Silver Soul

Chapter 17

Chapter 17: They Change

                I knew we would meet again but for now I would have to go back down the mountain to the cave before anyone found me gone. I hurried down the side of the mountain as fast as I could without hurting myself. I was catching my breath while I leaned against the boulder just outside the cave when I heard the roar. It shook the inside of the cave and I heard the scream.

Rose!

It was Kilau she had woken up to find me gone and after she’d left me alone the night I had been taken she didn’t want to leave me alone. I called to her with my mind forcing her to calm herself. When I explained that I was just outside the cave she came running full out to reach me her head came down to my level and I felt her overwhelming concern for me focused through her gaze. I told her that I had just woken up and came out here for some fresh air. She understood completely, but she told me that I needed to tell her where I was going before I left. I told Kilau that I would and satisfied she went down to the ground below; looking up she saw me scramble down to the ground with great difficulty it would take days for me to get back up to my full strength.

                 I walked to her and I sensed the others watching me from the entrance of the cave. Kilau extended a foreleg for me to climb up onto her back. When I turned to the other masters and mistresses I saw that all were mounted ready for takeoff.

Assume takeoff position, I thought.

 Right on cue all of the dragons leaned back on their hind legs, wings extended testing the wind. Kilau sensing I was in perfect position; took off with absolute power. I sat still as a statue feeling the wind billowing around me. I turned around in the saddle and I crawled to the base of the tail with caution I didn’t know if I would have enough strength to withstand my wings. I struggled to form a vortex of clouds and I was surprised to see it come up without hesitation. I smiled with joy my magic no longer drained me of energy. I stood up feeling Kilau’s slipstream of air billow all around me. Hoping for the best I took a running leap. I leaped off Kilau’s back falling through the air at high velocity speeds. Before I even got a couple yards Diego was right there to catch me like always. This time he didn’t chastise me for not letting him know ahead of time.

                     As Diego started to fly back towards Kilau, I created a cloud of grey fog around me to hide my reappearance back on Kilau. I settled back onto Kilau’s back so carefully that by the time she realized I was there again I’d already been there for about six minutes. When she asked all I did was shrug my shoulders and she never said another word about it. We flew in silence for many hours before I decided to check in on the others. I crawled to the base of Kilau’s tail. She never felt me once because I was that good at stalking silently.

                  I screamed at her now and she was so surprised her tail jerked upwards and at that time I was at the very end of her spikes. The jerk sent me flying into the air. I directed my spinning ball to Hawthorn and Vivian. I landed just behind Vivian with a gentle thud that jarred my bones hard. Hawthorn definitely felt it because the first words out of her mouth were.

Nice landing, Rose.

I thanked her greatly and I sat with Vivian so we could talk. We talked about casual stuff at first but then we both said at the same time.

“I need to talk to you about something!”

We looked at each other and then burst out laughing like two best buds would do on a daily basis. Then we got serious. We looked at each other and I told her to go first. She looked at me questionably and took a long, deep breath. She blew out and then she started talking.