Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 8: Leera's Struggle

Only a minute later, another rider was chosen—a cinem by a purple class 5. The violet dust explosion that followed was even larger than it had been with the class 4. Excitement made every second drag on so long that it felt as if hours had passed before another dragon chose their rider. It was a crimson class 6 that reminded me of Firehorn. I suddenly wished that the actual Firehorn would stay as far away from me as possible. As good as I was with animals, I didn't think I could handle one as vicious as him.

When the class 6 strode up to a cinem girl, I felt my hopes plummet to the tip of my tail. This was the fifth cinem who'd been chosen, along with three elents. Not a single talme had even been looked at by the dragons. Nervous energy took over my previous feeling of excitement as I watched the girl reach out her hand to touch the dragon's head. The crimson cloud that appeared around them was so bright that I couldn't bear to even look in their direction. When it suddenly flashed out in a shower of red dust, I was half relieved, half disappointed that there were only some twenty-five dragons left.

With every passing minute, more dragons chose their riders, until there were only three left, and the crowd of potential riders wasn't getting much smaller. Only four talmes had been picked of the riders chosen so far. Even knowing what Tawny had said, that nothing I could do would increase my chances of being chosen, I had held out a stupid amount of hope. At this point, I'd even be okay with Firehorn choosing me.

But I knew he wouldn't. None of them would, and I would have to walk home in shame and explain to my parents what I'd done. I'd be grounded for months. That meant no more working at the stables, no more seeing Tawny outside of school, no more of anything worth anything.

Six rows ahead of me, one of the last three dragons chose yet another cinem. I ducked and shielded my eyes along with everyone else. The last class 7 who'd chosen a rider had left me seeing spots for ages. I waited a while before opening my eyes to see the new happy dragon-rider pair walking off the field.

Firehorn and Leera were the only remaining dragons. The chances of either of them choosing me—out of hundreds of aspiring riders—was about as likely as me suddenly turning into a cinem. Gah, I wish talmes could turn into sentient creatures. I totally would've sneaked into the ceremony as a cinem if I could've.

Firehorn chose a rider, leaving Leera as the only remaining dragon. She looked over the field with oddly blank eyes. Head swaying from side to side, she ambled down one row and up another. When she was only two rows away, she stopped. I couldn't watch my last hope fading away, so I covered my eyes before the light show started.

Only, the light show didn't start. I cautiously uncovered my eyes. Leera had stopped mid-bow, seemingly oblivious to the cinem waiting below. He looked like he was ready to fly up and force the bonding. Wait, he was the cinem from the alley. He must've hired that elent to mind-jink Leera.

Somehow, Leera seemed to be fighting the magic. She pulled away from the cinem as a black and red cloud formed around her head. It pulled her towards the cinem, but she reared on her hind legs and roared. The late-afternoon sun disappeared behind her spreading wings. Fire flickered around her snout like a million candles.

"Mind-jink," someone shouted, "get the enforcers!"

Several armored men dragged the protesting cinem away, but I only had eyes for Leera. Her roar hit me like a punch to the gut. It was a sad, desperate roar, almost as if she knew what was about to happen to her. Mind-jinked dragons were too unstable, too dangerous to keep around. If they couldn't break the mind-jink enchantment, they had to be put down.

A second group of enforcers circled Leera. They would try to take her in alive, but one way or another, they would remove her from the ceremony.

"Come on, Leera." There was no way she could hear me, and I knew she probably wouldn't choose me, but I didn't care anymore. Of the two of us, she was the only one who had any chance of doing great things in her life. In a few years, I might even read about her being the loyal mount who carried her rider into the battle that won the war.

Leera thrashed her head, spit fire into the air, and suddenly stilled. My heart skipped a beat. This was the end for her. She would never take her first flight with a rider, never become the hero's dragon I knew she could be. It was stupid to cry about her, but I couldn't help it. This was her one and only chance to be something special, and she'd lost it because of some stupid cinem who thought he could yank her around like a pripping puppet.

No, I wasn't going to cry in front of all these people who actually had their lives together. I swiped away tears to reveal Leera falling back on all fours. The cloud around her head had dissipated. She folded her wings and continued walking down the row, followed close behind by the enforcers.