Author's Note:
So here's the next chapter everyone! Norah takes her first flight with red. I plan on adding the next chapter either today when I get home from work or tomorrow since this chapter was kinda boring compared to the past three.
Here dragon kinda looks like a candy cane right? Lol. That's werew I got my inspiration for the reds colors, I was literally plotting the book while sucking on a Candy cane and was like, why the fuck not?
Hollan sat me up, a hand braced on my shoulder blades to make sure I didn't topple over again. I winced, my thumb rubbing the sternum of my sore chest. The red had pierced right through my bone, reaching into my heart and doing some weird voodoo stuff on it to make me feel her emotions. And, as I tugged at the string stretching to the red and white dragon beside me, images started flashing in my head like some kind of home movie... starring me.
I was seeing through the reds eyes. At the way Holland and his green made wary glances at her, not sure of what to do with a creature thought to be extinct since before the Darkening. At my team and their dragons huddled nearby, keeping a safe distance from her with wide eyes.
Two colors. Red and white.
My dragon.
My human. My dragon proclaimed listening into my thoughts, nudging her snout in front of my face. The warmth of her scales and her smoke infused breath was rather comforting despite the fact that she tried to kill me a few minutes ago. The stings and aches from the battle still clung to my bones, reminding me that i'm only a mere human. No a Dragon Rider.
"Are you in any pain?" Holland questioned, his voice back to it's normal steeled and cold tone, but it didn't sound exactly the same as before. There was an edge in it, probably because of the two colored dragon in front of him.
I scoffed, gulping thickly and wincing at the rawness of my throat. "Not anymore." My eyes snapped to glare at my red, demanding she give me answers.
I'm sorry, it was the only way.
"Way for what?" My voice was sharp like daggers.
To be bonded. The dragons you spend your days with bond in different ways than I do. My bonding requires much more physical contact than single colored dragons do.
"Yeah, well your bonding method really sucks." My hand went to my throat, rubbing to try and ease the razor blades that sliced away at it during my screaming session. And with that memory I remembered the tears that had sprung from my eyes like waterfalls. The palm of my other hand swiped against my cheeks, but the heat from my dragons breath had burned the weakness away. But she couldn't remove the puffiness in my eyes.
"Woah." Lydia and her dragon both breathed in fascination. "Interesting."
I forced my eyes to stay fixated on my dragon who stood as close to me as possible, basically shoving her snout in my face. I refused to glare at my teammate's curious side. But I couldn't help but be annoyed with her. None of them had to get poked with a talon, all they had to do was play twenty questions. Gods, even Easton who had a similar test to mine, just had to swing his sword at the orange dragon bovering behind him.
"Aren't two colored dragons supposed to be extinct?" Cora whispered to someone, I presume the most knowledgeable, either Easton or Holland. But my team was still too close to the forest behind Holland and his dragon to be talking to him.
"Their, uh, supposed to be." Easton responded.
"I presume your dragon is talking to you." Holland assumed.
My dragon. It felt weird calling her my dragon. I nodded.
"Can you stand up?" He asked and I nodded again. Hollands large hands grasped my arm, helping me to slowly stand onto my feet. My dragon tried to help where she could. Her rounded snout which was almost as tall as me, stayed near my stomach, ready to catch me if my legs gave out.
Once I had a firm footing on the ground, I held onto my dragons horn sitting on top of her head. It was smooth with thin groves that my nails used to going onto for grip. Holland and his dragon stepped back a few paces, giving me room to look around the cove.
The large stone mountains sides rounded at the sides of me, hiding the dragons that scurried into the caves when my red showed up. But if I squint hard enough, I could make out the darker outlines against the shadows, and even see the shean of eyes peering down at me. Strong winds pushed against my back, coming from the gap between the stones. I had made it out to be a ledge that the dragons used to fly in and out of, but never got enough time to look over it because a certain red was chasing me.
Letting my hand drop from my dragons horn, we made our way over to the group. My team and their dragons stiffened, but Easton was the first one to walk towards me. He handed me my bow and sword. "Next time, don't drop your weapon."
