Division

Allen listened to the gentle beat of Tanith’s wings. He had tucked himself just under an ridge of the saddle to hide his body from the cold air that passed right through his cloths. It helped him little to put more cloths on to stop the wind from cooling his cold. He did not know how Tanith was dealing with the cold air that passed under her wings. He looked at those large membranes normally riddles with veins, now turning a more solid colour with nearly no signs of blood.

“Are you alright?” His mouth formed the words but his mind spoke the voice through the something they shared now.

“Could be better” She did not sound like she was in any sort of trouble.

The last leg of their journey was to fly over the Gregor mountain ridge that separated their destination from the ocean. The dragons had been climbing for the last half a hour now to clear the peaks. With the dragons rising higher into the air, Allen started to become light headed. His breath quickened when he felt like he gotten less and less air. The cold did not help either, he only hoped it would be for a short time.

“Allen, Tanith, How are you holding up?”

“I am fine, trough I don’t think my pilot has ever handled these altitudes”

“Allen, Try to hold your breaths and puff them out in short controlled breaths. We will be over these peaks soon but it will take another hour before we are in more comfortable weathers”

Allen tried his best to follow Freya’s advice in breathing. He could feel his head clear but the pain in his head from the icy chill did not pass. In the cold he could not eat or drink without risking whatever he tried to eat falling out his chilled hands. He cursed his decision to eat light in the morning, it came to haunt him as his stomach was demanding for him to eat at least something.

He continued to focus on the turrets that where locked and tied to keep them for shaking to much. A thing layer of ice had formed on the metal barrels, in the back of Allen’s mind he wondered if the ice would ever cause problems with the guns, would he be able to defend himself with the mountains?

He could vividly remember the discussion Freya and Evans had about this path, it was the less guarded entry into the country, hardly anyone suspected pilots to take the dangerous altitudes that where needed to clear the mountains. Yet they had a risk of freezing or suffocating if the dragons flew to high. With Tanith levelling off he hoped that weren’t too high. He managed to turn himself to look at the instrumentation his saddle came with. He had the scrape the ice from the glass of the altimeter to be able to read the altitude of twelve thousand feet. The flight time ticked over into the four hours since they took off from the island where they stayed for the night.

 “Aren’t we…” Tanith started but suddenly she jerked up in a violent motion to avoid something.

“My apologies”

Allen could see the mountain peaks pass under Tanith not much later, two imprints of draconic claws dragging along the snow where left behind by Tanith.

“A bit close for comfort Tanith.” Allen’s voice was short on air and rasped.

He received not much of an apology from Tanith, She was focused on the last leg of the journey. They were now officially in enemy territory. Allen heart started to pounce, he could feel the sheer tension overwhelm him. If something happened now, they had no hope of returning. With Tanith tilting to lower slowly and get into warmer air caused Allen to almost jolt up in alarm.

“Allen calm down nothing is going to happen”

“Easy for you to say” He did not realise half way he switched back to spoken word. “but you are not freezing your butt of, waiting for someone to attack you. What if they have flack?”

Tanith did not respond with so many words to Allen, just kept reassuring him that everything would be alright. Once more Allen was forced to take his position just behind the ridge that protected him. Keeping his body from cooling too much, he couldn’t wait until they were in warm air.

He regretted his wish the instantly they broke through a cloud layer. The air was humid and hot. Even with his cloths still cold he started to sweat. Before he started to cook her peeled off the layers of clothing to feel the warm air rush through his hair. The air painful to his cold fingers and ears. Moving his fingers he slowly gotten some sensation back in them.

The first thing he decided to do was to grab an early lunch from his meal packs. Something that he could eat fast and would still his hunger. Meal crackers came back into mind. The dry crackers filled him up ones he drunk some water. He was not quite prepared for how much the water was chilled by the cold air from the mountain pass. When he took a few sips he could feel his brain hurting. The unpleasant sensation caused him to rub his temples. The sharp pain ebbing away in his mind only to pass a few moments later. He dared another sip of water but drinking it slowly. While his lips gotten cold, he did not got the same needle like sensation in his head from the water.

Freya took the lead to flying to some destination somewhere the jungle that sprawled below them. She landed on a large stone circle that bas obviously carved or otherwise placed here.

“It looks like dragon claws carved this” Tanith remarked to Allen, her eyes where glued to the repeating patterns.

“I am sure of it”

“Dismount here.” Freya interjected Tanith’s fascination.

Allen dismounted in part to see what Tanith was so excited about within the ground. Closer up he could see the patterns on the ground. They where made by something sharp and rather big, some parts of the sculpture looked purposely melted and hardened to make shapes and patterns. That where fascinating to look at. He followed his eyes along the until he gazed at the centre of the piece where a rather large sapphire was located.

