Born in Battle

==prologue | in which we meet river==
«don't wait up.»
RIVER AND DELMAR EXCHANGE ONE HUG. Delmar knows better than to push it. A hug is more than enough. Most of the time, if they hold talons, it's enough. River's not much for touchy-feeliness, but Delmar has a feeling it might be a while before they could hold each other's talons again. 
River doesn't tell him, but she knows it, too. She knows that she could likely never see Delmar again. He might see her. But she won't know it.
"It won't be bad," Delmar says. Like that's supposed to be a comfort. Maybe it is. River can't really tell. 
"I'm going to be flying into SkyWing territory in broad daylight," River says. "It is more than you think."
Delmar sighs, hangs his head, and looks back at River, fixing his eyes on her cold ones. "Stop saying that."
"It's likely I won't be back for a very long time," River reminds him. 
"Tell them to be careful," Delmar says quietly.
River casts a glance behind her at the squadron already assembling in the shadows of the cliff. She nods. "I will be careful." She smiles at Delmar, a rare curve threading its way through her mouth and turning up the edges slightly. "Don't wait up."
Delmar smiles flatly too. "Go. You don't want to get off schedule."
River glances at the sun, watching the last few fires from the sun burn just above the horizon and get extinguished as they disappear. She pushes Delmar away, before any regrets can worm their way under her scales and make her feel uncomfortable. Watching as he retreats into the water heightens her pulse and she turns away. 
"Are we ready?" she asks, steadying her voice as well as she can. She can still feel it quivering in her throat, like the words are rattling the bones in her neck, shaking uncertainly. Pull yourself together, River. You're on a mission. Get over it. He's not important right now.
"It doesn't matter if we're ready yet," her second-in-command points out. League. At least twice her age. River once asked Queen Coral why she'd been put in ahead of League, been fast-tracked. Coral hadn't said anything, but River asked Shark, and he advised her to stay the way she was. 
"Most dragons don't realise this, but what I had to do to get here, I regret it sometimes. Killing," he said, pausing thoughtfully, "after a while, it infects you. And once it does, you're never rid of it." She asked him what in Pyrrhia that had to do with why she'd been fast-tracked. "League can't do things the same way you can, Colonel." He blinked at her, looking with a gravity mixed with real compassion in his eyes. "Stay the way you are forever. Don't let it ever infect you. Because once it does, you'll slow down with all the weight of the dead dragons."
"It doesn't matter if we're ready," League repeats, sensing that River has trailed off briefly, "the sun's setting, and the second moon is showing. We should go."
River nods and performs a quick head count. It's unnecessary, seeing as there's only five of them. The right number. But River is a dragon of habit, and the habits that have carried over from serving in the full guard to private army have held. "Let's go."
They stick to the shadows. Visibility isn't a problem, but they're all subconsciously checking their stripes. Looking out for unconscious comments and a sudden glow. A single flash could give away their location, allies or not.
When the rendezvous point is reached, their expected SandWing guide is late. River frowns. Punctuality is key. 
"Do you think we know enough of the mainland to wing it?" League asks, narrowing his eyes as a second moon brightens in the darkening sky. "We can't afford to lose time on a late SandWing that may or may not be our guide."
"We might lose more time by doing so," River points out. "If we get lost - "
"If," another SeaWing interjects. River turns around to glare at him. "Why is it always if? We're on a potentially deadly mission. There's no time to contemplate if - "
"Weddell," she interrupts sharply, trying to assume all the authority her lean form will allow her to take, "I didn't ask for your input. And we're on a potentially deadly mission. Precisely the reason why we need to contemplate if."
"Keep your voices down," League warns. "There might be far-out patrols."
Weddell drops his voice. "We can't spend time contemplating if. We have to take action."
"We can't take action if we don't have a plan," River insists, glaring. "Step it down, Weddell. You're not in charge."
"Neither are you," Weddell snaps, "League would make a better leader any day. At least he's not a little dragonet. Or a girl."
"I'm honoured by your support," League says darkly, exchanging a glance with River, "but please shut up. We need to formulate a plan." He prods River with his tail, forward a bit, concealed by the shadows of drooping trees. "Are you alright? That's not the first time Weddell has spoken - "
"I know," River interrupts, nodding stiffly. There's silence for a while. "He's not the first, you know." At League's questioning glance, she elaborates. "To think my feelings don't get hurt."
There's another awkward pause. 
"So what do we do?" League asks.
"We'll wait for five minutes. If the sun disappears completely and the SandWing's still not here, we'll abort and go back."
The words have barely left River's mouth when a scuffling sound arises. League and River glance at each other before edging forward. League flashes his stripes for a split second. Once.
