Usodorith in Flight

Though the night had changed little, everything in it seemed to. Ryslen was a blur of activity, it was well after midnight by the time the proper people and their dragons were roused or located. Communications were opened with weyrs that had the required old-world bronzes, and their riders were somewhat confused.

This was Ryslen, right? With the purple and twilight and snowy dragons. Whatever did they want with 'old' school dragons like them?

The answer became evident the moment most of them arrived. First to show up was a bright Calyeni born named Isaoroth - he was eager and fairly young, and watched Uso with keen eyes. His rider C'ju was in awe - this was a real gold, old and stately...

A time-displaced Talor dragon, Bevometh and his fine harper rider D'gar arrived with some time to spare. A song flitted through the rider's mind, and the Bronze took it with him in his heart.

Burnished bronze and a distinct barrel chest showed a Dawn Sisters alumni, his rider more mature than either of the other two already present. C'ton and Elkeruth landed with C'ton's love Seras tagging along. The others knew that Bree was married happily - there would be women for the other riders should they feel the need for passion. Which of course it looked as though everyone did.

By the time tall-winged Ramlanth and T'arel had arrived from elsewhere in Ryslen - they'd been visiting already for a flight - many of the other queens had taken wing and were circling nervously. This older queen showed all the typical signs of territoriality, even though she knew she'd have to give some space to others on the hatching sands. She did not have to give any now.

Another couple Ryslen locals or those on vacation (read: fishing for flights) had taken interest in the goings on. Usodorith was giving off such a glow that she could have substituted for a star. The night was clear, not a cloud in the sky - but still she had not taken beasts to blood. She was waiting.

Another stunning pale bronze, this one with long horns and hailing from Silvermoon, landed among the bronzes collecting nearby. His rider Ke'l said, "Kalavanth, if you're serious about this, go right ahead ..."

Up in a high den, where the retired Tiyanni dozed even though her elder golden Litayth insisted she rise, a commotion brought both she and her loving partner J'kosh awake fully.

She will NOT have my mate! - Tiyanni half-shouted this as her dragon blasted it into her mind.

"Whoa - whoa!" Tiyanni said, waving her hands and realizing that she was standing naked and mostly still asleep, in the middle of their den. "Who? What are you-"

The queen from Talor - Dawnlight's harper's queen - she has gotten that layabout Zerroith interested in flying her! He is MY mate!

The ledge where the queen was pacing faced the flight area, the inner bowl. And Zerroith had already flown the coop so to speak, and landed near the other bronzes. He was gigantic, much bigger than even the other mature males. Tiyanni sighed. "I see."

She turned her gaze to J'kosh, who had one of those 'bronzerider' looks on his face. "You know how he is. He's... got to try you know."

"Does he?" Tiyanni spat, but she knew that was her queen talking. Instead of letting the anger coming from the gold wave over her, Ty smiled widely. "He does, doesn't he?"

WHAT!?

Almost everyone in the place heard that....

"He should chase. Just to know that he's got the best queen he's ever going to need right here...."

"You're very wise, my dear..."

***

Now that there was a good selection of bronzes, her kind of bronzes, Usodorith walked almost angrily to the animal pens. She was more than experienced enough to know only to blood the kills, no one had to tell her what to do. All she had to do now, was outfly these losers who glowered at her like she was some kind of exotic flower.

She was a flower with teeth and claws, that was certain.

Bree and Adlari had been taken up to a den that also overlooked the flight area, but it was much more low to the ground. A convienence based purely upon the desire of the couple - aka the desire of the queen. So strong was her need now, that Bree and Adlari didn't even look up when someone knocked at their door to leave water and some bread and snacks. Why did they care?

There are several strong looking males now.

Then rise. Go for it, Bree stated, and proceeded to ignore anything else the dragon had to say. There was a reason she remained with her drummer husband all these years, after all.

She snarled once over her shoulder at the batch of bronzes. You cannot catch me. I will show you. Then, she placed her huge head into the pen and bit one beast in half, tossing the carcass from side to side and draining it. Another - then two more, and a fifth. The bronzes - the younger ones anyway - began to look a bit nervous.

It is dark, can you catch me in the dark? Usodorith taunted them, and then, bugling her way up into the air, sprang like a blinding golden bullet into the velvet sky over Ryslen.

Her blood sang, this was how it was meant to be. This - followed by more than half a dozen beautiful bronzes with their boasting and egos - followed by dragons who would never catch her in a million years of flapping.

