Kingdom of Lothoria - Book 1

Chapter Two

Galileo screamed, "Wooooooo-Hoooooo!" As she pumped a fist in the air and the wind whipped through her hair. Her other hand gripped one of the horns on Shadow's head, she pulled back so they were heading straight up through the clouds. She let out another whoop of pure joy. They hovered for a moment in the clouds.

She patted the dragon. "You ready, boy?"

He turned his head, eyeing her with silver eyes the same shade as her own. He'd perfected the wide-eyed begging look long ago.

"Come on, let's go." She paused. "Unless you're too much of a wimp?" she asked with raised eyebrows.

The dragon roared in protest. She was used to his mighty roar, most people winced and had to cover their ears because he was so loud. She, her best friend Riker and Bruce were the only ones used to his roar. Her heart squeezed at the thought, anger, regret, and sadness all tumbled together. She gave her head a quick shake, dispelling the emotions. There was no time to dwell on the past.

Shadow tucked in his pitch black wings close to his body and dropped. They dove downward, straight toward the ocean. In the nick of time she yanked back on his horns, timing it so it coincided with his wings snapping out to catch the wind. They circled back, heading for the beach, gliding above the ocean. She reached down toward the water, leaning to one side. Shadow saw her reaching toward the water and flipped upside down causing her to laugh loudly. She gripped his sides with her legs and let her arms drop, her fingers splashing through the water. The ends of her white-blond hair dangled, skipping over the surface of the water.

Shadow roared, flipping upright before he dove beneath the surface of the water. He popped back out of the water with a giggling Galileo on his back.

"Great day for a swim," she told the dragon.

He soared over the beach, landing in the dark forest. She jumped down from Shadow's back and made her way toward the little hidden hollow, shoving back vines and branches as she went. When a twig snapped behind her she spun around, her fingers touching the raven's feather tied in her hair. In an instant, it melted away, turning into a bow and quiver filled with silver tipped arrows. Shadow snarled, baring his razor sharp canines.

In seconds, she had an arrow nocked to the bow and let it fly. The tip embedded itself in the trunk of a nearby tree, right beside the head of her best friend, Riker.

He yelped and took a step away from the tree. His multi-colored eyes were wide, his mouth hung open as he turned to stare at her.

She rolled her eyes, released a sharp whistle that turned her bow and quiver back to the feather in her hair.

Flower appeared out of the shadows behind Riker. He scratched the dragon's snout, her golden eyes closed and she released a purr of pleasure. Her black and gold scales glinted in the setting light of the sun that filtered between the trees. Riker tossed his golden bow into the air, it flipped end over end once before shrinking down to twig size. He caught it and stuck it into his boot. His attempt to slip up on her had been a failure, but there were no hard feelings from him. It was all just a game. Sometimes she won and sometimes he did.

When he looked at her he wore his award-winning trouble-maker grin. His long, spiky black hair hung in his face, he reached up and brushed it back so she could see his kaleidoscope eyes. "Whatcha get today?" he asked.

She tossed him the pack she pulled from Shadow's back.

He dug through the sack. "Nice stash, this will feed 'em for a few days!" He scrambled up onto Flower's back, securing the sack.

"Yeah, I stole it from the King's personal merchant. He has a private stash hidden away in a building near the market."

He grinned at her.

She shook her head at him. "It isn't funny, Riker, the guards almost saw Shadow, we could've been caught or killed." She sighed. "If they saw Shadow we'd be having a very different conversation or none at all."

He tapped the metal ring around one of Shadow's horns. "They couldn't see you. All Shadow is to them is a giant scary shadow." He giggled at his joke.

"Yeah, yeah, magic dragon hiding spell, got it. Still, they were watching his shadow like they knew what was there." With a sigh, she turned away from him. Riker had been in her life for as long as she could remember. Her brother, Bruce, disappeared when she and Riker were ten all they had was each other. They had the dragons, but they were, after all, dragons. "Come on, let's go distribute this stuff." She gestured to the bag and climbed aboard Shadow.

"Sure thing, Captain Bossy." He threw her a salute and scrambled up onto Flower's back.

"Oh shut up, let's go."

They took off, heading for the village. Her mind was still on her brother, even if she didn't want to think about him, he was still there in her head.

Riker's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "There it is!"

She glanced down, smiling at the villagers below as they dropped closer to the ground. Though she knew they couldn't see her, she still smiled all the same.

Riker was dumping the contents of the sack to the ground. This was one of the poorer villages, children in rags waved as their parents collected the items they dropped. They may not see the dragons because of the spell, but they knew who was gifting them with the supplies they dropped. They never gifted villages with the items they stole unless they spoke with whoever was in charge of the village beforehand. They needed to be certain the people would accept the gifts and they also wanted to know that the officials weren't going to turn them over to the king's Royal Guard. It was for not only their safety but that of the village as well. As long as they knew one another and trusted one another the relationship worked.

Galileo looked from her well worn clothes and black, hooded cloak, to Riker. He was dressed in an old shirt, a leather vest and pants, his sheath at his side. They weren't much better off than the villagers.

The adults below waved their thanks, children cheered before running inside to unwrap the packages they'd received.

They turned their dragons away from the village, flying back toward the small hollow where their home was. After they landed, they slid off the dragon's backs, walking toward the little cottage. The dragons made their way to the spot they shared at night, curling up close to one another.

Riker slung an arm over her shoulders, the small home they shared contained a large living room, a kitchen, bathroom, and three bedrooms upstairs. One for her, one for Riker and one for her brother who was never coming home.