FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The dragon riders ate a hearty meal, I contented myself with a sandwich from my pack. Salbar's swords had been cleaned and sharpened by their owner, and they gleamed in the morning sun. By use of some mirror method, the light was supplied twice, firstly by torches, and the second by the sun, which was reflected down a series of skylights, which again had been made by the hard working dragons. Javid's sniper rifle was devoid of anything, and even I had cleaned my sword, rifle and Eryx a bit.

As we made preparations for flight, Draco noticed me with the large tank of rocket fuel under one arm.

"Long flight?" he asked innocently.

"New toy. Just keep your camera on my bombing run, you'll see why."I tapped the tank with a smile, and Draco shrugged. Simba changed into his Apache form at seven thirty, me into my Lightning form five minutes later. The tank of fuel had been converted into a bomb, which, due to it's size, could not fit in my bomb hold, and so was held by an extra mechanism. I had one other normal bomb, which sat normally in it's cradle of wiring.At twelve minutes to eight, the first dragon rider jumped into valley, Seriphe.

No other dragons from anywhere else were taking place in this battle, and Javid, Salbar and Draco were getting lifts with their dragon riders they had befriended. Then Simba took off, and I slowly rumbled from the dragon's cave, across the main hall, and off the ledge. It was that much harder to take off with the extra pay load, and I dived, kicking in afterburners to get up to a speed I could maintain. At about two hundred kilometres and hour, I pulled out of the dive, and caught up with the dragons. They flew in a slight V formation, with Seriphe in front, and Alarei and Veronica either side and slightly behind. They had been watching Simba as he kept gainly up as his helicopter, and then all of them turned as I pulled along side.

I knew I looked fairly odd with the large bomb underneath my craft,even ridiculous,for it looked as though I was carrying a V2,and it was almost that big in comparison. But I flew along side Veronica, and I could see her smiling.

Thus we flew. The dragons flew quickly, past the magical hundred I expected from Brendan and Draco. Even Drakon didn't go much faster than that. But these flew a good sixty kilometres faster than that, so it was Simba in his Apache who was struggling to keep up. As the lands flattened, and developed grassland, roads, fields, we flew at a good two thousand feet. Ahead was a long road, which ran the length of the border. This was the border road, and on one side was one empire, and on the other was the other empire. Thus taking our bearings, we flew slightly to the right, and headed towards a distant speck.

This was in fact the army.It was a large army, easily ten thousand strong, and they seemed to be heading towards a small town which had four major roads extending from several sides.This was the hub of the empire, apparently, and I shouted.

"How are we going to do this?"

"We are to protect the town, so we shall bank around, making sure they have to get through us first!" Veronica called.

"Right!" I shouted back. "Guys, as you bank, I'm going in for my attack run."

As we got within a few kilometres, they flew further to the right.I wheeled upwards into what became a slow loop the loop. They had flown about six hundred metres as I came down, and as my speed increased, I dived, directly at the centre of the masses. They seemed very perplexed at my presence, and were about to receive my displeasure.I shouted to Draco.

"Start recording this, I want to see how this happens!"

I waited one second, and then commanded myself to release my large bomb. I had got it on target, but I had no idea of it's results at that moment.

What Draco saw was the small fighter diving on the centre of the army, and the bomb detaching. It exploded before hitting the ground, and rocket fuel was thrown everywhere. Then the secondary bomb went off, igniting the fuel, which likewise exploded. This double explosion happened about three feet over the army.

There was a huge explosion, and a cloud of smoke from the reaction.Bits of debris rained everywhere, and despite the sudden acceleration forward do to the loss of weight, I still felt the force of the bang shuffle me forwards, ever so gently. As I banked slightly, I saw a huge crater in the ground in the middle of the army.

"Holy hell!" Javid exclaimed.

"I'm impressed." Salbar said, and I heard Siren agree.

"Another weapon from your planet?" Simba asked. Everyone heard this, as everyone wanted my reply.

"That is called a Fuel Air Bomb, it's results can be quite interesting. Quite effective against ground troops, as I learned from playing Command and Conquer." I said,"Your thoughts?"

