DragonRider by S. Rodman
air is so fresh it’s addictive. I keep wanting to gulp it down. Breathing it in feels cleansing and exhilarating. Far below us the sea gently swells. Above us a thousand stars shine. They seem so close, I swear I could reach out and scatter them, maybe even pluck one and keep it.
I know some of the others are amused by my exuberance, but fuck them, if I ever start to take this for granted, shoot me.
Je swoops beside us. Cai’s goggles are on the top of his head and his mask is tucked under his chin. He is grinning at me. I grin back. He gets it. Out here nothing else matters. There is only sky. Sky, stars, sea and freedom. Dragons are wonderful company. I could live out here forever. A raw fish diet would be worth it.
“I like sleeping in my warm dark burrow.”
I laugh. Of course Ri wouldn’t want to fly all the time. He can be so literal sometimes.
“Of course,”I reassure him. “And I couldn’t exactly be on your back for a full moon, could I?”
Ri laughs in agreement and swoops down in a dizzying twist. We are on patrol but apparently we still get to have fun. As long as we don’t tire ourselves out and remain ready to fight.
Je and Zh give chase and I whoop with joy. Tegwyn and Dai and their dragons Si and La keep pace with us but don’t dive. They were happy to play earlier, so I don’t think they disapprove.
Ri soars back up, Zh and Je hot on his tail. This is wonderful. I know Cai and Harlen are not supposed to be on patrol at the same time. It’s too dangerous. As first and second in command, the risk of losing them both is a tactical disaster. They are bending the rules because they feel like they need to keep me safe. I don’t think they suspect Tegwyn and Dai specifically, it’s more that they don’t know who might be working for the senedd.
I feel my mood start to plummet. So I firmly steer my thoughts away from that path. They didn’t ground me, and now we are all flying together. It’s all good. Everything is great.
Everyone will come to their senses soon enough and realise that I’m not the chosen one. Sanity will resume. And life will carry on.
“I chose you. You are my chosen one.”
“Thank you Ri. That’s very sweet of you.”
A cold shiver runs down my spine, one that has nothing to do with Ri’s words. All my senses fire up to high alert. I’m sitting ramrod straight on Ri’s back and I have no idea why. Dread is coiling in my stomach. A sense of impending doom is suffocating me.
I send a mental image to Ri of the patch of sky we need to be in.
“Where are you going?” asks Cai in my earpiece.
“Portals,” I say robotically. “Portals about to open. Many, many of them.”
Cai swears. “I can’t see or sense anything.”
“We have less than five minutes,” I snap. “Sound the alarm.”
Nobody can tell when a portal is about to open. That’s not how they work. Wards and sigils can give a few moments notice if they are set correctly. If you are very attuned, you might get a few seconds or possibly a minute. But I can feel these ones coming and I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.
The others are following me now. I hear the beeping in my ear that signifies Cai has triggered the sirens. The rest of the flight will be here soon. Good, we are going to need them.
“Are you sure?” Harlen asks Cai.
“It will be a good drill, if nothing else,” says Cai.
I don’t blame them for not believing me. I wouldn’t believe me. We are supposed to fly around and be the first to respond when any of the multiple wards sent across the sky are set off. We are not supposed to sense them coming.
We are drawing up to the location I asked Ri to fly to. The ward lights up. Then a sigil wails. We are already here. Because I somehow knew.
A portal opens and then another one and another. The first one is big enough for two tylwyth to dive through. Shit. Containing all this before the rest of the flight gets here is going to be a challenge.
I send out a blast of magic and slam the first portal shut. Ri dives after the tylwyth. The fight is on. The world shrinks until all that exists is the hunt. Ri and I work seamlessly together as one. We fly close enough to the portals to close them. We fall through the sky to catch the invaders who get through. We do it over and over again.
When the rest of the flight arrive, the desperate pace slows down, but it’s still intense. There is a rhythm and flow to it though and I feel attuned to it. I’ve got this. I’m good at this. I let time drift away from me and I lose all sense of it.
Ri rises up from despatching yet another tylwyth. A faint pink glow is painted across the eastern horizon. I can’t see any more portals and there are only dragons in the sky.
“Any injuries?” asks Cai.
Like everyone else, I dutifully check myself and Ri over. There is not a scratch on either of us. Not that I can see or feel anyway. Apart from being a little out of breath and a little drained of magic. I’m none the worse for wear.
Cai gives the order to return home and the dragons swoop and bank into formation. As we fly, the sun starts peeking over the sea, turning it pink and gold.
I hear a click in my earpiece that signifies a private channel. “Are you really alright?” asks Harlen, risking Cai’s wrath to talk to me. Comms are not for idle chatter.
“I’m fine, why?”
“You closed a shit load of portals and killed an insane amount of tylwyth.”
Harlen sounds super impressed. A little awed even. I don’t think I did anything that impressive. He is being weird. All this Ddewiswyd nonsense has gone to his head.
“Still not the chosen one,” I say with gritted teeth.
Harlen chuckles. “If you say so.”
His tone very much implies that he doesn’t believe me. I look around and see other riders casting odd glances my way. Though I could just be being paranoid. It is hard to read peoples’ expressions from dragon back, they are just too far away. But they are definitely turning their heads to look at me.
A sick, uneasy feeling settles in my stomach. Cold, stark realisation strikes me and it is as startling as it is awful.
There is not much difference between being the chosen one and everyone believing that you are.
I shudder. Well shit. Now what the fuck am I supposed to do?