Red hissed at him, lowering her head and showing her pointy sharp teeth. Easton quickly retreated to stand in front of his orange, trying to make it look like he had planned to do that all along. But we both knew that he was scared.
A sense of satisfaction washed over me, but it wasn't mine. It was my dragon. Her head lifted but the murderous glare never dulled from her blood red eyes. I got the sense that she loved being the dominant one among others, judging by the way every dragon within a ten mile radius hightailed it out of here.
I glanced past Holland and at his green towering behind him. Galeru's big brown eyes watched every movement my red made, studying her warily and ready to attack if Holland gave the word. The other three dragons didn't have that same determined look and instead separated from the group when my dragon passed them.
"Alright." Our instructor began, clearing his throat. "Now today's certainly been quite... interesting. But we have to return to the academy." His eyes landed firmly on mine. "Crimson, I want you to get checked out as soon as we get back."
But she's fine. My dragon said sternly. My instructor whipped his head around, staring at the dragon with a sense of fascination and curiosity. But like the caring person he refused to show, his concern for his students shined brighter against his blue eyes.
"That may be true." His voice was just as stern as hers. "But no one has bonded with a two colored dragon before. And definitely not in the way I just saw. She gets checked out when we reach the academy."
The stubborness in my dragon rose, ready to protest further, but I stepped in. It's okay. You can follow me, there's a balcony you can lay down on and watch me.
The red huffed, blowing a puff of pine infused smoke through her nostrils. Fine.
Holland raised brow, turning to me. "Crimson?"
"She said okay." I responded, looking to him.
"So, we're just going to climb down the mountain?" Cora wondered aloud, looking to her small blue.
"No." Holland shook his head, pacing past everyone with his dragon trailing right behind him. Everyone watched quietly, making the occasional glances at me and my red. Holland's silver hair blew aggressively in the wind. He turned to us, gesturing an arm to the large gap between the stones. "We fly out of here."
Easton snorted, elbowing Cora's side like she should have known this already. "We have dragons, do you really think we'd climb down a mountain with them?"
She shrugged. "I don't know."
"Okay, now listen here." Our heads snapped to our instructor as he rounded around to his dragon's side. "Listen once and listen good because i'm only going to demonstrate this once." He began to explain how to mount our dragons, climbing up his dragons side so slow that it looked unnatural to me. He always zipped onto his dragon so fast and so gracefully. But Easton was so excited that he already mounted his orange before Holland could even begin the instructions.
"Now, as beginners." Hollands stern eyes landed on Easton who's lips pressed together in a thin line. "You will first put whatever leg you want against your dragon's front leg. Then, grip onto something like a spike or the joint where their wing meets their body. You'll pull yourself up and place your foot on the connection-joint of your dragon's wing. Once you've done that get on top of your dragon's back and sit. Go."
The two girls and I turned to our dragons. I imagined myself climbing up the reds thigh, picturing it just as gracefully like Easton and Holland had done. Of course, Easton would have already ridden on his parents dragon like mine had taught me every spell a mage could do before I was ten. But I had never even seen a dragon since before coming to the Dragon Islands, so I was undoubtedly going to fumble around and fall flat on my rear.
With a deep breath and wetting my lips, my eyes ran up her diamond scales. From the top my dragon was the color of blood, and from the bottom her scales were a cream white. My red crouched in front of me, giving me a few words of encouragement before I started to figure out where to put my leg.
My left foot tapped tentatively on my dragons forearm, trying to find a stable place to plant my foot. When I thought I found a good stop, I shifted all my weight onto my leg. The smooth rubber of my boot slipped underneath her shiny scales, forcing my weight forwards and onto the ground.
I huffed, sitting back onto my thighs and pulling out my ponytail. Easton snickered quietly, receiving a glare from both my dragon and I. My fingers pulled my long sweaty hair into a brown bun, making sure that the band was tight and wouldn't fall during the flight or the climb onto my dragon's back.
