Valen nods. “His clan was at war. A raid, like so many others. But this time, he was given an order he wouldn’t follow.” He looks into the fire, its flames flickering in his eyes. “Because he disobeyed.”
I frown. “Disobeyed what?”
Thane, still quiet beside me, finally speaks. “An order.”
I turn to him. His jaw ticks slightly, his voice even but weighted.
“In the Fire Clan, an order is law,” he says. “To disobey is to be cast out—or executed.”
I shift. Something cold settles in my stomach. “So what did he refuse to do?”
Valen’s voice is quiet, measured. “He was ordered to burn a village to the ground.”
Lyra lets out a slow breath. “And he didn’t.”
Valen nods. “He refused. And not just refused—he fought his own men to stop them.”
I watch the flames flicker, the heat pressing against my skin. “So, he saved them?” I ask.
Valen’s expression hardens slightly. “Some of them. The rest were slaughtered before he could stop it.”
I don’t know why, but my chest tightens at the thought.
“What happened to him?” Lyra asks.
Thane shifts slightly, his tone somber. “They spared him. But they made an example of him first.”
I don’t ask for details. I already know. The Fire Clan doesn’t believe in mercy.
Valen says, “Because he refused that order, he was stripped of his rank, branded a traitor, and cast out. He wandered alone after that,” Valen continues. “No home. No people. No future.”
“But he still fought,” Thane murmurs.
Valen nods. “Yes. Because fighting was all he knew.”
The firelight flickers across Thane’s face, the shadows shifting along his jaw. “That’s why Velkar chose him.”
Valen meets his gaze. “Because he had nothing left to lose.”
I shift, unease settling in my chest. The first rider wasn’t some fabled warrior. Not a chosen one. He was a man who had already lost everything. Who had stood alone—defying the laws of men.
A man who was falling long before he stepped off that cliff.
Valen leans forward, adjusting a log in the fire, the flames curling higher as he continues.
“The first rider bonded with a dragon long before the Shadow Wars. Centuries before humans understood what it meant to stand beside them—truly stand beside them.”
I frown. “How long ago?”
Thane answers this time. “At least a thousand years. Maybe longer.”
Lyra whistles. “A thousand years?”
“The records aren’t exact,” Valen says. “But it was long before this world as you know it took shape, when the clans were still divided and before the riders became legends.”
I rub my hand on the back of my neck. “So, when Isandor bonded with Velkar, there was no war?”
Valen shakes his head. “Not like the ones we know. But there was conflict. There were wars between clans, struggles forpower, but dragons? They were untouched by it all. They kept to themselves, separate from human affairs.”
