Dragon Blood

Fifty: Our Spot

He took a cautious step toward the blue dragon, who tried to look as reassuring as a dragon could. She lowered her body to the ground once again and her reptilian eyes were gentle as he approached her. This was a much different dragon than he saw in Draco's arena; this one was sweet and docile, while the other had been out for blood. He didn't blame her at all about that, though. He wanted to kill those men himself.

He reached out a tentative hand and she closed her eyes when he made contact with her nose. He was amazed at how warm and... soft  the scales were. They weren't not at all what he was expecting, not like the dragon scales he'd seen before at Draco's castle and in markets. He flexed his fingers slightly, brushing his thumb along her snout. Her eyes blinked open and they were filled with glee, looking surprisingly human. That had to be Skylar, and he was immediately more at ease. No matter what, Skylar was somewhere within the beast, and she wouldn't let him get hurt.

Orion cleared his throat, causing both the dragon and Jonathan to turn and look at him. He looked less than pleased, and Jonathan didn't miss the jealousy that burned in his strange golden gaze. Jonathan let a small smirk grace his mouth. So, the Alpha did see him as some form of competition for Skylar's affection. 

Jonathan, much more confident now, walked up to the blue dragons side and grabbed the saddle, using her leg to help hoist himself onto her back. Once he was settled, Orion stepped forward and grabbed the straps the hung around his legs. 

"You won't need these today," he muttered, "she'll go easy on you. But, we'll need them eventually so I'm going to strap you in."

He began tightening the straps and buckling them in. There were four on each side, with reinforced buckles holding them together. His mind kicked into soldier mode and he gazed at the straps suspiciously. They looked like they would take time to undo, especially in an emergency situation.

"What if I need to unstrap quickly?" he asked. Orion glanced up at him and lifted the end of strap that was weaved through each of the buckles.

"Give this a hard pull," he stated blandly. "It will disengage the buckles and then you'll just be able to pull your leg out. I had a situation much like that when Skylar and I were testing this."

Jonathan nodded in understanding. He looked down and grabbed the handle in front of him. It was sturdy and secured to the saddle. He guessed it was a piece of wood wrapped in leather. He gave it a good tug and was reassured when it didn't move in the slightest.

Orion got his attention again. "You'll also need this." He handed him a belt which he quickly wrapped around himself. Two thin straps hung from each side of the belt and Jonathan, being an intelligent man, was quick to figure out what they were for. He grabbed them and clipped them to the front of the saddle, on either side of the handle in front of him.

Orion nodded once and patted the dragon's shoulder. Jonathan grabbed the handle tightly as she rose to her feet, and he found himself uncomfortable high off the ground. It's just a tall horse, it's just a tall horse, he repeated to himself over and over as she walked slowly over to the edge of the cliff. Her movement felt like a horse's, so it was easy enough to convince himself that that's all this was.

He looked over his shoulder at all of the men watching him in wonder. This was the first time any of them had seen a human upon a dragon, and it was a sight, he was sure. A part of him wished he was among those on the ground. 

Skylar opened her wings slowly, making sure there was no confusion what she intended to do. He watched in fascination as the wind coming off the ocean puffed up the translucent blue membrane. It distracted him from the fact that she tensed her legs, so he was taken completely by surprise when she launched herself off the cliff.