The Dragon Thief

For kings and queens, their hunger wide,

Would trade all love to mount and ride.

They scorn the bond, they steal by night,

To claim the sky through wrongful right.

Ryuki

When a Queen calls, the dragons come. All of them.

As we fly toward the castle where the golden egg was taken, the setting sun glints off silver, bronze, red, blue, and green. And at the very front, it shimmers off our golden queen.

While I can't hear Ylys, all the dragons can speak to each other. I don't have to have a mind link with the queen to know that she's furious. I can feel it rolling off her in waves. Her fury is flaming the rage in the rest of the Thunder.

We're in flight formation, a typical V-formation which I thought was because they are winged animals. However, Bynjym brought to my attention that it's about their numbers not because they can fly. Ylys is in front, by herself, followed by the silver dragons, then the bronze dragons, then blue, red, and finally, greens.

There are only four silver dragons, and I am the only rider of a silver. There is a bronze rider, two red, two blue, and three green riders. That's all of us, nine riders. That's how selective the dragons are about who they will bond their lives to. It makes me even more proud to know that I was not only worthy of being a dragon rider, but worthy of being a rider to a silver dragon.

It makes what these royals are doing that much more infuriating. They think they can force a bond between themselves and a dragon. The dragon chooses the rider, not the other way around. You don't get to decide to become a dragonrider. If the dragon doesn't choose you, and you try to force them into a bond, they'll kill you.

If we weren't talking about fledgling dragons, it wouldn't be a problem. But young dragons can't fly right away. They need to strengthen their wings, and they eat constantly so they can support their speedy growth. Even Bynjym, who is five and a fully mature dragon, still eats a lot. Fledglings require care that a human who isn't bonded to a dragon would know nothing about.

As we race toward the castle, I pull my bow over my shoulder. As a rider, I always carry a bow and arrows. We never know when we might be attacked by royals, have to fight to protect a young dragon, or like now, have to attack to get our dragon egg back.

I can see the soldiers running across the ramparts, getting into position. The arrows that the soldiers shoot at the dragons only hurt if they slice through their wings, or hit them in a sensitive spot, like their eyes. It's the harpoons that we have to be careful of.

We are high in the sky and Ylys slows so we can look down at the castle. Because I can hear Bynjym, I know the dragons are planning an attack strategy. I don't want to interrupt him to ask what it is. I trust my dragon and I know from our battles in the last year that he is an excellent flyer. He's fast and agile in the air. We've spent thousands of hours working to strengthen my leg muscles so I can stay on his back while he dodges and twists in the flight. The stronger I am, the stronger my dragon is. If he's not protecting me, or catching me in the air, he can focus on what's important – finding the stolen egg.

Ylys screams a battle cry a moment before she dives. The rest of the Thunder follows behind her, answering her call to fight.

I lock my legs around Bynjym's body, leaning back as I nock an arrow. All of the dragons have tucked their wings and are barreling straight toward the castle.

I find my target, a person manning a harpoon, and I release my arrow, just as Bynjym extends his wings and blasts the soldiers with fire.

I hear a harpoon launch and Bynjym banks a hard left. I nock another arrow and aim at one of the soldiers on the rampart. There may only be nine riders in our group, but our dragons can all breathe fire.

I watch as several soldiers fall off the top of the castle walls in a fiery blaze, screaming until they hit the ground.

The soldiers have their own formation, but having a Thunder of dragons blasting fire at you causes chaos. There are screams of agony and smoke begins billowing around the ramparts, impeding their view.

I hear what sounds like a rock slide slamming to the ground. As Bynjym turns on his wing again, I see Ylys in the center of the fortress. She's landed and is shooting flames in every direction.

"PROTECT OUR QUEEN!" Bynjym bellows in the link.

The silver dragons all take a side and begin circling the ramparts, shooting fire over the soldiers who begin scurrying to get away.

As Bynjym turns to circle another side of the castle, I see one of the riders, Soma, free-falling in the air. Her dragon, Tyffyn, dives underneath her, catching her easily before lifting up in the sky.

I hear Bynjym rumbling unhappily. Tyffyn and Soma are our most recently bonded pair. They need more training. Soma can't fall off her dragon like that. Our focus needs to be proteicting Ylys and finding the egg.

I nock another arrow and let it fly, just as Bynjym turns another corner.

"BYNJYM!" I yell, watching as the harpoon turns toward Ylys.

Bynjym screams angrily and a bronze dragon, Vyctyr, who is closest to the turret where the harpoon is located, flies down, snatching the soldier manning the harpoon into his mouth and swallowing him whole. I know from experience that the dragon will vomit up the steal of the soldier's uniform later.

Another soldier races to the harpoon. I nock an arrow and just as I release it, Bynjym blows fire over the harpoon and the soldiers surrounding it. I hear their screams of agony, but I ignore it. Their king brought this on them. Not only did they steal a queen egg, but they killed one of our last remaining queens.

Suddenly, Ylys lifts into the air, screaming for the others to follow her.

'What's going on, Byn?' I ask as the silvers surround their queen while her giant wings pump air and lift her higher into the sky.

'The egg is on the move,' he says.

'The egg is on the move? What does that mean?' I ask.

'Someone has our queen. They are trying to escape with our egg,' he growls.

As Bynjym and the others take off in the direction where they can feel their future queen, I turn and look back at the castle. There are fires burning everywhere. However, there are still too many soldiers alive, running to put out the fires.

That means we'll most likely have to fight this group again.