Page 94 of Tailwind

Ascil padded slowly over to me, her eyes half-lidded with sleep she hadn’t yet shaken off. When she reached me she stood there, towering over me. Her hot breath fell on to my head and shoulders like a gust of wind. She was calm, placid, like she hadn’t just shown up unannounced after a week of me cleaning the aviary top to bottom.

‘Hello?’ I bowed slightly.

She took another step forward and gave me a nudge with her nose. Except that it came from a dragon who had grown to be nearly twice Gottyk’s size, so it was more like a tackle to my stomach.

I did my best to hide the fact she’d winded me.

‘Nice to meet you too, Ascil.’

She stood there expectantly.

I glanced around at the other dragons. They’d all gone back to minding their own business. None of them looked the least bit interested in me, other than the twenty-one-year-old in front of me.

‘Lucky,’ said Josie, having come over to join us. ‘She didn’t come to meet me until my second visit.’

Ascil gave Josie a similar nudge, which she seemed more prepared for than I had been.

‘You knew she was here and didn’t tell me?’ It’s not like Josie hadn’t known about my love for Ascil. I’d bragged about my scale models at home more than once.

‘Some things you have to wait patiently for, Lena.’ Josie winked and went to return her shovel to the kit room.

I pushed aside my outrage at the hypocrisy of someone telling Bach my complaints, but no one telling me that the greatest racing dragon of all time lived here too.

‘Okay, shall we go flying together?’ Not only was I not going to lose this chance, but from the way the other dragons were either asleep or ignoring me, it seemed that the beautiful green dragon was my only option.

A telltale happy huff came from her nose.

I grinned at her. It didn’t matter the size, colour or age, dragon expressions were the same regardless.

Ascil walked past me, her neck, wings and tail brushing along my arm as she did. I caught on and followed her to the kit room.

She lay down next to the doorway, seemingly content to let me get on with my human affairs.

‘I won’t be long.’ I resisted the urge to pat her head before getting started.

I picked the smallest flight suit on the rack I’d had to ignore all week. They were all the same neutral black leather, the same as Bach was already wearing. The augments running through it didn’t look as complex as the Volitant ones, but there were still a few pieces of arcanite embedded in the seams. The same went for the helmets: basic black domes with smooth faceplates – the only interruption was for the eye slits.

After gearing up I hauled a saddle from the wall. Helpfully, they’d all been labelled to match the dragon they’d been fitted for. Had I bothered to look at the riding end of the kit room earlier I would have had a massive clue that Ascil lived here. Even without the labels, hers would have stood out. The extra belt loop for between her two sets of wings made it obvious.

Back in the aviary she’d nearly fallen asleep.

‘I have your saddle.’ I lingered. If it had been Gottyk I’d have happily started gearing him up while he dozed. Not such a good idea on a dragon I barely knew.

Ascil straightened up. She didn’t stand, evidently knowing that at full height I didn’t have a chance of hauling the saddle over her. I savoured the moment, not quite believing what I was doing. Cam wasn’t going to believe me. Yet here I was, buckling the saddle straps against her deep green scales.

Once she had her reins attached, I gently led her outside, reverent as her double wings bounced lightly as we walked.

Not that she needed much leading. She was quite happy to stroll along at her own pace knowing exactly where to go. We passed through the archway and headed towards Bach who was leaning against a tree in the shade.

I stood patiently, Ascil’s reins held in one hand, helmet under the other arm.

Bach appraised us, his thick arms folded over his chest. He favoured his right leg as he stood there, still affected by the crash weeks earlier, but how badly I wasn’t sure.

‘Why did you pick her?’ Bach asked me.

My foot scuffed the dirt as I considered how truthful to be.

‘I invited Vepari first, but she wasn’t interested. None of them were, except Ascil here.’