The League of Dragon Riders

Bizarre

It takes a week to find a suitable cave for four dragons and four people but even then we don’t settle on the first one we find. We need to stay within the western part of the kingdom, or so Erin tells us. I don’t think the other two know why exactly but they don’t question him. In fact, they’ve never questioned him while I’ve been there. 

“Well, it’ll do,” Fergus says as we talk deeper into the cave. It’s dark outside when we finally decided on this one. I don’t know how Erin came to a decision before we even entered the rocky chamber. I watch as Erin and Fergus set up a few torches but we never travel too deeply into the cave. We just go deep enough to not be noticed from the outside. 

Due to my annoying curiosity, I move to explore every aspect of the dark space but Erin holds me back. I glance back at him with a raised eyebrow and yank my arm from his grasp. He narrows his eyes for a moment before looking into the darkness. I look with him but I can’t find what he sees. I glance back over at him, wondering if I’m missing anything. What could he possibly see in the darkness? 

The image of the man with the spiked teeth pops in my head. I frown as I take a step away from Erin. I had forgotten about him. It seems like so long ago when I first saw the three of them. Who is that guy and why am I scared to ask Erin about him? I shake the thought out of my head and turn toward Erin when he places a hand on my shoulder. 

“Do not go any further into the earth than you have to,” he warns me, “for it’ll swallow you whole without warning.”

I pull my arm away from as I move to unpack my bedroll but find it already taken care of. I smile at Maxwell’s sleeping form before crawling into mine. I don’t sleep, however. I simply let my eyes travel over the uneven stone that surrounded us. I glance over and find Fergus snoring softly in time with Maxwell. 

“Men,” I chuckle and shake my head at the two of them sleeping. 

“I don’t think being a man has anything to do with it,” I turn toward Erin who holds a large book in his hands. He sits near one of the torches as he flips through it. He can’t be reading it. He must be searching for something. 

“What are you reading?” I ask him as I untangle myself from my sleeping roll. I push myself to my feet before walking over to him. I know I’m not going to be falling asleep when something begged for my attention. The book cover looks strange. It isn’t made from the normal thin leather that I’m used to. It seems sturdier and far more expensive than any book I’ve had. 

“Nothing you’d be interested in, I assure you,” he says, “there is a lot of history here about the past dragon riders but I can’t read the language.”

“And here I thought you weren’t the scholarly type,” I tell him as I sit down next to him. The language is familiar to me but I don’t know how to decipher it. I frown as I take the book away from him and flip through the pages, “this is the language of the northern traders. You might be able to get them to decipher it.” 

“Really?” He asks, sounding shocked that I recognized it.

“They come to my village every year,” I shrug in response as I hand the book back to him, “I’ve seen their writing plenty of times. It shouldn’t take you long to get there with a dragon.”

“I...well,” he smiles as he looks at me. I lean away slightly as I turn away from his intense gaze. He doesn’t seem to be looking at me. He seems to be looking through me, “thank you. Perhaps that shall be a trip for us all to make. We do have to go to the mountains at some point.”

“For what?” I ask him as I glance back over at him. I let out a small sigh in relief when I found him looking away from me. 

“Your initiation as a true dragon leader,” he says with a grin, “it’ll be fun, I promise.” 

“Cool,” I say as I push myself to my feet, “I think I’m going to call it a night. You should probably sleep too.”

“Someone needs to watch over you,” he whispers and I turn back to look at him. 

“Over me?”

“The camp,” he says, gesturing over the sleeping men, “someone needs to keep an eye on the camp.”

“You said me,” I point out as I fold my arms. He tilts his head as if he’s confused. 

“I think you heard me wrong, Alaina,” he says, chuckling softly as he looks back at the book, “perhaps you do need to get some sleep.”

I glare at him as I crawl into my bedroll. I roll away so I’m not facing Erin as he continues to flip through the book. Erin is creepy. I like Maxwell and I enjoy my time with Fergus but Erin just gives me a bad feeling. There was something about him that made it hard for me to relax in his presence. I don’t know if it’s his intensity or other sense telling me to back off. I do know, though, that I never want to be alone with that man. 

