Chapter 12- The Chase

  “Single file, single file. The more organized you stay, the faster we will be.” Professor Waldin said to the crowd of young dragon riders following him. Among them were Kyle and his dragon Castledrive.

  He named him after the mythical engine from the early space ships. In the advent of interplanetary space travel, floating cities. They required massive, complex machinery to provide triple back-ups of life support systems. Since no one would be able to reach the ships for months if something went wrong. To propel the ships, massive engines called castle drives were used. They earned the nickname since the engineers at the time jested that the engines could launch castles into orbit.

  Kyle’s eyes scanned the crowd and found Lucy looking at him. She waved at him and he waved back. Her dragon was Starthunder, a white star dragon that glided along.

  ‘You should go stand beside her.’ Castledrive rumbled in his mind.

  ‘What? No. I need to focus on flying.’

  Castledrive looked over at him and rolled his large eye, facing Kyle. ‘The two of you have been looking at each other every chance you get.’

  ‘So?’ He asked, and Castledrive snorted before letting it go. A two-minute walk later through the deck, Kyle saw an array of hanging spherical devices he knew as the training saddles. The professor led each of them up to one and started working his way down.

  Kyle was familiar with the devices from watching his parents with their dragons. He guided Castledrive into his harness and secured it. Once it cinched closed, he went around checking the straps.

  “Wow, you really know your way around the harness.” He looked up to find Lucy.

  He felt his face heat as he realized she had probably been watching him for the past five minutes. He started going through his mind, wondering if he did anything embarrassing. A giant draconic muzzle nudged him, breaking him out of his internal spiral.

  “Oh, uh, yeah. I saw my parents do it a few times.”

  Then he looked around, “You shouldn’t be here. You might get in trouble if the professor sees you.”

  Lucy peeked around, seeing the professor still five dragons away. “I think we have a minute. Do you have any tips or tricks you can show me?”

  “Um… make sure none of the scales catch, it's pretty common if the vest is pushed too far up.”

  Lucy walked over, standing next to him as he pointed to areas he checked and what he would have done if the scales had caught. She smiled and put her hand on his arm.

  “You are so good at this stuff. I am a first-generation, so I don’t know the first thing. I’m lucky I’m in your class.”

  Kyle freezes and feels his face flush as she stares intensely at him. His mind blanks as he tries to think of what to say.

  “There is no luck involved. I have taught hundreds of dragon riders; you are in good hands.” Professor Waldin interjected.

  “Oh, sorry professor I was just-”

  “I will be with you shortly, honored rider Casely.” Lucy jogged away as Professor Waldin looked over his training saddle.

  “Good job, Honored Rider Starburst.” Kyle waited for the professor to scold him, but the professor left to go to the next student.

  Once the professor moved on, he tried to catch Lucy’s eyes, but she was busy studiously working on her saddle. With nothing better to do, he got up in his saddle to get situated. A few other students were venturing into their saddles, but most wanted to wait, knowing they would be stuck for a couple of hours once they left the launch bay.

  From up in his saddle, he noticed when another dragon rider came over to talk with our professor. They stepped to the side, and the conversation got a little heated as the two animatedly discussed something.

  Then he Castledrive jerked, and he noticed his dragon’s head lower like a predator tracking prey. Through the bond, he could feel the laser focus cutting through the excitement of their first flight.

  “Hey, what’s up, buddy?”

  ‘Dragonling,’ The word was laced with a desire to pounce, dominate, and jealousy.

  Kyle looked around to see all the other dragons locked in and watching the same thing. Then one of the dragons launched, flying into the abyss. Kyle’s mouth hung open as the dragons began flooding forth, chasing something they could all see. Kyle tried to pull his companion back, but Castledrive was not going to be left out.

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  He felt the weightless feeling as he exited the atmosphere. All around him were what could best be described as a gaggle of dragons. The dragons bumped, jostled, and flew into each other as they frantically chased after the spec in the distance. Outside the launch bay, his senses could barely pick up the thing all the other dragons had locked onto.

  Castledrive was no better than the others, using all the thrust he could manage with none of the control. Kyle frantically worked the saddle to keep Castledrive from spinning out or hitting other dragons. He called out to his companion, but despite being a mature dragonling, he was a dragonling, and he was lost in the thrill of the chase.

  As Kyle frantically tried to direct his dragon, Jett and Layla were focused on creating distance. The week of flying had given them a level of skill that none of the other dragonlings possessed, but the dragons chasing them had two other factors on their side. One was the number of dragons after them, which created a wide net. The second point was that Layla was much younger than the other dragonlings. Many of the other dragonlings were faster than her when they were able to point themselves in the right direction.

  “Honored Rider Knight, come in.”

