Skadi flared his massive wings, kicking up dust and loose debris as he landed heavily amid the chaotic throng. The impact made Eira cringe as she felt her bones rattle from such a rough landing. Normally, she would reprimand her mount for being so reckless, but after Skadi had endured hours of running through the forest instead of taking to the skies where he belonged, Eira decided to let it slide. The poor creature was so exhausted that Skadi wobbled forward as if his legs would give out beneath him.

  As Eira looked around, she noticed it wasn’t just Skadi who was having a rough time; the horde that followed them was in the same condition. The veritable sea of wyverns that were touching down landed in the same haphazard manner as Skadi, causing riders to smack against the back of their mounts or even buck off and slam into the ground.

  No matter where Eira looked, she saw complete pandemonium as curses and commands bellowed out, only to be swallowed by the cacophony of screeches, roars, and the frantic pounding of wings as the beasts jostled for space in the hastily designated clearing.

  But the Wyverns didn’t choose an appropriate landing field or even a clearing. Instead, the beasts opted to ignore their riders and landed in an active construction zone, where laboring crews and mages were still working. They were in the process of erecting prefabricated barracks and reinforcing logistics buildings for the burgeoning military installation when they discovered the wyvern corps descending on them.

  Like scurrying rats under the light of day, the construction crews scrambled away as the first wave of wyverns made their hard landing. Dust and debris flew as the exhausted beasts scrabbled for purchase on the loose earth with their claws before snarling and snapping at each other from their frayed nerves.

  The air filled with the screech of protesting metal as one wyvern skidded, its wing clipping the scaffolding and sending workers tumbling. A few poor bastards weren't fast enough; Eira watched in horror as a riderless, thrashing wyvern nearby snatched a screaming man straight from a half-finished roof beam, shaking him violently like a rag doll before discarding him with a sickening thud.

  Even Skadi wasn't exempt from this fatigue-driven aggression. As Eira fought to keep him calm amidst the chaos, another large, mud-caked wyvern stumbled too close, its rider barely clinging on. Skadi let loose a deep, guttural growl of territorial fury and hissed a warning with his neck frill flaring. The intruding wyvern, equally agitated and exhausted, responded with a challenging screech, prompting Skadi to lunge before Eira could react or even shout a command.

  Talons met scales, and jaws snapped together as the two colossal beasts locked themselves in a brutal melee, seeking purchase on armored, plated necks. Eira clung desperately to the saddle, jostling all over the place as she yelled, "Skadi! No! DAMN IT, STOP! CALM D—"

  Her command was cut short by Skadi’s full forced tack as the beast launched himself bodily at his rival. The sheer force of the impact sent Eira flying backward off her wyvern’s back, turning the world into a blur of motion before she slammed into the ground with a solid, gut-wrenching thud.

  The impact knocked the air clean from Eira's lungs and drove a sharp agony through her back, causing her eyes to widen in pain. As absolute chaos swam in and out of focus, Eira instinctively twisted and turned on the ground, wheezing desperately as she fought to draw a breath into her protesting lungs.

  In the background, a brutal scrap took place as claws tore scales, guttural roars rang out, and maws full of razor-sharp teeth snapped down on limbs. Trying to escape the frantic clawing and vicious biting, other riders and their mounts scrambled to get away as the two enraged beasts flipped all over the place, locked in a primal struggle for dominance amidst the panicked construction site.

  Slowly and painfully, Eira had somehow crawled onto her stomach and felt the damp earth cool against her cheek. Gritting her teeth, she pushed herself up to her hands and knees, pressing her forehead against the cool, muddy ground, causing the dirt and grass to cling to her face and tangle in her hair. After sucking in one more desperate, ragged gasp of air to regain some semblance of clarity and gather her strength

  Once the woman had finally steadier herself, a different sensation surged through her—white-hot fury. With grinding teeth, Eira fingers dug deep into the earth as she ripped clumps of grass and soil free. A low chant began to escape her lips as she slowly and steadily pushed herself upright. The spell she was whispered was barely audible at first, but the ancient words seemed to overpower the savage roars nearby.

  An endless, burning rage flashed in Eira’s eyes as she stood tall, ignoring the protesting ache that coursed through out her body. "GARAN-TOR EN MALAK-TH?L!"

