Content Warning

Greetings and Salutations.
Because my stories have bite, they can contain content that isn't suitable for work or children. Not a lot of truly graphic sex or violence, but there are some questionable or heated posts. F-bombs are not uncommon, so watch your footing.

Friday, December 23, 2011

#FrdayFlash - Dragonrider

Here's an older piece, from about ten years ago. Give or take. I 've not edited it, so we can all have record of how much I had to learn about writing.

***

Kayla was winded as she clung to the boulder. The female dragon had just flown past, sensing the human. Kayla willed herself a part of the rock face, realizing how foolish she was being. No one knew she was up here with the wild dragons, and it was all to prove one man wrong. Johlon, her weapons teacher, had told her wild dragons were too chaotic for people to tame, that no one could understand them. Yet he had one, and she understood the few wild dragons at the Lair.

Almost there, she thought, and began climbing again. She heard the leathery slide of a baby dragon, and smiled despite the pain. Every one of the babies in the Lair loved her, and would respond to her, even though she wasn't their rider. Wild ones should respond the same way.

Kayla climbed over the rock, and instantly forgot the pain. Before her sat a scarlet and magenta baby, eyes the color of dried blood. It finished swallowing the hunk of meat that hung from its jaws, and stared right at Kayla.

Kayla slid down into the nest, and cocked her head like a dragonling. She'd learned their body language in her six months at the Lair, and could see that it was working on this one. It chirruped, and hopped toward her. Kayla chirruped back, encouraging it to come closer. It was larger than she was, and its mouth was filled with tiny daggers. It would be an easy task to slay and eat her.

The dragonling sniffed her, then narrowed its eyes. Her instructors had told her dragons could smell magic, and Johlon had told her she had the taste of necromancy about her. He said it would make her appealing to dragons, as it had made her appealing to him.

Kayla sniffed at the dragonling, and it licked her face. Then there was nothing but searing pain as her nerves burst into fire. She heard a pair of high-pitched screams, and distantly knew one had to be hers. Tasting blood in her mouth, she lost contact with the ground.

There was whirling chaos, and an unbearable pressure in her mind. She felt another presence near her, and reached for it, instinctively knowing it for a friend. Buffeting wind and hunger assaulted her, and some part of her offered the burn of muscles after sword-practice and the feel of teeth in her shoulder during love-making. The images and emotions swirled together, becoming one, and Kayla no longer felt the presence as separate. She was no longer Kayla. Desires and hunger and magic filled her, the pain ebbing. She felt strong and perfect, and soared into the air.

Something touched her, and she lashed out with teeth and claws. She was no longer soaring, but firmly on the ground. She heard herself trumpet a challenge, yet it was outside her body. Her eyes focused on the figure in front of her, and she lunged for it. She lashed out, barely scratching it as it dodged around her. Before her dazed mind could track her enemy, it was behind her, an arm around her waist, one at her throat. Kayla screamed her death-cry, preferring to die in the fight than be captured, and began struggling. Sharp-tipped claws dug into her skin, and then familiar teeth sank into her shoulder, bringing her back to herself with a lustful gasp.

Her mind no longer a chaotic whirl, Kayla realized what had happened. Blood was warm on her neck and lips as she glanced over her shoulder at Johlon. His dark eyes were concerned, and he didn't relax his grip. Kayla smiled dazedly, then began looking for the presence she could still feel in her skull. The red-toned dragonling was just settling back to earth, and chirped a greeting to Kayla's lover. Then he turned his eyes to his dragonrider.

~Greetings, Kayla.~

~Greetings, Solain.~ Tears streamed down her face.