  Jett put his hand to his comm. “Yes, this is Honored Rider Knight.”

  “This is Professor Waldin. You are to turn around and immediately return to the launch bay.”

  Jett looked again at the dragons behind him, “Negative, that is not possible.”

  “Honored Rider Knight, that was not a request. We need to lead the dragonlings back toward the station. If you keep heading away, it will make that goal much harder.”

  “I am not flying back through a pack of dragonlings and risking Layla or myself. I will be circling around shortly.”

  The comm opened back up, but Jett blocked the line. He had other things to take care of, and arguing with the professor would get him nowhere. He felt a little guilty, but he wasn’t about to risk Layla or his own life. If they expelled him, so be it.

  “Alright, Layla, as soon as we start circling its going to be a race. We want a wide, smooth turn to get past them.”

  Layla didn’t answer, but he could feel the trust and determination from her. He gently guided her to turn left and felt his adrenaline spike as he knew he was turning incrementally toward the mass of scales, teeth, and claws chasing after him. He looked in the distance and saw the chaos as dragons began to crash into each other, trying to change course.

  Jett hoped that might be enough to distract the dragons so he could make it back. Out of the thirty dragons, ten were able to jump or turn onto a path to intercept him. He leaned in, urging Layla to go faster. Layla didn’t respond in her hyperfocus.

  He tracked them and noticed one vainly flapping its wings and pumping its legs. Despite not knowing how to fly, it gained enough momentum that it was closing in on them.

  He saw the dragons getting closer, and then he tugged at her shoulder. “You need to do a barrel roll, now!”

  Layla tucked in her wings, spinning right as a dragon twice Layla’s size lunged forward with a claw. Layla turned upside down, then pushed off the dragon’s shoulder. Then they were on the other side of the dragons chasing her.

  Jett laughed. They had made it. He flicked back on his comm as he heaved a sigh of relief.

  “We made it, returning to base.”

  Jett ignored the expletives from his professor. He looked back at the dragons vainly chasing Layla. They were gaining on her, but nowhere near fast enough to catch them before they made it back to the launch bay. Then he looked at the tangled mess of dragons.

  He felt it right before his helmet zoomed in to show at least four riders floating in space. He noticed a tail whip around and strike one, causing them to sail toward orbit. The zooming feature allowed him to see Kyle plummeting to the atmosphere below.

  “Hey, there are students out here.”

  “We know, we have set out a call to dragon riders, but they will be another minute.”

  Jett looked over toward Kyle, “I don’t think they have another minute.”

  “That’s not your problem. We will take care of it.”

  Jett grits his teeth, “Come on, Layla, we need to get Kyle before he starts burning.”

  He pulled at her shoulder, and she leaned into the turn. He was close to the bay, just close enough that the professor could see the black silhouette not landing. He knew what was coming, so he turned off his mike.

  Jett felt the thunk as most of the dragons chasing him couldn’t turn in time, sailing right into the launch bay. The training saddles inflated, keeping them locked down, but one dragon was able to turn just enough to hit the wall, then jump toward Layla. The large golden dragon lost most of its momentum, but it started accelerating.

  Jett ignored the golden space dragon, searching for his friend. He spotted the man a mile away. Layla already had her nose pointed at the drifting student. Jett worked his comm, locking onto Kyle’s suit’s frequency.

  “Hey buddy, don’t worry, I’m coming in to get you. Just hold tight.”

  “Jett? Man, am I glad to hear from you. I thought for sure I was going to have to put to the test the old myth that dragon riders can survive reentry without a dragon.”

  Jett laughed, “Not on my watch.”

  Then he felt the dragon behind him letting out the inaudible roar of triumph as it gained on Layla.

  “Alright, Layla, time to pull a fancy maneuver. Get ready, let’s see if he can follow a corkscrew.”

  Layla let him take the lead as she began tucking her wings. She didn’t pull them all the way in but kept them tight as she spun in a circle. Jett only had a moment to look behind him and see the large golden dragon start to spin out as it tried to follow their movement.

  He only had a moment because if he looked any longer, he was going to lose his lunch. The lunch that he forgot because he was flying all morning. Jett helped Layla stabilize, and she flared her wings. They had lost some momentum with the maneuver, but Kyle was only a few hundred feet away.

  Layla overshot the first time; she was moving too fast, but she slowed, circling back, and Jett reached out his hands. Layla’s claws might rip his suit, but if Jett could get Kyle in the saddle, he would be fine. It was meant for one person, but there were backup safety lines Jett could use to keep him in the saddle.

  Jett reached out, turning Layal so he faced his friend. Kyle tried to maneuver, reaching out to Jett. Their fingers overlapped right as Jett saw a flicker in his helmet. A flash of gold as a space dragon soared right for them.