Chapter 11- Training Wings

  As excited as Jett was, he couldn’t help but glance around the deck at the ships and equipment scattered about. He still hadn’t found a ship. In theory, he wouldn’t need one, being a dragon rider, but she wasn’t built to haul treasure. It bugged him not having a ship he could use to store loot, if he needed to fall back on salvaging.

  Layla also took in the ships, tools, and parts scattered about, but for a very different reason. She glanced around, wondering how all the different colors and shapes of metal would taste. She was about to chomp down on a wrench, just to taste test, when Jett spotted her.

  “Whoa, Layla! That’s someone else’s tools. I can get you some metal when we get back to the cave.”

  Layla tilted her head, wondering what he meant, but Jett kept walking, and she scurried to catch up. As she did so, she snagged a nearby box of shredded metal. She figured no one would miss it; it was just lying on the ground, and no one had taken a single bite.

  Jett wove his way through to the port exit, where he saw his sponsor waiting. The man was standing next to a giant piece of metal in the shape of a sphere with ports covering the entire thing.

  “Jett, good you are here. I have a training suit for you and a training saddle for your dragon. Go change, and I will show you how to put on the saddle.”

  Jett turned around and said, “I will be right back. Stay here.”

  Layla quickly chomped down and swallowed the metal toolbox in her mouth. Jett sighed, knowing it was too late to do anything. The best way to keep more tools from going missing was to change, so he ran off with the suit in hand.

  Once he was changed, Honored Rider Franklin motioned him over. “Get your dragon into the middle of the sphere. The saddle is built for a large range of sizes and will fit around her form. We will need to get her a custom-fit saddle for longer rides, but while she is still growing, it would be a waste of money.”

  Jett nodded and wondered just how big Layla would be in the next few months. “Come here, Layla.”

  Layla looked unsure, glancing at the metal contraption as Jett beckoned her to the center. When the saddle began compressing, she dropped her weight, ready to bolt.

  “Hey! It’s ok.” Jett said, reaching out to pet her. She still looked around, unsure, but didn’t move. Once it was done, Layla began fidgeting

  Honored Rider Franklin said, “It will take a while for her to get used to the saddle. It will be a good idea to take her down here to put on the saddle as often as you can, even if you don’t fly.”

  Jett nodded and climbed on Layla’s back. There were grooves for him to step up, and at the top, there were two foot grooves and two handles. From his reading, he knew most saddles were almost like a cockpit; they could hold gravity, give sensor readings, and allow for hands to help guide dragons. The guiding handles didn’t steer the dragon but gave a gentle pressure so the rider could guide the dragon where he wanted to go.

  This model looked like it only had the steering components without any of the other pieces.

  “Alright, you’ll notice on this saddle there are a few buttons and pedals. The training harness has an air supply, but this is to help your dragon with their flight. Let your dragon try things out on her own, but if she’s about to slam into something, use the saddle to help redirect her.”

  Jett nodded and started playing with the controls. Layla jumped the first few times a burst of compressed air came from the saddle. Once he felt like he had a handle, he turned to Layla.

  “Are you ready?”

  She couldn’t hear him, but through the bond she received the message.

  ‘Let’s go fly!’

  Layla gave a loping run forward and jumped out of the port into low orbit. For a brief moment, Jett looked out at the vast expanse and the planet below him. He took in the shades of blue and green while marveling at the vastness of it all. This Layla began to shake.

  He could feel panic across the bond as her legs flailed, trying desperately to get something to hold onto. Back in the hatchery, she had spent hours gliding, but in space, there was no atmosphere to leverage.

  A chirp came over Jett’s comm before his sponsor said, “She hasn’t got the hang of space travel yet. Give her a little thrust.”

  Jett pressed down the pedals, and the air jets at the back opened fully. The jerk knocked Layla out of her panic, and Jett slowly eased off the acceleration. As they moved through space, Layla tried to angle her wings to no avail. She would lean left, then pull back to center before she spiraled through space. Jett tried to help stabilize her with the saddle, but it was meant to assist, not direct.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  He activated the comm, “She’s still having trouble. She has no control over her flight. What do I do?”

  “Keep doing what you are doing, it's perfect. Flight for dragons is more about feeling and intuition. It’s not a science. You are there to help her from spinning out while she figures it out.”

  Jett squeezed the handles as he tried to do nothing while his dragon struggled. After another thirty seconds, he felt a sudden jerk forward before he stopped. He started to try to stabilize, but then another jerk disoriented him.

  He was about to activate his comms when his sponsor said, “Alright, this is the fun part. Hold on tight!”

  As if waiting for that moment, he felt an intense acceleration forward before a sharp braking. He looked forward, and Layla was flying, though she hadn’t gotten the hang of stopping, turning, or even accelerating. Still, she was flying!

  Next, she tried to turn left. He saw her head lean left, and then they were spinning and rolling left. Jett started working the saddle, pulling them out of the roll. Layla overcorrected, banking hard right. He started working the saddle in the opposite direction while staring a spot on Layla’s back so he didn’t heave.