“Walker, At attention we have company”

Allen could see three dragons approaching them, Instantly he was at attention. “At ease” Admiral Evans called out to him before Allen could climb on Tanith’s back. Allen stop half way in trying to get on the saddle to look over his shoulder at the dragons. What was remarkable about them was how unremarkable they were. Where Freya stood out with her lavender scales and Tanith was like a warm summer day with her orange and sand scales, they where mud brown.

The three dragons where like the ground itself flew towards them, from closer Allen could see that the scales of the dragons where well kept, each one was cleaned and had a iridescent shimmer to them. He did not notice people riding on the back of the dragons due to the lack of a saddle. The dragons landed with grace, he could barely feel the ground shake when the dragons came to a standstill. Their pilots dismounted, their dark skin mirroring the muddy brown scales of the dragons. Their cloths contrasted their skin with the purest white. They looked impressive, muscular and each wearing some kind of sword that was engraved with golden dragons.

Admiral Evan stepped forwards and placed her right hand on her heart and the other in the air. “Greetings lord Omari, I hope your flight has been for coming and your dragon healthy.”

One of the man stepped forwards, fine golden threads differentiated him from the others. He mirrored the symbol. Again with his right hand on his heart. “Greetings Admiral Evans, I hope your dragon has carried you without problems across the ocean. We welcome you and Freya ones again. Our elders are eager to talk with her again.”

“I think it’s best Allen to copy the Admiral.” Tanith noted, from her vantage point she could see the brown dragons looking at her with part wonder, part distrust.

Allen did what he was told, Freya did not seem to speak otherwise and he also placed his hand on his heart and his left in the air. Omari noticed this and interjected Allen before he could speak. “Evans, is he one of yours?”

Evans looked over her shoulder at Allen who grew visibly uncomfortable with what to do in the situation. “Yes, my apologies, I forgot to tell him about your customs. His shame is on me.”

Omari smiled and bowed slightly to Allen and folded his left hand towards him. “My name is lord Omari. I give you no shame for not knowing our customs, I see you wanted to show respect in the only way you knew. I feel honoured by the signature”

Allen could hear the Admiral relax with the reaction of Omari. Allen made the first move to mirror Omari’s greeting, he passed for a moment to see Omari nod.

“Airman Walker” A sudden realisation shot to this head about including dragons and spoke. “And allow me to introduce my dragon Tanith”

Allen could hear something in the back of his mind, it much have been the three dragons, speaking in a tongue he was not familiar with. It was rapid fire and over in moment. The eyes of Omari widened a bit

“Well it’s a pleasure to meet you to Tanith” He turned to her and repeated the hand wave.

“Please greet him for me”

Omari’s smiled widened a bit. “Why don’t you do that yourself Tanith”

Allen’s mouth dropped open, Tanith just gazed at the human before her. Allen could feel the emotions rolling around in her mind, part freedom, part wonder.

“We really should have warned you Tanith, Allen. We should have told about the Camari. They process the same gift you have Allen”

Now it was Omari’s turn to be amazed at Allen. “You hear other dragons?”

“I do”

Omari turned to admiral Evans with a bit of astonishment. “Admiral Evans, I never realised you would teach some of your country in our way”

“I have not, he came in flying into us. Victim of the war we are in.”

Omari gave a small nod of recognition towards Allen “We are all victims of this war, come and let us house you.”

The flight to where the Camari had their home was not a long one, through the jungle opened up to show a large city that was bathed in colours. Each house had their own shade and colour of pastille colours. The plastered housed where spaced apart so dragons could walk through the bigger streets between the houses. Almost all of the dragons where a shade of sand, brown or green. Sometimes they just seemed to blend in where placed near patches of grass that where sprawled trough the city. The further inwards to the city the more prominent the houses became and the large the dragon spaces.

When Omari and his entourage reached the inner city, they landed on a large plateau that seemed to be for landing dragons.

“Dismount and show Tanith respect” Freya called to Allen. “We are in their culture and adhere to their customs from now on”

Allen dismounted and did as he was told by giving a slight bow to Tanith. “Thank you for carrying me Tanith”

“It is my pleasure”

Omari snapped around in hearing the interchange that happened, he started to speak an fast and tongue clicking language that was the Camari language. Allen was never schooled in their tongue and he found the language melodic and fascinating.

“Walker” he started to Allen. “How long can you speak in the dragon’s way?”

“To be fair, I don’t know it slowly started”

“right, right” Omari passed around.

“I brought him with me because I did not know what this was Lord Omari. I hoped that your elders would shed some light on Airman Walkers’ condition.”

Omari paused to mull the question over “I will put it to the elders, but Walker does not have a condition. It normally takes our shamans years to be able to speak the dragon’s way. But all that later, you had a rough journey. Freya and Tanith must rest and you must be starving.”

