A Roll of the Dice

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

When Vineet had calmed down, he was presented with a new problem. He had a shawl now thanks to Mr. Jorkien. It will prevent him from freezing in the upper atmosphere. But what about his legs? It was not like he could use the shawl for both sitting and wrapping around himself. He looked to the dragon to see if he was going to make more stuff. But the dragon apparently thought it was enough as he just sat down once again.

"Sorry to disturb you again Mr. Jorkien but this shawl will only protect me from the cold. Can you please create another one to spread on your back?", asked Vineet.

"I see your point Brand. But this fine magic is really troublesome for me. I am a male dragon of fire heritage. I am good with destructive magic. You know, the loud and explosive kind. Now, if I had been a female dragon, I could have made you all the clothes you wanted in a jiffy. But I am afraid you will have to do with this shawl for now."

Vineet looked at the shawl and then at the dragon. The back of his thighs had already started aching from the thought of sitting on those hard scales. Not to mention his precious nuts. He would be unable to have any babies if he rode the dragon for any period of time. There was only one thing he could think of. It was stupid, but it was feasible.

He will have to be carried by the dragons. In his claws.

"Mr. Jorkien. Thank you for the shawl. It is magnificent."

The dragon looked pleased with his words.

"But I won't be able to ride you and also cover myself with this single piece of clothing. So I have an idea. I will roll myself up in this shawl and you can carry me in your claws. Since I will be in the shawl, I will be protected from the sharpness of your claws if you hold me at just the right pressure. This way I won't be cold and my body parts will remain with me for the whole journey."

Mr. Jorkien considered this for a moment but then agreed to the plan. He got up and lifted his left leg.

Vineet took a deep breath. He then laid himself at one end of the shawl and started to roll himself in. When he was done, he was covered from shoulders to mid-thigh in the shawl. It would have to do.

Mr. Jorkein put his claws at the middle portion of his body and closed them. Anyone looking at the scene would have thought the dragon was going to have a human roll for breakfast. But Mr. Jorkien was very delicate with Vineet when he started to lift him up. Vineet released the breath he had been holding. It seemed the dragon had more control of his limbs than his magic.

When they both had made sure that they were comfortable and no one was going to be squished or slipping out of anywhere anytime soon, the dragon spread his wings. Now, this was going to be tricky. Normally, the dragon would launch with the help of all his legs. But this time he will have to make do with only three without putting any force on the left leg.

The dragon gathered his balance and then with a huge standing jump propelled himself into the sky. They were thrown a bit to the right but soon after, the dragon started beating his wings and corrected himself. They started to rise towards the sky at a steady pace. In only a few minutes they had reached around thirty thousand feet. From this vantage point, the grassy plain looked like the canvas of a painter who had only ever studied green. Most of it was the bright green of vibrant nature. But here and there it was broken up by patches of dark green, marking places of flora other than the grass. As they flew east towards the sun, the landscape remained unchanged.

But Vineet was unaware of all this for the moment. Every positive thought he had rallied in support of his idea had been left on the ground with most of his guts when the dragon took flight. He had flown in airplanes before and the abrupt landings were nothing new to him. But the takeoffs had always been smooth. Not this one.