Dragons Rising ✔️

Ch 16: The Start of a New Day

I eventually slipped off to sleep again, and after what felt like only a few seconds of poor sleep, my alarm orb woke me up at the crack of dawn. It screamed shrilly, waking Leera up as well. I was glad she hadn't left again. Then she crushed my alarm orb with her claws, and I was slightly less glad. It whined to a stop as I got out of bed.

"Bad dragon." I waved a finger at her, too tired to do anything else. She growled and thrashed her tail, but I ignored her. Breakfast was in half an hour, so I didn't have much time to get ready. After last night, I would've preferred to go back to sleep, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter, at least not if I wanted to eat.

I scrambled to get ready, briefly checking the dress code before throwing on one of the daily uniforms—black pants and a blue-gray shirt with long sleeves. There were patches on the shoulders that each had a multi-colored flying horse on them. I brushed my hair and pulled it up into a ponytail, using a black hair band that wouldn't break the dress code.

After putting on a pair of black work boots, I hurried downstairs and into one of the bathrooms to brush my teeth. When I saw myself in the mirror, several things caught my eye. First to draw my attention was a squiggly white mark on my forehead that was the same as the one on Leera's. I'd seen a Rider's Mark in a book before, but actually seeing it on my own skin was something else. They appeared wherever dragon and rider first touched during the joining. Usually that was on the hand for the rider, but I guessed that was just another thing that made me stick out.

Once I'd gotten over how strange it was to have a Rider Mark, I realized my necklace and tail scarves both violated the dress code. I'd worn them both for as long as I could remember. It was hard to imagine going a day without wearing them, much less going the rest of my time at the Academy without them. Still, the no jewelry rule was probably a good idea. After all, I didn't want to break my necklace during training. As for the tail scarves, I'd only worn them out of habit. It would be a relief to go without them.

I finished up in the bathroom and hurried upstairs to get Leera ready. When I went in my room, I saw that she had disappeared again. I rushed into the hallway and ran to the hangar room. Sarafin and Raven were already waiting in there with their dragons. Leera was there as well.

"Come." I gestured for her to walk out into the hall.

She bared her fangs and growled softly.

"Come on, I don't have all day." When she still didn't move, I reluctantly retrieved her saddle from my room and dragged it all the way back to her. She stood still while I put it on her, but she didn't kneel, which the whole process a lot more difficult.

"Our first day, so exciting!" Liz skipped into the room with her violent dragon, followed by Tawny and BlueIsle. Both of them had their mounts kneel before climbing on their backs like they'd done it a million times before.

"Mount your dragon, and let's head out," Sarafin instructed.

Everyone except me was already in their saddles and waiting for me. I was keenly aware of them watching me as I vainly tried to get Leera to lay down by whispering "kneel." When she didn't, I resorted to climbing up her tail and onto her back. The others gave me some strange looks. Leera did too, turning her head to peer at me over her shoulder.

Sarafin led the way out of the hangar room, followed by Raven and Tawny. After Liz had gone out, I tapped Leera's sides with my heels to get her to leave. I felt her muscles tense beneath me moments before she bolted outside. We plummeted five heart-stopping feet before she spread her wings just short of the ground. The stop was so fast that my forehead smacked into her saddle's handles. Head buzzing, I reached for her reins.

They flapped in my face as she sped upward, but I couldn't pry my fingers off the saddle's handles to grab them. In seconds, my house mates were smaller than ants on the backs of dogs to, but Leera kept going. I could hardly breathe because of the fear compressing my chest.

While we were still flying almost vertical, she closed her wings, and we started falling backwards. I gripped the saddle's handles so hard that my knuckles creaked as the ground rushed up to turn us into so much pounded flesh. This was it. She was going to kill both of us.

Leera flung her wings out. I hit my head so hard against the saddle's handles that I passed out for a few seconds. When I came to, Leera was landing gently on the ground by the others, who had also landed. Raven put a hand over her mouth, but I could tell she was smiling. The other three actually looked worried. Leera promptly sat down, and I slid to the ground, barely avoiding her spines. She took off a second later.

"Are you injured?" Tawny asked.

I pounded the ground with a hot fist before standing. "I'm fine." I dug my nails into my palms to keep my hands from igniting.

"You could ride with me," Liz offered.

I shook my head and started marching away from the house. "If she wants me to walk, I guess I'll be walking." Sooner or later, I would find the dining pavilion. They'd shown us where it was last night during the tour. It wasn't too far.