  The usually calm chant erupted from Eira into a primal roar of power as she threw her arms skyward before bringing her hands crashing down onto the earth. A deep groan echoed from beneath the fighting wyverns while the ground below them cracked and trembled. A moment later, the soil and rock buckled upward, swallowing the two brawling beasts in a churning maw, causing the wyverns to immediately break off their fight and scramble away in panic.

  But it was too late; the mouth of the earth that engulfed the struggling beasts swallowed them whole. Once satisfied that the monsters had been subdued, Eira pushed her hands outward in a violent shove, turning the maw into a massive wave that crashed violently across the ground, spitting both Skadi and his rival out, tumbling head over heels like discarded toys.

  Skadi skidded across the dirt before ultimately coming to a stop dozens of meters away from where he had first been swallowed. The beast wobbled, pushing himself up on unsteady legs, and shook his massive head as he tried to regain his bearings. However, when his vision finally came into focus, Skadi saw Eira stomping toward him with a mask of absolute fury spread across her face.

  Before the great wyvern could jump and fly away, Eira’s hand lashed out, slapping him hard across his heavily scaled snout. Skadi flinched, letting out a squeal of pain and horror as if the worst thing in the world had happened, just before another blow landed, harder this time. The colossal war beast, who could shrug off spears and ignore giant balls of flame from talented mages, visibly recoiled with each sharp impact, pulling his head away as if struck by lightning.

  "YOU LITTLE FUCKING SHIT!" Eira roared, her voice raw with anger as she delivered another stinging slap. "IDIOT! YOU GODS DAMNED IDIOT! WHAT IN THE HELLS ARE YOU THINKING?!"

  In an effort to escape his rider, Skadi stumbled backward and felt as if the sharp slaps struck harder than any physical blow he had endured during his tenure as a war wyvern. The colossal war beast whined pitifully, a sound utterly discordant with his terrifying size and power. Skadi’s massive, spined tail curled around his enormous form protectively as he continued to shy away from the furious woman advancing on him.

  Eira didn't relent, however. Her temper had blown its lid, shattering the composure she usually maintained as she marched forward with one finger jabbing accusingly towards Skadi's lowered head. "WHEN I TELL YOU TO STOP," she screamed at the top of her lungs causing her to voice crack, "YOU FUCKING STOP! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?!"

  The woman stalked closer in a relentless fashion and radiated an aura of fury that seemed to dwarf her physical size. In Skadi’s eyes, his master was the epitome of doom as he shuffled backward awkwardly, avoiding her gaze while his massive head dipped lower and lower. In a final act of submission and fear, he tucked it completely beneath one of his massive wings, trying to hide from Eira’s terrifying wrath.

  Finally coming to a halt a few paces from the trembling behemoth, Eira stared at Skadi as he remained frozen with his head hidden. But every other second or so, one massive golden eye peeked out intermittently from behind the leathery shield of his wing, warily tracking her movements. Eira kept her finger pointed directly at the spot where his snout should be as her chest heaved with ragged breaths.

  With a sudden jerk, Eira raised her other hand and jerked her it forward, mimicking the motion of another slap—but stopped abruptly. Even without contact, the massive war beast flinched violently and instantly squeezed his eye shut as a pitiful grumbling whimper left his mouth before pressing himself impossibly deeper behind his wing.

  “Hmph!” A contemptuous harrumph escaped Eira's lips as she snapped around in indignation.

  However, the rigid posture of her fury started to falter as Eira’s face scrunched up. Soon after, a groan of pain mixed with her anger echoed out as the acting Wing Marshal instinctively brought a hand to the back of her hip, where the impact from the fall began to radiate in agony as the adrenaline started to wear off.

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  Still writhing, Eira’s glare shifted from her own mount to the other offending wyvern. The beast struggled to pull itself out of the furrow created by her spell and limp away. Even its rider was in a sorry state as the young man waddled towards the wyvern uselessly with terror etched on his face.

  It was then that another wave of anger surged through Eira, but now it was directed at the incompetence before her. "AND YOU!" she bellowed, snapping her finger towards the hapless rider this time. "REIGN YOUR MOUNT IN, OR I WON'T HAVE MY SPELL SPIT IT OUT NEXT TIME!" Eira growled menacingly.

  The rider jumped as if a bolt of lightning had landed right next to him, his eyes wide with panic. "Y-yes, ma'am! I apologize, ma'am!" he stammered, suddenly picking up speed and scrambling toward his injured mount.

