The Dragon Knights - comment please? :c

[Drifting Fox]

Lovely story. C: It's very interesting.

[gizmo,]

I love it. Keep writing c:

[Lonin]

^^ Yay thankyee

[Jet The Saiyan]

I love it, keep workin.

[honey badga]

Aweshum

[Lonin]

^^ Thankyee <3

Chapter 4:

Although she was soaking wet and took turns both freezing cold and far too hot, with ash obscuring her vision and chunks of rock being thrown through the air, Nala thought flying was wonderful. They were so high, she could see the whole island below her when Umora dipped down through the smoke. Long, lazy rivers of lava ran like blood from the gaping volcano, already halfway across the island and moving faster than Nala had expected. To one side and when the air was clear she could even make out long stretches of fields from The Mainland in the distance.

"I don't see any dragons," Theo murmured. He sat in front at the base of Umora's neck on a thick pad of sheep skin and wool, grabbing handfuls of her fur to keep steady. Behind and in the makeshift saddle was Nala, securely tied to the dragon with thick leather straps. Despite her protests both boys had insisted on keeping her safe - even after she proved she could look after herself by knocking them both down. At the back was Sam, tied to her and the saddle on another, smaller sheep skin pad, they hadn't had enough time, leather or knowledge to make a different saddle. He stared intently down at the village far below them, he was tipped so far to the side that Nala was scared he would fall and pull them all down with him.

Umora grunted and dropped closer to the ground, they'd barely been flying an hour and she was already panting and droopy. Although she could fly all day on her own she'd never carried such extra weight before and was barely big enough for the three of them and their luggage. She took them lower, down below the smoke and ash and into the relatively fresh air below.

"Maybe we should just go, you still need to fly us to The Mainland," Theo suggested and ran a comforting hand along Umora's smoky scales.

We have to find the dragon, where else would a fire dragon be but in a volc- she suddenly swerved as a rock bigger than her flew past them so close that it nudged one of the bags tied to Umora's saddle.

With a strange whimper Umora turned into a shallow dive and headed to the clear southern part of the island. She promptly sat down and began to clean the ash off her scales, trying to pretend that she wasn't panting heavily and shaking.

Did we just nearly die?

"Flying in this is stupid, we should go to The Mainland before someone gets hurt," Theo pushed. He inspected Umora's saddle where the rock had scraped by. The bag fell at his touch, spilling clothes across the floor. He bent to scoop them back up.

"The lava was heading to the village. I have to help them, you two can keep searching - Umora will be able to go faster without me," Sam said suddenly. He didn't seem to have been paying attention at all, having spent all his time staring between the flowing lava and their little village. He turned his gaze on Umora and after a few seconds the dragon grunted and nodded, seemingly recovered from her trauma seconds earlier.

He's right, Sam can protect the village with his water magic or warn them to move to the houses near the Dead Forest.

Although a few small houses had been built beside the forest they had been all but abandoned shortly after their construction. None of the villagers had wanted to live near a forest supposedly infested with demons, the houses were now used as emergency shelter for such events as the lava flowing past the safe points and destroying the village.

Umora quickly nudged Theo and Nala onto her back and took off, Sam waved as they climbed into the sky and away, back towards the thick black smoke. She turned towards the volcano and circled wide around it as Nala watched Sam shrink and disappear behind them. Without the extra weight she flew much faster and within a few minutes the village came back into view ahead of them.

Barely more than a speck, they could just make out Sam running towards the village, to one side the rivers of lava were catching up to him. It was flowing through special trenches dug to direct it away from the villages, but they appeared too narrow and shallow to be helping much. Umora dived so they could see him more clearly, as he ran balls of water formed around him which he sprayed onto the lava but it didn't appear to have any effect. Still, he kept trying.

What's that? Umora asked, drawing their attention away from Sam as she flew closer to a ribbon of lava coming from the volcano. Her eyesight was far superior to Theo and Nala's and they had to get much closer before they saw it too. She sounded pleased with herself, if a little shocked.

Floating gently through the lava was a large orange egg speckled with dust and ash. As they watched, rocks bumped harmlessly against its shell. Wordlessly smug, Umora dived closer and stretched out a paw to try and pick it up. Despite her thick scales to protect her from the heat, she couldn't get close enough to the egg to grab it and was forced to fly up high again. One of the leather straps of her saddle began to smoulder and Nala quickly beat it out.

As she turned to try again Nala could still see Sam in the distance, this time much closer to the village. People were running from the houses clutching everything they could carry while others attempted to herd the animals to safety.

Umora dived again, faster this time, but was still unable to pick up the egg. You'll have to try, she told Nala with no instruction on how exactly a human was supposed to do better in lava than a dragon.

Still, as Umora slowly lowered herself to the ground Nala reached down and stretched as far as she could. Her fingers just grazed the shell as they flew away again. She didn't feel the heat at all and when Theo pulled her back into the saddle her hand wasn't burned, or even warm. She decided her immunity to the heat was due to her being the knight of fire and promised herself that she'd somehow find out more about their magic.

She was ready for the next turn and as Umora began to dive again she got an idea. As she stretched out her arm to grab the egg she tried to use her magic to push the lava, and with it the egg, up and closer to them. The lava bubbled and a small wave formed carrying the egg high. One hand closed around the shell, she leaned over and scooped the egg into her hands just as Umora climbed away. As Theo yanked her back into the saddle her hand slipped and the egg fell.

Lightning fast Umora closed her wings and dropped, her paws shot out and caught the egg before it fell too far and she cradled it close to her chest as she headed to The Mainland.

Nala watched for Sam and the villagers as they passed, expecting Umora to land and pick him up. She couldn't see Sam anywhere, the village seemed completely deserted although she could make out some figures in the distance heading in the direction of the Dead Forest. The lava was so close that some of the buildings made of wood were already on fire. A large part of her felt guilty, she was the one with fire magic, it should be her down there defending the village. Deep down she knew that she'd fail, as Sam would. None of the others would have let her go anyway, despite being the oldest and, she felt, fairly tough, Theo, Sam and even Umora treated her like a little sister and had a strong desire to protect her.

Umora didn't slow down or even turn to look at Ania village, she simply kept on flying south to The Mainland. Theo sighed softly

"We need to stop for Sam," Nala said but the dragon ignored her.

The lava reached the houses and she watched her childhood burn.

"Umora," pleaded Nala.

"We're not stopping," Theo said softly from in front of her. "Umora can't carry all of us and Sam wanted to stay. He'll find his dragon and find us again on The Mainland."

Everyone knew that was unlikely, once the village realised she and Theo were missing they'd never let Sam out of their sight. She looked down. They could always come back for him later, she reasoned. If they could go through the shield. If nothing happened to any of them. If Sam was still alive.

Far below Nala was sure she saw a man suddenly appear amongst the blazing houses and smoke. She stared but the figure disappeared just as quickly. Sure she was imagining things Nala sighed and looked away from Ania for the last time as Umora flew over the ocean to The Mainland.