Dragon Rider (DragonMage Saga) (2 page)

Tish is the leader of the dragon
riders, controlling the black gave her that power and it was the most powerful
dragon riders who carry the Wizards when necessary. To carry a wizard on a
dragon they needed the strongest rider to be able to control the dragon, as
dragons do not like wizards.

No one knew why dragons hated
wizards but they do. Wizards will not go near dragons, for to do so would upset
the dragons and also upset the wizards. Mind you for a wizard to stay around a
dragon would also be dangerous as the dragon would try to hurt the wizard.
Wizards would never think of hurting a dragon in any way and that meant staying
anywhere near one.

Tish was sitting with another
rider when Angel and his friends came to sit with them. She stopped talking to
the rider and looked at her son. ‘What have you lot been up to, you’re, looking
a mess,  I think before you three start eating anything, you had better go
clean up’

As angel just pulled the seat out
ready to sit ‘Mum we’re hungry and we’re not that dirty, we’ve just come from
cleaning the harnesses.’

She gave him a hard look, he
could see she wasn’t going to take no for an answer so headed off to get
cleaned up. As they left the hall it was starting to fill up so they hurried
off.

Getting back to the table he
could see his mother had waited for them but was by herself now. Angel sat
beside his mother. ‘Mum we beat the dragons this morning we finally beat them.’
Their faces were beaming.

‘So you beat them did you and I
suppose you got them really worked up and excited for their lessons?’ She was
trying to sound stern but they could see the smile building up.

‘Mum it was great we had them in
head locks and they couldn’t move, they just gave in.’ Angel had been busting
to tell her about it.

‘Well come on eat up you must be
starving after all that exercise and with the day only part gone, you’re going
to need all the energy you can get for the rest of the day.’ She was pushing
the food over to them as she finished.

She sat with them until it was
time for the next lesson. ‘Ok, time to go will see you later when I take you
home as your brothers will be away for the day and wont be back till late.’

They up and left, running to the
next class, they weren’t going to be late again. The afternoon class was inside
learning about dragons. After class it was back to the egg chamber turning them
and placing more firecrystal around the eggs. Now they had completed that job
they still had a little time left and ran up to the dragon hall to watch the
Dragon Riders fly in after their patrols.

Angel’s brothers would not be
back till late so they sat up in the little caves that over looked the dragon
hall. His friend had grabbed some bread for them to eat while they watched the
dragons fly into the hall. The hall was massive and allowed upward of fifty
dragons in at one time. Now a dragon’s wing span when spread would be up to 60
feet, so it gives you an idea of how big the dragon hall was.

When they got to the dragon hall,
they find a lot of their class mates there having the same idea, so they found
a place high up where they got a good look at the dragons flying in. The cavern
was massive, having a large flat level floor. Off to the sides there were
dragons of all colours standing around with their riders checking them and
making a fuss over them. This the dragons loved.

Along the walls there were caves
with steam coming from volcanic vents. This gave the area where the dragons
slept their warmth as the dragons loved the heat. The vents had been made long
ago so each cave had a vent for heating. Each cave would sleep four dragons and
there were people running around and pushing carts with firecrystal in.

Angel’s friend pointed out where
his mothers’ dragon was resting. It did not have a cave as his mother and
himself and half brothers lived in a house up in the cliffs above the dragon
hall, with caves up there for their dragons. There were a lot of riders that
did this as they had families and so they left the caves for the single riders.
The riders had sleeping quarters just off the hall.

Angel’s friend gave him a nudge
and pointed to his mother walking into the hall. ‘She must be going somewhere,
I hope she’s coming back for me later or it's going to be a nice walk.’ To get
home he has to walk up a steep path that led to the houses up above. He had done
it plenty of times but it was the thrill of riding on the back of a dragon that
was better.