Tanith was not happy about being pulled away from Allen in a strange world but followed Freya and the three mud coloured dragons to a large plaza behind some sort of palace. They where served roasted meats that where seasons in salt, peper and other flavours Tanith could not place. She never tasted such a thing before and had to hold her back to simply devour the roasted pig whole.

“Why didn’t you tell us about these people before Freya?”

“Because Tanith, need to know. We should have told you along the journey but I was afraid you would break of and threaten our mission”

“You where afraid? Doesn’t Evans make the decisions?” Tanith took another bite of her meat.

“That is still Admiral Evans to you Tanith.” She took a pause, choosing her words carefully. “Admiral Evans was always a caring pilot to me. However we never shared the decision making process until we met the Camari. I never spoken to her much before and she never to me. We where tainted by the views of other humans and dragons respectively. The Camari opened both our eyes.”

“When did this happen?” Tanith shovelled a bit closer to Freya in interest of the story.

“A year ago.”

“So that is why you distanced yourself from the other dragons?”

“that is correct Tanith. I couldn’t be around their judgemental views of humans after I started to become closer to Admiral Evans. She was my human, I was her dragon.”

Tanith clawed the ground, her burning question just pushed trough her mind.

“Did you and admiral Evans had anything to do with the attack on the city?”

Tanith did not know what happened but before she knew it, Freya was on top of her and biting down at her neck. “Don’t you ever suggest that again! They where my friends as well. I cared for every single dragon that Jane assigned to a pilot!”

Allen wanted to sit down to start lunch, an mouth watering amount of delicious smelling meals. Trough a growl came from outside and later a burst of Camari tongue spoken in the dragon’s way.

“Admiral Evans, Airman Walker, It seems your dragons need your interference in the dragon plaza”  Omari looked them straight in the eyes. “I suggest you be quick”

Without knowing what was going on, he ran after two helpers and Admiral Evans to the dragon plaza to find Tanith and Freya tooth and claws with each other. Both where bleeding from various wounds on their scales.

"FREYA" Admiral Evans thundered with her voice over the two dragons. The anger in her voice was enough to make Allen shiver. Trough the dragons in their blind rage headed no words. More bursts of the Camari language in the dragon's voice followed. But the two dragons still slashed at each other.

“Walker!” Admiral Evans turned around, anger searing in her eyes. “What the hell is going on!?”

“Ma’am, I don’t know” Allen ran to Tanith but couldn’t get close in the fight.

“Tanith!” Allen shouted, trying to get into her. “TANITH”” he blundered with more volume.

Behind him Admiral Evan shouted again, trying to get the dragons to snap out of their rage. Allen was distracted by the voice of his Admiral and as such he did not see Tanith fallen to the side and did not see her tail speeding towards him and hitting him inn the stomach. He could feel himself being thrown backwards against a pillar. Allen could feel a sharp hit on the back of the head and slumped against the pillar.

Tanith growled when she was pushed against the ground, Freya had caught her off guard and managed to push her against the ground. Tanith could feel that her tail hit something but was unaware of what that something was. She could hear the Admiral shout Allen’s name and suddenly she was aware that something was wrong. Allen’s presence left her mind. Tanith stiffened when she realised what happened.

Her eye traced past Freya who was still growling at her, towards Allen who was slumped against a pillar. Her tail just a short distance from her Pilot. Evans had ran towards the unconscious pilot and her hands where covered in blood that seeped from the back of Allen’s head. Tanith’s stomach turned and her skin grew cold. She offered no resistance when she felt the jaws of Freya around her neck.

“Now I dare you to speak those words again” Freya growled, unaware of the unfortunate event that happened.

“Freya bloody hell!” Admiral Evans shouted with her anger returning. “Get a hold of yourself”

Freya snapped too, looking at her pilot, then at Allen. Putting one and one together she let Tanith go, forgetting her own injury as she looked at the unconscious aviator. “Oh”

Tanith looked in despair how her Pilot was carried away, several what looked like nurses had gathered around Allen. At least six man carried the stretcher inside. Tanith wanted to go after them but was held back by Admiral Evans.

“Tanith, I know you can hear me.” She started sombre. “But what the hell where you thinking!?” She also turned to Freya “and you to. You are bloody full grown dragons in the army. You are supposed to be our countries bloody best, We are here in a new world, with a new culture, who welcomed us with open arms to get a grip of this war and stop it. And here you two idiots are, acting like animals. You know what the admiralty would say when they saw you? They would say that they where right! They would tighten policies on Dragons even more and you would only see war. I don’t care how it started, I only care that you acted like animals. Do you even know how bad this looks on me?”

She rubbed her temples “How do you even punish a dragon. I don’t even know, but what happened today, I will not stand.”

“Jane…” Freya started, but was interrupted by Admiral Evans’ tirade.

