DragonRider by S. Rodman
main kitchen, slowly chopping my way through a mountain of potatoes when the siren sounds. I shouldn’t be so relieved, but I am. I quickly put down my knife and wipe my hands off on a cloth. Seems I prefer battle over chores. There is something seriously wrong with my self-preservation instincts.
“Are you sure you are going to be able to ride?” says Natasha with a wink.
I stick my tongue out at her and head off to the kit room. She’s not wrong. It’s been two days since the full moon and I’m still a bit dubious about sitting in the saddle. Not that anyone else needs to know about that. They all know far too much as it is. Everyone’s dragons knew about Ri going into heat and Zh and Je tag teaming all night, so the riders all guessed what happened to me. And then of course they just had to tell the non-riders.
There is no privacy in a castle full of riders, none at all. But I guess it is a small price to pay for all the upsides.
The kit room is bustling but everyone makes room for me to reach my riding leathers. It feels like parting the sea. Except, the only power here is their belief in me. I could treat it as another perk, but I’m not that stupid. With great power comes great responsibility and all that.
I don’t want to be the chosen one. I’m too selfish. I’ve seen how hard Cai works and any chosen one would have to work even harder. I’m not a natural leader. I like being told what to do, and not just in the bedroom. Orders are comforting. Responsibility is awful.
Chosen ones also get a ton of enemies and often end up martyred. So, yeah, thanks but no thanks.
I hurry over to the tack room. Ri’s saddle looks extra shiny. Did someone polish my saddle for me? Holy fuck. This is already getting out of hand. But I haven’t got time to deal with it now. I grab my super nice smelling saddle and jog over to Ri.
“Are you sure you want to fight?”I ask him.
He huffs as he lowers his belly to the ground so that I can place the saddle on his back.
“If I am carrying, I’m carrying eggs. I’m not injured or dead.”
“Fair enough,”
I quickly put the saddle on him and he stands up so I can run the girth under his belly. I thread it through the buckle and test the tightness. It feels good to me.
“Is it too tight?” I ask.
“Kirby!” snaps Ri. I’ve never heard him sound so grumpy. “My belly will not get big like a human’s and even if it were, it’s far too early. Stop fussing! You are worse than Je and Zh.”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. It’s awful being nagged, I know. I’ll try my best to stop.”
Ri rumbles vocally. A low sound that can only just be heard by human ears. He is slightly appeased and is going to think about forgiving me.
I smile and swing myself up onto his back. I wince as I sit but it’s more from anticipation than actual discomfort. The reality is bearable. Possibly because of excitement and adrenaline. But, hey it works.
Ri gives a little shake. His eagerness to fight and fly flows through me, inciting my own keenness. I feel positively feral and bloodthirsty.
“Good!” growls Ri.
Cai and Harlen are just finishing with their saddles, so I fiddle with my gloves, goggles and mask. Anything to stop me watching them swing up onto their dragons. I’m learning. Ri chuckles at me and I grin.
Cai gives the signal and as one the flight moves forward. The drop passes swiftly and then we are soaring. Free in the sky. The wind blows away all my troubles until only this moment and the impending fight remains.
Ri stills his dark wings, spreads them wide, tilts sharply to the left and glides into formation with the other dragons. I’m no longer Kirby or even Kirby and Ri. I am a flight of dragons. A tribe of war. Gliding through the night sky on the way to protect Earth while everyone sleeps in their beds, ignorant and happy far below.
An arc of eldritch green Aurora Borealis lights up the night just in front of us. We are nearly there. Excitement is thrumming through my veins. My magic is humming within me in anticipation.
I see a portal start to open. The patrol riders are closer and they are coping well. Cai hasn’t given the command to break formation and join the fray, but I want this portal. No one else has seen the shimmer of its approach. I urge Ri towards it.
Seconds later Cai gives the command. Shame flashes through me briefly. He is the flight commander. He knows what he is doing. He deserves my respect, I shouldn’t have broken rank. But as Ri swoops closer to the now visible portal, everything else falls away. There is nothing in my soul apart from magic and dragon wings and the pursuit of my prey.
