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Chapter 8

     We were flying! It felt wonderful, never before in my life had I been above the clouds. For a while I forgot about why I was on this dragon, and just enjoyed the journey. The sights, the world viewed from above, the smells on the wind and the overall sensation of flying.
     After a bit I began to look ahead to what was awaiting me. The longest part of my journey would soon be over. The fear of using my magic would be behind me. Soon I’d be safe to do the things I love once again. And I would finally be in a place where I’m accepted. I could see the streets of Sinopha clearly in my mind and I hoped reality would be that beautiful.
     I looked over at Danny. His light hair was waving in the wind. He was holding on for dear life, but, when he noticed my gaze he straightened up and loosened his grip. At that moment however the dragon went into a dive almost causing him to fall off. I laughed.
     “Isn’t this amazing?” He called to me over the sound of the giant wings beating around us.
     “It is,” I replied. “It’s so beautiful. Look how tiny everything is.” Danny smiled but did not look to the ground. He kept his gaze on me instead.
     “I never imaged I’d be riding on such a majestical creature.”
     I decide to amaze him. “I can speak with her you know.” He was amazed.
     “Magic?” he asked.
     “Yes, so I can’t do it right now.” He nodded in understanding.
     “I think it would be interesting to talk to a dragon.”
     I smiled and gazed into the mountains. They rose steadily from the plains, higher and higher ending in snow covered peaks.
     As the ground rose, the dragon rose with it. I could see small towns and villages, which I pointed out to Danny.
    
     Suddenly, the dragon cried out. It was a loud shrill wail, which still echoes inside me to this day. A blur of motion caught my eye. A dark green arrow priced through the dragon’s left wing. Then the sky was full of dark green arrows.
     Sarith, now with multiple tears in her wings, was trying desperately to stay aloft. She screamed out again with pain and began a spiraling descent down to the town. Then I realized what was happening. The people from the town below were firing at us, or more accurately, the dragon we were traveling on.
     Frantically I worked my way across the dragon’s back to where Danny was seated.
     “We gotta jump!” He looked at me with determination. Together we looked down at the tilting landscape. “Not from this height.” I said back.
     Then I knew what to do. I cautiously made my way up the dragon’s back. Inching carefully along her narrow neck I made my way to her head. When I was near enough I called out to the dragon with my magic.
     “Don’t land on the town. They’ll kill you. Try to land in that field over there instead. We may be able to protect you from the hunters.”
     “Ahhh!!” Sarith cried in return, while another heart stopping cry sounded from her. “My wings! My wings! Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! Why? Why? I can’t fly!!”
     “Shhh...” I tired to answer in a soothing voice. “Try to land in that field and we’ll help protect you, ok?” The only answer I received was Sarith’s change in direction and steepened dive. I held on tight and I heard Danny scream.
     As we flew over the town, we were bombarded with another rain of arrows. Sarith screamed some more but managed to keep on towards the field. A large number of the towns people were running beneath us. Some were on horseback and were racing with great speed in our direction.
     Sarith made a rushed landing in the field. The impact of it sent Danny flying. I jumped off just in time as Sarith rolled onto her side. She folded her wings tight against her back. I walked around to her belly to see the damage.
    Stuck along her underside were many arrows. One fell out bringing with it the dragon’s blood. The arrow was dark green, about two feet long with a nasty point on the end. Most of the other arrows were stuck in as far as the red feathers.
     As the dragon began crying again I realized just how young this dragon was. She barley had Armor along her belly. Despite her age she was huge. I doubted I’d be able to maintain a shield that large for long, even if I could use my magic. Remembering my promise to the young dragon, my only choice was to fight, but I couldn’t do it alone.
    
     “Danny!” I yelled as I ran. “Danny where are you?” I heard a moan off to the left. Running on towards the noise I found Danny. He was lying on his side in pain.
     “Andrea!” He gasped, “Ar-are you ok?” I gave him a weak smile.
     “I’m ok but our dragon friend isn’t. We still got the towns people to deal with.” As I said this last bit I could hear shouts in the distance.
     “I’m ok” He assured me as I helped him to his feet. “I can walk.” Wincing in pain and leaning on me for support, Danny came with me back to where Sarith lay. The shouts were getting louder as we gathered what we could find of our gear and took out our weapons.
     The cornstalks parted and the towns people filed through into the clearing made by our landing. At their first sight of the dragon they fired off more arrows. Sarith screamed again and tried to get to her feet. But she fell back with a thud, dead. Danny and I, hiding behind her back had little chance to defend her. I felt horrible about not being able to fulfill my promise to her but there was no time for that. We had no idea if the towns people, now celebrating their victory with triumphant shouts, were going to be friendly about our arrival. We guessed not.
     “Quick! Into the corn!” hissed Danny. I nodded. We dashed into the corn just as a town’s man came round Sarith’s head. He saw us.
     “Demons! Get them!” He yelled in a commanding voice. Several others, all men, jumped at the order and followed us into the corn.
     We tried to run a zig-zagged path to throw of our followers but Danny was hurt more then he let on to be and slowed us down. I dragged him behind me still hoping to get away, but it was too late. They had surrounded us.
     I had my bow loaded and would have let the arrows fly, but I was scared to think how many of those dark green arrows would fly into us in return. Danny, with his dagger drawn noticed the same and threw it down.
    
    
     We stood back to back looking at our chasers. They looked like normal people as far as I could tell. They could have been people from Renklan except their hair was darker and their faces were a bit rounder. A tall man with the darkest hair stepped towards us. He looked older then the others and I assumed he was the leader. He looked us over with slight disappointment.
     “What kind of demons are you?” he demanded. Danny answered quickly,
     “We’re not demons.”
     The man glared at us suspiciously. “If you’re not demons, then why were you with that flying monster?” The surrounding people gave nods of approval, and watched us expectantly.
     “We-” Danny couldn’t come up with an explanation. I search my mind but couldn’t come up with anything that I thought they would believe.
     “Ah ha! So you are demons!” said the leader with triumph. “Seize them!”
     “No! Wait we-” I yelled as the towns people jumped out at us. They separated us from our gear and bound our hands.
     They walked us into town. Danny walked ahead of me surrounded by guards with arrows loaded. He was limping and after a while he became out of breath and almost collapsed. His guards took no head of his pain and forced him onwards. They wouldn’t hear our protests.
     As we marched through the town, crowds gathered to see us. Heads looked out of windows, people stopped what they were doing, and children ran over to stare, followed by angry mothers who pulled them back into the houses. They were afraid of us.