"Is it League?" a voice says, emerging from the darkness. River senses the cadences of one who's spent their whole life immersed in the SandWing Kingdom. 
"Taupe?"
The dragon steps out of the dark into River's line of sight. "River?"
"That's me. You're late."
"I'm sorry. Getting out of the stronghold took longer than expected, and I've been trying to compensate for the last day."
"Burn's Stronghold?" River says, immediately alert. She raises her tail.
"I'm a spy." River remains sceptical. League tries to signal for her to relax, but her tail is twitching, so tense, like it's strung between pegs. Taupe leans forward and traces a few lines and plans in the damp sand between the three dragons. There's nodding, murmurs of agreement, and an exchange of thank yous. 
"Will the tide wash away the plans?" Taupe says, concerned.
"Scratch it out, just in case," League says cautiously.
"Thank you for your assistance." River beckons to the rest of the group, pointedly ignoring Taupe out of suspicion. He merely backs out of the way as River leads the squadron into the air, mere silhouettes headed for the mountains. 
And he smiles, because out of the five of them, only River really knows what is happening.
==one | in which river gets a nasty surprise==
«no plan, no backup, no weapons worth a ----. oh, and something else. i haven't got anything to lose.»
THE FIRST MOON IS FADING INTO OBLIVION WHEN RIVER REACHES THE MAINLAND COAST. The sky is lightening up, like a dragon has dipped its talons into paint and scratched at the sky. It would be beautiful, if River could take her mind off the unsettling feeling of Taupe being a possible spy and the fact that at any moment, she could be ambushed. Her only thought right now is to get the whole group into the cave, and then the next rendezvous point.
She pulls aside the covering of vines that is meant to designate the cave. 
Her heart freezes. 
She imagines this is what it would be like to be attacked by an IceWing. Like cold talons wrapping themselves around her heart and a chill rattling outwards from the inside. Slowly stopping her organs and muscles and everything and she practically can't move for a few seconds because she has become paralysed with fear. She should have known that Taupe was a spy right off. She shouldn't have trusted him. And she should have told League to stay back first.
A SkyWing is curled up inside the cave. Smoke, steam, whatever it is, rises lazily from its nostrils. Its tail is wrapped around its legs.
River backs out of the cave slowly. I should have known better! Her mind is a whole separate dragon, screaming, yelling at her. Flashing alarms. 
Do what you're supposed to do. Follow protocol. Immobilise the threat. 
River wants to back out. Enough fear has bubbled up to melt away the ice that froze her at first, to propel her back out of the cave. To safety. To the water, where she'd at least have an advantage. 
But she can't. She's not supposed to. Everything she's ever learned in training, her conditioning, her mentality, everything is throwing signs at her. IMMOBILISE THE THREAT. 
She exits the cave, flashes some frantic signals at League and the rest of the dragons, gestures at the water, and then points at the cave. She prays that League has understood, because by the moons, sometimes he misses the most obvious things.
But League's eyes widen so noticeably that even from a distance, River can see it. He prods the other three dragons with his tail. Get back in the water. Get back. 
The dragon is still sleeping in the cave, and River is about to bring down her tail with enough force to leave a sizeable bruise and even damage the SkyWing's wings, taking out its biggest advantage, but then it moves.
And the alarms go off again. More uncontrollable this time. 
Get a grip, River. Calm down. Think. 
Time slows down while she meditates. She feels it slowing. The astonishment is fading, River. The ice that initially gripped her is melting. It's going away. 
DO IT NOW! 
There is only one thought - she could never have more than a few thoughts to deviate from her plan - but it's like someone has set ten metronomes at different tempos, chanting it in her head. 
She's too slow. 
River has felt this before, in training exercises. But this is completely new - there's a new sensation. Never before has real time played back to her brain in slow motion. Like she's still meditating. Like the SkyWing has woken up and moved as though bending time, because her tail's barely touching his wing - or where his wing would be - when it seizes her by the throat, clenching its talons. 
Her breath comes out in shorter and shorter spurts. Move your tail. Move your tail. MOVE YOUR TAIL! 
It flicks. She gasps a short gasp of relief. And she brings it crashing down on the SkyWing's forearm as hard as she can, with it numbing slowly from the tip. 
The SkyWing cries out and staggers back, snorting small flames. It blasts a jet at River, who rolls out of the way and brings her tail down on the SkyWing's snout, effectively closing its mouth, followed by a blow to its throat, leaving it gasping for air.
She's making a beeline for the coast now, tail raised, like a SandWing skittering across the sand. Her talons are digging into the wet sand, but she doesn't care. She needs to get out.
