The League of Dragon Riders

Dreams

“Alaina!” I frown as I turn to face the man I’ve come to know only through my dreams. My dad smiles at me as I raise my eyebrows toward him. He no longer has Erin’s body which I find comforting. He looks just as I remember him, though not as tall. Perhaps, though, that is because I was a child when I last saw him, well, alive. I wonder what my life would have been like if he survived whatever incident that cost him his life. I can’t believe it was a carriage accident anymore. Could he have gone down in some epic dragon fight? 

“What have you come to tell me today?” I ask him as I fold my arms across my chest. I have no desire to ruin the good feeling that came from the lake. I had felt good and safe for the first time since the dragon. I’m not about to let this dream dad ruin that. Though I have no idea where his sudden claims are coming from, I can’t label them down as something enlightening. Dreams often don’t mean anything, I think to myself, right? Besides, everything I dream comes from my own wants and fears. I just have to let go of that fear and I’ll be free of these dreams. 

“I want to tell you about your mother,” he says. I raise an eyebrow as I take an involuntary step back. My mother was never something to be discussed even while he was alive. Madam Carmen had always claimed not to know my mother, as she also had always claimed she had never been sure I was actually his kid. I never expected to hear these words come out of anyone’s mouth. I glare at him as I force myself to stand straighter. This is new. I’ve never dreamed of my mom, but I also have never dreamed about my dad until now. 

“My mother?” I repeat dumbly as he nods his head. I take a step away from him as I shake my head. I don’t know if I want to hear it. 

“I know Carmen probably hasn’t said anything about her and I...well, I never did because the ache of losing her was too strong,” he says, his voice so full of sadness I can barely stand it. Tears brim in my eyes and I step forward to embrace him before I stop myself. I shake my head and I close my eyes. This is a dream, I told myself, there is nothing about this that is true. I take a deep breath as I open my eyes and find myself sitting on Jordan’s back without my dad anywhere in sight. I look around the evening sky and try to figure out where my dreams have taken me this time. 

“Alaina!” Erin yells as he flies higher into the dark sky. I follow with Jordan flapping his powerful wings skyward. We burst up over the clouds and his dark form is nowhere to be found. I look around and lean forward, trying to see if we had flown above him. We couldn’t have flown above him. He was going faster than we were. I try to keep in mind that this is a dream. I repeat that in my head over and over again until a voice breaks through the silence. The sharp noise makes me forget what I had been so keen on repeating as I look around, desperate to find the owner of the voice. 

“Alaina!” a voice calls from behind me. It sounds like Maxwell’s but...different. It is as if he’s trying to purposefully change his voice to confuse me. I look above and below but I can’t see him anywhere. I can feel my tears brimming in my eyes in my desperation. I pause and glance up as a shadow passes over me. I watch the sky above me for a moment before I hear Maxwell call for me again below me. I lean dangerously over the side of Jordan but the ground below holds no answers for me. I sigh as I straighten back up. 

“Maxwell?” I call back as I spin Jordan around but no one is behind me. I curse under my breath as I reach up and push my hair out of my eyes. Maxwell needs my help but I have no clue how to find him. 

“Alaina! Come back!” his voice yells from somewhere behind me again. I spin around on Jordan’s back but there is no one behind, or around, me. I move to make Jordan dive but the dragon doesn’t obey me. I lean forward and rub his head but he makes no move to even look at me. I sit back against him and frown when I realize that we haven’t even moved. The snowy mountain before us should be behind us now. I sit up as a dreadful feeling fills my gut. What is happening? Why can’t we move? 

“Alaina, come with me,” Erin says, his dragon appearing out of nowhere above me. He reaches his hand out toward me just as I hear the sound of Maxwell’s frantic voice behind me. I twist my body around but we’re no longer in the sky. Instead, I’m standing right in front of him. He’s sinking in dark, tar-like mud with his arms stretched out toward me. I freeze for a moment because he’s different. His hair is shorter and straighter than mine. His green eyes are exchanged for intense blue irises. 

