? Has the hunting party returned from the hills?” asked Dara, trying to think of something – anything – that could serve as an alternative explanation for what just happened.

“Well, no. They haven’t returned. Odd. They’re taking rather long, aren’t they,” Arun said before reaching back down and shuffling around the shells and bones.

Dara tried to breathe deeply to calm her racing heart, but there was nothing that could be done. Her skin tingled and her hair was standing up on its end. She knew she needed to find out what was going on in the woods beyond.

“Yes, they are. You take care of yourself Arun. Find somewhere to stay inside tonight, okay?” breathed Dara as she stood up rapidly and began jogging to the stables where the horses would undoubtedly return after the hunters returned.

She greeted the stable hands and waved to the people nearby, but it didn’t make her feel at ease to see their smiling faces. Her mind was a torrent storm of thought. For nearly two hours, Dara went over the words over and over spoken by Arun and thought about what it might mean. Were Arun’s words meant to be taken literally? Lavender and sea foam green eyes was quite literally her and Saphi. Did that mean… did Arun know? Did Arun see Saphi?

She didn’t have time to reach out to her Dragon to find out. There, emerging from the forest, were the members of the hunting party – most of them.

Dara watched in horror as only half of the hunting party came charging out of the woods at full speed on their steeds, and half of them were wounded. Fear filled their eyes. There was no doubt something happened, and it wasn’t because of an animal they were planning to hunt.

“What happened?” called the others as they too ran forward to assist the hunters who were slipping from their seats, quickly losing consciousness. Dara rushed forward and began using strips of her shirt to tie off the wounds.

“Are you alright?”

“What happened to the others?”

“Were you attacked?”

Questions were thrown left and right at the hunters to ascertain what really occurred.

It was one bone chilling word, however, that told everyone what they needed to know.

Urgal.

Urgal, the creatures of darkness and humanoid in nature, are sentient beings. They are evil, bloodthirsty creatures that have no remorse for their acts of cruelty. More importantly, their roaming tribes are ruled by the king and his lackies, particularly a dangerous Shade.

This was bad.

This was really bad.

Dara looked to the forest and listened to what happened. Evidently, they were hunting a few rogue boars when they suddenly realized they were the ones being hunted. They were ambushed and attacked, the few of them managing to make it back with their lives.

But there was no chance the urgal would leave fresh spilled blood unattended to – and there was a trail leading right to the town of Nethrí. Based on their account of the event, there were dozens – and they were undoubtedly coming for them.

Heart racing, Dara wasn’t sure what she could do to make things right. All she knew was that she needed to protect her home and the families living there.

She stood up and breathed deeply, knowing what needed to be done.

“Saphi,” she thought, reaching out with that mind link between her and her Dragon.

“Hm?” Saphi sounded dazed and sleepy. Dara wondered if she managed to get that fish when the pressing matter shattered her distracting thought.

“We have trouble. Urgal are coming to Nethrí.” There was an instant shift in energy coming from Saphi. A raging, hostile energy that only festered in true anger.

“When? Where?” All hints of sleep were banished from Saphi’s voice from inside Dara’s mind.

“Just now. The hunting party was attacked. Half of them are gone and the others are injured,” informed Dara as she began marching toward the water back to Saphi.

“And there’s no doubt they will come to finish the job. Can’t resist the smell of fresh spilled blood,” growled Saphi. Dara couldn’t help but imagine the little lip snarl Saphi got when she was frustrated and angry.

“I know, and… there’s one other thing,” said Dara. “Arun. She said things. It was weird, like some kind of prophetic warning. She said darkness was coming and that death would happen at sunset. She said that lavender and sea foam green eyes were their only chance of survival.”

Saphi was silent.

“Saphi?” called Dara.

“Yes?”

“Well? What do you think?” prompted Dara as she finally made it to the shoreline. “You usually say Arun is a crazy old bat who has chewed too many bones.”

“I also think that, from time to time, we receive signs from the universe and the stars. Is that so strange to think that haggard loon of a woman could’ve received something like this? It’s too close together. It’s too close to be coincidence,” said Saphi.

“Agreed, but I wouldn’t call her a loon of a woman,” concurred Dara.

“So, shall we?” Saphi asked, obviously excited for a hunt of her own. Dara stopped in her tracks as she looked out onto the water, knowing Saphi was undoubtedly looking back from her hiding place on the other side of the lake. The sun was preparing to set nearby. There was no doubt things would be happening soon if all were true.

“You know what this means?” asked Dara. “We could be seen by the others. Our secret could get out.”

“And?”

“And won’t that be bad?” Dara pointed out. “We’ve been keeping both of us a secret for quite some time now. If the king finds out…”

“Don’t you think it’s odd? Now? Years have passed and no urgal have come by this area. Now, there’s an attack? We might be found out already by the higher powers that be. If that’s the case, the only ones we’re keeping this from are the people in the town. We were keeping it a secret so they wouldn’t be hurt, but it might be too late for that now. It’s ultimately your call, but I say it’s time for us to rise to the occasion. What say you?”

Dara thought only for a moment before giving her answer.

“I say good hunting. Let’s go,” said Dara. Their decision was unanimous. It was definitive. While terrifying, it was also exhilarating.

Dara turned and began running along the banks of the water. She and Saphi would meet halfway and use that as their launch point, taking to the air from there and using the cover of the hills and trees to hunt the foul creatures.

