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Falas Weyr
Cerid glared at her father, her bright blue eyes staring
angrily into his. "I won't do it." She said.
Her father, Lord Holder Daved,
only stared back at her, his cold blue eyes, so much like her own, yet so
different, gazed into hers. "I am your father, I know what's best for you. You
will marry Adren. That is final!" He snapped at her, turning to leave.
Cerid
glared at the man. "Over my dead body." She muttered. How dare he tell her what
to do? He was her father, sure, but that didn't mean he could force her into a
marriage she didn't want. No matter how kind, or handsome Adren might be. She'd
find a way out of it. Somehow.
Lord Gyvan sighed, his weary brown eyes
gazing at his son. "Please, Adren. Will you at least meet the
girl?"
Adren just glared at him, his dark green eyes and unruly black hair a
stark contrast to his father's brown eyes and straight, short hair. "I don't
know her, don't love her, and I'm not marrying
her."
Gyvan bit his tongue, restraining himself from cursing out loud. Why
couldn't his son see what a favor he was trying to do for him? Cerid was
admittedly not the best of company, but she was at least tolerable.
Besides that, her father was a powerful Lord Holder, and with her long,
silvery-blonde hair and clear, blue eyes, she was considerably attractive. But
his son had young, foolish ideas about love, and wouldn't tolerate a
traditional, arranged marriage.
He sighed, hanging his head. "You'll be
coming with me to meet Lord Daved and Cerid tomorrow, and there's no way you're
getting out of it. I suggest you be ready to leave early in the morning."
With that, Lord Gyvan left his eldest son to himself.
Adren glared as he
brushed a strand of ebony hair out of his eyes. He sighed, flopping back onto
his bed. So what if he was the heir to the Hold? It didn't give his parents the
right to control his life, did it? But he knew there was no way he was going to
get out of at least meeting the girl. He sighed again. Life never played fair,
did it?
Adren held tightly onto the reins as he guided the pale, gray
runner out of the Hold. His father rode ahead on a dark bay runner, glancing
back at his son occasionally. He sighed, glancing back toward the Hold. He
wished he didn't have to do this. He wished he wasn't the oldest son, wished he
wasn't the heir to the Hold.
But his father didn't understand, would never
understand. And there was little he could do.
Cerid stared at the tall,
dark-haired boy in front of her. This was the man she was to marry? She glared
disdainfully at him. The cloudless blue sky above them was mirrored in her cold,
light blue eyes. Her light, silvery blonde hair was swept about in the wind as
she pushed it out of her face, irrated. She would not be pushed around so
easily. She threw a glare to her fiance, who returned it, before turning and
stalking back to her room. She'd show her father, and she'd show this Adren.
She'd show them all.
Adren was startled at the cold attitude that the
Lord's daughter seemed to possess. He blinked, taken aback, before brushing his
hair behind an ear nervously. He mumbled a hello to her, which she returned with
a glare. It was obvious she hated this engagement as much as he did. With a
final glare at him, Cerid turned and stalked angrily back to the Hold, no doubt
going to sulk in her room. He stared after her for a moment, before turning to
his father, hoping he could leave soon.
Cerid stared at the ceiling of
her room, angrily blinking back tears as she lay on her bed. What right did that
cocky Holder and his son have, invading her Hold, and forcing her into a
marriage she didn't want? At least Adren didn't seem very keen on the idea,
either. That was a small comfort, apparently, neither of them had a choice in
the matter. If only her father wasn't such an arrogant, pompous dimglow...Why
couldn't he let her live her own life, how she wanted to? He didn't care about
her, he only cared about his Hold. He never noticed his brash young daughter
unless he needed her for something. It wasn't fair...
Why should she have to
put up with this? Why didn't she just run away. Cerid laughed bitterly at the
thought of that. Where would she go? How would she survive? She stood up,
walking to the window at the far end of her room. The sky was already dark, the
myriad stars glistening in the darkening sky as the moon shone, almost half
full.
A slight figure moving through the shadows caught her attention. She
squinted down at the figure, and was surprised to see the Holder's boy, Adren,
wrapping himself in a cloak as he carefully walked to the gates. Her eyes
narrowed as she glanced down at the boy. What was he doing? She raced out of her
room, determined to find out.
Adren sighed, running his fingers through
his nervously, as he headed towards the tall, front gates of the Hold. He
shivered as a cold, biting wind ripped at his cloak. He drew it closer around
him, starting to walk faster. He'd soon be away from here. He gulped nervously.
Was he doing the right thing? Could he just run away from everybody, and hope it
turned out okay? Where could he go, What could he do to earn a living?
He
could probably just travel from hold to hold, or travel to one of the
Mastercrafthalls. He wondered if they would accept an apprentice as old as him.
He had some skill with animals, maybe he could go to the
Beastcrafthall, or even the Dolphincrafthall. He'd never really seen a dolphin
up close before. He shook his head at that, he couldn't get to the Southern
Continent.
The soft sound of light footsteps echoed behind him, and Adren
turned, his heart jumping to his throat. There stood Cerid, her arms crossed in
front of her, blue eyes glaring at him angrily.
