Of Fire and Swords

Kyna felt no fear of the sword as her own anger rose and had her hands been free, she might have even shoved the blade aside, cut hands or not. She raised her voice back at the jerk of a Knight, knowing she really wasn't in a good position to do so but not caring at this point. How DARE he accuse her people of such barbaric acts!

"We didn't kill your people! We don't want this war anymore than you do, you arrogant-!" She cut herself off. Really...name calling? No, she wasn't two. Let him call her a savage, she would not resort to the same methods. Not yet at least. Kyna took a deep breath and spoke as calmly as she could through gritted teeth. "I am not lying and no matter what you do, my story won't change because it's the truth. Whether you accept that is your choice. My people DID NOT BURN YOUR VILLAGES. I am not saying that a dragon didn't do it, but it wasn't OUR dragons."

She eyed him carefully. "I could call you a liar, too. Our people WERE attacked by Knights before this war started. You say that wasn't your White Knights?"
 
"No, we didn't! We kept true the pact our people made a century ago." He did find it curios that she would think they did that. Maybe she was telling the truth but there was no way to be sure and he was taught these savages lie and kill. "Curse you woman. I tried being kind and showing you mercy but you spat in my face and call me a liar." He had the guards unlock the cell and he walked out. He whispered in one of the guards ears. The guard smiled and walked in after he left. He started beating her.

He strode angrily back to his tent and lit up a pipe and started smoking it. His anger slowly came back down. Why would she say that? He asked himself, could it be true? He called for his squire once he got there he told him. "Joffery, I need you to do me a favor." His squire looked at him with a confused look but didn't say nothing. So Tyllios kept on speaking. " In the dead of night tonight I need you ride to The Rock."

"That village was burned down, Sir." His squire interrupted.

"I know. But ride there and look for what you can, anything out of the ordinary. Tell me what the remains look like. And speak of this to no one." His squire didn't look happy but didn't refuse him and he took off. Till he gets back I'll have to keep 'questioning the savage' he thought to himself hopefully one or the other will give some insight of what happened.
 
Kyna spat blood as she fell forward, her hair hanging all around her face and her body screaming at her in pain as said hair was grabbed again and she was pulled up, hit once more, sending her body flying into the bars as the man let go. The Rider curled in on herself, but she wouldn't cry out and she wouldn't beg for him to stop. She was a Rider, damnit and she was not going to be broken! She cursed the Knight who had left with every breath in her body as she was struck again, covering her head as she was able with her arms and hands. She felt a rib crack under a kick to her middle and bit back a scream.

She didn't have to make a sound, though, as Meeth did it for her. The dragoness' roar was deafening even from a distance away and Kyna managed just a hint of a smile when the man beating her jumped, startled. She struck out with her feet then, hitting him in the knee. Unlike her, he did scream, moving back away from her, cradling his leg and the Rider bared her teeth much like a dragon would, hissing at him. Did they really think she was going to take this laying down?!

Meeth roared again, defiance and anger in her voice and Kyna let her, doing nothing to calm the dragoness she knew would be fighting to get to her. Let them see just how wary they should be.
 
Midnight had came and watched his squire ride off. Hoping he would bring something useful back but Tyllios doubt he would. He said a silent prayed to the goddess that he would. He filled his pipe up with more tobacco this was the fifth time today. He wasn't much more the pipe but today he had a lot on his mind. He went back to the cell unlocked it and sat on his stool that he brought. He had one of his men sit a brazier down with a metal rod with round tip in it. He took a puff of his pipe and blew a few smoke rings and asked. "Are you awake beast rider?"
 
Kyna growled, looking out from behind her now bloodied blond hair. Her green eyes were no less venomous than they'd been last time and she didn't move from her spot by the bars, curled on her side, cradling her cracked ribs. She could still taste blood in her mouth and speaking hurt her jaw, but she did it anyway. Stars knew she didn't want him to have to actually use that hot iron, though, she was starting to think it didn't matter what she said to him. He wouldn't believe it anyway.

She didn't even want to avoid the pain for herself. No, she wanted to protect Meeth who had worn herself into a frenzy trying to get free, not even listening when Kyna finally told her to calm. She couldn't do that to her dragon again.

"I'm awake. What do you want to know this time?" What was he NOT going to believe this time?
 
"I want to know the truth. Why did your people break the treaty? We was at peace for a hundred years. Why attack and destroy our villages?" He knew what she was going to say and he would take pleasure what he had to do. But it must be done to protect my people. "Tell me the truth and I swear no harm shall come to you or your beast. Lie and you shall suffer and I will give your beast's head for a pillow." He grabbed the iron rod and poke around the fire in the brazier.
 
