The School of Dragon Riders [Dragon Riders #1]

Chapter 23 (edited)

Medea's Point of view

As we took off, Fox decided to come into my mind. The feeling was still strange, but not much different than talking to Areton.

"You could wait for us," she said into my mind. The thought of waiting for them made me angry, and she sensed my disapproval.

"We're your friends." She knew I didn't agree.

"It's true. Let's go together. We're much stronger as a team."

I had no intention of doing that. She left shortly after experiencing the anger and sadness I felt. I always seemed left out; nobody could forget what I truly was.

I was sure that she was out of my mind, so I could think about my plans. I was trying not to think about them while she was inside of my mind, and I think it worked. She just knew I was leaving and going to the dragon stealer, but she had no idea that I was going to do much more than just go there.

I wanted people to know me for my bravery, not for the monster inside me.

I shared my thought with Areton as we flew north, towards the place Fox heard people talking about. I managed to steal a map from the Headmaster once before, and I brought it with me now. I had money that my "father" sent Tanya and me. Although it wasn't much, I knew that I could always hunt my food.

If I killed the dragon stealer, people would know me as a brave rider, their saviour. Those were my thoughts for the rest of the day. Areton got tired in the evening and I was hungry. We hadn't reached a village yet, so I had to hunt down a boar and Areton roasted it with his fire. The boar we shared wasn't enough for him, so he went to catch and eat another one.

The sleep wasn't exactly comfortable, but it wasn't that bad either. Areton woke me up early, and we were on our way without breakfast.

We flew over lots of villages, and we decided to stop into one in the evening.

We were tired and hungry, and we were too tired to hunt anything. I knew that the most dangerous part of the journey was about to start - the Outlands. The place with no ruler and no laws. The place where Shade decided to become king.

Many people there were Riders, and flying was dangerous because of Shade's patrols. That's why I decided to go on foot and let Areton fly by himself, since it was easier for him to avoid other living things without me on his back.

I knew that it would be much slower, but I didn't want anyone to take my lovely dragon, the only creature I truly loved, away from me.

I explained that to him, and then he decided to go sleep in a forest and hunt dinner. I would fly with him to the border, which was half a day's flight from this village, and the last one in the Human Kingdom.

Our king wasn't the best one, since his royal blood was the only thing that got him the throne. I knew that he asked Headmaster for advice a lot. His son was also a Rider, but he went missing, and the king blamed the Ogres.

Whenever either of the two Kingdoms, Ogre and Human, tried to take the Outlands, the people living there made them go away. Now that they had a 'king', our king stopped thinking about taking over the Outlands, in spite of the horrible things that Shade did.

I entered a tavern, bought myself some bread and meat, and rented a room for the night.

I sat alone, but some drunken men sat at my table after a while.

"Hello, sweetie," one of the two said slowly, swinging slightly from side to side. In spite of him being a few feet away, I could smell his awful breath.

"Don't call me that. Get away from my table," I said sternly. They looked surprised for a second, but they began laughing soon after.

"Ya know, ya look a whole lot like that missing girl Rider. They said they'd pay quite some coin for her, said she went on a mission that wasn't hers and that she's dangerous. You are weak, with yer tiny arms, so better watch out, or come with us," the other one said. I stopped to think for a moment. I was wanted, because I wasn't supposed to go kill Shade.

"They must be searching for that Rider, if she's that dangerous, must they not?" I said, trying to find out whether there was a search party sent after me.

"Ya bet there is! King himself sent some 'is men to get 'er. They say there's more than a hundred lookin'," the first one answered me. I nodded and stood up, my heartbeat quickening. This was worse than I thought. If there were search parties after me, I knew that I couldn't be seen with Areton, so no flying from now on, and I needed a disguise.

I left, ignoring the men telling me to come back and talk to them more. I locked the door as I went straight to bed. I wanted to wake up before dawn, since I was going to be travelling on foot.

My clothes were dirty, but my light armour was undamaged. Since my clothes were armour, I wasn't going to change them even if I had more to spare.

I told Areton that they were looking for me, and he was disappointed when I told him that we couldn't see each other. I promised him that I would call him to meet him when there was nobody around during the journey, but I doubted that it would happen often.

I also heard the rumours of strange creatures living in the Outlands, but whether they were true or not, I was yet to find out.

I fell asleep with thoughts of exploration filling my mind.

***

The next morning, I woke up before dawn and left early, dropping a copper tip to the lady working there. She gave me a generous smile, and I gave her a nod.

I knew that I needed a disguise, but I didn't want to take my armour off. I was going to leave the Human Kingdom soon enough. I just needed to avoid border patrols. I was pretty sure that they would search the Outlands for me, but people there don't know that I am to be searched for, so a disguise wasn't needed.

I decided to keep off the path, but not go too far from it so that I wouldn't get lost. The trip was slow, and I stopped to drink and hunt every so often. I decided to travel at night as well so that I could reach the Outlands by morning.

As it was slowly becoming night-time, I heard hooves approaching from the path, as I sneaked closer to it to see what was going on.

On the path stood five men on horses, wearing the king's colours. They were talking among themselves.

"We'll never catch her," one of them said.

"She must've gone to the Outlands already, but nobody saw her dragon. We should keep going, maybe she's still around," another one said, and they all nodded, after which, they galloped away. I waited until the sound of hooves was gone, then I went a little further from the path to continue my long walk.

***

Sometime before dawn, I saw the river Outis, the river that marked the border. At the end of the path was a bridge guarded by several men. I could take them on, but a patrol would hear me and I'd soon be overwhelmed.

I wanted to shape-shift, but when I do, my pack doesn't come with me, and I had maps, coins, and lots of useful things in it.

I went along the river, avoiding patrols and searching for another way across. There was nobody in sight at the other side, only the mountains and a forest. After some walking, I saw some stepping stones. They were far away from each other, but I knew that I could make the jumps.

I took a running start as I jumped on the first stone. I immediately jumped to the second one, wanting to keep the momentum.

I jumped on the rest, but as I was about to jump to the shore, an arrow hit me.

I felt my shoulder burn as the force of the impacttook me off balance and I plunged into the wild, cold waves.