I tried to imagine L’eesha getting bigger than M’alex and couldn’t quite manage it. He was the most enormous dragon I’d ever seen—I couldn’t picture my dainty golden beauty getting even larger than him.
“Don’t you worry—we’ll get her through these growing pains,” the Cavern Master said, pounding me on the shoulder in a genial way. “In the meantime, you can start flying together. The exercise will be good for her wings.”
“All right—thank you,” I said faintly.
I was still trying to absorb what he’d told me—that L’eesha might get bigger than any other dragon at the Academy and that she had to be on sweet grass at least for another few weeks.
What was I going to do?
59
AURORA
I tried to push my worries to the back of my head as I got ready to mount L’eesha’s saddle for the very first time, later that day.
Ryse had already been over every bit of tack and the saddle itself with a fine tooth comb. He’d examined the girths that strapped around L’eesha’s chest and made sure the stirrups were the right length for my short legs. He’d even added some extra straps that would wind around my thighs to keep me in the saddle.
At last, L’eesha got restive and sent me a plaintive thought message asking if Ryse was ever going to let us fly.
“He’s just being thorough, sweetheart,” I told her, but I added to Ryse, “L’eesha is asking when you’ll be finished.”
“I just want to be sure you’re safe when you’re in the air.” He frowned. “I still don’t like the idea of you flying by yourself. You’re too light—you might get thrown out of the saddle.”
At this, L’eesha snorted and glared at him indignantly.
“She says you don’t know her at all if you think she would ever let me fall,” I told him, trying not to smile. What she’d actually said was,
“Tell him to stop being stupid and let us fly! I love my Auri and will keep her safe.”
But apparently, M’alex told him exactly what she’d said because he frowned and shook his head at her.
“Listen, I know you love Auri—we both do. But you haven’t been flying for long and I just want to be sure she’s safe.”
“She will be safe with me! M’alex—tell him!” I heard L’eesha say.
The huge Midnight Gold-wing, who was on the flight ledge beside us, snorted and looked at his rider.
At last Ryse sighed and took a step back.
“All right—you can mount up,” he said with obvious reluctance. “Remember, M’alex and I will be flying nearby at all times. If you need me, just shout.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said, hoping it was true. And then I was swinging up into the saddle of my very own dragon for the very first time.
Ryse came up and checked that my feet were firmly in the stirrups and made sure I had a good grip on the reins and that the extra straps were tight around my thighs. Then he mounted M’alex and the two of them beat up into the sky. Clearly, he wanted to be already in the air when we took off.
“All right, L’eesha,” I said to her. “Are you ready to go?”
“i am ready, my Auri—let’s fly!” came her answer in my mind.
Then came the most hair-raising moment of my life. Because instead of beating her wings to raise us into the air slowly, L’eesha apparently decided to try something different. And being L’eesha, she didn’t do anything halfway.
I watched with horror as, rather than beating her wings to rise slowly into the air like M’alex always did, she took a running start and dove headfirst off the cliff, towards the valley below.
“Oh my God and Goddess—what are you doing?” I gasped.
“FLYING!” she replied and I could feel her utter glee at being in the air with me on her back.
My stomach seemed to have been left behind on the Flight Terrace and I was suddenly extremely grateful for the extra leather straps around my thighs which kept me from rising out of the saddle. I looked up to see that Ryse’s face, as he and M’alex hovered nearby, was totally white with terror.
