Ulbeg rose almost the moment Trysten’s bottom hit the leather. The dragon trotted forward in the awkward way of dragons as she hurried to fasten a leather strap around herself that held her to the saddle.
Ahead, several weyrmen advanced down the aisle at a trot. At the sight of Trysten and Ulbeg, they shouted for her to stop and for Ulbeg to stay. The dragon snapped its wings open as he tossed his head. The muscles in his shoulders writhed beneath Trysten, and she clenched the lip of the saddle before her and leaned her weight forward as she dug in with her heels.
In response, Ulbeg folded his wings along his back and lowered his head. A second later, he crouched. The muscles of the dragon shivered with pent-up energy, a barely-restrained excitement.
A weyrman pointed back to Ulbeg’s stall. “Take him back there now, Trysten. Bolsar is seeking out your father. You don’t want to make things worse for yourself, do you?”
Trysten cocked an eyebrow at the man. Though it was true that she didn’t want to make things worse for herself, she didn’t see how following his orders would make anything better. Her father had already told her as much when he insisted that she would never succeed him as dragoneer. No, if he would not allow her in the consideration, then this would be the only way to show him and the other hordesmen what she could do on the back of a dragon.
With a spur from her heels, Trysten leaned forward and rested her weight on the lip of the saddle. Ulbeg crouched. His wings flipped open with a snap that whipped the air back. The weyrmen paused.
“Ulbeg!” one of the men called out. He held his hand up, his palm out at the end of his arm almost as much to brace himself as to command the dragon to remain still.
“Fly,” Trysten said and patted the dragon on his neck.
Ulbeg leaped off the floor of the weyr. His wings beat down and back. Trysten’s fingers curled around the lip of the saddle. She crouched closer to the back of the dragon’s neck as he took to the air, undulated briefly, then brought his wings back up and thrust them down again.
Two of the weyrmen broke from their stance and rushed to either side of the promenade. The weyrman who held up his hand stood his ground for a second more, then dropped to the floor as the green dragon flew past. His wingspan barely cleared the promenade, but the smaller dragon was able to manage the tight quarters before he reached the open door at the end of the vaulted hall.
Gray sky and dragons lay beyond.
Chapter 7
With a roar, Ulbeg shot into the sky and aimed for the horde. Trysten allowed herself a small glimpse of the ground below. At the edge of the weyr yard, a small group of men pointed at her and Ulbeg. It was Bolsar, and before him stood her father.
Trysten eyed the dole of doves, which was little more than a swirl of dust kept aloft by the circling dragons and their broad, sweeping wings. The distance between them and Ulbeg bled away quickly. Trysten hadn’t given the dragon any commands, yet he aimed straight for the center of the dole as if he wanted nothing more than a dove for himself. She tightened the grip of her thighs on the saddle as she reached for her bow. The snugness of the strap about her waist reassured her that she would stay in her seat. She slid an arrow from the quiver, slotted it in the string, and drew back to take aim at the doves.
The swirl of dragons had widened as the others took notice of Ulbeg and Trysten. The knot of doves began to loosen with the diverted attention of the dragons and their riders. Several doves broke away.
“That’s it!” Trysten yelled into the wind. “Faster, boy. Faster!“
They were close enough to see Paege motioning from the back of Elevera. He signaled for the hordesmen to draw their dragons back around, to resume formation. The horde tightened up, drew in. The doves responded in kind.
Then the horde formed a ring around the doves, a flying wall of dragons that blocked Trysten off. Two of the smaller mounts broke from formation. One rose up, and the other dived down to keep the dole from fleeing in either direction.
With her heels, Trysten motioned for Ulbeg to go up. The dragon rose higher. Paege tried to respond by commanding the hordesmen to slant the circle, to present a wall to Trysten. The nimble Ulbeg climbed faster than the others, however, and then with a downward kick from her heels, Ulbeg arched his back, tucked his wings, and began a controlled dive.
Trysten yanked back on the arrow, took aim, and let it fly. As she reached for a second arrow, the first one arced down and disappeared into the cloud of doves. A dove fell from the sky.
