"Next target located, do you have a lock, Blue Beta?"
"Yes – no! Overshot it. I'd like to put in a formal complaint."
"About what?"
"To trade in my dragon for a better breed."
Artemis shifted her grip on the saddle bars. Silver scales rippled in front of her nose, muscles flexing and contracting beneath. Excitement flushed her cheeks.
Being airborne was as natural as walking.
She perched on her dragon's back with her chest flush to the saddle, legs buckled in against the beast's shoulders. Her helmet pressed against her temples and cheeks, the wind whistling through the gaps in her visor.
A shiver rattled her spine and clenched Artemis's stomach a split second after she spotted the next loop.
The ocean tossed and churned a thousand feet below, salt thick in the air.
She tightened her grip on the bars, metal and leather pinching her palms. She moved seamlessly with her steed, as they tucked in their wings and barrel rolled through the glowing, runecaste loop. The symbols flashed in their wake, shifting green into red.
A sonorous call tore from her dragon's elegant jaw, resonating in Artemis's chest. Her ribs rattled, with her own roar.
The world spun over and over, blue and green blurring with the sun and clouds. Then the blue consumed her sight. A rippling, churning expanse as deep and dark as the night sky, looming closer and closer still.
Artemis lived for this.
Adrenaline pounding in her heart.
Tightening her thighs, she dug her heels into the dragon's flanks.
Wings snapped open like sails, jerked out of their scaly cyclone. The tips of her dragon's claws bit the waves, water droplets and rainbows shimmering in the air.
"Stop blaming your dragon and hit the next target," Artemis ordered, around a grin stretched from ear to ear. The crystal-com unit in her helmet crackled, warping her partner's irritated response.
"Tell that to Kasmira," he complained, as if his dragon never threw a tantrum after he left her for weeks on end.
"Four years, Tobi. You should have her under control." The word tasted foul in Artemis's mouth. Dragons were intelligent, often more so than her fellow cadets, if people just listened.
"Says you," he griped. "Zarisal actually does what you want her to."
"Because I listen to her."
"I listen plenty. Kas just hates me."
Considering their history, Artemis couldn't blame him. Cometwings were a stubborn bunch, but it seemed Kasmira was triply so just to spite her cadet.
Muscles flexed and strained beneath Artemis, the familiar drop in her stomach returning as Zarisal bore her through the air. They hung back as Tobi led his dragon towards a loop half-submerged in the churning ocean. His curses filtered through her helmet, wrangling his cantankerous dragon through the loop.
Kasmira dipped low, her broad wingtips slicing through the ocean and soaked her cadet. Sunlight reflected off her opal white hide and coloured wings, blues and purples mixed with red. Artemis didn't need to use her senses to know she did it on purpose.
Satisfied her partner was semi in control, Artemis turned her Cometwing's attention on the final loop.
Zarisal dipped her left wing, the leathery surface glimmered with reds and greens; she circled around even as her head craned back toward the open sky.
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Guild Meisters & Dragon Riders | Book 1: The Vygerists
FantasyThe Guilds serve the people, offering their magic at a formidable price. When the cost is too high, Taran turns to the rebels for aid. As he joins their ranks, he uncovers more than he could ever hope for. Ranks at his back and power in his hands, T...
