Sawyer Henrick

Sawyer is tall, wiry, and freckled.

Sawyer gives practical survival advice from his repeat-cadet experience. He explains how bonding order can defy expectations, warns falling cadets to grab the Gauntlet ropes rather than risk death, and rules out any plan that would have another cadet physically help Violet on the route.

After the squad’s bonds and signets are chemically blocked during interrogation training, Sawyer focuses on the violation and the danger of instructors being able to repeat it, not only on the relief of getting his power back.

Once Violet tells the squad the truth about venin, Sawyer challenges the secrecy but commits to the group’s work. His Luceran background helps him explain how official scribe announcements and restricted trade could let Navarre maintain a large-scale lie.

Sawyer remains cautious about command consequences even when he sees why breaking orders may be necessary. He warns that disobeying direct orders could lead to court-martial, while still conceding that the forbidden plan may be right.

Sawyer stands with Rhiannon and Violet during sparring assessment and enters a useful exchange with them: he and Rhiannon will help Violet with hand-to-hand training, while Violet will help them with history.

Sawyer defends Violet as a squadmate after Tynan insults her and the golden dragon, grabbing Tynan by the collar and warning him not to say that in front of unbonded dragons.

Sawyer and Rhiannon spend the celebratory night after Threshing together, and he later joins the breakfast table beside her as part of the surviving squad’s bonded-rider circle.

Sawyer stays close to Violet’s group when Amber’s accusation becomes a dragon-backed trial and later supports Rhiannon’s point that Violet has been repeatedly targeted.

Sawyer hides his repeated first year from his parents because he fears embarrassing them, letting them believe Riders Quadrant cadets simply cannot write during the first two years.

By the time families are brought toward Aretia’s sanctuary, Sawyer’s parents still have not sent word or arrived.

Sawyer loses the executive officer position when squad needs change in Aretia, but he accepts it as better for the squad if the fliers can tolerate remaining there while the wards may strip their powers away.

Sawyer is interested in Jesinia and learns signing so he can speak with her. He follows Violet to the library to see Jesinia, greets her with limited signs, and is later present during journal work because Xaden notes that he is smitten with her.

Sawyer remains close enough to Violet’s core circle that Ridoc names him as one of the people who should know about Xaden’s condition. Ridoc expects Sawyer to help watch Violet in classes and from the nearby dorm rooms.

Sawyer’s injury strains his bond work with Sliseag because he fears asking the dragon for special treatment after Sliseag risked bonding a repeat cadet. When Sawyer says he does not blame or want to punish Sliseag, the dragon answers by lowering his leg into a climbable incline, letting Sawyer mount again without dishonoring either of them.

As a repeat cadet, Sawyer already knows much of the early rider training material. He identifies General Melgren’s black dragon as Codagh and demonstrates the Gauntlet with nearly flawless technique that Emetterio praises.

Sawyer manifests metallurgy, the ability to affect metal, when his sword warps during sparring and curves toward another cadet’s arm. Professor Carr identifies the signet, but Sawyer cannot yet control it and recognizes that ordinary metal weapons and utensils may be dangerous for him until he improves.

Sawyer’s metallurgy continues developing through January, with Violet noting that his powers grow every day.

During the squad’s break-in, Sawyer uses his metallurgy to throw a stairwell door shut and twist its metal joints, blocking the guard’s return route and buying the squad time.

During the squad’s escape from interrogation training, Sawyer uses his signet on the chamber door’s hinges until they smoke, melt, and drip, opening a way out when lesser magic cannot break the lock.

While researching wards, Sawyer finds an old passage confirming that more than one wardstone was created.

At the Archives entrance, Sawyer clears the narrow remaining path between the heavy steel door and its casing before Violet reaches it.

Sawyer begins learning signing and can form at least a correct good-morning greeting, though his ability remains limited.

Sawyer’s metallurgy is precise enough to alter the iron wardstone after he is secretly brought from the infirmary. Though he doubts his skill and his future as a rider, the change succeeds enough for Maren to wield under Basgiath’s wards.

Sawyer’s signing improves quickly enough for him to tell Jesinia that he wanted to come to her, though he still needs Ridoc’s help translating.

Sawyer designs a modified prosthetic solution for mounting Sliseag: a two-inch-wide curved metal hook that pops from the toe of his boot to catch the dragon’s scales.

Sawyer uses a wood-and-metal prosthetic leg during his recovery, moving with crutches while he adjusts to it.

His current prosthesis is not yet suitable for flying, especially for mounting Sliseag, so he works on a running approach and further adjustments before he is ready to trust it in the field.

After Threshing, Sawyer reports that Trina died because he saw her fall from the back of an Orange Clubtail.

Sawyer is not present at Resson; Violet takes comfort during the lethal battle that he, Rhiannon, and Ridoc can still live to become second-years.

After Violet kills an assassin at Basgiath, Dain orders Sawyer and Rhiannon to take away the bodies, placing Sawyer in the immediate aftermath of Nadine’s death and the attacker’s removal.

Varrish’s riders bind Sawyer and take him with Violet, Rhiannon, and Ridoc for surprise interrogation training. He recognizes that the drink is meant to disconnect them from their dragons, refuses to trade personal information for water, and is hurt badly enough that Violet suspects he may have been concussed.

Sawyer is part of the trusted squad circle when Violet reveals that alloy-hilted daggers are made to kill venin, and he volunteers to help research wards afterward.

During the Archives mission, Sawyer serves on the support team rather than entering the inner infiltration. He waits at the entrance, warns the returning infiltrators to run, and helps keep the path open as the door closes.

During the battle at Basgiath, Sawyer and Sliseag are outmatched against three wyvern until Violet, Aotrom, and Glane help. A wyvern attacking Sliseag bites Sawyer’s leg and severs it below the knee; Violet carries him in a controlled fall before Tairn catches them, then tightens a tourniquet on the ground.

Early in his recovery, Sawyer remains in the infirmary, able to sit more upright but barely managing stairs and relying on crutches. He cannot join the immediate pursuit when danger interrupts, so Violet arms him with an alloy-hilted dagger and Rhiannon orders Maren to protect him.

Sawyer rejoins classes while his recovery remains incomplete. He uses crutches and a prosthetic leg, attends Battle Brief and amphitheater sessions, and sits out flight maneuvers while adjusting toward a fuller return.

Sawyer asks Violet to watch his first serious attempt to mount Sliseag with the modified prosthesis because he does not want the squad to see him fall. After the first try fails in the mud, he and Sliseag solve the mounting problem together, and Sawyer reaches the saddle grinning.

At the north gate deployment, Sawyer takes ground-to-low-air coverage with Ridoc in the squad’s assigned sector. Tairn later reports that Violet’s year-mates have brought down two pairs of wyvern near the wall.

At Medaro Pass, Sawyer is mounted on Sliseag and joins the three-dragon interception. Rhiannon later sees him finishing a kill below her, confirming his return to active aerial combat.