In ties I willingly serve; part 5

Well, fuck. Matthew could hear the church bells of the city sounding the alarm. Their secret was out, and they were not far away from the city. He just hoped that their new formed pack would keep the lead. Right now, Thyna was trying her best to keep to the front of the pack, although she did not have it easy with the weight of Matthew and his belongings on her back. Her slower pace in comparison to normal worried him. He just hoped that the riders would gear up their dragons with armour. While it would make them harder to fight, it would provide that so much needed distance between the two groups, and they would fly slower.

Another thought was the constant mental communication the dragons shared while flying towards the border of the lands. They were discussing about routes to fly, and how to stay away from other towns and riders that might just be able to stop them as well. They kept ahead of any dragon they would have the element of surprise, but if a fast currier dragon overtook them, they could be done even if they evaded the towns.

“Even if we fly straight towards the mountains, we still have about a twelve-hours flight. We will get dragons that are less tired on our pack tail. The riders can do a relay race while we have an endurance one. The paces just don't match up. They don't have to fight us, just run us ragged until we can't defend ourselves." Orvay huffed. She was closing the formation as the youngest dragon, even Matthew was older than her by a few years, an odd thing to be able to say as a rider. There were not a lot of new-born dragons in the lands anymore.

“Then, what do you propose?" Thyna answered her back, trying to get plans herself on how to best crack this case. If they only had more time to do some planning. She thought to have a resting stop along the way, but it would mean that dragons catch up and fill the air. They might not have the advantage of riding the wave to safety, but rather get caught behind the surf of the wave of dragons.

“We just should be able to sleep somewhere, or have more dragons to join our pack." Orvay pondered out loud. “But we can't talk to other dragons in private. That's the problem and I doubt dragons would listen to Matthew. He is a human, after all."

Gyrt joined in the conversation, making it even harder for Matthew to follow the conversation. It was hard enough to mentally talk to a dragon that he was not bound to. Listening to two dragons was draining his energies.

“We have to do something about it. Honestly, can't we just stay inside a forest or something for a few days and then resume our flight? Hide and then fly when we are back on track."

“But," Matthew dared to speak up, taking the three dragons who had not really spoken with him before by surprise. “We have no way to know how long they will try to hunt us down. And we must eat somehow. I think farmers will discover us quickly if dragons without riders suddenly start taking cattle. Even if I buy some cattle for all of you, we will be noticed."

“Perfect." Eny groaned with a sarcastic undertone, added to a growing headache in Matthew's head. “Well, if we fly, we will get overtaken and run ragged, so we can't fight. If we rest, we will get overpowered by dragons, and if we hide, we get discovered and overpowered. Is there any part of this plan you did think of you useless human?"

“OI." Thyna defended Matthew. “That's my mate you are talking to."

“Precisely, and that's what got us all in this mess." Eny shot back.

“Love." Orra was the last to enter the conversation, to the pain of Matthew. “That would be unfair to Thyna and Matthew. They did not force us into fleeing, we all chose it out of freewill."

Eny gave a soft grunt but did not press the matter. “Freewill or not, we do need a better plan."

“Well," Orvay said “we are dragons, we can fly much higher without humans on our back. They cannot handle the cold and thinner air."

“So, are you going to leave us behind?" Thyna said with a growl, blowing out some smoke. “If I do that, Matthew will freeze to death."

The dragons started to bicker again when Thyna tossed the plan into the dirt. Fighting among themselves why they were still running for their live. By the ancients, and the pain in his head. Matthew gripped his head. The pain is getting too much. His eyes flashed into purple-coloured draconic slits again. The stress on his body made him shake until he ultimately snapped.

“Will you just shut up!" His mental voice thundered with the force of a dragon. All five dragons, and yes even Thyna was surprised by that outburst.