The strength of her wings would not give out. She'd waited this long, because she had been a bit winded by their journeys to find Aubree and Therbre. But as ever, she was refreshed by the presence of the nexus, the chill that it gave her woke her up. Her instincts grew wilder, after she'd blooded the animals.

In the truly olden days, she should have hunted them down before eating of their flesh as well as blood. That was how dragons should do it now. But, traditions. She idly flew upwards, waiting. The bronzes were scrabbling on the ground and only halfway into the air by now. Lumbering things. How could they think to catch her? When she was the most grand queen in the world?

***

Humph, Litayth harrumphed and watched from their ledge, not budging like the other queens or greens had. What's so grand about her?

"Shut up and watch, you addled wherry," Tiyanni laughed.

***

It was of course the younger and enthusiastic bronzes, Isaoroth and Ramlanth, that made it into the air early on. Usodorith mocked them with a wagging long tail. She even slowed down a little. They were good sized bronzes, both surely bigger than any brown could get. But they were still young, and she had decades of experience on them.

She swept over their backs in a huge loop, which she somehow executed without even pausing. It was an old move, one which the older bronzes down on the ground or in the lower air space recognized as a fighting move. She'd watched a lot of threadfall.

Ramlanth ducked her tail when she swept around him a second time - you cannot have me, go chase your half-gold if you will. I am not for you.

Scolded soundly, and nipped at as he went down to the ground again to his waiting rider T'arel, Ramlanth sulked as all bronzes do when they're rejected.

When Usodorith began her next flight around the bowl, thinking about how far she'd fly - she realized that there was not only another bronze in the air behind her, but also that she didn't really know this terrain all that well, and if she had one weakness it was a slight fear of the unknown. She wanted everything planned out - like a harper's notes.

So first off, flying too far away from Ryslen was out of the question. She did not want to be mated too far away and not know how to get there. Even though she claimed to know such things as where to find Ryslen among the stars, she knew nothing about the lay of the land here. Only the stars above.

And secondly, this young thing Isaoroth had to go. She spun in the air, sideways and down, and as the bronze tried to duck down with her, he impacted her side full on.

That was not fair! He called to her, but her hissing and fierce claws aimed at his wing sails held him off long enough to know he wasn't going to win her. He spiralled down, defeated.

By this time of course, the other larger or older bronzes had come up into the air. One sought to snare her while she wasn't looking - as she taunted Isaoroth. But she saw him out of the corner of her faceted eye.

Like Thread, anything moving caught the attention of a dragon's eye. It was Tiamat's orange-colored bronze Iryntesalth, who really wanted to be here more than his rider wanted him to. The long horn-knobs on his head actually graced Usodorith's wing, and his graceful slim wings almost caught her under her legs. But she was too quick, she flapped hard twice, just enough to move and hover above him as though in slow motion. Of course, they were all still tumbling about in the sky - the dawn was on its way - and this glowing golden beauty hadn't even begun to slow down yet.

Iryntesalth slipped down for the moment, but he remained in the chase.

Uso rolled to the right, when she saw two bronzes coming up on her left. Elkeruth and Zerroith, neck and neck. The crest on the Ryslen dragon was large - but it did not guarantee anything in Usodorith's eyes. Elkeruth's swaggering flight confused Uso a bit, but they were close together. She could lose them both if...

With a sharp nosedive, Uso left a bit of a wind tail behind her. Zerroith swept past the equally-old bronze competition.

I'll take that as a 'maybe!' he bellowed mentally.

***

Tiyanni snorted a laugh, while her queen's eyes burned red.

***

What does it take to be rid of you little boys!? Usodorith screamed as she switched wing leads and went in a zigzag pattern. The horned almost-white bronze Kalavanth swept first one way, then the next, then he all of a sudden found himself tangled up in Iryntesalth's tail!

Not you! Get out of my way!

You first! She deserves me!

The pair of bronzes fell off from the obstical course that Usodorith was weaving, and snapped at one another until they realized they would never catch up. The gold glowed along the bowl, moving so quickly that it looked like she flickered between every other wingbeat.

The ground went by so fast, trees bent under the wake the foursome of dragons left behind them. Huge Zerroith hadn't given up yet, but he was in the way of either other bronze to get close to Uso. The Talor-born Bevometh bellowed and bit at the older bronze's tail, it was a dirty trick that was certain, but it worked.