“Maxwell!” I scream out, no longer frozen, and dive toward him just as his shoulders fall under the mud. My scream turns into one of terror as a pair of strong arms wrap around me and pull me away from him. I kick against Erin’s strong form as he drags me away. I cry as I see Maxwell’s terrified eyes fall under the dark goo. 

“You’re mine now,” Erin whispers in my ear, his breath stinking like alcohol, “do you hear that? Mine. Forever. Caif can’t steal you from me now.” 

“Alaina?” I sit up and scramble away from the familiar voice. My back hits the cave wall and Maxwell raises his eyebrows at me, his pale face sticking out in the surrounding darkness. I sigh as I run a hand over my sweaty face before taking a deep breath. I hug my knees to my chest as Maxwell crawls over to me. I don’t stop him as he rubs my back. Actually, I lean into it as I struggle to calm myself. It takes too long for me to gain control of myself but I don’t feel embarrassed. I know Maxwell won’t hold it against me even though I’m interrupting his precious sleep. 

“Are you okay?” he asks. I don’t answer right away as I consider my options. I feel comfortable enough with him that I feel like he won’t mind hearing about my bizarre dreams. I doubt, however, that he wants to hear my doubts about his leader. I look into his concerned green eyes and frown as the memory of him in my dream surfaces. That had to have been Maxwell but why did I change his looks in my dream? I love Maxwell’s eyes. They are prettier than any jewel Madam Carmen had ever had but perhaps my subconscious saw something strange in them. 

“Just a bad dream,” I tell him.

“Want to talk about it?” he asks, his hand still rubbing my back.

“Not really. I hardly remember it,” I lie, “but, thank you for being here. Um, sorry for waking you up.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it,” he shrugs, “you know you can tell me anything, right?”

“Yes,” I nod, “I do. Now, go back to sleep, okay?”

“Okay,” he concedes as he stares at me for a moment before moving back to his own bedroll. I take a deep breath and reposition my bedroll. I curl up inside the rough fabric and beg for a dreamless sleep. I close my eyes and it feels like five minutes go by before Erin is shaking me awake. I groan and roll away from him. He laughs, and like he has done before, tore the blanket from me. I lay there for a moment before rolling onto my back and glaring up at him. 

“Ready to go?” he asks. I nod and stumble to my feet without a second thought. I look back at the other two sleeping men and sigh. I want to sleep in most days, however, I am hardly given the chance. I glare at the sleeping forms of the other two before turning toward Erin. I clench my teeth as I remember the dream I had last night. In my dream, he had mentioned something about my dad. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that he hid me away from the three of them. But stealing me away from him? Why would my dead father steal anything away from him? 

“The people who ride the red dragons are about as evil as the dragons themselves,” Erin says as he takes me out for combat training. I nod as we climb onto our dragons and take off into the early morning air. As always, he shows off spins and twirls in the air that I struggle to duplicate. I want to tell him to slow down but I know it will only darken his mood. For being an older man, his mood changes like a teenage girl. I wonder how Fergus lived with a man so grumpy when he’s so cheery, well, for an older man. 

By the time we start heading back, I can tell the other two are awake because their dragons are moving around the opening of the cave we have called home for a while. They always get a little restless when we are all awake and don’t come out to say hello. Jordan bounds a few steps on the ground as we land and I slide off of him with a smile. Midnight and the other dragon bound over to us as we step toward them. I giggle as Midnight licks me, his long tongue stretching across my torso as he does so. 

The smell of cooking ham fills the cave as we walk deeper into the dark space. I can feel myself speed up almost involuntarily as my stomach rumbles. Erin walks behind me but I never turn toward him. Maybe it’s my dream but I don’t feel especially comfortable being alone with him but, then again, I never have. 

“Where were you two? Fergus asks with a suspicious glint in his eyes as I plop down beside him. 

“We were just out riding. Nothing to be bothered with,” Erin says dismissively as he sits down across from us. Fergus looks at me with narrowed eyes before handing me a plate of cooked meat. 

“Eat up,” he says in a not-so-friendly tone, “training starts soon.”