The League of Dragon Riders

Jordan the Dragon

Even though it is still in the middle of the night, we can’t stay here. They found us and, even though I’m not entirely sure who ‘they’ are, we need to move fast before the red dragon makes its way back around. We were able to scramble up most of the supplies from the cave before taking off in search of a new place to call home.

Isn’t that weird? I no longer have a place I can call home. Do these guys even remember a time they had a home? Did they ever have a home? I shake the thought out of my head as I watch the night sky pass by us. That is a worry for another day. I’m still not fully set on the whole ‘leader’ idea. I’m not a leader. I don’t have the personality for it. I’ve spent my life getting told what to do and following orders. How can they expect me to suddenly switch and start giving the orders?  

“How far are we going?” I ask Maxwell, forcing my attention to something I can actually handle right now. I’m still riding Midnight with Jordan trailing close behind. We have to train him first before I can attempt to ride him. I glance back at him with a smile before turning my attention back to Maxwell. 

“As far as it takes,” Erin answers for him and the rest of the ride turns to silence. There was a strange finality to his words. It almost seems like he meant that for something else and not for our search of a resting place. I watch him for a moment before sighing. I still haven’t been able to figure that man out.

“They are so close,” I whisper with a wistful smile as  I lean against Maxwell and watch the dark sky as we fly, completely in awe at the amount of stars that interrupted the darkness. I feel like I can reach out and touch them like I touch the clouds. 

“The stars?” Maxwell asks, tilting his head toward me as we soar forward. He’s smiling and watching me as I watch them. 

“Yeah,” I answer, sharing a smile with him before silence overcomes us. I sigh and sit back, leaning back only to look above me. The night sky is so much bigger than I had previously thought. The world is bigger than I had previously thought. The forest seems to stretch on forever but there is so much more hidden in them than I could have imagined. I can see the mountain ranges to the East with more clarity than ever before. The world, as familiar as it is, is brand new to me in so many ways. I wonder if this is how the traders feel when they travel to far off places only...they don’t get to do it from above like I do. 

“See that up there,” Erin points toward a hillside. There’s a small clearing on the top and he starts leading his dragon toward it, “We’ll rest there for now.” 

Fergus and I sigh in relief. Maxwell never seems to complain about riding his dragon for a long amount of time but after three hours my backside is starting to hate me. Midnight dives and I see Jordan follow after as Midnight pulls up sharpy and bounds to a landing. Jordan lands softly behind him before walking toward the edge of the clearing and plopping down. Erin and Fergus land after us without looking at my pounting dragon. 

What is up with him?

“Set up camp,” Erin orders as he climbs off his dragon, “I’m going to go scout around and make sure we’re safe.”

I watch Erin leave with furrowed eyebrows. Is he just being paranoid or should we all be constantly watching our backs? I sigh as I walk toward Jordan as the other two prepare the camp. The dragon lifts his head as I walk near and seems to sigh contently when I sit down and lean against him.Strangely enough, this feels right. I feel like I know him even though I can hardly remember meeting him for the first time. He had been so small then...now, he’s roughly the size of Midnight if not a little smaller. 

Hm...is he faster? 

“You should rest,” Maxwell says, pulling my mind away from Jordan. I look over at him and raise my eyebrow toward him. He smiles and gestures for the bed roll that he had set up for me right next to his, “we’re going to have a long day of travel ahead of us.”

“You’re right,” I say as I look into the sky. I can see the sun just starting to rise over the far mountains. I curl up into the bed roll and roll over to face Maxwell. He’s already watching me as I make myself comfortable, “why are you looking at me like that?” 

“Like what?” he asks softly. I watch his face as his dark eyebrows furrow and his thin lips twitch upward. He’s trying not to smile because he knows exactly what I’m talking about. 

“You know how,” I grumble and roll away from his bright eyes. I hear him chuckle softly behind me and I smile. My cheeks flush slightly and I inwardly scold myself. Now is not a good time for a crush. Is any time a good time for a crush? I ponder as I roll onto my back and look at the fading darkness of the sky. The sun will be up fully soon and I won’t be able to rest. I should sleep, I tell myself, but it doesn’t make a difference. Sleep isn’t coming for me now. I’ll just have to grab a nap later on as I’m sure Maxwell will as well. 

