Return of the Riders: Flavour - Trilogy Synopsis

Mechanics | Flavour - Trilogy Synopsis | Skeleton | New Creature Types (2)

INTRODUCTION: These novellas are only self-published. They are not available for purchase in shops, and some of the names would be copyright if the books were properly published. Also the first book is quite heavily based on Eragon.

THE PROPHECY QUEST: 4 teenagers live in a secret cave with their mounts: Rosa and Storm, her giant flying cat; Kira and Saphira Brightscale, her blue dragon; Fenton and Fireclaw Flametongue, his red, battle-ready dragon; and Juliana the young wizard-in-training with her gentle green dragon, Fira Leafwing. Further up on the mountain lives Tyok, and old elf who looks after them. One day, Tyok finally reveals a prophecy that they will journey to defeat the 'Iovil Oon', a wizard who defeated the old Riders. The group have so far been kept a secret, hence their choice to live away from their parents (Kira, Juliana and Fenton's are in a village outside of the mountains and Rosa's are dead) in a secluded mountain range. After meeting Jack, a homeless boy whose village was razed to the ground by the Iovil Oon's servants, they decide that they have to stop him. As they journey towards Mossflower Wood, where the elves live, they are attacked by a horde of blue imps on flying books, who obey the Iovil Oon. They flee to a cave and Juliana puts up a forcefield. However, one imp slips past and crashes into the cave wall. They take him prisoner, learning that his name is Boomerang. Once the other imps leave, they also set off again. Upon reaching Mossflower Wood, they attempt to cross a river by boat as the trees are too close for flying but are swept downstream to Tree Dragon Pool, where they meet some tree dragons - small green dragons. Later, the elves find them and, upon finding out that the Riders are not on the Iovil Oon's side, they throw a banquet, anticipating the overthrowing of their magical enemy. An elf called Poplar gives the Riders directions but, unkown to the group, he is sending them to the Cursed Caves, wheer the thoyvxzes - terrifying, saber-toothed beasts - live. Rowan, another elf, corrects them and leads them out of the forest into the mountains, Boomerang's ancestral home. By this time, the imp has warmed to them and, although perpetually grumpy and always arguing with Rosa, he helps them navigate and find food. When in these littler mountains, they find a small group of rebel imps, who join them. However, they are captured by evil black dragons and thrown into the Iovil Oon's jail. One of Boomerang's friends helps them loosen their chains so that, when they are given an audience with the IOvil Oon (in which he tries to recruit them) they escape. A battle ensues in which they break the Iovil Oon's staff and source of power. He subsequently flees. One of the rebel imps is chosen to be King of the imps (his name is Pin, so he is actually King Pin the kingpin) and they return home, after freeing some dragons who used to be under the Iovil oon's spell. One becomes Rowan's ridden dragon and another becomes Jack's. Boomerang, his friend and one of the rebel imps ride tree dragons. They do not have the same magical, telepathic connection as Rosa, Juliana, Kira and Fenton, but are still friends with their mounts.

