Author Games Magi: Eriswen Faervel

Prequel #1

I watched Ionean, uncertain. He'd only just learned to fly, and he was big enough to carry me, but he'd never carried a passenger before.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"I'm tired of watching you fly with the others. I want to fly you for once." Ionean's deep rumbling voice made me smile. He was my best friend, and I often thought of him as my only family too. Since we went into hiding, he'd always been there for me, even if he mostly hid when everyone else was around.

I stared into his deep, golden eyes and grinned. "Alright. You're a natural flier anyway. Just let me mount first, okay. Don't take off until I say," I warned him, struggling to keep a straight face.

He nudged me, his beautiful red scales glinting in the sunlight. "Fine," he agreed. "But hurry. There's a warm breeze coming; I can feel it."

I climbed up onto his back and settled into the dip between his neck and body. "You can take off now," I told him. I could feel the boyish grin plastered across my face. I loved flying, and it was one of the only times that I felt I could fully express myself. I could let out the adventurous tomboy inside of me and allow my warrior to slip away for a while.

Ionean unfolded his majestic wings and tested the wind, flapping experimentally. When he was convinced that I was okay and the wind was good, he gave a hard flap, shoving off with his hind legs and taking to the air with an excited roar.

I whooped, spreading my arms out wide and letting the wind flow over me. The people a mile off in our little village became little dots in the distance as we went higher. When the air began to thin out, I tapped Ionean as a warning and he stopped ascending.

"What tricks have you got, Ionean?" I called.

He roared again and spiraled towards the ground at top speed. I screamed all the way down. When he neared the tops of the trees in the forest, he pulled up again, flying along the treetops.

"You could have warned me," I panted, still a little dizzy from the spiral.

I could almost hear him grinning as he replied to me. "That wouldn't have been any fun. Besides, you're too experienced with riding dragons to fall off from something like that."

I unlocked my legs from around his neck and grinned mischievously. "Yeah?" With that, I hopped off of his back.

I chanted a few words under my breath and my trusty shield formed underneath me, keeping me from falling much farther than a few feet. Ionean looked down at me as I took off, stretching out my shield in front of me and letting it dissolve behind me. "Race you back to the village," I yelled up at him.

"Not fair," he grumbled back. "You got a head start."

I smiled, dodging a particularly high tree and looking up at Ionean. He was keeping up with me effortlessly, as I'd known he would, but he wouldn't pass me. He knew he could win, and that was always enough for me.

Today, though, I pushed him. "Going a bit slower than normal today," I commented to him, speeding up.

He sped past me with another roar. "You know I'm faster than you," he called.

"Not on foot," I countered good-naturedly.

"We all have our particular talents," Ionean replied.

I watching him as he flew, finally able to let himself roam the skies now that he'd learned how. He'd taken a bit longer to learn because he didn't have a mother to teach him, but even so, he'd become an amazing flier quickly on his own and I was proud of him.

I looked down, letting myself watch the scenery fly by as I ran. The forest floor was dark and hard to see through my shimmery shield, but I could see the squirrels playing below me, unaware that I was even above them. Birds chirped in the air and I looked back up again, dodging another small treetop that my shield had formed around.