” width=”425″ height=”334″>“Wyeth is one of the slowest dragons, but I wouldn’t trade him, either. I think each dragon has his own quirks, and each rider loves him all the more for them.” ~Ruskya in Dragon’s Posterity
A Dragon Ride:
“I’ll race you back to the canyon, and this time Wyeth and I will win!”
“Yeah, right, brother,” Duskya responded, as her dark hair blew in the wind behind her. She refused to cut it short or tie it back as was the custom of female riders. She loved to let it whip in her face. If she couldn’t see, she would let Wryn see for her, or use her senses from the dragon bond to find danger around them.
“There’s no way that you can win. Wryn is just faster. We ride as one when I shut my eyes.”
“Sure you do, but I also can do that. Glendyn has taught me just as well as you these past fifteen winters.”
“Yes, but Wryn’s faster.”
“Well, then maybe we will have to find an advantage and take it,” Ruskya replied with a laugh as he felt the wind pick up under Wyeth’s wings. He focused to block his sister out of his thoughts and urged his dragon to catch the updraft. The dragon responded in kind, and soon they were soaring over the desert floor. The sagebrush and rocks below were unrecognizable lumps of brown and green. When the updraft petered out, Ruskya shielded his thoughts again from his sister and, using dragon senses, searched for another air advantage for Wyeth. Duskya had been correct in assessing that Wryn was faster. Just as Duskya was larger than Ruskya, Wyeth was smaller than his sister. The shorter wingspan made for slower flying, so Ruskya had to find other advantages that his twin didn’t even bother to look for. Finding what he was seeking, Ruskya guided Wyeth down. As if on a wild roller coaster ride, the dragon dropped lower, and with a cry of glee, Ruskya guided Wyeth to the canyon floor before Wryn.
“See, sister? I can do it! I don’t need to have the faster dragon in order to beat you,”
A Dragon Battle:
“Wyeth, prepare yourself. We are going to fight the turquoise dragon. Wyden will be here soon, but until then, we’re on our own.”
Wyeth responded by letting out a bellow and an icy blue stream of flames.
“All right, let’s go!” Ruskya yelled.
“I’m right behind you,” Duskya called to him. “What is it?”
Before Ruskya could get too far into his explanation, he saw Wyn fighting to stay aloft. He sent a mental image to Duskya of what he saw. She responded with a visual of something coming up on his left. Then Ruskya saw the turquoise dragon. His talons were extended and ready to rip into Wyn’s left wing. The two dragons were slightly below Ruskya, and Wyn was rapidly losing altitude. With a roar, Wyeth descended slightly so that he was even with the turquoise dragon and let loose a stream of icy blue flames. This was not sparkly dragon courage but real dragon fire. The turquoise dragon broke away from Wyn to face this new and greater danger.
At the same time, Duskya arrived and Wryn sent silver blue flames at the turquoise dragon. If the dragon had been alone, he may have ended off the fight right there, but he had a rider. The rider pulled the dragon back and surveyed the scene. Ruskya again felt the touch of the rider’s mind, but this time he was ready to block it.
“So, you come at me with a young and inexperienced dragon?” the rider taunted Ruskya, speaking to him mentally.
“Don’t believe him,” Duskya’s voice broke through the fog that was starting to cloud Ruskya’s mind. “He has some way of controlling you. Break it off.”
Ruskya nodded and replied to the other rider, “You will not take anyone with you today when you leave. And, leave you will!”
