Dragon Binder: Book One of the Dragonblood Priestess Series (First Draft)

Chapter 36: Open Seas

It was day three of the grand voyage across the seas.  Yina took a deep breath of the salty ocean that she now hated.  Moments later she found herself over the rail of the ship emptying what little food she had been able to get into her stomach that morning.  Raising her head her face said it all, when would this be over with.  

"You know, I do not think I have ever heard of a bound being sea sick.  Normally your increased balance is enough to negate it."  Adar stated leaning against the wall of the cabins of the ship.  

Rolling her eyes Yina raised her hand lighting rippling around it for a few moments before if fizzled out.  "Ugh, its even throwing off my magic."  Instead she through a bucket at him, naturally he moved just a tiny bit in order to not let it hit him.  

"What do you want, just here to make fun of me."  Yina shot at him as she wiped her mouth and used some salt water to rinse her mouth.  They had told her using the fresh water was far to wasteful so on each hip was a canteen one of fresh water the other of salt water.  

Uncrossing his arms Adar walked over next to her.  "I was checking up on you.  Making fun of you is just the perk of being worried."  He stated pushing a stray hair from her face.  

"I am as fine as I can be."  Swatting his hand away just took a step back before turning.  "If you are that worried how about you just train Tyn how to use two swords.  I know for a fact he needs the help."   Tyn was capable but he was barely trained to use a normal sword let alone two.  

A few moments passed, "Only because you asked so nicely.  I shall start later this evening, it will honestly give me something to do."  

"That is right, you refused to do manual labor and when he tried to force him you threatened his life.  O how I wish I could have seen that."  Yina stated hiding a smile behind her hand.  Rilon was not a bad Captain, but well he thought he was nobility with how he treated others.  

Sending out a single mental message to Nyssa, two minutes later and Yina smiled.  "Well see you in a bit."  Letting her body roll off the railing she fell a few feet towards the ocean before a streak of lightning slammed into her body.  The lightning turned upward shooting off into the sky.  

The light dimmed down and Yina was on the back of Nyssa.  Immediately her entire body screamed in joy, being off that rickety always shifting boat.  It baffled her that flying through the air would be perfectly natural but standing on a constantly shifting ship was not.  Some would argue that they are very similar but to her it was completely different.  

Yina had decided that if she felt like shit on the ship might as well use the time to practice with Nyssa.  The two had not really gotten a chance to get used to the whole flying thing constantly having to stay out of the skies for fear of it easily giving them away.  

Out here though they would easily see anyone approaching them especially today not a single cloud floated above them.  "You ready Nyssa?"  Yina sent to her mentally as the two were high enough now, that the ship looked quite small.  Blue stretched out in all directions.  

"Of course I am, who do you think you are talking to."  She send back as she leveled out and kept from turning at all.  Every now and then she would beat her wings to keep from dropping otherwise stayed on point.  

Taking a deep breath Yina stood up the wind whipping at her body.  The first time she had tried this hand ended quite badly.  Now she knew to place her foot in front of her body to allow her to brace, knees bent a bit to allow her frame to be smaller.  "Go."  

Her words were soft but it did not matter as the mental thought was sent as well.  Nyssa banked left, only the smallest of moment gave Yina time to adjust leaning the opposite way to not fall off the dragons back.  Even with her bound muscles and increased balance it was hard for her to not slide off the edge.  The duo was getting better though as Nyssa did a few more abrupt turns.  

It was time for the tricky part, sending the mental nudge the dragon leveled out and then did a few quick wing beats and went directly up.  The feeling of weightlessness filled Yina as her feet slipped off of the dragon.  Keeping her breathing as controlled as she could Nyssa's body did a flip.  Tucking in her arms and a few other subtle motions and her body twisted so that she was heading feet first towards the ocean.  

Beating her wings again Nyssa snapped back to a level position, Yina landed roughly onto the back of her, the scales making her feet slip just a bit.  Throwing out her arms she re balanced herself.  It was something that she was unsure if she needed to know, but from what Tyn said it looked cool regardless.  

Panting, Yina was still not able to completely control her natural instincts to freak out when falling yet.  She knew it was only a matter of time before it was just second nature.  "We did it Nyssa."  

"That was so much fun, can we do it again."  She sent back.  Laughing Yina slid back onto the dragons back and gripped the scales she had found that were the best handholds.  

"How about we work on syncing our mind."  Yina stated.  They had started this on the first day, as they flew both of them would send out their thoughts so that they knew exactly what the other was going to do.  Now their mind almost became one, just the slightest thought of moving in one direction and the other one was ready for it.  It had helped switching to more images then actual words, took less time to register.  

After a few hours of just flying around it was time for the final training.  It was the one that Yina cared about the most but it was very taxing for both of them and so they only did it near the end.  "Alright its time for the Yina Bolt."  She had decided on such a terrible name for the move.  

"You really need to rename that."  Nyssa send back towards her but she did like the move.  Beating her wings hard the two gain some speed.  A single image flashed into Yina's mind, three seconds later and it was time.  

Yina got into a crouch letting go of Nyssa's scales.  At the very end of the three second the dragon dove hard, at the same time Yina pushed off the dragon with all her strength.  Breathing in deeply she pulled the magic inside of her body, lightning coursing through her blood.  Instead of releasing it she consumed the lightning and her body shifted into a sharp bolt of lightning.  Streaking forward at great speeds.  

The two had learned that Yina could only lighting travel like this around fifty yards, before her body could not handle it any more and shifted back.  If she went the full distance as she had just then her body was near depletion of magic.  It naturally forced her out before running completely out, which was good because that caused her to pass out.  

The next part was what was terrifying, falling towards the sea.  The ship was a decent way behind them but she could still see it growing larger as she fell.  Wind ripped at her more fiercly now then before, but she forced her eyes open and put all limbs out to slow her fall.  Nyssa appeared underneath her, snapping out her wings to drastically slow her decent as well.  

At that same moment Yina tucked her body in to do a final burst of speed to land hard on Nyssa's back.  Over the three days the two had gotten good at this timing, only once had she missed.  Luckily the two had practiced way closer to the ocean at first, so that the distance she fell did not kill her.  

It was not the greatest landing, but it had worked as her hands held tightly to the scales.  "We did good girl, lets head back."  Yina sent mentally to tired to voice it herself.  With a few quick dive and glides the two were back to the ship.  Nyssa was exhausted, Yina could feel it in her mind and with how her body moved.  The prideful dragon would not admit it though as they landed onto their designated dragon perch.  

Almost immediately as she slid off Nyssa the motion sickness started creeping back into her.  "I cannot wait to get off of this stupid ship."  Yina grumbled as she collapsed next to her dragon.  

"I do not mind it, feels nice to be moving without having to do all the work."  Nyssa stated, wrapping a wing around Yina.  She knew that this was the time the two would fall asleep for a quick nap, and it was the only time Yina was able to sleep by pushing herself to near exhaustion.