Chapter 11 #2
“That’s pretty soothing,” she told it, with a quick laugh. “It definitely makes you sound friendly. Not that I thought you weren’t! And – you are pretty magnificent, I have to say.”
The wyvern writhed a little, the brilliant sunshine that broke through the clouds shimmering on its dark green scales, turning the membrane of its wings into a diaphanous emerald canopy as it stretched them wide, almost as if…
Almost as if it’s showing itself off, Diana thought with another laugh.
Her heart was singing. She had to admit, before Calvin had shifted for this second time, she’d almost been expecting that somehow, she’d hallucinated the whole thing.
I suppose there’s still time for me to wake up and realize all this has just been a dream…
she thought, but the idea dissipated as soon as she lifted her hand, and, walking across the few feet that separated them, ran her fingers over the surprisingly soft and smooth scales that covered Calvin’s body.
The wyvern let out a low crooning sound, as if in approval, and when Diana glanced up at its face again, she could see that it was clearly preening, as if it was pleased that she’d called it ‘magnificent’.
“Well, you are!” she laughed. “There’s no other word for it!”
As happy as she’d be to sit here all day simply gazing at the incredible creature, running her fingers over its scales and shading herself from the sun beneath its wings, Diana knew that they also had a curse to break – and there was the small matter of getting back before Ash’s activities were over and she had to go pick him up.
“Okay,” she said, gritting her teeth. “Let’s do this.”
Obligingly, the wyvern lowered its long body to the floor of the grassy clearing.
Diana couldn’t say she was an expert on the differences between dragons and wyverns, but Calvin having only back legs while he was in this form now seemed pretty obvious – as were his ice-breathing powers, since she’d always just assumed that dragons definitely breathed fire. But maybe that was just in fairy tales?
Well, I can find out more about it all later, Diana told herself. She still had about a million questions – and not just for Calvin but for Kieran too, and whoever else in this town turned out to be a shifter – but for now, she had to stay focused.
Okay. Here goes!
Getting a handhold on the study-looking arch of his wing, Diana pulled herself up onto Calvin’s back with an undignified oof!
It was a little hard to tell where she should sit, but she thought behind his wings probably wasn’t right – she’d just end up getting blown right off his back as they moved.
So she shuffled forward, situating herself on his shoulders – or where she supposed his shoulders would be, if he had front legs – before leaning forward to wrap her arms as far as they would go around his neck.
“Well, here goes nothing, I guess,” she muttered. And then, louder, “Okay, Calvin – we can take off whenever you’re ready.”
The wyvern – Calvin – let out a quick trilling sound, as if to give her fair warning. And then, with a massive whoomp of his wings, they took off.
Diana gasped. She barely dared to look down, but in the end, she just couldn’t help it. She felt secure and safe on Calvin’s back, and so looking down at the rapidly diminishing view of the trees below wasn’t nearly as frightening as she’d thought it would be.
In fact, it’s… it’s…
Breathtaking barely summed it up.
Diana stared at the forest laid out below them, in its brilliant summer greens.
She’d never thought she’d see the world from such an angle.
That was for powerful birds of prey who spent their lives soaring and hovering, the masters of their territory.
Or, she supposed, for enormous mythical creatures, so powerful and mysterious that she’d never imagined for a moment that they really could exist.
The laugh that burst out of her was one of pure joy.
And it was loud enough that she felt the wyvern’s neck muscles shifting beneath her arms, as it turned its head to look back at her with something she could definitely identify as concern in its golden eyes.
“I’m fine!” she called to it, the wind whipping her words away. “I’m just… I don’t know! I don’t know how to describe it.”
And really, she couldn’t. Were there words to describe the feeling of riding on a wyvern’s back?
Apparently satisfied with her explanation, Calvin turned his head back forward once more, skimming down low over the treetops as he made his way out of the valley and toward the next mountain. It felt like they were the only two people – well, one person and one wyvern – in the entire forest.
She closed her eyes for a moment, simply enjoying the swift movement of air over her face, the wind playing with her hair and rushing in her ears.
This is what freedom must feel like.
She opened her eyes as she sensed movement beneath her.
The wyvern turned its head toward her once more – and Diana had to assume it had some sort of innate ability to know where the land was, because it continued to hug the mountainside closely with no issues, banking with a leisurely ease.
She was pretty sure that if she hadn’t been riding on its back, it would’ve turned upside-down.