Hey! That's not any way to treat your elder!

This is no way to treat a flight like this, Bevometh declared. Let us through. Your days as weyrleader are done.

You will not be leading any weyr with me, cried Usodorith to them, because you will never even catch up with me! Let the lummox follow now!

And with that, Usodorith beat her wings even harder than she had before. It was a lifetime before.... So long ago. Her first threadfall, when she dodged every piece of thread with such ease that everyone wondered if she should have been a green. Her eyes were filled with the wind, she covered them with her inner-eyelid, which cut down on a bit of the light that was now coming over the edge of the bowl. Dawn was on its way.

At last, Zerroith admitted that maybe he was just a bit too big for this queen, his bulk was surely going to be an advantage in any other situation.

You're just too big and slow to follow us, mocked Elkeruth as the weyrleading bronze went back to his extremely angry weyrmate.

Usodorith's speed could hardly be matched now. But she was beginning to tire, and she had the feeling that something was different. Something was just outside of her mind, but she was so intent on the flight and how she could keep these two left away from her, that she did not see a new player arrive.

In fact, no one did, and few humans or riders realized that anything was amiss.

We cannot share her, Bevometh announced with pride. So I will fly her. You have had your chance. You flew well old boy.

Elkeruth snorted and dove, an expert move that only an older experienced dragon such as himself could have pulled off. While you congratulate yourself, I'll be actually mating, thanks.

The slightly bigger Talor born dragon watched as Elkeruth somehow disappeared from his sight. But fortunately this was one thing that Bevometh had going for him. He knew he shouldn't be concentrating on finding Elkeruth, he ought to be watching where Usodorith was flying next.

She'd flown nearly halfway past the bowl's midpoint, and Elkeruth was gaining on the tiring queen. But... There was something...

A flicker, movement, darkness, and more movement farther away.

It was another dragon, teleporting between and relocating himself across the bowl toward where Bevometh knew Usodorith would be arriving.

No - this is not right!

You keep saying that! Bespoke a foreign voice. A brown dragon, pale on the wings, and long in body and tail. He swept from between and went directly over to where Usodorith suddenly stalled out.

***

Bree sat straight up, her eyes wide and her face full of fear.

"NO!" She screamed, "no! Not you! You cannot be here!" She sobbed into Adlari's chest, he was quite confused. He soothed her by smoothing her golden hair down around her shoulders.

"He's here, I haven't seen him for years..." Bree breathed.

"Who?" Adlari said.

"E'tan," Bree said. "It's E'tan and Utainth."

***

I will have her, as I should have many years ago. And you do not know how to stop me, Utainth bespoke harshly to the burnished bronze. But Bevometh was not to be deterred, and he was not going to allow an upstart BROWN to come into their flight and somehow steal the queen!

Usodorith bellowed loudly, enraged. She remembered this one, now. He was the one who kept trying to steal her Bree, because his rider believed that they should have their own babies. But Bree was after all, barren, and Usodorith was not. And Utainth was not her kind of dragon at all.

She twisted out of his grasp, and because he was busy trying to taunt Bevometh Utainth lost control over his grip. Usodorith almost panicked - but she was never known to do that before. Instead, she realized that Utainth had teleported in, and cheated the bronzes of their proper flight.

Well, not quite yet, it looked like. While Usodorith was trying to backwing away from the fray, Bevometh and Utainth were snarling and snapping at one another, circling in a small wing radius. One would bite, the other would slash with a wing claw. Next was a fierce two-pawed claw, and Utainth grappled with Bevometh.

While they fell from the air, both of them oblivious to the danger, Usodorith rose back into the sky. The dawn had come, the sun peaked over the rim of the bowl.

Elkeruth caught her with a bold sweep of his body, grasping her gently with his forelegs and winding his tail around her own. He did not dare get closer until she realized that he meant her no harm - and for a moment, she snarled and bit at him as he expected her to. But the elder bronze had won this flight, surely, fair and square. Though his wings were exhausted as were hers, they still flew higher into the sky and fell only when the sun had cleared the whole horizon.

***

Bevometh and Utainth had landed roughly - both of them were in need of some healing. But Utainth, not unlike his subversive rider E'tan, vanished before anyone could reach him. Bevometh watched the pair in the sky, Usodorith and the worthy Elkeruth, without jealousy. He'd done the right thing, and everyone knew.