#dracaren

Rhiannon wakes Patton, tells him to get Thomas.

The adult drakes are taken by a mass frenzy as their riders are killed--usually if a rider dies, the other drakes will support the one whose bond has been broken, but when it happens to multiple drakes at a time, their grief intensifies the others’ due to their extreme empathy with each other. One of the reasons riders and drakes are not usually killed in battle.

Roman and Patton’s rooms are across the hall or in the same tower as Logan and Virgil’s--they’re left alone by order of Roman’s father.

This lets them escape more easily, Patton gets to Thomas--Rhiannon may have overridden him enough to get him moving toward the Den? He was there the night before anyway? Something. The castle and the Den aren’t the same place, so I need Thomas to be close enough to escape with them.

The drakes are housed close to the trainee barracks, they manage to get to them, but someone sees them escaping and attacks.

Logan falls, and a soldier draws a spear, but Roman jumps in, defends him, yells at him to get the hell out of here, go get Kavi and Aisling and go, get them out of here! and Logan does and Aisling is already straining to get past him, to get to Roman! and Logan tells her to wait and sneaks back and finds Roman sprawled on the ground, bleeding from a wound (somewhere), passed out from the smoke heavy in the air

Logan binds Roman’s wound quickly and struggles to pull him back and that's when Virgil and Patton show up dragging Thomas, and they help Logan lash Roman to Aisling's back

and they all climb atop their drakes and flee into the night, leaving the fire and the chaos behind

except as they're leaving, an arrow whistles out of the darkness, and even though Patton and Teren bank, the arrow slices through the delicate membrane on Teren’s wing, and they cry out and fall into a hard dive

Patton is coaching them through the pain, trying to get them to the ground safely, and Logan tells them to land as safe as they can, then tells Virgil to follow them, he’ll get Roman to safety.

Meanwhile Teren is able, with Caru's help, to glide a good distance from the castle, putting him far away from the horrible chaos, but he finally lands, crumpled in a heap, and his wing is going to need time to heal before he can fly again

Patton is able to bind the wound and do his best to help Teren and Teren will recover, but won't be able to fly for a bit.

And Patton won't leave him, obviously

So Patton tells Virgil to go ahead, find the others, they'd catch up, but Virgil’s like yeah no

And Caru won’t leave Virgil, and Virgil points out Thomas is responding best to Patton and Caru can't carry two anyway, so they all need to stay together

They set up camp and hide and the next morning Kavi shows up with news of the others' location (she can tell the other drakes where they are and show them the route from the air, so they can find it from the ground)

Patton gives her further instructions to pass on to Logan about how to care for Roman and then Kavi wings back to her rider and Patton and Virgil and Thomas and Dragons begin their several-day trek to the cave. 

Meanwhile Logan is there with an unconscious Roman and his huge worried drake (bc Aisling is probably already huge) and Kavi and some basic knowledge of healing from reading books, and Patton's instructions as translated by an injured Teren to Kavi

and so Logan is MASSIVELY GUILTY, but also gets a chance to prove to himself he can do more than he thinks he can. because he has to take care of Roman. and Roman's going to be proud of him for doing it

and Roman will probably be doing a little better but not perfect before the others get there, but like...the first time he tries to just get up and take care of something? Kavi is going to be all "DON'T YOU DARE! Logan needs this, sit down and take it easy and stop hurting yourself."

Because Kavi is just as frustrated with Logan as Roman, she's just being more sneaky about it

And Logan already feels SO GUILTY about being the reason Roman got hurt

Whereas Roman's like "all in the line of duty, but if it will get you to change your stubborn mind then fine, I will accept your apology"

Roman doesn't want to let anything happen to Logan

he likes him

like LIKE likes him

but he knows Logan hates him, so he can't let him know that

so it has to be duty, because love is too dangerous

Basically they're both going to be so extra about it

Until some kind of confession is forced

Picture them pressing their brows together:

the image is Roman lying back but propped up, Logan bent over him, their brows pressed together, Logan with tears squeezing out from between his lids, Roman cupping the back of Logan's head running his fingers through his hair, murmuring, "Darling, my darling, shhh, it's all right."

And Virgil will be very surprised when he and Patton get there and Logan and Roman are curled up together?.

"Oh Gods, they killed each other..."

But nope, they just finally realized they were driving each other crazy because of attraction

So then they spend the winter in the cave, Roman healing, the others planning. Thomas gradually comes out of his stupor--and he can hear Rhiannon enough to know she’s alive and safe, but she’s drugged and out of it

Somehow they make contact with the other drakes in the wilderness, who’d flown off when their riders were killed. One of them shows up at the cave, or they run into one while hunting in the area or something.

Thomas gives the drake instructions, all the riderless drakes start to gather, to train. Virgil and Caru fly a few spy missions.

