Free 01 Wing Warrior by Kevin Outlaw

fact, it was not a rock fall that caused the river to dry up, but something entirely different; and on the day Nimbus met Cumulo the dragon, he woke that entirely different something, and the river started to flow again.
    That same day, a fox had his foxhole washed away by the reappearance of the river. Luckily, the fox was not at home; but he returned from hunting just in time to see Nimbus emerging from the cave with a huge dragon wriggling out close behind him.
    The fox, who was wise even by fox standards, crept back into the undergrowth, deciding it was best not to get involved.
     
    ***
     
    Nimbus, who was still carrying the Wing Warrior sword, looked at the sky, blinking. From the position of the sun, he guessed it couldn’t be much later than one o’clock, which gave him plenty of time before he had to be home for dinner.
    ‘What is that?’ Cumulo asked, as he scrambled out of the cave, with his belly splashing in the river and his claws scratching and scrabbling on the rocks.
    ‘What’s what?’ Nimbus asked.
    ‘The yellow thing up there. I’ve seen it before. In my mind.’
    Nimbus waded over to the riverbank. He had not forgotten how big the tooth he had found was, and he was not too keen to stay in the water any longer than he needed to. ‘It’s the sun,’ he said. ‘It shines through the day, then goes to sleep at night.’
    ‘I like it,’ Cumulo said. Having completely removed his massive bulk from the cave mouth, he let his gigantic wings unfurl with a thunderous crack. He flapped them, and the wind they generated was almost strong enough to blow Nimbus clean off his feet. ‘Oh, that feels so much better. I like outside.’
    ‘I thought you might,’ Nimbus said. ‘Now, follow me. We have to get you somewhere hidden before you get spotted.’
    ‘Where are we going?’
    ‘You’ll see. And don’t forget the armour.’
    Cumulo put his head back inside the cave mouth and picked up a big sack between his teeth. The sack clanked metallically as it swung from his jaws. ‘You should be wearing this, you know?’ he said.
    ‘You’re kidding. It weighs a ton. How am I supposed to walk in it?’
    ‘You’ve been chosen by the armour, you’re supposed to wear it. And that means you aren’t supposed to walk anywhere.’
    ‘Oh, really? And how do you suggest I get home?’
    ‘Wing Warriors fly. You’re supposed to ride me.’
    ‘You can forget that. I’m not keen on heights. I’ll stick to walking.’
    Cumulo rolled his eyes. In the gleaming sunlight his scales appeared to be purple, but sometimes Nimbus caught a glimpse of them in the corner of his eye and they looked red, or green, or sometimes even white. ‘I’ve never heard of a Wing Warrior afraid of heights,’ the dragon said.
    ‘But I’m not a Wing Warrior.’
    ‘The armour thinks otherwise.’
    ‘The armour’s wrong.’
    ‘But it did pick you, and sooner or later you will have to wear it.’
    ‘Why?’ Nimbus headed off through the trees, dragging the dead weight of the sword behind him. Cumulo followed, examining everything with a childlike interest.
    ‘Something made the armour call you. That means something magical has come back into the world.’
    ‘That thing in the river?’
    ‘No. Something else. The armour knew it was time to be found. I think we’re going to war.’
    Nimbus stopped. He was getting an awful feeling; a sense that events were spiralling totally out of his control and he was going to get dragged along with them if he wasn’t careful. ‘What war? Nobody mentioned a war to me. I can’t fight in a war.’
    ‘The armour –’
    ‘Thinks otherwise, I know. But I’m just a kid, Cumulo. I can’t fight, I can’t even lift this sword. I can’t fly around on your back. Maybe my dad could, but not me.’
    ‘I don’t think the armour gets it wrong, Nim.’
    ‘I think it has.’
    ‘I don’t know if you have ever thought to look at it too closely, but there is an inscription on the sword you are