Page 44 of Forgotten Arcane

Coen nudges me with his huge nose, and at first I think that he’s agreeing with me, and that he’s going to help me figure this whole flying combat thing out, but instead his eyes dart over his shoulder to his back.

My smile is huge as I reply, “Don’t mind if I do.”

“Do what?” Raiden asks curiously, looking slightly confused.

“He wants me to get on his back so we can fly together,” I explain. “We used to do it all the time.”

Raiden’s eyebrows rise high on his head in surprise, but I don’t get the chance to ask him why because Coen insistently nudges me until I climb on his back.

My smile is huge. We used to go flying together when we could get away with it, and those memories are probably some of the best ones that I have.

I hold on tightly as he dives with me, and I can’t help the whoop of happiness that quickly turns into a giggle as Coen levels out and begins to climb again.

“I love her laugh.”

My eyes widen, “Did you just say you love my laugh? You can speak out loud now?”

His ascent abruptly stops as he turns his head to try to see me on his back. It’s not a great angle, but it’s good enough that I can see his mouth when he replies.

“No, I can’t,” he replies, without moving his mouth at all. “Holy fuck, can you hear my thoughts?”

I nod and reply out loud, “Apparently so.”

He carries on flying slowly, as he replies to me, “How? We’ve never been able to speak like this before, and you’ve ridden me loads of times.”

I smirk, “It depends on which kind of ridden you’re referring to.”

Coen snorts, letting out a plume of smoke as his chuckle fills my mind.

“You know what I meant,” he says, sounding amused.

My smile widens, “Yeah. I have no idea though. It’s pretty fucking awesome, I’ve wanted to talk to you so many times when we’ve been flying.”

“Yeah, it definitely makes things a lot easier,” Coen replies. He continues, “I would ask Draith about it, but I’m not sure that it would be wise to go to the Keep right now. I would have to face the consequences of killing Kylen sooner rather than later.”

I frown, “Yeah, let’s not do that. We can ask him when you do get called to go though.”

“That’s true. It’s not really a big deal, it’s a good thing,” Coen adds.

“I couldn’t agree more,” I reply. “Now, come on, show me those moves of yours.”

He chuckles again, “You got it, Love. Hold on tight.”

“Do you think that we can still do some of the tricks that we used to be able to do?” I ask him.

“Of fucking course we can,” he replies immediately as he soars higher into the air.

Raiden

“Alright, they’re far enough away now,” Reed starts, watching me closely. “What was that look for?”

I shrug, “Nothing really.”

“But it is something that surprised you,” Griff replies.

I nod, “It’s just from what I’ve read about dragons, and what Coen himself has told us in the past, dragons don’t let people ride them. Having said that, it was news to me what Draith said about demons riding them into combat, so it doesn’t really mean anything apart from the fact that it’s another thing that the books have wrong.”

“I think I’m starting to understand that a lot of what we’ve been told is not actually based on truth, or if it is, then there are huge chunks of information missing,” Reed replies.

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