Matthew sighed in relieve. “Just let me bloody think of something, and I can't do that with the four of you scuttling like hatchlings in my head." He moved in the saddle to one of the cases. He should have plenty of warm clothing laying around. He was glad to have put the chest with clothing straight behind him and not aside of the saddle. If he put them on the side, he was sure of it that his clothes would have been tossed out of the case by the headwind. At least now he had some time to hold the clothes down. He had the foresight to bring winter gear for the winters, not knowing what to encounter. So, at the risk of not being able to move whatsoever, he started to put one layer of clothes over another. Layering everything on top of the other. Finally, he took a pair of gloves to protect his hands and extra socks for his feet. Ending up in being bloated and hard to move. He finished it off with taking two heavy goose feather blankets out of the trunk and wrapping it across himself. Taking another rope, he closed the case and used the rope to make sure the blanket stayed on him, and he stayed on Thyna's back.

He could hear the other dragons laugh at him when he was finished by the result. He was in cold headwind, and he was sweating.

“Alright. Let's try that flying up in the sky idea." He finally said when he placed himself in a way where he could not fall off even if he wanted too. He just hoped that Thyna would not pull up too many crazy moves and that the plan of flying high worked.

“Are you sure, love?" Thyna asked, doubt filling her voice. “We do not know how you will handle the thin air."

“Look, we did our training at high altitude. Every time it was the cold that forced us down. I am sure that if I sit still and do nothing, I can take it. Besides… Yesterday I managed to breath fire… Perhaps I have more tricks I don't know about."

Thyna still protested even though she was starting to gain altitude, raising high above the ground. The other dragons followed her. Matthew could see Gyrt looking worried at him. He could almost feel the questions burning on Gyrt's mind while they raised higher and higher.

The air got cold and chilly, and finally freezing cold. While there was not much wind, it was like they were in a blizzard because of those cold temperatures. And then there was the air. Matthew had a hard time breathing and staying awake. He could feel his face getting just a tad numb and his brain slowing down.

Picking up on this, Thyna levelled off and just lowered her flight a bit to make it more breathable for Matthew. While they were so high that riders would not try to follow them, for long. That did not make her less worried about her rider's wellbeing, though. He was still connected to her thoughts, but it felt like all his thoughts were moving through thick honey, instead of his normal ones. She just hoped his conditions did not worsen over the hours that they had to fly through the sky.

A positive development was that they were able to catch a nice strong tail wind, propelling them forwards without having to work too hard. Thyna let her wings beat only occasionally to keep the speed in the air. They were gliding through the air like an albatross. She checked up on her rider from time to time.

Matthew spent the time in the cold trying to focus but it was not easy. Even his magic was slow as result of his brain stumbling over the thought and concepts. Other dragons' words were just passing by without him really listening or understanding. He did manage from time to time calling on the fire breath he used against the werewolf. Every time he used it, he could feel warmth rushing back into his face. Actually, his fire breath was somewhat disappointing and resulted in only smoke coming from his mouth.

Sometimes he nodded off to sleep. Despite the lack of air, the rhythmic beating of Thyna's wings and her breath were just soothing him. This was why he became a rider, to fly. Everything he did to get there was just a bonus. Sure, he might be running for his life, but he would die with the wind in his hair. He felt more and more like he was becoming one with the flow and the beat of Thyna's wings.

When he opened his eyes to check on their progress, he could see no saddle around. He panicked for a moment, only to realise he could not move, and his body moved out of his own. It was then he realised what was happening.

“Thyna?" He felt more alive than he was moments ago. Like he suddenly gotten a breath of fresh air, but, from the surroundings, he noticed they were still high above the clouds.

“Yes dear, I see you are joining us again." Thyna hummed happily, happy that her rider was talking again. It felt odd, though. Normally she could feel his emotions and some of his body's movements. But now it was like he was part of her mind, her body.

“Could you perhaps turn your head to look at me?"

Thyna had to admit it was an unusual request but did so, looking at her rider, a bit blue in the face from the cold and lack of oxonium. That was odd, she had to admit. He was sitting there with closed eyes and sleeping. How could he talk while sleeping?

“Wow," his rider said, “this is strange, like really strange. I've never seen myself from other people's eyes before."

“Wait." Thyna said, turning her head around to see where she was flying. “What do you mean by other people's eyes?"

“Well, I see through your eyes at the moment."

Thyna snorted softly. “Really, now, through my eyes? Don't tell me because we are mates, you suddenly became a master rank rider. Go on, tell me what I am looking at." She focused on a patch of land that was visible between the clouds but not from Matthew's position, not without leading over the saddle. Something she would feel.

