Ever since the day Ralf had talked with the Nieblan prisoner, he had felt a sense of unease. There was something off about their discussion, but he couldn't place it. Something felt wrong.
For now, Ralf pushed the unsettling thought away as he readied himself for the day ahead. This was the kind of day Ralf looked forward to every week. In just a few moments he would begin training with his mother and father.
When both of his parents trained with Ralf, he always felt invincible. He felt as if he could do anything with their guidance. They were both so caring and helpful. They truly wanted Ralf to succeed and be the best dragon bond he could be.
Together, Ralf and his parents learned new things about the dragon bond. That was the best part for Ralf. He loved discovering new abilities that had yet to be learned by previous dragon bonds. It made Ralf feel like he was making a difference in the world by uncovering such precious secrets.
For instance, a few months ago the royal family discovered something unique during their training in the rain. Ralf had been flying around with his parents, practicing shots with flaming arrows. One arrow had missed the target and began spreading fire around the area. Mirum flew down to the fire and Ralf tried his best to use his magic to put out the fire with water.
He tried to make the water as cold as he could. What Ralf would later hear from his parents was that as he was putting out the fire, the rain around them had turned to snow. It had been the middle of summer. King Alan theorized that Ralf must have been focusing so hard on making the water cold that he had also effected the rain.
To test this theory, Ralf isolated his focus on the rain. He used his magic in attempts to make the rain around him turn to snowflakes. After a few minutes he was able to put this method into practice.
Now, whenever it rained, Ralf would practice this newfound ability around the castle. Sometimes during the rain he would find a group of workers and baffle them with his ability from afar. Ralf took guilty pleasure in shocking the workers into believing it was an early winter.
Remembering such things brought a smile to Ralf's face as he approached both of his parents on the training grounds. Within five seconds all three of the royals' dragons were at their sides.
"Ready for some fun?" Queen Ariana asked the other two.
Ralf smiled and glanced at his father. Lately King Alan's thoughts were always so far away. Ralf yearned for the days when everything was so cheerful and there were no worries. Now King Alan's mind was constantly troubled with the impending war. Ralf hoped that perhaps today his father would let go of his worries and have some fun.
Queen Ariana's smile faltered as she waited for someone to say something. Ralf sent her an encouraging smile, but he knew she was wanting it from her husband.
Trying again, Ariana nudged her husband and asked, "What's the plan for today? A bit of target practice? Playing around with some magic?"
King Alan finally acknowledged his wife and looked over at her. His eyes were weary. Ralf could tell he wanted to be upbeat for his wife and have fun but he had so much on his mind.
"Actually I was thinking we could be practical today and learn something we'll need for this war."
"Oh," Ariana said with a sigh.
King Alan winced. "I just think it would be best if we focused on not only protecting ourselves in this battle but also learning to defend others. We can't ignore the war forever, Ariana."
"I thought we could do something fun today is all," the Queen huffed. Ralf sensed some tension between his parents and hoped it was only temporary. Lately it was hard for Ralf to remember the last time his father had a good time. The royal family used to set times aside during the week and make time for each other. Now everyone seemed to be distant from each other, each busy with their own duties. Unfortunately everyone seemed to wait upon King Alan to make a change. Ralf yearned for his father to make the first move and bring fun back into the family.
"'We can have fun after our kingdom is safe!" King Alan shouted, clearly past the breaking point.
Ralf watched with a heavy heart as his mother's face completely fell and tears began to well within her eyes. Ariana took a breath, calming herself, then released a harsh breath. "Fine. What do you suggest we do?"
Ralf wanted so desperately to comfort his mother in this moment. But doing so would mean offending his father.
King Alan let out a heavy breath to calm his nerves. "We need to master evasion skills. If the enemy is trailing us and we have no hope of defense, then we must be able to flee. My plan was to practice outrunning each other. We should begin with Fuego chasing Mirum and see how both Ralf and Mirum work together to get out of harm's way."
"Fine, I'll start then." Queen Ariana was obviously struggling to control her emotions. Ralf knew she would soon be channeling her energy with anger. He knew that both himself and Mirum would have to concentrate hard on fleeing his mother's concentrated flying.
King Alan's expression of anger transformed into regret as his wife turned toward her dragon. The king reached out to his wife, but she pulled away and readied herself onto Fuego.