Once again time falls away. The fight is the only thing that exists. This moment could have lasted seconds or millennia. It doesn’t matter. Not letting any tylwyth reach Earth is the only thing that does.
Ri banks sharply to the left and suddenly I’m falling. The night sky is screaming past my ears. I stare in astonishment at the saddle falling through the sky, its long frayed girth whipping in the empty air.
Tonight is the night I die? That’s unexpected. My stomach cramps cold and distant. My body is scared but my mind is blank.
Ri hurtles past me in a torrent of air and night. Then I’m slamming onto his back, so hard it knocks every breath I’ve ever had out of me. Pain lances through me. I’m weak and dizzy and sliding off. My stunned body scrabbles at his smooth scales but can’t find purchase and then I’m falling again. Ri roars and chases after me. He can’t grab me with either teeth or claws, both are far too sharp and riding leathers far too tight. Our leathers really should have long flowing straps attached to them, for occasions like this. If they were colourful ribbons, they’d look pretty fluttering in the wind.
I picture Cai glaring and formidable with bright multicoloured ribbons festooned over his riding leathers and I want to laugh, but I can’t get any air into my lungs, it’s all rushing past me far too fast.
The air turns damp with brine. Hitting the sea is not going to save me. We were so very high up in the sky. I’ve fallen so far and so fast, the waves are going to smash me to pieces. At least it will be quick.
A parachute would be better instead of ribbons, some part of my mind informs me. I have to agree with it. I try telling Ri to tell Cai to make parachutes part of the uniform, but I don’t know if he has heard me.
A golden light surrounds me. I’m glowing. Am I dead already? Did I miss the moment of impact? No, I’m still falling, but slower than I was. I stare at the gold surrounding me. It’s magic. Someone’s magic is slowing my fall. What the hell? Telekinesis is mind bogglingly hard. It takes an insane amount of magic. And that’s just to move a simple object. Magically fighting gravity over something the size of a human body? I’d say it was impossible if I wasn’t seeing it with my own eyes, feeling it with my own body. I can breathe now and the weight of the air is no longer bending my body. The golden magic caresses me, cocoons me. My scattered mind belatedly recognises the feel of it. It’s Cai. Cai’s essence is all around me, holding me, protecting me, saving me.
Ri swoops under me, and this time when I hit his back it is nowhere near so hard. I can grab his spiny neck ridges and hold on. I’ve been saved. Ri gives an almighty thrust of his wings and the tips skim the waves, splashing cold sea water on me. That was close, so very close.
It hurts to breathe, I think I have broken ribs. I’m trembling all over but I’m alive.
Zh swoops just above Ri, so close that I can touch her golden scales. Harlen leans down and pulls me up. He sits me in front of him and wraps his arms around me. This is a good idea. Fainting and falling off again would be terrible.
Suddenly, Zh banks so hard to the right that we are vertical. I grab onto the saddle horn and swear. What the fuck? Are they trying to kill me now? I look up, we are under Je, and Cai is falling, his body limp and loose. He falls right into Harlen’s arms and my lap.
Straps, we definitely need straps. Straps to tie us to our saddles and straps for dragons to catch when our saddles break. Why has no one ever thought of this before?
Cai looks far too pale. Using that much magic cannot have been good. He looks almost lifeless. Harlen has a good hold of him but I wrap my arms around him too, just in case. If I faint too, I don’t know how Harlen will hold both of us. But I know he will.
I look down at Cai’s too lifeless face again. He is insanely beautiful to a whole other level when he is not scowling or smirking. Though I’d do anything to see either again. He also looks far younger. Too young to have to deal with all the shit that comes with being flight commander, it’s not fair.
“Are you well, Kirby?”
“I will be once we get home and Cai wakes up,” I assure him.
And I get someone to heal my ribs. But Ri can probably feel that for himself, there is no need to put it into words.
A wave of tremendous sadness engulfs me. I feel like I’m drowning in it. Then it vanishes. Like a shadow when the light is switched on. I blink. Ri has thrown down some serious mental wards. What is going on? Why is he so sad? I look down at Cai’s limp body. He is definitely alive. But does Ri know something? I try to swallow but my throat is too tight.
This isn’t good at all.