The clashing of steel echoed in the morning air, followed by a laugh and a curse. It was reasonably early in the morning, the sun having just risen, sending its brilliant light through the sky. There were few clouds, and despite the early hour it was shaping up to be quite a warm day. A slight mist wafted through the trees as the dew from the previous night slowly began to evaporate.

"Come on Uthun! Is that all you got," a taunting voice rang out through the clearing, "I thought you would land at least one hit on me."

Ragin darted backwards as a large two-handed broadsword swung down towards him, missing his body by inches. His own sword, a single handed hilt with a narrow, light and fast blade held loosely in his hand, darted forward in a practiced and well executed lunge. It stopped merely a finger width from its target, frozen in mid-air, before being pulled back quickly as the human duck away from another heavy stroke of the broadsword.

Uthun grunted again, bearing his teeth as he missed yet again. The red outline barely visible around him flickered and disappeared all-together. The two had been sparring for the past hour now, and were sweating fiercely, but they were far from exhausted. Both were seasoned warriors, and they enjoyed their morning sessions together, even if Ragin nearly always got the better of his urgal companion.

There was a blue outline surrounding Ragin's body. It meant that there was a ward surrounding him that blocked steel. It was a simple spell, the idea behind it was that every time he was hit it would change colour, before disappearing all together. It started at blue, before moving to orange, then red, before disappearing, which was where Uthun was stuck at now. One more strike and Ragin was declared the victor.

He held out his sword in front of him, judging the urgal with taunting eyes. It was a rare moment when Uthun managed to land a hit on the more nimble swordsman. In all the four months they had been with each other he had only managed to strike Ragin a handful of times, and had only beaten him twice. Despite that fact, Ragin knew Uthun was a very good with a sword, better than most of his race. But Ragin was better.

Uthun let out a frustrated cry and charged at him, swing his sword in a horizontal arch toward the human. Ragin grinned ducking under the strike before leaning forward and sinking the point of his dulled blade into the urgal's rib cage, earning him a nasty bruise. Uthun grunted, staggering backwards, glaring at the human in frustration and anger.

"You just can't let me win, can you?" he grunted.

"Where's the fun in that?" Ragin laughed, lowering his sword, "You can't get better if I don't go hard on you."

"That may be so, but my pride wouldn't take so much of a beating each morning if you did, once in a while," Uthun muttered, sheathing the blade, "If you let me use my axe it would be a different story."

"And I told you, Uthun, that I wanted to spar, not having a slogging contest as you spin that bladed stick around," replied Ragin, "I can't exactly keep my skills up if I have nothing to parry and deflect."

"Still, you should let me use it once and a while. Swordsmen aren't the only opponents you will face."

Before Ragin could reply a dark shadow passed over the clearing. Both looked up and the human couldn't help but smile. Akaysha's scales glittered like gems in the morning sun, casting flickers of light down upon the two down below. At four months old the dragoness was bigger than any horse. The awkwardness of a hatchling had disappeared entirely, replaced with the primal grace and finesse of a dragon.

She circled them once, before gliding down and landing elegantly on the ground below. She dropped small deer she had clasped between her talons onto the ground below and without reservation began tearing into its flesh, hungrily devouring as much as she could with each bite. Her growth had slowed now, but she still ate a lot, once every two or three days.

'You two still poking at each other with shiny sticks?' she mentally told the two of them without looking up past her meal.

Ragin grinned at the dragoness, sheathing his sword. Her understanding of both human and urgal languages had increased substantially the past couple of months. She was already fluent in the human tongue, and could speak well enough to an urgal. She had even began picking up the ancient language as well through studying Ragin's mind. He often showed her books on things that he could never quite explain, and was surprised when she had often begun reading them back to him.

"Morning," said the thief, ignoring the question as he walked over and lightly placed a hand on her flank. She hummed in response.

Uthun grunted in greeting as well. There was a friendly rivalry between the urgal and the dragon. They often argued almost every point they had, even when there was no point to it. Ragin often found the pointlessness of their conversations quite humorous, and he could tell that, as much as she didn't want to admit it, Akaysha throughfully enjoyed bagging the urgal, especially since she won most of the arguments.

"I've got a surprise for you today," said Ragin with a grin.

She looked at him with one eye, 'A surprise?'

