Racing the Storm

Chapter 8

Thalia regretted not changing when she had the chance. The high altitude and the cool night air, not to mention their current speed, made the wind feel like a thousand tiny knives scraping on her skin and burying themselves in her very bones.

She'd only managed to safely pull out a scarf and wrap her face, but it wasn't doing much. The wind still cut through the thin fabric and settled in her pores. Now she understood the importance of proper riding clothes.

If only she would have the opportunity to return and share that information with the younger students.

A heavy sigh left the girls mouth, prompting a concerned hum from her dragon.

"I'm alright Tuuka," she said.

The dragon grumbled as if he didn't believe her one bit. Again the girl sighed, slumping forward on her dragon's head. 

"I wish you could tell me who did this. That would make finding them so much easier," Thalia said.

The dragon growled in response.

"I don't know what that noise means. What, are you mad at me?" She sat up a little, leaning over his horn to see his face.

He warbled, it almost sounded like he was saying "no"

"Oh. Well, good, because I really think I'm doing the right thing. They can't hurt you if I'm with you all the time. Oooh you know what we can run little shifts. When I need to sleep you fly so you don't get caught, when you need to sleep we'll find a cave and I'll stay up all night. That'll work, right?"

Her dragon snorted, a small cloud curling up from his nostrils.

"Oh sorry, didn't realize I was flying the worlds smartest dragon here. Do you have a better idea, smarty-scales?"

Again a snort, followed by a quick dip in flight that made Thalia jump to hold on tighter.

"You jerk."

Tuuka seemed to laugh at that. Soon his rider fell silent, except for the chattering of her own teeth. In the horizon she could faintly make out what seemed like mountains. The moon was not very bright tonight which greatly impaired her vision. 

Thalia directed her dragon above the clouds so she could see the stars. He moved smoothly and as they glided over the clouds small puffs separated due to the massive reptile.

She gazed up at the night sky looking for a constellation she could recognize. Her eyes stopped, seeing the constellation of Tragelaphus. Made up of five stars, her astronomy teacher said it was a butterfly. During this time of the year it settled on the lower part of the southeast horizon.

Now that she knew where they were, Thalia directed Tuuka back down. He traveled through the clouds again and Thalia could now faintly make out a stronger shape of mountain peaks. She knew she was flying towards the continent of Prilla now, so it was safe to assume these were the Ironwood Grove mountains.

She pushed Tuuka's head up but her dragon did not listen, instead flying directly at the middle of one of the mountains. 

"Heeeyy. Hey that's not a great idea lets not crash today go up go up," Thalia ordered. Still the Reaper did not obey, in fact he flew lower getting closer and closer to the base of the mountain. Thalia squeezed her eyes shut not wanting to watch her own demise but to her surprise she felt Tuuka's wings fan out as he tilted backwards to slow.

The big dragon slowly lowered and landed in a cave, turning his head to look at her.

"Uh. Okay. Are you tired?"