Young Dragonblood

Prologue

You ran through the green leafed forest, branches lashing at your face, stinging it with red welts. Tree roots threatened to trip you up at every step, but the threat behind you was greater. Hunters with nets and crossbows, a mean glint in their eyes and a determined set to their jaw. They, three of them, had sprung out from the undergrowth while you were sitting at your campfire, roasting a trout over the flames. They demanded you come with them and when you refused one had sighted through the viewfinder of his crossbow, aiming right at you. You had ran, that was the only thing you could have done when your instincts told you fight or flight. You had struggled through the bushes that lined the small glade you had called your home for the past four months, then sprinted past trees of pine, oak and cedar. Deep into the forest you ran, paths that you knew so well suddenly becoming enemies in your panic. With every step you could hear the thump of boots gaining, the heavy breathing of someone who was not used to running. The bright sky only hindered your sight, flashing into your eyes when you momentarily flitted from the shadows. 
    Still they came, the hunters. Gaining with every second. Only ten minutes had passed, but to you and your ragged breathing it felt like a lifetime. Why were they chasing you? What had you done? Were hunters hunting people now?
    Your trembling legs couldn't be trusted anymore. Your foot caught under a treacherous root, sending you flying a yard ahead. Stones that you had once toyed with cut the palms of your hands, the sharp edges tearing skin like it was paper. 
    The sound of a crossbow caused you to cover your head with your arms and curl up into the foetal position. Any moment now the sharp metal point would pierce you, the force of it agony. You could hear the arrow whistling through the air, sounding like a death cry of a bird. 
    But it never found its mark. 
    A blast of fire destroyed the arrow in mid flight, the heat scorching you. A dark shadow passed over you and a thump followed it, like the sound of a giant cat landing. Your E/C eyes wide you looked up at black scales and forest green eyes, feeling the vibrations of the dragon's low growl. Even in this panicked state you could tell this dragon, this Night Fury, was different. 
    It snarled at the hunter that was approaching and jerked its head at you, almost as if to say, “Get on.” You didn't move, your muscles frozen. It nudged you hurriedly, its eyes flicking from the hunter to you. 
    You glanced at the hunter, laying eyes on the crossbow she was holding, and shakily rolled into a crouch. Did you trust this dragon? It had just turned up, out of nowhere. Could it be in league with them, the hunters? The look in the hunter's eye told otherwise. 
    You climbed onto the Night Fury's back, your breathing quick. You had been near dragons before, Nadders, Rumblehorns, Scouldrons, Night Terrors, but never on a dragon, let alone the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. 
    You were nearly flung off when the dragon turned and sprang away, only your wildly flailing arms saved you as you grabbed its ears. The Fury ran fast, a squeaking that you couldn't place following it. Dodging trees, branches, bushes. Then it leapt into a small clearing and took to the air, powerful black wings taking it and you up into the grey sky. You gingerly looked over your shoulder, hanging on tight to the dragon's ears. The hunter was standing in the clearing, the crossbow dangling from her hand, gazing up at her retreating prey with cyan irises. Now that you were out of the immediate danger your brain sparked with memory. You knew that hunter, but from where...