“A farm with two small fields, a road next to a river that has an outdoor grain mill powered by the river. Oh, and your right claw of course. Or is it left claw? You have you head upside down so it's a bit hard to see."

Thyna was for a moment stricken by the answer, or rather the implication of it. “You really do." She turned back to look at him again, on her back, in a low oxygen induced trance. “Matthew, do you know what this means for us?"

“That we are achieving, what riders train for years in half that time by fucking each other? If that is what you mean, then, yes."

He got an annoyed snort by Thyna. “No, stupid. I might be horny and want to fuck you right here and now if that was possible, but this is more than that."

“Thyna, with all respect, I don't think we are on the point of singularity yet." Matthew felt his thoughts slowing down a bit again, feeling that his time in this state was rather fleeting.

“Not yet but we're getting close… Wouldn't that be a perfect conclusion of your feelings? To be able to become one as rider and dragon when we desire so?" Thyna had an enthusiasm in her voice that was infectious to Matthew.

“Alright, Alright. Yes, it is a perfect conclusion. We just have to temper out your expectations a bit. We don't know what will happen, we are the first rider and dragon that became lovers." He started to withdraw himself from Thyna's mind, even though it felt unnatural to be part of his own slow brain. Once inside his own shell, he returned to a state of low meditation to preserve oxygen.

“Fuckers!" Derek shouted in anger, with his arm stretched in a wooden splint to heal. He could not join the search for those oath breakers. Instead, he was trapped with the three other riders whose dragons went missing, inside of the bar. Derek was on his second pint of beer already. With no outburst to really shout to, he just resulted in him drinking to his heart's content.

“I really wonder what they were promised, to fly off like that." A older gentleman said. Derek wanted to go off against the veteran but decided that would be a poor move on his part. While he flew the youngest dragon of them all, he had more experience than the 3 of them combined.

“Ah, could be anything really." Another chimed in; a young lad that was a bit too eager to prove himself, but also had the most disobedient dragon of them all. Well, before Gyrt suddenly decided to do the stunts he pulled out. “They could have offered them a bigger meal and they would have flown off. Dragons have no loyalty, Alfred."

The older gentleman, Alfred, laughed a hearty laugh. “Lad, I know more about dragons than you possibly know. They have loyalty, even fierce loyalty. You just got to put it in their brain. That's why the other dragons did not flee."

“Well, that's a bit do as I say, don't do as I do Alfred." Derek commented. “After all, your dragon is among those oath killers."

It made the gentleman scratch himself behind her head a bit. “Eya, I was a bit too eager in trying to press Orvay into service. I should have imprinted on her more, before joining active duty."

The four riders took another sip of their beers with trained timing. “You know," the youngest started “In the wild, dragons have a matriarch. Do you think that blasted dragon of Thyna would be the matriarch? I wonder what a rider would do with a matriarch."

Derek finished his beer in one sip and growled. “Properly fuck them all." He received many stares from the other riders. “Don't tell me you did not know." he laughed at them being so naive.

“Tell me." Alfred said sternly. “It sounds like you are accusing Matthew with a serious crime. For all we know, he has been abducted."

“Nah." Derek said, partially happy to finally be able tell the story. “He is fucking his beast. I saw it happening in front of my eyes, or well, via my spyglass."

The three other riders just dropped their maws open, looking at Derek. In turn they ordered a new beer, waited for it to come, and downed it too, enjoying the tipsy feeling.

“I have seen it all happening, how he was mounting his beast like the animal he is."

“Why haven't you said anything to the order?" The younger rider asked curious, as he was the only one who had not puzzled the story together.

“Because, lad," Alfred started “our friend Derek told the order... And I bet that is why Matthew and Thyna are fleeing like a pair of chickens."

“Bravo." Derek said “Excellent deduction. And what is worse is that I would have caught those bastards red-handed if my bloody dragon did not fly away and told them. I knew that bastard was up to something. He ruined the plan; he is just as guilty as the two of them. He has the deaths of the three werewolves upon his consciousness"

The last bit of information did not receive the praise Derek hoped for, though. “Did you send werewolves on them, lad? Are you out of your mind? The holy order is just begging for an excuse to restrain our powers and give it to their holy army. Now what are they going to think? You should have told the rider order! They would have taken care of it." Alfred took his drink and finished it. “No, this conversation is done. I refuse to talk with someone in league with the holy order."