As she ran, her mind and heart pounded at the same pace. Both were racing. Both felt excited and nervous. Both felt the weight of what could possibly happen if they were discovered. The pebbles crunched underfoot with each spring forward. The water lapped against the shore rhythmically, smoothing the stones at the banks.

Saphi, experiencing the same, flew mere feet above the water’s surface along the edge of the water’s domain until she spotted her rider running. The duo made eye-contact, and Saphi knew in an instant that Dara wanted a running launch. The Dragon sped up before flipping to run parallel with her rider and spun upside down, dipping down just long enough for Dara to jump and dig her fingers into the scales on her neck.

“To the woods?” asked Saphi.

“To the woods. Let’s try to stay out of sight for now if we can. Just above the tops of the trees.”

Time was running out, but the two of them felt a calm overtake them. It was the calm before the storm. It was the tranquility just before the strike of lightening as it arced across the sky. Together, they would stop the rampaging urgal before they arrived at the town.

Saphi’s wings beat rhythmically as she focused all of her senses onto the forest below. She inhaled deeply in an attempt to detect the wretched stench of those creatures. Mingled among the smell of the decaying undergrowth of the forest, Saphi’s keen senses picked up the quickly overwhelming scent of many enemies rapidly approaching.

To her left, she knew the town was just on the other sides of the tree tops she glided past. Through her link, the Dragon could sense Dara was anxious about flying so close to civilization, especially because no one was aware that a Dragon had returned to the world straight from history and legend. To compensate, she tilted her wings and listed off to the right to hopefully attack the enemy from the rear.

“See anything?” asked Dara, her thoughts linked and ringing clearly in the Dragon’s mind.

“No, but I smell them, and that’s all I need,” Saphi relayed. “I can ignite the forest and eliminate them all in a matter of seco…”

“No, that will be too noticeable. We have to hit them hard on the ground,” directed Dara.

“Close quarters combat? Even better.”

Dara imagined Saphi grinning from ear to ear simply from hearing the glee in her voice at the mere thought of clamping her saber like teeth down on the urgal. Dara braced herself as Saphi pointed with the tip of her nose where the enemy was.

“There,” she stated.

“Let’s do this.” Dara crouched low against her Dragon companion’s scales, knowing Saphi would be plunging through the trees from above. Scrapes and injuries were unavoidable, but this was a small price to pay for the safety of Nethrí.

Dara’s heart pounded in her chest, hard and fast, as the two of them dipped beneath the trees, Saphi digging her claws into the ground as she landed with a solid thud. Dara’s eyes adjusted in a moment to the relative darkness around them and, instantly, her insides dropped. There were far more than she anticipated – far more.

Dozens of urgal were skittering among the roots and shadows of the forest brandishing weapons of all makes. Their beady eyes turned on the pair, their charcoal-colored irises glinting in the light of the setting sun. It looked like dozens of white dots littered the ground around them like the tips of candles ignited in the fading light.

Saphi growled and crouched while revealing her razor-sharp teeth locked into her jaw while Dara raised her hand, allowing her magical energy to surge. She uttered the simple command for fire as she raised her bow and fired a single shot into the nearest urgal.

While Dara fired from above, Saphi leapt forward to snap her jaws over the creatures and dig her claws into their flesh while swinging her tail to smash them into the base of the trees around them. The swords of the urgal scraped and pierced at Saphi’s great scales, but her injuries were little more than scrapes in comparison to the damage she and her rider were dealing.

They fought together as one unit, commanding and directing one another while watching each other’s backs.

“Lunge forward now!”

“Shoot up high! In the trees! The trees!”

“On our side. Stomp!”

They acted as one unit – one person – while maintaining their autonomy.

All was going smoothly. They were working well and destroying their adversaries one by one.

And then…

Distant screams.

They were coming from the village.

Both Saphi and Dara heard it at the same time, and both were immediately enraged. A group of urgal must’ve managed to sneak past and made it to the town.

“Saphi!”

“I’m on it. You know what this means, don’t you?”

Dara breathed rigidly but nodded firmly.

“Do it.”

Saphi let out a tremendous roar and crashed through the trees, squashing many of her enemies under her foot. The two of them came crashing through the tree line, claws and bow ablaze, as they spotted the enemy in the streets tormenting and chasing down the civilians.

The pair waisted no time as they charged forward, Saphi leaping into the air and gliding down to pluck the wretched urgal from the ground as they did. More screams erupted from the people as they spotted both Saphi and Dara flying overhead, firing down upon the urgal and plucking them up from the streets.

The screams, however, didn’t last for long before the people rose up, gaining the necessary courage and strength to rise up for themselves. Seeing a legend come to life once again fueled their will to fight and defend their homes.

Blades clashed and some injuries were too great to heal, but both the townspeople and the duo of rider and Dragon came together to defend their home.

As the last urgal was slain, Saphi and Dara glided above the town in large arcs. Dara, fear ruling her instincts, was reluctant to descend and face the people below. Saphi felt her rider’s fear and sent wave after wave of reassuring energy.

“Breathe, and just talk to them.”

They arced back down, making a lower pass just above the ground.

They didn’t hear any jeering or screams as they passed overhead this time. Instead, they heard another noise – cheers. Applause. Dara listened and heard her name being called from the ground and the oohs and ahhs of the people below as they gazed awestruck at Saphi.

“See?” beamed Saphi. “You see it, right? The look in their eyes.”

The both of them landed and Dara looked out into the faces and the eyes of the people of the town. Yes. Dara could see it now.

It was hope.

The people had hope – and Dara swore to herself she would not let that spark diminish. She was a Dragon Rider.