  As Eira watched him struggle for a moment longer, fumbling with the reins and soothing his wyvern, she finally let out a long, shaky breath. Tilting her head back, she exposed her face to the chaotic sky filled with circling wyverns and squeezed her eyes shut tightly as if seeking reprieve before another pained groan escaped her lips. Eira felt as if her hips were on fire as she placed a gentle hand against the swelling to soothe the throbbing.

  The fire in Eira’s hip flared with every heartbeat, growing sharper as it crept up into her back. It was simply impossible to endure as she cringed and sharply sucked in a breath of air through gritted teeth. Gods, she hoped this wasn’t the case, but… something might well be broken down there. It simply felt far too intense to be any kind of bruising. It was actually much worse than anything she’d experienced outside one mishap with a poor landing decades ago.

  Unable to help it anymore, Eira bent forward slowly and supported her weight with one hand, bracing it firmly on her knee. Everything felt so bad that Eira even started to feel nauseous, as she felt like she was going to hurl at any moment. It was definitely clear she was going to need a healer.

  Risking a glance around the chaotic clearing, Eira saw that more wyverns were starting to descend, adding to the bedlam already taking place on their makeshift landing zone. Further Down the field, two other skirmishes broke out between agitated beasts, their roars barely audible over the general cacophony of yelling and screeches. If it weren’t for her current condition, she would have stridden over there, enforcing discipline with magic and scorn. But now? Now, she couldn’t even muster another curse, let alone play law enforcer. Keeping this disorganized horde from tearing itself apart was secondary to finding help. She needed to locate whoever was notionally in charge of this gods-awful mess and get to a healer, a clinic, a triage station, anything.

  As the acting Wing Marshal’s eyes scanned the perimeter of the chaotic landing zone, she noticed that most of the scattering construction crews seemed to be heading in the same general direction. Sure, they were all scrambling away from the wyverns that roared or snapped at them, but the crews all seemed to eventually converge toward a cluster of larger, albeit still temporary-looking, prefabricated buildings erected near the edge of the sprawling area. Whatever was there, she was more than certain they would get her some kind of medical attention.

  Pushing herself upright again with a grunt, Eira began to limp slowly toward the structures, each step shooting a fresh bolt of lightning through her body. "Gods damn it..." she let out a high-pitched whine as tears pricked at the corners of her eyes. She roughly wiped one eye with the back of her dirty glove. The pain was starting to grow in intensity, gnawing away at her resolve as she scooted away.

  Just behind her, heavy, hesitant thuds resounded on the packed earth. Seeing his master struggle, Skadi had tentatively risen and followed after her. He kept a wary distance at first, but seeing her pronounced limp and the way she favored her left side, Skadi seemed to make a decision even though it was clear he was not yet forgiven.

  The great wyvern sped up slightly, nudging his massive head carefully past Eira's shoulder before lowering himself deliberately to the ground directly in her path. He laid there in a posture that unmistakably invited her to climb aboard and turned his eyes up at her in a sympathetic fashion.

  Eira stopped, scowling down at the massive obsidian head near her feet. "You stupid beast," she cursed in a voice thick with lingering frustration. But when she tried to step around him, a sharp, quiet howl escaped her as her hip screamed in protest.

  Defeated for the moment, Eira glared at Skadi's lowered head, realizing she’d be the biggest fool in the world not to climb on. So, with another groan that turned into a choked scream, she reached out, grabbed onto one of Skadi’s thick neck ridges, and began the arduous process of hauling herself onto his broad, surprisingly warm head, shimmying awkwardly into a semi-secure position just behind his crest.

  Each awkward shimmy and shift of weight felt like the world was ending, causing Eira to whimper with every movement. But through sheer, grit-toothed determination, she managed to haul herself fully onto Skadi’s broad head, planting herself firmly just behind his crest with her legs dangling precariously over the beast’s neck. At this point, she was sobbing openly while gasping for breath, but the last thing she cared about in this moment was dignity or pride. No longer suffering overshadowed everything else.

  Sensing the precariousness of her position, Skadi acted with uncharacteristic gentleness. He gingerly lifted his massive head, orienting himself carefully to keep her position as level as possible to minimize the jostling that sent fresh tears streaming down his master’s face. Then, with surprising agility for his size and current state, he began to move, scampering away from the lingering scent of expended mana and heading towards the cluster of buildings Eira had been aiming for.