She slotted a second arrow into place and let go. The arrow sped away as the circle of dragons started to break. The cloud of doves began to scatter. Still, the arrow found a mark and another dove fell from the sky.
By the time she reached back, grabbed a third arrow, and slotted it into the bowstring, Ulbeg dove through the dissipating ring of dragons. A flurry of feathered wings beat in panic all around her. Ulbeg snatched a bird from the sky. Gray feathers streaked back from his jaw.
She twisted around in the saddle. Her left heel dug into Ulbeg’s side as she sought purchase. The dragon flipped his right wing out full and allowed the air’s resistance to swing him around sharply to the right. Trysten lifted the bow to the sky and scanned the calamity behind them. The hordesmen had broken formation. Doves scattered in every direction. No clear shot presented itself. She returned the arrow to its quiver.
As she did so, Elevera cut a sharp, undulating turn through the air above. The large dragon began to descend towards her and Ulbeg. She dropped hard and fast. Paege lifted a fist into the air and flung it about in a circle to signal for everyone to form a holding pattern.
Trysten’s eyes flicked down to Elevera’s face. A sudden sensation of both joy and envy struck her. Trysten grinned broadly. With a tug on the lip of the saddle and a kick of her heels, she sent Ulbeg back up into the air, after the closest dove.
As Ulbeg climbed, his wings beating as if the air itself were but a ladder to be scaled, Trysten scanned the ground for her father. Already, two weyrmen ran through the pastures in the direction of the doves she’d taken down. How nice it would be if a little sun shone, so that she might see the shadows of the dragons on the ground, sliding over everything. As a girl riding with either of her parents, she was entranced by the sight of the dragon’s shadow shimmering across the ground like a fish flying beneath the undulating waters of the River Gul. Unlike the fish, however, the dragons were not contained by river banks. They owned the air. The sky. While on their backs, Trysten felt like there was nothing she couldn’t do.
Elevera dropped down before them, wings spread wide and claws extended. Despite herself, Trysten let out a little yelp as Ulbeg dove to avoid colliding with the larger beta dragon. He banked back and began to spiral to the ground. As one of the subordinate males, he wouldn’t dare disobey the beta’s order to go to ground.
Trysten glanced up. She couldn’t see Paege atop Elevera, but the gold dragon held her place and drifted in lazy circles above Ulbeg. She didn’t even bother to look down and make sure her orders were being followed.
Below, the weyrmen had forgotten the fallen doves. Instead, they ran to the spot of pasture where they expected Ulbeg to touch down.
Ulbeg would likely pay a price for disobeying the beta, and Trysten would certainly pay a price for defying her father. But this was her chance to show them all what she could do, and it would likely be the only chance Ulbeg ever had to show what he was capable of as well.
“How about it, Ulbeg?” Trysten yelled into the wind. She patted the dragon’s neck. “Want to make the most of it?”
Ulbeg tossed his head back, up at Elevera, and let out a growl and a shot of flame, a puff of smoke that indicated his dissatisfaction.
Trysten grinned. “That’s my boy!”
She slung the bow over her shoulder, then gripped the lip of the saddle and yanked up with all her might as she raked her heels up and back along the dragon’s side. Ulbeg let out a roar and thrust his wings down with power that surprised Trysten, comin
g from such a small dragon. He rose back into the air.
Below, the weyrmen trotted to a stop and pointed up.
Above, Elevera let out an answering roar, deeper and louder and longer; a peal of thunder that meant nothing but business.
“Not today, lady!” Trysten hollered up at her beloved dragon. She kicked Ulbeg’s side again and yanked on the saddle’s lip, driving the dragon up as fast as he could go.
Elevera swung out in a wide half-moon, then tilted her wings at an angle. She soared down in a smooth arc and made her way towards Trysten and Ulbeg. Her jaw dropped open, and she let out another roar.
Ulbeg answered. Flame licked over his snout as he climbed into the wind.
Above, on Elevera’s back, Paege pointed at Trysten, then swung his hand down to the ground over and over, emphatically gesturing for her to land. Tassels on the shoulders of his leather riding armor streamed out behind him as his mount picked up speed.