“That is Admiral Evans for you Freya, today you don’t deserve it to call me by my name. I don’t want to hear your excuses Freya. I have to rely up on you not to lose your bloody temper. What would happen if this is in the air? Would you throw me off? We can only hope Walker comes by without any issues, but for the god of me, if he is harmed or killed by this action today, I will send you both off to the breeding pens for the rest of your lives!”

she turned around and left the two dragons be. Freya shivered and rolled around in a tight curl, locking the outside world away from her. Tanith was struck between trying to follow the stretcher with Allen on it and staying put. Her resolve was passing across the plaza in the hope to feel Allen in her mind again.

Allen woke up with a terrible ring in his ears. His head hurt like someone was driving a nail into it. When he opened his eyes the light that flooded the room hurt his eyes. He immediately closed them again to block the pain from outside. He tried to move his arm but failed, he could feel a distinct hot sensation across his arms, spreading trough his chest and body. He tried to move his arms again but then again he could not. Slight panic washed over his mind. He tried to do just anything, moving his head was painful for his headache but not his neck. For his jaws it was the same, licking his dry lips.

The small coat of thickened saliva did do little to ease his discomfort. He just hoped he could have some water, trough with the light blinding and pain in his head kept him from moving to much. He groaned a bit.

“Walker you are awake?” He could hear a voice calling. For a moment he could not place it, who was the voice and why did it know his name. What happened to him?

“Walker?” the voice called again to him. He could recognize the voice from somewhere. His brain processed the inputs on a lower tempo, sluggish he started to remember.

“Adgggrrrg” He tried to pronounce the admiral’s name but his voice did not obey to what his brain wanted. His words where slurred, distorted beyond rescission. Something in the room was moving, he could painfully hear the sounds of someone coming closer.

“Need water Walker?” Admiral Evans offered him. Trough his answer was distorted again.

“Just nod if you can” And Allen gave a slow nod. He soon felt a hand supporting his head and a earthwork glass pressed again his lips. The glass was tipped over and he let a few sips of water enter his mouth. It felt good to have the relatively cool liquid enter his mouth. Eagerly he started to drink more, trough Evans made sure he was not drinking to much.

“Easy walker. You have been asleep for a day now. You took quite a blow, Tanith is worried sick, trough it service her right”

Allen tried to get up, wanting to tell Tanith that he was alright, but a pain shot trough his head from the effort. He fallen back to bed, starting to feel slightly sick and soon bending next to the bed to throw up into a bucket. Even though his stomach contained nothing, his body could not have it.

“Here try this” He could feel the dry cracker touching his lip and slowly he tried to take a bite from the cracker, happy that the tasteless cracker absorbed some of the acid flavour. After a single bit he took a single sip of water. Slowly he managed to eat a whole ration cracker and drink a glass of water. Leaning back into the bed he tried to open his eyes, the light still hurting but he could get used to it.

It took him half a hour to finally be able to open his eyes fully, a hour later he could slightly move his arms and legs again. Slowly he came to, trough his voice did not seem to have any progress, trying to communicate was just not possible and he resorted to pointing and nodded to signal what he wanted. Evans forced him to lay back in bed.

“easy Walker” she placed a hand on him when he tried to get back up.

“Let me handle this, Freya and Tanith done enough damage. You take it easy, try to rest and we will see how it goes tomorrow” she stood up when Allen finally laid back in his bed.

“Trough I would say to Tanith that you are awake”

“You know Tanith, I never apologized” Freya was laying next to Tanith, she did not move much as most of her body was covered with quick patches to cover the claw marks. Tanith looked slightly worse, she had two ugly bite wounds around her neck that where painful when she stretched around. She did not want to respond, no matter that Evans has told her what the mission was. She did not forgive Freya.

“You still haven’t”

“Well, I am sorry. I lost control of my emotions and that is not what an senior is allowed to do”

“Well you are not my senior”

“I still am since Evan….” Freya started to stopped when she saw Admiral Evans standing with crossed arms.

“It will be a while before you can claim that position” She turned to Tanith.

“And I hope that you start to realise that it’s not just Freya’s fault what happened. You are just as guilty. “ she paused before telling Tanith that Allen was awake. Trough he did not feel fine, telling her about his inability to speak.

“ALLEN!?”

Allen could hear Tanith’s call, he slightly snapped to. Trough the growling and gurgling that was his impaired speech he could at least make himself audible to Tanith.

“T an ith?” he had to strain his mind to speak to her, he could feel his head starting to hurt again when he strained to talk to Tanith.

“I am so sorry Allen, I should have be careful but Freya…” she stopped “No, I did not listen. I should have heard you.”

Allen listened to Tanith while trying to ignore his distracting headace.

“I forgive”

Tanith did not know what to say when he simply forgave her, she let the connection hang in the air for a while before contacting him again.

“You do? When are you up again Allen? Could you come?”

“I need rest”