HTTYD: Dragon Girl

Chapter 9: Flying?

I manage to escape from dragon training early the next day, though I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do now. I eventually find myself in the forges where I work.

I can't get Brightwing's picture out of my mind. I keep thinking about the girl on the back of the dragon. Was Brightwing trying to tell me something? She must have been. She's far too intelligent for it to have been an accident.

And the more I think about it, the more I realize how much I want to ride Brightwing. It just seems so right, after all, and maybe she was trying to tell me that she wants it, too. But how would I do it?

The answer comes to me almost immediately, like it's been there in the back of my mind all along, just waiting for the right time to come forward. I grab my tools and some leather and get to work.

"Brightwing!" I call into the clearing. "It's me! I'm back!"

Brightwing seems to melt out of the landscape to appear in front of me, smiling in her dragon-ish way.

"Hey, girl," I greet her. "You hungry? 'Cause I brought a treat for you." I kick over my large basket of fish, and Brightwing's feast spills out.

"Pretty great, huh?" I say as Brightwing begins eating. "I got some cod, herring, there's even a whole eel right there."

Brightwing stops suddenly and skitters away from the eel, hissing.

"Oh, that's right," I say, picking up the eel and concealing it from Brightwing's view. "You don't like eel, do you? Sorry, gi--"

My head erupts in pain, and I yelp. "Gods!" Then something occurs to me, and I frown. "How did I already know you don't like eel?"

Brightwing gives me a sad, knowing look, then promptly turns back to her fish. I shrug. Oh, well.

With Brightwing distracted, I grab the saddle I finished earlier today and sneak up behind her. It's easy positioning it on her back, but much harder to connect the straps underneath her belly. After a few minutes of struggling, I climb on top of the saddle and finally get it.

"There."

I sit and admire my handiwork, not noticing Brightwing raising her wings behind me.

"What do you think, girl?" I ask. "Not too shabby, if I do say so myseWAUGH!"

I start screaming mid-word as Brightwing takes off with me in tow. I hold onto the saddle for dear life as I dangle above the ground. "Brightwing!" I gasp. "Stop!"

She doesn't listen, and I think I may be hanging here until my arms fall off. Then, suddenly, Brightwing starts to falter, dipping violently to the left. I look behind me and realize that the cause of this is the long cut in her tail. The injured webbing of flesh in the back flaps about in the wind, throwing off Brightwing's balance and preventing her from staying airborne. She starts falling toward the earth, taking me down with her.

Then, miraculously, Brightwing extends her wings, allowing for a sloppy glide back down to the ground. The landing is still a little rough; I fall off Brightwing's back as she touches down. She grunts in concern over me.

"I wasn't ready!" I complain, and I swear she rolls her eyes at me.

I need to make some adjustments.