Chapter 2

Magical. Though a tremendous understatement of the ride Meredith gave them, it was the closest adjective Jacob could ever seem to come up with. Whether shooting straight up into the air, diving with folded wings, spiraling over the rivers and hills, valleys and forests that made up the country, Meredith maintained a smooth, swift gait. Crisp air rushed past them so fast their faces tugged up as they swooped down into a valley. So fast did they dive that although Jacob tried to close his eyes to keep out any debris, his lids lacked the strength necessary to push past the up-rushing wind.

After several minutes of flying wherever the whim of Meredith or Annie would take them, Jacob noticed a change in his companions as they began practicing routines. Every year, the village held a three day festival where the people celebrated their crops, freedom, and alliance with the dragons. During this festival, different departments of the small defense force would compete against each other in various challenges of skill, speed, strength, and wit. This would be the first year that Meredith and Annie could compete, and in preparation for the challenges, they practiced difficult maneuvers in what they referred to as “trick routines.”

Suddenly, as she was coming out of a spiraling sideways loop, Meredith's body stiffened and her wings beat with a different purpose. Troubled by the dragon's abrupt change of manner, Annie glanced around them in all directions for a threat. Although she saw nothing, Annie knew something about the area had changed in the last few minutes. “Get us out of here calmly, Merey,” Annie whispered, “we might be running from shadows, but better safe than sorry.” Meredith accordingly turned for home and flew as fast as she could in that direction. As they hurried directly for home Meredith suddenly let out a quiet, low moan: a warning to Annie. Heeding her friend's unease, Annie scanned the sky again; this time she caught a brief glimpse of deep red which disappeared in a storm cloud a good distance behind them.

“What's going on?” Jacob asked in a low voice, sensing Annie's extreme concern and Meredith's borderline panic. “Why is Merey so tense?” Annie took her eyes off the sky briefly to judge the fear level of her passenger. His eyes were wide open and his grip on the dragon's neck was tight, but he might get much worse if he knew how bad was the danger in the sky. Still, if the thing was a red dragon, and it was after them, the shock of it charging them might be worse if he did not expect it at all.

“We aren't alone in the sky, Jacob.” Annie watched him closely as she spoke, careful of how much information to give him. “I don't know if it's a dragon or not, but it is not the same color as any of our allies. We are trying to go home without any trouble, so be as quiet as you can and hold on tight. Merey will get us home, don't worry.” As she spoke these reassuring words, Annie could not help grimacing at how empty they sounded. How could she have been so stupid: taking a young boy out when she knew the fishermen last month had seen a dangerous red dragon by a neighboring village? How could she have brought him out here without being completely sure it was safe? If he died....

No, he would not die. Annie and Meredith were going to take him home. The dragon—for it was a dragon—appeared from another thick cloud, closer than before.

So several minutes passed: the dragon would disappear into the clouds only to reappear closer not long after. Before long he no longer vanished in the clouds, but flew steadily to the left and slightly above Meredith a few wing strokes behind her. With this superior flight path, he could easily outdistance Meredith's endurance; they must come up with an escape plan quickly.

Changing direction might help, short term at least. But Meredith already showed signs of fatigue, and the Red One could probably beat her in speed as easily as in distance. Perhaps they could turn and fight then? Even if they had not just put themselves through an exhausting practice, Annie and Meredith could probably not even come close against a red dragon with fire capabilities.

The red one moved in closer. Any moment now and he would make his move. Annie needed to make hers first, in a moment of sudden decisiveness she told Jacob to hold tight to the leather strap and not let go no matter what. Carefully she shifted back on Meredith. In combat training, they had practiced this move many times. The idea was that with some help from Meredith Annie could leap a short distance to an enemy dragon and fight him at close quarters where he could use neither claws nor fire. In practice against the defense force it seemed to work pretty well, but they had never tried it in actual danger. Annie, drawing her dagger, paid close attention to the rhythm of Meredith's wings and carefully rose to her feet. She bent her knees, whistled the signal, and on the next down-stroke made her leap.

She landed too far down his back, and before she could thrust her dagger into his neck where the scales were softest, he snapped his head back hitting her solidly with one of his dull spikes. Annie faintly heard herself yelling to Meredith to fly on without her, then everything went black.