"Okay," King Alan sighed. "I'll be watching from here and taking notes. Ralf, I want you to do whatever it takes to get away from your mother. Don't let her catch up to you." Now addressing his wife, King Alan said, "And Honey I want you to give this your all. Don't go easy on him because he's your son. We need to prepare him as best as we can."
"I know that." Ariana spat, clearly letting her anger simmer.
Ralf cringed at the tension between his parents. As he struggled to get onto Mirum, he readied his mind for complete concentration. Doing poorly would only add to his father's worry and frustrations. He needed to do well for the sake of his father's sanity.
"Okay Mirum, we need to do exceedingly well with this."
"Of course," she replied knowingly.
Suddenly, hearing a new voice in his head, Ralf finally recognized his mother. "Are you ready, son?"
Hoping to instill a bit of competitive cheer, Ralf replied, "You mean am I ready to outrun your sluggishly slow dragon? Yes ma'am I am!"
He could almost hear his mother chuckling. "We'll just see about that."
Now, from the ground, King Alan hollered up at them. "Go ahead and distance yourselves apart a little more. I want you taking off at the same time. Honey, back up a bit more!"
Both Fuego and Mirum adjusted their positions to provide better space. Ralf craned his neck to look back at the positioning of his mother. She was far enough away that Ralf felt confident in his take off, but close enough that he felt unsure on how well Mirum could initially outrun them. Mirum was an incredibly fast flyer, but she was slower than Fuego at taking off. She needed a good few seconds to build up her speed.
"You can do this," Ralf whispered, patting his dragon's neck.
"On the count of three!" King Alan announced. "One...," Ralf felt Mirum's legs brace for take off. "Two...," his dragon's wings were tight against her body. "Three!"
In a blink, Mirum's legs pushed off with such force it was almost unbelievable. Her wings burst open with equal force, propelling them up into the air.
Immediately Ralf could sense Fuego directly behind them, a ,mere fraction of a second faster to take off.
Mirum too could sense this. She hurried to propel herself forward with enough speed to outrun her own father.
Fuego was tailing them too closely.
"Mirum turn sharply!"
Without hesitation, Mirum obeyed her dragon rider. The sudden shift in direction was able to buy the bond a few seconds as Fuego was forced to alter his wing positioning.
"We really need to get going now," Ralf warned his dragon. "Your speed is your strongest asset, but it falters when you shift directions. Straightaways are your best option for the beginning here."
Mirum said nothing, but she didn't have to. Ralf knew her mind inside and out and therefore he knew she agreed with him. Mirum flew in a constant straight line for a while, continuing to build her speed.
Within a minute her speed had more than doubled. Ralf felt the euphoria that came with flying with such speed. His hair flew straight behind him and the sights blurred on either side of him. Using his senses, he was able to process things slower. They were going so fast that they had already covered a lot of ground.
Ralf knew they needed to stay well within the borders of their own kingdom. Knowing his thoughts, Mirum shifted her wings so they slowly shifted the direction. The slight change did not alter their speed much.
However, Ralf could sense Queen Ariana and Fuego behind them, about to cut them off at an angle.
"They're about to cut us off!" he warned quickly. Ralf wasn't sure what they could do to fix it other than stop completely.
Mirum's head turned to get a better glance at her father's angle. In two seconds Fuego will have reached them, knowing they can go no further to the right or they will be in danger of the borderline.
Without hesitation, Mirum completely spread her wings open and shifted the angle of her body, forcing them to a halt. She allowed her body to free-fall for a moment and Ralf felt his stomach drop.
Before they hit the ground, Mirum opened her wings back up and with a gust of wind, they were flying once again. They had successfully avoided getting caught by Fuego, but now they had a new problem.
Mirum needed to gain her speed again and she needed to do it now. Fuego already had the momentum with him.
"Go, go, go!" Ralf shouted. He lowered his body and ducked his head, reducing any resistance on his part.
Ralf could feel the wings of Fuego right behind them. It was too close, but Mirum was able to miraculously build enough speed to evade the reach of her father.
"Whoo!" Ralf revelled in the small victory. Though they had escaped Fuego for now, they still had a lot longer to go. They had to keep flying until King Alan called them down or until Fuego had caught Mirum.
"I think we need to avoid continuing with straight paths for now," Mirum said.
