Dragonia: Rise of the Wyverns: An Epic Fantasy Dragon Novel (Dragonia Empire Book 1)
Dragonia: Rise of the Wyverns – Chapter 39

Over the next several weeks, everyone worked together to build a city. They erected several buildings, focusing on the craftsman shops first. They started with two blacksmith shops, two lumber mills, two glass shops, and several seamstress shops. Homes were their last concern. They needed places for the people to work.

Devarius walked the streets, listening to the pounding of blacksmith hammers and sawing from lumber mills. At the center of the growing city, men had already begun working on the keep. Stones were being secured in place, gathered from the mountains.

If Devarius hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he never would have believed a city could be built so fast. Nearly all of the lumber Tynaer had brought to the island had been used. Hundreds of saddles had been made for the wyverns, and warriors had begun training aerial combat once more, except this time they could train every day without too much pain. The wyverns’ backs were wider than a horse’s, not by too much, but enough to make it feel like riding a horse for the first time again. Devarius had begged for a saddle for his wyvern, and after days of relentless pleading, Tynaer allowed the leatherworker to make one. At first Tynaer hadn’t wanted Ayla to have a saddle yet because she hadn’t finished growing, and would only grow out of the saddle, but Devarius insisted it could be used on other young wyverns to practice with a rider.

After weeks of training with the wyverns, the two species formed a bond with each other. While the wyverns didn’t have a language the humans could understand, they could understand the humans. Devarius tried to understand how the wyverns communicated, but he couldn’t quite figure it out. Sometimes they made animal noises to each other, but other times, all they did was look at each other and seem to understand. He wondered if they had a vocal language at all, or if they were more like ants, speaking without words. Granted, wyverns didn’t have feelers. Once the wyverns fully trusted the humans, they began to bring their eggs into camp. After they quelled a few humans who looked at the eggs greedily with hunger, Devarius and Tynaer began organizing them by color. Of all the wyverns and wyvern eggs, the silver was the rarest. Tynaer had claimed one of the silver wyverns as his companion, which Devarius thought suited the “hardened steel” captain well.

Each day, they had men and women who hadn’t bonded with a wyvern yet go to the eggs, which were guarded by Aquila, and pick up a few eggs to hold. Sometimes, an egg would hatch, and the wyvern would bond with the person. The first person to have an egg hatch for them, besides Devarius months prior, was Aquila. She had decided not to try and bond with a wyvern like many of the others. Devarius had learned she had been afraid of the wyverns at first. She created the first hatchling bond on the island, making Devarius and Tynaer deem it appropriate that she look after the eggs. With her wyvern too small to practice flight, and hundreds more men and women still desiring to bond with a wyvern, it seemed logical for someone to keep everything organized, lest everyone swarm around touching eggs all day long with no order.

Devarius entered the courtyard where Aquila stood in front of the hundreds of eggs. Six separate piles were formed behind her, and one at a time, she let someone approach one of the piles. They each got to choose which pile to approach, but they could only approach one, and if a wyvern didn’t hatch, they would have to try again the next day. The red sunlight glistened off Aquila’s brown skin, making it shine a beautiful hue. Devarius smiled as he watched her. She was beautiful. He wished he could return her affection, but he was not worthy. She deserved so much better. Yet, he couldn’t help but admire her beauty from afar. She was his best friend. Besides Paedyn, he’d known Aquila longer than anyone else. Paedyn and Aquila were the only ones who were around after Devarius lost his family. If not for them, he would have probably gotten himself killed seeking revenge. He was grateful to have them.

A hand clasped his shoulder. Devarius flinched. He spun around to see Paedyn standing behind him.

“Everything all right?” Devarius asked.

“Is everything all right with you?”

Devarius tilted his head. “Of course.”

“Why don’t you tell her, mate?”

“Tell who what?”

Paedyn smiled. “You know who I’m talking about.”

“It would never work between us.”

“Because you won’t let it,” Paedyn said.

Devarius shook his head. “I would only hurt her. She doesn’t need that.”

“She wants that. I’ve seen the way she looks at you; she’d rather take the chance to be hurt with you than pursue anyone else.”

“I won’t let myself hurt her. I can’t do that to her. She deserves better. She deserves someone who can be there for her. I can’t be there for her.”

“And why not?” Paedyn asked.

Devarius stared deep into Paedyn’s eyes. “Because I will not rest, not even for a moment, until I find my sister, and every son of a toadstool who harmed her along the way. I can’t let her get between me and—”

“Your revenge?”

“I can’t help it. I can’t let it go. Zaviana’s the only one who’s left in my family … and if I grow attached to anyone … anyone at all … I’m afraid—”

“You’re afraid you’ll give up the search?” Paedyn asked.

Devarius dipped his head. “Yes.”

Paedyn squeezed Devarius’s shoulder. “I understand.”

Tynaer strode over to them, his brows furrowed as he glanced to Paedyn’s hand on Devarius’s shoulder. “If you two lovebirds aren’t busy … we have pressing matters.”

Paedyn relinquished his hold on Devarius’s shoulder. They met Tynaer’s eyes and nodded.

“What is it, Captain?’ Paedyn asked.

“We’re running low on lumber, and we’re going to need a lot more of it to finish this city. We’re using most of the stone we mine for the keep, which will be important for a defense if we ever need one, but we need homes.”

“I noticed the lumber was growing low. What do you propose? Another trip to Kaeldroga with the three ships, this time for lumber only?”

Tynaer bit his lip. “I actually had something else in mind … something that may be a bit faster.” He rubbed the tip of his nose. “Do you think we could tie several trees to the back of a wyvern? And more importantly … do you think they would mind us doing so?”

Devarius scratched his chin. “Hmm … interesting.” He shrugged. “There’s only one way to find out.”

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