Wouldn’t Sora’s abilities and talents be better used here?
He shook off the thought, as he couldn’t be distracted right now.
“Alright, hold still, please. Just one good swipe, and then we’ll let that settle in for a while. Good. Now, let’s call up my father and tell him he’s got a challenge to tackle with me. That should go over well, as he likes nothing better.”
Cameron asked anxiously, “How are you feeling, love?”
“Better than I have in years,” King Alric admitted freely, a broad grin on his face. “I literally can’t wait to see what else Sora is going to do.”
Cameron pressed in for a quick kiss, tears of joy in his eyes. “Good. And me neither. Sora, wow us.”
“Oh, I intend to.” Sora winked at them both, already calling his father on the phone.
Ryu answered with an absent sounding “Yes, son.”
“Tou-san, want a challenge of the healing variety?”
“Oh? Did you find something fun?”
“Five-hundred-year-old compressed c-spine with nerve, muscle, and tendon damage. I could use a little assistance for surgery.”
“King Alric?”
“That very one.”
“Oh, you can bet I want in on this. Where are you?”
“Sitting with the man himself in Mage Lisette’s workroom. Do you know where that is?”
“I do, indeed. I’m coming right up. Don’t you dare tell your mother about this! She got the last challenging case. It’s my turn.”
Sora chuckled, shaking his head. His parents really were a trip some days.
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
Sora nearly jumped when North jogged up beside him in the long, empty hallway, a strange grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. He’d not spent a lot of time with the mage, but he struck Sora as a sweet, outgoing person who’d spent too much time suppressing his true self. He’d been reserved on their first meeting, but with each encounter, he seemed to open up a little more. His mate, Warin, was good at drawing him out.
“Hey, Sora. You busy?” North started.
“Not at the moment. Is there something I can help you with?”
“Nope,” North replied, his grin spreading even wider. “I was just wondering if you were up for a little adventure.”
“Really?”
“Yep.” He leaned a little closer to Sora and lowered his voice to a whisper. “Outside the castle.”
Sora’s eyebrows jumped to nearly his hairline. While they weren’t prisoners, getting out of the castle, even for bread and milk, was something of an ordeal. If they weren’t worried about the Jaeggi, then they were battling the reporters.
As if sensing he had Sora’s complete and undivided attention, North motioned for Sora to follow him. “The dragons are getting ready now.”
Oh, now Sora was definitely interested. He started to ask if they should tell Ravi, but North was already running down the hall, and Sora had to hurry to catch up. They took a sharp turn down a hallway Sora had never ventured through and down a back set of stairs. At the end of another hallway, they came out at a secluded part of the courtyard that seemed hidden from the front gate as well as most of the castle windows.
And in the center of the small space were Warin and Ravi in their dragon forms. Both of them were wearing what looked to be leather harnesses. Specifically, harnesses that allowed mages to ride safely on the backs of dragons. Sora’s heart flipped over his chest. Was he finally going to ride with Ravi? The wind dragon had offered, but the opportunity had not presented itself yet.
“Really? We’re flying out of here?” Sora gasped.
“You’ve flown on a dragon before, right?” North asked with a cheeky grin.
“Y-yes, but not with Ravi. We haven’t had the chance.”
“Do you trust me?” Ravi inquired, wide chocolate-brown eyes watching him closely.
“With all of me,” Sora said without hesitation.
“Then we need to go now, before someone spots us,” North admonished, waving Sora toward Ravi while he ran toward a waiting Warin.
The deep brick-red dragon shook his head and huffed. “I can’t believe I let you talk me into this.”
North giggled as he climbed up onto his dragon, securing himself into the harness while Sora ran over to the large blue dragon. Ravi might be smaller than Warin, but it was still like trying to hoist himself onto the top of a truck. Ravi caught his foot and nudged him up into position.
“Are you okay?” Sora asked as he secured himself.
Ravi chuckled, but it sounded a little different. There was less lightness to it, reminding Sora that Ravi the dragon was a different creature than Ravi the man.
“You’re light as a feather. The question is if you are okay?”
“I’m fine and ready to go!”
That was all the nudging Ravi needed. He shoved off the ground, flapping his massive wings. There was an additional rush of air as if Ravi naturally summoned the wind to him to help lift him off the ground faster.
Sora’s stomach dropped to his toes at the rush, and he sucked in a great gulp of air. His fingers reflexively tightened around the harness in a death grip, and it wasn’t until they were well above the castle walls that he realized he’d closed his eyes. He promptly opened them and looked around. The earth was falling away faster and faster, while the clouds grew closer. His hair was whipping free of the ponytail he had it in, but he didn’t dare remove his hands to try and cage it again, just let it fly free.
Orange, pink, and deep purple painted the sky as the sun sank deep below the horizon. Mountains rose up on one side of them, while the valley with Sonthofen fell away. Ravi smoothly turned them and took off, following behind Warin at a leisurely pace.
Ravi turned his head slightly toward Sora as if checking on him. “Are you okay? Comfortable?”
A bubble of laughter rose up in Sora’s chest.
“Perfect. But I thought wind dragons were fast,” he teased.
Ravi barked out a laugh and then flapped his wings, immediately zooming ahead of Warin and North. The world blurred, and the wind pulled at Sora. There was a chill to it, but he didn’t care. He was flying. He was flying with his dragon! Never in his life had he ever felt so free.
They zipped one way and another, plowing through wispy clouds and then down to skim over treetops on the mountains. There were no people to see them. No Jaeggi to threaten them. No reporters to hound them. No worries.
The only thing that mattered was he was with Ravi. The dragon moved with an almost ethereal grace. Sora tore his eyes way from the sky to look at the dragon beneath him. Ravi was all power and sleek muscles. His hide was slate blue with deep sapphire hints around his wings and streaking along the top of his head.
Reaching out one hand, Sora ran it along Ravi’s neck, feeling the sleekness of his scales, the hard, durable texture. It was a little surprising they didn’t seem as thick as some of the other dragons’. He’d helped his father heal an earth dragon once, and their scales were more like little steel plates, as were metal dragons’ scales. What Ravi gained in speed over the other dragons, he sacrificed in protection. A shiver of fear ran through Sora. Ravi would always need to be faster than his enemy.