The Last of the Gods

There weren't always dragons in the valley. Back in the Age of Heroes, before the gods left, dragons had been few and far between. But those times were long gone now and the Empire had spread over Severeth like an ever-growing spider's web, bringing with it the dragons and their riders, and so the hatchery had come to the valley. It was a good valley for it, tall and deep with high cave-riddled cliffs stretching above the verdant basin, and the dragon riders had been glad to move in – at least in the beginning, back when the Emperor was still paying attention and his forces were bringing in food and they didn’t have to rely on the food from the green lower reaches of the valley. That was when the conflict started, when the Esta Clan that had lived in the valley started really pushing back against the dragon riders who had taken the craggy heights of the mountains.

The Esta had lived in the valley for a long time, tending the first altar of the gods since the Age of Heroes. They were the descendants of some of those Heroes, according to their lore – and there may have been more than a little truth to it too; after all the Esta were an unusually handsome, tall, and strong people. So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the proud Esta would come into conflict with the passionate and rougher dragon riders who lived above them and had taken on more than a little of the character of the creatures they rode over the years, the power that seeped along the rider bond, slowly changing the rider to be more and more like the dragons they rode and giving them longer lives than most. In that the Esta were like them and perhaps that is why, when Ramses met Helion at the river as he was watering his dragon, rather than break into aggravated shouting about the Esta – and the other young man was an Esta, there was no doubting that, not given his height and the sharp, strong angles of his fair face and pale complexion – being on his side of the river, Ramses just stared at the other youth, Verdant rumbling behind him as water streamed out of her great silver jaws.

“You’re not supposed to be on this side of the river” Ramses said blankly, his thick black braid blowing in the wind that was ruffling the Esta’s short white-gold curls, as the pale young man stared back at him, apparently stunned silent. “I –“ but what could he say? The treaty with the Esta was tenuous at best and relied on both groups staying in their areas. An Esta on the dragonriders’ side of the river could upset everything, since some of the clan hated the Empire with such a passion that the dragon riders could only avoid responding to by pretending they didn’t know (no one wanted to be sent to burn the Esta out of the valley – there was no doubt the bloodshed would be disastrous and terrible). ‘If we report this to father he will have to tell the Admiral’ Verdant murmured in the back of Ramses’ mind and he swallowed hard; ‘and the Admiral will tell the Emperor and the Valley will burn to see the Esta dead. Then there will be no more food,’ she added glumly, not addressing the shared uneasiness that all dragons had about the center of the valley and the altar there; burning that would be even worse, and who knew what the dead gods would do?

“What are you doing here?” Ramses asked again, standing all the way up and wishing his face wasn’t wet or that he could wipe it without losing his view of the Esta for even a moment. The Esta licked his lips, fidgeting where he stood deep in the current of the river, water dripping down his neck and bare chest from his curls. When he finally spoke, it was in a surprisingly light and musical voice, a sharp contrast to Ramses’s bass growl, “Washing. I – “ A hesitation and long fingers twitched where they were half-raised out of the water, nearly covering a dark red mark on the pale chest that Ramses couldn’t quite make out. “I didn’t realize I was over the boundary,” the other man finished finally, awkward and clearly untrue as the boundary line was marked out in blue fey-fire that was brightly visible even at the height of noon.

Ramses raised an unimpressed eyebrow, tossing his braid over his shoulder, folding muscled arms over his chest, and raising a dark brow at the slenderer man. “Try another one, the fey-fire is more than clear.” He snapped sarcastically, unimpressed but confused as the Esta shifted in the water, long fingers spreading to cover more of the mark, a strange look on his angular face. “Ah” he said, “that….explains things a bit.” There was answering sarcasm in the light voice and the sharp face tipped into the light more, showing eyes that were such a pale blue it almost looked white; “the blindness makes that a bit hard to see, you know.” Which – oh. That. Um. “Ah” Ramses repeated, feeling foolish as Verdant muttered ‘oops’ in the back of his head, “that – can you not feel it? How has no one shown you the borders? It seems like utter stupidity to risk the treaty just for your blindness.”

Something bitter twisted the thin mouth and the Esta tilted his head down so that Ramses couldn’t see the blind eyes clearly anymore, “Now that you tell me, yes, I could feel it, but I didn’t know what it was,” he murmured, barely audible over the sound of the river “I think it was assumed I would never get out this far.” He finally finished, scraping a hand through his taggled curls even as the other kept the mark mostly covered, “I’m Helion” he added impulsively, making Ramses twitch. Was he expected to respond with his own name? When that could put him at risk if Helion used it against him somehow (Ramses wasn’t sure how but he was sure it could be done)? Though the Esta had given him his name and as the Esta was over the border, not Rameses, and he could get in a lot more trouble than the dragon rider, ‘I think we should tell him, he seems harmless’ Verdant muttered in his mind, her temper as fast to pass as ever. ‘Harmless is the last thing I would say’ Ramses responded dryly, eyeing the long and clearly trained muscles of the other man’s torso; he wasn’t as muscular as Ramses, but dragon riders were built strong and tough from the heavy work of dragon riding – and the Esta was clearly skilled enough to do some damage if he wanted to, like all of his kin.

Still….there was something…. ”Ramses,” the dragon rider grunted, trying not to examine his motivation and notably not introducing Verdant no matter how she nudged at him; dragon riders always introduced their dragons, and the fact that the Esta couldn’t name Ramses’s would challenge the idea that they had actually met, if it ever came up. In response the Esta smiled, thin mouth curling up and showing a surprising glimpse of dimples on his hollow cheeks as he smiled at the dragon rider. “May you walk in the shade of the mountains,” Helion responded, seemingly automatically (it must be a cultural response), adding a little wryly, “or fly I suppose.” And Ramses couldn’t help but snort a laugh, Verdant woofing in amusement behind him.

“Thanks, I think.” He snorted, glancing up at the two suns for the time. “Look, I have to get back but,” hells he couldn’t leave a blind man out here, “do you need help getting back to the boundary?” To his mild relief the Esta shook his head. “Now that I know what the buzzing is I can find it and,” a hesitation “I have come here before, no one has ever been here before; I thought this was an abandoned area, I admit.” Ramses nearly choked on his heart as it leapt into his throat; the Esta had been here – on this side of the border – before!? Frequently! Though…no one other than Ramses came here most of the time; it was why he liked the secluded glade so much and he and Verdant visited all the time, and if they had never been here at the same time before, maybe… Hells, this was stupid, Ramses was going to regret this. “I’m the only other person that comes here,” he muttered, finally looking away up at the Erie and shuffling his feet, slanting a look back at the Esta just in time to see the other man’s face lighten up as he nodded.

Mind made up – mad as it was – Ramses turned and crossed to Verdant, kicking his way up off her leg into the stirrup and settling on the dragon’s back, “Don’t get caught!” he called out loudly, a little impressed that Helion’s head was tipped back to look in his new direction – clearly he had followed the sound of Ramses mounting up. “I won’t,” the Esta called lightly “except maybe if it’s you.”