Air {Elements of Power 3}

Chapter 42: Roxy

The flames wouldn't hold the soldiers back indefinitely, so I had to put as much space as possible between us.

My heart and feet pounded in time to each other before I skidded to a brief halt at the mouth of the tunnel, turning sharply into the second one where I resumed my sprint.

Locks of flaming hair flew into my face and my eyes were brimming with water, but I had to keep going. I couldn't slow down now. Not for a second.

The tunnel was definitely getting brighter as I went. I no longer needed to ignite my fingertips to see my way. Perhaps I was getting closer to civilisation?

Perhaps I was getting closer to Cinaer's next trap.

My feet froze at the entrance to a giant chamber.

In the centre of it, chained to the four walls by a metal collar fastened tightly around its neck, was a monstrous drakon.

Well, at least I wasn't going to have to worry about the soldiers catching up with me. I could safely say that they were going to leave me to the drakon.

I eyed it up warily; it was easily as large as an Arcan temple. Behind it, I could see another passageway. That must be the way out-why else would Cinaer have put the drakon here? And how the flames had he smuggled one down here in the first place? What had they been doing in Kalme all this time? Preparing for war against the capital? That was how it looked, at any rate.

The drakon was coated in scales that gleamed like glittering flames; giving the impression that it had been fashioned from jewelled fire. Beautiful, but deadly, it turned its head, looking at me through coal black eyes; surveying me, judging me for danger. It exhaled, sending puffs of grey smoke from its nostrils, and I took an involuntary step back. I glanced over my shoulder, but knew that turning back was useless.

All that training in the Protector camp and they never once taught us how to deal with drakons-our Realm's most deadly predator. We were pretty much just told to avoid them; villages on the mountains had generations of practice at keeping them in check. They didn't need us.

But I had to know something about them. They were awe inspiring creatures, with wings twice the size of their body. The cavern was too small for this one though, and its wings had been bound to its side. It looked pretty mad about that, which meant it was already going to be anti-Helian.

How could I convince it that I wasn't a threat? I just wanted to pass to the other side and was quite happy leaving it alone if possible.

The drakon had turned away, spinning its body round slowly to face the other direction. Maybe I didn't need to convince it. Maybe it had already deemed me unworthy of interest...

I took a couple of steps forwards and the drakon turned back to me immediately. "Hey, pretty drakon," I said in what I hoped was a soothing voice. "You don't need to pay any attention to me. I'm just going to walk around you." Staying as close to the wall as possible, I started to edge around the cavern. The drakon's eyes followed me suspiciously, clearly unconvinced. As I took another step round, it opened its mouth and sent a torrent of flames in my direction.

If I hadn't been a Protector, I would have been toast. As it was, I was just pleasantly warmed, and as the fires died away I felt re-energised, ready to go. "Come on. Is that all you've got?" I goaded quietly, still trying to edge around the cavern. Another stream of fire followed me and when I reappeared unscathed, the drakon stamped its back feet in impatience. That didn't seem like a good sign.

The flames may not have been able to hurt me, but its talons, or its teeth, could tear me into confetti. The drakon lunged, clearly thinking along the same lines and I leapt to the right to avoid its razor sharp claws. It swiped again with the other arm, forcing me to duck and roll. A torrent of flames followed, which I dodged on instinct, despite it being unnecessary, before I had to duck another swipe from the right and dodge left when the drakon snapped its jaws perilously close to my head. I swung round, but as the drakon's eyes followed me, I found myself too close. I was directly in biting range.

Cold panic coursed through my body. There was nowhere to escape to and the drakon was impervious to my best weapon. It wasn't as though I could just kick it.

I did have one last power though. I had no idea if it would even work on an animal, but if Tristan could manage it, it couldn't be that hard.

"You don't want to attack me," I told the drakon, my voice honey soft. "You don't want to hurt me at all."

The coal eyes blinked, then stared at me intently. The jaws, only metres from my body, stayed still. "You want to let me pass," I continued, softly. The drakon shuffled to the side a little, making itself as small as possible, so that I could move past it without difficulty.

I smiled and headed towards the next tunnel, but as I reached the entrance, I looked back at the drakon one last time. It looked so meek, so uncomfortable. Its gaze was vacant and blank. It wasn't fair to keep it down here. Not when it was meant to fly through the open skies.

Sighing, I turned back around and approached the beautiful monster once again. Looking it in the eyes, I told it, "You're going to let me climb onto your back." My voice quaked, just a little, with the audacity of the statement, but the Control seemed to work. Tentatively, I clambered up onto the animal's back, and shimmied up to its neck until I reached the chains.

To my surprise, they had only been clicked into place-Cinaer clearly realised that the drakon wasn't capable of getting himself out, and didn't think that anyone would risk climbing aboard.

I unclipped the first chain, then the second. The drakon began to stir. "Easy does it," I said, my voice as soft as I could muster. As I unclipped the third chain, it got to its feet, moving back to the middle of the room. As the final chain was unlinked, the drakon was ready to go.

"Now," I told it, not even bothering to use a Control. "Go back to the wild! Preferably you should head straight to the mountains without snacking on any of the citizens of Halia on route!" It tried to take off at once; one second, I was 8 foot above ground, the next, my head was inches from the ceiling of the cavern. "Whoa, not quite that fast! Let me off first! Please?" The drakon didn't take any notice, it was already headed towards the tunnel I had entered through, which was just large enough for it-it must have been how they led it inside in the first place. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be stopping to let me off.

As I looked down at the ground, my stomach lurched sickeningly. I couldn't jump that far. Instead, I shimmied to the very end of the drakon's tail, then leapt for the floor as I felt the drakon begin to flick it in indignation. It clearly didn't appreciate passengers.

As I crossed back towards my own exit, the shimmering drakon was already shuffling out of the cavern. "So long!" I called back to it, grinning.

Tristan wasn't the only one who could manipulate dangerous animals, it seemed.

{Roxy is always cool under pressure. Surely there can't be any more drama to come, right? You'll have to read next week's chapter to find out. Please vote if you enjoyed seeing Roxy tame a drakon.}