Trysten gasped. Paege looked like the Dragoneer in his armor, atop Elevera. He was still too far away for Trysten to see his face, but she imagined it to be stern, full of confidence and assurance. He was giving an order, and there was no one in the village, no one under the protection of the Aerona weyr, who would dare disobey an order from the Dragoneer.
Well, almost no one.
As Elevera approached, she spread her wings and reared in the air. Her tail flicked out and lashed to make herself appear as big and menacing as possible.
The muscles beneath Trysten shifted. The left wing stiffened. Ulbeg was about to defer, to swing away and take to the ground after all.
“No, you don’t!” Trysten hollered. She released the lip of the saddle and thrust herself forward. Her arms wrapped around the dragon’s neck as her heels dug in and pushed back. She kicked again with the sides of both of her boots to make sure Ulbeg understood.
But before she finished, the dragon had straightened out and regained his posture as if the signals weren’t necessary. He plunged forward, let out an answering roar, and swerved only at the last second. He undulated and dipped down to avoid colliding with Elevera. As he passed beneath her bottom claws, he reached out with his jaw and nipped Elevera’s tail in passing.
“Wilds!” Trysten gasped. Her eyes widened at such a show of defiance. What trouble had she gotten Ulbeg into?
A shuffle of air and the leathery flap of wings above and behind her indicated Elevera was moving. She glanced back to see the dragon drop, using gravity to quickly regain the speed she lost in her display of might.
Now was Trysten’s chance.
Still clutching Ulbeg’s neck with her arms, she tugged to the left as she dug in with her right heel. The dragon turned sharply, and as if he knew and agreed with her idea, curled tightly in the air, then dropped as Elevera spread her wings wide to catch the wind off the mountains and push her back up to Ulbeg’s elevation.
The beta dragon’s surprise hit Trysten like a blast of snow as Elevera turned and eyed Ulbeg.
The wind off the mountains was no longer sufficient for Elevera. She pushed her great wings down, shoving the air and the altitude beneath her as she climbed to meet Trysten and Ulbeg. At her shoulders, Paege still motioned for Trysten to land as if she simply hadn’t noticed his command.
Seconds before crashing into the larger dragon, Trysten pulled up on Ulbeg’s neck. He set his wings out straight and tilted them up slightly. They slid right over the heads of Elevera and Paege as the gold dragon roared and Paege ducked.
Trysten whooped. She raised a fist to the air and sat up, her back straight and tall. With her other hand, she gripped the lip of the saddle and spurred Ulbeg to curve upward on his momentum and bank to the left.
The momentum, in addition to Ulbeg’s size, allowed him to climb higher than Elevera, who still rose into the air while twisting her neck back to watch them.
With a shove on the lip of the saddle and a downward kicking motion against his sides, Trysten sent Ulbeg diving once more, this time at an oblique angle that would rob Elevera of a chance to defend herself.
Ulbeg let out another roar. Flames licked over his snout again. Wisps of heat passed over Trysten’s face and her broad grin. As cold as it was in the air, the hammering of her heart and the sparks of excitement leaping through her muscles kept her warm and going.
Elevera attempted to twist herself around, to orientate herself so that she might flip onto her side and present her claws to Ulbeg and Trysten. With a flick of his wings, Ulbeg slid through the air. The smaller, more nimble dragon matched her maneuvers.
They approached close enough for Trysten to see the wide expression of shock on Paege’s face. He knew she had him. If this had been a real aerial battle, then she, on her courier dragon, would have the Dragoneer at her mercy.
To finish the exercise off, she gave a snap to either side of Ulbeg’s neck with the butts of her palms. Before she did so, however, the dragon already leveled out his flight. As they shot past, Ulbeg twisted, folded his wings up, and slipped past by mere inches over the top of Elevera from her right flank to her left shoulder.
Great joy flooded Trysten, and she knew without having to look that Ulbeg had succeeded in snatching one of the tassels from Paege’s uniform. He was done. She and Ulbeg had won.
She turned to the ground and looked in her father’s direction. Even if she couldn’t begin to see his face from this altitude, she wanted to picture it, to imagine the warring looks of anger and pride on his face.
