Dragon Rider (#Wattys2016)

Gathering

Recap:

Thea slipped off Storm's back and started jogging next to him, Storm looked at her fondly and she nodded in determination as they continued south. Storm knew they could do nothing but he couldn't help but feel angry and sad at one fact.

Those who had decided to fight would die alone.

End Recap

Thea's POV

For a long time I sprinted alongside Storm before I grew too tired that my dragon told me to get on his back. I had no words to describe what it felt like to be with Storm again despite the situation. The trees of the forest were surprisingly tall and huge, the leafy canopy gave us privacy from any enemies that may be in the sky.

Now darkness had fallen and Storm only guided us by his eyes alone, my eyes drooped down and I caught myself as I started fading into sleep. Storm where are we going?

I don't know where the path ends but I grow tired of this endless journey that has no finish line. Storm's voice sounded tired and I frowned.

You grow tired, next place we can make camp we shall. I told him.

I can continue onwards for a while yet, can you sense anyone up ahead?

I closed my eyes and concentrated on reaching out for any minds that I or Storm knew. A large bundle of energy up ahead warned me off others in front of us, I dropped my action of reaching out and focused on Storm's mind once more. I sense a large bundle of energy up ahead, many mixed together. I'm going to guess and say that's where our finish line is.

Storm sighed and his head dropped as he once again focused on finding a path through the dark forest. Storm stumbled and I grabbed hold of the neck spike in front of me so I didn't fall. Unlike when Storm had stumbled earlier he didn't apologise, I stroked my dragon's scales knowing how tired he was. We're almost there, I urged him.

Storm raised his head warily as if hearing something I didn't, Storm leapt forward his energy briefly refilled. We burst into a clearing that allowed moonlight to fall and light the area. I looked around, so far there seemed about sixteen dragons and an equal amount of riders. I dismounted Storm and together we moved towards the large group. The majority of the group were females with only five being male.

I was quickly accepted by the girls within the group, and we shared smiles before I walked to Ala and Dai. I smiled at them, glad to see they had escaped and decided to come with me, with us. Storm who had followed me to the group was standing next to a blue-green dragon who looked remarkably like Zenith.

The dragons seemed to be having their own discussion as we, the riders, started telling each other our names and story. One of the male riders seemed to be the spokesperson of the group currently and he spoke about the rebellion they had had within the caves, the defeat of the Magician and their escape. In turn, Dai spoke about our escape plan and our final escape into the outdoors.

As if on some silent signal, the dragons turned to face the forest as two more dragons broke out of the trees. Storm and the blue-green dragon, who I know identified as Igraine, walked up to the dragons. One of which was Rolland, the riders dismounted and walked over to our group.

One of the riders turned out to be a person I knew well - Allie - while the other person was the one who had ridden Storm earlier. I walked over to him and held out my hand, "Thanks for looking after Storm." I said as we shook hands.

"I think it was the other way around, he looked after me." The black haired boy said with a shy grin, "My name is Ademar Draycour."

"Don't you have two names?" I questioned confused as the girls had all had two names but it seems as if the males didn't which made sense if I stopped to think about it. After all they had no books like I had found in the library nor any knowledge except what they learnt through experience.