By this point, they know the capital is being held by centaurs and other troops, and that apparently the king is either dead or imprisoned--and there’s no word of his dragon.

Thomas plans with the others for an assault to take back the castle.

They manage to do so, and find out when they do who is behind the attack.

It's Roman's father, who has never gotten over the fact Roman didn't get chosen by Rhiannon to be the next king. Thomas was a target of the coup, but the other four would've been spared, as Roman's father had forbidden anyone assaulting their rooms in case Roman was accidentally injured.

His plan was to kill Thomas and use the magic/drugs/whatever it is he's given Rhiannon to force her to chose Roman as a substitute and give him legitimacy in taking over the throne, with his father as regent.

This wouldn't have worked, but the whole kingdom has been thrown into uproar anyway, so Roman's father's not too mad about it--but he has been frantic trying to find his son.

In the confrontation, Roman tries to tell his father this isn't what he would've wanted, that Thomas is his prince, his king, that he refuses to be a part of this

His father basically tells him he'll learn to be grateful for it, uses whatever control it is he has over Rhiannon or whoever's holding her to incapacitate Thomas and orders his guards to take Roman

The others try to stop them, but something prevents them--Rhiannon giving an order to their dragons against her will? just too many in the room to fight through? don't know yet

At some point here, there should be Logan making eye contact with Roman while Roman’s being kidnapped and Roman can yell, “Get out of here!” or something noble. 

Virgil probably also finds out he’s Roman’s brother about this time, and now his brother's in their father's hands and at his mercy, as is Thomas, who Virgil's come to love

So then Logan, Virgil and Patton have to go save Roman and Thomas and Rhiannon and confront Roman’s father

And they do, and everything is great, all the right people kiss and fly off into the sunset and live happily ever after

Logan scowled, and gripped his crutches tighter. “Of course. Sir.”

“Good.” The sarcasm was either lost on Roman or he was pointedly ignoring it, because he began to move down the stairwell again. Logan refocused his efforts, blocking out the distant screams, and instead focusing only on the familiar feel of the uneven stairs below his crutches.

As they descended, the smoke grew thinner, but the screams grew louder, courtesy, no doubt, of the large open wall of the drakes’ cavern. The sounds from the battle below were now drifting up as well, and Logan swallowed, heart thrumming anxiously in his chest. Even if they escaped, what was happening out there? The barracks and the riders’ dens were supposed to be impenetrable, high in the mountains, settled into the caldera of an extinct volcano and surrounded by sheer cliffs on all sides, only accessible by one road. And that road was guarded at its base by an entire castle, under which lived a Sovereign dragon. For anyone to have gotten up here, they would have had to--

Logan’s heart dropped, and he closed his eyes briefly. For anyone to have infiltrated, they would have had to be someone the king trusted--someone everyone thought was supposed to be there.

Which meant they had traitors in their midst.

This wasn’t just an invasion by some foreign power--this was a coup.

Logan shook his head, forcing the thought away. It was important, yes, but right now, the more important thing was getting to Kavi and getting the hell out of there. They’d regroup and figure out what to do next once they were all safe.

He reached out with his mind, and Kavi responded immediately. There was relief in her voice, but it was tempered by fear and horror.

(Logan!) She said. (They’re killing the riders, they’re killing them, Logan!)

(I know.) He sent a wave of reassurance to the young drake he loved with all his being. (I know, Kavi, but don’t worry. I’m safe. Roman’s with me, and we’re almost to you.)

Kavi didn’t reply in words but he felt the hope and relief across their bond, and smiled slightly.

They reached the bottom of the stairs at last. Though he’d traveled up and down the hated things every day for the last year since the drakes had moved to the yearling cave, they’d never, ever felt so interminably long as they did that night. But after a short eternity, the floor beneath his crutches finally evened out, and the darkness gave way to the faint glow of the lit torches in the cavern beyond.

The light would have been better, he realized with sudden, desperate fondness, except that two bulky young drakes were crowding around the entrance, their snouts poking in through the doorway and their eyes glittering in the darkness. Aisling and Kavi.

Logan smiled, and even Roman chuckled softly. “We’re all right, dear ones,” he said softly, sheathing his sword at last. “But you’ll have to move now so we can get by.”

Aisling snorted, and Kavi made a whining noise of reluctance, but the two drakes obediently shuffled backward, flooding the small space at the base of the stairwell with light. Beyond them, Logan saw Teren and Caru, the smaller drakes already fitted with their riding gear and shifting nervously but looking attentive and ready for action. He grinned in spite of everything. They were gonna get out. They were really going to make it out of there.

What happened next happened so fast that Logan didn’t really register it at the time, though later, he would replay it in painstakingly slow detail, finding all the moments he might have stopped it.

But he didn’t stop it. And he’d have time to think about that later, too.

