Disclaimer: I do not own DragonHeart: A New Beginning.
Stepping back into DragonHeart for a quick one shot. Basically, this is when Drake takes his first outing in the air.
First Flight:
Outside was a big place, that was Drake's thought as he sat on a rock, overlooking a steep cliff. It seemed to go on in all directions.
Unfortunately for the stable-boy in front of him, he felt no inclination to explore any of these unfamiliar places when he was already perfectly comfortable here. Right now, Geoff appeared to be in a rant about a noble that had made a supposedly unfair rule, something having to do with how people talk and time, of that the young dragon was certain.
"Who does Osric think he is? Next thing you know he's going to be telling people what to think!" Geoff continued with his tirade, pacing relentlessly on the rocks in front of Drake. He fingered the tunic he had been forced to wear as he spoke. Drake caught the movement, hoping his friend wasn't about to do anything rash. Choosing his words as he saw the situation, he replied.
"If they want to let him do that, then he probably can."
That was enough for the reckless teenager. Before Drake could so much as open his mouth, the tunic was off and floating away on the breeze. Geoff stood there in the ragged stable boy clothes, watching it go like a child watches an unpleasant relative walk out the door.
"You're throwing your tunic away?" Drake questioned, a note of worry in his voice. "I don't think that's a very good idea."
The rebellious stable boy ignored the cautioning, and instead moved onto what Drake considered an uncomfortable topic.
"Let's fly away from here."
"I don't want to fly." Drake quietly answered, hunching over a little in self-doubt as his wings curled in around him, sharing their master's sentiment. That didn't deter Geoff.
"Of course you want to fly, what do you think those wings of yours are for?" He shot back boldly, gesturing to the appendages to try to drive his point home. Drake examined one carefully, shaking it a little just to be sure these were actually a part of him. It did seem as though it were made to support his weight in the air, he just didn't feel ready, yet.
"See those mountains?" Geoff asked. Drake gazed over, the snowy peaks capturing his eye right away. "Beyond those are other kinds of people and treasure and adventure and glory!"
Drake wasn't all too sure about this. Sure the world had it's bright points, but none of it came without a danger. The way Geoff was going, he'd be clamped in irons in a foreign country somewhere before finding any of those things. He had been told by Friar Peter about the various things he had to be careful about, being a dragon. The fact that the peasants were terrified of his kind was enough encouragement to make Drake want to keep his cover in the monastery. Not yet... too soon to venture out, he thought. He assumed humans had to be careful of things as well, and wondered why Geoff wasn't taking reality into account for a moment.
Geoff, meanwhile, had continued on about how they could leave the monastery, and all of that behind if Drake could just open his wings and fly.
His words were painting such eloquent pictures that for a moment, Drake wondered what it would be like to be in the air, riding on the cool breezes. But caution overcame curiosity, and he broke into the speech with a final
"I'm staying right here. I like it here. If it's so easy, then why don't you show me how to do it?"
"You know, it would have been better for everybody if I was the dragon and you were the stable boy!" Geoff retaliated, walking off the rock cropping and back into the forest toward the village.
"I'd like to see that!" Drake shot back, staring stonily at the rocks below him. His frustration wasn't enough to block out what Geoff muttered as he walked away.
"Stupid dragon."
And then he was gone, leaving Drake alone at the rock-cropping, staring out at the farms and people below. Questions flared up at every unfamiliar sight, and Drake had to constantly remind himself that Geoff wasn't there to answer his inquires. His thoughts returned to the now-beckoning idea of flight. Drake looked over the edge of the cliff, seeing sharp rocks and a small brook. Suppressing an inward shudder, he pulled back to safer ground. If he made a mistake, or fell from the sky, that was it.
Still, the wind seemed to beckon, call him from the very highest reaches of the sky. There was a light longing to become as light and free as it, but his self-control held him in place for the time being.
Finally, the gentle pulls seemed to overpower his own will, and he found himself standing, wings spread at the ready. It was like there was someone there, guiding him in the proper stance and movements, someone who had had experience with the practice, like a devoted parishioner to a mass, helping out a newcomer to the ritual.
The whole calm setting was shattered by the sound of Geoff's feet dashing back to the cliff. He turned around, and was instantly taken aback by the stable boy's greatly alarmed look.
"Drake! We gotta hide! If the guards see us we're dead!" He shouted breathlessly. Drake, shielding his eyes from the sun with a wing, realized that Geoff was indeed right. There were several men ascending the hill, each with their swords drawn. Whatever had happened, it must have been very infracting. Fear overtook Drake, and words came out in a panicked rush.
"Dead? Dead?! I don't wanna die!"
Geoff suddenly turned to him, disbelief and confusion etched on his features. "What's happening to you?"
