Thalia regretted not changing when she had the chance. The high altitude and the cool night air, not to mention their current speed, made the wind feel like a thousand tiny knives scraping on her skin and burying themselves in her very bones.
She'd only managed to safely pull out a scarf and wrap her face, but it wasn't doing much. The wind still cut through the thin fabric and settled in her pores. Now she understood the importance of proper riding clothes.
If only she would have the opportunity to return and share that information with the younger students.
A heavy sigh left the girls mouth, prompting a concerned hum from her dragon.
"I'm alright Tuuka," she said.
The dragon grumbled as if he didn't believe her one bit. Again the girl sighed, slumping forward on her dragon's head.
"I wish you could tell me who did this. That would make finding them so much easier," Thalia said.
The dragon growled in response.
"I don't know what that noise means. What, are you mad at me?" She sat up a little, leaning over his horn to see his face.
He warbled, it almost sounded like he was saying "no"
"Oh. Well, good, because I really think I'm doing the right thing. They can't hurt you if I'm with you all the time. Oooh you know what we can run little shifts. When I need to sleep you fly so you don't get caught, when you need to sleep we'll find a cave and I'll stay up all night. That'll work, right?"
Her dragon snorted, a small cloud curling up from his nostrils.
"Oh sorry, didn't realize I was flying the worlds smartest dragon here. Do you have a better idea, smarty-scales?"
Again a snort, followed by a quick dip in flight that made Thalia jump to hold on tighter.
"You jerk."
Tuuka seemed to laugh at that. Soon his rider fell silent, except for the chattering of her own teeth. In the horizon she could faintly make out what seemed like mountains. The moon was not very bright tonight which greatly impaired her vision.
Thalia directed her dragon above the clouds so she could see the stars. He moved smoothly and as they glided over the clouds small puffs separated due to the massive reptile.
She gazed up at the night sky looking for a constellation she could recognize. Her eyes stopped, seeing the constellation of Tragelaphus. Made up of five stars, her astronomy teacher said it was a butterfly. During this time of the year it settled on the lower part of the southeast horizon.
Now that she knew where they were, Thalia directed Tuuka back down. He traveled through the clouds again and Thalia could now faintly make out a stronger shape of mountain peaks. She knew she was flying towards the continent of Prilla now, so it was safe to assume these were the Ironwood Grove mountains.
She pushed Tuuka's head up but her dragon did not listen, instead flying directly at the middle of one of the mountains.
"Heeeyy. Hey that's not a great idea lets not crash today go up go up," Thalia ordered. Still the Reaper did not obey, in fact he flew lower getting closer and closer to the base of the mountain. Thalia squeezed her eyes shut not wanting to watch her own demise but to her surprise she felt Tuuka's wings fan out as he tilted backwards to slow.
The big dragon slowly lowered and landed in a cave, turning his head to look at her.
"Uh. Okay. Are you tired?"
Once again he warbled an almost "no". To help his rider out Tuuka moved his tail to poke her overflowing backpack.
"Oh! You want me to change in to real clothes. Got it," she nodded and slid down, dropping her bag on the cave floor. She grabbed a long sleeved shirt and some real pants. A big wing came over her head and lowered down, shielding her from the entrance of the cave.
"Thank you," she laughed.
Thalia changed feeling much warmer now and mounted again, "We can't hang around places like this. Who knows what's hiding out here."
She shuddered slightly at the thoughts of wild dragons and crazy people, directing her dragon to leave the cave. They soared out and quickly went up to avoid being spotted by anything in the woods or anyone in the towns.
They were making great time, already soaring above the Wrentjour Sea a few minutes after taking off. Thalia pulled her black scarf tighter around her face for a better feel. Despite the time she felt incredibly awake making sure to be fully aware of her surroundings in case something came at them.
For years, she had flown with the academy. Every time she went out she felt incredible. She felt free. She felt happy. Here was a different feeling. A new kind of freedom. Knowing she did not have to return at a certain time made her feel like she, too, were a dragon herself, not a rider. The fading night sky above her and her dragon below her, she was practically alone yet somehow felt the exact opposite.
She stood up and walked down her dragons spine watching as Prilla, home of Storm Coast Institute, gave way to Claipedun. The change wasn't very clear to the untrained eye but as Thalia saw the mountains become hills she knew.
Thalia walked back up to her normal spot, deciding to do what was rarely allowed on trips. She made sure she was comfortable and had a tight grip before urging Tuuka to go faster. He happily obliged, allowing his rider to direct him wherever she wanted.
They flipped, they rolled, they looped, they dove. The ground below would be a thousand feet beneath them and only a few hundred in mere seconds. Thalia could almost hear Dr. Corrington in her mind scolding her for being so reckless.
The pair zoomed over trees and hills, making the vegetation shake and shimmy in their wind. As the land became ocean once more Tuuka brought himself high up. The now rising sun shone in Thalia's face as they burst through the clouds again. Tuuka rolled halfway and then cut the engines, allowing his wings to fall limp at his sides as they fell backward.
Thalia laughed not even hanging on to the horns anymore, gripping purely with leg as they went down. She whooped and prepared to regain control.
Mrs. Baxter hated it when I flew like this, Thalia caught herself thinking as the reached for one of Tuuka's horns.
She shoved the teacher out of her brain and twisted to look towards the ocean. She applied pressure in that direction too. Tuuka readied his wings and turned his whole body, somehow catching them before they struck water as he had done so many times.