"The human race is the most evil and despicable race in the universe when it comes to devious machines of war." Draco said, and I promptly agreed.

As the dragons got above the town, they wheeled back towards the army, and I joined them in the gentle dive.

"Right, last to five hundred buys the beer." I said, looking at the large crater in the middle of the army again. Draco commented acidly I had probably already reached five hundred.I ignited my afterburners, and surged ahead, dropping my normal bomb on a catapult. As I pulled out, the dragons got into the midst of the army, and I circled, watching them.

They used their flame bursts, and their tails to great effect, and the riders fired bows and other projectile weapons. Their claws smashed into troops and catapults, tearing the latter apart like matchwood, and as I watched, Draco and Salbar abandoned dragon, and landed on the turf. The pair stood together, looking at the terrified ranks of soldiers. They had been taken completely by my first attack, and the dragon fly past hadn't done any good to their morale either, but they grouped again, and charged at the two on the ground, while the remainder started hurling missiles at the monstrous reptiles. Arrows bounced off the flanks of the dragons, and the spears were too clumsily thrown, but I noticed several ballistae, the huge spear throwing weapons, which had been untouched so far. I decided to remedy this with some missile work.

As I flashed overhead, I locked two missiles to each ballistae I passed. The missiles wheeled from my fighter on their explosive jets, and detonated, blowing three of the siege weapons to oblivion. There were more, but at least I dented their number.

I resorted to my machine guns and heat seekers, although the latter didn't hit many things, due to no lock, and I saw Simba circling sideways, hurling rockets into the midst of the crowd. Salbar and Draco, first time I saw him with a great sword, were surrounded by innumerable numbers of grim and determined soldiers, but not one blow from them came close to touching the whirling duo as they fought. And the dragons came in for more runs.

Alarei had landed, and was running rampant amongst the troops, her dragon decimating the sector she had landed on. The others just flew past for the second time, raking the ground with fire and arrows. Now I could see why Veronica had been so confident about her beating my score, until she saw my Fuel Air Bomb.

I only strafed when no dragons were in the way, a mid air collision would probably be fatal for me and who ever I hit, and my machine guns crackled as bullets whistled from my gun ports. I noticed Javid was still behind Meera, he had switched just before take off, his gun reporting frequently. Neither Meera or her dragon seemed to mind the gun. Simba was firing his rockets occasionally, but he was more recording the events.

Thus he got a first class recording of me having to do a desperate pull out as I misjudged, and I roared over his head with the sound of a beast in pain.Then things became very bad for us.

One of the ballistae had levelled itself at Veronica as she came directly at it, and the spear was launched forwards. I could see it wing it's way towards the dragon rider, but as the dragon wheeled, the spear entered the side of it's chest. There was a loud drawn out wail, and the dragon fell from the sky. It was not high up, and it landed on it's side with a thump. Veronica I could not see.

There was a series of deafening roars, the dragons were furious. I flew over Veronica's fallen dragon, banked, and then dived, changing into my Audi form as I was a foot above ground, and came to a very complete halt beside the mouth of the great reptile. The foot soldiers were coming forward, but they stopped as I slid to a halt. I could see as I changed into my bionic form that Draco and Salbar were fighting their way towards us, and the Apache was also thudding over. I stood in front of the assembled ranks, RPG in one hand, draconic sword in the other. As I looked back, I saw Veronica lying on the ground beside her dragon, and a great number of soldiers heading towards her.

I drew my rifle,dropping draconic sword in the process, and fired it one handed at the leader, who, by a fluke, fell to the ground with a bullet in the side. Everyone looked at me, and I saw the confused, astonished, fearful and amazed faces looking at me, the grim, the defiant. I shouted.

"First person to touch her or the dragon will get disintegrated!" I shouted. Salbar and Draco fought their way through the line, and Simba hovered above the dragon. He changed, and started observing Veronica's wounds, covered by the hyped up Salbar. Draco stood beside me, and whispered.

"There's too many of them."he whispered.

"Give the dragon riders some time.Meanwhile, I'll try and fix it." I checked behind me, where one side of soldiers was trying to creep up on the dragon's wounded flank, and I swung around, Eryx aimed, and I fired.

