Dragonslayer

Chapter Nine

Two weeks later

I'm falling. Again.

I tuck my hands under my armpits, draw my knees up to my chest and grit my teeth into the whistling wind until I feel the claws close around me and my fall is halted abruptly. The dragon continues its descent, dropping like a stone, until we reach the ground. I jump down with a groan.

"That was better!" Tabira calls from above me. Her dragon, Skotadi, swings an impressive loop and lands perfectly besides me. He's a small dragon. Viridi is almost twice the size of him. Skotadi is a lithe beast with scales the colour of midnight and plasma green eyes. The underside of his wings are the same luminous green, but can be morphed to black when he is stealth flying. Niko and Viridi may be a better pair at combat, but when it comes to aerobatic skill, Tabira and Skotadi are on a whole different level. They've been described as the best flight duo in centuries.

That's why she's trying to train me. I'm riding a tiny blue training dragon called Primo who's about the size of a horse. He's normally used on little kids. It's a little humiliating, but it's an improvement to before. After taking the beating from Viridi, dragons have finally stopped hating me. And now I know how to approach them in a way that will probably not get me killed, and when I'm being supervised, I can ride Primo as long as I go slowly. I'm learning. My instincts to attack are slowly being suppressed, and now I can walk up to most dragons without getting torn to pieces.

Today is just like any other day. Training with Tabira in the morning, watching Dragonriders spar in the afternoon so I can pick things up, and then regular physical training, which I'm actually good at. Tabira's brother Jabe is teaching me something that used to be called 'martial arts', and most of them specialise in bringing down opponents without weapons. I'm being taught other valuable skills too. Tabira- who I've established is the smartest person I have ever met- is teaching me basic hacking. I can now manipulate objects such as, you guessed it, toasters. A few of the others show me survival skills.
The tower is mainly full of young people. They come and go, there one day, gone the next. Some are arrogant and refuse to talk to a "city pet". I ended up getting into a terrific fight with one boy that landed him in the hospital. Mostly, though, we have a laugh. It's so different to the empty meals Stedan and I sat through. I feel bad for Stedan- I've left him all alone- but I force the thought out of my mind. I have new friends here. Tonight, we're having a bonfire.

Of course, first I have to get through this training session. Tabira decided that today was the day she'd teach me the most important lesson of all- falling off.

"Okay." She gives me a nod. "Take off again."

I readjust my position on Primo. Communicating with dragons is still hard. When a Dragonrider gets their own dragon, they often get so close the two can sense each other's thoughts. When I watch Tabira and Skotadi flip and dive and twist in midair as if they are fluid, that's easy to believe.

Primo, however, is not that sort. I carefully tap his side with my heel. Too hard, and he'll buck me off. Too gentle, and he won't move.

Primo does not budge. I do it again, and this time, I'm rewarded with the beating of wings as he takes off and takes to the skies.

Flying on a dragon by myself is something that felt alien and horrifying at first, but gradually, I'm starting to almost enjoy it. It makes me free. Of course, there's a limit to how great it can be when you fall off half of the time and even when you don't, you're going so painfully slowly- but it's still a good feeling.

Primo and I rise higher. I drag my toes against his side, and he picks up speed. "Careful," I mutter. Studies have shown that due to their high intelligence, dragons can actually understand human speech- they just choose to ignore most of it.