Chapter 27 #2
“Ok. First step in flying a dragon actually takes place here, on the ground. First, you need to greet your dragon and establish a peaceful connection. Just follow your instincts,” he instructed.
Okay. Easy enough. I’d done it before. I slowly placed my hand on the beast’s massive, scaled leg. Immediately, I felt a tingling sensation in my head, like I was no longer alone in my mind.
"Good morning, Draxxinar," I said, using my connection. He let out a yawn-type groan.
“Good. Now ask him to allow you to fly him today. You are not his bonded rider, so you will need his permission,” Titus added.
"Would it be all right with you if I flew you today? I would like to learn," I asked.
He huffed and steam rolled from his nostrils. He bowed his head ever so slightly. I did not miss the disturbed look on Titus’s face; one he quickly covered with his Fae face at the dragon’s gesture.
“It would be my honor to provide safe passage for the child of ancient blood,” he responded in my mind.
He flattened his wing and created a ramp for me to access his back with ease.
“He must really like you. He’s never made it this easy for me to mount,” Titus commented.
I sat on his lap and reached forward to stroke the scales of the dragon’s back.
“Thank you, friend,” I said out loud, and Draxxinar responded with a short, grumbling purr.
Titus showed me how to properly secure myself in the saddle— all the different buckles and straps. Then he prompted, “Now lean forward and grab the handles, and in a strong voice say, Aetheras Vellin! It means ascend in old Fae.”
“Aetheras Vellin!” I commanded, and Draxxinar began to beat the air with his wings, sending plumes of dust outward.
Titus showed me how to control the direction of flight by touching the scales on the designated side: rub the left side to go left, rub the right side to go right, rub behind the saddle to turn around, and rub in front to stay straight.
Additionally, I could kick with the left leg for higher and the right for lower.
“Can’t I just command in my mind, ask him nicely to do these things—without all of the… kicking?” I asked.
“Yes, but you should learn the manual controls as well, just in case you are ever without your ability. Besides, I promise you are not hurting him,” he explained.
His hands held my waist, and flashbacks of the steamy night in the tent crept into my mind—how his hands felt on me. We hovered in the air, and I tried each of the directional commands successfully.
“You are a natural,” he said in my ear. “Now, do you want to go fast, Pickles?” he asked dangerously.
There it was—the crumb of Danny peeking through, the thrill-chasing chaotic soul that loved life and craved adventure. I felt so blessed to have another adventure with him. I gave him a mischievous smirk.
“Now turn us to the west and say, Ofstlice Proporra, to go faster,” he said.
I did as he said and shouted, “Ofstlice Proporra!” excitedly. The dragon tilted, changing direction to the west, beating his wings faster until we became a rocket in the sky.
I practiced climbing high into puffy clouds, reaching out and slicing them with my hand, and diving low to skim rivers, tipping to one side so his wing caught the water’s surface and created a wall of spray.
“You were born to fly, Delilah,” he whispered in my ear.
When we climbed back up, in the distance a great city sat elevated on top of a circular piece of land covered by waterfalls on all sides. Three hundred and sixty degrees of rushing water poured into a massive sea below.
How were we going to land undetected? Surely the Kingdom of Seas could recognize their enemy’s dragon landing on such a secluded piece of land.
“I’m going to take over now. Landing is going to be a bit tricky,” he said.
Tricky? That didn’t sound good. What was his plan? How would we get to a city surrounded by waterfalls without landing in the city itself?
Titus told Draxxinar to maintain speed and fly straight, but we were about to crash into the fucking waterfall—millions of gallons of crushing water ahead.
“Titus?!” I cried, both a question and a warning.
“Hold on!” he shouted, a sharp smile curved his lips, charged with thrill.
The sound of rushing water thundered in my ears, and I felt mist on my face.
I shut my eyes and braced for impact. Just when I thought we were going to succumb to a watery grave under its pulverizing force, a sphere of energy engulfed all three of us.
It was a protective shield of some sort.
We didn’t get crushed. We didn’t even get wet.
That’s when I realized the shield was coming from Titus.
We passed through the curtain of white water, and behind it, to my surprise wasn’t just a wall of rock. It was hollow, like a stem made of wet rock holding a tray on which the city was built.
