She wants me to mount her back.
No time to hesitate, I turn to grasp a handful of the tendrils dangling from her neck, place my foot on her folded leg, and lunge up, perching between her shoulder blades, my pulse pounding hard and fast.
Líri straightens. Her wings slash forward like luminous fans, as though she’s trying to appear bigger, stronger, posturing into a more dominant stance.
The Moltenmaw stretches toward us, drawing a deep scenting breath that drones through the twin holes crowning his beak. Another.
Another.
He tosses his head and snuffs, retreats a few steps, halts, releasing a low rumble that morphs into an open-mawed screech to the sky. The sound tapers into severed blasts of sound, and the distantwhomp-whomp-whompof beating wings draws my attentionup.
Two Moltenmaws cut through the clouds—one, a hundred pastel hues of pink; the other, less than half the size of Líri. Perhaps not long fledged, bearing shades of pink and blue.
The buck’s family …
I’d believe it a call to arms, except Líri doesn’t balk. Not as they land in a blast of snow beside the fluffy kill. Not as they, too, sniff the air, red eyes pinned on us as the buck releases another deep warning rumble.
The dam tucks her head and tears a hole in the animal’s bulging belly, exposing the fleshy insides. She rocks back and drops to her haunches, blood dripping from her beak, tail flicking side to side.
Tucked low, the fledgling prowls forward, trills at the dam, then gnashes at the open wound and begins ripping out the soft entrails, eagerly feasting. All while the buck watches Líri, his plumage fluffed, posturing before his family in such a protective stance that my chestaches.
Líri backsteps.
She makes a soft keening sound that resonates through me; a pained lament as she edges farther and farther away. Like she’s more rattlednow—in the face of this beautiful family—than she was when the buck was threatening to charge us both and stab her with his prong.
Like she’shurting.
She whips around with such force my breath catches, beats her wings, and lurches from the snow … charging from the scene with such violent gusto I can only assume she’s forgotten one important, ratherproblematicthing:
I’m still here, perched between her shoulder blades.
Being carried into the sky.
The ground falls away so fast my stomach drops.
Snow-covered trees and jagged mountain peaks grow smaller with each frantic beat of Líri’s wings, my grip on her tendrils the only thing keeping me from another plummet of doom.
I groan, coming to the stark realization that I should’ve let go the moment she started lifting off the ground. Risked my chances with the Moltenmaws. Now I’m dangling from a saddleless dragon while she powers toward the clouds.
My hands begin to cramp, the pain traveling up my forearms, into my elbows. Surging with such intensity I know it’s only a matter of time before I lose grip.
“Shit …”
Teeth gritted, I focus on trying to find a reliable place to settle my feet, glancing beneath my armpit. See the buds of Líri’s wings are close enough to press my toes against.
Hoping she doesn’t swing around and rip off my head, I settle one foot in place … the other …
Not a flinch.
The footholds allow me to find my center of gravity. To adjust my stance every time Líri thrashes her wings, charging through the clouds in surging blasts.
We punch free, into the powdery rays shafting off the distant sun. A soft moment before Líri tosses her head and blows a blast of blue flame coupled with a mighty roar. The busty sound tapers into an adolescent honk the moment her flame snips, and she tilts, cutting parallel with the burnished cloud cover—wing motions smooth and swift. Flying south with the speed and poise of a tossed blade. Like she’s bolting from the scene … or darting straight for Netheryn.
Creators, I hope not.
Wind snags my braid as I lift my head the slightest amount and squint forward, seeing the sharp peak of a mountain directly ahead. Certainly a lesser evil, however hitting it at this speed might just fling me all the way to the wall if I don’t play this right.
I duck, tighten my grip, and clamp my teeth together momentsbefore Líri lashes against the peak. Snow explodes from the force of our violent landing as my heart finds a new home wedged between my ribs.
