FireBound

Chapter 3

They emerged from the now fading storm like a divine spear soaring the skies. Seven dragon in total lined in a defensive formation. Three on both sides with one in the centre- no doubt the current leader of operations.

I always considered the Vanguard strange in terms of operations; they were not divided in squads unlike the rest of the divisions of Arcane- or at least, I'd never seen a single nominative right under their crest the few times I'd the displeasure of running into them. I never knew what I hate most of their ways: could be their acting, their arrogance, or maybe the simple fact that they always appeared after the danger passed.

I'd lost count the number of times I'd wondered if they'd done it on purpose- probably the latter if I were to reminisce my encounters with those scale-headed idiots.

Taking a better look at the dragon- now barely flying straight in front of me, I looked around for the last piece of the mop. The head had rolled close enough to my side of the ship to make the retrieval easy, and aiming the putrid tissue I went for his other eye.

This time it did not tear through his ruby jewel. It bounced back, annoying him greatly as the wings lost the momentary propulsion- making his form tremble before he started losing height and quickly disappeared under the cloud's mantle.

I drew back a sigh of relief. Cherishing the warmth of the sun now scalding my hands. Looking around I spotted Doyle, who with big eyes full of something I couldn't pinpoint had surely watched the whole scene. After quicky assuring myself that he was okay I dashed towards the stern of the Liberty.

Alyssa had done a magnificent job at keeping this thing from going down. With both hands resting on the steering wheel, she looked like a vessel captain coming back from a victorious battle. I on the other hand had surely looked like a drunkard placed there just for the sake of appearances.

I approached her with unsure steps, all the adrenaline was starting to leave my body with each step I took towards her.

"Tell me. How was taking down an Abyssal Raider and his war dragon with nothing but a simple mop and bare hands?" she asked with a hint of tease.

My legs gave up on me the second the last step. "Like I'm going to vomit every single liquid present in my body," I replied honestly.

I was starting to feel like shit, way worse than usual. The sooner back to Arcane the better.

A heavy sound of flapping wings suddenly drew dangerously near to the Liberty. I forced my legs up again, peeking over the bulwark for whatever creature was now targeting the vessel. It took all the mental restrain to not cry out in relief the second I saw a Vanguard crest emerge from the clouds below.

Maybe we could have actually gotten out of this place alive- that would have been the greatest luxury granted me in the last couple of years.

A DuskFire dragon the colour of the prettiest jade approached the ship, the face of the dragon rider coming into view.

"Are you all right?" He asked.

He was older, at least by a couple of years- dark-green hair which seemed to have started growing back from an old military cut and an astonishing amber making up his eyes. The age confirmation came after spotting three, small, golden dragon pins on his shoulder- right under the Vanguard Crest.

A major. And if my math was correct, then he was approaching the venerable age of twenty-five.

I didn't even know if I would have ever reached that number- let alone riding a dragon without back problems showing themselves before thirty.

"Do you have sufficient space to let more people on your DuskFire?" I screamed back at him. He narrowed his eyes for a couple of seconds. Then turned back around, quickly checking something before nodding his head.