We circled the inner stem supporting the city, and the High Lord landed on a flat surface near a cave that jutted out from the supporting stone column. It was loud—a full curtain of water crashed into the sea below. This was an island of some sort, raised from sea level on a giant rocky column.
“What the hell, Titus! What was that?!” I asked, out of breath, shaking from the brush with death.
He chuckled smugly. “What? I told you I needed to practice my shield magic, remember?”
“What if it didn’t work?!” I demanded. I was pissed. What he did was reckless.
“Well, it did. And besides, I have never had a problem shielding around myself—only projecting my shield onto someone else,” he replied pompously.
I unlatched the buckles and slid down Drax’s wing. I immediately touched the dragons cheek, apologized, and explained that it was all Titus’s stunt. He didn’t reply in my mind—only an audible, annoyed growl.
“You can trust me, Delilah. I will always keep you safe,” he said softly as he gently embraced me.
I huffed, letting out the rest of my irritation, and leaned into his arms.
“So that’s the kind of magic you will need to shield me from the lava in Mount Orid?” I asked.
“Yes, but like I said, I have no problem shielding myself—and something as big as Draxxinar—with me. It’s projecting my shield onto someone else that has been… inconsistent,” he explained.
“And you can’t take me down into the volcano shielding both of us because of the enchantment on the chamber that holds the dagger only allows one person to pass?” I asked, confirming the details of my suicide mission.
“Precisely. The enchantments are so sensitive that if it senses more than one person in the volcano, the chamber will not open,” he replied.
I exhaled sharply. Then I followed the High Lord to a set of spiral stone stairs inside the column that held the entire city. The climb was daunting—thousands of steps to reach the top.
“So, on top of flying and training, we need to practice shielding as well?” I asked.
“Glad to see you are paying attention,” he replied with a smirk.
Just then I felt my nose tickle with magic, and I tripped and slid down a few steps. I let out some curse words, but otherwise I was fine.
Titus turned around—except he did not look like Titus at all.
His golden tan was replaced by pale, iridescent skin.
His auburn hair was a bright shade of turquoise, matching the color of his new irises.
Small patches of scales shimmered like opals on his shoulders and hands, but the oddest part of his transformation was his large, clear wings that resembled dragonfly wings.
“Did your Fae legs trip you up again?” he asked teasingly, reaching out his hand to help.
“A little warning next time would be nice,” I scoffed—but my irritation was immediately replaced with wonder.
My own skin was pale and shimmered with an iridescent glow, complemented by faint, scaly patches on my hands and arms. I noticed the ends of my hair glowed fluorescent sea-foam green, which I suspected matched the color of my eyes.
Titus had clearly just glamoured us to look like Water Fae, but did that mean I had— I reached behind me and felt something twitch.
I had wings!
Not like a dragonfly in shape, but in texture—I had fairy wings. They were long, iridescent, and had three separate sections. The top reached high into peaks, the middle was the smallest, and the bottom jutted out until it flared and draped behind me.
“Wings?” I asked. “What use do Water Fae have with wings? I thought they would have…”
“Fins?” he smirked.
“Well… yeah,” I said.
“They do have fins—but only when they’re submerged.
On land they’re stuck with legs, and those things are useless—fatiguing after only minutes, no matter how much strength training.
I’m not much of a Water Fae historian, but somehow, long ago, they convinced the creator to give them wings—so they could move above-water without collapsing,” he informed.
“So the Water Fae have wings and fins… wow. That’s incredible,” I said.
“No, Delilah. Don’t let this shimmery bullshit fool you.
They’re complaining, weak, pathetic beings who govern with emotion instead of logic.
Don’t forget—they’re the enemy.” They assisted in murdering all of my troops and commanding officers in Ickeriss.
They are deadly… no matter how beautiful,” he said, his voice trailing off at the end like he’d slipped into an unpleasant memory.
I had almost forgotten. With the night I had, how could I have forgotten the war and everything at stake? And yet my focus snagged on that last word—beautiful—and I wondered if that was what he thought about the Water Fae female we were visiting today.
The question was on the tip of my tongue, but then— “We’re here,” he announced.
We finally reached surface level. Sunlight beamed in through a window above. The spiral staircase led to a small, inconspicuous stone building with a simple wooden door.
“While we are here, we are going to practice shield projecting,” he said.
“Here? Why?” I asked.
“Where else could be a better spot to perfect my skills than here in Coralis Falls?” he replied.