Try again. My dragon nudged my shoulder. I got back up and raised the same leg again, but this time learning from my mistake. It took a few tries to find the muscle on reds thigh, but once I did, I slowly shifted my weight onto my foot. My boots didn't slide and my arms reached for the base where her wing met her body, grabbing hold of it. I used the muscles I had developed with Holland's training, and pulled myself up like I was doing a chin up.
My head peeked over her wing, getting a good view of the small spines that stretched from her neck to the tip of her tail. The spines skipped her back, giving me a little relief in knowing that I wouldn't have to sit on the sharp spines.
I pulled my chest onto her wing-joint, and flung my feet onto her neck. The mid section of my stomach sagged a bit as I wondered how I got into this position. This looked nothing like how Holland showed. I laid horizontal, arms and feet being the only things touching my dragon, and the only thing keeping me from caving inwards and falling to the floor were my aching stomach muscles.
"Beautiful. Easton clapped his hands. "I couldn't have done it better myself."
My head snapped to him, and I forced out a sly smile which I knew would make him mad. "You wish you could look this good on your dragon."
You look ridiculous. My dragon snorted.
"Crimson, never in my life have I seen someone get onto their dragon like you." Holland sighed, sounding almost disappointed in me. But Lydia and Cora hadn't even figured out the first part of dragon mounting and kept slipping on their dragon like I had.
I smiled brightly at him. "It should be the new method of dragon mounting."
He shook his head. "No. No, it shouldn't. Now get on your dragon." With that, I threw all my weight towards my dragon and rolled onto her back. I quickly sat up and turned to face foward, schooching to sit near her neck.
So. I began, watching boredly as Lydia and Cora fell over and over again from their dragon's side. And Holland was getting a kick out of it, scoffing every time one of the girls tumbled to the floor. The closest thing I've seen to a laugh from him. I guess we gotta pick out a new name for you, right?
Right. She responded, her gaze studying everyone else with mild curiosity, while Galeru eyed her with slightly narrowed eyes. But she didn't seem to mind. In fact, she barely cared or even noticed. Any suggestions?
Agatha?
Her head jerked back like she had just been struck. Do I look like an Agatha to you?
Norah jr? I teased, sounding dead serious. But my red sensed the amusement and huffed, letting smoke dance around her nostrils. She shot down every suggestion I made and refused to help me in any sort of way with coming up with ideas for her. After all this was going to be her name and not mine, so she needed to throw a few suggestions instead of leaving my dwindling list of names to shorten.
Holland called everyone over to him once everyone had mounted their dragons ten minutes later. We got into our lineups like this was nothing more than the start of a normal training day. Galeru waddled to the ledge, his talons curling around the stones edge. We all followed suit.
"Now when you fly a dragon," Our instructor started, twisting his upper body to look back at us. "You must remember that you are not the driver. You're a passenger. You can't will your dragon to do something they don't want to do. They allow you to ride them because they choose it, remember that."
My hand curled around a single scale on my red's neck while Holland taught us the take-off technique for riding dragons. It was rather simple, squeezing your thighs against your dragon, and hold on. And when you land, raise your butt to compensate for the landing. Sounds kinda simple until you add the pounding wind against you and the wobbling of air turbulence.
"Alright." Holland's hands slapped against each other, drawing everyone's attention. "Now Galeru and I will jump off the ledge first and fly below to catch any of you who haven't learned to squeeze your thighs." His eyes landed on the scrawny girl sitting atop her blue dragon. Clearly he had already predicted who was going to lose the battle with the wind, and I hoped I didn't. "We will be flying near the bottom of the mountain to catch any stranglers."
Cora raised her hand, shrinking in her skin. "What if you don't catch us?"
"Not my problem." He sounded dead serious, making Easton smirk and glance at me. I was about to glare at him when Holland waved Cora's question off. "There's a lake below us. It'll hurt more than any crash from a dragon, but you'll be alive."