The kick out the back scalded the leading ranks behind me, and I heard the cries of pain as the missile erupted from the front, and detonated in front of the soldiers trying to turn. There was an explosion, and a cloud of smoke and earth went up. Draco went over to cover that side, as Juliet thundered overhead, her mount spewing fire. She took out a whole line, giving me enough room to reload and fire another round.

The battle raged, and I heard a large throaty roar from the direction of the town. The military from the attacked empire had just arrived, and they were attacking the leading group, who realised they hadn't the numbers behind them as they once had.Unsurprisingly, the attackers panicked, and I saw men were starting to run. The remaining ballistae had been pulverized, and their operators were fleeing. Within a few minutes, the invading army was running, and what was a disciplined march was now a rout. The dragons dived on the deserters, taking advantage of them dropping their weapons and armour to get away. Those directly in front of me weighed up their options, and as Seriphe landed directly behind them, surrendered.

Seriphe, from her lofty position, saw me, and dismounted. The one hundred men, or at least the approximate number, shuffled aside as she drew her long sword, and walked towards me. The dragon that was Seriphe's rumbled in annoyance, and I heard the fallen dragon managed a weak reply. My translator didn't catch the query, but I knew with crystal clarity that the reply was "I'm alright."

So that was something to be relieved about. As the cavalry arrived, securing the prisoners, we both abandoned our posts, to see how Veronica was doing.

Simba had applied several liquids to the fallen dragon rider, and while her head ached, she was otherwise fine, now. She sat up against her mount's back as me and Seriphe approached.

"Veronica, what happened?"

"Ballista." she replied weakly.

"It caught her dragon in the side. He'll be alright, won't he, Veronica?"

"He thinks so. If Simba could administer treatment, he should be fine."

"I will, my lady." Simba replied, and went around to examine the wound. Meanwhile the other dragon riders were coming back, and I saw Javid jumping off with Meera, and Alarei walked over.

"What happened?" she asked.

"Veronica's dragon got hit by a bolt from a ballista." I explained," How many got away?"

"Less than a hundred." Meera smiled wickedly.

"Not counting the one hundred prisoners here." Draco said, coming around the resting dragon.

"Oh really? We take no prisoners." Siren jumped off her mount.

I had a grandstand view of the prisoner's faces as she said that.The reaction was priceless. Seriphe saw also, and laughed.

"That was a good reaction.Salbar, can you take the weapons off them, Javid, Alarei, give him a hand?"

The three started walking through the mass of men, taking swords and spears off each man. None of them would dare trying anything stupid.

Then a well dressed man in plate armour pushed his way through the ranks of the army that had employed us.

"We saw all that, Seriphe. We humbly thank you, for we could not have held them."

"Enough of the chatter. You owe us eleven thousand gold."

"Of course." the man bowed, and then paused."Eleven, my lady?"

"Alduin, Simba, Draco, Salbar, Javid, and the six of us, makes eleven."

"Oh, of course." the man agreed, and stood back as Veronica got up, helped by myself and Seriphe.

"That was an impressive display, Alduin." she smiled.

"It surprised me, I've never tried that fuel bomb trick before." I replied modestly," but you would have won if it hadn't been for this."

"No, Alduin, I know when I'm beaten." she shook her head with a smile," You easily doubled my score, pre accident. It was no contest."

"Sorry, my lady."

"And so you should be."she finished, smiling widely.

The man was met by a second, who was carrying a large chest. He took it, and handed it to Seriphe.

"Eleven thousand, plus anything else you require."

"Twenty of the prisoners, we need some more workers, and food for the eleven of us, for I don't know about Alduin, but I am hungry."

"I could eat my way through a banquet." I nodded.

"Well, Alduin, we don't eat anything that rich. Solid, homely food, not rich sweet meats."

"Anything will do. Did Veronica mention my problem?"

"Your power drain? Yes."

I got another sugar bottle out, and chugged the lot of it. Meanwhile Salbar, Javid and Alarei returned, each of them carrying armfuls of weapons. Most of it was bog standard, and I took one critically.

"Dear God, they use these things? So crude." I drew my own sword, and compared the weight, balance, etc. Seriphe smiled.

