The Chosen

I remember that day on the sands in the morning
A white robe I wore and my future unknown
With the crooning of dragons in anticipation
In the chaos of hatching and the cries and the groans
Bright shards lay like jewels on the hot sands of Benden
Claws raked the sand and wet wings beat the air
And stumbling and lurching this creature approached me
And our eyes locked in wonder in the bond we would share

We are the ones that the dragons have chosen
Linked by a bond that is stronger than kin
Ours now a lifetime of service and duty
Our pride and our honor to be dragon men

Years now have passed and my childhood long ended
A great massive beauty in strength he has grown
We worked and we trained for the games in the springtime
A disciplined dance for a foe yet unknown
Then came the day the alarm rang in earnest
We’d be the first to face threadfall in years
But words in old records did not do it justice
This horror from legend to be met by our weyr

We are the ones that the dragons have chosen
Linked by a bond that is stronger than kin
Ours now a lifetime of service and duty
Our pride and our honor to be dragon men

Grim vindication for faith now rewarded
A cost paid in blood by both beast and by men
Thankful past words for the dragons’ short memory
That sends them all skyward to face thread again
But I am a man and find memory no blessing
I cannot ignore the hard truth that I know
One queen and one weyr where once there were many
Our hope was but dust and to death we will go

We are the ones that the dragons have chosen
Linked by a bond that is stronger than kin
Ours now a lifetime of service and duty
Our pride and our honor to be dragon men

I lift tired eyes to the night in it’s splendor
I gaze at my foe that red burning star
And I feel in my soul the bond with my dragon
And accept truth unflinching of all that we are
Ours is the calling, this need to do battle
To put forth our lives in the service of men
For hold, home, and hall to rise to thread’s challenge
As it was in the past, so it must be again

We are the ones that the dragons have chosen
Linked by a bond that is stronger than kin
Ours now a lifetime of service and duty
Our pride and our honor to be dragon men

Find more by Teri Wachowiak in the Author Index.

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