Page 9 of Dragon Fight (The Dragon Queen #2)

9

G limmer seemed equally pleased by the idea. We’d gone out after breakfast to tell her what we were doing today and she and the other dragons had all perked up at the news. From the buzzing feeling in my head I could tell the males were all talking to my dragon, giving her advice. And when she approached me, she did with a jaunty attitude.

I will kill a pig? she asked. They are very tasty and I will enjoy that.

No, a chicken first. Pigs can be bloody hard to kill.

Hmm…

I showed her my memories of killing pigs when it was my job, but that didn’t seem to placate her.

If humans can do it, surely I can.

You will, when you’re bigger. I had a feeling this would be a common conversation in the next few months. By the time you’re fully grown, nothing will stand in your path.

She sniffed at that, then followed Brom as he led us to the chicken coop where Kay was waiting.

“Poor old Flossie is looking a little ragged and hasn’t laid an egg for several weeks,” she said, indicating a bedraggled-looking chicken scratching at the ground, clucking to herself. But any calm the chickens might have possessed was quickly dispelled as five massive dragons landed around the coop, Darkspire having chosen to join them. All of the chickens instantly started to flap and run around the enclosure emitting shrill shrieks as the dragons settled down to watch.

“You bloody idiots,” Soren said with a shake of his head. “Now we’ll have to wait for the stupid things to calm down before Glimmer is to have a chance of hunting the chicken.”

The dragons all flattened themselves against the ground in response, as if that would dispel the threat they posed to the birds. But Glimmer was already wending her way past my legs and pushing herself forward, her head low, her steps slow and purposeful.

“Though it looks like she knows what she’s doing.”

Both Soren and I beamed with pride as we watched her move with such precision, ignoring the antics of the other chickens in favour of stalking the comparatively more lethargic Flossie.

Be careful—

I know what I’m doing , she told me sharply and I shut up. Glimmer wasn’t the same as me. Whereas I’d have to talk myself into wielding a weapon and diving into a pen of pigs with an intent to kill, I could feel it throbbing within her, that predator sense of purpose. Find prey, stalk it and then kill and eat it. The process was as easy as breathing for Glimmer.

Her wings flapped out helping carry her further as she launched her body at the chicken. Before I could even take a breath, her claws were in the bird’s flesh, her jaws had snapped around its neck and then she neatly severed its head from its neck, resulting in a fountain of blood spurting into the air.

“Why do I feel like we should’ve done this before breakfast?” I groaned, my hand going to my mouth as I felt the bile rise. Soren stepped in and wrapped an arm around my shoulders to give me a squeeze.

“You should be pleased. She caught the bird in the first strike. Bloody Wraith took three goes his first time. Blood went everywhere.” His purple dragon lifted his head to make a grumbling sound. “Yes, you, you big lunk. Claws and fangs went everywhere but around the chicken’s neck. I had to put the poor thing out of its misery, and then Wraith ate it like he’d caught it himself.”

Something Glimmer was preparing to do. Oblivious to the chaos around her, she was wrenching feathers out, sending clouds of them spiralling up into the air before she revealed a big enough patch of skin to start tearing into the carcass.

“Approach her now, while her bloodlust is up,” Soren prompted.

When I did, Glimmer eyed me like I was a stranger, sinking her fangs into her chicken to protect it, and a low growl forming in her throat as I got closer.

“That’s her primal instinct kicking in. Helluva lot scarier in a full-grown dragon, so we need to teach her otherwise,” Soren said. “Touch her mind. Praise her skills and reassure her that you don’t want to take her kill.”

You were perfect , I told my dragon, trying to convey all the pride that beat hard in my chest. Soren said Wraith didn’t even catch his first chicken, but you did. She watched me closely as I approached, her growl growing louder. I don’t want your prey. It’s your food. You caught it fair and square. I’m so proud of you, Glimmer.

My use of her name seemed to bring her back to herself. She blinked once at me, before loosening her death grip on the chicken and straightening up to lick the blood from her jaws.

I did do well, didn’t I? I nodded in response. Of course, I did. I’m a queen.

That you are , I told her. That you are.

“Well, now that the little queen has shown her prowess at hunting, we should let the chickens settle or there’ll be no eggs for tomorrow’s breakfast. Let’s go around to the stables, saddle up and head out for a ride,” Brom suggested.

“To see your estate?” I asked.

“That, and for Glimmer to start practising flying.”

“What?”

“Much better on the ground than up in the air, Pip,” Ged said. “We’ll set up a platform on your saddle and when you’re at a canter she can try gliding, start building up those muscles.”

