Chronicles of Carnezia (Book 1): Dragons of Dracona

Chapter 27: Itra

Chapter 27: Itra

            Frain was smirking and humming to himself as he watched me. When I was settled and clinging to Doran’s waist, Hydra began to take a few steps. Since we were outside the city walls, there was lots of room for her to take her few sprint steps in order to take flight. It was when she took the first step that I started to hyperventilate.

            ‘Now, we haven’t even got off the ground,’ Doran complained. ‘Why don’t you try closing your eyes and not think about it,’ he suggested kindly.

            I suppose I would just have to grim and bare it and grit my teeth. So, as he had said, I shut my eyes tight and leant into Doran’s back not bothered of what he thought of it. Hydra began to move again; her weight and large clawed paws banging on the ground like four kettle drums being played at the same time. She heaved herself up and I felt her wing muscles extend just behind me and the first large flap of her wings was a loud whooshing in my ears and we were propelled forward.

            I still insisted on keeping my eyes shut; Hydra was still beating her wings but not as often as when she first took off. There was a point when she no longer flapped but it felt like we were gliding on the wind and air pockets. One by one, I tweaked my eyes open. The ground was far below us but I could still make out two of the roads leading to Dracona, now behind us. The hardness of the air was a little more of a shock; it was ice cold as we must have been travelling at quite a speed. My eyes stung and watered but once my face had warmed up from inside, I felt much better.

            It wasn’t until much later that I felt comfortable enough that I pulled myself off Doran’s back and loosened my grip on his belt. He noticed and leant back a bit more since I was pushing on him. I did apologise but whether he heard me or not I couldn’t tell as he gave me no sign. Wondering where our fourth companion had gotten to, I looked around us in all directions; up, down, left, right and even in front and behind. It took awhile but I eventually spotted him as he popped out the head of a cloud. He roared in delight and Hydra rumbled back, her chest beneath my legs vibrated before I heard the sound. Frain barrel-rolled as he rejoined us; the droplets of water that had condensed on his warm body trickled down his scales before being forced off by the air. Seeing him in his element, I smiled to myself and threw my head back to let the air flow through my hair.

            Curious as to our whereabouts, where we were going and how long it would take, I decided to ask. ‘Doran!’ I shouted knowing that would be the only way he would hear me. ‘How long is this going to take?’

            He looked over his shoulder just as Hydra flapped her wings for the first time in an hour. ‘Itra is about two weeks ride away on horse, but this way makes it more like four or so hours. It all depends on the wind and weather conditions,’ he added. We had been flying for about an hour so that only left three hours left.

            After the second hour, my legs were numb and I could barely feel my butt after sitting on Hydra’s hard scales. Every time she moved the friction between her scales and my skin (it felt like there was no material left in between) was excruciating. It came to the point that I begged Doran to let us land; he agreed and as soon as Hydra was unmoving on the ground, I hopped off but fell to my knees with loss of feeling.

            Doran was soon by my side. ‘Up we get. The first flight is always hard going on the body. Come on, the quicker you start walking to sooner you’ll get the feeling back.’

            It took a few good minutes and a lot of pins and needles but I did get my legs back to normal. Doran handed me some food and just when I had sat down, Frain landed on the earth with a stumble and his chest hit the ground. I instantly wanted to get up and check him over but before I moved an inch, he had stood up and shook his head.