Dragon Legends (Return of the Darkening Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

saddle, I stopped to help him. He wore special goggles for his bad eyesight and hadn’t put them on yet. Varla grimaced and stopped too, picking up the saddle and putting it into his hands. I grabbed my bow, practice arrows and the jousting staffs we used in practice.
    Heading outside, I saw Seb waving to me from the landing platform where Kalax sat, snuffing the air. Hefting my saddle, I ran up the stairs. Kalax greeted me with a bird-like chirrup, and we set about getting the saddles and harness in place.
    With a roar, Beris and Syl’s dragon launched into the air. Their bully-tactics had given them an advantage, it seemed.
    Was that what we’re being taught? That sometimes, in the heat of battle you had to put yourself and your team first?
    “Clips secure,” Seb shouted, cinching the leather straps that held his saddle. He worked fast, and Kalax seemed eager to fly. She kept stretching her wings as if to ask now…now…now? Climbing onto Kalax, I yelled at Seb to get moving. He jumped into his saddle, fastened his harness, and leaned down to whisper to Kalax. She swung around and hurled herself from the platform with a roar.
    That familiar sensation of panic and of my stomach trying to force its way up through my throat spread through me. The ground spun in shades of brown and green. Then Kalax spread her wings and we were flying—swooping low over the road and the trees, heading after Beris and Syl. Behind us, other dragons were noisily arriving to the calls of their riders’ whistles. We were second in the air. Kalax, her nose twitching, gave a thrumming roar that I felt underneath me.
    Turning, Seb grinned at me. “She wants to hunt…and fight.”
    I matched his grin with one of my own. It felt good to have an eager dragon. All too soon, Kalax seemed to realize we weren’t on patrol or on a mission at all. She soared up into the sky and began to glide.
    Kalax—come on. We have to win. We’ve got to earn a spot in the Black Claw squadron.
    I could have almost cried with frustration. “Seb, you’ve got to tell Kalax this is a race.” He nodded and leaned over Kalax again. She turned her head to the south where I could see the sparkle of sun on water.
    “She’s bored,” Seb yelled back at me. “She just wants to hunt, not practice.”
    I knew how she felt, but now was not the time for Kalax to play. Glancing back, I saw Jensen and Wil’s dragon up in the air and gaining on us. I turned to Seb. “Tell Kalax if we don’t do well in this, we’ll be stuck carrying sacks of grain from one dreary village market to another for the rest of our lives.”
    Seb didn’t have to tell Kalax—she seemed to figure it out from what I’d said. She trilled and picked up speed. She still wasn’t going flat-out, but she pulled ahead of Jensen and Wil.
    We had passed over the city and now were out over the fields. Kalax flew high, using the air currents to carry her as she swooped down over some low mountains. Ghastion Point was hours away by horse, but a dragon could fly there in a fairly short time—and Seb needed to keep Kalax interested.
    Beris and Syl and their stocky blue dragon, Gaxtal, were far ahead now. I gripped my flight harness, thinking there wouldn’t be much for a protector to do on this challenge. I was also thinking about beating Beris in single combat—I’d done that before and it would be a pleasure now to do that again. But even though we were in second, a sense of peace welled up through me. This was where I belonged—in the air with my dragon and a navigator.
    Kalax seemed to agree with me, for she gave a soft cry.
    Why spend time on silly things, when there are enemies to fight?
    Seb turned around to look at me, his eyes wide with surprise. “Was that you talking to Kalax?”
    I shrugged. “I—I don’t know.”
    Seb nodded. “Can you sense any other dragons? The others behind us maybe?”
    “Seb, we’ve tried that before. You have the affinity. I’m barely able to get through to