"If you are paid well, you can afford decent gear."

"Well, I'm going to celebrate for five minutes." Draco said, changing into his Land Rover form, and driving away. Simba turned into his Apache form, and likewise began to let off steam, firing flares, and doing gentle rolls.I turned into my Lightning form, and blasted vertically off the ground, the mud baked by my engine. I rose slowly, and then headed off towards the town, my engine note rising as the speed increased. As I passed over it, I was doing six hundred, and I banked around doing nine hundred. I barrel rolled over the rather incredible scene below, and looped gently up and over again. God I was childish.

Then I flew low level, the ground mere feet off the ground, and everyone I passed near had to hold themselves in the torrent of my passage.After ten minutes of letting off steam, I came to a gentle hover beside Seriphe. Simba had long finished, although Draco was still doing donuts, which isn't easy in a Land Rover, and the wounded dragon was slowly getting to it's feet. I hovered, and then changed, landing on one knee.The dragon riders had collected food and their money, and Draco spoke.

"What are we doing with the prisoners?"

"Give us a minute, we're walking back, but first we have to choose."

What happened next was hilarious. The six of them headed through the ranks of men, looking over each man, while each man tried to look away. I could see each man rejected by the six breathe out.Those who were picked looked terrified.

Finally the twenty men had been picked, and the rest were shuffled away. They stood, huddling together as they looked at us.

"I'm beginning to form a picture here."I said, whispering to Salbar." They are regretting going to war."

"Oh, I think they did this when we arrived."

"I can see what Seriphe meant, those who hire the dragon riders won't lose, and is it really surprising?"

"No." Salbar smiled, and as the six dragon riders got onto their mounts. Simba, wishing to test his off-road ability on this rough plain, changed into his tank form, and rumbled quietly towards the rear. I went to the front with Seriphe and Veronica, Draco went to the back with Juliet, and Salbar walked along beside Siren's dragon, and Javid walked with me.

The dragons walked two abreast, ten metres apart, and three in length. The prisoners walked between the centre pair. As we started off, the trip would take a good day to the first of the mountains, we started talking about the battle.

"You fly like a demon, to tell you the truth, Alduin." Veronica smiled, from the top of her mount. I was bridled at this comment, and rose to the bait.

"Is that so? When you're travelling at nine hundred kilometres an hour, your options are to fly like you're being paid, or to crash.Besides, your dragons definitely have the slaughter method off fine, raking the enemy with ease."

"This coming from the person who caused an explosion that could be seen for miles?"

"This coming from the person who, with her dragon, set a bonfire in motion. I swear the ground was catching fire."

"The turf isn't my responsibility.Besides, there are several craters that are your fault."

"That's just the sort of devil may care answer I expected." I smiled, and then the dragon turned and blew a small scale jet of flame at me. I closed my eyes as it surged around me, and I walked out it slightly blackened. I blew some carbon off my hand, and shrugged.

"I don't call that much of an argument."

"So were you born with this ability?" Seriphe asked.

"No my lady, my DNA is corrupted by metallic DNA, forcefully inserted into my body on one of the planets we visited. Draco and Simba received the same."

"And I have to say, it's quite a handy ability, sometimes." Simba said, as his tank rolled into a small ditch and easily up the other side.

"So what are these forms you use?" Alarei asked.

"Well, my flying form is a mouthful, it's a JSF Lightning F-35B.You can see why it's called Lightning."

"The speed." Juliet suggested.

"Of course."

"Simba's two forms are a Challenger tank, an armoured vehicle, which is the one he's in now, and an Apache gun ship, the flying form he was in earlier."

"Gun ship?" Draco looked confused.

"The proper name is helicopter." I explained."Draco's two forms are a powerboat, and a Land Rover."

"What's your other form?"

"It's a car, called an Audi Quattro." I changed into it, and started the engine with a roar. The ground was firm, so I accelerated forward, the 4WD system sending me forward with no wheel spin at all, and flame came out of my exhaust as I changed gear into second, and then third. I turned wide, and came back. As I braked, the Audi's trademark backfire came in, with a series of loud reports. I changed back, and looked at Veronica.

