Sionnach (closed)

[KieranSoares]

"Don't mistake my daughter's words as justification," the captain told Fiona quietly. "We know the evil we've sided with... and we know the risk we take. But from many of our perspectives, it is not a question of if we will die by his hands, it's when. Later is better than sooner."

"Is it?" An Asian Rider with Indian decor on his armor asked, drawing all attention to himself. "Is scraping to survive, and killing people who want to help, really better? I don't want to just survive. I'd rather live free and die trying to make sure my dragon's fledglings have a future, than tiptoe around a ruthless power-hungry usurper til he finally stabs me in the back."

"My people have always fought even when they know they will lose," a woman in leather and furs with a Swedish accent spoke up. "And they have fought for what they believe in regardless of the consequences. My Queen is still doing that beside this woman, even though she's lost her husband to Barbarossa, and her brother king among others... I'm here because I was afraid." She stepped forward to Fiona. "Yesterday... I killed one of your dragons and her Rider, and I heard them speak with my same accent. I killed a woman who should've been my shield sister, and her beloved partner. I couldn't sleep last night, nor could my partner... If you will forgive us, we will make up for our sins. I am Hrolda Svegirsdottir, my partner is Dravedir of Lonar," she motioned to a muscular, older grey dragon who also approached. "What say you, brother?"

"We will offer our service," the grey male agreed in a low, rumbling tone.

 

[heartofcourage]

"My grandfather told me tales of dragons free in the sky. He lived his younger days in Greece and Egypt. He said that there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't see a dragon and its rider lazily drifting in the wind. You don't see that any longer. Why? Because we have become too fractured and frightened. We shouldn't have to pick sides based on how long we feel our dragons might remain at our side. We should fight for a future where they are free no matter what the outcome. I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that things really are better here with him." Fiona challenged, looking at the riders that steadfastly stood in opposition of her. "I won't call to them. Not unless there is an emergency. Not like the rider that Barbarossa has that hunts me down and not like the slave that he uses for his sick purposes."

Glancing towards the riders that were ready to join her, she gave them a nod, welcoming them with a tilt of her head. "I wish there was no need for bloodshed. I wish there was a way that we all might live peacefully. That is all we want. However, Barbarossa only sees a future where he is the ruler of everything. I will tell you that rulers don't last forever. He will turn on his promises and he will instill the hatred that he holds into his heir. There will be nowhere safe for you to turn when this is over. If you think crammed spaces and little hope are the least worries, you don't understand what the future holds."

 

[KieranSoares]

"We die either way," one man growled. "But at least we will die in the comfort of coin."

"Will we?" Another asked. "He won't pay most of us until this battle is over. Or maybe not at all, for those here under threat. At least with the Northerners, we won't be trapped. They don't demand their Riders stay." He came with several others to join Fiona's side, their dragons moving toward the shore as well.

"If you leave, you are traitors," the captain growled, but even Fiona could see he was close to defecting as well.

"Traitors to an empire that wants us dead, but allies to our dragons and people who want the best for the little ones yet to come," his daughter spoke up, looking up at him. "Papa... don't you care about Suok's hatchling? She's only a month old, and all she knows is a dark cavern because it's too dangerous for her to go outside. She deserves better."

"I will go," the violet male, Suok, spoke up independently from his Rider. "If I am allowed to move my hatchling to a safe place in the north, I will join your side," he offered to Fiona, lowering his head to her level for her answer. "... Independently, if I must."

 

[heartofcourage]

"For now we have safety where dragons are being cared for by a retired rider and my father. I do not know the exact location myself but there will be those that show you the way if you wish to go." Fiona promised to the violet dragon, glancing towards his rider as the dragon threatened to defect on his own. "I don't see any of you as traitors. I can respect our differences."

 

[KieranSoares]

Suok nodded and turned to join the other defecting Riders and dragons, leaving his Rider's side. The captain's daughter pulled away too, the small female green dragon joining her. It seemed of the thirty or forty gathered, Fiona had turned half of them to her side. The captain's brows furrowed, his hand resting on the blade at his side, until he finally walked past Fiona to join his dragon in silence. Those left all looked angry, scared, and ready to strike now that they suddenly had an equal group of enemies in front of them.

"We will leave peacefully for now," the captain finally spoke up. "Any who follow to attack will be struck down without mercy. I hope the rest of you know what you're doing, and what you're dying for."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I don't believe today is the day for battle for any of us." Fiona said as she looked over at those that were left behind. "You have my word that we will not attack today. Not until everyone regroups. Any of you wishing to join us after today will have a spot as well."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Get your gear and get the hell out," one man snarled, stepping forward. "All of you. If you're not gone in thirty minutes, we'll turn the ballistae on you."