Kyna watched the fire, knowing very well what he planned to do if she told him what she'd told him earlier. So her options were to tell him the truth and be burned....or to lie and hope he didn't find out it was a lie. And if he did, she'd be worse than burned, that she knew. There really were no options for her at this rate and she had no way of convincing him that she was telling the truth. He was a heathen and didn't seem to want to use any kind of logic before he tortured her.

So, having nothing to lose, Kyna took a risk, meeting his gray-blue eyes directly, no fear in her own even if her body shrank away from the flames as if they already licked at her skin. "I will answer you, Sir Knight, but answer me this first; How am I am to convince you that anything I say is the truth if all you expect from me is a lie? I can tell you the truth, but unless you are willing to hear it without prejudice and judge me fairly, nothing I say will ring of truth to you."

She almost wished he would kill Meeth. Then she could die, too.
 
He kept his face calm but he was cursing her in his mind. He stared into her eyes. They were green he noticed. He thought them kindly to look at. He almost felt like looking at them far into night but he couldn't he had job and not only that he wouldn't break his vows. He knew what she said was true but what choice did he have. He had none. He leaned forward. "Tell me beast rider. If I was locked in irons and you sitting here. What would you do?" He looked hard into her face looking for any hint of deceit.
 
Kyna wanted to swallow. Hard. She wanted to look away, suddenly feeling like she'd been stripped bare by his gaze alone. She wanted to do something to relieve the tension in her body, but she didn't move, wanting NOTHING to trigger him, to make him think she was lying. She wasn't going to. She would do many things to get out of this, but she wouldn't tarnish her honor by lying.

She didn't break his gaze, speaking evenly, not glaring anymore, but not relaxed either. "I would ask you the same questions you've asked me. I would expect resistance because just as I will not, I would know you wouldn't betray your people. I would threaten you. But if I asked for the truth, I would damn well make sure I KNEW you were lying before I tortured you."

She tilted her head slightly, finally sighing out and glancing away from him and at the fire again. "And if I found out you were lying, I would make you scream no matter what it took."
 
He saw that she was telling the truth at least he thought. He looked hard at but saw no deceit. He swore a vow to protect the innocent and also a vow to kill all Drakobin but what if a innocent was a Drakobin? Most Knights would kill her and be done with it. But not Tyllios he took his oaths seriously. His honor was everything to him. But he must not look weak in front of the men lest they not follow his orders any more. So finally coming to a decision he stood up and said. "Aye, I will give a fair trial within a fort night and you will be judged." He took the hot iron poker and knocked to the ground and burned a WK into her shoulder. The smell of burning fleshed reached his nostrils and he quick. Had a man retrieve the brazier and the iron rod. "This is what to come if found guilty and worse."

He strode out of the cell back to his tent. He thought perhaps what he did will make matters worse with her. But he had to do something there's enough talking going around that he has been to easy on her. But if she said was true then and If he killed her then it would've been a murder in cold blood. Damn my honor. He thought to himself. With that last thought he fallen asleep.
 
Kyna had screamed, a short, sharp cry that hurt her throat, but not as much as the agony in her shoulder. She clamped her teeth closed quickly on any other noise and cradled the arm close, tears running down her face in reaction to the pain as she glared after the Knight, cursing the day he was born. This was the mercy of the heathens? She'd rather be found a traitor at the hands of her own people! The thought wasn't a true one, but it expressed her anger and frustration as she scooted back against the bars, shaking as the burning refused to ease, a throb that persisted no matter if she moved or remained still.

She wondered if he felt anything. Obviously he'd seen some type of reason in her words or maybe truth in her eyes....and yet he'd still burned her. What kind of justice was there in that? She had fought on the opposite side of a war from him, that did not make her guilty. It made her no more horrible than him. She protected her people, he protected his, nothing more. He'd been cruel and it was something she was not prone to forgiving.

Kyna looked out into the night and her voice was soft and tired when it entered her dragon's mind. Meeth? Sing for me?

The dragoness warbled a consent through her mind and out of the darkness, echoing over the land, came a dragon's trilling notes, a whistling, haunting sound that Dragon Riders fell asleep to regularly. And Kyna did so now, falling into a restless blackness, finding no more peace there than she did in the waking world.
 
As days went by not much happened. Tyllios spent most of the time fortifying their position and preparing for an attack. He would spent half the day gazing down the south looking for any sign of the enemy but saw nothing and the other half of the day he gazed north looking for the return of his squire Jofferey but nothing as well. He never went and talked to Drakobin woman, Kyncaithia. He had some food and water sent to her once a day and no one went around the dragon. Tyllios was surprised he hadn't died of thirst. Tomorrow he would convene a trial but would the others listen or would the hate of her people blind them to her words. He hated them as well they were taught and raised to hate them but surely he wouldn't judge her fairly or would he? Only if Jofferey would hurry back. He cursed every night. He had plenty of time to go there and return. The Rock wasn't that far away.