Roman was smiling as the drakes moved out of the small, human-sized doorway, and the light from the cavern beyond flooded into their little room, the small space between the base of the stairs and the doorway that opened to the cavern. Roman was smiling, as he turned, his face edged in the flickering glow from the light of the torches that lined the cavern’s wall. He was smiling--and then he wasn’t. Within the barest fraction of a second, his eyes went wide and alarmed, face drawing into a mask of shock and dismay.

And then Logan’s world turned upside-down.

A pair of hands--Roman’s hands--grabbed him by the arms, and yanked him forward, whirling them around so Roman’s back was to the stairwell they’d just descended. And then they were falling, Roman’s soft, pained grunt sounding very close to Logan’s ear as they stumbled and went sprawling in the cavern.

Logan had squeezed his eyes shut and braced himself for the impact, and thankfully, he retained enough presence of mind to tuck his chin against his chest, so though his back and shoulders slammed painfully into the hard floor, his head did not. As soon as they had landed, though, he opened his eyes, drawing a breath to demand what the hell Roman thought he was doing, lifting his hands to shove the prince aside.

He did neither of those things, because the moment he saw Roman’s face, he understood.

He barely even registered Aisling’s roar of rage, as she stretched her neck into the doorway they’d just fallen through, snapping her jaws in fury at the raider that had snuck down after them. His full attention was focused on Roman--on his face, hovering just a few inches above Logan’s own, shocked and confused.

“Logan,” Roman uttered, and Logan didn’t like the wet sound of the prince’s voice. “I…”

“Roman?” Logan breathed, eyes widening. Almost without conscious direction, his hands, which had gripped the prince’s shoulders as they fell, began to trail down his back, his side--and when his right hand encountered a large, growing patch of wet warmth, he had to choke back a cry of alarm.

Roman’s eyes rolled up and fluttered closed, his head dropping to Logan’s chest, and as Logan watched in horror, the prince slowly collapsed.

No. No, no, no!

Logan bit back the urge to scream. Distantly, he heard a man yelling, and felt a blast of heat--Aisling, using her fire, lighting the stairwell and roasting whomever was inside--but he was focused on Roman, and Roman alone.

Oh please, Roman, no.

He reached up with one badly shaking hand, and laid his fingers along the side of the prince’s throat, holding his breath. Please, please, please.

For a moment, he felt nothing.

But then, blessedly, it was there against his fingers, sluggish but strong: Roman’s pulse. He was alive. He was alive.

Oh thank the gods. Logan closed his eyes briefly, his hand flying up to cup Roman’s head for a moment, the other clutching the prince’s shoulder. Not dead. Not dead.

But close on the heels of that relieved thought was another, small and insidious:

Yet.

That spurred him into action. He had to get Roman out of here--had to get him help ,and fast. The prince was losing blood, and he wasn’t going to make it if Logan didn’t do something.

That was hindered somewhat, however, by the fact that Roman currently had him hopelessly pinned.

(Kavi!) He called in his mind. (Kavi, help me! I need to move him.)

His drake appeared in seconds, hovering over him, her eyes wide and fearful. (Logan,) she greeted, bending to briefly nuzzle his hair, then turning her attention to the wounded prince. She moved forward, nosing his shoulder, then reaching out with her paw, curling it over Roman’s prone body.

“Carefully,” Logan warned her, proud when his voice only cracked once. “He’s hurt.”

She snorted in understanding. Together, the two of them gently eased Roman to the side, and Logan squirmed out from beneath the limp figure. He pushed himself up and rolled over immediately, leaning over Roman to assess the extent of his injury--then bit back a cry, alarm and fury and grief clogging his throat.

The shaft of an arrow protruded from Roman’s left side, and around it, the prince’s doublet and shirt were dark and sticky with blood. Logan couldn’t tell how deeply the arrow had penetrated, though the tiny part of his mind that remained rational noted there was a fair amount of shaft visible--the thick leather of the riding doublet had stopped the worst of it.

Still, the wound was bad. Even Logan could see that. And Aisling had finished dispatching the archer responsible for it and was now lumbering over, shrieking in rage and grief at the sight of her rider brought down like this. Kavi was mewling pitifully, looking at her clanmate and her rider and responding to the fear she sensed from both of them. Teren and Caru were approaching as well, their eyes wide and terrified and confused as they looked from Logan to Roman to Aisling, who was beginning to wail, and Kavi, who was whimpering in fear.

Logan realized that he was moments from losing Aisling to panic--she would be wild with grief and completely out of reach of anyone, even her own clanmates.

He couldn’t let that happen. If they had any hope of saving Roman, he needed Aisling’s help.

He drew himself up and squared his shoulders, and deep inside him, something molten resolved itself into steel.

“Aisling,” he roared, and his voice was full of so much command that even he didn’t recognize it for a moment. But it worked: the near-frantic drake paused in her heaving cries and looked at him blearily, eyes half-wild.

