Dragon Binder: Book One of the Dragonblood Priestess Series (First Draft)

Chapter 16: Flight

The knocking on her door lasted for a few minutes before begrudgingly she pulled herself out of the warm bed and opened the door.  "What do you want."  She grumbled her hair sticking up in odd directions.  

Laughter left her father as he stared at his daughter, remembering all the fond moments of raising her.  "I brought some of your extra armor and clothes, they are in the bathroom.  We got you a hot bath ready.  Make haste little one, we do not have long."  Voren stated optimistically, but deep down he was masking his sorrow and pain.  

Waving a dismissive hand at him she stomped into the bathroom stripping off her pajamas a large mirror hung in the room illuminated by a few candles.  For the first time she saw the scars left by Belsenth, they were large and pale against her skin.  She traced her cold fingers across them, remembering the fight they had fought against him.  

Raising her eyes she found the other scar, the one on her neck.  Gingerly she touched it, as if the wound was still there.  Yina still could not believe that her own mother had held a knife to her throat like that.  She wanted to be surprised about Cera voting on her death but sadly Yina understood that.  

Sighing she lowered herself into the hot water not even wincing.  Steam rose up, for a few seconds she was confused.  Then Yina realized she was bound, and her body was able to handle things better then they used to.  Closing her eyes she focused on the noise outside and found she could hear Clous and Tyn talking about magic.  Not really wanting to continue to strain her hearing she sunk to the bottom of the large tub.  

Roughly half a hour later and she strolled out of the bathroom in her full armor.  It felt good to be back in it even if realistically it did not protect her that well.  Probably the best part was that her father had also gotten a extra pair of her vembraces, with those on her arms she felt at ease.  Yina's hair was in a braid resting down the middle of her back.  "Alright, I am ready."  She stated with confidence.  

Surprisingly they burst into motion as they grabbed a few packs and slung them over there shoulders and headed for the door.  Yina just stood there shaking her head before following them outside.  Turning she saw her father light a torch and toss it into the small building.  It did not take long for the first to spread eating the furniture first.  The six of them watched it burn for a few minutes before walking away.  

"Yina."  Nyssa sent to everyone as she bound forward almost knocking her to the ground.  It was good to feel her dragon under her arms as she hugged the dragon's head.  Sliding her hand down her neck she loved the feel of the scaled beneath her fingers, small sparks jumped between them as she did so.  

We really need to teach you how to not send out your thoughts to everyone."  Yina muttered tapping the little dragon on her nose.  She wished that Nyssa was big enough to ride, but sadly it would be at least a week before she could.  Bound dragon's grew faster and she should be full grown within the month.  

"At least I can reliably use my magic."  The dragon shot back at her and everyone else as she stomped away toward Risang and rubbed up against the copper dragon's side.  The two of them had bonded quite well during the stressful two days.  

Clearing his throat Clous motioned for Yina to get on Risang, the fire was bound to attract attention.  "Fine."  Yina muttered hugging her father before leaping up onto the copper dragon's back.  

"Be safe my dear, we will see each other again, I am sure of it."  Voren stated tears streaming down his face.  The two of them had a strong bond, he understood her in a way that no one else did.  He was the one who had convinced her to try to win the Endorsement.  

Fighting back the tears Yina just waved as the two dragon's left.  Tyn's eyes were priceless as a look of terror filled them.  He was sitting behind Liat, but this was his first time ever riding a dragon.  Guilt raced through her as she remembered that because of her, Tyn had a lower chance of becoming a dragon bound.  

Trying to fight off all the negative thoughts trying to take over her mind Yina instead focused on trying to see the ground.  Even with her enhanced eyes, all she could see were vague shapes moving below them.  Tyn on the other hand probably saw nothing but darkness.

The flight was silent, as the four of them raced across the landscape, occasionally Yina was notice Nyssa flying between the two dragon's as a current of electricity rippled down her spine.  She wished that her eyes were just as good as the dragon's, they could see nearly as well in the dark as they could in the daytime.  

Just as dawn started to bring light across the land, they were within sight of Ardasha.  Ardasha, was the great wall city.  Racing in both directions was a long and tall wall made out of stone.  Sastan was surrounded by this wall, it was the pride of the nation.  The wall created a diamond, a good bit of land beyond the wall was now Sastan territory as well but when the nation was founded only the land in the diamond was.  

Yina herself had never been beyond the wall before a few days ago.  She had been asleep in her trip past it two days ago though.  Only once had she been to Ardasha, her mother had been called to hold a week long seminar for the binders.  Sadly like all things with her mom it was all work and no play.  

The sun was complete up before they got close enough to actually see the majestic city.  Dragon's circled above, most of them would break off and follow the walls going on patrol.  Most of the Dragon Bound were stationed at the wall, only the most powerful ones stayed in the capitol.  

Taking in the full beauty of the city her breath caught, seeing it from above was a completely different sight.  The city itself was built initially in the wall, many building's came out of the wall itself.  From there it expanded into several tiered layers forming a type of half pyramid.  Each layer housed a higher station of people.  Naturally the nobles had the upper layer that had full access to the sky.  

From what Yina could see, several stories worth formed the bottom layers, if one lived in those they would rarely see the sun unless they had work out side of those sections.  Regardless the pyramid was fascinating.  From her previous visit she remembered pulleys would control elevators to the various floors.  Once or twice she had seen a cable that you could zip line down quickly to various points in the city, naturally her mother had no allowed using them.  

A quick jerk and the group was banking towards the ground, Yina did not know much of the details of the plan just the basics, but it made sense not to fly into the city.  Dismounting from the dragon's they gathered in a loose circle.  

"Alright, so the four of us are going to go in the city disguised in Liat's illusions.  So we must stay close.  We will meet up with your father's contact who will supply us with the supplies that we will need."  Clous explained as quietly as he could.  Who knew if they were truly alone or if someone had come to investigate three dragon's landing outside of the city.  

"So, once we have the supplies, Yina and myself will then sneak through the gate by said contact.  From what I understand we will be placed inside of boxes, the paperwork will exempt them from being searched."  Tyn chimed in as he stretched out his muscles, Yina remembered how it use to feel to ride a dragon without being bound.  

Liat finished the briefing as he spoke.  "That is correct, I will be following you guys through, I can make myself completely invisible.  It is very taxing so I can only do it for a very short time on myself only.  I want to make sure that this contact did not flip on us, especially if you are trapped inside boxes."  Liat stated.  

Yina was grateful to have someone like Liat on there side, she wondered just how her father had won his allegiance.  Regardless they had it.  "So, what about Nyssa?"  Yina exclaimed almost to forcefully, she had to know how her dragon would get across.  

"Clous and Risang will find a place a little ways down the wall to cross over.  They will need to make sure they are not seen, as we are all aware violet dragons are rare."  Liat explained.  "From there they will meet up with us.  Together me and Clous will then move on to our next part while you two will need to quickly get to Alary."

Everyone nodded in agreement that they all knew the plan.  Giving Nyssa one last final hug the group of human's took off towards Ardasha.