  The next ten minutes were a rollercoaster ride as he was jerked, spun, and pulled in different directions. Each time Layal changed direction, it was smoother than the last, but that was like saying the moons are smaller than planets. You don’t want to hit either with your spaceship!

  “Come on, Layla, leaf on the wind. Small changes.”

  He could feel through the bond that she didn’t understand the reference, but she did understand the intention. She began gliding through space instead of the halting movements we had only minutes ago. Once she started to get the hang of turning and stopping, he could feel an eagerness growing in her.

  He understood. He wasn’t quite as eager, but there was something about flying through space that made him want to see how fast they could go.

  “Alright, girl, let’s go. Just take it slow.”

  Layla snorted at the paradoxical statement, or she would’ve if she were in an atmosphere. She leaned forward, extending her snout, and the space station behind them started to grow smaller at an increased rate. He could feel the acceleration, but it was gentle. He gripped the handles and leaned close to the saddle.

  “Alright, girl, let’s go!”

  Jett could feel Layal open her core to full, and they took off. The force of the acceleration almost knocked him off, and would’ve before he had been bonded, but his enhanced strength was up to the task.

  “That’s it, now you need to bank very slowly. As slow as you can. We are going too fast for a sharp turn.”

  Jett was worried she would turn hard, slinging him off, but to his pleasant surprise, she executed the gentle turn to the left perfectly.

  “Alright, now to the right.”

  Layla banked to the right.

  “Do a barrel roll!”

  Layla tucked her wings, and they began rolling to the right. Jett was about to use the thrusters to stabilize, but Layla flared her wings and whatever magic gave space dragons flight, stopped the barrel roll.

  “That’s what I’m talking about!” He roared, and Layla echoed his sentiment. There was something freeing and satisfying about flying through space.

  “Impressive work, time to head home.”

  “Just ten more minutes.”

  “It’s been four hours already. You don’t feel it, but you need to come back and get something to eat. Your bond is still settling in, and you don’t have the calories for long flights.”

  Jett wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but he followed his sponsor’s guidance. He tugged on the saddle to get Layla to turn. She looked back at him with side eye.

  ‘I don’t want to head back. Ten more minutes!’

  Jett laughed, “Come on, we can practice turning and rolling on our way back.”

  Layla reluctantly agreed. The next few days became a blur as he ate, went to classes, ate, flew, ate, and then begged his sponsor to fly some more. Layla was right there with him. As soon as she saw him, she would perk up and ask if they were going to fly.

  By the third day, Layla had flying down to an art. The two of them worked to spin, turn, and loop across space. Jett was worried his sponsor might try to stop them from flying after she got the hang of it.

  One day, while walking to the hangar together with Dragon Rider Franklin, he expressed his worry.

  “So what happens after flying? Can we keep at least a few days for flying in our schedule?”

  He chuckled, “Flying is the bread and butter of being a dragon rider. Flying will need to be second nature. If you aren’t flying every day, then we aren’t training right.”

  Then, after a pause, he added, “All the other things. Fighting, abilities, and honing senses all build off flying. If you don’t have that skill honed to a fine edge, none of the others will matter.”

  On Friday, Layla and Jett headed down to the hangar early to get her saddle on. Once it was on, he saw his sponsor talking with a few members of the academy behind him.

  “Come on, Layla, our sponsor is here. Let’s stretch your wings.”

  Layla didn’t yip in excitement, but he could feel her excitement and determination. She gently pushed off, and they started doing a few warm-up turns and spins. After they finished their warm-up exercise, Layla angled to accelerate away from the station.

  During his training, Layla had been practicing her flight, but that wasn’t the only skill being trained. In space, it was incredibly hard to see, but space dragons and dragon riders had a kind of space echolocation. That was how he noticed something was closing behind them. He looked back, wondering if there was a piece of space debris, but instead he saw dragons. A swarm of dragons was locked onto Layla and closing.

  He pushed Layla to accelerate forward, wondering if this was some kind of game.

  Then his comm beeped, “Dragon Rider Knight, what do you think you are doing?”

  “I was flying around with Layla, and a flight of dragons started chasing us.”

  “That’s your fellow students, or at least the ones who mounted up before the other dragons made a mad break after the dragon who dared to fly in their territory. The instructor is saddling up, but you need to get back before someone gets hurt!”

  Jett looked back at the swarm of dragons between him and the space station. Layla might be fine with the dragonlings rough housing her, but Jett wouldn’t. Layla was also much younger than most, if not all, of the dragons in the hatchery.

  He thought about what might happen if the dragons caught up. He was tough, but his suit wasn’t. The text said Dragon riders could survive a few minutes without an atmosphere, but it wasn’t fun.

  “Layla, we need to go faster now.” Jett leaned into the saddle, thinking about how he was going to outfly a swarm of space dragons.