Friend of the Dragons

Chapter One - Dragon Rider

ELEA'S POV

You're Elea Flores, and though you're only 19, nothing in this world really startles you any more.  You've seen it all, from dragons, of various types, attacking your kingdom, to people never falling asleep because some uppity witch has put a spell on them.

So, when your king calls for the elite knights to fight off another wave of dragons, you expect this to be just an ordinary day.  This is, after all, what constitutes an ordinary day in Norrle, at least for you.

You take your sword and longbow and run out to the walls, taking up a position among the other knights at the parapets, and nock an arrow to your bow.

"Vulnerable positions are the eyes, underbelly, and wings," you repeat quietly to yourself.  This reminder always helps you calm your nerves when the dragons attack.

A dragon swoops low over the courtyard, blasting ice over it, freezing everything in its path.  Cryo-dragons like that one are rare, but you've seen several in your day.  You shoot its wings, but the cryo-dragon climbs higher and the arrow misses.

As its wings beat down, you think you see something else on that dragon's back: something that looks like a human girl.  But the dragon is fast, and its wings flap back up before you can see what was going on there.

It's hardly uncommon though, for someone to be kidnapped by a dragon, so you decide that must be it and brush it off.

???'S POV

As Cheorviss climbs higher to avoid an arrow, you look around for a moment.  The other dragons are wreaking havoc elsewhere around the castle, except for one, who looks to have been injured, and as such is lying on the ground just outside the castle walls.  It probably crushed a building or two, too.

"Cheorviss," you shout over the wind whipping past, "what's going on with that dragon?"

Cheorviss blasts another shot of ice before diving towards the injured dragon.  You realize it's Vidossa, one of your oldest friends, and that one of her wings has been torn by an arrow.

You jump off of Cheorviss when he gets close enough to the ground, and run over to Vidossa.  Cheorviss flies back toward the battle, but you're more concerned with Vidossa.

"Vidossa!" you shout, and she lifts her head.  "Are you all right?!"

Vidossa nods, and her expression changes to an uneasy glare.  "I'll be fine," she rumbles.  "You should be more worried about yourself.  What if one of the humans saw you?"

You shake your head.  "If they did, they'll think I'd been kidnapped by Cheorviss.  Nobody knows me anyway."

You've known the dragon language for all your life, since your mother was taken by dragons when you were a baby.  She taught you English, and the dragons taught you Draconic.  No dragons had any intent of harming you or your mother.

Your mother, Ras, died of a strange illness several years ago, but you never had intent of returning to "normal" life.  Ras told you that your father died before you were born, and since you've basically lived with dragons for as long as you've been alive, you consider them your friends, allies, and family.

You're jerked out of memories by Vidossa speaking.  "Somebody may see you talking to me.  You need to return to the battle, before that happens, Lilac."

You nod.  "Vidossa, get away from the main battle and go back to the nest.  I'm not losing you."  You raise your voice and shout, "Tavnit!"

A pure black dragon swoops down, and you jump on her back.  "What is it, Lilac?" she says, in a low, calm voice.

"I need to get back to the main battle," you reply.  Tavnit zips toward the battle without another word.

ELEA'S POV

That was definitely a human girl.  And she definitely didn't appear to be kidnapped.  She jumped off that cryo-dragon's back like it was no big deal, and she talked for a time with one of the wounded dragons.

And then she called one of the other dragons down from the sky and jumped onto that one.  And she certainly appears to talk to them.  You don't understand anything they're saying, since it mostly sounds like growls and rumbles, but the girl certainly seems to converse with them.

'Could that girl actually be their...friend?' you think.  'But...dragons don't feel emotions.  They're just killers and destroyers.'