The Loyal

10- Flying to Starhaven

Dain woke slowly that morning. The wounds on his hands and feet had steadily healed over the day he spent simply thinking. Sirath was still curled up beside him, her beautiful wings folded gently over her body. Dain wished he could somehow capture this image to show his descendants one day if he survived.

He the realised he could, being as quiet as possible, Dain withdrew a blank parchment and fetched the ink and pen from the bottom of his bag. Dain sat on the ashes of the fire and capture Sirath in her sleep. He used the ash to shade in, and was amazed at the final product.  

Eliss had once drawn on the stone in their prison cell when Dain was younger and bored. But then it was a crude illustration from chalk. He hadn't ever drawn anything himself and the drawing of Sirath was something that told otherwise.

Sirath awoke just as Dain finished sweeping the coals and ash out of the den. She rolled over and watched him briefly, as if wondered what they were doing that morning. Dain returned to his bag and withdrew the map.

According to the map, they would need to fly South from the mountains, turn slightly West through Star canopy woods and land in Starhaven by night. Sirath merely stared at the map while Dain retold her the path.

"I'm going hunting," she finally decided, leaving Dain alone in the small cave.

He tucked the illustration of Sirath into his pocket and began tightly packing his equipment. Yesterday Dain had taught himself how to weave rope from grass, though it was slightly loose, it looked sturdy enough.

Dain refilled his water-skins and waited patiently for Sirath to return. His patience was rewarded. The small blue dragon dropped another deer right before she landed. This one was already cooked and Dain suspected she used her fire.

Dain folded the meat up in a blanket and turned to Sirath, trying to hide his excitement.

"Stay still," he ordered. Dain threw his thickest cloak over her back and tied it down with the green rope.

Then, Dain hesitantly clambered onto her back, trying hard to stay on as Sirath wriggled and shook on her feet. 

"It tickles," she explained, a hint of laughter in her voice.  

The boy managed to pull himself onto her back and twisted his feet around the cord and held tightly. The ground looked further away than when he was on the cliffs. Dain couldn't find a comfortable position and contemplated why dragon backs sloped down.

"This is strange," Sirath said, "I know the weight of my wings, but now there's a lump between them,"

"Thanks, I've always wanted to be a lump,"

Sirath remained quiet, as if confirming at statement, "are you ready,"

"I think so,"

Without a warning, Sirath bounded out of the cave and leapt into the cool morning air, twisting and turning around the breeze. Dain stuffed his fist in his mouth to avoid screaming and shut his eyes tightly. Each beat of her wings brought Dain feeling like he was going to fall as Sirath pushed her shoulders up.

Her back was irritatingly bony and had no ridges which Dain could hold onto. He huddled to the rope and prayed to every god he knew that it wouldn't snap. The ground below them spiralled away, the blue, the green and yellow, all faded into a strange white or blue.

"Go back down! I can't stand this height!" Dain screaming of the wailing wind.

Sirath remained where she was and answered, "I don't want to be seen. Having a havian on my back it probably a death sentence."