When I stand up, Maxwell is already snoring softly in his blanket. Fergus, who is sitting by the fire, raises his eyebrows at him as I stretch my body. I walk over to him and stand by the warmth of the flames before meeting his eyes. 

“Can’t sleep?” he asks while feeding more wood to the bright blames. We watch for a moment before I force myself to speak. 

“No,” I shrug and look into the trees, “I’m going to go for a walk. I won’t go too far.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Fergus says with a grin as he looks back at the flames. He seems to catch himself before looking at me with a serious look that I haven’t seen on his face before, “I’ll be back soon, though. Erin doesn’t like it when people disappear.”

I nod with a frown as I turn to head toward the trees. Something was weird about that interaction. Why had Fergus grown so serious? I walk past Jordan and smile when I hear him start to follow me. I pause and turn toward him with a tilt of my head. He sits back on his haunches and tilts his head with me. I stop the giggle from erupting from my throat as I step closer to him. 

“Dragons aren’t as scary as I thought, are they?” I whisper as I rub his head. He wags his tail as he leans my palm. I can’t help the laugh as his tail bounces off a tree that shakes dangerously in response. 

“Want to start training him?” Maxwell asks from behind me. I jump and stumble into Jordan, who growls toward the other teenager in response. Maxwell winks at the dragon before turning his attention back toward me.

“I thought you were asleep,” I tell him. I pet Jordan’s head in an attempt to calm the dragon down. Jordan looks up at me with a look like he’s trying to tell me something but I can’t quite place it. What can he possibly be trying to say. 

“I was but you aren’t exactly quiet,” he shrugs, “so, what do you say? Want to start training him?”

“If we’re not going to sleep,” I shrug as I turn toward the purple dragon. 

“Sweet,” he smiles as Midnight comes bounding up behind him. 

***

“No!” Maxwell yells as I try to steer Jordan toward him. We’ve been training for hours but it still isn’t going very well, “this way!” 

“Come on!” I yell as the dragon flies the opposite way. It pauses and sniffs around the trees for a moment before looking up into the sky. I lean back on it as I try to push my annoyance down. It isn’t his fault, I tell myself, this is new for him too.

“It’s a teenager, Maxwell,” Erin says from his dragon. Both he and Fergus had come to watch some time ago. I’m surprised Erin isn’t telling us it’s time to go yet, “you’re not going to train it like that.”

“How would you suggest I do it?” Maxwell calls out defensively, obviously offended. 

“Let Alaina do it,” Erin says as he leans back against the blue scales of his beast. I look down at Jordan and reach down and softly pat his head. He leans into my hand and I smile as I sit back.

“Come on, Jordan,” I say, rubbing his side as I gently steer him with his two little horns to the left. I can’t get over how adorable they are. He doesn’t seem to want to follow my lead at first but he does while letting out a low rubble from deep within his chest. I steer him to the right and he walks to the right. 

“Well, that worked-” I say just as Jordan jumps up and into the air. I scream as I wrap my arms around his neck. 

“Jordan!” I scream out and grab his horns. I lean forward and we begin to soar instead of gaining altitude. I look around us to see if any of the other three have come up to help me. They are little specks below. How fast did we go? 

“This is amazing,” I whisper as I rub Jordan’s neck. I’m doing it. I’m riding my dragon.

“You’re doing it!” Erin says as his dragon appears beside me. He wears a proud smile on his face as he reaches over and pats Jordan on the head. Jordan, in turn, growls at the man. Erin, however, doesn’t seem to mind.

“I am!” I yell back.

“Try to turn!”

I do as I’m told and lightly pull on Jordan’s horn. He shifts his wings slightly and we change direction. I smile proudly at Erin as he leads his dragon to fly in line with us.

“I did it!” I tell him.

“Yes,” he grins, “you did. Let’s circle back.”

“Careful, now,” Erin says as we start descending. I smile as Jordan lands softly in the clearing. Maxwell is wearing a look of shock while Fergus doesn’t look at all surprised. In fact, he has a knowing smile on his freckled face as he watches me slide off my dragon.

“You did it!” Maxwell says as he rushes forward and envelopes me in a hug. I laugh as I pat his back before stepping away from him. Fergus stepped up and patted me on the back.

“Of course she did it!” Fergus says, “she is our leader after all.”

Leader...oh yeah, I kind of forgot about that part.