I blinked out of the memory when the King shouted and clapped. To our left, Bren was in a steep spiral that always looked grand because the dragon’s wings were fully extended and they moved very quickly in a tight, descending circle that would take them almost to the ground. It wasn’t a difficult move until the end. The rider needed nerves of steel. If the dragon was confident, they’d brush talons on the treetops before they’d pull out of the turn and ascend again.
The King found the display very thrilling. He clapped and called. “Look at that, Donavyn! She’s flying just like one of you.”
I gritted my teeth. “Sheisone of us, Sire.”
“Don’t mind him,” Diaan sighed, leaning into my other side. “He’s neverquiteunderstood that women aren’t brittle as glass,” she said wryly.
I nodded, never taking my eyes off the pair until they did, indeed, brush the treetops and Akhane pulled out of the spiral, then flapped to ascend just seconds later.
Bren didn’t even wobble. The two were very connected, I could see that. Ronen might be right that the length of her early training might have been an advantage.
Alexi, the King, left my side to hurry to the rail and shout again when Bren and Akhane climbed back into the sky quickly. I was about to call him back—it was easier on the dragons holding us up if we kept all the weight at the center of the platform. But as I turned, Diaan caught my elbow and leaned in, dropping her voice.
“I very much appreciate that you’ve given the girl this chance, Donavyn,” she said in a tone that raised the hair on the back of my neck, though I couldn’t have pinpointed why. “It’s very progressive of you. I like that.” She gave me a look from the corner of her eyes. “Perhaps in future our Furyknights will no longer be so ubiquitously male? I’d be thrilled to patron a program if it meant—”
“The dragons do the Choosing, Your Majesty,” I said bluntly, and in normal volume so the King wouldn’t think I was trying to speak to her privately. “I have no control over which hearts and minds they select. They claim the Creator guides their decisions. I couldn’t possibly interfere with a Divine appointment.”
She blinked, but Diaan wasn’t easily swayed—or offended. She only nodded her head once, graciously, and gave me a small smile. “Well, it sounds as if I may need to take it up with the Creator then?”
“That would be my advice,” I said and turned towards Alexi to gently break her grip on my arm. Again.
I shouldn’t have moved, but the Queen was making me sweat, so I strode to the side of the platform to join the King and encourage him to return to the center, even offering him my spy glasses so he could watchthe Flameborne close up as they were run through their paces on every side of us.
But then they were called to ground again. Part of the testing was to see the pairs both land and take off on challenging landscapes.
Gunnar and I wouldn’t follow for this portion of the testing—the Pairs were flown to various areas. There was no way to observe all five at once. They had to land on rocky slopes, in the middle of a forest with only a small clearing with very little room to relaunch, land in water and relaunch, and then after all that, they’d be instructed to fly high into the sky—high enough for the dragonhide leathers to benecessaryto keep the Flameborne from freezing. And only up there, in that frigid chill, would they be told to cast off, then remount their dragons during flight—a move not all of them would successfully complete.
Ronen assured me they’d practiced all these maneuvers with Bren. And though she was slower in some phases—like remounting in the air—he didn’t anticipate that she’d fail.
It was the Banner Seize we were worried about.
Once the dragons had flown out of sight, I knew they’d be gone half an hour or more, then landing below us to drink and eat before the Banner Seize.
“This would be an excellent time to go to ground if you’d like to see the Pairs up close,” I told Alexi. “They’ll all be down in the launch hollow in half an hour, drinking and eating before they fly the final phase.”
“Oh, no, we can wait,” he said, waving me off. “Don’t worry about us, Donavyn. We can entertain ourselves until they return to flight. I want to be close to the action when it begins.”
I nodded immediately but inside my guts churned. I desperately didn’t want to be stuck here on the platform for the Banner Seize. It was the most critical part of the Trial because it tested each pair’s connection anddecisions.Until now, everything they’d done was by order—which often tested their courage. But if they made it through those first two phases, the Banner Seize would reveal how theythought.And how they handled themselves when they were given freedom. It was incredibly revealing.
How they approached the problems and challenges of the game was usually the first glimpse we had of a Flameborne’s future Sigil—Flyer, Fang, or Flame. And though final decisions wouldn’t be made until they’d completed all three Trials, after twenty years in the Furyknights, and nearly ten of those commanding, it was always fascinating to me to see if I could anticipate where a Flameborne would fit.
But short of physical danger to the royals or one of my charges, I couldn’t deny the King his request. I did find a reason to shift Alexi to stand next to his wife though.
At least I would watch the Banner Seize without her claws on my arm.
An hour later, I’d forgotten everything to do with the Queen. She and the King were just as riveted as me, watching the Flameborne and their dragons navigating this barely-controlled chaos.
We’d already had two near-collisions, though I was glad that this time at least, Bren hadn’t been one of them.
But though I hadn’t mentioned it to the royals, I was growing more and more concerned by some of the behavior I was seeing. And more and more suspicious.
Our platform dangled to the south and just barely below the level of play. While Gunnar and the other assessors flew their dragons in a wide circle to keep the boundaries of the flight area clear, and to give them an easier view of the Flameborne in their maneuvers, I was at the same level as the Flameborne. And catching details I might not have if I’d been above with the others. Because when you were above flying dragons in the air with nothing nearby to give perspective, it was nearly impossible to accurately measure depth. But here, on their level, I had different riders, ropes, and dragons to help me see. And it was becoming clear—they’re trying to sabotage her.
There were three rules: Flameborne mustonlytake their own banners from a rope. They couldn’t guard a rope—once they took their banner from it, they had to move on to the next. And they couldn’t assist each other. Theymustgrasp their banners through their own efforts, not anyone else’s.
It was rare for squads to have more than one Flameborne at the same time. But it did happen. And in those cases, we flew separate games, or at different times to ensure no Flameborne entered the sky with allies—and that no squad bond was eroded by the inevitable competition.
The Banner Seizehadto be a selfish endeavor. Flameborne were instructed to form their strategies alone, and to do their best to be the first and fastest to collect all their banners. While the timing wouldn’t effect the ultimate evaluation, how they approached grabbing their banners would. Any Flameborne that pulled all five banners was eligible to be passed.
