Everyone thought that it was about time when Illumin finally decided to rise. For the past few weeks she had been intolerable, causing a fuss when any of the males so much as looked at her and in general storming around the Cathair. Serena, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. It was a new experience to have so many good-looking men all interested in only her and she found that she was quite enjoying it. She enjoyed telling stories of her days aboard a pirate ship and most of the men were very willing to listen. She was almost disappointed when Illumin told her that it was time, soon she would only have the attentions of one man instead of six.
Serena watched Illumin flap outside, glowing brightly. Are you going to blood? She asked as Illumin landed neatly on the ground.
Of course not, snorted the dragon. It is a disgusting ritual and I’ll have none of it. I’ll fly under my own power thank-you-very-much! Serena had to smile at her dragoness’ enthusiasm as the males began to gather.
It was a good turnout. There was a grand total of: 2 coppers, 2 multi-colored specials, 1 blue and 1 red. All of the dragons were from Cathair Utopian except for the red, Uaillikenth. He and Gato were from Ryslen and Serena had taken a liking to both of them. Gato had seemed especially intrigued by her pirate origins and Illumin couldn’t quite bring herself to snarl when Uaillikenth was around. Serena cast Gato a quick smile before looking back to Illumin.
I’m not going to blood but the flight is still going to start the same way. I’m going to take off and you lizard-tails will be left in the dust! Without waiting for a reply Illumin was off, soaring through the air. The six males all followed her lead and soon the air was alive with flapping dragon wings.
Ha! Too slow! Laughed Illumin as she dodged Efrahenth’s advances and zoomed in between Heureuseth and Changeanth. Her aqua hide matched the bright sky above while her sunset wings seemed to glow as if mocking the sky for its brightness. She whirled and dived, never letting any male get too close to her.
Zuheilenth had a plan. Instead of following after the general swarm of males he began to circle around, predicting where Illumin would turn and where she would end up in the near future. He chose a spot and flapped up high above it, ready to swoop down when the time came. Right on time, Illumin swerved and began to flap right towards Zuheilenth’s spot. The blue dived, seeing Illumin beneath him and knowing that she was his.
Unfortunately, he was an instant too late.
Zuheilenth dived but was a fraction of an instant too slow, missing Illumin but ending up where she had been a moment earlier. Suddenly Zuheilenth found himself watching five male dragons plowing through the air towards him, after Illumin. Zugpferdth couldn’t stop in time, the large copper slammed into the smaller blue, even the riders heard the resulting sound. Both of the dragons flapped back to the ground after the collision, both looking a bit dazed and not flying quite straight. Meanwhile, in the air, the flight went on.
Illumin noticed the two dragons dropping out and couldn’t help but give a little sneering screech of triumph. If those two made mistakes like that there was no way that she wanted to let them sire her children! Only the fittest beast could catch her, she was sure of it! Suddenly Heureuseth dropped out of nowhere, directly in front of Illumin and destroying any escape plan.
Except for one.
Illumin folded her wings completely to her sides and dropped, zooming towards the ground faster than Heureuseth could catch up. She saw the rest of her chasers following after but Heureuseth seemed to have had enough, flapping off in another direction. Dangerously close to the ground, Illumin spread her wings wide, catching and updraft and soaring high above the Cathair.
On the ground Serena had tears sparkling in her eyes as she watched her dragon glow against the mid-day sun. “I might never see her like this again,” she whispered as Illumin spiraled higher and higher. “She is so beautiful… and so free. I’ve never seen her like this before. What if she never gets to feel this again?”
“You’re wrong,” said a quiet but firm voice from behind Serena. “Both she and you are like this every single day. Maybe you just haven’t noticed it but I’ve been watching you and I have.”
Serena turned to see Gato, a broad smile on her face. “Really?”
Up in the air Illumin decided that the flight had gone on long enough. She conceded to a handsome red and she and Uaillikenth fell together, entwined red to blue.
“Really,” replied Gato with an equally large smile.
The other riders watched as Gato and Serena left the room, unhappy at losing but still glad at having witnessed something that made the losing worthwhile.
Thank you Sherra for writing this excellent Chase! Now everyone send me candidates.