Dragon Riders

Chapter 4

I jumped when I heard somebody pounding on my door, sounding like they were trying to bust it down with just the sheer force of their knocking. Stumbling out of the bed I scrambled to the door and jerked it open. “Hello?” I asked the girl on the other side as I withheld a yawn.

The girl’s pale face transformed into a wide smile a second before she jerked me into a crushing hug. “Oh thank goodness! I thought you were dead! I’ve been knocking on your door for at least five minutes.” She told me before she released me, a deep blush covering my face. “I’m Stacy by the way! I’m a new recruit to, but I’ve been here a day. More people will be coming over time but for now me and you need to report to the Hatchery!” She said not taking a breath before she shoved her way into my room. “Oh good, they’re all this bare.”

Blinking at her back for a couple of seconds before I snapped out of my trance. “Oh, sorry about not waken’ up, Mother always told me I slept like the dead. And I’m Royse, let me get dressed and we can go!” I told Stacy before I rushed over to the closet and grabbed one of the outfits. “Did you get these to?” I asked, noting her normal dress.

Stacy’s head snapped away from where she was looking out my window to look at the outfit before her mouth fell open. “Oh geeze! I should probably go put that on! I totally forgot! I’ll meet you in the main room thingy!” She yelled already half way out the door. My walls shook with the force with which she slammed my door and a genuine smile tilted my lips.

Changing quickly I shimmied my way into the pants, which were black and skintight, a small bright red skirt draped from  my hips to mid thigh. The top was an equally tight black op that was tightened to fit with red lacing on the side.  Next I pulled on a set of chest and shoulder armor, which was still tight, but allowed me usual movement. Heavy black boots that were padded with medal between layers of leather, they reached up to above my knees. A belt went around my waist with a long holster draping down my leg.

Walking into the bathroom as I braded my hair I glanced in the mirror and gaped at my appearance. I looked like one of the Riders.

Moving out of my bathroom I opened the door and headed to the main room, where I could see a similarly dressed Stacy waiting me, her blond hair loose around her shoulders. When she saw me her blue eyes lit up and she strode over to me, eerily quite despite the armor and weight of her boots, now that I thought about it, I was nearly silent when I walked as well. “Don’t we just look fannnnnnccy!” Stacy cooed before she grabbed my arm and started dragging me to the stairs. “I’m so excited! We’re getting our Dragons today and we look like we could kick some serious ass.” She said as we started thundering down the stairs, the burgundy rug even more impressive in the light of day. In fact the whole house was beautiful.

A large Chandelier hung above the stairs and was visible when I looked over the edge of the stairs, the railing of which was carved with scenes that all contained Dragons and their Riders doing heroic feats.

All of the landings were the same, with the only exception being that they looked slightly more lived in than my floor. The bottom floor seemed even larger with light shining through the giant window that hung above the doors. The light shined off the blaring yellow paint, making the room look as if the sun itself was in the room.

Stacy, however ignored all of the wondrous sights and instead dragged me through the opening I had seen earlier, which turned out to be a really long hallway. “So the Hatchery is super easy to get to, as in I stumbled upon it yesterday, which was when I got here by the way.” Stacy told me as we reached the end of the hallway, which ended in a curved glass door.

            Through the door I could see Dragons of all sizes moving about, their lizard like bodies graceful. The different shapes and sizes of the Dragons twisted around as different types filtered across our limited range of view. A loud noise had us jumping and turning to our right, where we belatedly noted the presence of an office.