Page 88 of Monsters of Air

All of us.

‘This is amazing,’ Philit said. ‘Xrotte only has a few dragons, so to see a battle like this…’

I could feel Philit’s pride welling up, and how he itched to be among them fighting too. But also knowing he wasn’t strong enough. Seeing this battle only made him burn more to join their ranks.

They were impressive. The dragons fought in pairs, watching each other’s sides as dragons flew around, blowing fire, sometimes even landing to bite and pull at the Fae. The riders weren’t idle either; some of them were even standing as they released arrows, hitting their marks with an expertise that I didn’t know if I could ever accomplish. The arrows weren’t normal either. I could hear it in the way they whizzed through the air. Some of them had fire at the end and when they hit the ground and exploded with bangs that were nearly as powerful as dragon fire.

I couldn’t help but be a little jealous. This is what I wanted. This is what I had spent so many years dreaming about. And now I was here, with my three dragons by my side.

It wasn’t long until our side had the Fae running away, retreating at the teeth and claw of the dragons. Relief flooded through me, it was mine, but also the others too.

The woman who had first approached us soared over, she was all smiles now.

“Are you okay?” she asked in a soft voice, looking from the three dragons, to me.

I nodded.

“Good. Follow me, I’ll show you where you can land.” She shot ahead, but slowed down when she realized we couldn’t keep up with her. Frankly, I wasn’t even sure if we’d be able to catch up to her if everyone was in top shape. Her and her dragon were just too fast.

A massive clearing lay just outside the city, the grassy knoll surrounded by stone buildings that stretched twice as high as a dragon.

Zilon shifted first, catching the robe that was tossed at him. He didn’t say anything until he was wearing it and at my side. “Come here, Rayna, I got you.”

I nodded, releasing myself and slowly climbing down. Zilon grabbed me by the waist and held on until my shaky feet were safely on the ground.

Landers and Philit shifted back into their human forms and faced the new dragon. The field quickly filled with dragons, all of them changing back to their normal forms.

As soon as the woman landed, she was sliding from her dragon as the massive black beast shifted into a man easily three times her size. He was larger than any dragon I had seen, with long black wings, and a thick tail. His black hair matched his wings, the long tendrils falling down his back. I just caught sight of Zilon smoothing his own long hair back. I guess I wasn’t the only one who was impressed.

Someone came running over, handing him a robe. He tossed it on, grabbing the bag the person held before he followed his rider over to us.

I shivered, his presence feeling overwhelming. Something about him demanded allegiance.

“You’re all new?” the man asked in a gruff voice. He had a scar down his jaw, going down his neck.

“We came from Xrotte,” Philit said with a slight bow. Wait, were we supposed to bow?

“Through the mountains?” he seemed upset at that, his eyes flashing darkly to me. All of Philit’s warnings about how a Dragon wasn’t supposed to go with a rider flooding my mine. My heart rate instantly picked up.

“Best we could. We traveled with her.” Philit was firm, even as he stepped closer, his hand soft on my lower back.

“Hmmm,” he said, looking between us all. “And the Fae?”

“They’ve been after Rayna since leaving Xrotte,” Zilon piped up.

He was still by my side, his arm around my back, something which hadn’t gone unnoticed by either of them. The rider was looking between Zilon and Philit in confusion. She clearly remembered the color of their wings.

The woman hit the man and whispered something to him. He frowned before focusing on me, his dark eyes boring into me. I felt that same familiar swoop in my belly, something needy screaming in me. I stepped closer to Philit, glad when Landers took a step behind me.

The black dragon smiled, his lips twitching before he looked away, only then could I draw in a full breath.

“A Gryiene,” he snarled, looking right at Zilon. The same hatred I had seen in Philit when he had spoken of Zilon’s home screaming from his eyes. But there was something else there that I didn’t miss. Hatred.

It was almost louder.

The black dragon stared Zilon down, but Zilon didn’t move.

“My name is Captain Duran Cornix,” he said, giving me another glance. I stiffened. “This is my rider, Tanja. Welcome to Fyre’s Training Academy.” He motioned to all the buildings behind us.

---