"Norah volunteers." Easton blurted, giving a sharp point to me. My jaw dropped, fingers flexing as I imagined the back of my hand striking his pretty little face. "She's the leader."
"Norah, let's go." Holland called me over, and my red huffed in both annoyance and amusement. "And Easton, since you so graciously volunteered Norah, you go next." Our instructor and his dragon were the first to dive off the cliff, leaving me and my red to follow behind.
I looked over my shoulder, back at Easton and his orange dragon. My lips spread into a sarcastic smile. The sway of my dragon's body subsided, making me turn to face forwards. My eyes shot from the blue and white horizon to the bottom of the mountain. Gulping thickly, I envisioned my heart falling, bouncing off the rocky mountain side as it fell to the lake below.
My dragon huffed, feeling the fear of falling in me. Compared to the climb up here, the ledge I had looked off of didn't even compare to this ledge. I was on the point of the mountain, staring down at the dark blue waters below. Even from up here, with the wild winds funneling through the space between the mountain side, I could tell that the waves below were calm. If I dared to lean forwards a bit and squint I could possibly make out the smooth rocks that surrounded the oval lake. Forwards from the mountain and the lake, a pine tree forest covered the planet like grass might in a park.
I'll catch you. The words flashing in my mind weren't the least bit reassuring. How was a dragon suppose to catch me? My mind wandered but not as far as Lydia might have in my situation. A dragon had long talons, she could use them to wrap around me like the way a falcon hooks a fish with its claws.
I'm very fast. My dragon added, sensing the skepticism. And judging by the confidence in her voice, and heart, I didn't doubt it.
"Let's go, Crimson, we don't got all day." Holland hollered, he and his dragon circling below. He was practically throwing me over the ledge like he had shoved everyone on my team, including me, into the dragons cove. But would he catch me if I fell, or would he back away like he had done with my fight against the red and white beast and let me fall into the water.
Nodding to myself, I quickly steadied myself by taking a deep breath. I got into the take off position Holland had described to us, and squeezed my dragons ribs as best I could. You ready? My red asked and I gave a breath of confirmation, staring straight ahead at the line where land meets sky. My fingers curled around two of the spines of her neck like one would with a horse and it's reins.
Red spread her long wings to the side, letting the wind catch blow against her scales. With a small leap, one I know she dumbed down just for me, she lowered her chest towards the lake.
A quiet yelp snuck up from my throat, as I leaned back as Red dove towards the ground. Quickly, I threw my chest against my dragon's back, trying to create as little drawback against me as possible. My thighs clenched around my red, knowing that a tiny human like me couldn't do anything to her massive size.
We fell and fell, growing closer to the ground as my heart thundered like an earth mage stomping their foot to create a rippling effect of lifted rock and soil. With my eyes squeezed shut, Red's wings caught the air beneath us and leveled out as gently as she could. The sudden thrust of her body hitting mine nearly sent me plummeting into the lake below. The pounding air dulled, and wary of the sudden change of both elevation and wind, I peeled one eye open and then the other. I sat up a bit, peering over my dragons side to see the ground within grabbing reach. But I didn't dare remove my death grip from Red's spines.
My red banked softly, looping around the lake to face Holland. She didn't angle herself nearly as much as Holland and his green always did, or like the other riders. She was doing this for me.
"Good job, Crimson. You and your dragon have successfully done their first take off. Without falling off." My instructor praised, turning his head to me.
My instructor turned away, looking back up onto the ledge that seemed to be a speck from down here. Together we watched as Easton's orange jumped off the ledge and descended gracefully to join my dragon in it's endless loop around Holland.
Easton's dragon met up with mine, clearly Easton was much more confident in his ability to fly on the back of a dragon than I was. As soon as his dragon leveled out, he sat completely upright, hands resting in his lap. "Cora's up next, sir." He shouted through the wind.
How much do you wanna bet that she'll scream or fall into the lake? My red asked as Cora's blue stepped to the edge of the mountain.
How do you guys think the academy will react to her reds arrival?