Skye Uprising [Hiatus]

Chapter Five - Town

Skye

After making the scorched hay comfortable and straightening the place up, Lukas approached me and motioned for me to follow. "When we enter town you have to either have a lead or I have to be riding you. Since I don't have a saddle yet we'll have to compromise with a lead," He said, roping a piece of leather around my horns that then slid down to my neck.

The leather was rough and uncomfortable, and I snorted in complaint when he slipped a metal bar between my sharp front teeth.

"This is uncomfortable and demeaning," I told him grumpily, scratching at the leather. It slid over my scales as I walked, scuffing them and leaving scratches on the once smooth, blue surface.

"I can melt this whatever it is you put in my mouth, you realize this, right..?" I asked, spitting it out in distaste as the metal spilled its flavor into my mouth.

Lukas just put it back in and stated "I know, but it's the best I can do right now, and you only have to wear it into town until the saddle is made. While we're there I'll get a test saddle and a better lead, promise." With that he attached a length of rope to the lead and started off with me following behind grumpily.

"Looks like your dragon isn't too pleased there, Luk," Matt teased. Lukas stuck his tongue out at him and said,

"I know, she doesn't like the lead, but I'm taking her to get a saddle fitted." I nodded my heavy head and we continued down the dirt path. This time we took a right, heading into town instead of towards the clearing where different growls and roars were heard.

As we entered town Lukas led me towards a building with smoke pouring out of it. A squat, elder man walked out with a broad piece of metal on a handle in his hand.

"Saddle I presume? You're the fifth one today," The man said, his voice deep and gruff. Lukas nodded and gave the man the rope attached to my lead. I looked at him, my eyes wide, but he followed behind me as the elder man led me inside and into a large room.

"Now, lie down, spread your wings out, and make sure to keep your head up," The man told me. I spread my wings out as far as the room would allow, but the ends had to be folded in, and my tail curled towards the end. The room was large for one that was inside, but not large enough for me to fully sprawl out in like the outside enclosure that Lukas had me staying in.

The man walked up my tail and held up a length of marked leather around me, writing measurements and such. I growled lightly as he tugged on one of my spikes a bit too hard.

"Feisty I see. She'll need a new saddle every so often, as her breed grows rather quickly. I recommend a custom saddle, as her measurements don't fit any that are made at the moment. Something that will let you see over her, and with storage space. Maybe even something that armor can fit onto," He suggested. I simply rested my head on the ground and looked at Lukas with a bored expression. I wanted to be in and out of here as fast as possible, this guy was starting to annoy me. Lukas simply gave me a sympathetic look and told the man

"Whatever you suggest." The man nodded and tallied up the price.

"It'll be around ten gold bars, but... seeing as though she's a nice looking dragon, and your first I'll lower it to about six, sound good?" He asked, not looking up from his math. Lukas nodded and the man set to work. After walking out, he led me to another building, this one with all sorts of leads, most very small.

"Hello, can I help yo- Gods, that's a big dragon..." The shopkeeper hid behind the counter.

"She needs a lead, something more comfortable and fitting than what she has now," Lukas said, pride in his voice. I melted the metal bar in my mouth and cut the leather with my claws. Man, that thing was annoying. The shop keeper took note

"No metal bit, I take..." I nodded my wide head and lowered it to the ground. She approached me slowly, a length of leather like the saddle maker had in her hand.

"May I..?" She asked nervously, fear scent swamping around her. I puffed a small bit of smoke out playfully and she held the leather up to my head and muzzle, taking notes like the saddle maker. Once she was done she slipped the lead around my neck and put a circle of leather around my muzzle, forcing it closed. Nope. I growled and shook my head, trying to get the leather off of my muzzle. Lukas tried to calm me down, putting his hands on my head to stop my thrashing. I snorted, displeased.

"What's wrong, Skye?" He asked, "Is it uncomfortable, or too small, or what?"

I growled and responded, "I don't like not being able to open my mouth. What if I need to protect you? I'd have to break through the leather, which would take forever." He nodded and turned to the shopkeeper, whose eyes were wide.

"She doesn't like the mouth part, maybe something that just went around her neck and horns?" Lukas asked kindly. The shop keeper brought out another lead, one with two long loops attached to a larger one. she strung the large one around my neck, the bottom fitting just above my crest, and the other two loops she fit around my horns. I turned my head from side to side to see if it caused any mobility limitations, and moved my neck and forelegs to see if it scuffed any. I let out a soft, pleased roar which caused both humans to smile.

Lukas payed for the lead and took up the rope once more, leading us back out of town. Once the city limits were crossed I yanked the rope out of Lukas's hand, causing him to look at me, confused. I grinned at him and picked him up on the bridge of my nose once more, walking faster than I did before. He let out whoops and yells of excitement, even standing up before the speed knocked him down between my eyes again. As we neared the end of the path I let Lukas off. He told me to go around the house, that he was going to play a trick on Matt and for me to play along. I grinned evilly and circled to the back side of the house. Then the sound of a door closing was heard and Matt's voice asking "Where's that dragon of yours?"

"She ran away... She decided not to be a rider dragon..." He said sadly.

"Well then, let's hope that she doesn't prey on us first!" Matt said jokingly. "C'mon, little bro, you only had her for a few hours, how attached could you be?"

"I'm just worried, she looked really mad when she left, like she was going to attack someone..." Lukas said. I took that as my cue. I crawled up the side of the house, roaring as loud as I could. I let loose a long jet of fire, careful not to burn down the house at the same time. Matt fell to the ground below me and Lukas laughed. I let out an amused rumble and climbed down, the terrified male clawing to get up, unable to speak. At this Lukas let out another laugh, and I righted the male with my nose. He growled something about getting us back and stormed inside the small house, leaving another fit of laughs from my rider as he did so.

"We got him good, don't ya' think, Skye?" He asked me in between laughs. I rumbled in agreement. "We'd better get some rest, the saddle should be done tomorrow, and I want to take you somewhere," Lukas told me, to which I complied happily by walking into the scorched enclosure. As I burned the ashes once more to get them warm and curled my tail around my legs, I felt scrabbling on my foremost. I opened one heavy, golden eye and looked to see Lukas curled up on my foreleg sleeping. I let out a content puff of smoke and closed my eyes, drifting off to blackness.