"Although,"Draco said,"I think I might have to change my Land Rover, it isn't that good at going quickly."

"That's true.You can go for a rally vehicle, like me, or a tank, like Simba, but a Land Rover's between the two, not near as good as either." I replied."Go for an Evo, or something, there's my tip."

Veronica looked at the sun, it was getting towards two, and announced we were halting for lunch. Time seemed to be flying today, although I have to admit it always did on a Sunday.

Thus we sat down, and the dragon riders broke out food for the prisoners, while we supplied our own. I pulled out a mini thermos, and had a black coffee.I prefer one with milk, but my pack didn't have refrigeration, so I made do. But I also drew out another dish of pasta, a cold dish, and got out my Swiss Army Knife, extending the fork section. As I ate, I enjoyed an argument with Draco, him on my cooking ability, me on his savage ways of eating. This was, in all means, a frequent show stopper.

The prisoners all had backpacks, and most of them had food on them, so they ate from their rations. The trees were dotted around, it was a but further til we got to forest, and I found a tree with thick branches. I walked over to it, grabbed a likely branch, snapped it off, and walked back over with about eight feet of wood. As I peeled off the smaller branches, Draco finally spotted me.

"Here, what are you doing?"

"If I'm hiking, I like to have a staff.I feel like a man of ninety after a few hours of fast walking, sometimes."

"You're unfit, that's why." The prisoners were looking at this argument in some astonishment.

"Oh really? Let me tell you it's a damn sight easier walking with with a staff, especially over rough terrain."

"Ha, I could walk all day without breaking a sweat."

"Yeah, you're a dragon, that's why. Take pity on a poor human. Besides, the gravity seems to rest a bit on me."Now the dragons and riders were looking in amusement.

"It is a bit stronger, "Simba acknowledged,"What happened to your Central Belt?"

"It must be on the blink." I shrugged.

"Never stopped me." Draco laughed. Javid looked at me grinning, and closed his eyes in anticipation. As I removed the bottom two feet of the branch, I lifted it gently, and placed it beside my pack. Draco wouldn't let it rest, and neither would I.

"I bet that I could walk further than you without aid."

"I bet I could travel further than you without aid." I retorted.

"Only if we don't count you cheating with your Lightning." he retaliated.

"That's not cheating. Besides, you have your forms as well." I returned.

"They don't do the speed of sound."

"That's your problem."

"Speed mad human." Draco was laughing.

"Pedestrian dragon!" I followed suit, and then leapt at him.

We described a backwards roll. It had been a time since we wrestled, and as we rolled back and forth across the terrain, Seriphe and the other dragon riders were looking in merriment at our childish fun, and Simba shrugged.

"Can't they concentrate on the job?"

"No, that's why we like them so much." Alarei smiled, while Juliet was giggling. Draco landed on top of me, and we lay, my hands holding his tightly.

"Yeah, use your weight, why don't you?" I sneered.

"Your fault, shrimp."

"Is that how it is!" I shouted, throwing all my weight into a backwards roll, using Draco's leaning on me as a pivot. My legs performed a somersault as I landed on top of Draco, and then jumped off, waiting for him to rise.

"One all." I bowed. Draco grabbed a fallen branch, and I grabbed my own, and the heavy clacks of the wood echoed across the plain. Draco was actually fairly sharp with a hand to hand weapon, no matter what it was, and we fought hard and fast over the terrain. Draco's staff fell apart as I ducked behind a tree and he smacked it with a mighty swing.

"Now my bamboo stick wouldn't have done that." I shrugged."Pity, I was enjoying that."

Draco drew his sword. I threw my staff away, and drew my own.We were both in our bionic form, so we couldn't hurt each other, but the crack was now a tang of steel on steel.

"Do they do this often?" I heard Siren asked Salbar.

"Yes. They enjoyed testing each other."

Draco's thrusts were like the wind, but I had mastered parry at a young age, and my own attack was a hay-maker swing at head height. To make it more disconcerting, I would change hands to attack a weaker flank of the opposition, for my right hand and left were equally proficient. My sword had none of those fancy guards, so it was simply a matter of changing my grip, sometimes in the middle of a block or slash.

