CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO #4
‘You knew she was here and didn’t tell me?’ It’s not like Josie hadn’t known about my love for Ascil. I’d bragged about my scale models at home more than once.
‘Some things you have to wait patiently for, Lena.’ Josie winked and went to return her shovel to the kit room.
I pushed aside my outrage at the hypocrisy of someone telling Bach my complaints, but no one telling me that the greatest racing dragon of all time lived here too.
‘Okay, shall we go flying together?’ Not only was I not going to lose this chance, but from the way the other dragons were either asleep or ignoring me, it seemed that the beautiful green dragon was my only option.
A telltale happy huff came from her nose.
I grinned at her. It didn’t matter the size, colour or age, dragon expressions were the same regardless.
Ascil walked past me, her neck, wings and tail brushing along my arm as she did. I caught on and followed her to the kit room.
She lay down next to the doorway, seemingly content to let me get on with my human affairs.
‘I won’t be long.’ I resisted the urge to pat her head before getting started.
I picked the smallest flight suit on the rack I’d had to ignore all week.
They were all the same neutral black leather, the same as Bach was already wearing.
The augments running through it didn’t look as complex as the Volitant ones, but there were still a few pieces of arcanite embedded in the seams. The same went for the helmets: basic black domes with smooth faceplates – the only interruption was for the eye slits.
After gearing up I hauled a saddle from the wall.
Helpfully, they’d all been labelled to match the dragon they’d been fitted for.
Had I bothered to look at the riding end of the kit room earlier I would have had a massive clue that Ascil lived here.
Even without the labels, hers would have stood out.
The extra belt loop for between her two sets of wings made it obvious.
Back in the aviary she’d nearly fallen asleep.
‘I have your saddle.’ I lingered. If it had been Gottyk I’d have happily started gearing him up while he dozed. Not such a good idea on a dragon I barely knew.
Ascil straightened up. She didn’t stand, evidently knowing that at full height I didn’t have a chance of hauling the saddle over her.
I savoured the moment, not quite believing what I was doing.
Cam wasn’t going to believe me. Yet here I was, buckling the saddle straps against her deep green scales.
Once she had her reins attached, I gently led her outside, reverent as her double wings bounced lightly as we walked.
Not that she needed much leading. She was quite happy to stroll along at her own pace knowing exactly where to go. We passed through the archway and headed towards Bach who was leaning against a tree in the shade.
I stood patiently, Ascil’s reins held in one hand, helmet under the other arm.
Bach appraised us, his thick arms folded over his chest. He favoured his right leg as he stood there, still affected by the crash weeks earlier, but how badly I wasn’t sure.
‘Why did you pick her?’ Bach asked me.
My foot scuffed the dirt as I considered how truthful to be.
‘I invited Vepari first, but she wasn’t interested. None of them were, except Ascil here.’
I could have imagined it, but I could have sworn she nodded as I spoke.
‘Sounds about right. Definitely an interesting way to start.’ He pushed off the trunk and came over to us. He looked at Ascil for a long moment before continuing. ‘What has been your problem with flying so far?’
I grimaced. There had been so many problems. Speed, turning, overtaking, stability, slowing down …
‘Consistency,’ I answered. It was the easiest way to sum up the fact I hadn’t performed anything well twice in a row.
Bach nodded. ‘I agree.’
I tried not to vomit. I wasn’t sure which was worse, him paying attention to my flying or him agreeing that it was flawed.
‘While you’re here you won’t fly the same dragon twice in a row. Each of them,’ – He nodded towards the aviary. – ‘comes with a host of quirks, preferences, flaws and talents. You’ll be running the same training every day, only on a different dragon each time.
‘You may have the same dragon for each race in Volitant, but that only lasts for two years at most. Unless you learn how to adapt quickly to fly in different conditions, you’ll always be on the back foot.
Whether it’s each dragon, season, race or lap, something is always changing.
The more you get used to it, the better you’ll be. ’
The idea was daunting – most riders had a style and ended up flying with a team who bred dragons suited to it. The only style I had was copied from Bach out of sheer admiration. Now he was going to be judging me on how well I could maintain it while dragon-hopping. My nausea increased.
Bach had done this over three decades, I was about to learn it in three weeks. If anyone could train me how to do this though it was him. If I was fair to myself I figured that if anyone was obsessed enough to learn, it was me.
I squared my shoulders, feigning confidence. ‘Okay, let’s fly.’