Damsels and Dragons

Chapter 10 - Learning to Fly

Daniel asked a question no one else had asked yet. "Can you fly?"

"I uh, I don't know how…" I had these big fancy wings and yet I couldn't even use them.

"Have you tried?"

I mean I had but they kept hitting trees and stuff. I was in a clearing now, could I? I flapped my big wings. I kinda just blew wind everywhere and knocked them over and pushed myself backwards falling on my back.

"I don't think now's the time to be helping her learn to fly. We still have to find her shelter and get home." Liv explained.

I tucked my wings in and rolled over till I was upright. Despite flying being difficult I've found that the rest of my body feels really easy to move around in. I really was meant to be a dragon.

"If you all need to get home I can just, uh sleep here." I tell her.

Millicent spoke up, "Sorry but I think Nissa's right, we don't have time to find her shelter and get home."

"Alright, we'll be back here tomorrow to help you figure things out okay?" Liv said.

"Okay, uh get home safe, and thank you for helping me." I didn't know how to properly thank them. They had helped a whole bunch. I knew who I was now. I knew Linda was an evil witch. And they were going to help me even more. I wonder if this is what friends are like.

They all say goodbye and leave. They said they would be back tomorrow so I knew they would be. They are good people so they don't lie like bad people.

With them gone I could practice dragon things. I already mostly got the hang of talking. The three of them seemed to understand me fine. I also mastered walking. So the only two things left I know about dragons is they can fly, and they can breathe fire. I don't want to burn everything down. Linda always said to be careful with fire. Even if she was a jerk she was still sometimes right.

So time to practice flying. I keep flapping my wings and I discover pretty quick that how I angle my wings matters a lot. I have to balance my whole body on my wings. Messing up either means I tip over backwards or forwards.

I try jumping while balance flapping and I manage to get air born for a moment before losing my balance and falling down. My falls had really torn up the clearing near the tower. The once grass and wild flowers now streaks and craters of dirt.

Night had already fallen by the time I figured out taking off. I was feeling sleepy so I was going to need to practice staying in the air tomorrow. I curled up and closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.

I was woken by a noise. Opening my eyes sunlight greeted me, along with the most terrifying creature I could imagine. A deer with horns. The same murderous deer that chased me when I first left the tower. I scrambled away, my claws unearthing large amounts of dirt as they tried to find purchase in the soft earth. The deer sprinted away and I was safe.

To think it almost got me in my sleep! On the other hand it looked much smaller now. Wait I was a dragon now it was probably scared of me. Wow being a dragon meant deer wouldn't attack me anymore, that's awesome!

I was wide awake on a sunny morning. I had eaten two days in a row so I wasn't really hungry anymore. It felt like a tiny amount of food but that's just because I was big now. That was about how much I normally ate. Wow I really was a dragon the whole time. I mean I knew that, I figured it out yesterday, but like it was still hard to believe. Same with the girl stuff.

I was feeling a little bit thirsty I hadn't had anything to drink in a few days. So that got added to the list of things to do today. First I needed to wait here because Liv and her friends were going to come back here. Second I was going to practice flying. Third was to find something to drink.

I can't really get to the well thingy in the tower without breaking the tower. But that means I need to leave to get water. I can't leave because I need to be here for when everyone gets back. Well I probably won't be really thirsty for another day or two.

Time to practice flying. I put some more distance between me and the tower as I kept falling and I didn't want to break it. So for the next while I just did my big take off wing assisted jumps and then tried to flap them to stay in the air.

Upon falling for the like tenth time I looked at some birds in the distance. I had really good eye sight now. The birds weren't even flapping their wings to stay in the air, somehow they were just holding them out. Every once in a while one would flap but mostly they just angled them. On the other hand they were like moving forward.

So I just need to move in a direction and glide? But that'd take me far from the clearing and then I'd have to walk back. On the other hand birds seem to know a lot about flying. I watched more and I realized birds don't really just fly in one spot they always move forward. Well except the little humming bird they can hover. I don't think I'm like a humming bird.

So I need to move forward to stay in the air. They won't be mad if I try flying around and then come back here, will they?

With a desire to fly I take off as my wings and legs propel me up above the tree tops. I did another big flap in a way I knew would send me forward. Since I learned when trying to take off how. Moving forward I held out my wings and, I was flying! I was also descending! My wings caught the air wrong and sent me crashing into the forest.

I untangled myself from the mess of broken branches and trees. Ugh that was rough, but well I wasn't hurt. Okay it hurt a tiny bit, but like not even as bad as when Linda disciplined me. I knew which direction I crashed from so crawling back under the tree tops was easy.

Looking at the distant birds in the valley, they seemed to angle their wings to catch the wind. I didn't just need to hold them out I also need to do it right. Also I needed to use more flaps to go higher and faster.

It took two more crashes before I finally got the right angles to hold my wings at. I caught the wind and, and I was FLYING! I added a flap and gained a bit of height. Wow I could see everything from up here. The mountains, the tower, the trail of broken trees when I went looking for food, I even saw more buildings far in the distance.

That must be the town Liv, Daniel, and Millicent live in. Wow, that was a really long walk from the tower. My trail of broken trees didn't even get close.

I was just so happy to be flying around, it was an amazing feeling to feel the rush of wind on my scales. The rush of joy bubbled up and I let out a roar. It just felt so natural.

I couldn't wait to show off to Liv and the gang that I could fly! Now how does landing work?