her.
She put her snout on the edge of my fingers, letting me touch the sensitive mouth that I knew surrounded her teeth and then huffed a warm breath of pine smoke and coal-dust over me, fluffing my thatch of hair.
You’re playing with me, aren’t you? I smiled, blowing air back onto her snout.
With a sudden sneeze, the dragon shook its head and made a chirruping noise, oddly musical, like a bird.
“Seb! Seb! What are you doing?” a voice shouted, alarmed and fearful—my dad, his drunken gait exaggerated by the alarm and anger in his voice.
The dragon then did something I had been hoping for all my life, but never expecting. It seized me with its front feet, black talons the length of my whole forearm curling gently against me and not even hurting a tiny bit, and launched itself into the air.
“You’ve got the wrong boy!” I heard my father yell, along with the Old Widow Hu’s reply, “no, I think that it’s got just the right one!”
3: The Dragon Academy
The spire of Hammal Mountain rose up in front of us. Everyone is going to be so jealous of me. My brothers would be because I had been chosen by a red; my father because he had never been chosen, and all my friends would stare because I would be one of the few female riders. The only other girl at the Academy, a girl named Varla, was about Ryan’s age, but hadn’t graduated yet.
Being held in the dragon’s claws was terrifying. Not that it hurt me—it didn’t hurt at all, but I could feel the cold air whipping around, over my breeches and long jerkin. I wish I’d dressed properly for this. I kept thinking of my light cream trousers and the embroidered-green tunic-jerkin I could even now be wearing. The green would work brilliantly with the dragon’s red.
I had never been to the Academy of course, but I had heard all about it from Reynalt and Ryan. They both talked about it like it was a drag and a bore, but I could tell how secretly proud they were of going here.
The whole city of Torvald was built around the body of Mount Hammal, extending in crowded terraces up the mountain which was a giant, old volcano. The central crater had been topped with high walls that gleamed when the sun set. This was the dragon enclosure where the dragons lived and slept. The Academy where they trained the riders sat alongside the enclosure, its towers abutting the gleaming, pale wall .The Academy extended along the narrow ridge like a picture of one of those far-away, mountain monasteries.
We flew over a scattering of ancient oak trees that were larger than any house. The trees grew larger as the dragon skimmed the air toward one of the large wooden platforms affixed to the side of the Academy.
“Easy now. Easy,” I said, a little panicked as we rushed toward the rounded wooden boards with one small red flay affixed to its edge. I could see other chosen trainee riders and the Academy staff with their tell-tale horned helmets, knee and elbow bracers. The dragon shrieked like an eagle, depositing me gently on the platform with only a meter or so for me to fall. I rolled out of the short fall to be caught by someone.
“Hey!” I turned back to my red beast only to see it had already shifted and jumped from the platform, swooping down over the side of the mountain and back into the city, getting its second rider, no doubt.
“Are you okay?” A short, heavy-set boy with dark hair had caught me. He was one of the other trainees. I could tell that from his clothes, which were just a tunic and breeches, and not the gleaming armor of a Dragon Rider. He gave me a hand back up on my feet.
“Yeah—fine. Fine!” I stood and brushed myself off. I felt queasy and sick as I stood, excited to see who my fellow rider was going to be.
“Congratulations!” Other Dragon Riders, looking fine in their armor—the chest plates and armguards bright in the sun—were approaching, shouting and cheering the trainees selected. The wooden platforms opened onto a wide stone area
She put her snout on the edge of my fingers, letting me touch the sensitive mouth that I knew surrounded her teeth and then huffed a warm breath of pine smoke and coal-dust over me, fluffing my thatch of hair.
You’re playing with me, aren’t you? I smiled, blowing air back onto her snout.
With a sudden sneeze, the dragon shook its head and made a chirruping noise, oddly musical, like a bird.
“Seb! Seb! What are you doing?” a voice shouted, alarmed and fearful—my dad, his drunken gait exaggerated by the alarm and anger in his voice.
The dragon then did something I had been hoping for all my life, but never expecting. It seized me with its front feet, black talons the length of my whole forearm curling gently against me and not even hurting a tiny bit, and launched itself into the air.
“You’ve got the wrong boy!” I heard my father yell, along with the Old Widow Hu’s reply, “no, I think that it’s got just the right one!”
3: The Dragon Academy
The spire of Hammal Mountain rose up in front of us. Everyone is going to be so jealous of me. My brothers would be because I had been chosen by a red; my father because he had never been chosen, and all my friends would stare because I would be one of the few female riders. The only other girl at the Academy, a girl named Varla, was about Ryan’s age, but hadn’t graduated yet.
Being held in the dragon’s claws was terrifying. Not that it hurt me—it didn’t hurt at all, but I could feel the cold air whipping around, over my breeches and long jerkin. I wish I’d dressed properly for this. I kept thinking of my light cream trousers and the embroidered-green tunic-jerkin I could even now be wearing. The green would work brilliantly with the dragon’s red.
I had never been to the Academy of course, but I had heard all about it from Reynalt and Ryan. They both talked about it like it was a drag and a bore, but I could tell how secretly proud they were of going here.
The whole city of Torvald was built around the body of Mount Hammal, extending in crowded terraces up the mountain which was a giant, old volcano. The central crater had been topped with high walls that gleamed when the sun set. This was the dragon enclosure where the dragons lived and slept. The Academy where they trained the riders sat alongside the enclosure, its towers abutting the gleaming, pale wall .The Academy extended along the narrow ridge like a picture of one of those far-away, mountain monasteries.
We flew over a scattering of ancient oak trees that were larger than any house. The trees grew larger as the dragon skimmed the air toward one of the large wooden platforms affixed to the side of the Academy.
“Easy now. Easy,” I said, a little panicked as we rushed toward the rounded wooden boards with one small red flay affixed to its edge. I could see other chosen trainee riders and the Academy staff with their tell-tale horned helmets, knee and elbow bracers. The dragon shrieked like an eagle, depositing me gently on the platform with only a meter or so for me to fall. I rolled out of the short fall to be caught by someone.
“Hey!” I turned back to my red beast only to see it had already shifted and jumped from the platform, swooping down over the side of the mountain and back into the city, getting its second rider, no doubt.
“Are you okay?” A short, heavy-set boy with dark hair had caught me. He was one of the other trainees. I could tell that from his clothes, which were just a tunic and breeches, and not the gleaming armor of a Dragon Rider. He gave me a hand back up on my feet.
“Yeah—fine. Fine!” I stood and brushed myself off. I felt queasy and sick as I stood, excited to see who my fellow rider was going to be.
“Congratulations!” Other Dragon Riders, looking fine in their armor—the chest plates and armguards bright in the sun—were approaching, shouting and cheering the trainees selected. The wooden platforms opened onto a wide stone area
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