“If she can,” Draven observed. “Queens are often weaker, saving all their energy for mating flights and bearing clutches of eggs.”

“Glimmer will,” I told him firmly.

They keep them weak and compliant, Glimmer told me. A queen rules through her strength and connections. I will fly.

“They don’t do a lot of flight training with queens,” Ged admitted, “But if you’re to be a royal rider, you’ll be expected to fly like any other dragon.”

“But Pippa is a lady,” Kay said with a frown. “I thought she would keep house for Brom, raise his children.”

“Perhaps,” Brom replied. “This is unknown territory for the entire fleet, but as long as Pippin wishes to ride?”

“I do,” I said.

“Then we’ll train her like any other.”

“That explains the haircut, then.” Kay smiled, though not unkindly. If anything she looked slightly cheered by this. “You’re a soldier, just like Brom and the others.”

“I’m a cadet, still,” I corrected her. “I’m terrible with a sword—” Draven snorted rudely. “But I’m told I might become proficient with a knife if I’m sufficiently trained.”

I shot him a sidelong look and the prince looked every inch the arrogant bastard that he was, as a small cat-like smile formed on his lips.

“Something we will need to begin again, once we are back at the keep,” Draven promised.

“Well, keep an eye on the weather,” Kay said, eyeing the grey skies. “It shifts and changes at the drop of a hat. Remember that, son.”

“Maybe the rest of you can do the training on your own,” Ged said with a wrinkle of his nose, but Cloudy quickly made clear that wasn’t going to happen. “Alright, you big lunk, I’ll endure cold sea winds and rains just so you can watch a baby dragon find her wings.”

And so we did.

I was given a horse called Whiskey, probably for her fine chestnut coat. I smoothed my hand down the broad expanse between her eyes when she nudged at me, then ruffled her forelock and with that, we were friends. I was about to lift Glimmer up to the front of the special saddle, when Draven came over.

“Did you check the girth?” he asked me with a frown. “Make sure the horse isn’t blowing out its lungs when it's tightened?”

“No, I assumed the people who know and look after this horse on a daily basis know what they’re doing,” I told him.

“That kind of cavalier attitude might be permissible when you are the only one riding. If you break your own neck, then more fool you. But Glimmer is a royal dragon.”

“One you didn’t care for at all, last time we met with your mother,” I shot back.

“And if she falls off and breaks her neck, yours will quickly suffer the same fate—on the scaffold,” he told me, staring into my eyes for a moment before turning his attention to the tack. He lifted the stirrup leathers up over the top of the saddle so he could unbuckle the girth and smooth his hand over the saddle blanket to make sure there weren’t any straps caught up under the saddle to push into Whiskey’s side. Once he was satisfied, he rebuckled the girth, waited a moment, then tightened it another notch checking the tension before nodding, pulling the stirrup leathers back down and stepping back.

I placed Glimmer up on the front of the saddle, although it took some effort. She was getting far too big to be hoisted about like this, and I could see Soren’s point, now. If she couldn’t rely on me to carry her about any longer, she needed to be able to get herself around. She seemed fairly convinced of the value of the idea, too, perching up on the pommel like a large cat, her tail curled around her feet. Once I hauled myself up into the saddle and found the stirrups, Whiskey shifted underneath me a little more than I was used to, but I assumed it was just because she was getting used to an unfamiliar rider, plus the even more unfamiliar passenger in the form of my dragon. Any and all thoughts were pushed to one side as I watched the men get into the saddle.

There is a thing about men that they don’t realise. Watching them do something with an unconscious and complete confidence is almost erotic. Whatever it is that doesn’t really matter, it’s the sense of competence and assuredness that they deploy which has the effect. As I stared at my four dragon riders, I found my hands tightening around Whiskey’s reins, imagining the men using the same confidence and skill as they touched me. When the horse tossed her head in protest, I dropped out of my reverie and forced my hands to loosen the reins. I listened absently to the jibes and insults being thrown around, hearing the mocking tones but not the words, then watched them shift their horses into a rough line. But any lingering effect of the spell my men had cast dispersed totally when Draven trotted forward on a massive black stallion, taking up position at the head of the line. Just a casual wave of his hand and then they were off, forcing me to nudge Whiskey into a walk to keep up with them.

Now? Glimmer asked, all of that same irrepressible energy she’d brought to her ‘hunt’ rising again.

Soon , I promised as we trotted out of the stable yard towards the moors beyond the grounds of the estate.