For Her Honour

Part 5

Days became weeks as the dragons grew larger, learning their commands and understanding me. Their nights used to be with me, curled up on the bed and making the cold nights incredibly wonderful. Now they curled up into each other in the protected area, looking at me sadly as I shut the door for the night. Them on the outside and me on the inside. The window was always open, and there had been a few fights as to who would perch on the sill.

I wanted my babies with me, but they wouldn't fit. Aside from the fact that the bed was barely big enough to fit me, the room couldn't take three growing dragons. As for getting them out of here, that was going to take some serious magic from the wizard.

My babies were now taller than me, looking majestic as their mother had once done. They were beautiful, I wished that Mama Red could see how they had grown. I'm sure that she would be proud of them, I know I was.

"Well, my darlings. It is time to brave the world. You've been caged here for a few weeks now and going out there is likely to be scary but know that mama is here for you."

Jade nuzzled at me, huffing warm air out her nostrils and against my neck. They'd looked at me with their usual indifference, now used to the shiny metal suit I wore. It had taken some getting used to for them, they could probably remember that Drewyn was wearing a suit when he killed their mother.

I'd left the helmet off initially, ensuring that they understood that it was me under the metal. When they were okay with that, I put the helmet on in front of them. We were good now; my babies knew that I was in here.

"Are you ready Caliphe?"

Maluth was standing at the door, ready to break open the protected area to let the dragons out.

"Yes. Let's do this."

Taking a deep breath, I gave the shrill whistle to follow me. My obedient darlings did without issue, following me through the gap that Maluth had created.

Smoothing my hands over Sapphire's neck, I calmed him down and hoped that the next few hours would be smooth and reasonably uneventful.

"Are you ready Sapphire?"

Gripping a back plate, I pulled myself onto his back at the junction of his wing. Maluth was on Ruby's back, she was the larger out of her and Jade and could take the weight better than her.

Their wings began to spread out wide, flapping great gusts of wind that sent the leaf litter flying. Slowly Sapphire lifted into the air, and I held on tight, hoping that this wasn't like the first attempt at flying with him.

I fell off.

It wasn't his fault, and I certainly didn't blame him for it. He'd turned over, forgetting that I was on his back and I thumped to the ground. Of course, it wasn't that far down, and I wasn't hurt at all.

The dragons glided through the air, skimming over the treetops until we reached the edge of the township. Here it was mostly farmers, the dense housing was close to the castle. In the distance, I could see the guards scrambling, the alarms sounding.

The dragons were coming.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled the reign and guided Sapphire to the castle courtyard. With his sisters flying close behind, Sapphire circled the turrets and began to descend. A heavy thump shook the ground, guards running towards us with their weapons drawn.

Lifting up, I stood on Sapphire's back.

"Stop!" I commanded.

Guards skidded in the dirt, looking at me with shock. With a firm grip on the reign, I dropped to the ground and pulled the helmet from my head. Gasps could be heard as the guards respectfully lowered to a knee.