Why was no one diving towards her? Why was no one helping? If there was ever a time to rush, this was it! Savette couldn’t have more than a few minutes before her grip broke and she fell. Raolcan? Can you help? Please, please help her!
The wind intensified, battering at me so that I had to redouble my grip and shut my eyes against the intensity.
Now.
I opened my eyes. What was he talking about?
Below you.
He was there, hovering below me. The pit of my stomach felt like it was dropping through my knees to complete First Flight without me. Here was my chance.
I could do this.
I couldn’t do this.
I was frozen. My hands refused to relax and my leg was stiff from clamping so hard around the bench.
I won’t drop you.
But Eeamdor had dropped Savette, and those other dragons had dropped their people. A bond prevented direct harm but the magic didn’t extend to accidents.
Trust me.
How could I trust anyone? There was no one who took care of Amel Leafbrought except Amel Leafbrought.
I will have to trust you, too. After all, you are the one who will command my entire future. The least you can do is entrust your physical safety to me.
If I was going to trust him, then I needed to so it now. A sliver of gold lit the edge of the horizon. Dawn was coming.
Don’t make me sorry I chose you.
I couldn’t allow myself to listen to the voice in my mind listing all the reasons this was foolishness and demanding that I rethink it all. My only hope was to trust and take the chance. I swung my good leg around so that both legs were free to leap. I let go of the rope with one hand, wiping my sweaty palm on my soaked clothes. I took a deep breath.
Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t think. Don’t close your eyes.
I dropped.
Air rushed past, drying out my open eyes. Everything seemed to slow, as I turned into the fall, belly down, arms thrust before me to lessen the impact when I met him. He was below me, hovering somehow. He seemed too small to land on. What if I missed him? What if I was knocked loose like Savette? My heart was in my throat. Was that me screaming?
Suddenly, he was all I could see. I let myself fall into him, gripping anything I could grab the second my hands found purchase. My face pressed against his scales and my good leg found the stirrup. I needed to sit up and strap in, but he was moving so much: up and down, side to side. I thought I was going to be sick again. He didn’t feel firm beneath me. Instead, he bobbed like the ferry on the river, like he was supported by water.
I have to move to compensate for you. You aren’t’ balancing yourself. Strap in.
I swallowed hard, fear making me whimper a little as I felt with one hand for the strap, my cheek still pressed against his scales. Irrational as it may be, I felt safer pressed against him.
I grabbed the strap and wrapped it single-handed around my waist. The buckle would require two hands. I clenched my teeth hard, gripped the belt with one hand and brought the other around to grip the other side, buckling myself clumsily into the saddle. How did anyone get used to this? The harness slid on easily once the waist strap was bucked and I sat up.
Hold on tight if you want to help your friend.
He dove so suddenly that I cried out, my fingers splayed against his scaly back and my hair rushing behind me. I hadn’t bound it back tonight. I should have thought of something but I’d been too worried.
There was the Red dragon, spiraling slowly towards the rocks. Savette still struggled, trying to pull herself into the saddle but her movements lacked the vigor of earlier. She was losing the fight. They were both going down. Raolcan’s dive was so fast it was almost magical, and then he changed the shape of his wings so they were cupping the air and we slowed to settle beside the Red dragon. He tipped to one side, bringing me close to Savette as he moved his wings in a complicated pattern that kept us hovering beside the other dragon. Something was wrong with Eeamdor’s reins. He was tangled in them. That explained some of the problem.
I locked gazes with Savette and her eyes were so wide I thought she must not even see me.
“Grab my hand!” I held it out to her, but she didn’t dare take it. If only Raolcan could get us closer. And then we were – as he read my thoughts. He dipped a little lower and I grabbed Savette around the waist, pushing her upward until she could scramble into the saddle. She belted in as I worked on Eeamdor’s knotted reins.
“I don’t know how they tangled. I was leaping and then he was hurt.” She sounded rattled, and no wonder.
Get him free fast. We’re running out of time.
The rocks below us were growing closer as we fell, Eeamdor still too enmeshed to right himself. There wasn’t time to sort out the tangled mess.
Knife. In my saddle. Standard equipment.
I felt the edge of the saddle and found a stiff leather pouch, opening it hastily and losing a fabric parcel and a flint as I searched desperately for the knife. There it was. I heard a clatter below us as my abandoned items hit the rocks below. Desperately, I sawed at Eeamdor’s reigns. One cut through. The next cut.
We swooped upward, the Red flying with us, free of his entanglement.
We did it. I breathed a sigh of relief. They were safe.
And I was flying. I hadn’t even had a chance to enjoy it yet. Every bump and swell still put my heart in my throat but exhilaration filled me. I could almost have flown all on my own. No one who did this should be a slave. Certainly not Raolcan.
I trust you, Raolcan.
I trust you, Spider.
Along the horizon, the sun slipped up like it was just a normal day. The clouds of the storm were interspersed with bright blue sky and everything was so wet that it glowed gold in the light of dawn. Something about a dawn made the horrors of the night feel distant. Maybe they were. Maybe I’d end my First Flight to discover that the things I’d seen weren’t what I thought they were. I hoped so, but in this moment, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about what it felt like to fly. Because it was for this that I’d been born and whatever came after could never take this away from me.
From us, Raolcan echoed and I knew that was true - knew it deep to my core. I wasn’t alone in this journey anymore.
READ MORE OF AMEL LEAFBROUGHT’S story in Dragon School: Initiate.
Behind the Scenes:
USA Today bestselling author, Sarah K. L. Wilson, hails from the rocky Canadian Shield in Northern Ontario where she lives with her husband and two small boys. Her interests include the outdoors, history, and philosophy. Her books are always about fantastical adventures in other worlds.
Sarah would like to thank Harold Trammel and Sarah Brown for their incredible work in beta reading and proofreading this book. Without their big hearts and passion for stories, this book would not be the same.
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Visit Sarah’s website for a complete list of available titles.
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