Drake looked down to see his scales changing, becoming a stony gray and flattening down on his frame, making him camouflage into the rock like a chameleon. "Oh my…" was all he managed to say before the transformation was complete and his form merely looked as though it were an odd-looking section of the rocks. He could hear the men coming up the path, very close now, and he snuck a peek to see them advancing on Geoff. The stable boy had obviously not found a good enough hiding place, and they were now herding him to a dangerous point near the cliff. Drake watched with bated breath as they began to question his friend.
"Where are the foreigners?"
"I don't know. They disappeared." Came Geoff's flimsy excuse. The more Drake watched, the more he was sure that this was going to end badly for the cornered youth. He tensed, ready to do something. He wasn't sure what exactly it was he was going to do, but he knew, despite how annoyed he had been with Geoff beforehand, it had all been forgiven now, and he was prepared to do whatever it took to get his friend out of the position he was in.
"No one can just disappear, unless I make them." Came the knight's chilled words. Drake was sure a few at the back could hear his heartbeat, now heavy with it's own consequence. He didn't know anything, just let him go.
It wasn't going to happen. Drake heard Geoff's voice, now cornered and devoid of all previous bluster.
"Alright, you win. You can take me to the dungeon now."
"You're not getting off that easy." The knight's voice replied menacingly, and the next thing the horrified Drake heard was Geoff's yell as he fell backwards into the path of the sharp rocks below.
Drake reacted without thinking. Breaking through the concealment, he let out an angry roar, sending the murderous knights into a scream fest as the raced down the hill like the devil himself was after them. The young dragon then leapt into the empty space beyond the rock cropping, only thinking for a second about his own welfare before his thoughts turned firmly back to the stable boy that was wind milling his arms in a panic as he seemed to be heading for certain death on the rocks.
Just as his feet entered the water, Drake's clawed paw snatched onto the collar around his shirt, pulling him out of the danger zone. Geoff looked around in surprise for a moment before looking up and recognizing his rescuer.
"I've got you, it's alright." Drake called down, doing only what he thought was appropriate for the situation the two friends had gotten themselves in.
"Drake, you're flying!" Was his answer. It could have been the utter disbelief in his voice, it could have been the utter irony of the situation, considering their argument a few minutes before, but Drake let out an amused chuckle and replied jovially
"Of course we're flying! How do you think we got way up here?"
Geoff's attention immediately focused on the ground below, while Drake began to try to see if there was a clear field where he could land. The only thing below them, however, was the small village. Drake wasn't entirely sure he could handle a turn just yet, so he kept flying forward, hoping that none of them would look up.
"Oh, this is great, let's go up higher! Ah-hey!" the stable boy yelped as Drake changed paws.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." He feverishly apologized, trying to correct his wing beats so he wouldn't go plummeting into the village below.
"Swoop down and scare the villagers!" Geoff suggested, completely forgetting the earlier mishandle.
"Oh, no this is dangerous enough as it is." Drake replied, but an accidental drop in altitude made Geoff get his wish. The young dragon winced as he watched the peasant scatter into all kinds of cover. They were in so much trouble…
"Don't sound so scared; you've done the hard part already." Geoff admonished, still taking in the sights the countryside had to offer. However, Drake had already spotted a glaring problem in his friend's theory. He had absolutely no idea how one went about landing.
"Actually, I think the hard part is going to be getting down! Everybody look out!!" Drake called ahead, just missing the windmill. Geoff, just now realizing exactly what the dragon meant, tried to think of a solution to their dilemma. They had by now managed to get over the castle, and Drake was noticing all the people staring up at them, pointing, and shouting, among other things.
"Geoff, any ideas, because I'm getting tired!" Drake called down to his companion, for a moment, it seemed Geoff was dry too, but then the stable boy threw out all kinds of theories.
"Veer to the right! No, the left!" Drake experimentally went each way, and found it was throwing him for a real loop.
"You have to lean right too!" He called back in some desperation. The sense of knowing what to do was gone, and with it fear came into play, stiffening his wing beats and making him eye the ground like a rabbit would a wolf.
"You have to fly faster!" Geoff offered, but instantly took it back once the rush of air hit him. "Woah, too fast! Slow down!"
"Sorry!" Drake apologized, trying to slow down to the extent where he wouldn't fall out of the sky anytime soon, hopefully. They had left both the village and the castle a ways behind when Geoff shouted up "Could you loosen up? I can hardly breathe!"
"Lean farther, fly faster, hold looser! I can't think of so many things at once!" Drake snapped back, a little overwhelmed by this point, wing beats speeding furiously up despite their burning urge to rest.
"Just slow down, will you!" Came the clearest idea that Drake had heard all day. The second he obeyed, the dragon and stable boy both fell out of the sky like birds winged by a shot. Luckily, a haystack broke their fall, and both stayed silent for a moment before Geoff spoke up.
"I think that was a little bit too slow."
Heh, so, yeah. You don't like, you don't like. But if you did, please review.