Free Fledgling (The Dragonrider Chronicles) by Nicole Conway Page A

running those laps.
It’d be in your best interest to get over your air sickness now, so you aren’t
throwing up on your first day of formal aerial maneuvers.” Sile went on, curling a finger at me to call me forward. “You’re up first, Jaevid.”
    I didn’t want to go anywhere near him,
the saddle, or the snarling white dragon that swishing her long tail. But I had
no choice now. I staggered forward, watching as Sile gave the seat of the saddle a pat. It looked intimidating, and much too small
for two people.
    He gave his dragon a hand signal and
she put her belly on the ground, lowering so we could climb onto her back. I
was practically sitting in Sile’s lap, which was
awkward and uncomfortable. Clearly this saddle wasn’t made for two people. It
felt like I might fall off as soon as we got moving.
    Sile was a little more secure in his seat,
with his legs put down into two sheath-like leather sleeves build into the
saddle. They came up to his knees, fitting like boots. I saw what they were
meant for; those leg-holsters were what would keep him in the saddle when his
dragon turned at awkward angles in the sky. I was shaking all over as Sile showed me the handles on either side of the saddle.
    “I won’t let you fall,” he assured me
as he belted a leather harness around my shoulders that literally strapped us
together. It was like he was wearing me as a backpack in the front. “Valla will
go easy on you, at first.”
    Valla didn’t seem to like me being on
her back one bit. When she stood, she shifted and shook herself, flexing her
shoulders and snapping her jaws like my added weight was uncomfortable for her.
She growled and hissed, making flustered chirps as she turned her head to the
side to glare at me with one big, blue eye.
    Sile gave her neck a pat again, gave a
sharp whistle, and she reared back onto her hind legs, spreading her forearms
wide to flare her wings. I saw Felix stumbled back a few feet as she let out a
shrill roar, and leapt skyward. The earth fell away from beneath us, and the
sudden force of gravity on my body smashed me back against Sile’s chest.
    I’d experienced fear a few times, but
this was my first encounter with sheer terror. I didn’t handle it very well. It
took everything I had not to throw up as we rocketed up into the sky. The
initial ride was so rough I was afraid something was wrong. Valla took in
forceful sweeps with her wings. It felt clumsy and chaotic, like we weren’t
making any progress, until I caught a glimpse of the ground far below.
    She leveled off once we were several
hundred feet above the academy, circling at a gentle speed. Looking down made
me dizzy, and I was gripping the handles so tightly my hands felt numb. The air
was cold, and the sky above was pink as the sun began to rise. I could still
see stars peeking through the twilight.
    That’s when I realized how beautiful
it was, and I forgot all my fears.
    To the right, I could see where the
mountains sloped down, opening to let in a view of the ocean far away in the
distance. The rest of the way around us, the peaks of the mountains were still
covered in snow. Sile pointed over my shoulder,
showing me a few dark spots in the distance. There were other dragons already
flying with their riders.
    My feelings of awe and exhilaration
lasted for about three minutes. Once I had finally gotten comfortable, maybe
even decided this was kind of fun, Sile turned up the
speed again. He gave Valla another nudge, and with a few forceful wing beats,
we went lurching forward.
    We did spins. We did spirals. We went
up so fast all I could see was blue sky and blurs of clouds. We went down so
suddenly I lost my breath and couldn’t catch it again until we’d slowed down.
All the while, Sile was trying to shout directions at
me, and I couldn’t understand anything he said with the wind in my face.
    Swooping back down toward the earth,
Valla cupped her wings and hovered for a moment while she stretched out her
strong