Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 10

            Omen nodded in agreement, “Probably. Just to be even more careful, we should hide our identities even more. Say that I’m your father, and the three of you are half-siblings, though Aval and Autumn are full siblings, since they look alike. Inferno won’t be mentioned at all.”

            They all agreed, and Inferno took off into the air moments later, feeling refreshed and strong once more. They all watched him in silent awe as he glided slowly above them, watching over the land with his beady and gaudy blue eyes. There were even times when his wings blocked out the sun.

            “So are you with us?” Blackscales asked after a few minutes of silence.

            They all laughed and Omen replied, “I’m sure I speak for all of us when I say that if you had mentioned Argos earlier, we would have hopped on our horses sooner.”

            The other two nodded in eager agreement.

            “We are nearing the town, it’s under two leagues away now,” Inferno explained to Blackscales, who relayed the message to the others.

            “How do you know?” Autumn asked.

            “Inferno told me,” Blackscales replied.

            Aval turned to him in surprise and asked, “He told you? How did he do that?”

            Blackscales laughed heartily and replied, “We have this sort of…mind link, where we can talk to each other through our minds and even feel each other’s emotions when we’re close enough. And for some reason, Omen can talk to Inferno that way too.”

            Aval and Autumn looked up at Inferno, then back down to Blackscales and Omen before Autumn said, “Really? That’s incredibly weird, I think.”

            Blackscales nodded. They were all suddenly silent for a few minutes, when Inferno suddenly swooped down to the ground again, right behind them. The rider immediately told the others to stop and hopped off of Chase’s back and handed his reigns to a startled Blacksmith.

            “What’s going on?” Aval asked as he pulled his horse to a stop.

            “I’m going to ride Inferno now until we reach the town. Don’t worry, we won’t be flying.”

            Autumn asked one last question, “Have you done this before?”

            “Once,” Blackscales admitted.

            Omen tied Chase’s reigns to Inheritance’s saddle and him as well as Aval and Autumn watched as Blackscales walked up to Inferno. The dragon turned his head to the side, allowing Blackscales to climb into the saddle on his neck. Blackscales shook a little bit nervously for a moment as he tied his legs against the saddle with the straps, but then felt confident again.

            Inferno snorted, telling Omen to lead on. Blackscales started as Inferno took his first step towards the horse, which seemed far more nervous than the rider. But after some time, everyone became comfortable once more. Blackscales gripped the reigns with one hand as his other dangled by his side. Autumn kept looking at Blackscales with disbelieving eyes, but smiling nevertheless.

            They carried on their riding in silence, absorbing all of the information that they had received that day. Blackscales was both relieved and disappointed that they hadn’t come across any dangers yet whatsoever. They never saw anything more dangerous than eagles and hawks, flying around in search of mice or smaller birds to eat, making Inferno chuckle occasionally for some reason.