Dragonsbane

The First Flight

Chapter 4

The First Flight

As they started to rise in the sky Ralem noticed movement behind him. Craning his neck, he saw something he had at first overlooked. There was a massive fan-like sails coming up from the dragon’s lower back. Both sides had sharp claws, and while he watched, they unfolded like a peacock’s tail. The claws hooked onto the large spikes extending from his sides. The wind seemed to push on it, causing Jaydon to speed faster.

The clouds appeared to come down to them as they rose ever higher in the alluring sky. As Jaydon leveled out, Ralem raised his hand to touch the fluffy-looking cloud. But when he withdrew it when he felt what seemed like cold water. Indeed there was little sprinkles of dew on his hand. Floating Fog, he thought and shook his head. He’d had enough of fog. .

At that moment Jaydon decided to take a take a nosedive. Ralem had never felt so exhilarated as the forest rushed toward them, his stomach seeming to fall faster than his body. At the very last second Jaydon unfurled his wings and coasted over the treetops. The leaves, disturbed by the sudden gust, swirled around like a flurry of green.

The dragon pulled up and did a spin in the air. Ralem was suddenly very glad he hadn’t much to eat as all he saw was a blur of sky and earth and the ever-present wings. Sensing his discomfort Jaydon stopped and just glided over the forest.

 It was truly a magic moment. He got the bird’s eye view of the mountains and forests. He only saw a sliver, between Jaydon’s neck and wings but it was still breathtaking. Jaydon dipped again, lowering their altitude until they were level with the trees.

 A mountain with a halo of silver clouds towered above them, its immense shadow hiding them from the afternoon sun. They heard the waterfall before they saw it. The dull crashing of the water on the rocks resounded from far away, but it took almost no time at all for Jaydon to find it. He flew low over the crashing water and plunged along with the waterfall. Ralem almost yelled as his stomach plummeted, the sprinkles of water dotting his face like little jewels. In a second it was over and they looked back to find the towering waterfall, the water creating a wall of foamy blue.

 “Beautiful,” Ralem breathed.

 Jaydon circled it once more before soaring higher, gaining altitude in order that he could go faster without having to worry about trees getting in the way.

  How do you keep aloft without moving your wings? Ralem asked tentatively, not really used to this whole talking-in-your-mind sort of thing.

I don’t really know, Jaydon replied, but I just know that I can bend the air to my will. Otherwise, even with my big, powerful wings I don’t think I could fly.

 Thought so, thought Ralem, you do look like you had one too many deer. Jaydon did a playful shrug, nearly unseating his rider.

Hey! I could’ve fallen off! Ralem said, grabbing a spike for reassurance.

 I doubt you could’ve if you tried to jump off. Large magical creatures like me create a sort of pull. You aren’t going off my back! Ralem felt vibrations as the dragon snorted, a small tongue of flame leaping from his open mouth.

 Ralem saw they were heading to what he used to call Pebble Lake. When he was a child he named it that due to the pebbles that lined the crystalline waters from the river that bled into it. He used to love to play in it while he was a child. How do you know about these places? He asked.

How can I talk? And how do I know your name? I knew this is strange but the minute you touched my egg you gave me all your memories.

Ralem squirmed as he thought of the things he didn’t want other people to know about. Jaydon replied gently, I don’t judge you. You are after all, only a man. Every man has his faults. They are forgotten to me. And dragons, for one, know how to forget. Now just relax and enjoy this.