He stood up yelled and waved to
her. In the noise coming from all the dragons there was no way she could hear
him, but it was as if she could feel him there as she turned her head up and
gave a wave to him. They watched her walk over to her dragon and see her
checking the harness on him. She climbed up on to his body just at the base of
his neck where there was a little saddle seat for the rider to sit.

She looked up at where Angel was
sitting and all of a sudden the black lifted into the air, slowly rising up to
where he was sitting. He could hear his mother yell. ‘I will be back for you
later don’t go far’

She gave him a wave, turned the
dragon and flew out of the dragon hall. He and his friends gave her a wave and
settled back down to watch more dragons coming in. They never tired of this and
would sit there for ages.

Much later they could see it was starting
to darken with the attendants lighting torches around the wall. His friends got
up talking about time to go. ‘We have to go before it gets too dark. The path
home is lit but we still got to be careful, see you in the morning.’ As Pol
nudged Tas into movement.

Angel getting up. ‘I had better
get down to the hall before mum gets back. What are we going to do with the
dragons in the morning now that we beat them? We’ll have to find something else
to do with them, something different.’

‘Lets think on it over night and
we’ll meet you at the dining hall.’ Tas waving as he left them.

Angel and Pol waved to each other
as they went different ways. Angel walked down to the great hall but his mind
was still on what happened as he had left the young dragons earlier.

Why did it nip at me, strange
they’ve never done anything like that before? I didn’t hurt it, we’ve played
harder and rougher why would it nip at me. My friends were in front of me and
they walked closer but it didn’t nip them, just me.

Suddenly he stopped, bumping into
someone; his mind had been on the little dragon that nipped him, he had not
been watching where he was going, and was lucky it wasn’t a wall but his
brother Rho-Marin. Stopping, he looked up and suddenly realized who it was.
‘Rho what are you doing here mum said you and Etha wouldn’t be back till late,
so she was going to take me home.’

Rho looked at him with a smile on
his face. ‘I got back earlier than I thought and decided to see what you were
up to. Want a ride home as I think mum will be late she was sent to sort out a
problem with the wizards.’

Rho-Marin was Angel’s oldest half
brother; he had another half brother Etha-Wyn. Both were dragon riders, with
Rho riding a white named Moontear and Etha riding a blue named MoonSkin. They were
ten years older than him and with their father having died in an attack by
renegade dragon riders. Angel’s father, no one knows who he was as his mother
would not tell anyone. He gets ribbed about it at times but it doesn’t worry
him.

His half brothers are really good
to him and have taken care of him when their mother is away. Angels name is
single. All Dragon Rider names are two part names but his is not. His mother
told him she liked the name Angel as she was lucky not to lose him, so she
decided his name was to be Angel. She did not adhere to the double speaking
name the dragon riders have.

So Rho asks him again. ‘Want a
ride home as I’m going there now?’

‘Well I’m not going to wait
around half the night so let’s go, race you.’ Angel was quick off the mark
being down the hall before Rho could move.

Angel was about to climb up onto
the dragon when Rho got there. His dragon was just a little jumpy while Angel
was getting on and so Rho was holding him to calm him. ‘I don’t know why he’s
playing up like this maybe it’s the long day, common let’s go home.’

He jumped up in front of Angel
and they took off. The dragon rose into the air with a quick jump, the wings
starting to flap in gentle rhythmic motions till it left the Dragon Hall. Once
outside the wings beat faster lifting it higher and quicker. Rho could still
feel Moontear was a bit jittery, giving him a pat on the side of the neck to
try settling him down. At least they didn’t have far to go.

They climbed up high above the
Dragon Hall cave where there were homes built into the mountain. These homes
had caves for the dragons that lived with their Riders. Once inside the cave
and on the ground Angel jumped down and thanked his brother and dragon and went
inside to get a meal ready.

Contents

Old Life Gone

It would take Rho a while to
settle his dragon down for the night. When alone Angel called his brothers and
mother by the first part of the name, it was their way of showing Angel they
didn’t need the double name making Angel more comfortable with his single name.
By the time Rho was in he had the meal ready and they sat down to eat.

