The Dragon Knight; The Secrets of the Desert

The Secrets of the Desert (Chapter 7)

Leth ---> Leaf in Estonian.

And there is a major problem with the names of the Kingdoms. It should be Rubis and not Emeraude but I don't have the time to fix that now. You have no idea the rush I am in!!!

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It wasn’t the flight to the border between Sable Sucré and Emeraude that was the problem. It was easy to find Emeraude and almost as easy to see where the border ran. While Sable Sucré was almost one big sandpit, just like the Desert it bordered, Emeraude had gotten its name from the overpowering color of its lands. The Kingdom was covered almost entirely with pines and other trees that could easily survive the cold winters they had up there. As soon as we crossed the border, the ground down below disappeared under a blanket of trees. A bit like the Elfique Forest.

The problem with our trip was that even after a day of flying over Emeraude we still didn’t see anything. Everything was covered with pines. And when I say everything that was exactly what I meant. The only reason we had been able to land at nightfall was thanks to Robin, who had used his connection with Earth to make some of the trees move to the side, creating a large enough clearing for Zjarr.

On the fourth day of our flight and the second day above Emeraude, we started to see puffs of smokes coming out of the river of green underneath us. We had seen some yesterday but not this many. Soon it became evident where the villages were. But knowing where the villages were and where the royal castle was wasn’t the same thing. Not even close.

I knew from the map I had cast a quick look at in Sablier that it had to be somewhere in the lower part of the Kingdom but still quite in the middle. We should reach it today, if we could find it. And that was a big if.

Zjarr flew at a steady pace, her thoughts turning into an incoherent mess of growls and whatever else dragons used as a language when they weren’t talking to humans or elves. Robin was sitting behind me, his arms firmly wrapped around my middle. He didn’t like flying, I could tell. So far he hadn’t complained about it; he hadn’t even mentioned he wasn’t comfortable flying. But the way his arms tightened around me whenever Zjarr took off or landed, dragon even when she just veered a bit too sharply, made it pretty obvious.

I wondered if it was so terrifying for all elves and, if so, how could they become Dragon Knights? I frowned and twisted around slightly so that I could look at Robin. His face wasn’t as white as it had been the day before when Zjarr had forgotten about the two of us on her back and had chased after some animal she had decided would be her lunch, but it didn’t have the usual lightly colored tint it usually had.

When he felt me looking, his mirror-like eyes met mine. He tried to give me a smile but it looked more like a grimace. It did bring a small smile to my own lips.

“You really don’t like flying, do you?” I shouted over the wind.

“Is it that obvious?” I heard him shout back before the wind snatched up his words and carried them away.

I nodded and gave him an apologetic smile. “Why not suggest we go by horse?”

“Because it takes much longer.”

“Don’t worry; you’ll be fine in a few hours. As soon as we find the castle.” He nodded but didn’t reply, just as Zjarr caught a good stream of air and let it take her higher into the sky. The view of the trees down below and the infinite sky above us was quite breathtaking; I just hadn’t decided yet if it was worth the cold. Maybe I should take a cape with me after I had been home.

“I wanted to ask you something.” I continued when Robin seemed to be over his scare. “If elves don’t like to fly, how can you be Dragon Knights? Are there even elf Dragon Knights?”