The next morning I woke up to the sun shining through my tent, there was a warm body pressed against my back. I smile and slowly rolled over, remembering last night.
"Good morning." I said stretching my arms and cracking my stiff neck.
The body shifted and a head popped up from under the blankets. It was Fiona, she had crawled her way into the tent through the night. Her tail was sticking out of the door and she had made a spot beside me. I rolled my eyes and patted her head, I guess it was just a dream.
"You up Liv?" Ryder's voice came from outside the tent.
"Yeah. I'm up." I yawned again this time cracking my jaw.
He poked his head in the tent and smiled at me. I blushed and started trying to fix my bed head.
"I brought breakfast." Fiona stirred at the word as my own stomach growled. He handed me a plate and crawled in on the other side of Fiona. "She snuck in after you fell asleep. It got a little stuffy so I went back to my tent." I nodded, he must have been unsure if I was upset that he left.
"She's something." I giggled, taking a bite of the meat on my plate. "What is this?" I asked, the new meat was strange but delicious.
"Goose. Alex found a flock and killed a couple." He said, taking a bite of his own. We ate in silence until we heard the rest of the group waking up.
Ryder left to pack up his tent, and I packed up my own. We were all back on the trail when the sunrise was over. I stayed at the back where I am most comfortable. In an instant Ryder was flying through the air laughing and yelling.
"Come on! It will be much faster to fly." He called down. We gave each other confused look but quickly shrugged it off and joined him in the sky.
"Someone's chipper this morning." I giggled, getting a laugh out of Ryder.
We stayed in the air until the night grew closer and the air got too cold. For dinner, Meg, our designated cook, fried up leftover goose and some vegetables.
After dinner, the group headed for their tents, I decided to do the same. I was stopped by a hand on my arm.
"Come with me." Ryder whispered in my ear from behind.
He took off towards the bush. I rolled my eyes and followed him.
"We always stop here when heading south. One night I couldn't sleep and went exploring and found this." He said holding up his torch so I could see an old tree.
"A tree? Oh look there's another one and another!" I said sarcastically.
"This is a special tree." He said, putting a wondrous emphasis on the word special. "Follow me." He started climbing, the tree was built to climb with easy. I did as he asked, placing my hands and feet exactly where he did before me.
Near the top, there was a platform, hand built from branches, the leaves were cut away so whoever is on the platform can see the sky. Ryder reached down and I grabbed his hand, gently he pulled me up onto the platform. I laid down beside him and watched the stars dance.
He looked over at me with a smirk on his face, I rolled my eyes and mouthed the word what, not wanting to break the silence.
"Look." He whispered, while pointing to a thick branch. It had our initials carved into its bark.
"When did you have time to do this?" I asked.
"I snuck away while you guys were eating." He shrugged. I smiled and wrapped him in a hug.
He pulled me closer and gave my forehead a kiss. I looked up and placed my chin on his chest. We stared at each other for a moment until he leaned in for a kiss.
"Come home with me, we get a week to ourselves when we get back, please come meet my family." He whispered almost into my mouth. All I could do was nod yes.
We stayed the night in the trees, staying close to keep warm. Ryder had taken a blanket up earlier that was just big enough for the both of us.
The sun in my eyes and kisses on my forehead woke me up. I smiled at the sight of Ryder lying beside me. He helped me down the tree and we walked hand and hand back to camp. Fiona was ecstatic to see me, she pounced me and knocked me on my back. The others were just waking up, Ryder went to start a fire and cook breakfast. Fiona helped me pack up everything and eat everything.
We all ate and fed our dragons, being back on the road before the sky turned blue. We flew most of the day, not wasting any time, we will be at the south lake before sun set if we keep going on at our current speed.
Ryder and I flew up higher to see how much farther we need to go. I spotted the lake, the sun was dancing on the water, the sight was stunning. I was about to say something to Ryder when a dragon shot straight out of the water and into the air. It was the Acquas, it's features are soft, similar to a horses face, it's legs separated at the knees to creat fins on the outside of the legs and its scale are blue and, in certain light, green.
It let out a roar causing birds to fly in every direction. We descended to the others who were all looking at us excepting something.
"Was that?" Jaycee asked. we nodded.
"It's show time!" Ryder said with a grin. "Jaycee and Liv will spread a net across the top of the lake." I pulled out the large net from a side pocket on Fiona. "With luck, when it dives back in the water it will get caught without any problems." Ryder explained.
