Dragon Fire - Book 2 [discontinued due to rewrite]

Chapter 13

Dara rode the strong currents that passed along his wings. The Earths breath was growing steadily stronger and he had to duck and swerve to avoid the gusts that threatened to steer him back the way he came.

Dear one was nestled tightly against his neck and he felt her sadness through their bond, felt her tears escape and fly away behind them, no doubt joining their fellow drops in the steadily growing clouds that darkened the sky around them.

Dara felt Dear one use his eyes to spy on the land below them. The wide open pastures and gentle hills continued, with no sign of forest or shelter except for a few sparce people caves. It became even more remote the further they flew until there were no more people caves and no more fields, just thick colourful bush, deep purples and yellow and white (Dara was very proud in his ability to name the colours he had observed Dear one profess things to be, he even knew that the people made their fields into 'squares' and made 'rows' of not food)

Among the colours the ground became craggy, covered in sharp rocks and shallow cliffs as though the rock was spearing up through the land. Seeing no people around, Dara dived closer to have a better look. Enjoying the way his shadow passed ground in the last light of the disappearing sun.

Dear one questioned whether they should land and, having nothing better to do, Dara slowed his glide then grabbed a craggy rock with his back sharps to come to an abrupt stop, flapping his wings to balance for a moment then landed on his front grounders and shook the tiredness away.

Forgetting Dear one was still on his back so she ended up chiding him from the ground where she had fallen.

The pretty colours proved to cover the heads of large scratchy bushes that grew out of the tough stony ground. The lack of shelter and the openness of the landscape meant the Earths breath blew uninterrupted here, so the bushes rippled continuously, no sound but that of rustling.

Dara amused himself by snarling at a tiny snake that hissed at him stupidly and holding his wings out to the breath, feeling it push him first one way, then another. He snorted as he was lifted almost off his grounders, Dear one sharing his amusement.

The air was warm and pleasant even as the clouds coalesced and it became darker and darker. The landscape was too beautiful to leave so Dara and Dear one stayed right up until the first patters of rain began to fall.

When they started to fall in ernest, Dear one leapt onto his back and he simply opened his wings and allowed the breath to sweep him off the ground, flapping a few times to gain height, closing his inner lid to protect his eyes from the rain.

Flapping harder and harder he felt the pull of the earth against him but roared out his will to defeat it and headed for the boiling clouds. Passing through them he felt the water steam off his shell and Dear one protested as she got soaked through but he sent her calming thoughts and felt her trust (and exasperation) in him.

And then, finally... they broke through the clouds.

The grey mass writhed beneath them but above there was nothing. Nothing except the light giver, pouring its rays across the empty sky.

Dara heard Dear one gasp then cough and splutter and Dara had to remind himself that she could not hold her breath for as long as he could.

Sighing, he dived once again and sped through the clouds as fast as he could, aware that Dear one was very uncomfortable and was relieved when the land became visible again.

Dear one pounded on his back and sent him a clear message to land, so he found a rocky outcrop and landed near it. Dear one slid from his back and that was when he noticed how cold she way. He had forgotten that she was not blessed with a hard shiny shell and so felt the cold more than he.

Incredibly sorry, he picked up her up by grabbing her sodden cover gently in his teeth and tucking her up near his side, curling around her and opening his wing to provide shelter from the rain.

Then he snuggled up and waited for her too get warm. Confident she had forgotten her sadness.

Marcie shivered uncontrollably until the rain finally ceased then she hurried, shivering, out of the shelter of Dara's wing. She grabbed some dead looking bushes and pulled them out of the shallow ground into a rough heap then waved her right hand and cast out the fire that dwelled within her at the pile. It burst into bright smoky flames and burned nicely, if not for long. Marcie added more and more bushes to it, until it rose taller than she and only then did she strip out of her wet clothes and hold them out to the heat where they steamed and slowly dried.

All in all...it had most definitely been worth the chill. To see that sky. And to know that probably no other had been witness to such beauty except for herself.

Now she was almost warm again she laughed, raising her face to the sky and laughing loudly, her voice whisked away as soon as it left her mouth and carried on the wind where it landed on the ears of a very startled man who had stepped out a nearby mine to relieve himself.

Black Pete (as the man was known) hurriedly tucked himself back in and squinted across the Moors. His imagination maybe?

Then he heard it again. It sounded like a woman laughing.

Black Pete shuddered and quickly crawled back into the mine. Preferring the dingy darkness to the unknown phantasms of the Deadlands.