Apollo pov.... 1 hour later...
Kip cries, "There you have it! Just like saddling a huge horse, but with more sinches!"
Pandora sighs with relief.
The red dragon cranes it's huge head to sniff Pandora.
It greets me, "Hello, rider Apollo. I'm Inferno. Who is this Winter hatchling?"
I smile, and reply, "Pandora."
Inferno laughs outside of the mindlink, causing the ground to shake like an earth quake.
I smile, and find myself laughing along.
The stable hands are calming horses, while maids are hurring away from us.
Kip seems to remember something important, and asks, "What marks your brow and hand?"
I smooth the hair away from the scar and present the half heart.
Kip smiles, "A Carilo. That's good! That means we need less time developing you!"
I ask, concerned, "A what now?"
Kip sighs, and translates, "A Carilo is Strong Bond in the dragon language, which I shall teach you. It means your bond is stronger than you could imagine."
I smile weakly. What does this mean?!?
I notice Kip mounting up, so I begin to mount up.
Pandora is on a long line, so she can practice flying while Inferno anchors her down.
My bags were attached earlier, so all I need to do is grab Pandora and mount.
I pick her up, and mount the big red dragon.
When Inferno opens his red wings, I know I'll enjoy this.
His red wings remind me of a thin red blanket, and catch the wind like a kite.
The wind picks up as the castle fades away.
My hood falls down as the wind tugs it. My free hair is ruffled by the wind.
My cloak flaps out behind me, and Pandora flaps beside me.
Kip lectures about dragon anatomy for about two hours, while I take notes.
Then, he declares, "Now we get into the stuff worth listening to!"
I sit up, and smile.
This is what he tells me about Winter dragons while I write it all down....
Once, there were six kinds of dragons. Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Light, and Darkness. Over time, Water and Darkness merged to make an Ice dragon. The mating of the one dragon killed the species. Then, the last Darkness dragon mated with an Ice dragon. It created the sub species, Darker Ice. From that sub-species, the beginning of the creaton of Winter dragons began.
The genealogy is as follows.
The Darker Ice and the Fire dragon mated, creating a Ko Dragon.
The Ko dragon soon after mated with another Darker Ice.
This caused the Darkness dragons to emerge, and the subspecies thrived. The new Darkness dragons managed to find an old Darkness dragon, becuase they hadn't died... just hid. Then, the offspring mated with a Dark Ice. The offspring of that mated with an Ice dragon. Then, the dragonettes from there mated with a Pure Dark.
Thus, creating the rare and elusive Winter dragon.
I ask, "So Winter dragons are closely related to Darkness dragons?"
Kip nods.
Kip mentions, "Darkness dragons are hostile, the ones from the fairy tales. The Pure Darkness have been known to mate with Winter dragons, creating a super dragon that's the nearly perfect dragon. Those are one in an infinity of a chance of being hatched. Mainly because both are rare. The Pure Darkness is born every sixty years. The Winter every sixty as well. The offspring is called a Hyper Dark. They look like Winter dragons, but are larger, stronger, more agile, and darker. Even dragons will get them confused for Winter dragons. They're called Hyper Dark, or Dark Winter's Night. They can only be distinguished by one trait.... Winter dragons have blue and gold eyes. Hyper do not. A Hyper will start with blue eyes. At the flight stage, they'll change to a pleasant gold."
I ask, "How often are they born?"
Kip snorts, "On every Friday the thirteenth of an even year except the first number from the left."
I notice a small shack on the horizon. The sun's setting as well, meaning we've been flying over woods for six hours.
Kip cries, "Quick! How do we land?"
I position myself to land, as Kip had instructed when we'd stopped for lunch.
I stand in the stirrups, crouching over the saddle. My back's straight, arms relaxed.
I pull back on Pandoras' line, telling her to land in my pack. A muffled warble tells me she's safe.
I pull lightly on the reins. Kip is already going down.
I pull up and back, and Inferno warbles. I bump him to get him going from a hover.
He dives straight down.
I clutch the saddle. Soon, we level off beside the shack.
Kip is laughing his head off.
I ask, "What's so funny?"
Kip manages to say between laugh fits, "You just... told Inferno... to.... oh man.... to do a perpindicular dive! Oh that's rich! You'll be a good in a flight compition."
I realease Pandora from her line, and she glides to the ground.
I dismount, unsaddle, unbridle, and thank Inferno for the ride.
He replies, "My rider is Kip's mate, so I don't mind running errands for Kip."
A/n The media picture is the language Kip's teaching Apollo. It's dragon language
YOU ARE READING
Unexpected Heroes
Fantasy"What are you doing climbing up to the heirs room?" Apollo is the crown prince of a kingdom named Arsalon. Arsalon has it's upsides , but mostly down sides. Raids are all anyone thinks about. Arsalon is the laughing stock of kingdoms on the penin...
