The Dragons' Crystal

Chapter Fifteen

In all my dreams I had ever had as a child, flying had never been one that made it very far. Flying was something that was long ago deemed impossible by many people all across the world. It was unheard of for a human to fly. It was only for birds and bugs. Things like becoming a mermaid, finding lucky charms, or suddenly becoming royalty all had been things I had deemed somewhat likely when I was young. I had memories of jumping in the river and wishing with all my might that my feet would bind together and make a tail, or how I would chase rabbits throughout the yard in hopes of catching one of their feet. When mother left me alone in my room at night, if I couldn't sleep, I'd grab books from my shelf and place them upon my head. I'd  pretend knights were stopping by the house to take mother and I to our rightful home, as father had secretly been a far away king! The memories brought a smile to my face, but directly after caused me to wince. Despite my imagination, flying had never been one that came up.

Yet, here I was!

It was far more beautiful than I had first thought. All the villages we past looked like a child's toys scattered around. Animals and people moving around were more like specs. Birds flew with us, twirling and spinning around Darius' form. I had even dared to reach out and touch the feathers of one. 

The air was colder higher up, but I didn't mind. The experience was far worth it. Darius soared high into the sky, allowing me to reach my hands up and run my fingers through the clouds. To my surprise, my hand passed directly through it. I had always thought clouds were solid, yet seconds ago had proved otherwise. I wonder if Darius knew.

The trip was over far too soon for my liking. 

I laughed as Darius began to dive down, causing my stomach to flip around. It had frightened me when it first happened, but I was learning to love the way it felt. It was strange and new. I could see the mountain up ahead. Just as Darius had said, the waterfall was completely frozen over. It poured into a lake directly in front of it, large boulders scattered around the edges of the water. Each was covered in a thick layer of snow. Some snow covered the frozen lake, animal prints coating it from one side to the other.

When we landed, I carefully slid down Darius' tail. I felt wobbly to be on the ground again, only stumbling a little. I watched in awe how Darius was able to so easily transform back into his normal self. He reached a hand out. "My pack, if I may? It isn't fair for you to carry both." 

I offered him his pack again. "That was magnificent! Does it feel like that every time you fly?" I took a moment to look back into the skies. It was hard to believe that only minutes ago we had been up in the air among the clouds and birds. 

"Just about. I've gotten used to it, but it'll be fun to see how you adapt to it." Darius threw the leather bag over his shoulders. "We'll be doing that a lot now." With a grin, he faced the waterfall. "I've never been here before, but the village is supposed to be behind the waterfall. Let's go see if they were telling the truth." With the tiniest of hand motions, Darius began walking ahead.

I stepped in his footprints in the snow, looking over the sparkling waterfall as we went along. When I had first taken this journey, I would have never believed the things I was going to see. This waterfall was breath-taking. I wondered what beauty it brought when it was summer and the water flowed freely. I made a mental note to come back when the time came. With no one living in the village, supposedly, I didn't think anyone would mind if I visited again. 

I followed Darius to the ledge between the pool of frozen water, the waterfall, and the rock the waterfall came off of. It was thin and stony, just enough room for a person's foot. We carefully walked sideways through it, left with a huge hole underneath the fall. The other end was covered by hanging leaves, but that didn't stop us.