"Just what do you
think you're doing?" She asked, glaring at him imperiously.
Adren paled.
"N-nothing. Just taking a walk." He stared at her, hoping she would believe the
lie and leave him alone.
Cerid cocked an eyebrow. "At night? When it's this
cold? I hardly think you were just taking a walk." She said, glaring at him
still.
Adren paused for a moment, and sighed. "Alright, I'm running away so I
don't have to marry you. Are you happy now?"
Cerid stared at him for a
second. "You were just planning to walk out of here, with no idea of where to
go? Not even any supplies?" She shook her head. "Dimglow. Come on!" She grabbed
his arm, dragging him with her back to the hold.
Adren's heart sank. "You
aren't going to tell my father, are you?"
Cerid glanced back at him. "What,
and ruin it for the both of us? Of course not!"
Adren glanced at her,
confused. She led them into the kitchens, where the drudges were all huddled,
asleep. She turned to Adren, beckoning for him to be quiet. She went about,
gathering some leftover meatrolls, and a few peices of fruit. She put it all in
a leather bag, and handed it to Adren.
Adren stared at her. What was she
doing? Why was she, of all people, helping him? Cerid walked carefully
over to the door and waved for him to join her.
Adren carefully stepped
around the drudges, staring disgusted at their unkempt appearances. He took care
to be quiet, not wanting to chance waking them. He glanced up at Cerid, waiting
for him to join her. He accidently stepped on someone's hand as he forgot to
look where he was going. He held his breathe as the drudge blearly opened her
eyes. Adren stood frozen, heart pounding in his ears, as he glanced at Cerid,
only to see the closed door. He barely had time to feel angry that she'd
abandoned him, as the drudge yawned and turned over, back fast asleep. He
sighed, relieved, before making his way to the now closed door, being careful to
watch where he stepped.
Adren opened the heavy door, and saw Cerid glancing
down from the stairs that led to her room. She sighed with relief as she walked
towards him. "I swear Adren, if I get caught because of you, you'll wish you'd
never been born!" She hissed angrily at him.
"Sorry." He mumbled,
embarrased.
"Wait here." She snapped, going up to her room.
She soon came
back, carrying her own cloak with her. Adren stared at the girl, confused.
She just glared back at him.
"What, did you think I'd let you get away and
leave me here to deal with our fathers? I'm coming with you." She said, daring
him to argue with her.
Adren just sighed, turning to leave. "If you can keep
up, then." He said.
Cerid walked behind him, and they left the
Hold.
"This is crazy. We can't survive on our own. We don't even know
where we're going. We'll be killed, or worse, found!" Cerid shivered as she
complained.
Adren stared at her. "I think you need to get your priorities
straight." He said, wrapping his own cloak around him tighter. "Besides, you
didn't have to come."
Cerid snorted. As if she had any choice. There was no
way she was going back to face her father's wrath. That truly was a fate worse
than death.
Two shadows passed above them. They glanced up, seeing two
gigantic shapes above them, one a bright, silvery white, and the other could
hardly be seen against the night sky. The only way Cerid could tell where the
black creature was because it blotted out the stars behind it. The two creatures
landed in front of them, revealing the gaping forms of two dragons, a black and
a silver. Cerid looked closer at the silver, and realized it's wings were a
brilliant white.
Adren gazed at the dragons. They were beautiful. He envied
the people who rode such magnificent creatures. He watched as the riders jumped
from their dragons' backs. One was a tall man with curly black hair. The other
was a woman with black hair and dark, brown eyes. He saw Cerid stiffen beside
him as the dragonriders approached.
"Hello, Dragonriders!" He called out
cheerfully. "We're just taken a nice, long walk from our Hold."
Cerid groaned
from beside him as the dragonriders stopped in front of them.
The man cocked
an eyebrow, staring at him. "At night, in this weather?"
"Umm..." Adren
paused.
"Wait a minute." The woman spoke up. "Aren't you the two missing
Holders' children?"
Cerid sighed. "Shard it, we've been found! Look, we don't
want to go back there! Can't you just say we died or something?" She pleaded
with the dragonriders.
The two riders glanced at each other, before looking
to their dragons. "Well..."The man started. "I suppose we could do
something..."
"Hello." The woman started. "I'm Maeve, rider of Silver-White
Silivrosth, and the man beside me is J'ril, rider of Black Delduwath. We're
searchriders from the FGPC, and you've just been searched." She said.
Adren
blinked. "Well, that would work..."
"Of course we'll stand." Cerid said.
"Anything to get away from my father. Right, Adren?" She nudged him, willing him
to agree with her.
"Right, of course." He paused for a moment. "Where did you
say you were from?"
"The FGPC." Maeve said. "Or the Falas Genetic Program
Center." The silver-white dragon roared from behind her, making Adren and Cerid
jump.
Maeve glanced at her dragon, smiling. "Silivrosth is getting
impatiant. Come on, hop on. We'll give you a ride to Falas." With that, they set
off to the FGPC.