"Come on girl, let's go." I hopped onto Firefly's back and with one big leap we were in the air. It was an average day; Firefly and I were going on our normal rounds, keeping an eye on the fishing crew from above and watching out for anyone we didn't know. We flew away from the island we lived on searching for the fishing crew, and we soon found them, further out than normal but not too far out. We kept an eye on them for several hours whilst having a bit of fun.
All was quiet until Firefly suddenly pricked her ears and looked intently to our left,
"What is it girl?" I leant down in the saddle and placed my hand on the side of her head. "What can you hear?"
Suddenly I heard it, a high pitched whistling noise that I knew all too well, but it couldn't be, we were out in the middle of the day. What would another Night Fury be doing out at this time? And besides, I thought they were all gone.
"Go on then girl. Find it." I clung on tight to Firefly as she quickly rose up several feet and the hovered for a minute before taking off, heading further away from the island. We flew for several minutes before Firefly came to a grinding halt in mid-air. As she hovered, I heard it again, coming from below us. I looked down and was astounded by what I saw.
I had been right, I was another Night Fury, but it wasn't that fact that has shocked me. What had shocked me was that this Night Fury was just like Firefly, it had a rider; and they were good. They did all the tricks Firefly and I could do and more. What made it even more amazing was that this dragon seemed to have a human made tail, or half of one anyway, it was very distinct, bright red with a white skull. It seemed its rider controlled what that half of the tail did, though it seemed they knew what they were doing. I couldn't tell whether this new rider was male or female as they wore a helmet and mask that covered most of their head and a full suit of armour, which looked specially adapted for flying.
We watched the pair for several minutes and were just about to leave when the rider suddenly fell off, though it looked like they did it deliberately. I was shocked, until the dragon took off after him at a high speed dive, was this another trick?
The pair dove for several seconds until the rider reached towards their feet and pulled two cords that were tied there. Suddenly, what looked like two wings sprung from their sides, they were still holding the cord, and with their arms outstretched, they stopped diving and started soaring. Somehow they'd managed to make themselves a flight suit and they could fly without the dragon. As I watched, they pulled another cord and a spine sprung up on their back, a way of steering I guessed. We watched in amazement as both dragon and rider soared through the air for several minutes and then the rider shouted something at the dragon and it released a row of spines down its back, I wondered if Firefly had those too. The dragon then flew underneath the rider and they re-seated themselves on the dragons back. With a shout of joy they flew off into the distance and Firefly and I were left hovering there in astonishment.
We made our way back to the island, and I dismounted Firefly in silence. I patted her on the neck and walked away with her following me. I needed to go and speak to my mother.
I soon found her in the kitchen at home making dinner,
"Mum," I said as I walked into the kitchen, "I need to tell you something."
She looked up from dinner, "What is it dear."
"I saw something whilst Firefly and I were out flying today." I started cautiously, "I saw another dragon rider, and it wasn't one of ours."
She turned to me, a look of shock on her face, "Are you sure it wasn't someone from here?"
"Positive," I paused, "They had a Night Fury, just like me."
"This is huge," she embraced me in a massive hug and then stepped back, "Do you realise what you've found. We aren't alone in our belief that dragons are good. You have to find out where this rider is from and see what they're like."
I held my hands up in front of me, "Slow down mum. It was Firefly who found them not me. But I'll make sure we keep an eye out for them." I promised, "Next time we see them, we'll follow them and find out where they're from."
"You do that, I'll go and inform the chief." With that she walked out the door, looking for the chief.
This was fantastic; we didn't have to hide anymore, not now that we knew there were other dragon riders out there.
