Reyr the Gold (Dragonwall Series # 2)

Chapter 48 - Training as a Rider

Fort Squall

Tamara took a slow, deep breath—the deepest she had ever taken. She needed a lot of air for what she was about to do. She also needed courage.

"A fall of trust is always frightening for the first time," Byron tried to tell her many times before they had agreed upon it. Perhaps he thought his words were reassuring. The truth was, nothing Byron could say short of, "Never mind, don't do this," would erase her fears. Besides, she had to do this! If she wanted to begin her training, she could not progress without completing the first set of drills.

She looked down and swallowed hard. Beneath her, she could see nothing more than green and brown blurs. The color was endless, kissing the sky in all directions. Their height in the sky was spectacular and terrifying all at once, and it made it impossible to discern anything beyond the landscape's color. In a way, that was good. If she saw the ground—truly saw it—things would be different. She certainly wouldn't do what she was about to do.

She crouched in the dip of Byron's neck where it met his back. The warmth of his scales radiated through her clothing. As instructed, she kept her body scrunched tightly in a ball. Her hands held nothing more than a single neck spike. The downward strokes of Byron's enormous wings kept them fairly stationary—an accomplishment that should have been impossible.

"Remember, wait until my wings reach their highest. That will be your moment." As Byron said this, her racing heart pounded fiercely against her insides. This was it. Time to act! With all the focus she could find, she watched Byron's wings as they completed their downward stroke.

As his wings moved upward, time slowed. She watched each instant in time as if it were a frozen moment. Her mind sharpened and she braced herself.

"I will be right beside you." Byron's final thought was the last thing she perceived as his wings reached their highest position. Riders called it high point. Without hesitation, she sprang from his back as if she were jumping from a cliff into water. As her legs pushed her upwards, she felt Byron's mind for one last moment before their contact was severed. Her body sailed upwards into nothing. A floating feeling took her. Then her body changed direction. She began falling. She saw the land again and panicked. Without the warm contact of Byron's mind, terror seized her. All she had left was trust...

Trust falls were the first drills required of Dragonwall's Drengr-Rider pairs. They were meant to be completed before aerial training—no exceptions. To Tamara's absolute dismay, they were exactly as they sounded. Like every Rider, she was required to fall from Byron's back before getting swept to safety.

The drill was meant to reenact a worst-case scenario. Occasionally a Rider's harness might break, or a rider might be trying some epic feat in the sky and somehow fall. It happened. Thus, the Rider and Drengr needed to be ready.

For trust fall drills, depending on the Rider's orientation, the Drengr might be forced to snatch the Rider to safety in his claws. Or, if the Rider was positioned just right, a Drengr could swoop up beneath. Trained Riders accomplished the latter with ease, regaining their stance on their Drengr's back.

For the sake of completing this particular drill, the metric was straightforward. Tamara would earn a pass if she completed the fall without fear. That was the sole purpose of the drill. After all, if a Rider feared falling, how could that Rider focus on aerial maneuvers performed during training?

When Tamara next opened her frightened eyes, she began to come to terms with what she saw. The ground was still far below. All she could feel was the wind screaming past her ears. She felt as if she were isolated and alone. It was the strangest sensation imaginable, falling through the sky unhindered.