Sun Bound

Forests and Wilds

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Chapter Six

Forests and Wilds

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George clung tight to the harness as Amphion took them higher and higher. He had to squint against the wind. George was glad he had taken Sir Logan's advice and worn his thick leather gloves because it was freezing up in the air. He was excited but also very nervous at the prospect of finding his own dragon. It didn't help that George was the squire of one of the most famous knights in the Sun Kingdom. He had always been very proud of that fact but now he felt immense pressure. He had to find his riding dragon.

Also, what if in a year, the creature hadn't bonded with him and decided to leave? Dread and nervousness writhed about in his belly. Some of the other squires had been whispering about the unfairness of it all. In generations prior, riders would capture and hold their dragons for a lifetime. When the collars had been removed, most of the stable dragons had been with the riders for decades, not just a single year. How could these squires be expected to create such a deep bond in one year when no others had been expected to before?

It was unfair. George just wasn't stupid enough to say it out loud.

In saying that, Lune, who was arguably the rarest and most splendid dragon in the Sun King's stable, had not been with Sir Jason for a full year when his collar was taken off, but Lune had mate bonded with Damon. George sighed to himself and tried to clear his mind. He needed to focus. Beside them flew a lean, long-necked male dragon called Arrow. Sir Logan rode atop his back, leading the party.

Amphion would never do anything to harm the younglings, so Sir Logan relied on the huge titan to carry the squires. It was an honour. Riding another's dragon hardly ever happened and to be atop such a creature as Amphion was thrilling. Everything looked so tiny below them. The cloud cover was thick, and George tried not to think about what else might be up in the sky with them just outside their field of view. It was highly unlikely that anything dangerous would molest them whilst Amphion was still with the group, but the squires had been unsettled to learn that Sir Logan was going to let Amphion go on after they had disembarked.

George glanced at Arrow. The dragon was narrow and slinky with a pointed snout and long claws. He had a single, long spike on his tail tip and backward facing spines down his back. The animal was built for speed and piercing damage. He was only a little bigger than Lune. Could such an animal defend them all from a wild beast if the group was attacked?

'How far do you think we'll go?' asked Henry from behind him. Henry was Sir Garret's squire.

'No idea,' said a girl's voice. That was Marisa. She was Sir Fredrick's squire.

The fourth squire was a scrawny, round-faced boy named Rosdi. Rosdi was a very quiet person. He had been ever since he lost his first dragon. George had been deeply disturbed to find out that it was Rosdi's young dragon that had been poisoned the season before. The boy had only just returned with his new riding dragon and begun to bond with it when it had suffered a truly horrible death. Rosdi hadn't been the same since and all the squires felt very sorry for him.

'We have to go far enough to leave behind most man-made country,' George called back over his shoulder. There were plenty of small dragon species that still milled about in groves near fields or town but most larger, rideable species had learnt to stay clear of humans.

As they flew, the fields below became smaller and fewer. The countryside became wilder, and the trees grew denser and taller. From above, the neat patches of crops and towns faded to a wild tangle of greens, blues, browns, and greys. It was as beautiful as it was menacing. All sorts of creatures lived in the wilds, not just dragons. The legends told that humans first learnt to tame dragons as a defence for the other enormous and dangerous monsters of the world. Together, with dragons, man was finally able to leave their caves and build great cities. Humankind was built on the wings of dragons.