ISLAND ADVENTURE: About 1 year has passed. The Riders are still living in the same place, now with Boomerang, Rowan, Jack and two other imps. They recieve word of a dragon, an elf and two animages (animages can speak to animals in their heads) who have arrived at the elven capital. The Riders rush to the elven capital to meet the strangers. The arrivals are from Dragon Island (the dragon) and Nimrock, and island of animages and elves who are good with boats. Both islands are being plagued by mysterious attacks and demands for their fealty. After listening to he evidence, the Riders realise that it must be the Iovil Oon, so they set out to defeat him. On the way to Nimrock, the captain of the boat they hitch a lift on begins behaving oddly and they are told that Nimrock has been lost. The news apparently came from three boats called "boat 1", "boat 2" and "boat 3" which only the captain met going past. It is discovered that he is under the Iovil Oon's spell and they prevent him from crashing the boat into an island's, sheer cliffs. During this, he is hit on the head with the boat's boom and snaps out of the spell. When they reach Nimrock, they are crafted weapons by the grateful residents and decide to split up to track down the Iovil Oon whilst a few stay at Nimrock to muster an armada. Juliana and Kira go to DRagon Island, where they find a kind young dragon warrior in training. They fly off to a small island. On the way, Raya (the dragonw warrior) is struck by lightning and has to recover with the help of Juliana's magic. Meanwhile, Fenton and Rosa have been searching an archipelago of tiny islands. They discover evidence of imps and something with giant scales. AS they continue to search, two of the Iovil oon's evil black dragons catch Rosa and Storm, her cat, in a net. As Fenton and Fireclaw try to free her, a huge sea monster jumps out of the water and swallowa them. Only Fenton is left, horrified by his friend's death despite his frequent arguments with Rosa. Fenton rejoins Kira and Juliana and brings them news of Rosa's death. In reality, Rosa was only grabbed by the sea monster and Fenton was mistaken. The leviathan takes her to the Iovil Oon, who tries to interrogate her, along with a baby dragon who he captured during the prologue. However, the dragon will not say anything except "Mama must be missing me" or something else about how someone is missing, like Raya, who is actually his sister. Rosa escapes and frees the baby dragon. They reach their friends, who are relieved that Rosa is alive. Next, the travel to Unra, an island which the Iovil Oon also turns out to be on. They fight a battle against him, ending with the Iovil Oon falling off a cliff into his own sea monster's mouth. They have a party, in which they eat marshmallows, to celebrate both their victory and the coming of age of the rescued baby dragon and his twin sister (not Raya - a different sister. He has 2).

