Ghost Rider

CHAPTER XLV: Ready

   Swish was the sound Heather's axe made as it whizzed dangerously past my face, nearly severing some loose strands of my hair.

I bent myself back, nearly to the ground, but not too far where I would loose my balance. I quickly brought myself back into a fighting position, before Heather could swing her weapon down on me. Though she tried, I caught it between the two of my smaller axes, holding it in place.

As I securely held on to her weapon with mine, I kicked her abdomen and she fell ungracefully into the grass below her.

I took the chance given to me, and pounced on top of her, positioning my axes on either side of her throat. If she was truly my enemy, I would have slit it.

Our seriousness washed away like loose sand in a retreating ocean wave, as we both realized I had won.

"You did it!" Heather exclaimed.

We both broke out in grins. This was the first time I had beaten her since we had begun training a few months ago. I could tell that she was just as proud as I was, which I was relieved about. Many people would have become angry, or jealous, but not Heather.

I was going to miss her.

Helping Heather up off the ground, I gazed at the setting sun that illuminated our faces in gold, and made my hair look as though it was on fire.

The red ball of fire was just dipping into the ocean, causing a streak of yellow which looked like a river of lava in the ocean.

"Its almost time." Heather announced.

Nodding was my only reply. I was filled with anticipation to get my best friend back, but I couldn't prevent the nervousness that creeped up my spine. Mostly, I really didn't want to mess this up. I also was afraid that Amber wouldn't be alive by the time I got there.

However, if I never went to rescue her, I would never know.

Walking away from Heather, I made my way to the cave to don armor that we had made from the rest of Windshear's scales.

When all was said and done, I was absolutely covered in shiny, silver scales and brown, thick leather.

After I was done changing, Heather put on her armor too, which was similar to mine.

I took the coal that was left after last night's fire and ground it into a powder. I then added water to it, to make a thick paste. After that, I smeared it on the shiny parts of my armor, to make my presence more obscure.

I also smeared some around my eyes, just because it looked cool. Unfortunately, I also lost my owl mask when Viggo had captured me and took all my stuff.

Heather did the same with the paste that was left, spreading it all around herself. Even she put some on her face, too.

We then put black oil on our axes and knives. We used this to hide the glint instead of the ground coal, because it also made sure that the blood of our victims would not stick to our blades, which made the job a whole lot less messy.

"Are you ready?" I inquired.

Heather nodded, and we mounted her Razorwhip. With Heather in the front, and me right behind her.

As the dragon ascended, I recalled how much I missed this, flying. Hopefully, I wouldn't have to miss it for much longer.

Soon enough, we were above the clouds. The newly risen moon gave the clouds a silver glint. A stark contrast from the sun's golden one that had previously covered everything.

Now, I could make out the fiery lights of the Dragon Hunter base on the coast of a medium-sized island. Only the coast was speckled with flickering torches, though, so I assumed the rest of the island was uninhabited, which was where we were going to land.

From there, we would make our way to the base on foot.

Heather had scoped out the base previously, many times while I was healing. So she knew where we were going.

My job was to follow her and watch her back. Normally, I would have argued to lead the battle, but that did not matter to me now. All I wanted was my dragon back. Any means that it took to achieve that was absolutely necessary.

"It's nearly sunset now." Heather announced. "Which means it will be dark by the time we reach the base. We should pack up and move out."

"This is finally happening." I stated, more to myself than my companion.

"Yeah." Heather sighed. "Let's just hope it works."

   We both packed up the minuscule amount belongings we possessed, buried the valuables, and burned the items we no longer needed. If someone was to come across our temporary home, we needed to ensure that there would be no signs of inhabitable whatsoever.

There is no way that anyone could know we were here.

   Soon, we were completely ready. I stood by Windshear and mopped her down with mud and charcoal. Her scales were metal and would gleam in the silvery moonlight. If she was not obscured and did not blend in with the darkness of the night, we could be caught and our plans would be shattered into unrecognizable shards of a wondrous dream.

   "I'm all packed and ready to go. You?" Heather declared.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go get my dragon back."
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Wow it has been a hot minute since I last updated! I'm really sorry about that. I've been working through some personal things, and just did not have the motivation to write anything. But I'm back for the time being, so yay!