We went flying today. I mean properly flying.
Hickup rides upon my back, muttering "free, no... for" before open my fakefin to the ideal width. With a grunt of satisfaction, we were off.
We banked towards the cliffs, maybe a little harder than I would have liked, but humans are slow, so I gave him time.
We dived down. I relished the sensation of the wind speeding past me, the feeling as my wings skimmed across the surface of the bitterwater. We passed under the cliffs, Hickup squealing with delight.
THUD!
We hit the side of a rock formation. Hickup did not have my reflexes, he never helped me turn. He apologised "Sawry"
"Pay attention!" I scold him, "Tail goes wide for turns!"
THUD!
We hit another rock. I smacked him for it this time. I look back on it and laugh as I remember slapping my small human friend with my ear. It was rather comical.
Deciding we'd had enough of the cliffs and rocks and chains of the earth, we took to the sky, through the skysmokes and towards the dayfire. I panted with unbridled joy as we climbed higher and higher, feeling the dayfire's heat on my skin, the wind in my ears. Hickup howled with equal excitement.
Then everything went wrong.
Hickup panicked, and called "Stawp!", so I braked, and we became disconnected. We fell.
I fell fast. I could only barely hear Hickup's panicked tones over the howling rush of air in my ears. I was spinning uncontrollably, my tail hit something solid (I hit Hickup!) as I spun.
Something tugged on my back. Hickup must have managed to clamber back onto my back. We leveled out, but I was still going far too fast. I spread my wings, I tried to brake, but we were too close to the ground, still too fast.
I remember shamelessly screaming like a newborn, "I don't want to die!"
We almost hit the rocks when Hickup spurred me to dive.
I honestly cannot describe what happened next. It was almost as if we were one being, weaving in between the rocks. Hickup managed to match my dragon reflexes, we responded as one. And we survived.
We bellowed with cheer together as we reached the open air. I fired off a celeberatory shot.
I heard Hickup mutter "Aw, cum on!"
That's when I remembered that humans weren't fireproof.