"Fair enough," the captain muttered, the defecting Riders scattering to gather their things. But they barely had any time before the sound of hooves came thundering over a nearby hill, a huge cavalry regiment charging full-tilt toward them. Someone had reported Fiona's presence and the large defection.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona saw the large cavalry coming towards them and she quickly placed her helmet back on, backing away from the group as a few dragons moved to block her from their view. "Take to the sky as fast as you possibly can. I'll be fine."

 

[KieranSoares]

Most of the defectors took off, though Suok and the captain hesitated. "Climb on!" The captain growled as Suok knelt for him. Two defectors were shot off their dragons by bow-wielding horsemen, their partners picking them up and fleeing for the opposite shore in hopes of saving them. Arrows came speeding toward Fiona, and the leading cavalry lowered their lances, ready to ram into the still-grounded dragons and anyone on the ground.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was standing her ground, glancing up at the sky as she saw Invah suddenly descend. She didn't need to say it as blue fire erupted from her dragon, scouring the men that would hunt her down or hurt the riders that had just defected.

 

[KieranSoares]

Invah briefly touched down, a sweep of her tail knocking away horses and men while Fiona climbed on, but that didn't stop one bolt from striking Fiona in the back, the heavy metal projectile piercing her armor and lodging in the right side of her lower back. Invah rocketed skyward once Fiona was secure, quickly racing ahead of the other dragons to make sure they weren't shot down trying to land on the Dover side.

 

[heartofcourage]

Climbing into the saddle, Fiona was not expecting the hard blow to her back that rocked her entire body. She let out a gasp of pain, managing to hook two loops of the harness in before Invah took off. Gritting her teeth against the pain, she held on to the saddle, unable to reach the bolt at her back on her own. It left her breathless, clammy and slightly nauseous, but she had work to do.

"When we land...get them all to safety and inform the captain of what has happened." Fiona called above the wind, blood wetting her trousers as she pressed her fingers against her armor to try and stop the flow.

 

[KieranSoares]

Invah could sense the pain in Fiona's voice, but she had to focus, only nodding as they went. She made a careful landing outside the central camp, the other dragons briefly circling before landing close by. Several soldiers hurried toward Fiona seeing the bolt in her back, and two climbed up to help her unhook and get down, one of them carefully breaking the bolt shaft so it wouldn't catch on anything.

"Milady, you need the physician immediately," one muttered as he saw the amount of blood she'd lost. They helped her carefully dismount as officers were brought to Invah to speak about the defectors, and soon horsemen were going out to meet the new Riders and get them situated and sent to Ezra.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona was shaking by the time the two soldiers climbed to help her down. The got her harness unhooked and soon she was climbing down on her own, biting back the pain as the one snapped the shaft of the bolt.

"There's no time." Fiona muttered, shaking them off as she straightened up and winced at the terrible pain.

 

[KieranSoares]

"You can give out orders from the infirmary. Otherwise you're going to bleed out and you won't be any use to anyone," the other soldier scolded, the two directing her toward the infirmary tent regardless of her stubbornness.

 

[heartofcourage]

Before they practically forced her into the infirmary tent, Fiona pulled away from them and turned to look at each of them. "The king doesn't find out about this until he is done with his duties, understand?"

She looked between the both of them and let out a sigh. "Am I understood?"

 

[KieranSoares]

The two looked to one another, then nodded to her. "Not a word, ma'am." They saw her inside before finally letting her be. In the tent, Sam's cousin Alex Irons was directing everything carefully in between his own operations. He was there alongside his love, a drake-rider Axeman that Fiona had only met a few times named Yasmine al-Zariq. Alex was in his element, calm and focused as he oversaw the other doctors and healers. When Fiona was brought in, he saw to her personally.

"I knew I'd be seeing you or Sam soon," Alex commented as he sat Fiona down and carefully removed her cuirass. "How did this happen?"

 

[heartofcourage]

"Suicide mission that wasn't successful." Fiona said, wincing as he got her first layer of armor off. "I tried my hardest though. Sam might finish the task when he hears what I've done."

 

[KieranSoares]

"Should I just not bother then?" Alex asked with a chuckle. Despite the seriousness of the wound, he kept his sense of humor. "On your stomach. You may want to bite on your glove..." He called over two aides to help hold her still while he carefully extracted the bolt without causing too much more damage. It was some of the worst pain Fiona had ever felt, the bolt head built to cause even more pain and bleeding as it was jostled and pulled out. If it had been in a limb, Alex would've been able to push it through and actually cause less damage. But he had no choice but to extract it from her back, using pliers to bend the barbs inward to keep them from ripping her flesh even further.

