Saviour

19. I Discover.

Chapter 19.

Being in the sky was like being stuck in a freezer. My face soon became numb from the cold, my lips turning blue.

'Can we fly a little lower? I think my eyebrows are frosting over...' I tried to sound upbeat but it's hard when you're freezing cold.

Nikkon tipped his head down and his body followed. We broke through a cloud covering, hitting a milder column of air. Much better.

I unclamped my fingers from the feathers on Nikkon's neck and flexed my hands, trying to pump some heat back into them. I gave up after a short while and stuck them underneath my armpits instead. Despite the warmer air, my breath was still visible, clouding up in front of me.

I made some last minute checks. I tightened the sword belt around my waist, made sure all my armour was strapped on safely. I even made sure I could still summon fire, just incase the last few months had all been part of some massive, crazy dream.

'Drop your sword.' Nikkon told me, sounding serious.

'What? No, if I drop it I'll...oh...you want me to summon it again, don't you?' I asked him.

'Bingo.' He sounded pleased with me. 'Can you remember how?'

'Yeah, 'course.' I drew my sword and held it over his side, looking down at the ground passing by below us. It took a lot of will-power to relax my fingers around the handle and actually let it tumble towards earth.

Once it left my hand I instantly felt weaker, as if all my strength had been taken from me. It hadn't, just my second most powerful weapon.

Closing my eyes and clearing my mind, I held my hand out towards the ground and filled my head with thoughts of the sword returning to me.

Nothing happened.

I was about to open my eyes and give up when something crashed into my open palm heavily, jolting me over to the side so I almost lost my balance. 'Woah...' I opened one eye and saw my sword, a metre of solid power, had returned to me. I ran my hand over the flat of the blade before sheathing it once more.

'Much better than the first time.' Nikkon commented and I'm pretty sure he was smiling.

'How far is it now?' I was getting bored and stiff from the long ride.

'Not too far...we just need to. HOLD ON!' He shouted and banked to the right suddenly, his wings stretched out widely.

'What's happening?' I hoped that my nervousness wasn't apparent in my voice.

He flew up through the clouds so that we were hidden from the ground below. 'We've got company.' He gritted and forced himself to duck down through the clouds again.

True to his word, there was somebody else in the skies. The thick black dragon that had chased us before was circling above the kingdom of Morhan about half a mile away. They knew we were coming. How did they know?

'Approach them...go back up into the clouds and then we dive down on them.' My mind was thinking ahead, making plans and tactics. 'We'll take them by surprise, find out who they are.'

'Good luck.' Nikkon said solidly.

'I don't need luck. I've got a Griffin.' I replied, taking a deep breath. 'Let's go.'

We moved silently, Nikkon glided above the clouds and began to circle above the area the dragon was flying.

I shuffled backwards so I could lean down further over Nikkon's neck to get a more streamlined position. A tiny bead of sweat trickled down my forehead.