He decided to speak to his
brother about the little dragon nipping at him and just out and asked him. ‘Rho
one of the young dragons took a nip at me this morning. I just don’t know why,
I never hurt it or anything and that’s never happened before, even to my
friends.'

Rho looking at him could see
Angel was worried. ‘Come on, it was just playing, you know they don’t nip you
young ones when playing. You just thought it did, just trying to give you a
final play nudge.’

‘No, it was a nip; I’m just not
sure I suppose I‘ll see tomorrow when we go back and play.’ Angel’s faraway
look while talking was starting to worry Rho.

‘Come on lets see what you got
for our meal as I’m hungry, and as you said wait and see what tomorrow brings.’
Rho gave him a smile and started eating.

His thoughts were still on the
events of the day. Something happened before the young one nipped at me, just
after we won the fight. I felt funny, it was as if my mind got all screwed up
and I just couldn’t think. Like nothing was around me, no noise of the young
dragons. My friends were making that much noise but for that moment I heard
nothing, saw nothing. Then just as suddenly it was all back, then the nip from
the dragon.

I feel something’s changed but
what I don’t know; maybe when mum gets home I’ll ask her. I do feel a little
different, there’s a tingling in me, not a bad tingling but it does make me
feel good now that I think of it. I hope mum will be able to tell me what
happened and what the feeling is.

He’s suddenly brought back to the
moment with a shake. Rho is staring at him talking to him. ‘Angel what’s wrong,
Angel can you hear me?’

‘What yes, yes I’m fine just
thinking of things maybe when mum gets home I’ll talk to her about what
happened today.’ He was starting to feel uncomfortable an changed the subject
‘What happened to you today, as mum told me you wouldn’t be back till late but
here you are?’ giving him a smile.

Rho could see he was changing the
subject and decided to let it drop. ‘I got things done quicker than we thought
so I could get home earlier.’

After their meal Angel decided it
was time to go to bed. His thoughts still on what happened. Tomorrow was going
to be an interesting day I just have that feeling. What ever happened to me
today I thinks going to be worse tomorrow.

Angel awoke early and decides
he’ll walk to the hatchery. Having got something to eat, he leaves a note for
his brothers, heads off. As he walked down the track past the dragon cave he
could see his brother Tas’s dragon there but not his mothers so she didn’t get
home. With his mind back on what happened he carries on.

Well I can’t talk to mum I’ll
just wait till I see her to day. It must have been important for her not to get
home; being head Dragon Rider tends to keep her away longer from home.

The path Angel took was carved
into the side of the mountain and leads down to the hatchery, passing other
homes with dragon caves. There are parts of the path that are narrow and look
down far below to the valley floor. It’s a steep climb down, but would be
easier riding on a dragon than walking. This morning he wanted to walk and take
his time. He would eat on his way down to the hatchery, before meeting his
friends and going to play with the young dragons.

Stopping at a point with an area
for passing as he sits with his feet dangling over the edge, still thinking
about what happened yesterday when he could see a dragon flying in.

A large dragon was coming in from
out at sea from where dragons don’t fly. The wizard school is that way and the
Riders won’t take their dragons anywhere near it. The dragons can feel the
magic there and don’t like it. So they will avoid going there. It must be a
strong rider to bring their dragon from that area.

The Dragon Rider was coming in
fast and doing a wide circle to bring the dragon in. Angel could now see it was
carrying a passenger and by the way the rider was fighting the dragon it must
be a wizard. He can now start to see the colour of the dragon as it was
starting get lighter with the sun coming up.

That’s mum; she must have been at
the Wizard School picking up a wizard. There’s not many Dragon Riders who are
able to carry wizards, but mums the best at it. Nightwing doesn’t like it, I
have never seen him this hard to control, she’s fighting him every part of the
way. They will be down soon so I had better get going, tell her what happened
maybe she will know I hope.