'Yes,' he replied mentally for her, 'Once you finish I'll show you.'

She instantly tried to pry his mind for the information, but he shielded it from her with a smirk. She snorted, and resigned to eating her meal. Ragin could sense she was curious, that part of her had not changed since she had been a hatchling. She was constantly asking questions, wanting to explore, to 'see the world'. But she also knew of the dangers of the outside, and while not exactly liking it, agreed that staying in the spine was the best course of action for the moment.

There was another part of her that had continued to flourish in hiding as well, and that was her ability to use magic. Both Uthun and Ragin had discussed this situation extensively. Never before, at least as far as Ragin knew, had a dragon been able to cast magic at will. Akaysha didn't see the problem with it, and he had often found her entertaining herself by changing small things around her. The amount of energy she commanded was... astounding to say the least. The things she could do with it far surpassed anything Ragin had experienced, and it frightened him.

The magic had come in useful in some ways. Akaysha had cast a spell around the hut to make it so it couldn't be seen except by Ragin, Uthun and herself. She had enchanted their blades so that they could never break or dull, she had made the hut fireproof, grown several new trees around the place, and had conducted many other experiments besides. Sure, many of the spells were useful, but they still were staggering.

Ragin sighed as he shook off his thoughts and headed into the house to find his 'surprise' for Akaysha. He made his way up to his room and picked up a large saddle from where it had been sitting on a stand. He had just finished it last night, and after making sure that it was ready, had decided that today would be the day that he tried it.

He walked back down the stairs and exited the house to see Akaysha had finished her meal. She was licking the last of the blood from her mouth and looked up when he came through. Her eyes instantly focused on the leather he was holding and she tilted her head in interest, getting to her feet.

'What is that?' she asked.

"A saddle," he replied out loud for the benefit of Uthun, "It's so my legs don't get ripped to shreds while on your back."

She blinked, the implications of what he was saying suddenly hitting her. Her excitement flooded through their bond. She rose to her feet and joyfully jumped over to her rider, nearly landing on top of him. He chuckled as she gently battered him with her head, nearly knocking him over, and looking over the saddle he was holding.

"Alright, calm down and stay still. I need to get this on you."

Akaysha rumbled softly but did as she was told, lowering herself a little so it was easier for him to access her back. Ragin threw the saddle onto the little dip between her wings and neck, fiddling slightly with the straps. It wasn't too much different from a horse's saddle, except that instead of stirrups it had straps, and the seat was more just a piece of leather between himself and Akaysha's scaly back.

"How does that feel?" he asked the dragoness, stepping back to admire his handiwork.

Akaysha turned her head to look at the saddle, studying it for a moment, 'It's... a little uncomfortable, but I don't mind!'

He laughed, her enthusiasm infectious. Making the saddle had been an interesting project. He had studied numerous books on the matter, and quickly figured out the easiest way to do so. The most problematic part was making it the right size, but after he achieved that... it was basically the same as making a horse saddle, which he had done before.

'Come on! Get up!' she exclaimed, looking at him with one large purple eye.

He couldn't resist the request. He gripped the side of the saddle and hauled himself onto her back. She braced softly at his weight. He had ridden her before, but only while she was walking, never up in the sky. He hadn't wanted to risk it simply because he felt as though she was still too small to hold him while flying. Now that she was older, he felt it was time.

The dragoness below him waited impatiently while he strapped in his legs. Her tail was constantly swinging back and forth and she kneaded the ground with her claws, creating soft grooves in the grass. Ragin took a breath, testing the straps a couple of times with firm tugs before sitting back on the seat and gripping the neck spike in front of him.

"Wish me luck," he said to Uthun, who was watching with a slight smirk.

"Good luck. Try not to get thrown off," replied the urgal.

'Stop talking! Let's go!' exclaimed Akaysha, opening her wings and crouching on her haunches.

Ragin only had time to let out a muffled cry as the dragoness launched herself into the sky. The massive boom of her wings sounded through his head, and his fingers clenched tightly around the spike. His stomach heaved and lurched. The wind whipped back his hair and stung his eyes.

"Whoo!" he yelled with a fierce grin.

