Havoc let go.
I squawked like a frantic chicken and flapped wildly, instantly losing altitude.
“Flap harder!” yelled Kiko, then she yelped as Marcus followed me down.
Tilt your wings,Havoc instructed.
Close them between flaps.Marcus, as if he was the one doing the flying, and not Iskar.
Soaring is like floating. You just open your wings and let them catch the air.Iskar was genuinely trying to be helpful.
A huge shadow loomed overhead and grabbed onto my wings where they left my body. I hung from Havoc’s talons, panting heavily.
You panicked,he accused.
I turned my long, narrow head to glare up at him.I was falling.
I would never let you fall,he rumbled through my mind.I am always here.
His deep voice reverberated through me, as did the burst of support along the link. It enabled me to take a deep breath, spread my wings, and nod to him.
Ready to try again,I told him.
Watch me. Do what I do.
She can watch me too,Marcus said. I rolled my eyes. Life was always a competition with these two.
Ignore the fucking Gryphon.Havoc snorted steam.Feathers work differently from Dragon wings.
They do, actually,Iskar agreed.
You can do it,encouraged Rafael.
Marcus didn’t say anything more, but he enveloped our link with the mental equivalent of a warm hug, sending me a tsunami wave of wordless support.
It lifted my heart, and my resolve.Let go, Havoc,I said.
He let go. This time, I squelched my fear of the jaggedy mountains below us and soared, before tentatively trying my first flap. It didn’t achieve much.
Stop thinking and follow me.
He moved just ahead of me, and I watched how his wings opened as they cupped the air, then closed, moved forward, before opening again.
Not unlike swimming, really. I forced myself to relax. Which was when Havoc bumped into me, very deliberately.
Too rapidly for me to even think, my Dragon compensated, banking slightly, then the wings stiffened into another soar. I let go, and the next flap was almost perfect. And then another, better yet.
Havoc banked, and I went with him, the rays from the rising sun chasing along our scales. He rose, and I followed, climbing through the thin cloud layer until we soared above them. They were painted in reds and oranges and golds. So beautiful, I almost couldn’t breathe.
It’s cold up here, but gorgeous,Rafael commented.
Too cold for Kiko. Marcus encouraged the miserable-looking Satyr to huddle close to his neck.
I closed my wings and dropped back through the clouds, and the others followed. We fell in alongside each other. No one spoke as we glided along, almost perfectly in sync.
It was as though we were alone in the world.
Not alone.Together.
