Hey y'all! I'm finally done with school! High school, here I come! Right now I'm in marching band camp with lasts a freaking long time but is only on selected days so at least there's that. Also, I am on a major writing spree because I apparently only get things done in the wee hours of the morning. It's almost 5:00 am. Eh, oh well. I can manage, Hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm working on chapter 17 right now.
Testing
I tightened my grip on the saddle. The ground seemed to be miles and miles behind us now. I tried to ignore the gnawing in my stomach and focused on the rush of adrenaline. I glanced around at the billowing clouds.
"Okay, there, love," I muttered. "We're gonna take this nice and slow." I was more trying to convince myself than Toothless. So I may have been a little nervous. Wouldn't you if you were miles above the ocean with a tail fin that has the possibility of breaking? I checked the cheat sheet for the next position.
"Here we go, here we go. Position three, no four." I looked at the tail fin as I pressed it to the next. It flared open which caused us to roll into an arching bank. I bent close to Toothless's neck.
At least it's holding up, I thought. I smiled as I studied Toothless's alteration to match with the tail fin.
"Everything's going to be just fine, Hali," he said sweetly. I rubbed his neck affectionately. Then I looked down at a towering arch of stone coming up before us. The sea waves crashed against the bottom. It seemed just right for a trial on an evasive maneuver.
"It's go time. It's go time." Taking one glimpse of the tail fin, I hovered just above the saddle, pushing the tail fin into a dive. Toothless let out a cry as we did a nose dive, quickly gaining speed. We zipped through the arch swiftly, not a single scratch tagging along.
"Trial one complete." Toothless angled himself to let the tip of his wing brush through the waves.
I cheered in triumph. That, however, was short-lived. We smacked into one of the several sea stacks jutting out from the sea. I quickly jerked Toothless away from it. "Sorry," I said sheepishly. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep up very well and we slammed into another sea stack. Toothless grumbled something unintelligible. "My fault."
He swatted me with his ear plate. I sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I'm on it," I mumbled. I put my finger on the cheat sheet. "Let's see. Position four... no three." I shifted the tail fin and we started to soar upwards, cutting through the clouds. I swallowed hard and tightened my grip on the handles.
I started laughing. I absolutely loved this. The adrenaline pumping through me, the wind in my hair. I seriously thought nothing could go wrong. And then I jinxed myself.
The cheat sheet came loose, flying right out of the clip. "Ah!" I yelped. "The cheat sheet! Stop!" Toothless did as I said right when I grabbed the sheet. Then as we slowed to a stop, I became weightless. The ring floated out of the hooks, causing me to become detached from the saddle and suddenly free-falling. "Oh gods!"
We started spiraling downwards, Toothless yelling out frantically and unintelligibly. I forced myself to roll over. "Alright, you just gotta kinda angle yourself – No, no... other way." Toothless began spinning around. "Okay, come back towards me. Back over-" I was cut off as Toothless's wing thwacked me. I tried again and again and thankfully Toothless managed to get close enough for me to grab the saddle hooks.
I hooked myself back on and, shifting my feet into the correct position, I pulled us both out of the dive, just shy of the treetops. We flew past the cliff full of trees and right into a dangerous course of jutting sea stacks. I took the sheet from my teeth and held it in front of me, hoping to be able to read it somehow. No such luck.
It flapped wildly in the piercing wind, making it impossible for me to read it. I glanced between it and the sea stacks. I had no time to think. I couldn't read it even if I tried and that would just lead to us getting a face full of rocks. I was set in determination now. Without a second thought, I threw the cheat sheet to the wind and acted on instinct, as if I was telepathically connected with Toothless.
He felt my determination. I saw his eyes narrow with the same willpower. We acted together, united most likely. We managed a tight series of intense split-second turns. My mind went on auto-pilot, flying in sync with my dragon. We flew out to the open water, completely unscathed.
I took a deep breath and glanced back and the sea stacks, not really believing what just happened. I beamed. That seriously just happened. I sat back and threw my arms up in cheerful victory. I cried out in excitement which was obviously shared with Toothless. He let out a happy squeal and a plasma blast, momentarily forgetting that humans weren't fireproof.
I groaned, the victory short-lived. "Aw, come on..." Then we soared right through it.
We lounged on a deserted beach, calmly snacking on the freshly caught fish. Toothless had started a fire and I was currently roasting a fish on a stick. I rested back on Toothless who was currently lying behind me. I brushed back a bit of my bangs which were now smoked and turned a darker color of brown. Toothless suddenly regurgitated a fish head and looked at me innocently. I chuckled lightly.
"No thanks," I said politely. "I'm good." I glanced up from my fish to see several Terrible Terrors land on the beach in front of us. They all hissed and nipped at each other as they came closer to Toothless's pile of fish. One of the smaller dragons grabbed the regurgitated fish head and dragged it away. Another tried to steal the head from the dragon. They faced off, shooting small fire blasts at each other to settle the fight. We watched, clearly amused by the small dragons' antics.
That is until Toothless spotted on of his fish standing upside-down and leaving the pile. A Terrible Terror is soon revealed from the pile, biting down on the fish. Toothless swiftly grabbed the fish with his teeth and tugged it away from the Terrible Terror. The tail came off and was in the smaller dragon's mouth while the rest of the fish was swallowed tauntingly by Toothless.
Irritated and challenged, the Terrible Terror pawed at the ground and prepared to blast at Toothless. The little dragon opened his mouth, the gas hiss began, and Toothless fired a tiny flame straight into the dragon's mouth. The gas backfired on the little dragon. It coughed up smoke and staggered away, looking dazed and slightly ill.
I laughed. "Not so fireproof on the inside, are you little fella?" Smirking at Toothless, I tossed my fish to the little dragon who took it gratefully. It gulped down the meal and approached me cautiously.
"A human feeding us?" the dragon wondered. It glanced at the other dragons. "You sure she's like the others?" Then turning back to me, it curled up against my leg. I was utterly amazed.
I tentatively put my hand on its back. "Everything we know about you guys is all wrong..." I smiled at Toothless who nudged me gently, giving me a smile back.