Tyllios was restless on the night before the trial. Thousands of thoughts racing across his mind. Why would they attack after a hundred years? He asked himself. Perhaps a new war hungry ruler? Or a just a race wanting more land to grow? Or maybe somebody from the north did attack? What would the Lord Commander do? Would he judge her fairly or just lop off her head? The sun crept above the hills turning the sky a blood red at first. Not a good omen, Tyllios thought as he broke his fast with eggs and hard bread. He looked south and the bodies finally stop burning. Poor souls. May you rest peace. As sunset came he covered the sky in blood as well. Tyllios shook his head knowing what the outcome was going to be. He done gave up on Jofferey. The council was done seated and ready to begin as he came in. They all cast him evil looks. Their faces saying that this was non sense. But he ignored them he swore an oath to protect the innocent. Goddess give me wisdom he prayed as he took the sit on the chair that was raised slightly higher. There was seven council members seated in a circle. "Bring her in." He called to the guards. They brought her in to the center where two stakes was in the ground. They chained her wrist to them. The guards took their leave and Tyllios rose to speak. "We have gathered here today to judge Rider Kyncaithia of the Drakobin. Her people has destroyed our villages but she says that they didn't and also she accuses us of attack her people on the Drakobin's land. I swore an oath as did every one in this room to protect the innocent and to uphold justice. I-"

"We also swore an oath to protect our people from the Drakobin." Interrupted another Knight. "We are the White Knights our sole purpose is to kills these savages." And he pointed at
Kyncaithia.

"I know this Sir Robert and we killed a lot of them a fort night ago. But what if this hole thing was a misunderstanding or what if there is an unknown enemy? Thousands of lives could be lost. So I ask each of you to judge her fairly and not look at her as a Drakonbin but as one of our own a Ravonorn."

"Let this be on your head!" Sir Robert said as he stormed out. Two more followed him.

Another Knight stood up. His hair and beard was solid white. He was the oldest except for the Lord Commander in the White Knights. "I agree with Sir Tyllios. If this war that has been started end up being folly we could lose half our brother hood. And I much rather let one savage go and let thousands of us die. So I Sir Jaime of The White Knights swear to judge fairly." Tyllios smiled at him and nodded. He always respected Sir Jaime. The ones that stayed said similar vows. After it was done Tyllios stood up and said. "Beast Rider Kyncaithia all men her had swore an oath to judge fairly. You are accused of breaking the peace treaty and slaughtering thousands of people. How do you plea?"
 
The days passed without change for Kyna and she found herself retreating into her mind, into her dragon's mind as the bars started to close in on her and the chains felt like they burned her skin a thousand times worse than the mark on her shoulder had. Meeth was slowly fading away, trapped from the sky and from food. A dragon could survive a month on their reserves alone, but without the sky and freedom, it didn't matter how long they could last without food and water, they'd die anyway. And so would Kyna. She wouldn't make herself live.

The day of the trial finally came though, and the Rider didn't fight as she was brought before the council of Knights, her wrists chained each to a pole, forcing her body to stand. She trembled, weakened from too little food and water, no movement but what the chains would allow her and the deteriorating health of her dragon, seeping into her own state. Kyna let her matted blond hair hide her face as Tyllios spoke on her behalf - something she was not sure she should be grateful for or not - and then the Knights swore their oaths.

When finally she was addressed, the Rider looked up slowly and stared at them for a moment, speaking surprisingly clearly. "I am not guilty of anything unless fighting in a war to defend my land is a crime. If it us, by that logic, you are all guilty as well. I did not set fire to your villages and neither did any of my people. We didn't start this war and we didn't break the peace. I plead not guilty."
 
One of the Knights who goes by the name Sir Kevan said. "So you plead not guilty? Do you have sort of proof that you're people did not?" Tyllios knew she didn't and Sir Kevan knew to. Tyllios could tell that Sir Kevan wanted to end this quickly. But he did not interrupt but kept a close eye on Kyncaithia. Sir Kevan continued speaking. "Those villages was close to the border it would be easy to get confused and say that they was on your land. Or perhaps it angered you they were so lax right in front of your faces?"
 
Kyna sighed, dropping her head as she shook it in answer, voice still clear but now tired as well, nearly to the point of giving up. She could see where this was going. She couldn't prove that she was not lying....but then again, they couldn't prove that she was. From what she'd seen at Tyllios's hands, though, it didn't matter if they could prove it or not. They'd kill her out of hate alone. And on that, Kyna could judge them. She didn't want anything to do with the Ravornorn, but that didn't mean she hated them. She thought them heathens and barbaric in battle, but she had seen the way their village people lived and it was no different than how her own did. Her father had taught her to look at the people, even her enemies, as individuals, not as a whole and she lived by that for the last twenty-three years. She was finding it hard to hold on to now, though, as every face she looked at was accusing, the same.

