Dragon of Legend: Destiny (Published)

Chapter 13

As she fell, Akira felt the wind rushing past her. Her hands groped for the blindfold and she tore it off. Her teeth were clenched and she gripped the blindfold tightly as the ground rushed towards her. She would have screamed had she had not been too terrified to do so.

Suddenly, a familiar white shape appeared below her. Moments later, Akira landed on a scaly back. Out of instinct she groped for the saddle, holding on.

I've got you, Redemption told her as he flew up.

Laughter sounded in the air as Redemption landed on the rooftop. Akira let go of the saddle and shakily slipped off her dragon's back. To one side, Drake was holding his stomach, his face red from laughing. Seth was desperately trying to hold his own laughter. Levi, however, did not looked amused.

Gathering what was left of her dignity, Akira whirled around to face Redemption, the blindfold was scrunched up in one hand.

"You did that on purpose!" she yelled angrily as she took a menacing step towards her dragon.

I don't know what you're talking about, Redemption replied with mock innocence.

"You said right!" Akira scowled. "This," she help up her right arm, "Is right!"

Drake only laughed louder and a snort escaped from Seth. By their reaction, and the fact that they had not warned her ahead of time, Akira had a feeling that they all had been in on letting her fall.

"This is nothing to laugh about," Levi roared at the two boys. Both stopped immediately. Akira turned to see that Levi was fuming. He was glaring right at Redemption, who shrunk back at the look.

"This is a trust exercise!" Levi scolded him. "If you make your rider walk of the edge of a roof, how do you ever expect her to fully trust you in the future?"

Redemption lowered his head and his tail dropped. He suddenly looked more than remorseful.

"This is hopeless," Akira sighed. "Even when Redemption was giving me instructions that fit, I couldn't follow at all."

"As long as we continue to practice," Levi shot Redemption a glare, "And stop fooling around, you'll get better."

"It wasn't bad for your first try," Seth told Akira encouragingly.

Not to mention entertaining, Redemption added.

Akira turned to glare at him. "You," she pointed an accusing finger at him, "You need to stop acting like a draglin!"

Akira turned her back to him.

"Don't worry," Seth smiled warmly at her. Somehow his smile seemed to make Akira less angry about the whole thing. "You were doing fine."

"I don't think it went well at all," Akira replied miserably. She watched Levi pick up her sword, which lay to her right.

"Your problem," Seth said softly as he turned to look at her, "Is that you don't trust your dragon enough. You need to believe in him or it won't work. You need to trust him with your life, and he'll come through for you. Sometimes that requires that you stop trying to rely on your own instincts and simply listen to what he has to say."

As Akira gazed into his brown eyes she felt her heart skip a beat. A warm queasy feeling was making its way through her stomach. She felt a sudden urge to say something, anything and opened her mouth to do so. Yet the words never made it past her lips. For it was then, that an ear-piercing scream shattered the moment.

Akira blinked as the sound of the scream hung in the air. Seth whirled around, looking for the source. Levi had frozen, and Drake had abruptly stopped laughing, his eyes wide.