The other riders equally stood up and walked away behind Alfred, part displeased, part not daring to disagree with the veteran.

“Cowards, lots of you!" Derek shouted at them.

“Is your rider doing fine?" Gyrt asked, looking at how Matthew was sitting for hours now in his sleeping mediative state. Granted that the little human was not doing the bulk of the lifting at all. He did not look fine, unmoving like a statue.

“He is, Matthew is not talking a lot, only from time to time. He even managed to see through my eyes." Thyna chirped back happily. That made Gyrt more surprised and curious.

“Do you think he will survive the trip? We are barely halfway-"

“He has to, but one thing at the time. We just need to hope we can lower soon enough. I doubt they are looking for a pack of dragons high in the sky." Thyna spoke with a powerful voice, although Gyrt could not discern if this was forced optimism or if she really felt like this.

“I hope you are right Thyna. About this all. I rather die fighting to protect this pack than being put in chains again. Flying without saddle feels great. Perhaps your rider has to ride you bareback sometimes."

An awkward silence fell between them before Thyna answered “He's already done so, several times."

Gyrt looked puzzled for a few seconds before he noticed the look she had on her face. “Oh god Thyna. And here I thought you where needy when chained up. I never thought that indulging in that need could make you even worse."

“Give a lady a finger and she'd take the whole arm ." She teased Gyrt a bit back.

“I noticed, telling you about my rider and suddenly I am flying for me life… It is not all bad." He looked over his shoulder at Orvay. She was pleasant to look at with her light brown scales and yellow, almost golden eyes. Even though she muted colours, she had a beautiful shiny hide and despite her younger age, she had no problem keeping up with the larger and much more experienced dragons.

“Go talk to her." Thyna said. “It's not like you got to woo her."

Gyrt swallowed a bit. “Honestly, I never had a dragoness who I knew was into me before, what if I don't like her and break her heart? She fled with us because of me."

Thyna felt a pang of guilt in her heart. But was determined to stay strong. “Look, she can always find another pack of dragons to find a mate. But the longer you wait the longer it gets more painful IF that time comes. And any guilt you have about that, well, we all have to bear it. Perhaps me and Matthew even more, since we pulled you all into this."

“I suppose you are right. You really live up to your name as my wing-mate." Gyrt received a smirk from the dragoness who tried to nudge him saucerful to the smaller dragoness. He got the hint though.

“Hey Eny, want to switch places for a moment."

“Sure, I will give you two love birds some time together and fly with miss human-mated." She flew harder to catch up with Gyrt while he let himself fall backwards to take up her old position.

“You are never going to let that go, do you?" Gyrt asked displeased.

“Nope!" Eny answered a bit too happily, making Gyrt shake his head before falling back just a bit more to fly with Orvay who had fallen a bit to the back of the group.

“Hello Orvay." He said kindly to the smaller dragoness. While he could not look for long to the side as not to fly into her, he did try to look at her as much as possible.

“Oh HI!" Orvay said with almost newfound energy. “You're also flying here." She stumbled a bit over her words in that still young enthusiasm.

“How are you holding up? You fell a bit behind the group." Gyrt asked. Perhaps it was a bit of little chat to break the ice just a bit, but there was also some concern in his mind.

“Oh well, I just you know…" She looked down a bit. “You all know each other so well, I just feel..."

Gyrt flew a bit closer to her, to mark his following words. “Hey, it's alright. We are a pack now. You belong to us for as long as you want to."

This made Orvay pick up a bit of the pace and close the distance to the group. The five dragons formed a lose flying box formation with Thyna taking the position at the top of the box.

“Tell me honestly why you asked for me, with all the dragons in the stables." Orvay looked at her side. She was not that versed in flying when looking away and thus she swirled closer until she looked straight ahead again.

“Oh, well we wanted any dragon to join us but, well, not a lot of dragons were ready to just fly without their rider." Gyrt explained, even though it was not the whole truth. He did tell the truth for this part, at least.

