Crossing In A Heartbeat

Chapter 4

Frigid air took her breath away. She leaned forward and felt feathers on her face. Her feet felt like they were in stirrups and she was riding a horse. She looked over, only to see the sun and the mountains below her.

"Oh, my word."

Panic filled her, and she grasped at what was in front of her as if to hold on for her life, but it scared her when it moved.

"Ack. Oh, my land."

The air sucked her breath away. She felt surprised to find she was wearing goggles.

Something swooped overhead, then down to pass between the sun.

"No. No. Oh, my."

This wasn't how she wanted to be introduced to a dragon by having one attack her.

"Oh." She found her voice high and squeaky when she finally realized she was riding a dragon.

The dragon dropped, and Kara screamed. She felt like she was going to get thrown off any second and clutched harder. Feathers blew past her, and she realized she had pulled them out.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry."

The dragon continued to descend. Kara felt the air become warmer. She couldn't see the other dragon, wondering if it was coming in for a rear attack. However, she was afraid to turn to look back for fear she would lose her balance. She could see her dragon was heading for a plateau on the mountain.

Kara stared at it as if it was a lifeboat coming to save her. She needed to get to the ground. Her focus was so intense that she jumped when something came into her field of vision. Stupidly, she looked to see a wing. She turned her head to look the other way. Another wing.

"I'm flying?"

She stared at the wing.

"Why is it purple?"

She looked down. Purple and pink feathers were in front of her.

"Dragons are pink?"

She felt dumbfounded by this information. Then a gentle bump caused her to look around. The dragon had landed. Kara kicked off the stirrups and slid off. She fell hard and rolled, not expecting that far of a fall. Quickly, she regained her feet, backing up rapidly while she stared.

The dragon had to be... Kara's engineering training kicked in. She calculated the dragon was fifteen feet tall. Her feathers were not just pink and purple, but there were some yellow and orange splotches. She also calculated that the dragon was longer than a semi. It was hard to tell exactly because the tail was curled forward.

"Oh, my word."

She gasped when another dragon landed. This one was black, brown, and gold, but there was a red crest on its head. A person slid off and approached her.

"Whoa."

She was looking at Dirgen in the flesh. None of her previous experiences of seeing him prepared her. He was larger than life. Taller than she had thought. And he was staring at her with a startled look on his face.

"Who are you?"

Kara turned toward the female voice, since it hadn't been Dirgen who spoke. "What?" Her voice squeaked. "Dragons talk?" She recognized the voice as the one that last spoke to Kyra.

"Who are you?" the dragon said, again.

"Kara." She felt small standing in front of the dragon. Usually, she felt tall, since she was taller than most women she knew. But she even felt small when she compared herself to Dirgen.