"I can not prove what I have said and you can not disprove it. We all have naught but words against the other."

She looked up again, green eyes unafraid and steady. "I do not hate your people. I never have. You've done me no wrong until recently and I fought you only because it was my duty. Even IF my people had attacked yours, what does that have to do with ME? Who am I that I could have given the order? If the head of your order told you to attack, would have refused?" She shook her head again. "I will stay fast to what I have said. It is the truth and if I must die for it, I will. We did not attack your people."
 
It was Sir Jaime who spoke this time. " What you say is true. We would have went to war if we were ordered. And you are a prisoner of war, child. You're life would have already been forfeit if not for the words you have spoken and for Sir Tyllios who you have convinced and now you must convince us that this war is misguided. That you are innocent of slaughtering our people. Tell me child do you not sit on any war council with your people? For that is no ordinary dragon out there but a queen unless I am mistaken. You must know a little of what had transpired before our and your people marched to battle a fort night ago." Every one was surprised at the last thing that came out of Sir Jaime's mouth even Tyllios who had studied much dragon lore. A queen dragon? Tyllios thought he never heard of it before.
 
Kyna felt a chill travel down her spine when he mentioned Rameetheon, but she kept her face straight. Her eyes were slightly guarded when she spoke, though, trying to decipher what they might actually know of a Queen Dragon. "Rameetheon is a Queen, that is true, but that has no bearing on me. Dragons choose their Riders while still in the egg, they hatch for no one else. I could be a servant girl for all my dragon cares. Being the Rider of a Queen does not make me anything more than what I already am: a Rider. I have more responsibility to keep her safe for she is the hope of a future for our dragons, but nothing more."

She didn't lie, but she also didn't emphasis the fact that yes, while Meeth could have chosen anyone, the dragon had not. She'd chosen Kyna and Kyna....held a bit more power than she was going to admit to willingly. Being the granddaughter of the King, the only heir to the throne now that her brothers and father were dead...well that wasn't such a small deal. The only reason there had not been an attack to get her back was probably because her people would not risk leaving Meeth behind. They knew that would kill their princess faster than a blade could.

"I have sat on war counsels, yes. There were none before this war broke out, though. There were no plans at all. There was no need. We weren't planning on going to war, we didn't attack anyone." she persisted, voice sure.
 
Now Tyllios interest sparked. "So being the rider of a queen dragon," he said. "does not grant you no honoree title? Who are you exactly? Are you a general or just a common foot soldier who's lucky to have a queen dragon?" He knew if this was queen dragon being more strong and powerful than others dragons then there was no way it could let it live not unless some miracle happened. He knew that the end of this trial will not end well for her but if she was lucky she could still have her life but not the dragons. "And you say that your land was attacked as well? What can tell us of it?"
 
"Being a Rider is an honor in and of itself, Sir Tyllios. I need no other title. It is Rameetheon who carries the title of honor, not I. She is a Queen among three others, the mother of many dragons and that is not rank she carries lightly. I am only her Rider and it matters not what I was before that." She didn't want to lie. She'd sworn she wouldn't lie, so Kyna avoided the bits of questions she couldn't answer directly without giving away her secret.

The blond sighed at his question, resting her head against her arm where it stretched out to the poll, feeling a pain build between her temples as struggled to think that far back, eyes closed for a long moment before she opened them, the green hazed over, distant as she recalled the details. "It was a village on our borders. They were attacked by what they described as Knights on foot and strange beasts. Those who survived swore they were Ravornorn and that they'd attacked in the night. They never saw them coming. They said their black armor-"

Kyna froze, her body stiffening as her eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth slightly before closing it again, struggling to get the words out as the truth hit her square in the chest. "Black....they were wearing black..." Her eyes darted to the white armor of all the Knights and the Rider groaned, cursing under her breath. White Knights. WHITE. Not black...
 
Sir Kevan saw her mistake and pounced on it. "You see my fellow Knights she sees her own folly now. There people was attacked and in there anger the closed out wisdom and retaliated on us and this beast she has there's is no way we can permit it to live." The others shouted in agreement even Sir Jaime was agreeing with Sir Kevan. Tylllios saw that it make sense and was a very plausible explanation. She could have been lying about attacking us to protect the queen beast if is truly as rare as she says. He silenced the room and said. "Is there anything else you would like to say before we make our decision?"
 
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