(Chapter 18)
The presence of a King
"Normal" - human tongue
"Dragonese" Dragon tongue
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Author POV
Jimin moved his body in time with the way Taehyung slinked through the sky, he was a big dragon, not yet fully grown, but he was skinny not like the other dragons he saw in the training facility. He wondered whether that was due to Taehyung being younger, or perhaps it was because he was raised in a different environment.
Taehyung seemed anxious about something, but when Jimin looked around he could see nothing, but he directed Taehyung to move faster, to which the dragon complied, beginning to move his wings faster, picking up the face. The wind rushing past Jimin's face as he hunkered down hiding behind Taehyung's scaled neck as a form of wind barrier.
Taehyung dived down and glided out, his head turning from side to side to see what was putting him on edge, it would seem he deliberately took himself out of the clouds so that whatever was following would have to do the same if they wished to keep stalking the young dragon.
Normally Taehyung would fight back using his electric gift, but since he had Jimin riding on his back he was trying to avoid that outcome no matter what. Fortunately it seemed that whatever was setting Taehyung on edge didn't emerge from the clouds.
So they continued on, though Taehyung picked up speed in the process.
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The dragons remained within the clouds, out of sight of the young chosen dragon. They merely observed the pair, the way Taehyung flew confidently and the rider trusted him.
They continued to fly above, but when they saw the capital in the distance they immediately froze. No dragon would willingly want to go there.
"Our King" was the whimper that passed through the minds of every dragon as they passed over the walls of the capital.
"You don't think he is working for the false king do you?" a dragon's voice trembled as he addressed the other dragons hovering in the sky, their eyes still upon the capital where their king and chosen had disappeared out of sight.
"He wouldn't" the voice was firm as the dragon spoke, but internally their mind wavered as all the dragon's around them did.
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Jimin and Taehyung landed safely within the training grounds. Jimin couldn't shake the uneasy feeling building in his chest. His eyes searched the clouds above him, as if the answer would write itself across the sky in bold ink. Unfortunately it did not, so Jimin was left to trail after Taehyung the confusing emotion locked in his chest.
"How did flying go?" was the first thing Cadel asked when the dragon and human pair opened the door to their small shared home in the barracks.
"Better everyday" Jimin forced the smile onto his face.
"So thought of anything you would like for your birthday?" Cadel asked, Jimin had almost forgotten it was approaching. He was turning 16 in less than 2 weeks. He had been with Cadel training to be a knight over 9 months now.
But no matter how well he fought or flew, he couldn't register to be a full knight or dragon rider until his 18th birthday. The King was decent in that regard, older teens could train to become knight just not go into battle or fights, instead training in the barracks till they came of age, much like Jimin was doing.
"Not really, maybe a day off to look around the markets" Jimin knew he wouldn't be allowed to travel home to visit his parents as they were over a week away on horse back, less time on a dragon's back, but he was sure his parents and the whole town would faint if he showed up riding on Taehyung's back. So he settled with the markets, he hadn't really had much time to explore the capital outside of what Cadel showed him.
"Alright, I'll give you some money to spend there then, get yourself a gift you want and we can say it is from me" Cadel smiled.
"Thank you sir" Jimin grinned back, it felt like Cadel had taken on an uncle role in Jimin's life as Jimin didn't really think the old knights could replace his parents in that regard. But he had become someone Jimin felt like he could trust and respect in the 9 months they had spent in each other's company.
"Remember you are training with me tomorrow, bright and early" Cadel reminded him before turning back to the stack of documents on his desk that really seemed endless, just based on how long he was glue to the desk throughout the days and evenings.
"Yes sir" Jimin voiced his understanding.
"Oh before I forget. Head to the riding ring, Aife sent me a letter saying she requests your presence as soon as you returned from riding" Cadel called out before Jimin could reach the top of the stairs.
"Did she mention why?" Jimin's eye brows furrowed in confusion, he had no idea why Aife would call upon him so urgently.
"Come on Taehyung" Jimin descended the half climbed stairs and he and Taehyung were out the door with a loud bang in their wake.
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"Aife!" Jimin called out when he saw the larger woman surrounded by knights, they all looked scared and some were putting out fires.
Taehyung and Jimin reached the leader of the dragon riding squadron in record time. She looked relieved to she them, well her version of relieved anyway, which was a small drop of tension from locked shoulders.
"What's wrong?" the 15 year old asked, worry in his eyes, the young dragon clutching onto one of his hands fidgeting behind him in his own show of worry.
"You remember the dragon your dragon seemed to recognise a while ago. It went completely feral all of a sudden and now is causing havoc around the capital." Aife declared.
The memory of the golden dragon with bright green eyes, Taehyung's declaration of 'Hoseok' ringing out as the dragon had turned to curl himself into Jimin's chest before the magic collar had been clamped around his neck. The memory burned itself through Jimin's mind, he nodded in response to Aife's statement showing her he understood.
"We want to see if your dragon can calm the feral dragon down, so it isn't causing anymore havoc." Aife proposed.
Jimin readily agreed he wanted to both help he the dragon and prevent him from hurting anyone around the capital. Taehyung who had been listening to the conversation from the building had already released Jimin's hand and turned to shift into his fully shifted form.
So Jimin turned away from Aife and scrambled up with ease onto the dragon's back and they took off into the air.
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Hoseok was scared their was no doubt about that.
He had finally figured the mechanism out on the collar that prevented him from shifting at his own will. He had studied how the human's did it when they needed the dragon's at full shift in training. He managed to click the collar off, then he was up and out of the dragon house or stable as the human's often called it.
He snuck out, the magic in the collar was supposed to suck away his energy to make him docile and almost paralysed at night to prevent the dragon's from escaping, so the human knights wouldn't be expecting him to be escaping.
He took off running, wanting to look for Taehyung and their King, the young man he had shared time with briefly before they had been torn away from each other. He tore through the barracks his bare feet hitting the dusty ground, dust clouds created around his ankles as he ran.
He was lost and scared and he didn't know which way to turn. So he did the only thing he knew how to do when he felt like this. He fully shifted, golden scales coming to reflect in the pale moonlight, at this height he could see around himself and the streets a lot easier. It would be easier if he could just find which light in which street belonged to the home of his friend and King.
He took to the skies, his luminous green eyes scanning around the capital, keeping himself high enough to be out of sight to human eyes. As he awaited the sight of his King.
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So we starting to pick up the story pace, so Hoseok is now free, the other dragon's have seen Jimin.
I hope you liked the chapter.
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Bye,
Winter