Rage engulfed Trysten. It wrapped around her like the fingers of flame from a sudden fire, and then pain wracked her. She gritted her teeth and clenched the lip of the saddle as Ulbeg’s muscles writhed beneath her. He let out a roar. His spine bucked. It was his tail. Even before she glanced behind her, she knew it was his tail.
It swished back and forth behind them in agitation. She couldn’t see what had happened, but looking back into the face of Elevera as she spread her wings and began to slope back down to the weyr, Trysten knew and understood that the beta dragon had nipped Ulbeg as they slipped past. She had taken a bite of the smaller dragon’s tail.
No damage was evident, but Ulbeg still swung the tail back and forth, much like Trysten would shake her finger if she had accidentally hit it with a hammer.
She glared at Elevera.
Elevera turned away, and Paege, one tassel remaining on his left shoulder, stared a second longer and then turned away as well.
The triumph of her victory dissipated into the thin air and gray clouds.
Paege signaled for the horde to return to the weyr. Above, the dragons and their riders began to break formation and drift down to the edge of the village, towards the long, vaulted barn that dominated Aerona. No longer corralled by the dragons, the doves scattered toward each corner of the sky.
The horde descended. Below, the weyrmen and her father returned to the weyr as well. There was nothing more for Trysten to accomplish in the sky. With her heels, she urged Ulbeg to circle around once and then descend to the yard.
Chapter 8
Once Ulbeg touched the dirt and stone in the wide yard outside the weyr, Trysten dismounted and leaped the small distance from the stirrup to the ground. She laid a hand upon the dragon’s side and turned her attention to his tail. He held it up slightly, near the end, curling it up a bit like a dog’s tail.
The gray light of the sky caught a wet patch near the end of the tail. Blood trickled down from a few spots where the dragon’s scales had been broken.
“Oh, Ulbeg,” Trysten cooed. She stroked the dragon’s side. “I’m so sorry.”
“What in the wilds did you think you were trying to do!” Bolsar yelled as he trotted into the yard. “My word, it’s a miracle you didn’t get yourself, or someone else killed!”
Ulbeg swung his neck around at the man’s agitation. His jaw opened, and he appeared ready to issue a hiss.
“Come on,” Trysten said as she turned her back on the weyrman. “Let’s get you fixed up.” She reached under the
saddle and pulled out a length of leather that would allow her to lead the dragon, as long as the dragon was willing to be led.
“Trysten!” Bolsar yelled again, his voice much closer.
She led Ulbeg towards the weyr. As they approached, some of the younger weyrmen who had gathered at the doorway to watch the antics now stepped aside. They eyed Trysten in silence. One of the young men swallowed and glanced up at Ulbeg who held his head high. For the wilds, Trysten wished she could read people as well as she could read dragons.
She kept her gaze stone-faced and focused ahead as she gave the lead a tug to hurry Ulbeg along.
With a whoosh of air and a long, low growl, Elevera landed in the yard behind them. Ulbeg and Trysten each looked over their shoulders. Elevera spread her wings wide and reared up on her hind legs. Paege, clinging to the saddle, looked both frightened and angry as the large dragon ignored his own orders, and instead, tried to reassert her dominance over the smaller male.
Ulbeg hung his head and looked away. He gave a slight shake, kind of like a dog might do to dry itself. Trysten glared back at the gold dragon.
“Behave yourself!” she called across the yard. “He was following my orders.”
Elevera dropped onto all fours. Her wings folded back into themselves, and Paege looked positively relieved.
“What was that?” Bolsar called as he trotted up to Trysten.
“Nothing,” she said as she turned away.
“I would have a word with you, young lady,” Bolsar said. He attempted to step before Trysten’s path.
“It’ll have to wait a minute. Ulbeg has been hurt. Elevera nipped his tail.”
Bolsar crossed his arms before himself. “I thought I saw that. Elevera told him to return to the ground. She can’t allow one of the horde to ignore her. She’s the beta, soon to be alpha. It’s more important than ever that she maintain dominance among the horde, and you, young lady, aren’t helping a wild thing by encouraging such behavior.”
The Dragoneer Trilogy Page 5