Elemental Dragons (Book 1)

Chapter 8

We walked out onto the ledge. My stomach flipped as I teetered on the edge.

"D-do we have to fly?"

My voice was shaky and I realised that I was petrified. I love being a dragon but flying is t exactly easy.

She giggled softly and replied.

"Come on healer, your not gonna be able to save us all with that attitude. Im kidding, we don't have to there are stairs at the edge over there.."

She pointed to the left of the ledge and sure enough, the was a stair case, carved out of the rock.

"It's safe."

She assured I nodded and tried to mask my fear. The last thing I want is her to think I'm a dragon that is too afraid to fly. How stupid does that sound?

The stair case was quite steep but I managed not to fall in front of Sapphire or even to my death. We finally reached the bottom and weaved our way through the Croud. We found our way to a large archway carved out of rock. My breath hitched as I took in the beauty of the arch. Above it was the letters 'EDA' written in solid ice. There were also grooves in the arch where small fires flickered and the rest of the archway was covered in a thick vine laced with pure white flowers.

We walked through and into a courtyard full of a mix of dragons and people around my age. The dragons were smaller than Mount, around about the same size as sapphire when she was in dragon form.

Out of nowhere, a group of girls as well as a guy, ran up to us.
"Hi sapphire!"

One of the girls wailed as she flung  her arms around Sapphire's neck.
"I can't believe what happened to poor Flicker. He was like a brother to all of us.

The other, almost identical girl sobbed, wiping the tears away from her eyes.

Sapphire had tears starting to form in her eyes but I could see her straining to hold them back. I admired her bravery but it was not weak to cry for the loss of your friend. The boy awkwardly stood at the back looking at his feet. I walked over to him, hoping for some 'manly' conversation.

"Hi. I'm Dylan."

I said, holding out my hand.

"Oh hi. I'mStevenI guessyoucan call meSteve though. Imean everyoneelse does."

I blinked rapidly in response. What? Does he have super speed or something? I must have looked confused because he smiled and said
"I. Talk. Really. Fast. It. Is. A. Issue. That. I. Have. Being. An. Air. Dragon. But I can control it."

He laughed at I assumed, my somewhat annoyed expression and took my hand, which I had left hanging awkwardly between us.

He was just toying with me. I see how it is.
A short girl, about the same age as everyone else, came up to us and said

"Stop being an idiot Steve!"

She whacked the back of his head playfully, yet hard and a managed a laugh. Though her eyes were brimmed with the same redness as everyone else's.

"I'm Tara."

She said holding out her hand. I took it and smiled at her. She had jet black hair and bright green eyes. She reminded me of a raven the way her eyes seemed to dart around the place warily.

"I'm Dylan"

I responded, drawing her attention back to me.

"It's so strange to think that Flicker is..."

She paused as if choking in the next word.

"Dead.."