Akaysha looked back at him and flashed her teeth. They climbed above the trees and mountains, the ground dipping further and further away. Ragin had never considered himself afraid of heights, but the shear drop below him and the knowledge that if he fell he would likely die, unnerved him. He gripped the neck spike a little tighter and looked upwards again.

Finally the dragoness levelled out. The rider let out a long breath, releasing his shaky grip and grinning wildly. He looked out over the mountain ranges in wonder. Never had he seen such a view. The mountains stretched far in front of them, and far behind them. To his left was the ocean, a massive plain of blue that seemed never ending. To his right was the expanse of green that were just as limitless. He could see Teirm, a small walled anomaly on the edge of the ocean, and he fantasised he could see the tiny forms of people moving around the streets.

"Wow," he muttered, his amazement leaking through the bond.

'I know,' purred the dragoness, 'The world is so big from up here.'

They slowly rose higher, getting in amongst the wispy clouds of the sky. It grew far colder as they ascended, which surprised Ragin a little. He always assumed that it would be warmer up there, considering that it was closer to the sun. There was also a shortness of breath as less air made it in every time he breathed. He frowned, but ignored it as Akaysha grew ever higher. It got to a point when he was starting to grow dizzy with a lack of oxygen.

Frowning to himself he gently patted against Akaysha's shoulder, 'Go a bit lower, I'm finding it increasingly difficult to breath.'

The dragon heard him and tilted her wings so they glided back to a safer height. There they stayed. The wind breezed lightly past them, causing a chill to run up Ragin's spine. The occasional snowdrift appeared on the peaks of mountains. Fluffy clouds passed calmly above. From up there, Ragin could see the world in a whole new light.

For hours they flew, revelling in the others presence. The thief couldn't have remembered a time when he felt so... at peace, so calm, yet so exuberant at the same time. He had never felt so... complete. He lay himself down against her neck, wrapping his arms around her with a long content sigh. The warmth radiating from her scales helped fight back the chill of the wind. She hummed slightly.

'Why do you ever come down?' he asked her softly.

'Some things are easier on the ground,' she replied with what sounded like a laugh, 'And my wings get tired after a while... but I love it up here. Now that you can join me... it's all the better.'

He grinned and lightly scratched the smooth scales winding down the side of her neck, before laying his cheek down again. He felt as though he could fall asleep up here, on the edge of the world, with only the sky above him and the rest of the world behind. It was a trouble-less place, where nothing or no one would be able to find him.

'What's that?' Akaysha suddenly asked.

'What's what?' he replied, sitting up and frowning.

She could obviously see something he couldn't. Realising this the dragon melded her vision with his, showing him exactly what she could see. At first, it started off as nothing more than a dot in the distance. But it was out of place, and too large to be a bird. As it got closer he realised they were multiple dots, and each one had a slightly different glisten of colour. Ragin swore.

'We need to get back,' he said, startling her.

'Why?' asked the dragoness.

'They're dragons, and their riders.'

Akaysha felt the fear that spread through her rider, so she turned around, quickly flapping her wings a couple of times to hurry back to the hut. Ragin quickly cast a spell of invisibility around himself and Akaysha. They had probably already been seen, but he couldn't let the riders see where they were going. It took almost half an hour for the dragoness to reach the house. The rider held on grimly as she flew at the fastest pace she could manage that was still reasonably comfortable for him.

From there she flew down into the clearing and landed on the ground. Ragin undid the straps around his legs and quickly slid off, letting out a shaky breath. All the enjoyment he had gotten from the flying was quickly forgotten as he turned his mind toward the dragon riders. What were they doing here?

Uthun, sensing the urgency, walked out to meet them, "How did it go?"

"Dragon riders," Ragin replied, ignoring the question, "Dragon riders are coming this way."

The urgal went grim, "Where are they now?"

"Still a couple of hours away I think."

"Did they see you?"

"Probably, but they wouldn't have seen where we went."

"At least there's that," Uthun sighed in relief.

'What do we do?' asked Akaysha, looking between the two worried faces in front of her.

"Well... we will do all we can do. Wait and see what they are up to," replied her rider.

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Hey guys! New chapter! I hope you enjoyed. Vote if you did and comment what you thought. At this point I'm not sure whether I'm going to fast or too slow. Let me know what you think. I'll get the next chapter out soon. See Ya!

Pennator^^