Chapter Ten: Target Practice and Flight Fights Too

Icefire saw a large sign and trotted up to it. It read:

From here on out your fire and ice breaths are aloud. Now is the time to test your accuracy. Hit as many targets as you can. You must be moving at al times at a canter at least. Be warned you are being watched.

Icefire cantered past the sign. As the red and white bull's eyes appeared she blasted it apart with either her fire or ice breath. She shot all 35 targets that had come before her.

As she continued at a canter another sign came into view. It read:

Spread your wings you have finished the target practice. Now it is time to test your flight abilities. You have successfully finished the target course, now onto the flying course.

Icefire grinned, baring her sharp fangs. "Now here's the fun part. Oh, by the way your monkey friends can see us now just as they did during the targeting round." She cantered up to the cliff edge and stopped. The talons on her front paws dug into the rock.

"They can?" Chiro asked in surprise.

"Yes, we were probably only being watched by the racing comity up until the target part. Now if you don't mind me saying: prepare for take off!" Icefire spread her wings and leaped off the cliff. Her large wings beat the air to gain altitude.

With every beat of her gigantic wings a thud reached Chiro's ears. Icefire quickly gained altitude and picked up speed. Icefire being over whelmed with the joy of flight began to hum to herself deep in her chest.

Chiro held onto the spine in front of him and listened. Drinking in the melody that reached his ears. After a few minutes Chiro asked, "do all dragons hum when they fly?"

Icefire stopped humming and replied, "No, only when we are over joied do we hum. You are lucky, little one, to hear a dragon hum is a rare treat." she resumed her humming.

After a half hour or so, Icefire was still humming merrily. "Um, hey Icefire where are the other racers?" Chiro called.

Icefire's humming ceased. "I don't know I'll check. Guide me for a little while." her large eyes became glazed as she went into her trance. Chiro took hold of the reigns. He had no idea how to guide a dragon. He ended up so the tips of Icefire's wings just brushed the ocean water below when she beat them.

Chiro was afraid they were going to crash into the cool water. He could just make out the shape of what looked like a giant snake below them. Icefire's eyes returned to normal when she snapped out of her trance. "Chiro why are we just above the water?"

Chiro sighed in relief and released the reigns. "Because I have no idea how to guide a walking dragon, let alone a flying one."

"Well you did pretty good for your first time. If some other first timer was riding me I would have crashed head first into the water." She stretched out one of her fore paws so it skimmed the surface, causing a spray of water behind her paw.

"Um, Icefire where are the other racers?"

"What? Oh they're just behind us." she pulled all of her legs as close to her body as possible. With as much speed as she could all four paws shot out striking the surface of the water. The force caused her to shoot high into the air.

Her strong wings beat the air and she quickly gained altitude. She put more strength and speed into her wing beats. She wanted to pull far ahead so she wouldn't have to meet any of the other dragons.

Soon the sound of other wing beats met the pair's ears from behind. They looked back to see a green dragon, twice the size of Icefire. Each wing had a span of 100 feet, making Chiro realize that Icefire had unusually large wings. On it's snout was a single white horn. "Its a male," Icefire informed the boy.

"How can you tell?"

"That horn on its snout. Only male dragons have those."

The male dragon roared a challenge. Icefire ignored it and looked straight ahead. A sharp pain suddenly tore at Icefire's tail. She screeched in pain and rounded on the other dragon. Her small size was perfect for her large wings. It gave her more agility, and an advantage. She dodged the other dragon's claws as he took a swipe at her. Icefire was able to slip right by the male.

She used the method she had used to push off from the water. She pulled her paws close then flung them out, striking the other dragon. One of her paws collided with the tendon that connected the wing to the shoulder.

This caused the male dragon and his rider to fall from the sky. Icefire paused, keeping her wings outstretched to allow the thermals to suspend her large weight in the air. Both Icefire and Chiro strained their ears. Soon a splash was heard below.

Icefire shifted her weight and shot off in the direction of the finish line. She pumped her wings with as much speed and strength as she possibly could muster. She flew among the clouds to hide her large body from and other dragons that might approach.

Icefire could sense Chiro's amazement through their link. This has been an amazing race. It has been surprisingly fun. Except the near death experience that is. A distant roaring reached her sensitive leathery ears, but she did not notice it. To bad I won't be able to see Chiro any more... The roaring grew louder causing Icefire to snap out of her thoughts. It was a crowd.

Icefire flew lower to see the finish line. On either side of the landing runway were stands. Icefire tucked her wings close to her body, and rolled. When she rolled once she stopped and snapped out her wings. She beat her wings with a large amount of strength, a single time immediately to shoot her forward.

"Whoo-hoo!" Chiro threw his hands up in the air. "Lets do that again!"

Icefire chuckled. "Let us not forget we're in a race. After we cross the finish line I'll do it again."

Something black shot at them from some where around the finish line. It was a dragon. The dragon pulled up right in front of Icefire. Icefire had to halt abruptly in her flight so she would not crash.

The dragon was jet black. On it's snout was a single horn, so it was male. His blood red eyes appeared to have a fierce fire in them. The rider was wearing a long, black, hooded cloak. Whether it was a male or female could not be determined due to its cloak. The crowd went silent.

"I can not allow you to win, boy. Your monkeys must be rendered useless, so nothing can stop the Skeleton King! I shall knock you out of the sky and your monkeys wont have their precious leader anymore!" The rider began to laugh psychotically. The voice gave away the fact that the rider was male. In the silence you could hear the monkeys shouting threats at him. They had started that near the beginning of the speech. Apparently they knew many, many, threats.

Icefire sweat dropped. "Dude, that was the most corniest speech ever." This caused Chiro to laugh.

As a response the man shouted, "Blackfire, kill the boy!" the dragon launched himself forward.

Icefire dodged the live missile. "Hey, Icefire aren't you allowed to use your fire and ice breaths now?" Chiro shouted.

Icefire grinned evilly, baring her fangs. "I do believe your right." She whirled around to face Blackfire and shot a fireball at him.

The black dragon was surprised but he managed to dodge the attack. He flew at Icefire. The two dragons became locked in close combat. Their claws and teeth ripped at each other's scaly bodies.

Blackfire aimed for Icefire's new, and tender scales. Icefire didn't notice, she was too afraid that Chiro would get hurt. She opened her mouth and shot an ice ball at Blackfire. The ball hit the point where his wing and shoulder connected.

Ice covered where the ice ball had hit. It spread covering the entire wing joint making the wing useless. Blackfire roared in rage as he fell into the water below.

A few seconds latter Blackfire emerged on the head of a giant sea serpent, Blackfire was crouched on it's head. His tail twitched back and forth in annoyance. His fiery eyes glared up at them, and smoke streamed from his nostrils.