Page 30 of Ava's Legacy of the Dragons
She felt weak in the knees as she turned to stone. Was that a dragon? How long had it been in front of the grotto? How could she have missed it?
Its scales gleamed red, its huge head was crowned with two horns, and there were several meter-high spikes lined up like combs along its long neck and forming notches on its back, growing close together again on its tail.
Ava swallowed and automatically took a step backward. Lilly, on the other hand, widened her eyes in disbelief. "Can we ride with you? Me too?" There was no question that for her this was a dream come true, while for Ava the idea was more like a nightmare.
Kilian turned to the dragon's head, which was no less than one meter high, and patted its cheek. "What do you say, my beauty? Shall we take these two and the egg with us?"
The dragon looked at Ava suspiciously, narrowed its eyes, and two clouds of smoke streamed out of its nostrils. This was a fire dragon. Hadn't Lilly said they were considered aggressive? Ava expected a burst of flame, but much to her surprise, the dragon nodded.
It nodded?
"Hooray!" Lilly laughed and threw her hands in the air, while Ava didn't even move her little toe. Ride on a dragon? Her? Never! When she said nothing, Kilian and Lilly looked at her expectantly.
She immediately made a dismissive hand gesture. "I can stay. You don't have to take me with you. The king won't find out anything. I'm absolutely inconspicuous. Just Ava, that's all." She wanted to step out of the cave, but the dragon quickly moved its head to the other side of the entrance so she couldn't escape, blowing clouds of smoke from its nostrils.
Kilian kept an eye on her as well. She couldn't tell if his expression was suspicious because he feared she might run off with the egg, or amused. "As you can see, she doesn't allow it. If you don't want to have problems with the strongest living fire dragon, you'd better get on."
"Of course she's flying with us. Come on, Ava!" Lilly jumped behind her and pushed her directly towards the dragon. Heavens, how had it come to this?
"She won't harm us,"whispered the voice in her heart, causing Ava to pause in surprise. She looked at the egg, which didn't escape Lilly and Kilian's notice.
The girl bounced excitedly. "It spoke again, didn't it? What did it say?"
"That she..." Ava looked at the fire dragon, her voice more of a question than a statement, "...won't harm us?"
The huge eyes narrowed, but then the dragon slowly moved its head up and down. Was that a nod? Was a gigantic dragon actually nodding at her?
Kilian had stepped behind her, so the night air carried his voice to her from behind. "We shouldn't waste any time. The king's guards are looking for you everywhere. The owner of the garden you came out ofhas ratted you out. It won't be long before the area is crawling with soldiers."
"Are you sure?" called Lilly, who had already positioned herself in front of the dragon and was considering where she wanted to sit.
"Of course, because your jump, just Ava..." he turned to her, his gaze inscrutable, "...apparently impressed him."
She looked at him suspiciously. "How do you know about that?"
"I have eyes and ears everywhere." Regardless of her hesitation, his hand landed on her lower back and he pushed her towards his dragon, which was lying down on the ground in front of the grotto entrance so they could mount. Damn, it looked huge! She braced herself against Kilian's hand and stood still.
"Where are we going anyway?"
"You're not from around here, so our destination won't mean anything to you anyway."
"But it's the principle of the thing. You can't just push me towards your dragon and take me somewhere."
"Interesting. That's what most women dream of."
Ava snorted. "Certainly not me. So?"
"No way!" Lilly laughed loudly. "I saw very clearly how red your cheeks were after the ball."
"That was from the escape."
Kilian chuckled softly behind her. "We're flying to Talus, a city northwest of the old forest."
Ava nodded. "I really can't make anything of that information."
"We'll be far enough away from the king there, and I know some people I trust. They'll bring you to safety."
"Sounds quite nice."
