Rhiannon - Dragonrider

Chapter Ten - To Fly

I wasn't quite ready when his stroke began and I jumped to follow him... but I soon worked out that I was much too late. Rhiannas was thrown to one side and I had to grab at his crenels to stop myself from being thrown off.

He gave me a stinging mental slap as he sorted out our balance with a flick of one wing. "You will be ready when the stroke begins and move with me," he explained with very little in the way of patience, "And, furthermore, until your control is perfect, you are to apply no power whatsoever."

He steadied himself. "Ready yourself. We repeat the endeavour."

This time, I felt the thought of the stroke rising within him and moved with that, rather than his wings.

"Marginally better," he acknowledged as he sorted out our balance with a flick of his tail. "However you finished the stroke early and you continue to apply too much power. Once more!"

We did a couple more of the single stroke things together. I mean... I could tell I was getting better but Rhiannas had next to nothing in the way of patience and I got another couple of his mental slaps!

"Now desist," he told me. "More height is required for safe practice."

I looked down and saw we were skimming just above the sea – if I hadn't been so wrapped up in the whole flying thing, I'd have heard the waves and tasted the salt on my lips.

With a natural grace, he took us back up in a comfortable spiral. Then he told me to get ready again.

"We will now attempt an uninterrupted series of strokes during which you will continue to concentrate exclusively on timing and control. You will constrain, most assiduously, your urge to apply power."

We made our way across the sky in a series of wobbly strokes but after a couple of juddering minutes he simply slapped me aside. "This is beyond tolerance!" he snapped. "Whilst you evidently possess more talent than some of the fumbling incompetents with whom I have been burdened in the past, I have neither the time nor the patience to provide the training you so evidently require. I must consider alternative recourses."

And, without my clumsy help, he relaxed by enjoying a bit of virtuoso flying. He seemed to have forgotten that our minds were still linked together and I shared his satisfaction as he turned and twisted; stooped and climbed. I could feel the wind over his wings and around his body. He drove into a tight spiraling descent and I looked round to see the sea on one side and the sky on my other... but by some crazy sort of flight magic, I was still sitting securely on his back.

Then he tucked his wings into his side and dived downwards until I was sure we were going to crash... but, at the last possible moment, he unfolded them and we flashed over the sea. I couldn't contain a little whoop of excitement as the water flicked up off his wing tips.

He spotted a school of dolphins, dancing on the waves, and came up silently behind them. He hovered, stationary for a moment, as if sitting on the wind, then he stooped down and used his talons to pluck one from the air at the height of its leap.

And, because our minds were still tied so tightly together, I shared his anticipation as he climbed. When he'd got the height we needed, he casually let the miserable creature fall. I watched through his eyes as it slowly tumbled downwards, end over end, and I kind of shared his hunger as he dived down after it.

And, as he dived, I felt the wild passions building up inside him... overwhelming pride, power and majesty. He was Rhiannas... the mightiest dragon in the Edifice... supreme creature in the world. There was nothing... no one... who could stand against him.

And when this feeling had risen to a peak, he released it as a vast billowing surge of flame that roared from his throat.

And, as his flames destroyed the dolphin's puny body, I shared in the unimaginable surge of power as he consumed the pitiful creature's life force.

For a few moments, Rhiannas was still, as if overwhelmed by the gratification of annihilation, then, tucking in his wings once more, he dived down, following the tumbling, smouldering carcass. Just before it hit the sea, he plucked the plummeting remains out of the air and swallowed them whole.

As we returned to the island, skimming low over the waves, I felt completely numb, totally overwhelmed by the intensity of the passions I'd just shared. I mean... I tried to keep my outer cloud self calm but, inside, my feelings were churning as I realised that this was the world I'd been looking for... a much more primitive world with its simple, brutal rules: claw and flame; dominance or servitude; life or death.

This was where I was going to make my mark...

Or where I'd die.

I was puzzled as Rhiannas swung round to approach the island from the south west but, once we hit land, his reasons were obvious.

The wind, which was coming from that direction, was being forced to rise by the mountain so, by skimming up just a few feet above the rough moorland, the updraught carried us up to the peak with just a couple of casual flicks of our wings.

As we approached the summit opening, Rhiannas ordered me to 'Hold fast!' So I dug my spurs even tighter into his scales and grabbed at his crenels.

But I still almost screamed again when, just above the mouth, he tucked in his wings and let himself stall. We seemed to be tumbling straight towards the elaborate stonework round the entrance.

But once I got a grip on my shock, I relaxed a bit and I could tell that he had the whole thing totally under control. As we plummeted into the narrow stone tunnel, the 'Rhian Flute', I could feel him steering with precise flicks of his tail... and of his will

Then we exploded out into the Edifice and again I was shocked by the overwhelming scale of the place. He casually spread his wings and glided back towards his lair.

As he approached, he leaned right back in the air, shedding speed. I was a bit confused when he cruised in a bit too low... it felt as if we were heading straight for the wall. But I was starting to trust his flying now so I wasn't surprised when he swooped up at the last minute, losing the last of our speed so he could step out of the air onto the veranda.

"That was quite incredible," I told him in genuine awe. "I hope that, one day, I'll be good enough to fly with you properly."

"Your appreciation and enthusiasm bode well," he replied, but I could tell that this was just on the surface. The mind link that we'd shared when we were flying was still sort of in place and I could sense a much more complicated jumble of emotions, swirling around inside his cloud.

I caught the image of a girl, not much older than me, as it flashed across his mind. There was a hint of loss there... maybe, even, some alien kind of affection. There was even a slight trace of something that might be regret... or possibly even guilt... linked with the image. And a name shone out, 'Rhian-Ceridwen'.

After a bit, he chucked me firmly out of his head so I climbed unsteadily down... my legs were still pretty wobbly from the flying... and I moved to stand in front of him. He was still perched on the lip of the veranda and looked as if he was still deep in thought.

I took the spurs off and tried to stuff them back into their pouch but it was really tricky and he pretty soon got fed up with my fumbling efforts. He snatched the things out of my hands by the force of his will. Then, using nothing but the power of his mind, he folded them up neatly and popped them into the pouch.

And I felt a bit of a sigh type thing coming from him as he pushed them back into my hands.