Dragon Riders

Karana

There were so many elves here.

"What's with our mass numbers all of a sudden?" I asked, slightly calmer.

Then I noticed him. The man in the mask in the back of the room. There was something about him, something calm and collected.

I picked up my glass and moved towards him, listening for a hint of his name.

Dane.

"What's a pretty girl like you doin' here?" the bartender asked with a crooked smile.

Jade flushed and ducked away from the bar, running into River's front leg.

"There's a man in the back of the room," River growled. "I'll keep an eye on him, but be careful what you do."

Jade remained next to the great gold dragon, pretending to not exist.

Nina~

Nina laughed lightly at the way Jade was so shy. "Ya know sir, my friend here got a husband. I wouldn't mess with her if I were you." Nina informed the bartender as he slid her a mug full of beer.

"Really? Who would that be?" The bartender laughed. Nina took a sip of beer and smiled.

"That big guy over there." She pointed to River. The bartender held humor in his eyes but it quickly turned to fear. Nina laughed aloud, obviously drunk, and finished drinking her beer.

River sensed the bartender's eyes and looked over. He saw the fear in his eyes and smirked. He growled loudly, causing Jade to jump, as well as most (if not all) customers in the tavern.

"River, please!" Jade hissed, backing further into River from everyone's stare.

"Just messing with the humans," River replied, chuckling at the bartender who ducked beneath the counter.

"Hey, girlie! Tell your friend to be--"

River roared fiercely in the man's direction, not playing around this time.

Nina~

Yuki limped into the bar, in smaller form and dragged Nina away from the counter as she sung, '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall.' and 'How drunk are you?' Nina began to laugh.

"I's think I gotsh to drunksh..hic!" Nina contemplated. Jade laughed lightly.

"Alcohol really does lift one's spirit, doesn't it?" Jade muttered more to herself than River as she watched Nina sing.

"I wouldn't suggest trying it," River grunted. "Alcohol makes elves act like humans and humans act like demons."

Jade looked up to River, tilting her head. Nina laughed at River's comment, nearly falling out of her seat.

Nina~

(Can't Think...)

I looked over where two girls had just entered, both with dragons.

"This is weird,"I said to Sweep. "I've never seen so many of us outside the training grounds. And one of those riders is an elf, I haven't seen one since we left home."

"Shell we go and introduce ourselves then?" Sweep said, pushing me over to another of the dragons. I bumped into his back leg.

The dragon turned on me.

"Sorry," I said, picking myself up. "She pushed me."

I looked at the human, the elf and the two dragons.

"I'm Trissa, this is Sweep. Who are you guys?"

Before they could answer the bar doors opened and an 18-year-old boy walked into the bar. Except, he looked 18, but there was a sort of an aura of caution around him, as if he expected anyone to jump out at him at any time. The look in his eyes held more wisdom than his years.

Trissa saw the sword on the boy's back. It was a huge broadsword with a dragon pattern on the blade. She wondered how strong he'd have to be to lug that thing around all day.

"That's Wes!" Sweep said in a whisper.

"Who?" Trissa asked.

"Zephyrus' dragon rider, all the wind dragons know them." Sweep explained.

"Who's Zephyrus?"

"He used to be one of the four great dragons, Zephyrus the Wise. He's over 700-years-old!"

"700?" Trissa felt her jaw drop. She had never heard of any dragon living that long. When 'Wes' sat down at the bar she contemplated about introducing herself.

River sniffed as lifted his head, looking at the door. Jade's brow furrowed and looked as well. It was another huge dragon, even bigger than River. It's silver scales seemed to have aged and cracked.

"A Wind Dragon," River explained. "And the oldest one at that, though my knowledge could be slightly off. I don't know much about the Winds."

Jade's pointed ears twitched as she eavesdropped on the elf and dragon's conversation about him. "One of the Four Great Dragons?" Jade repeated with awe.

River's eyes filled with awe as well. Even if that was a Wind Dragon, he wanted to meet him. He knew about the Four Great Dragons and always wanted to be one of the next four, if there was ever such a time.

*Well, of course I was going to introduce myself *

"This is weird," I hissed to Sweep. "Seriously, just how many dragons are in this place?"

"Go over!" said Sweep.

"Why don't you?"

She shrugged.

"This is no time to develop a shyness Sweep!" I said and bounded over.

"Hey," I said to the boy. "Can I ask you a question. Well, two questions."

"Shoot," he said with a grin, looking at the elf girl.

"One: Why do all the riders come to this spot, and Two: is your dragon seriously 700? Sorry," I said, turning and addressing the dragon. "Are you seriously seven hundred years old?"

The dragon smiled and looked at me. "You are young for your race. As is Sweep here."

"You guys know each other?" I asked in surprise.

"I just told him, idiot," Sweep said, hitting me with her tail.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, we're young, I guess we started early," I turned back to the boy. "I'm Trissa," I said. "Sweep says you're called Wes."

"I am."

I sat on the stool beside him. "So what are you doing round these parts? In fact, what is everyone doing round these parts?"

I'm really really really really really really really really really really really really sorry but I need to drop out... It's just going too fast.

Sorry again!

"Go over," River muttered, his eyes still on the great silver dragon.

Jade's eyes widened. "I c-can't just g-go over!" she stuttered. "They're strangers! What if I make a bad impression?"

River ignored her remarks, eagerness in his eyes. Jade sighed. He wanted to go over, and Jade was holding him back. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink and walked over to them.

Trissa's eyes fell on Jade's pointed ears and she smiled excitedly. "An elf? Hi, I'm Trissa!"

Jade jumped at Trissa's sudden introduction. She hesitated, her thoughts on what she was going to say slipping her mind.

Trissa cocked her head. "Are you alright? Don't you talk?"

Jade nodded her head quickly. "Yes, er.. sorry. I-I'm Jade. This is River."

Trissa smiled. "Don't be shy. Come on. We were just talking about why there are so many Dragon Riders now. Do you know?"

Jade shook her head. Her green eyes darted to River who exchanged glances with the silver dragon.

"That's Zephyrus," the man said with a smile. Jade spun on the spot to face the one who spoke, his blue eyes sparkling with amusement. "Hello, I'm Wes," he added, holding out a hand.

Jade paused, unsure of what to do. Why was a human holding out his hand to her? Oh! A polite human gesture when greeting others. I remember that in one of my father's books.

Wes' brow cocked at Jade's long pause before finally taking his hand lightly.

"Oh, it's so good to see another elf about," I sighed contentedly to Jade. "You have no idea the amount of prejudice I get."

The girl smiled nervously at me. "Like, we're supposed to bring bad luck?"

"Exactly!" I said, happy to have someone to understand. "I mean, it's not our fault, it's all up to chance."

"You just raise the chances of something bad happening," Wes said with a grin.

"Oy," I said. "I wouldn't put it so bluntly when you're talking to the fastest elf in the forest with the fastest dragon from her training grounds who are both very good fighters."

He saw that I was grinning and said "I'll be on my guard then."

"So, what brings you here?" I asked Jade. "Mercy, I've asked that so many times ths evening and I've not got one answer."

Jade smiled slightly. "Well.. we were just traveling about and stopped for the night. Don't really have one place to live. We migrate."

"Spreading bad luck all over the land?" Wes put in, his eyebrows shooting up. "Maybe we should be fighting your kind, rather than the demons."

Jade frowned, but Trissa smirked. "You'd be right to cower from our strength."

"I'd like to see you elves in battle," he responded, looking thin, shy Jade up and down. Jade flushed, shifting uncomfortably. He smiled. "I'm only teasing, you know."

Jade could only think how strange humans behaved.