Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga)
Read Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga) Online
Authors: S.P. Platt
DRAGON RIDER
Book one of the
DRAGONMAGE SAGA
By STEPHEN PLATT
Copyright 2012 Stephen Platt
All rights reserved
First
Battle With The Creatures
The Fight Is
Only Just Beginning
(Poised in readiness, their backs
to each other,) Angel and his two friends stood very still, eyes locked onto
the young, but dangerous dragons surrounding them. They had been like this now
for about fifteen minutes, eyeing the dragons, just waiting for the move that
would set them in motion.
Pol-oram was keeping his eye on
the red dragon, the biggest of the six. Voice low, ‘He’s the one to watch, I
can see him tensing; it won’t be long now.’
Angel shook his head, and spoke
louder than he intended. ‘No, it’s the little white one, see how his eyes are
looking straight at us and the muscle movement in the back legs. See the others
are watching him. When he moves, they’ll follow, won’t be long now.’
The three boys where surrounded
by six young dragons that were just about as tall as they were. There were two
reds, one being bigger than the other, along with a white, smallest off them
and if Angel was right, leader, there were two greens and a yellow as well.
The dragons were as tall as the
three boys, heads the size of young horses, eyes fiery, small, horn-like spikes
protruding. Saliva dripped from their needle teeth. Bony, interlocking plates
covered their bodies. Their legs were short but powerful, with four razor-sharp
nails. Their tails were effective weapons, long as their bodies and with a 360
degrees swing.
Their spread wings were four feet
on each side, filling the cavern, so there was no way out for the boys. They
were going to have to fight and the boys knew this. With that in mind, they
would start the fight. This would give them the advantage of surprise. Each had
worked out which of the dragons, they would take on. Angel would take on the
white and the smaller red, with the bigger of his friends Pol-oram taking the
big red along with a green. That left the other two to his other friend,
Tas-shy.
Angel, seeing they were close to
moving yelled, ‘Now.’ Screaming, they ran at the dragons. With both arms out
stretched he ploughed into the dragons, grabbing them by the necks and twisting
down and pulling their heads together, so the dragons could not try and use
their wings. If able to, they would have been knocked off their feet and it
would all be over.
Angel pushed down with all his
strength, screaming his lungs out, the young dragons, hit the ground hard,
Angel still holding the dragons, he was not willing to give them a chance.
Rolling around and not being
careful Angel tightened his grip while all the time the dragons snarled and
growled with their faces close to Angel’s. But he was determined he would not
let them have a chance to get free. They snarled and screamed, nipping at Angel
but not quite able to get him.
His friends had done the same,
having planned, what they were going to do, they were not going to get beaten
again. They had been doing this each morning for the last week and now they
were more determined than ever, they would win this round.
The red was almost out from under
his arm as rolling over the floor had allowed the red to almost wriggle free.
He was not about to let it get that last little bit. He yelled to the others.
‘Roll them together, we’ll bunch them up, that way they’re not going to be able
to break free.’
The boys were young but strong,
as they worked hard at the jobs they did around the hatchery. They could handle
young dragons being the same size as them. The young dragons were ungainly, for
they were just getting use to their wings.
Pol and Tas, started moving and
wriggling and working their dragons over to Angel and this was not easy, as the
dragons weighted a good 200 lb. They were only twelve years old, but strong for
their age. Having played with young dragons since they were five, it was the
first thing they did when coming to the hatchery every day, just play with them
for an hour before starting on their jobs.
They finally got them all into a
group pressing them tight together so they could not move, then all of a
sudden, they just relaxed. Angel, Pol and Tas knew, they had won and bellowed
it out loud. ‘Wha hooooo.’ Their joy at finally beating the little dragons was
being heard all over the hatchery.
The little dragons were now up
and dancing around with the boys who were jumping up and down. Suddenly Angel
just stood there looking around, a blank expression on his face. Pol-oram saw
this and came over to him, ‘Angel, what’s wrong you look lost?’ Waving his hand
in Angels face and trying to get him to respond.
Then finely, Angel looked at him.
‘Ah no fine, I’m alright just felt a little funny, but I’m fine now must have
been all the rough play.’ There was a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
Angel was just like any other
normal boy who loved to play with his friends. He was born into a Dragon Rider
family with two older brothers who had a different father. He knew nothing
about his father his mother has never told him or anybody else who he was.
This never bothered him as his
mother and brothers loved him and he was happy with that. He has looked forward
to the day he would have his own dragon. His mother is the greatest Dragon
Rider around, as she has the only Black Dragon and they being the most powerful
of all dragons.