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona lay on her belly as Alex exposed her entire back, cutting through the layers of her clothing until the bloody mess was accessible. She took the glove as it was offered, putting it between her teeth as two assistants came over and held her arms and legs to keep her from moving. She let out a scream as Alex started his work, the healer calm as he worked his way through the brutal pain.

She passed out twice, coming to at the most inopportune times. She deserved the pain, she supposed. She hadn't told Sam the entire truth about where she was going nor what she had planned to do. He would skin her alive the moment that he saw her.

 

[KieranSoares]

When Fiona came to the second time, the bolt was finally out and one of the aides was holding a thick cloth to stem the bleeding while Alex quickly put together a blood-clotting mix that he would seal over with a special clay giving the blood nowhere to go. Once it stopped, he could bandage it properly. "I'm surprised you can even stay awake," he spoke as he applied the mix, which stung terribly only to made the area go numb with powerful medicine. "You've lost a lot of blood... You're staying grounded for a few days."

 

[heartofcourage]

"I'm surprised too." Fiona felt drunk from the blood loss, slurring her words slightly as Alex worked quickly to make sure that she didn't lose even more. "And I can't stay grounded. They need me up there and I won't let them down."

 

[KieranSoares]

"I'll make sure they know you're not allowed," Alex finished with the temporary covering to keep the wound clean. "Now, you need to sit still, have a good meal, and drink plenty of water. Lots of dark greens and red meat to help replenish that lost blood. Your body can't handle the strain of flight or heavy activity without enough blood, otherwise you'll keep passing out and get terribly sick with a compromised immune system. If I catch you disobeying, I'll make Invah hold you down for a week." He carefully, slowly sat her up to keep her from getting too dizzy. "You need to sit the rest of today out. Tomorrow you can go on light duty in the camps."

 

[heartofcourage]

Fiona clung to Alex as he helped her to sit up, the world tilting around her as he laid out just what she needed to do to get back on her feet. "One day is all you get." She murmured, looking him in the eye as she said that. "It's all any of us get."

Within the hour, Alex and Yasmine had successfully gotten Fiona situated in her tent, resting as comfortably as possible as the bleeding had slowed to a trickle. There were orders for food to be brought to her often, water always available. She slept most of the day away, unconscious to the world with good pain killing herbs on board.

She only woke when she heard someone enter the tent nearing dusk, her eyes opening as she caught sight of Sam standing there in his armor. She was naked to the waist, her wound apparent even in the dim light. Lying on her belly, she looked pale and fragile in a way that he had never seen before.

"I always thought the life of a queen would be filled with glamour and leisure. You lied." She tried to joke, knowing that he was probably very upset.

 

[KieranSoares]

Sam's intense emerald gaze was trained on her own, a mix of shock, relief, rage, and a sort of betrayal that she'd never seen before. The time she'd left on her own to hunt down King Gallus' near-assassin paled in comparison to Sam's anger now.

"Should I jus' kill you now, get it over with? Y'seem so set on dyin'. Y'might as well 'ave thrown yerself off th'cliffs. Tha' would've been more effective," he growled, practically tearing off pieces of his armor as he forced himself to look away from her. It was painful to see her so pale and weak. It reminded him of her mortality, which he'd been thinking about far too much lately. "Or are you jus' a fuckin' masochist? Barbarossa'd love t'help you with tha', jus' go waltzin' back t'Calais again an' he'll show you righ' t'his dungeon in Vienna." His vicious sarcasm was all he had to prevent him from exploding, even as his hands shook from anger in a way Fiona hadn't seen since his worst moments prior to their marriage.

Finally Sam came back to face Fiona once his armor was gone, his eyes blazing with barely-contained rage. "What th' fuck were you thinking?!" He demanded outright. "You flew into enemy territory, separated from Invah, an' let yourself be surrounded by people an' dragons tha' could've jus' as soon killed you as looked at you. You directly defied th'warnings an' orders we gave t'the Riders- no' t'take unnecessary risks or go t'fight alone- an' you risked Invah too, knowing she wouldn' let you go without her!"

Veins in his neck stood out from tension and stress, but his voice quieted. "An' you never said a word t'me, didn' let anyone tell me you nearly bled t'death an' were here alone in this state... I found out because I overheard some scout reportin' t'Ezra. Invah had t'pin me down on my way 'ere an explain because I was about t'drag you home myself. An' I still bloody might."