The Lost Dragon Rider Girl

This is a time before electricity, where houses are lit by candles and warmed by fires. Where people who don't live in a city have to provide for themseleves. Its a time where magic is rare and dragons exist. Where each city is run by a royal family and protected by guards and warriors and a mage. Mages create and keep a large, transparent, strong dome that protects the cities which are refered to as havens. Each haven is in place to protect the people from the dangerous savage world outside the haven borders. The story begins on the back of a dragon, fleeing the royal guards from the largest haven, FreeHaven. ▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪▪ It was april and a very cold morning to be flying, the pair have flown for three days now battling cold frost bitten winds and rain. Now they were heading towards the brilliant winter sunrise infront of them. Dark, scale like leather armour fit tightly to her curves and concealed several small blades. Its dark leather was smooth and soft but strong and matched to her aged knee high boots that were probably in need of repair. Swatches of maroon and purple fabric of the clothes she wore underneath were visable and brought some colour to her dark appearance. She wore her midnight black hair in a single thick braid cascading down to the small of her back and her bright blue eyes sparkled in the light. A thick fur cloak that Elaine stole during her escape kept her dry and the cold weather out. The large brown cloak drapped over Elaine and her dragons neck, the longest edge catching in the wind like a flag. As she lay across the smooth, scaly, turquoise back she could feel the heat radiating off her dragons body. She could feel the rhythm of their joint heartbeats and the beat of her wings helped Elaine to relax into a daze, she was staring out with half focused eyes at the swirling clouds that were making animal shapes. Just before she started to drift off to sleep for good, she spotted something. Serrena became alert and uneasy, unsure of what was in their path. 'Oh great dragons!' Elaine rummaged through her small leather bag looking for her eyeglass and checking the other contents was safe. Flying just below the cloud, high above the surface of the land Elaine could now see the red blood glow of a deep gorge in finer detail, she had no idea that it was real. But what she saw told her the stories were true. It was said that there was a deep blood gorge that seperated the frozen lands from the main land, that it held fearsome beasts that swarm and consume anyone that tried to cross it and that no one had ever crossed it and lived. Not even her father, her father had been sent that way by his father, his king. Now all she could do was follow. Elaine hoped the rumours were wrong and that she could pass over the blood gorge. There was no turning back, she could not return to the hell she escaped from. Wisps of her long black hair that had worked free of her braid blew over her face as she turned behind her, hearing the growls and seeing the faint shadows growing in size and deepening in colour. The dragon hounds were gaining on her. Their thin muscular bodies were built for stamina and speed, they were bred to chase down their prey. Dragon hounds could take down a dragon and its rider if the pack was large enough in number and in a way it was a compliment to her ability not only to cause damage and escape but to piss off the royals enough for them to send out what looked like the entire quantity of the pack. Dozens upon dozens of their lithe bodies dotted the sky, like a murmuration of starlings. Facing front she urged her tired dragon on faster. Serrena's wings beat with new strength, a rush of power and excitement pumped through her. Serrena is one of the strongest and largest dragons at Freehaven, very few compared to her size and power other than perhaps some royals. Although no one was aware that Serrena was around as Elaine kept her hidden in the mountains to the east because if they found Serrena they would know to look for Elaine as well. Their speed increased with every beat as did the glorious anticipation of a fight. They were born to fly and trained to fight and they havnt been able to do either of those things in a while. But as they gained speed so did the hounds and they were still gaining on them. One scaly black dragon hound appeared at Serrena's right flank and had gotten close enough to bite, frustrated she wipped her powerful tail across his snout making the small hound wimper and drop back to the others. The growling grew louder and the wind rushing past Elaines ears could no longer deafen the approach of the bloodthirsty hounds. More and more lithe dragons nipped and bit at their sides surrounding them. Elaine looked away from her course and glanced up to see long razer sharp talons decending upon her. Dragon hounds were small, fast and determined with long knife like talons but when isolated from their pack they were not hard to kill. She pulled out two thin but long dagers from their sheathes on her back and thrust them up into the flesh between the talons causing the dragon hound to screech. Ducking, she missed his second swipe at her and the third narrowly missed her right shoulder. A slight sting radiated along her back where she felt the pain of her dragon. A hound had managed to punture and scrap across Serrena's back where a small amount of dark blood had now started to pool. Elaine rose out of her saddle and swiped at the hound above her slicing its wing sending its screeching and wimpering as it plumits down thousands of feet. She turns ready to take on the hound on Serrena's back but instead notices the hounds and their riders pulling back. Glancing around Elaine noticed that the hounds had lined up in a semi circle behind her blocking her path and squashing any thought of return. The hounds and their riders will not follow her over the gorge as there is no where to go after, except to a bitter empty frozen wasteland. She turned away from the line of dragons growling towards her, and looked behind them towards the subtle glisten of the FreeHaven dome in the early morning rays of the sun. She looked and thought of her family, her people, her home. Whispering a goodbye and a promise that one day she will find her way home.