It is times like these where I wish I was back at the village, doing everything Madam Carmen wanted me to. If I could go back, I’d be so much more content. Now that I know what a mess life can be, I would be content to fix the stairs and feed the pigs for the rest of my life. Or perhaps I’d take over the inn from my aunt and convince her to take a long vacation. There is no use thinking in what-ifs. It just makes it harder to accept the fact that my old life is gone. The problem is that I don’t know what my life is becoming. Do I want this life of danger and dragons? 

That brings up another question entirely. What do I want out of life? What is there for me to do with my life now that it has forever changed? 

I sigh as I close my eyes and attempt to clear my head. It used to be so easy to fall asleep. I never used to dream. Now, every time I close my eyes I see the red dragon either laying waste to my village or burning me alive. Both are unpleasant and both make it hard to fall safely asleep...

I open my eyes and look around wildly for a moment before remembering where I am. I sit upon my sleeping mat and rub the sleep out of my eyes before looking over at Erin, who is still hunched over that thick book. Both Maxwell and Fergus are gone and I sigh as I push myself to my feet.

  “How long did I sleep?” I ask him as I hold back a yawn, my voice echoing off the cave walls. I frown as I look around it before raising my eyebrows at him.

“Long enough, Princess,” Erin says without looking up. His voice sounds off but familiar somehow. 

“Excuse me?” I ask him and fold my arms over my chest. He looks up but he isn’t Erin. He’s...my dad. Or, at least, he has my father’s face but it isn’t how I remember it. His face is pale and the skin seems to be rotting. His once-bright eyes are now dead and cold and that sight alone is enough to bring me to tears.

“Papa?” I stumble forward but I stop myself. That can’t be my dad. I must be dreaming. I close my eyes and slowly beg myself to wake up. This dream is too weird. I’ve never dreamed of my dad. Why am I dreaming of him now?

“You can’t trust these people, Princess. He’s a bad man,” my dad says and gestures to the body he’s in. It takes me a moment to realize he's talking about Erin. 

“What?”

“He’s bad, Alaina. The rumors are all true, at least for him. He’ll kill you just like he killed hundreds of others.”

“No, he saved me,” I defend him and shake my head at my words. Erin himself hasn’t done much for me. Maxwell has done most of the saving. Erin...what has he done? What has Erin done to inspire my loyalty? 

“Saved you from what? The dragon they brought onto you and your village? Why don’t you ask Erin what really brought the beast there?” my father spits as he sits back against the wall. He watches me for a moment as I sputter out and try to come up with something-anything- to say. 

“He wouldn’t,” I say lamely as I back away from him. I can’t, however, say that I fully believe my words. Erin, unlike the other two, acts differently. He’s not open about everything he does. He doesn’t like being questioned. There are those few times I catch him staring at me like those drunken widows used to at the village. He is hiding something from all of us, that much I am certain of. 

“He would and he did. Remember, Princess, things aren’t always as they seem.”

I open my eyes and bolt upward, looking around wildly for my dad’s face. Luckily, Erin sits against the wall with his matching face. I sigh as I run a hand through my sweaty hair. He glances up at me as he sets the book off to the side before regarding me with a concerned look in his eyes.

“Alaina? Are you okay?” he asks as he stands and takes a step toward me. 

“I’m fine,” I mutter as I stumble to my feet. 

“Want to talk about it?” he asks as I turn to walk toward the entrance of the cave.

“No,” I tell him without looking back, “I just need to move.”

He doesn’t reply as I leave him alone. The stars in the night sky are hidden from me by thick storm clouds. I sigh as I step out of the cave and onto the hillside. I look down into the thick trees and consider making a run for it. I jump as something touches my hand and I smile as I pat Jordan’s head.

“You’d come with me, right?” I whisper as I glance into the darkness of the cave. Jordan tilts his head and I let out a sigh. I can’t leave. I barely know how to fly Jordan. Maybe I’ll stay just long enough for them to teach me. They can’t keep me here. 

Where would I even go? The village doesn’t want me. I can’t find Potts. I have nowhere left in this world except for these three and Jordan. Besides, I tell myself, it was just a dream. You’re freaking yourself out.