DARK RIDER: The Riders have realised that Rosa is the only Cat Rider, so they need to find the cats. They look at historical accounts of a war between the dragons and the cats, which happened right before the cats disappeared. Eventually, they discover that the cats are most likely to be north, so ROsa sets off with Storm. She is a catwhisperer (she can talk to cats) and the cats will be wary of humans, so it is a solo mission (well, except for Storm). However, shortly after she leaves, the Riders discover that she has left her message stone - a magical stone which is their method of communication. They are unable to contact their friend, but another Rider has arrived. Her name is Kenna, she had no idea she was a Rider, and they have never seen her before. Kenna is facing a terrifying, mysterious enemy that she calls the "Clawed Ones" on a distant land, roughly in the same direction as Rosa. As it is basically the Riders' job to fight evil, they journey back with her to where she and her imp friends live on an island called Clawslayer's Refuge. Meanwhile, Rosa has met the cats. They find a patrol, who initially tell them to go away. Howver, one cat asks Storm if her name is Storm Petrel. The name triggers a flashback to when Storm was young, befor she was seperated from her family in a storm and got amnesia, only surviving with Rosa's help. Storm remembers everything about before the storm. They find her family and speak to the leader of the Tribe, called Wind-wing Albatross. Storm comes from the Tribe of Air, which lives in the forest, names their cats after birds, and eats birds. The Tribe of Earth, which lives in the plains, is led by Rock-paw Ruby and is named after minerals. Finally, the Tribe of Water is led by the seclusive and mildly paranoid Wave-tail Dolphin. They name their cats after fish, which they also eat. Albatross takes Storm and Rosa to meet the other leaders. Ruby, a wise female cat, is curious about Storm's message but unsure of whether it would be good for her Tribe. She joins them and they carry on to the Tribe of Water, where Dolphin makes barely veiled jibes at Albatross and vehemently reject the idea of reconnecting to the dragons. She claims that dragons are still attacking them. Rosa is shocked - dragons are her friends - and Albatross points out that they have no evidence whether or not their mysterious attacker, whom they call the Dark Rider, is a dragon. Dolphin refutes this and shows them a midnight-blue sclae with silver flecks. It is obviously a dragon scale. At this point, the chapter in which Storm and Rosa meet the other Tribes ends and the story moves to the Riders' point of view. Kenna & co are off to attack the "beach Claws". They launch the ambush. Fenton and his dragon Fireclaw pair off against a Clawed One. However, they are unable to properly see their opponent as it is very misty and the attack is happening at night. Fenton seems oddly prepared for the Claw's moves - he knows what it will do next, as if its fighting style is familiar. Finally, the Clawslayers retreat as Kenna signals their withdrawal by flashing a lantern. Meanwhile, Rosa and Storm are still at the Tribe of Water, having decided to stay there for the night. They are awoken by an alarm call - they are being attacked by the Dark Rider, who seems to have mysterious reinforcements of extra dragons. During the fighting, the pair meet a Cat of Earth, who was in a patrol that detected the invasion and came to warn Water. His name is Tigereye and they team up to defend the cats. The battle ends as the other side retreat. One of them flashes a lantern. After this, Rosa decides that this mission is more daunting than they had realised. She needs her friends by her side, so she sets off. The Tribes decide to send a companion with her - much to the reclusive Dolphin's dissaproval - and Tigereye volunteers. Ruby is proud that Earth will be the first to venture beyond their borders for peace. As the three leave Northmost - Rosa's name for the cats' land as it is the furthest north she or anyone she knows has been - they are intercepted by a girl riding a dark blue dragon with silver speckles. They manage to slip past, but when they reach Dragon Island, they discover that the Riders have left with another Rider to fight mysterious monsters! The girl, who the dragon leader claims was called 'Katy' was riding a dark blue dragon with silver speckles. Storm soon realises that the Riders are mistakenly fighting the cats, so they pick up another Rider, who rides Raya Starheart from Island Adventure, and return. Meanwhile, the Clawslayers are worried about the way that two Claws left Northmost. The Riders still do not know that the Claws are actually cats. Kenna decides that they must step up their campaign and proposes that they try to make the Clawed Ones extinct. Even the Riders are a little worried by this prospect, but the Clawed Ones are horrible monsters - surely the world will be better off without them? The Tribe leaders are also worried about the Dark Rider. They decide that the Riders must know who they are fighting, so the Tribes will meet their enemies on some cliffs for a great battle. Rosa, Storm, Storm's brother, Tigereye, Tigereye's sister, Storm's childhood friend, Raya and Raya's Rider Holly run away to avoid fighting and go to warn the Riders. However, the Riders have already set off, having heard of the Claws' gathering. Storm and co discover this and turn around just as a literal storm begins. On the battlefield, it is raining so hard that the Riders cannot see their adversararies. Juliana follows one Claw into the forest, but just as FIra has pinned it down and is about to kill it, lightning flashes overhead, illuminating the Claw's face - it is Storm! Juliana quickly realises the truth, and helps Rosa by casting a spell that amplifies Rosa's voice. Rosa speaks to the battlefield, explaining their mistake. Most lay down their weapons, but Kenna is not so easily deterred. She tells a story of how horrible a cat was in the war to an innocent civilian. The way she tells the story and the little slips she keeps making make Julaina realise that the human she is telling the story of is her ancestor. They manage to persuade Kenna that all species have a black sheep or two. Ira gives the example of Ron Ronsson, a man in their village who was suspected to be a thief and treated his goat horribly. Kenna agrees that he was horrible, but Fenton reveals that this man was his uncle! Kenna quickly tries to pretend that maybe it was a mistake, but Fenton says that Ron was his least favourite uncle anyway. Juliana points out that Ron was his only uncle. This becomes a whole silly discussion. Rosa halts the discussion just before a kitten falls off a cliff! Acting on instinct, Kenna and Midnight hurl themselves after the kitten and saves the tiny creature just before it hits the ground. When she comes back up, everyone is impressed but surprised. Kenna eventually admits that it wasn't the fault of cats today, but she's not sure if she can be a hero now that she has done so much bad. Juliana persuades her that she can turn around and join the Riders. However, the cat leaders are less sure abbout trusting the former Dark Rider. Juliana looks in her spell book to find a spell that would reveal Kenna's intentions and convince the Riders. Meanwhile, Fenton converses with the cat leaders. He finds out about the mythical tribe of Fire and says that it must be the dragons. Although the leaders are not in total agreement, they eventually decide that if Kenna stays away from their cats, they will forgive her, and also that they will make peace with the dragons. To celebrate this newfound peace, a party is thrown where the Riders eat toasted marmot under the stars. However, the next day, when they prepare to leave, it is discovered that Rosa will stay with the cats. Storm is unwilling to leave Tigereye and her long-lost family, so Rosa must stay. They promise to visit and part tearfully.

THE END

Updated on 06 Jun 2024 by Emma