Rhiannon - Dragonrider

Chapter Thirty One - Night Patrol

As Rhiannas swept along through the black of the night, high above the waves, I tried to keep my mind on business.

We'd been flying together for hours, with my will coupled in with his. I mean... it wasn't exactly hard work but, as the hours dragged on by, the steady drain got a bit wearing. The air was cold and the overcast sky threatened rain so I was glad I'd thought to bring the warm cloak that Iola had given me that first afternoon.

He'd made it quite clear from the start of the flight that he had no interest in casual conversation so I swept the horizon once more using his eyes. They were much better than mine, particularly in the intense, pre-dawn darkness. I could make out the lights from a few scattered farms and villages away to the east on the mainland and from a couple of fishing boats, far off to the north.

Once I was happy that there was nothing out there that was going to cause us trouble, I slipped out of the cloud world for a moment. I quietly stretched my aching muscles then settled back into the half kneeling stance that Zalibar was so determined to teach us.

Then I sank back down into Rhiannas's mind, enjoying the casual expertise of his flight.

I found myself thinking back to the first day.... was it only ten weeks ago? Everything had changed so much since then and, even though there was constant struggle and danger here, I knew I'd never go back to my old way of life. Here, at least, I felt alive. This was where I belonged.

But Rhiannas must have noticed that my attention was wandering because he gave me a nasty, stingy little mental slap before swinging round to the east where a slightly paler shadow on the horizon told us that dawn was not too far away.

It was mid-morning when Rhiannas flew in, low over the compound, and landed on the platform by the house. By that time, it was raining heavily and I was totally soaked.

"I shall require your presence at the same time next week," he informed me. He didn't bother waiting for an answer. He just gave Zalibar a formal sort of a nod then flew off.

"Good. You're back," Zalibar said as I walked across the quad towards him. "I need somebody to take a couple of noviates up."

"Yes, Sir!" I replied with just the faintest of sighs. I'd hoped to get at least a couple of minutes to dry off.

"Can you manage on Taloon?" he asked. "She's been needing a really firm grip since that idiot let Nero get too close to her. They're always like that if you let 'em get a taste of fresh blood."

"We'll be fine," I answered steadily. "I'll let her know who's boss."

"I'm sure you will," he replied. I mean... there was no sign on his face but, just on the surface of his cloud, there was the hint of a smile.

I set off towards the mews but Carodoc hurried across. "You're going to catch your death if you go up like that," he told me. "There's a trick."

We flipped into the cloud world together and he quickly showed me how to use my will to drive the water out of my soaking clothes and to warm myself up. As we flipped back into the quad, I saw that Zalibar was watching us. The look he gave us made it clear that he didn't exactly approve but he didn't say anything.

"He doesn't really like people wasting their cerebral capacity on their own comfort," Carodoc explained. "But he'll let us off this time because it means you don't have to go and get changed before you go up."

Zalibar had been right about Taloon. When I arrived at her stall in the mews, I tried to take a grip on her mind but she chucked me out. The green female's mind was a morass of seething truculence.