Forewarned (BEING REWRITTEN)

Crash Course on Flying with Dragons!

When I walked outside, my jaw dropped at the sight of four three story tall dragons shuffling their wings and shifting their weight as our little group of Freshies gathered around them, ready to board. I could feel the skin on my forearm tingle with my Spidey powers, warning me that Mardu was stalking nearby. Out of the corner of my eye I could see him laying down lazily, paws folded like a cat as he watched us.

Great. Extra pressure on me.

As soon as the gym teacher saw us she frantically waved for us to get our butts over to her. "Justin, you get in group three, Merman you get over the two. Brandon! You're four."

"Don't fall off," Merman called before he walked over to the dragon that looked like some big Viking had hammered it from an iceburg. It's whole form was choppy and jutting with vicious spikes, big clawed feet like a polar bear's, and ungainly wings that dragged on the ground.

I shivered at the thought of falling before turning my gaze to the dragon I would be riding on. It was a big conifer green dragon. He had huge, mossy antlers sticking out from his blunt skull and deep, swirling brown eyes. His mouth was crocodilian in the sense that jagged teeth jutted out of its closed mouth. Mossy strands swayed from its jaw as it swung its big head to look at all.

My eyes trailed down its thick neck to the muscular chest and slightly splayed limbs. The beast's feet were wide and the talons thick and blunt. A few were broken. And ....a toe was missing?

I frowned at the sight before my eyes widened at the sight of little deer ears perking up behind one of those massive toes. Then purple eyes, crosseyed as they peeked over the scaly ridges.

I quickly looked at my shoulder before glaring at my little buddy. "Oy!" I said, trotting over to him and grabbing his fat little belly, pulling him backwards. "You could get stepped on and he wouldn't even know!" I hissed at him as he meeped sadly and lowered those adorable little ears.

"Don't give me that look," I sighed heavily before...

"-Justin can you tell me where the rear central strap is?" I heard a man say. I turned around to find my instructor, a middle-aged man with a scar racing down his neck and twisting lips. His eyes swirled a muddy brown just like the dragon's as they evaluated me.

I was about to snap that ' how could I know when you didn't even tell us?' but I realized our small group was standing around him, patiently waiting for my answer. Rihannna snickered. I shrugged, trying to look like I didn't care. "Dunno."

"Because you weren't listening." The man said with a raised brow. "For that you will sit in the front. Please listen when I'm talking, Justin."

I shrugged and walked over to the group. What was so bad about sitting in the front? I could probably get the best view of anyone... Caedmon patted my cheek, reminding me to concentrate.

I blinked a few times before staring at the Dragon Rider safety harness. It was a pretty cool gadget and seemed to be made entirely of mountain climbing harnesses and there was even a seatbelt he told us would help strap us onto the saddle. He explained that all of our saddles for our dragons would be different because our dragons would be different. I could tell Rihanna's little dragon was one day going to be a honking big ugly like this dragon standing in front of us. But me? I was pretty sure Caedmon wouldn't get that big. Just can't imagine that.

At a clicking sound from the Rider, the big dragon slowly crouched and held out a foreleg so everyone could clamber up. I raised a brow as I some girls tackle the challenge, their fingers curling around the scales as they heaved themselves up. The dragon was about four stories high so it was sort of like rock climbing!