Battle Scars | Book 1 (DISCONTINUED)

Ch. 17: Reunion

The minute she woke up, Alice instantly regret sleeping on the floor. Her back hurt like hell and she was freezing, as Flash had rolled away from her in his sleep and had taken away her source of warmth.

"Damn it..." she groaned, grabbing onto Flash's side to help her sit up. The Flightmare growled, his electric blue eyes fluttering open. As she sat up, Alice could feel a pair of eyes on her, but it wasn't her dragon. Looking up, she noticed Ellith was sitting up in her bed reading something and was staring at her with a confused expression.

"Good morning," the blonde haired girl yawned, rubbing her eyes.

"Didn't you have anywhere else to sleep?" Ellith asked, sounding a bit concerned. "That... couldn't have been good for your back..."

"I'll be fine," Alice stretched her arms and then stood up. "I've slept through worse." She remembered the cramped bunkers she had to sleep in on Brenna's ship.

Flash grumbled as he rolled over onto his stomach, lazily standing up and wobbling for a moment before yawning and stumbling out the room, most likely on the look for food. Alice rolled her eyes as she heard him let out a pathetic whine when he found out his bucket of algae was empty.

"I have to go get breakfast for Flash," she sighed, but before she left she turned towards Ellith one more time. "Are you feeling better?"

As if on cue, the girl sneezed into her blanket. "A little. But I think I might have a cold."

"Just stay here and rest, then." Alice said, walking towards the door. "Gothi should wake up soon-"

"Wait," Ellith began to slowly slide off the bed. The other Viking stopped and looked back at her as she managed to get up onto her feet, but not without wobbling a little. "I want to go see my dragon. Where is she?"

"At the stables," Alice replied. "But you should really-"

"I'm fine." Ellith snapped, but realized her harsh tone of voice and calmed down a little. "I just... I need to make sure Sticky is okay."

Alice gave her a look of sympathy. She couldn't even imagine what those two had gone through, so it was no wonder she wanted to see Sticky right away. She knew she would be the same way if it was Flash in this situation. Sighing reluctantly, she held the door open for Ellith. "Okay, we'll bring you to her."

The other rider's eyes widened, and she smiled slightly. She nodded in thanks and rushed out the door, immediately hopping onto Flash's back. The Flightmare screeched in confusion, ready to throw Ellith off until Alice ran up to him and calmed him down. She climbed on in front of Ellith, leading Flash outside before he took off clumsily, not used to carrying two people on his back at the same time. After a second or two he gained his balance and got used to the feeling, starting to fly normally again. Alice was completely fine, but Ellith on the other hand struggling to hold on.

Feeling someone grab onto her shoulders, Alice looked behind her and saw Ellith nervously staring beneath them. She opened her mouth to speak, but the other rider spoke up first.

"S-sorry, this is just really different from riding a Deathsong..."

"It's fine," Alice reassured her, then leaned down towards Flash's head. "Bud, can you fly a bit slower?"

Grumbling in annoyance a little, Flash went into a slow glide, the wind softly brushing over his wings and gently blowing the two Vikings' hair. His feet connected with the ground and he folded his wings close to his sides, allowing the two girls to slide off. The moment Ellith looked up, her jaw dropped at the sheer size of the stables.

"Wow. It was much smaller when I still lived on Berk..." she commented quietly as they went inside. "The entire island looks so... different. It's almost unrecognizable to me."