Rainbow Dragon (Dragon Rider #2) | On Hold | Pending Rewrite

Chapter Four: Humans and Dragons

Sora edged nervously around the corner, ignoring the long sigh Oz made behind her. Her eyes darted about, scanning for any form of life as she crept towards the next street junction. The long cloak she wore over her usual one was swishing against the dirty ground, though Sora wasn't all that concerned about it. She was far more worried about anyone seeing her – well, outside of her teammates. Her teammates accepted her, and her weird new appearance. She wasn't sure the rest of the Outer City would be quite so receptive of her dragonish features. Tail swishing nervously, she craned her head around the end of the protective wall hiding her from the last stretch of road leading to the gate they were leaving from.

It wasn't empty.

But the foot that slammed into her back didn't care about that, unlike her. "We haven't got all day, Truant," Oz muttered, scowling as she stumbled forwards, incredibly conscious of the curious glances from the few lingering riders. The cloak might've covered her, but the fact she had a new appendage meant the material bunched in places it wasn't supposed to... for the usual human. If there was anything Sora was learning, it was that she was anything but that. She had slitted eyes, for crying out loud. That practically screamed dragon.

"Don't get your panties in a knot, Oz, I'm getting there," she grumbled, folding her arms across her chest. "I might be slow but—"

She could feel the false cheeriness in his voice when he spoke. "Well, well, Truant... seems a month inside that egg has scrambled what little brains of yours you had left," he said, and Sora knew she was in trouble.

It probably had something to do with the whole 'panties in a knot', she mused. Evidently, her survival instincts had dulled whilst she'd been cocooned inside her egg as her head soon found out.

"Ow, dammit," she mumbled, rubbing the soft fabric covering the spot he'd just graced with his fist. "Do you have to hit so hard?"

The smirk that appeared on his face sent shudders down her spine. "Of course I do, my cute students deserve nothing but the best."

"We could do without that, you know," she said, watching as Raelynn waved them over, a slightly less enthusiastic Silver waiting by her side.

"Nonsense."

Sora sighed, tucking her scaled hands underneath her billowing cloak, hiding them from sight. Her shoulders were slumped, her eyes glued to the ground as they reached her teammates. She felt out of place. The others were all there, faces exposed, cloaks only reaching just past their knees, while she was there swathed in fabric. Her throat felt dry, words refusing to come as she stared blankly at the rest of her team.

"Sora!" Raelynn wrapped her in a hug before she could blink. "About time! I was worried Oz would have to drag you here unconscious."

"That's you, imbecile," Silver muttered, scoffing derisively as Oz rounded them all up, all of them huddling together.

"Right, my cute students," he said, clapping his hands as if to get their attention – not that he needed to. They were all far too aware of what would happen if their mind wandered off topic. "You have a few decisions to make."

Beatrice looked puzzled. "Like what?"

"As I was just about to mention." He smiled sweetly. "Our objective is to track our lovely necromancer's trail, and strangely enough, it starts off in the Marshlands down south. It's fairly hard to access, especially on foot... plus the waters can be fairly deep here and there..."

"I don't get where he's going with this, twin," Eir mumbled. "I don't like the sound of it either..."

"Same, twin... same..."

"If you're done with the inane chatter," Oz said, glaring them into silence. "Let me get to the point then, since none of your puny brains can figure out what I'm getting at."

"Hey!" Raelynn pouted.

Sora didn't even bother to watch the following hit.

"Your dragons aren't old or well-trained enough to undertake a journey like that through the sky... which means they'd have to go on foot for the most part... and possibly be carried at some point..." Oz shrugged. "We're aiming to travel quickly, and ideally as stealthily as we can... plus, in the unfortunate event of a fight, then the less baggage we have, the better."

"Are you calling our dragons baggage?" Raelynn folded her arms, glaring at him.

Sora thought it was like a kitten glaring at a lion.

"Yep," Oz said without a care in the world. "So pick the three you want to accompany you. The other four will stay here at the Nursery and continue their training."

"That's unfair though!" Raelynn grumbled.

Leif glared at her from the corners of his eyes. "Just because you know your useless dragon will be left behind..."

"I vote that we bring Rosa," Silver said, lifting her hand, not bothering to acknowledge the scathing look the little princeling sent her. "She'll be more useful than some title-obsessed moron's dragon."

"You're the best, Sil," Raelynn squealed, leaping towards the alarmed silverette, arms ready for a hug that Silver quickly evaded. "Aww, come on... let me hug you?"

"Not happening, dimwit. Ever."

Eir smirked. "She says that now, eh, twin..."

Eisa chuckled.

"So we've got the baby Salamander," Oz said, listing it off on his fingers. "Who are the other two?"

"If Rosa's coming, Ivana has to too!" Raelynn declared, arms folded. "They work well together."

Oz sighed. "Yeah, when they aren't trying to insult or maim each other..."

"See?" Raelynn smiled smugly.

"OK," he muttered. "We'll take the ankle biters along with us."

"Well, if those two are going," Leif interjected. "That means we have a power type and a speed type... and for the mission we're going on a sensory type would be an excellent addition... which means you should—"

Silver smiled. "Good idea."

"About time someone finally—"

"Callum has a sensory type," Beatrice said, nudging her partner in question. "So we'll take Calla too."

Leif spluttered, scowling at him. "You peasants are all idiots."

"And proud of it." Raelynn grinned.

Silver sighed. "Your idiocy isn't something to be proud of, imbecile."

"Don't be mean, Sil."

Leif rolled his eyes. "Hypocrites... you're being mean to me."

"You deserve it," Beatrice muttered, glaring at the ground darkly as she wrapped an arm around Callum's shoulders. "You keep being mean to my Cal."

"That silver-haired wench always insults you... I don't see why I have to refrain from doing so if she does it... Commoners aren't supposed to have more power than Royals," he said, staring at them haughtily.

"That's Sil-bear's way of expressing her love for us—oof..."

Silver removed her knee from Raelynn's stomach. "Shut. Up. Imbecile."

"And on that note, shall we get a move on?" Oz asked, glancing at each of them in turn. "I've called Ran and told him which of your little fire spitters to bring... so all that's left is to get to the train station. Your little monsters will join us there."

"Don't call Rosa a monster!" Raelynn hissed.

"Shut up and get a move on," Oz grumbled. "If we so happen to miss our train because of all your whinging, then I'm sure you'll be able to guess who's going through an extra special training session with yours truly once we get back."