  As they made their way across the chaotic field, Skadi twisted and turned his body like one of those serpent-like Wyrms, weaving through the ongoing horde of landing wyverns. He sidestepped panicked beasts, ignored the challenging roars of others, and deftly avoided the few new skirmishes that had broken out among the exhausted and agitated creatures. His focus was entirely on delivering his injured and furious master safely to their destination. The heavy thuds of his claws on the packed earth provided a steady rhythm beneath Eira's pained sobs as they left the pandemonium of the landing zone behind them.

  The heavy thuds of Skadi’s feet provided a steady, grounding rhythm beneath Eira's pained whimpers as they navigated to the edge of the chaotic landing zone. But as they closed the distance to the cluster of prefabricated buildings, something strange happened to the horde. The sea of agitated, milling wyverns ahead began to part. It wasn't an organized movement, but a frantic, almost fearful scrambling.

  Massive beasts shuffled sideways, forgetting their earlier aggression and bumped into each other awkwardly. Some even abandoned their nascent skirmishes and pulled back with nervous growls to clear a path leading directly toward the buildings Eira sought. It was obvious they weren't making way for her or Skadi; instead, they seemed intensely wary, almost terrified, of something else within that cleared space, something moving inward.

  Skadi, however, remained undeterred. He kept marching steadily forward into the widening gap, focusing solely on reaching their destination, even as Eira noted the bizarre behavior of the surrounding horde through tear-blurred eyes.

  "...Who's in charge here?! Answer me!" A shout echoed throughout the field, somehow overpowering the screeching beasts.

  The voice was laced with undisguised fury and a chilling arrogance that even made Eira instinctively tense as Skadi continued his steady advance.

  "You! Imbecile! Does your gods-forsaken flock have no leadership?! Who is your commander!" The voice snarled again, closer this time.

  Eira shifted slightly atop Skadi's head, trying to pinpoint the source, a fresh wave of dread washing over her despite the pain. That tone... it was dangerously familiar.

  "Get your lowly beast away from me before I incinerate it where it stands!"

  The source of the imperious demands and the wyverns' terror didn't remain hidden for long. "Huh?! What do you mean acting wing marshal?!" the voice boomed again, angrily echoing from the center of the cleared space just ahead. "What happened to the one I appointed?!"

  Skadi stomped forward a few more paces before halting abruptly. The bristles along his spine stood ramrod straight, and his massive wings flared slightly in apprehension. Eira felt his muscles bunch beneath her as a pair of vicious, burnished gold eyes locked onto them from across the clearing. Unlike the other wyverns, Skadi didn't scurry away, but he was clearly terrified, frozen in place by the sheer force of the presence before them.

  Eira looked up, past Skadi's now trembling head, and swallowed hard, her earlier pain momentarily forgotten in a surge of pure dread. Standing there, radiating power and undisguised fury, was Duchess Vyrrasha herself with a few riders kneeling subserviently before her.

  As Eira watched, a low snarl escaped the Duchess's maw, accompanied by a brief, intense plume of flame that shot from her feathered snout as she turned her furious attention back to the kneeling figures. "What do you mean, he's dead?!" Vyrrasha barked, her voice sharp enough to cut stone. "Who's in charge then?!"

  One of the kneeling riders flinched. "I-It’s Captain Eira, Your Grace! She took command!"

  Another rider risked glancing over his shoulder for a brief moment as he pointed a trembling finger directly at Eira, still perched precariously atop Skadi's head. "T-That was her, Your Grace! The one atop the dark Wyvern!"

  A harrumph escaped Vyrrasha’s mouth like grinding stone as she snapped her head towards the Wyvern in question. Her golden eyes narrowed into dangerous slits as she began to waltz like a regal predator across the clearing towards Eira and her mount. Skadi instinctively took a step back, letting out a low growl and nervously flapping his wings in warning.

  "If that beast flees, or so much as twitches again without my leave," Vyrrasha hissed, her voice dropping to a deadly whisper that somehow carried across the distance, "I will put a hole through its insignificant skull."

  Eira's hand flew to Skadi's neck ridge, patting his scales reassuringly despite her own fear. "Easy, boy..." she murmured in a barely audible voice. "Easy... do what she says, or we're both goners."