Legacy in Ruins: Dragon Rider Book 1

Chapter 18: Seeing Two

*Squeals* FINALLY!!! She gets her dragon! I hope you all like the chapter.

"Crimson, move now!" Holland yelled from the forest behind me, his stern voice underlined with fear. Dragons, including Easton's orange, called to me in my head, shouting at me to move my feet. But they were planted into the ground like statues.

"T-t-that... That can't be possible." I mumbled, gaping at the razor sharp teeth hovering only millimeters from my face. It's moist breath washes over me, its heat stinging against my skin, and pushing the stray strands of hair behind my shoulders. 

It was a cloaker, I thought to myself. Just half a second ago, I was the only one in this cove, and now a dragon appeared out of nowhere. 

Fear, wonder, and fascination coursed through my veins following a frantic thunder of my heart.  Holland and the others yelled my name again, but still I refused to move. It was only when the dragon raised its head, showing me the orange flame rising from its chest and into its throat did I fially do something.

My years of training kicked in. I dove to the side, rolling onto my feet. Heat, hotter than any campfire, brushed against my back. A vicious roar boomed through the cove, bouncing off mountain walls surrounding me. With a jerk, I sent myself running towards the forest where Holland and the others were. My instructor and his green dragon were already on the move for me, Hollands sword in hand. The others and their dragon stayed within the safety of the tall pointy trees, anxiously watching.

Holland stopped, his head turning to my right. "Crimson, look out!"

A blur of red flashed before my eyes, and a strong bone-like structure slammed against my back. I immediately recognized it from my first day on the islands. A tail. With a grunt, my back slammed against the stone before falling onto all fours. But luckily it wasn't as hard as the Khaler's tail. 

My lungs searched drastically for air, clawing at my throat and begging me to breathe. I lifted my head, mentally groaning when my eyes widened. With a greedily gasp, I sprung to my feet and dodged the fire ball the dragon sent me. Stone exploded behind me and then another boom of explosion. But it wasn't towards me, it was towards Holland and Galeru. The blast, which was unlike any dragons breath I've seen or read about, sent the two flying backwards.

Clearly, running to them wasn't going to help. Sometimes the dragon chooses to fight potential riders. The words relaxed me more than it should have given the situation I was in. With my thoughts slowly coming into focus, I began to run towards the gap between the stones, rounding around the great dragon that everyone thought to be extinct.

Like a newly unwrapped candy cane, red and white scales glistened in the rising sun. The dragon looked like it had been dipped in a paint bucket, it's top an eye snatching red, while everything beneath it was a cream white. It's red eyes, matching its scales tracked my every move, turning its body to follow me, but it was bigger than me and that made it slower. The great beast rose its pointy tail which had longer, sharper scales compared to the rest of its body. But they weren't scales at all.

It's tail whipped through the air, spines which I had thought to be scales, shot up like an enraged porcupine. The dragon growled and flicked it's tail, sending the razor-sharp spines directly at me.

I winced, pushing my feet faster and just narrowly avoid the dragons weapons. The stone beneath my feet cracked as the red spines struck upright in the ground.

Now rounding towards the forest where Holland and his dragon had retreated, I unhooked my bow from around my chest. The least I could do was fight back. Reaching over my head, I grabbed three arrows and hooked them to my string, aiming at the large red dragon.