Is it showing off? I’m pretty sure it’s showing off.
It opened its mouth slightly – and suddenly Diana found herself being showered in a tiny flurry of glimmering ice crystals, and – and –
Are those snowflakes?!
They vanished almost as quickly as they formed, their delicate structures melting into oblivion as they touched her skin, providing a lovely counterpoint to the heat of the afternoon.
She shivered deliciously as the miniature ice storm gusted and glittered about her, creating her own little wonderland.
It’s definitely showing off… but I can’t say I blame it. I’d show off too, if I could do that.
She sighed as the wyvern turned off the display – but she was pretty sure it was for the best. It would be hard to explain if she developed hypothermia in the middle of summer! Already she could feel herself drying off in the warm, blustery wind.
She laid her cool cheek against the smooth scales of the wyvern’s neck, sighing again – but in happiness, this time – and simply watched the sky and the trees move in and out of view as the wyvern banked and turned.
I could get very, very used to this. Talk about traveling in style!
All too soon, however, she felt Calvin’s speed decreasing, and she sat upright to watch as he came in to land. His feet touched the ground so softly that she wouldn’t have even known they’d landed if she hadn’t seen it happen, and his wings folded in neatly behind her.
“I guess this is my cue to get down, then,” she said, as Calvin bent his knees and lowered her down.
She slid to the ground, wincing a little as she stretched out her legs.
Riding the wyvern had worked out muscles she hadn’t even known existed – but she was looking forward to getting more practice at it.
She watched, entranced, as the wyvern shifted back into Calvin’s form. She was getting used to it, but she didn’t think it would ever stop being the most fascinating thing she’d ever seen.
Calvin was watching her with what seemed like a little uncertainty, which she didn’t like at all – he’d just given her the single most exhilarating experience of her life.
Flinging herself into his arms, she buried her face into his neck.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “That was incredible.”
She couldn’t see his smile, but she could feel it against the top of her head, and hear it in his voice. “I’m glad you liked it.” He coughed. “And so is the wyvern.”
Reluctantly she pulled back, looking around at the clearing they’d landed in.
The difference between this one and the one they’d departed from was like night and day – where the other one had been desolate and prickly, this one was lush and almost had a rainforest air to it, with ferns hanging from the ancient trees and mist coiling out from the dark, hidden depths, glowing where the dappled sun touched it.
Gnarled lianas snaked around the tree trunks, while ancient lichen-covered rocks sat sentinel.
In the middle of it all sat a crystalline pond, fed by a tiny waterfall that danced a zig-zag path amongst mossy stones.
It was like they’d entered a whole other world.
“This is the place,” Calvin said, in a quiet, reverent voice.
Diana shivered with excitement.
I could definitely imagine a reclusive water spirit living here.
As excited as she was, there was a tiny hint of trepidation hidden underneath.
What was she going to see? As much as she was playing it cool, and as much as she’d come through a bunch of weird experiences with what she considered to be flying colors, she was just about to meet a mythical creature in its own domain.
“You must be Calvin.”
Diana almost jumped out of her skin at the voice that seemed to materialize out of nowhere.
Whipping her head around, she saw a figure – a tall, slender, glowing figure – standing serenely by the pond.
That creature was definitely not there a moment ago, she thought, trying to urge her crazed heartbeat to slow back down to something resembling its normal pace.
Was it the sprite? It had to be the sprite. She couldn’t think of anything else that it would be.
She studied it more closely. It had long, straight hair that fell to its waist, and was aglow with a faint blue light that gave it an almost shimmering appearance.
Its facial features were hard to pin down, somewhere between male and female, somewhere between human and not human.
She could understand why Kieran referred to it as it – it was completely otherworldly in both appearance and demeanor, somehow seeming both calm and bashful at the same time.
“That’s right,” said Calvin, the slightest hint of unease tingeing his voice, though he still sounded composed overall. Diana supposed that he had reason to be at least somewhat concerned, given his previous encounter with a sprite. “This is Diana – she’s my mate. We’re friends of Kieran’s.”
The sprite inclined its head slightly to one side, seeming in that one small action to be taking in everything about both of them.
Diana raised one hand awkwardly. “Hi. Nice to meet you.”
The sprite brought its hands together in an impossibly smooth motion. “It is nice to meet you, too. I am called Sieval.”
It moved one hand in a gesture that, while small, somehow managed to encompass the entire clearing. “Welcome to my home.”