His hair was different to the
rest of the family being just black, where his mothers and brothers all have
white streaks down the middle. He had a slim but solid build and this showed in
the play fighting with the young dragons. He had blue eyes, where his mother
and brothers had green, this did not worry him, they were his family and he
loved them.
Shaking off the feelings, he
carried on celebrating with his friends. The young dragons had moved off, away
from the boys. Still the boys were dancing around yelling, when one of the
hatchery attendants yelled, it was time for them to get about their jobs. As
they headed away they gave the little dragons a tickle and hug.
Angel found the young dragons
were a bit stand offish with him, for as he went to give a hug the dragon
pulled away from him but not his friends. His friends didn’t see this. As Angel
was passing one of the dragons, it tried to nip him and he just looked at it.
They had never done this before, he carried on out of the cave, leaving the
young dragons to play and rest, heading to the egg chamber where their jobs
awaited them.
The egg chamber was a large
cavern with volcanic vents all over the floor. These vents had been built up
over the years with mud into the shape of a cone. Then placed on top of the
cone is some firecrystal. Firecrystal is a rock fibre about as long as a
finger, these are collected by the boys from the caves close by and placed on
the cones for the eggs to rest on.
The Fire crystal is found in
caves in thermal areas, this holds the heat at an even temperature, keeping the
eggs safe. The eggs are placed on there side on top of the fire cones as they
are called. The boys had to go around and turn the eggs so they do not sit on
the one side all the time. The boys come in every morning turning them, then
again in the afternoon.
There were fifteen eggs in the
egg chamber at the moment. After they turned the eggs in the morning and
replaced some of the Firecrystal, as the eggs do tend to flatten it. Angels
mind was not fully on doing this as he was still thinking of the young dragon
trying to nip him.
Pol-Orm was nearby and could see
he was looking distracted and came over. ‘What’s wrong you look as if you’re a
long way away?’
Angel turned around and looked at
the cave where they had just come from and then looked at his friend. ‘I was
just thinking about the young dragon that took a nip at me on the way out,
they’ve never done that before, it’s strange.’
‘They just got carried away, after
all we beat them for the first time and they will have been just as excited as
we were about it. Come on, we’re nearly finished here and can go play till its
time for lessons.’
Angel gave one final look at the
cave and turned to his friend, ‘Ok, what’s on today in lessons, are we with the
adult dragons today or not. I got the feeling it might be cleaning day?’
Pol-Orm looked at him and his
eyes just turned up ‘I hope not but then when was the last time we had to clean
the Dragon Riders harnesses.’
Their friend Tas-Shy came up
behind them. ‘We haven’t done that in days and today I think is going to be the
day, come on or we’ll be late and get the extra dirty harnesses.’
They headed off out of the egg
chamber to their classes yelling and playing around. Arriving at the class they
see they had come last and it’s cleaning day. The young Dragon Riders take
classes at the hatchery and in their lessons must learn how to look after the
harnesses that go on the dragons. These are for the riders to hold onto and to
keep their dragon lances safe while flying.
Their day is broken into four
parts, first was working in the egg chamber. Then they have two sessions of
lessons one before the midday meal and one after and the last part of the day
is back to the egg chamber turning the eggs again. When they arrive in the
mornings they always play with the young dragons. This is necessary so the
young dragons get use to humans and the interaction with them.
They were glad to get that first
session over with, for cleaning the harnesses is a hard job. They get to the
lunch hall where they eat with the Dragon Riders. Angel and his friends look
around for a place when his friend saw Angel’s mum sitting at a table, so head
off in that direction.
Angels mum has a black dragon,
the only black dragon, which is unusual as blacks have always gone to a male
rider, for they are the strongest and the black dragons are the most powerful.
Then there were the whites, when there are no black dragons the whites tended
to be the dominant of the colour. Leaving the reds, greens and gold’s as well
as the blues. The latter four colours always bowed to the whites, unless there
was a black.
When it came for the choosing of
the dragons, when she was a child, that black and her had formed a bond. She had
been doing what Angel and his friends do play with the young dragons and help
look after them. There was another young man who wanted the black and every one
thought it would be him, for he was very good in his class along with Angels
mother Tish. When all were in the great hall for the choosing, Tish and the
black went to each other.
This had never been heard off;
even the whites had male riders, leaving the other colours to women riders. So
for Tish to take the black, this had everyone in the hall that day in shock
even Tish's parents. When everyone had settled down to watch the rest get their
dragons, they could see the black and Tish were meant to be together for she
had the blacks head down on the floor and was scratching behind its ear.