Dragon Riders

Chapter 7

            I learned why we were learning above the water when, while practicing banking to the right, I lost my grip and literally slid right of Opher. I barely realized what was happening until I sped past his clawed feet, which had extended out from their tucked position under him to attempt to grab me. After that there was barely enough time for me to issue a scream before I was plunging into the deep water.

            Having grown up on a farm that was bordered by the biggest lake for miles around I was no stranger to swimming, and the second I got my bearings I was kicking to the surface, and narrowly avoiding another plunging person. Breaking the surface I gasped in air and looked around me, and when another head popped up beside me, I let a quick yelp.

            "Oh good, you swim, saves me having to teach you that." Lucas joked as he treaded water next to me. "But now, we get to the not fun part of in water, and on land, pick ups." He told me as he glanced up at the sky.

            Following his eyes I let out a gasp as I saw the four underbellies of the Dragon's. With their legs tucked under them they looked almost like kites, their graceful movements making them look like birds.

            "Alright, so the Water and Land pickups, or WLPs, are pretty easy, in theory." Lucas told me. "So what happens is your Dragon comes down here and literally grabs you out of the water, then he lifts his leg up to his side and you just climb onto his back." Lucas told me as if that was the simplest thing in the world.

I felt my eyes bug out and my mouth drop open. "Are you kidding me?!" I gasped, nearly stopping in my treading water. "Their claws are huge! And if he doesn't impale me then I still have the problem of not being able to actually get onto his back!" I said.

Lucas gave me a smirk before he looked up again. "And you have to deal with the wind from their wings. If this was easy, everyone would do it." He told me before our Dragons started to circle lower and lower. "Now, your Dragon has never doesn't his before either, and he's going to be super scared about hurting you. Be confident and take charge." Lucas said his voice harsh.

I nodded and tried to hold my fear back.  I would worry about getting on to Opher's back once I was out of the water, I just needed to take these one step at a time.  Taking a deep breath I looked up to see that Opher was lower, his wings making little ripples in the water as they pushed air down.  Slowly the amount of air being pushed down increased until I was struggling to stay above water and to hear anything over the swoosh of the wind.

"Alright! Get ready!" I heard Lucas yell as Opher's taloned foot reached towards me.

Taking another deep breath I grabbed onto a claw as soon as I could reach and heaved myself up, managing to perch myself precariously on his toe. With the wind trying to knock me off, the calloused and scarred foot of my dragon slowly retracted closer to the rest of his body, until it was a simple thing for me to stand and climb into the position I had gotten stuck in while on the ground.

However I was soon bumped high enough to complete the process when Opher's wing went up. Quickly scrambling onto his back, I managed to avoid getting stuck on the down stroke, which would have no doubt thrown me back into the water, and was soon sitting atop my dragon. I might have been soaking wet and sore, but I wasn't failing.

Giving a happy cheer as I gripped onto one of Opher's bumps, I closed my watering eyes to the pounding wind as Opher climbed in altitude. As soon as Opher leveled out I threw my hands in the air and gave another cheer, opening my eyes in time to see Lucas leveling out next to me, his mouth twisted into a grin that almost reached his eyes.

"I'm impressed, you seem to be a natural, but your form needs a bit of work, but other than that I thi-" Lucas was cut off as, once again, a terrified shriek filled the air and I looked away in time to see Stacy go plunging past me a look of shocked horror on her face as her blond hair streamed around her face. Her scream was cut off when her body splashed into the water, and two seconds later Grace-Ann fell after Stacy, her body curled into a ball.

Straightening up when I saw Grace-Ann holding Stacy above the water I looked back to Lucas who was looking down with a smirk. "Well, since it'll take a while for Grace to teach Stacy how to swim we might as well head back to the school, there are still lots of things that we need to cover." Lucas told me as he looked up at me. "Landing isn't that tricky, the only problem is that you have to have a really good grip on your dragon or else you'll bounce right off of him, that happened to me the first time Blade and I tried to land, and believe me, the ground is a lot harder than the water." Lucas told me, causing me to stifle a snicker as Opher's laugh sounded in my head and, judging from the scowl on Lucas's face, in his as well.

            Hiding my smile as Lucas's peeked out, I leaned forward so that my chest was resting on Opher's neck. "Alright, so I just hold on? Do I have to do anything else?" I asked, my hand trailing up and along Opher's beautiful scales.

            Lucas shook his head as Blade moved around so that he was pointing towards the shore. "Not really, clench your legs and grab onto what ever you can. I try to get into a take off position of sorts, only a little closer to my dragon's back, that way when you land you don't bruise your tail bone on your dragon's back." He told me as Opher moved around.

            Nodding my head at Lucas I clenched my legs on Opher as I looked at the sandy spot that was the shore. "Alright, I think I'll be able to do this, but if I bounce off you aren't allowed to laugh." I said to Opher as I tried to follow Lucas's directions so that I was perched in an odd position. "Alright, lets go." I said a second before Opher plunged towards the shore.

            I swallowed the scream of terror that almost escaped my throat as I watched the earth come closer. Opher suddenly leveled out and I almost got pulled off of his back by the wind before my butt was slamming into his back by the jarring force of his feet touching the ground.

            Struggling to stay on Opher's back as he shifted around I gave a sigh of relief as he finally settled. Collapsing against his back I tried to calm my breathing as a huge smile covered my face, a smile that was still on my face when Lucas landed next to me.

            "You okay Royse?" He asked as he looked down at me.

I moved my eyes so that I was looking at him and grinned wider. "I want to do that again!" I cheered.

Lucas laughed as he grinned down at me. "Adrenaline junky, you're perfect for a fighter."