Page 20 of Dragon Valley
I climbed up Dusa’s wing and had her push off before Azaria could say another word. I pushed her high above the clouds, feeling a need for cold air to soothe the hot temper building in my skull.
The thoughts stewed in my mind as we flew aimlessly, dipping in and out of the clouds for what had to be hours. I wanted no contact with the ground, it had nothing for me. I could do nothing right according to the people down there.
Even if I could talk to Azel, he and his sister would most likely be on the same page. Venting to the chief or any of the other Riders would be utterly useless. Chief had his own plans for me, probably preparing food or washing clothes. The other Riders and I never bonded, probably because I was never great at following orders.
The only person I had any inkling of desire to talk to was Caden, and look where that got me.
Dusa spread her wings to brake our flight and perch on a high cliff. She panted heavily and I kissed her wing as I slid off.
“Sorry, girl. I lost track of time and kept you in the air for a while. Good place to rest, away from everybody.”
She growled and nuzzled me roughly, exactly like she did with Caden.
“He’s a good guy, huh?” I smirked, scratching her big, scaly face. “You really like him, don’t you?”
She roared her agreement, sparks of excitement crackling from her jaws.
I smiled as I sank to the rocky ground, leaning against her warm side. As crazy as she drove me, we were so alike in many ways. Golden dragons were rare, but not seen as particularly valuable. Her mother abandoned her earlier than most, which allowed our bond to grow sooner and deeper than most.
I was already riding her when she was a three-year old dragon, rather than at five years like normal. I felt like such a badass at thirteen, riding my dragon before all the other Rider trainees. Little did I know years later, our similar attitudes would cause us to butt heads—literally. I had a small scar on my forehead from her horns.
The feelings I sensed from her indicated that like me, she looked and acted differently enough from her kind to feel outcasted. She was part of them but never felt truly accepted. We bonded over that a lot while growing up together.
I thought Azaria accepted me fully. She was close to my mother after all. I thought we felt the same way about our men having multiple wives and that women’s roles in our society needed to change. In fact, she was the one I aspired to be like as a Rider.
She raised me herself and had ample opportunity in the past twenty years to tell me about my mother. But she never did. At least, not in any real detail. It seemed like I waited every day to sit and listen to the stories of my mother’s life, but only got vague references here and there.
Miraza, the first female dragon Rider of our current age. I wanted so badly to feel like I knew her, but here I was at twenty years old and she still felt like some distant character in a random story. Maybe Azaria never told me about her because she didn’t think our society needed to change.
Just like everyone else, Rider or not, she wanted to me to sit down, shut up, and do as I was told.
Dusa huffed out a snort that echoed my thoughts perfectly, which could be summed up to a simplefuck that.
I stood and stretched. “When you’ve rested enough, let’s go back to see your new loverboy, Caden.”
More sparks erupted from Dusa’s mouth and I laughed as she immediately rose to her feet and spread her wings. She nudged me toward her back as if to say,let’s go!
“Silly girl,” I chuckled as I climbed on. In the next moment, we were in the clouds again.
If my own people weren’t going to accept me, I might as well talk to the people that would.
8
CADEN
“Ugh.”
I sat down hard on the ground with a heavy groan. My body was spent from nonstop moving and lifting today. But thanks to Nadiyah and Dusa, I now had a tent to sleep in and a fire to cook over.
The sky began to darken and stars came out like pinpricks of light through a thick fabric. Across the campfire from me, the inside of Captain Aron’s tent flickered with a pale glow. I knew he was reading maps again, trying to decipher a tactical strategy for marching on the capital once we were in shape to leave Dragon Valley. In the morning, he’d be in a meeting with Chief Rhazel to discuss what was appropriate to hunt, fish, and forage here. Never resting and always a step ahead, that man.
The captain and us lieutenants had our own tents but the officers bunked up together. I could see some of them laying their sleeping packs out under the stars. We’d been on the move for so long, some were used to it. But I for one, was looking forward to sleeping with somewhat of a roof over my head.
Eager to get off my feet, I stretched them out in front of me and leaned my head and upper back against a smooth boulder I rolled over here. After so much talking and giving orders today, I was looking forward to a peaceful evening. There was one person I wouldn’t mind talking to, though.
Nadiyah’s wild hair and fiery green eyes came to the forefront of my mind. She looked incredible riding that dragon, like a warrior woman in an ancient fairytale.
She never came back after flying off with the chief’s daughter, who didn’t look particularly happy. I hoped everything was alright with the dragon clan. We certainly weren’t making things easy on them by setting up camp in their home, but hopefully any tensions would be smoothed over soon.