Three SkyWings come out from nowhere, swooping down at River. This time, she's expecting it, though. She does nothing, just keeps flying low. She feels powerless. No fire. No speed. If she can just make it to the water - 
It takes everything River has to grit her teeth and not cry out when she feels a sharp clamping behind her, at the base of her tail. When she turns, a SkyWing has its jaws wrapped around it. Fly faster, River. Fly. 
A painful jolt brings River reeling back as the SkyWing pulls back on her, catching her in its talons. 
You are not captured, you’re just being checked by a SkyWing spy! River tries to employ methods they’ve always taught at the academy, but they’ve never worked, and they won’t work now.
Kill yourself. 
She reaches up with a perfectly filed talon to her throat, feeling the soft scaliness of it before slashing it.
The SkyWing doesn’t realise until she’s through that his talons are coated in blood, that the SeaWing he just took prisoner is bleeding.
Is fading.
Is dying.
==two | in which river's secrets are revealed==
«you will be fine for thirty-one minutes. you will be dead in thirty-two minutes.»
"HOW IS SHE?" Vermilion snaps. He’s in a bad mood. Would it really hurt for Scarlet to be the one to come into the prisoners’ infirmary? No. So why is he here? If the prisoner is really that important, why in Pyrrhia is Scarlet not coming?
“Bleeding, still,” says the dragon standing next to River. “She could very well die.”
Vermilion frowns. “Don’t let her die,” he orders, “or my mother will have a talk with you.” He sweeps out of the infirmary. If what they say about the prisoner is true, then things are getting very interesting indeed.
“Well?” Scarlet demands, coming out of a corner and confronting her son. “How is she?”
“Bleeding. Possibly going to die,” Vermilion says casually, checking his talons. “I told him not to let her die.”
“Good,” Scarlet says, irritated. “Seventeen years into this stupid war, and of hearing that name, and finally, I’ve captured her. This is thrilling.”
“Is it really her, though?” Vermilion asks, frowning. Scarlet glares at him.
“Of course it’s her! Why else would she try to commit suicide after getting captured? She must be carrying some real secrets. When she’s better, we’ll keep her in the separate prison. I don’t want her with the other prisoners. She’s too important.”
They part when they reach the main hallway. Vermilion goes off to find his sister.
“What do you reckon?” he says, when he practically runs into Ruby. “Is she the one?”
“Teal? Pretty? Trying to kill herself?” Ruby tilts her head at Vermilion knowingly. “Of course she’s the one.”
“What if she’s not? Does Mother even know her name?”
“No, but I do,” Ruby says, scratching her neck. “I’ll have you know that I sent out those SkyWings to the supposed rendezvous point,” she adds, proudly. “And Taupe. He’s a good spy, according to Burn, and I suppose he did her statement justice.”
“Well, that’s reassuring,” Vermilion mutters. “What’s her name, anyway? Are you all just going to know except for me?”
Ruby looks at her brother with false sympathy. “Oh, sorry,” she says, voice tinged with sarcasm. “River? Does that ring a bell?”
Vermilion turns his head dubiously. “The River?”
“Yes, you cow-head. What other River is there?”
“I don’t know,” he says defencively. “If I were in Queen Coral’s royal guard as one of the special squadrons, I wouldn’t want my name known by the enemy.”
“I don’t think she knows we know who she is,” Ruby points out. “She’s gained an infamous reputation on the mainland, but hello, she lives in the middle of the sea.” She pauses. “We can get information from her about where the SeaWing palace is.”
“She’s specially trained,” Vermilion reminds her. “She’s not just going to tell us where it is.”
“We’ll see about that,” Ruby says, smirking slightly. She taps her talons against the stone floor. “In the meantime, I’ll leave you to keep checking on our prisoner.”
• • •
“She’s what?!”
There’s a heavy silence, punctuated by the sound of Vermilion’s heavy breathing. He takes another breath. “Did you say what I think you said - ?”
“She’s going to lay an egg soon,” the dragon says calmly. Vermilion flares his nostrils and blows a faint puff of smoke, accompanied with a tiny flame. 
“You’re telling me,” he says slowly, “that the dragon we captured yesterday is not only one of the most infamous here, but is going to lay an egg?”
The dragon nods. The two glance down at River. 
“Does she know?”
“How should I know?” the dragon asks, incredulous. “Probably. I don’t know a lot about female anatomy, but I don’t think it’s very easy to ignore an egg.”
Vermilion looks down at River, then back at the dragon, then at the doorway. 
“I have to tell my mother this. She’ll be thrilled.”
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Canon)