We fought hot paced among the trees for five minutes, and then finally I got a lightning thrust fair and square with my own blade, twitched my sword in a jerk, and Draco's sword leapt from his hand and embedded itself in a tree.Draco retaliated with a fire blast, and I dodged while he retrieved his sword. He had his sword aimed directly at me, and I threw myself backwards into what was a back flip. My foot kicked the sword, and for the second time in a minute, Draco's sword left his hand.I landed untidily on the ground, and as I got to my feet, Draco was rubbing his hand.

"I can't believe you just did that." he said, bending down and picking up his sword.

"I can't believe I did it either."I replied, sheathing my sword.Draco sheathed his, and he came over to me. I smiled, and as he opened his arms, I moved into him, likewise embracing him. I felt his lips against mine, and kissed him passionately.I felt his strong frame envelop mine,all he had to do was lean back, and I would be suspended off the ground. I felt his heart beat, and while my eyes were closed, I knew that his were too. There was utter silence over by the dragon riders. After ten seconds of blissful youthful love for one another, we broke off, and stood at arm's reach, looking at one another, smiling. Then we turned. Simba was checking a device, Javid was grinning, as was Salbar. Most of the dragon riders were looking very impressed, or stunned, or both. I guess they had never seen this sort of thing before.

We continued walking after lunch, and we came to a few rivers through the thickening forest, and it was interesting to see how everyone dealt with it. Simba changed into his Apache form, Draco changed into his boat form, and everyone saw him properly in that form for the first time. I hovered over in my Lightning form, my jet engine temporarily silencing every thing else under the din. Salbar found several trees, which he used to cross, he dealt with this sort of thing all the time. Javid merely lifted his rifle over his head and waded through them. The prisoners also got wet, and the dragons didn't mind wading either.

We walked for another two hours, and Seriphe spoke.

"Right, I think we've gone far enough for today. Who wants to fly home and inform the sisterhood of our prisoners?"

"I will." Veronica stepped forward," I owe Alduin something."

"I thought..." I began, and then shrugged."Whatever."

"Right." Seriphe, looking at my slight confused and bemused expression."Take one of them as well."

"I was intending to do so for my dragon anyway." Veronica said smoothly. The prisoners weren't in range, but they would have wondered why we were all smirking had they been so.

So me, Veronica, and her dragon walked over to where the male elves were resting, and after finding the three she had chosen, picked one of them. You'd have thought he was being led to the gallows. He was reasonably tall, muscular, and his short blonde hair was untidy. I whispered.

"He should count himself lucky Draco hasn't seen him."

"Why?"

"He does men as well, and just as often."

"Nothing wrong with that." Veronica looked surprised.

"Yes, but Draco goes at a certain rate." I said, making gestures. She picked it up.

"Ah, got you." she raised her voice."Now, what's your name?"

The elf replied, uncertain. "My name is Jonathan." he said.

"Well, Jonathan, you will sit behind Alduin on my dragon. We have to fly some way."

The elf looked at the large dragon.

"Not bloody likely." he whispered.

"He's scared of heights." I leaned against a tree.

"No I'm not, I'm scared of them."

"Would you prefer to refuse?" I suggested, raising my eyebrows. Jonathan considered this. Veronica waited five seconds, and then the male slumped, and walked towards the dragon. The dragon rider turned to me, and giggled. I smiled widely as I came over.

The dragon very obligingly let us on, and I sat between Veronica and Jonathan. He must have noticed my ears and face, because he whispered.

"You are not one of our race, correct?"

"That's right. I'm a nasty alien. Don't cross me. Seriously though, I come from so far away you couldn't see the light of my sun."

"So how did you come across them?" he used the term them to apply to the dragon riders, they were frequently termed worse. To those who have played Battlefield, you might understand that the worse terms are from those in the F-35 against a J-10, often as they explode. To everyone else, it was an unfair advantage, and they hated it.

"We were in their territory, and we humbly apologised, and asked how we could help them. You saw the results in the battle."