“He’s not dead,” he said--unnecessarily, of course, because Aisling would be the first to know if he was, but hearing out loud helped calm him, too. “But he needs our help. You have to calm down. I need you. Roman needs you. Okay?”

Aisling blinked at him once, and for a long moment, he was worried he wouldn’t be able to get through to her. The cavern was frozen, unnaturally still, as the other three drakes stared at their largest sister, eyes wide and bodies trembling.

Then Aisling wilted a little. She snorted, and dipped her head in acknowledgment of Logan. Though bonded with Roman, she would, it seemed, obey orders from the other rider--at least when Roman’s life was on the line.

Good enough.

“Kavi,” Logan said. “I need you to help me. We have to get Roman onto Aisling’s back.”

Kavi chirped, and he felt her in his mind, too terrified to form words, but willing to listen to him, and to do what she needed to do.

Together, they eased Roman onto his right side, careful of the arrow shaft that protruded from the wound. Logan frowned at it, but knew better than to pull it out; with nothing to stem the flow of blood, and with the barbed arrowhead likely to do even more damage on its way out, Roman would bleed out in moments. Instead, he held the arrow tight at the base, closing his eyes when Roman moaned in pain, and Kavi took the shaft in her teeth and snapped it off as low as she could.

Then the pair of them eased Roman into a sitting position. Aisling brought her chest to the cavern floor, bringing her back as low to the ground as possible, but it took Kavi and Logan considerable effort to hoist the unconscious Roman onto his drake’s back.

Still, they managed, and Logan secured Roman in place carefully, strapping him in and buckling his harness. Once he was certain Roman was secure, he turned to Kavi, bracing himself against Aisling’s leg (he had dropped his crutches, and he couldn’t spare the time to fetch them).

“Listen,” he said softly to his drake, and she inched forward and placed her head in his outstretched hands. He stroked her muzzle gently and she whimpered up at him, frightened and trembling but alert.

“I have to ride Aisling,” he told her. “Roman can’t support himself. I have to make sure he’s safe. I need you to fly above and keep a lookout for us while we go get Patton and Virgil. Can you do that for me, sweetling?”

Kavi chirped and bumped her snout against his chest. He wrapped his arms around her large head and hugged her for just a moment.

Then he drew away. Roman needed help, and he needed it fast. There was no time to waste.

“Okay, Kavi,” he said softly. “Help me up?”

With his drake’s help, Logan managed to swing himself up onto Aisling’s broad back, and buckled himself in with the secondary harness. Then he drew Roman’s limp body, which had been draped forward over Aisling’s neck, back against his own chest, holding him close so he wouldn’t be jostled too much in flight. Roman’s head lolled back against his shoulder, his eyes closed and his face pale, and Logan swallowed hard, tightening his grip around the prince’s waist.

Hold on, Roman, he thought, half plea and half prayer. Please hold on. We need you.

“Okay,” he breathed, trying to ignore the terrified pounding of his heart. He looked at Kavi, then over at Caru and Teren, who had been watching them with fear in their eyes but who had thankfully known to stay out of the way. “Caru. Teren. Take us to the others.”

The two smaller drakes chirped at him, and bounded to the large open mouth of the cave, bracing themselves at its edge for a moment before springing into the air. Kavi followed, and Aisling lumbered behind her, her gait lolling and terrifying. Logan prayed he would be able to stay on her back, harness or no.

At the edge of the cliff, they paused, and Logan felt his heart catch in his throat.

The caldera was ablaze. Below them, he could see the entire compound, from the barracks by the lake to the training grounds, and it was all a complete riot of smoke and fire and shouting. Even from their height, he could hear the clash of swords and the cries of the wounded and the dying.

But worst of all was the shriek of the adult drakes whose riders had been murdered--the drakes whose bonds had been shattered, and whose grief was now spreading through the entire flight. Those drakes had thrown themselves into the air and were soaring high above the chaos, screaming their rage and sorrow into the moonless night.

They were in frenzy, Logan knew, and his heart filled with sorrow. They were in frenzy, and they would listen to no one, hear no reason. They would fly until they had exhausted themselves, then half glide, half crash to the ground, where they would lie, unmoving, for days, consumed by the pain of a shattered bond. They would survive--most of them--but they could not help Logan or the others now.

Logan closed his eyes and forced his thoughts away from the adult drakes. Right now, he had his own wing to attend to and a fallen shield brother to save. And, if he was right about the coup, Prince Thomas desperately needed their help. The fate of the kingdom could well rest on what Logan did next. He could not afford to hesitate.

He nodded to Kavi, sending a word of command through their bond, and she flung herself from the edge of the cliff, wings unfurling, following Teren and Caru into the night. And at his gentle urging, Aisling braced herself, then sprang into the air after her, her powerful wings beating at the smoke and sending them soaring above the smoldering caldera.