A chill wind blew across my face as the local time of 10:39 hit. I wiped off the sweat from my brow as I waited for my partner to arrive. Three years ago, I had been an orphan on the brink of starvation, but now I was one of the dozen or so squads of dragon riders who protected the skies of my world.
The problem was that I never got along well with the other riders. It was true that none of them were willing to battle without a dragon, but they were all far wealthier than me.
I stared up into the blue sky as a dark shadow passed overhead. How strange, I thought. You would think such a small plane would be easy to maneuver, and yet it was difficult to keep up with. I thought back to the day my parents had died.
Ten years ago, I had sworn to myself that I would escape their fate of working all day and cooking at night. To do so, I joined the dragon squad.
At first, everything seemed to be going fine. We had perfectly planned our escape, and the local police force had taken all of them by surprise. But, I must have been off my mark, for at the last moment, a dragon appeared on the horizon.
I recognized it instantly, for it was painted jet-black with blue edges for special markings. I had heard some of the other dragon riders speak of their admiration for that certain dragon. It was the fastest dragon in the area.
The dragon riders had been stunned, but we had directed our battle against the local police force. Soon, the battle was over, and we had lost even more of our own than I had anticipated. I assumed they must have taken some serious damage repairing the town square, which had been reduced to rubble by the battle.
It was only after the battle that I discovered the true reason why a dragon of such speed had been dispatched. It had been sent to retrieve the son of Elohim, a member of the city council and the owner of the only dragon riding company in the city.
The young man had fled the fighting, and the dragon had returned him to his house. I thought back to the first time I had seen that dragon with the boy on its back. The year was 728, and even at four years old, the boy was barely able to reach his dragon's neck. Yet, I never could have imagined the torture I would soon suffer at his hands.
As I continued to watch the sky, the dragon made another pass. It was still moving fast, so whatever it was, the dragon rider had to be a marine, I thought. I looked back at the small plane, still having difficulty keeping up with it. Considering its size, it was moving much faster than I could have imagined.
But then, I realized its speed must be the reason why it was difficult to keep up with. I closed my eyes and yawned, eager for the dragon rider to arrive. No doubt, it was one of the few riders who shared my dislike for the young princeling.
"Oh, my, have you been up all night? asked a familiar voice.
I opened my eyes and saw Tina standing before me. Hey, Tina. Yeah, I've been waiting here for some time now. It was getting a bit cold.
She looked at me in disbelief. It's only 10:40 in the morning.
"That's besides the point. I've been waiting here since the morning.
"Oh, you poor dear. Come on. We have some old clothes in the back. Let's get you cleaned up before the princeling arrives.
"Alright, I replied.
Tina escorted me to the back of the dragon stables. Most of the city's dragon shelters used the old stone ranch style. In fact, it was part of the law that every shelter must look like a ranch. Within ten years, every shelter had been built.
Unfortunately, it took another ten years for the shelters to start expanding. There were now stables, racetracks, and an archery range for hunting. The only way the shelters could keep up with the growth was to build a network of underground industrial areas. Every ten years, new palaces were built underground, as well as new training areas.
Tina showed me to the stables, and I began my prepping by rubbing down the dragons. Every morning, the dragons were scrubbed down with an oil mixture, then their tails were baled. Finally, they were conditioned to stay in the stables overnight, whether they had bonded with a rider or not.
Engaging in a heated battle with a non-bonded dragon was practically a death sentence. Under the stress of true combat, it was all too likely for a rider to resort to desperate measures. If a dragon took such measures towards a rider, the result would almost always be that the rider was thrown from the saddle. If not, then he would probably suffer the injuries of being crushed to death by the immense weight of the dragon. It was not a pretty picture.
By 11:00, I had finished cleaning all of the dragons. As I walked back, I heard a familiar clatter of heavy wheels push their way down the tracks in the distance. I brushed the dirt off my pants and sharpened up my helmet, which I had been neglecting a bit.
A moment later, the two-story dragon transport arrived. The ramp opened, and two pallets of food were pushed out by a team of oxen. At first, I thought the pallets were unusually large. Then, I remembered the princeling.
He was one of the biggest boys I had ever seen. A year younger than me, he was already at least as tall. It was rumored he was once the tallest boy in the kingdom, but since the other boys had a tendency to choke, the princeling had been forced to switch to a liquid diet. He must have been sitting in the back pallet, for he jumped down and thumped to the ground.
Afterwards, they unbuckled his harness and tossed their harnesses onto the back pallet. Zoe and Elora, the two young dragon girls who had just returned, hopped down the ramp. One was a redhead, the other a brunette. Unfortunately, both were around my age, and I had never been able to form a romantic attachment for either of them.
"Hey, Alex, Elora called out. Nice to see you.
"Hey, you two, I replied.
"How was your last flight? Zoe asked as she pulled out the checklist. With a marker, she checked off the first item – avionics. "It was only half a fight, I replied. We managed to even out the odds pretty fast.
That's great, she replied.
As Elora pulled on the checklist, I added, Unfortunately, the other dragon riders on the ground didn't live.
"Sorry to hear that. Was it police?
"Yeah.
"You guys have been doing a pretty good job against them, Elora added. I mean, most of the other companies can't even kill a single dragon without losing one of their own.
"Yeah, it has been working pretty well. But the princeling is even better.
"Yeah, the princeling is pretty good, isn't he? Elora replied.
"The princeling? asked Zoe.
"Yeah," I replied. Zoe, you should know that the princeling hates dragon riders. He's always wanted to bond with a dragon. He turned down two other dragon riders flat out because they were too short.
"Oh, that gives me an idea, Elora added. We should bond with the two dragon girls here. They would be perfect bonded with us, I think... What do you think, Zoe?
"It would be a good bonding. Do you want to try your luck? You've got nothing to lose.
"Sure!
Zoe grabbed several pieces of steak from the pallet and ran into the stables. Elora and I looked at each other and smiled.
Meanwhile, the princeling was walking to us. He was looking at me and mumbled, "Hey, you're short.
"I know, I replied.
He laughed. I've been more interested in dogfights than you have.
I tried to laugh with him, but it only slipped out a little snort.
The princeling pointed at the checklist.