"You think he'll be able to block us off?"
"We're too predictable. Speed worked before, but if we continue going straight, we'll be an easy target during a real war."
"Agreed," Ralf said. "Do what you have to do."
Ralf completely trusted his dragon. Even as they were headed straight towards the main part of the castle. It looked like they were literally targeting the castle in a suicide mission. Admittedly, Ralf momentarily questioned his dragon's thinking. He knew her well enough to know she was shaky with tight turns. But here she was, heading straight towards the castle with no intentions of altering her path.
"Mirum," Ralf drew out the length of her name, gritting his teeth as he braced for impact.
At the last second, Mirum angled her body and wings to take an incredibly sharp left turn. They were so close to the castle walls that Ralf could see the shocked expressions of the people inside.
Their risk had paid off. Fuego had not been confident enough to follow them straight on. He lagged behind now, but was picking up speed.
Mirum continued to test different turns and angles, evading Fuego with something other than speed. She was tactical and Ralf was impressed with his dragon's flying abilities.
However, after another half hour, Ralf could tell his dragon's strength was fading. He felt her pulling on him for strength. How much longer did they have to go? Ralf wasn't sure he could continue as Mirum pulled on him for energy.
Mirum was unaccustomed to taking such sharp turns all the time to evade another dragon. Her energy was being consumed quickly by the effort it took to continuously evade her father.
"I don't know how much longer I can go." Mirum admitted, her voice sounding tired.
"You're doing amazing, Mirum! Don't give up just yet. Remember, imagine our lives depend on it."
Ralf wrestled to find an idea of his own. Then, something suddenly popped into his mind. "I've got an idea."
"Great, I'm open for anything at this point."
"You're going to need all of your energy, but I think this might work."
Ralf could feel the pressure building as he sensed Fuego and Ariana right behind them. Given another minute Fuego would be able to reach out and grab Mirum.
"Go up Mirum, go up!"
"What?"
"Now! As high as you can, go up!"
Ralf could sense Mirum was doubtful, but she trusted her rider. Instantly she shot herself straight up into the air, flying as high as she could.
It took a second for Fuego to adjust himself to follow suit. He was mimicking them as they flew as high as they could in the air. Fuego was just beneath them and Ralf willed Mirum to fly higher.
He encouraged her to draw upon his own energy so she could go higher and higher. They had gone well above the clouds now and were so high that the altitude was effecting Ralf's state of consciousness.
"I don't think I can go any higher!" Mirum's voice sounded panicked for once.
"Just ten more seconds, Mirum! I'm sure we can do this!"
Five agonizing seconds went by and Ralf felt his energy being drained quickly. His eyes were heavy and he had to force them open. If he allowed himself to slip under, he could end up killing them both. They were at a dangerously high altitude and there was no way they would survive the fall from this height.
"Ralf!" Mirum warned.
"Eight...nine..." Ralf counted. He could sense that Fuego and Ariana had given up below them and gone to the safety of the ground. "Ten!" he shouted quickly.
Mirum's wings immediately stopped beating. The angle of her body fell away and they began falling too quickly and too unsteadily. The change in angle threw Ralf off of his saddle and he fought to stay on.
"Mirum!" He shouted, desparate for her to stay conscious. He could feel her slipping. "Wake up!"
There was no response.
Ralf's heart was was sure to burst it was beating so fast. Sweat beaded on his forehead. They were dropping so quickly. Within five seconds they would hit the ground.
"Mirum! Please! Take my energy, do something, WAKE UP!"
Ralf urged himself to submit to her will. He gave up his energy, hoping she would take it. His eyes closed and his mind went blank. He was vaguely aware of her stirring beneath him.
He heard the loud sound of Mirum's wings opening against the momentum of gravity.
Then he lost consciousness.
~~~~
He awoke on the ground. His eyes opened slowly. His ears were ringing and the pain in his head was unbearable.
"Congratulations," King Alan said, kneeling down to his son's side. "You didn't die."
Ralf looked up at his father and gave the kookiest grin he could produce. At first his father looked worried, as if he feared his son's mental state of being had been compromised by the fall.
After a moment, the strange grin on his son's face was too strange to resist. King Alan produced the first smile Ralf had seen in a long time. Ralf smiled back before he once again faded out of consciousness.