"Yeaaaah baby! Woooo!" Thalia cheered as they leveled out, rocketing across the ocean's surface.
The water was becoming a lighter color as the sun rose higher and higher, but Thalia had no time to admire it. She was going far too fast to notice anyway. She was leaning forward nearly fusing her body with her dragons as they raced their own shadow across the sea. Beneath the ocean tidal dragons tried to join them, but even in their natural element could not keep up with the two. They were far too fast, nothing could touch them now.
The whistle of the wind seemed to get even higher pitched as Tuuka found his second wind. Tiny pillar islands were ahead but the intelligent rider in control of the speeding dragon whipped him around, narrowly avoiding each pillar.
Neither of them cared.
Another landmass came in to view. Thalia did not bother wondering which one it was, she only followed the water. She followed it in to the bay and down the largest river she could see. She followed the water past villages not caring if anyone saw them. What would a villager do about a masked rider and her dragon of death? Nothing, that's what. The thought made Thalia smile under her scarf.
The river died but their speed did not. Tuuka charged over the land racing for the next coast as if there would be a prize at the end. Thalia could no longer think, her mind had gone completely blank. She squinted as tears stung her eyes due to the sharp winds attacking them. Tuuka kept going, finally reaching his goal. He roared like they had just crossed the finish line, except no one was around to brag to. Still Thalia raised a fist in the air in triumph as the dragon slowed his pace little by little.
She was panting from the adrenaline. Even Tuuka seemed slightly winded after crossing three continents.
"You're the best dragon ever," Thalia praised. She leaned forward and kiss the top of her dragon's head gently, patting him as their pace slowed to a nice glide.
She could live like this forever.
Her, Tuuka, the open sky. Thalia had always wondered what she would do after Ridgeview. Here out in the open she knew she was meant to do nothing else but fly.
A concerned hum sounded from beneath Thalia. She opened her mouth to respond but then she saw what prompted the hum.
There, right in front of her, were seven battleships. Seven very large battleships.
Their hulls were dark and had weird spikes jutting out. Not to be confused with the cannons readied at the sides, no, those were made of a different metal than the spikes. The masts of the ship stretched upwards the same way the spires at Holloway Hall did, but with a worse aura. It was like they were threatening the heavens, not asking them to come down and join the mortal world. No, these masts charged at the sky carrying their sails. Sails that had a design painted in black on them.
Thalia made Tuuka rise higher and prayed they hadn't been able to see them. From above, Thalia could make out the pattern on the sail.
It was the same tree that had been painted on to her own dragon.
Red flashed in her vision.
"We need to take them out," She says.
Tuuka growled in agreement. Thalia made him speed up again to get closer and once they were at a good angle, they dove right at the nearest ship.
Tuuka's mouth glowed as he fired a shot of blue flame at the hull. The wood splintered and exploded. Shouts were heard from the ship as they realized they were under attack.
Tuuka reached his mighty paw forward and slashed the next closest ship, ripping a massive hole in it. He flew up to escape the cannon fire as every person on the ship directed their anger towards the rider.
Thalia's eyes scanned down below. She turned the dragon again, diving for the next ship. Glow, blast. Repeat. Tuuka ran out of gas as the boat finally sunk below the water.
More projectiles started to fly. Thalia couldn't tell what they were, her eyes were down in the water despite her rising altitude.
There, in the water, were dragons struggling to escape from the wreckage. Dragons of all shapes and sizes were thrashing in the ocean trying to get to shore and fly away. Red flashed in Thalia's vision again as she flipped Tuuka downwards to handle the last few boats. Despite how large and well armed they were, a ship could not handle a dragon uninhibited.
The last and largest ship continued to fire at the pair. Several arrows tried to dig in to Tuuka's body, yet the dragon seemed not to react at all. He dove under the water and slashed the underside of the ship wide open. It sank fast, and the dragons in the storage room escaped before the men on board even knew they could get out.
Thalia and Tuuka zoomed off not wanting to stick around. Water made Thalia's clothes cling to her skin, including her scarf. She tore the face fabric off so she could breathe and began to laugh. Nothing seemed to be remotely funny, but still the brunette laughed and laughed.
"Only a few hours in to my escape and I just freed a ship full of stolen dragons. The academies took so long to do what we just did," she cackled.
She was too busy laughing at it to notice the next small fleet of battleships coasting on the waves. It was the bang of a cannon that brought her back. She nearly slipped from Tuuka's neck as he rushed to avoid the cannonball headed straight for him.
It splashed in the sea below and exploded.
"Oh lord, we gotta take care of these guys fast," Thalia urged her dragon forward.
He charged the ships with a roar and slashed the side of one. As he turned to fly up arrows were launched. So, so many arrows. They pierced through the air and settled on the less defensive parts of Tuuka's body. He roared and fired a shot at the next closest ship but still the arrows flew.
"Shit. Go. Up, now," Thalia barked. Tuuka obeyed, rushing to escape the losing fight.
But as they climbed higher the arrows did their damage. Tuuka's vision began to blur as he tried to bring his rider to safety. His wingbeats lost their power. He roared, scratchy and defeated.
"No. No no no no stay with me Tuuka just a little further I promise you can do this just a little further and we can get you help okay?" She tried to encourage him but it was no use. Tuuka whined and with the last of his strength whipped his head to throw his rider off of his neck.
Thalia fell and fell, plummeting towards the dark ocean like she had done a thousand times.
This time no one caught her.