Dragon Riders

Lynch

Lynch ducked below a branch as his dragon, Spire, his dragon, swooped into the woods as they took off from their small home. He pulled on his mask, which shielded him from a blast of leaves as they again turn vertically and soar into the sky. Lynch's head turned suddenly as he saw another dragon and its rider glide past him, and he pulled on Spire's harness to get a better look at them.

Spoiler

Hope that you don't mind my popping in!

Roman

There were many good days in Roman's life, but today could not be considered one of them. His dragon -- Webster, a two headed web-winged flyer -- seemed to be in a bit of a mood. He was hardly able to put a harness on her back that morning, let alone actually get up into the air. Yet, with a fair bit of struggle, he managed to actually take flight that morning.

Webster was not pleased with this, bucking around and trying to throw him off. Roman had resigned himself to hugging her body and praying to whatever dragon deity lived up in the sky.

His racing heart was not soothed after opening his eyes again, because Webster was about to fly into a rider and his dragon! Yanking on the reigns, Roman managed to pull Webster off course.

"Sorry!" He yelled, but a bug had flew into his mouth, rendering his message garbled as he tried to hack it up.

Spoiler

No, it's great!

Spire swerved to the right, her dark maroon scales shifting to a dark crimson as the sun hit them, and Lynch pulled his mask up on top of his head, covering his light golden-red hair and showing his face. Lynch frowned at the rider and pushed Spire to go level with the other's.

"Why'd you do that?" He asked, a Scottish-Irish accent gracing his words as he raised an eyebrow, waiting for an explanation.

Roman hacked the bug up, cringing at the bitter taste. "It's not my--" Webster swerved, knocking his conversation off course, "fault! My dragon is a bit irritated today."

He looked over to the other ride with a truly apologetic look on his face. Then, with a shaky hand, he tries to brush his own unruly brown hair out of his face. "D'you know," he calls out, "if there's a safe place to land?"

Lynch frowned for a moment, thinking, unconsciously rubbing Spire's scales before he shrugged.

"The next city is about four and a half hours north," He said, "But my home is just over there. You could land there? I also believe there's a village about an hour away. Where are you going anyway?" Lynch asked curiously, glancing at the male's attire.

Roman shifted awkwardly in his ratty messenger's clothes, once again scolding himself for not wearing more riding appropriate behavior. "If you can tell by the pack on my dragon," Roman said, "then I'm delivering delivering some ingredients for an apothecary! I don't remember the name of the apothe--" He glanced back to see the knapsack of ingredients, only to find nothing but dragon tail.

"Never mind that!" He said, a bit dejectedly. "I guess I'm losing my job!" Roman then ducked as Webster tried hard to decapitate him with a branch. "So! Why're you riding today?"

Lynch shrugged. "Spire- this is my dragon, Spire- was sort of restless, yeah..." He said, shifting on his dragon's back, who huffed at his reply.

"So do you want to come back to my home? If not, I can direct you to the city. I don't have anything to do today." Lynch offered.

Spoiler

Understandable! I hope the rest of school goes well for you!

Roman weighed the options in his mind and then looked down to see that one of Webster's red heads was waving around erratically. "Uhhh, yes! Anything to land and to land quickly! Going to your home would be great!"

Webster narrowed her eyes and then lowered her head back down to the task at hand.

"W-w-what's your name, by the way? I'm Roman Lup."

"I'm Lynch, Lynch Darkwood. Nice to meet you Roman." Lynch said. "My home is just south of here, just follow me."

Lynch hit Spire's side lightly with the back of his heel, leaning forward, and Spire, knowing Lynch, started to flap her wings to gain momentum at the subtle movement, going higher before beginning to glide slowly across the sky.

Roman hugged Webster's body and then proceeded to follow Lynch, hoping that his dragon would allow him to make it safely to Lynch's home.

Lynch looked back at the other boy and chuckled, maintaining his speed for a few minutes before leaning lower to Spire.

“Watch your head!” He called back to the other rider, and Spire shifted before diving down into the trees, causing Lynch to pull down his mask to avoid leaves to the face.

Roman, unfortunately -- without a mask -- had to sustain the full front of the leaves and branches whacking into face. He grit his teeth and pressed his stinging check up against Webster's cool scales. "Thanks for the warning!" He called, non-sarcastically. "I just seem to have lost my mask somewhere."

Lynch looked back at Roman. "Watch out for the leaves! Maybe I'll have an old mask." He told the boy. "And we're going through a tunnel for a few moments, so you should have your dragon gain momentum then fold in their wings; don't worry, it's only for a few moments then we're there."

Lynch then pushed at Spire lightly, and she flapped her wings two more times before folding her wings in and disappearing through a tunnel.

"Come on, it's fine!'

Roman watched as Lynch disappeared through the tunnel. He gulped back his fear, not entirely certain if he was going to come out of this alive. "Hey, Webster? Just, uh, gain a little bit of momentum -- yeah, get faster--" He held her tighter. "And now just fold your wings and--"

For a second, Roman thought he was a goner, but Webster folded her wings at the last second and they were both now in the tunnel. Alive and well. Well, alive.