"I saw the massive explosion." the male replied, just as the dragon took off. Jonathan's hands tripled their grip around me, he was hanging on for dear life. I was not holding to Veronica, my hands were placed gently on the flanks of the dragon as he beat the air heavily, rising fast.

"I want to get off." Jonathan said as we lurched higher.

"A little late for that." I said cheerfully. He groaned as he looked down.

We went some way into the sky, and then we started flying forward, and the landscape rushed behind us. Jonathan was in fact afraid of heights, and thus was possibly a little rash when he asked me this.He spoke quietly, to make sure Veronica wouldn't hear.

"Hypothetically, what would happen if I tried to escape?"

I switched to Draconic, and spoke across my mike.

"Draco, put a speaker to your head set, this might be amusing."

He did so, and I tapped my mike.

"Zebrenes evu dre? Shara febrik, er, poi?" I said a line of gibberish.

"What was that?" Jonathan looked confused.

"I'm sorry, my translator was on the blink,what did you ask?"I said, smiling in the way that was about to make someone's else's life a pool of dread.

He repeated the question, and I tapped my mike.

"I swear, it's still not working, I thought I heard the word 'escape' in that sentence, and it pertaining to you."

"Well?"

"O.K., let's start with the basics. You are on the back of a dragon at approximately eight thousand feet.Where can you escape to?"

"True." Jonathan looked down, and decided against escaping.But I hadn't finished.

"Secondly, your plans. First, you try and push me off. I fall, change into my Lightning form, and riddle you with bullets as I fly back up. And don't think I would miss, because I fly where I think."

"Not much hope then."

"Not exactly. Second plan, you knock me off, the dragon rider feels me fall, turns, and draws her sword. You are unarmed."

I could hear Seriphe chuckling across the line. Jonathan considered this.

"You have a weapon."

"I am loathe to hand it over.To get my weapon, you would have to get it from my belt, and in doing so, you would relax your grip around me. Knowing how frightened you are about heights, I would know your intentions, and knock you unconscious."

There was a lot of laughter coming from the line now.

"Third option. You knock me and the dragon rider out without us putting up a fight. You are on the back of an angry dragon, with naught but yourself. I'm starved for ideas at this point. You're welcome to try and work your way out of that one."

"Point being?"

"It barrel rolls, you fall eight thousand feet. I'm sure I don't need to draw a mental picture, and even if I did, I'd need a lot of red."

"True."

"Would you like a mental eraser?" I suggested.

"Anything to blank out that last image." Jonathan looked deeply uncomfortable.

Draco wheezed onto my line.

"Here, stop teasing him, I want a go."

"Wait a second."I held a hand up,"Draco, what was that?"

"I said, I want to have a go, you're doing so well."

"Yes, everything's fine, no, he's not putting up any problems, yet."Pause."No, Draco, he hasn't done anything."I didn't look at the male elf, for fear my smile would give away our teasing.

"Really, I was thinking differently."

"Draco, there's no need to talk like that." I said, hiding a look of glee." You don't need to hurt him, because he hasn't done anything. I know it's a shame."

Jonathan gripped me hard, which I ignored. Draco laughed, and spoke again.

"We're intending to do something nasty to the convicts." he said theatrically. I heard Javid collapsing in fits of laughter, and Salbar let out a series of chuckles. Simba merely said "Oh dear."

"Hang on, Draco, what did you say? You were mentioning the prisoners, we are suppose to do what?"

" I'm not telling."

"Am I supposed to do this thing you won't mention to Jonathan?"There was heavy breathing behind me, and I didn't dare turn my face to see him.

"Yes."

"So what is it?"

"Make something up." Draco laughed.

"Oh, I couldn't do that,"I put on a look of horror," who'd clean up the mess?"

It was at this point I felt the grip vanished, and as I turned, Jonathan had dived off.My friends were roaring with laughter across the line, unaware that Jonathan had disembarked. O.K., it was mean. I shouted to Veronica.

"He's abandoned ship." I said, diving off. Hysterics were coming from the other end of the line.

"Repeat, Alduin, he jumped off the dragon?"

"In one, Draco. I'm just retrieving him." I turned into my Lightning form, and with some gentle thrust of the engines, quickly caught up with the falling elf.