A Wyvern amongst Dragons - on temporary hiatus

Chapter 12.

Year 3134 of the Troll

What his father meant when he had said he would take Joseph under his wing again was not what he had made it sound like. The King was probably under the impression the father decided to take training matters of his son into his own hands again as it had been once, before the ceremony, before the Wyvern. That, unfortunately, or not, was not the case as Joseph got assigned an even worse task than cleaning out the Dragon stables. The more he thought about it, that first job here had not been that bad. It actually had been amazing compared to everything that had happened after. Now he was working day and night scooping stupid Wyvern dung. His father must have thought it to be fitting, Joseph assumed. 

Fourteen hours a day in those stinky, small, dark stables. They made the Dragon stables look like a darn grand palace. It was a good thing Joseph had isolated himself as much as possible from everyone already otherwise his dearest father might actually have to break a sweat to do the same. No, being alone was his own choice. Eldon, Sorsha, they both could eat Rocknuts for all he cared. They both had played and used him. Well, not anymore. 

Joseph stared up at the blue sky as he pushed himself back further in the shadows of the slender tower that peaked over him. It had been a week since he had discovered this small rooftop area and it was his sanctuary. He watched the colorful dots in the sky dance as they practiced fighting. The Dragons and their rider were blissfully unaware of the human boy observing them and commenting on their actions. He had watched their fighting styles, learned from it, and could now tell who was who just by color and way of flying through the air. When the Gold Dragon appeared, Joseph sat up straight and watched how it moved through the fake battle with the Red Dragon. 

Sorsha and Eldon. 

Joseph could easily discern the riders sitting on top of their dragons in the harness. Their legs clipped against the saddle so they would not fall off when fighting while it gave them as much freedom as possible to move. From what Joseph had seen and heard from other riders, riding a dragon was never an easy task as the beasts were so big, it was almost impossible to find a posture that would comfortable in the long run. As such, the saddles were made in such a way, the rider could switch leg positions depending on what they were doing. For fighting, they sat almost in a kneeling position only with their legs wider apart. They could push up and almost stand upright if needed that way. Outside of battle, with a small pull on the edge of the saddle, they could release the legs and place them more forward, stretching the knees in a more relaxed position. Still, it was not the best position to sit in, so most riders would switch between the two positions while flying long distances. Joseph had even seen a special saddle where the rider could lie down on their stomach on the back of the dragon. It was just a glimpse though. 

Sorsha smoothly moved together with her Dragon. Joseph had nicknamed the creature 'The Red Fury' for obvious reasons. They were one, obviously communicating with each other and swiftly going from attack to defense in a fluid motion. There was some improvising when needed to seamlessly lace the attacks together. She was beautiful... She was at fifteen and she still was. Joseph groaned and shook his head to break the spell he seemed to be caught up in by just watching Sorsha. He turned his attention to Eldon and Goldie for some distraction and raised a brow. They did not seem in sync. Eldon was often off-balance as Goldie moved through the air. He flew brilliantly, his golden scales reflecting the sun everywhere blinding everyone, but he was flying to show himself, not flying to fight. Eldon tried his best to work with it. They performed the 'standard' attacks as they were taught, but there was no life behind it. Sorsha could easily block or avoid them, counterattacking straight away. She was toying with him, and Joseph could practically hear her scream at the Golden pair to get their act together. If they were supposed to go into a real fight, how were they supposed to survive?!