"And if that doesn't work?" Luke, our weapons master, asked.
"We kill it Luke." Ryder said bluntly. Luke seemed happy enough with his answer. "Why don't you help me distract it." Ryder added, motioning Luke to follow him.
I tossed Jaycee an end of the net and we went to place it over the water's surface.
Once the net was in place we stood back and watched Luke and Ryder. They were shooting arrows at it from above in attempts to get it back in the water. Instead I turned and fought back, flying at Ryder and Roman. The blue blur clipped Roman's wing just enough that he wouldn't be able to support Ryder's weight. Knowing that, Ryder jumped, Luke just caught the back of Ryder's furs. Roman was able to land without any further injuries.
Luke dropped Ryder on the back of Fiona behind me and at that moment and idea came to my mind. I got Ryder's attention and gave him Fiona's rains. Quickly, I slipped a knife in my boot and a rope around my shoulder.
"Get me in close." I ordered Ryder before giving Fiona's side a light kick.
We soared up and over the Acquas. Before Ryder could stop me, I jumped, landing on the back of the monster. It roared on again and tried to throw me. I got it under control by tying the rope around its head like a bridal. The beast fought with me until I lost my grip and it dove into the water with me on its back.
We landed in the cold water and the net enclosed its self around us. The enraged dragon continued to struggle underneath me when I noticed two blue spears at the bottom of the lake. I could hear muffled voices from the surface and the net began to pull the dragon and I out of the water.
Ryder grabbed the rope tied to the creatures head and Jaycee helped me out of the net. As everyone was focused on the Acquas, I started undressing. No one noticed until I was in just my undergarment. At that point I was getting confused looks.
I shrugged it off and dove back in the water. The water was even colder on my skin, I dove straight down to where the blue orbs laid. My guess was right, they are eggs. I grabbed hold of one and pulled it up to the surface. They are heavier than they look.
"Here the reasons she's so protective of the lake." I explained.
"You are crazy Liv." One of the girls in the group said. I giggled and handed her the giant egg and went back for the second.
Jaycee was waiting for me at the surface.
"Is that it?" She asked, I nodded. "Here, you get dressed." she said taking the egg and passing me dry furs.
After I got dressed and climbed out of the tent and went to get dinner. Ryder was sitting with Roman, who's wing was bandaged up.
"Will he fly again?" I asked as I sat down.
"Yeah, but not for a while. He'll have to walk home with the cart." Ryder said. I nodded, another idea coming to me.
"You take Fiona, I'll test out the Acquas." I blurted out.
"That's my kind of crazy, but it's not safe." I gave him my best puppy eyes. "Fine. But if anything goes wrong you ride in the cart."
"Deal." We shook hands in agreement.
The next morning, instead of tacking up Fiona I went to the Acquas and put Roman's tack on it. The beast fought my every move and I had troubles putting the saddle on.
I fell behind the pace of the others, but once I was on the Acquas, I had named Grace, I soared past the others with ease, only loosing control a few times. They all stared at me with amazement and open mouthes.
"She's fast. Who wants to race?" I yelled back to the group. They all looked at each other to see who would volunteer.
"Let's do it!" Ryder and Luke spoke up.
"Okay. First to the Village boundaries wins." We nodded in agreement and lined up our dragons.
Luke on his hand caught Stella, Ryder on Fiona and me on Grace. Jaycee offered to count down for us. As soon as she said go we all took off for the village. Fiona was flying straighter and faster than I could get Grace to and won the race, I was second and Luke was last.
"You'd still get a medal in the summer Ludos." Joked Ryder.
"How much longer are they?" I asked.
"The Ludos start a week after the warm season starts so about 50 days. Why you going to enter?" Ryder answered.
"Maybe."
"You know they have to be hand caught by the rider right? You can't enter Fiona or Robur."
"Well the group said if you are okay with it I can have Grace. She would be a good racer or pass an obstacle course with ease."
"I'd love to see that. You can have her, I'm not big on the wet and slimy dragons." I giggled and gave Grace a pat in the neck.
Grace reared up and I nearly fell using her rains to keep me on.
"She needs some work though." Ryder mocked. I rolled my eyes and accepted the challenge.
Once the rest of the team caught up we were back on the road to the place I now call home, the stadium.