Dragon Riders

Chapter 24: Fears Realized

Serafina POV:

When the sun reached it's highest point, everyone had checked in with Iris. "Aspen, Serafina, Orion, and Cade will lead the group and Shade and I will take the rear." She made eye contact with me. In her deep blue eyes I could see fear eating at her, but excitement and eagerness fighting it with a passion. She nodded then made eye contact with Aspen; judging by her thoughts, she experienced a similar feeling emanating from Iris. We started up the mountain, with Cade and Orion on our tails. We decided not to fly because a flock of a hundred Dragons would seem very suspicious. Viys were also not going to ride on us Teffs, because they didn't want to wear us out.

"Hello," a small voice called. I turned to my left to see Gwen walking there.

"Hey Gwen!" I enthused. Aspen had found Iris as a best friend; I had found Gwen.

"Hey! I met someone this morning on the way to Jix!" She informed me. "She is a new Teff as of two weeks ago. She got pulled into this giant conflict as a new Teff and so did her Viy!"

"Wow!" I stated.

"You want to meet her? And Aspen, you want to meet her Viy?" We both agreed and we were joined by a Water Dragon. She had no horns and her scales were not bumpy. She was entirely smooth. Her wings were webbed and so were her back feet. Her tail was very long and thick. Her long neck curled and her head bent downwards. Her muscles flexed as she casually strode towards us,

Beside her walked a boy about Aspen's age. He was quite tall and had black hair that, according to Aspen, flipped just the right way. He had nearly lime green eyes and a tan complexion. When they reached us, they introduced themselves.

"I am called Maya," the Water Dragon told us. "This is my Viy, Lazaro." She gestured to the, according to Aspen, devilishly handsome boy at her side.

"I am called Serafina," I introduced myself. "This is my Viy, Aspen." Cade and Aspen were holding hands and walking in between myself and Orion. She waved the hand that was not occupied then turned back to Cade, who, apparently, was still much more handsome than Lazaro.

"And you?" Maya looked at Orion. "What are you called?" Maya was walking beside Gwen who was beside me. With such a distance between her and Orion, she had to stretch her long neck forward to make eye contact.
"I am called Orion," he replied smoothly. "This is my Viy, Cade." He gestured at the couple walking between us. Cade raised his hand at the pair then went back to talking to Aspen.

"Where were you all when Tura fell?" I struck up a conversation.

"We were in Del!" Maya replied happily. "We had just had our first mental conversation when Shade's bolt flashed in the distance." As she started this story, Lazaro set in stride next to Cade. Aspen tugged Eli along next to them. Both her hands were now occupied. I hoped to God that Cade and Lazaro would become friends. Aspen agreed with me mentally. Maya continued, "We asked a Teff about to take off what was going on and they explained all Teffs and Viys were to report to Beliu. We explained that we had just had a conversation with our minds and they instructed us to follow them. Lazaro hopped on me and we came straight here."

"Well," Lazaro continued he train of thought. "You know what happened after that! How about you all, Aspen and Serafina?" We told our story for about the millionth time. "So," he turned to Cade. "You weren't a Viy at that point?" Cade shook his head.

"A few days after Shade shot the bolt," Cade explained. "Orion and I had a mental connection. We went to the Queen, who made it official. It was as simple as that!"

"Cool!" Maya interjected. I liked her. She reminded me of a larger, more outgoing Gwen. Clearly, Gwen or Eli must have told their story already because they were not asked by either Lazaro or Maya. For the rest of the day, we casually chatted and got to know each other. Lazaro was great with a bow and arrows and Aspen and Cade immediately began comparing weapons with him. As they chatted, Aspen learned that Lazaro was a fisherman already at the age of seventeen. Much like Eli. All his ancestors were fishermen. It was his destiny, but he was freed from this dreadful existence by Maya. For that, he was very thankful.

Maya informed me that Lazaro was supposed to buy her to help control the tides and to maneuver the current so the fish would be driven towards them. However, she had been freed from this boring routine as well. She was as grateful as Lazaro. Cade and Lazaro began chatting up a storm about scrolls. Apparently they were both scholars first, fighters second. They had a lot in common! They both had two little brothers and a mother who was a seamstress. Among other things, their bows and arrows were identical. They both longed for beauty. I worried that Lazaro might start to fall for Aspen, but Maya read my look somehow and assured me that he was not interested.

When night fell, we stumbled across a series of large caves. There were twenty, so we went five pairs to a cave. In ours was Orion and Cade, Maya and Lazaro, Gwen and Eli, Shade and Iris, and Aspen and I. Iris and Aspen settled on top of me and started whispering. From what I could gather, Aspen thought Iris should totally court with Lazaro. Of course, Iris didn't think so. Eli snuggled against Gwen's wing and quickly dozed off. Maya laid next to me with Gwen on her other side. We continued our conversation about conditions that could come upon us. The journey should only take a week, but we gave ourselves plenty of extra time just in case unforeseen circumstances arose. I turned my head to see Orion and Shade laughing with one another, while Cade and Lazaro were on top of Orion roughhousing. Frankly, I was glad Cade found a male companion; it was about time. Aspen agreed internally.

That night, while we slept, a blizzard raged in the mountains. In the morning. We found the mouth of the cave was entirely blocked by a snowbank. Orion quickly melted the obstacle and we filled our empty canteens in the process. He went from cave to cave melting away the snow. After everyone could exit their cave, they checked in with Iris. Once everyone was together, we set off once more. Shade and Iris took the back again and we took the front. As we walked, we would hear occasional distant thuds. Of course, we weren't concerned; most of the creatures in Sci were quite peaceful.

We started to get anxious when the thuds became more frequent and closer. After an hour or so, I heard a loud sound just to my left. I looked up and saw only a cliff. I quickly abandoned the idea that came to me, but another resounding thud pulled it back to the forefront of my mind. I hesitantly looked up and saw what I had feared. Aspen was looking at it as well. There weren't ten or twenty. There were hundreds crawling over the ledge and sliding down. We surveyed the area and found they were coming from all sides. We were trapped.