“Don't you mean betrayed?" Orvay asked critically, giving a small growl, even though it was not a growl of anger or frustration. Gyrt could not place the sound of the growl as it contained some context he could not puzzle out yet.

“Betrayal? No, to betray our riders we needed to have free will in the first place. A slave cannot betray their master because they have no choice as they are slave. We were not even free to pursue love. That's why Eny and Orra joined us, for love. I am curious. If you feel you betrayed your rider, why did you join us?"

“Well, you." she said, her mental voice weak at first. “Like I wanted to know you more, you sounded like a nice dragon. But when you asked me to run… I felt like I could not lose you. God, I feel so horrible and cheesy right now! I have given up so much just for a change to meet you… We are going to die if we don't escape right? Like actually be killed." The first signs of hope in her voice quickly turned into desperation, her flight becoming more erratic with each wingbeat.

Dammit, Gyrt thought to himself, as he watched Orvay starting to get a stressed. She must have really been pushed far by this. I must act quickly.

He slowly started to hum an old draconic song he heard from one of the elders when he was still a hatchling. Although he never got the pleasure to know his own parents, they raised him like he was their son to the best of their limited ability, seeing how humans constantly mingled in their affairs to get him ready for a human rider.

“Just don't worry, Orvay. We are going to get through this. We are with five dragons, flying higher than any rider can fly." Gyrt tries to reassure Orvay, but she was not taking it.

“But we have a rider with us! Surely if he can survive so they can!" She was practically screaming into his mind.

“ORVAY!" Gyrt suddenly roared, making all dragons look at him. “Pull yourself together. Matthew is only up here because he can trust Thyna. He is not even moving, if it were any other human, they would not have control at all." Gyrt tried to at least get through Orvay to calm her panic attack a bit. At least his contained anger helped Orvay to be shocked enough that she managed to pull herself together.

“And Orvay, don't forget, we are all here, all putting our lives on the line not because we are inspired by Thyna and Matthew, but rather that we all have decided that living a life in servitude is not happy at all. How about you, Orvay? Think about yourself. Do you really think you would have been happy with your rider? I have seen how he treated you when you make a mistake. I have seen how rude he was with other dragons."

“No…" She said softly, containing sorrow in her emotions. “I would not have been."

“Well then, just remember that. Even if you feel like you don't fit in with us, we are going to a place where you can meet other free dragons."

Orvay tried to look at her again, but she swayed dangerously close to him. “So, you are saying… We will never work?" Some more sorrow flooded through her words.

“No silly, I mean that you have options beyond just me. I want you to be happy and if your happiness lies with another dragon, well, I'll accept it." Gyrt could not help to feel a bit of strange jealousy creeping over him. Honestly, he did not want her to fly off with another dragon. Although he did not know if he actually had feelings for her, she was pretty true. But, did he liked her more than that, or was this just going to be a single nest and then separate? That felt like the breeding grounds, just a quick fuck, lay the eggs and fly off. But was that the dragon way?

Gyrt could call on damnation over himself for not knowing how dragons in the wild should behave. Yet one look at Matthew sitting on Thyna's back, reminded him that what ever was going on, they were not going to be normal pack ever. Then, his eyes fell over Eny and Orra, they too shared an unorthodox love. So, if they could make it work, Gyrt was sure that he could find someone for himself and if not, well, he did not really want to think of it. Perhaps Thyna wanted some eggs and needed help seeing Matthew was in no way going to knock her up anytime soon, no matter how fertile of a male he was.

He suddenly shook his head, what was he thinking, he should be flirting with Orvay, and he managed to give her a panic attack. Then, he thought of boning his wing-mate who already got a mate. “Pull yourself together Gyrt."

“Hey" Gyrt could hear Orvay speak again. “Are you alright?" She asked so sweetly, like she just didn't have a mental breakdown.

“Me? I am terrified actually." Gyrt was not sure why he finally dared to admit it in the open. “Terrified that I made the wrong choice, terrified that I'll lose everything. Terrified I have to watch my wing-mate getting killed."

“Thyna was your wing-mate, right?"

“She still is, I protected her against my rider, and she protected me against mine. So, we have a bond forged in mutual trust."

And there suddenly was this sorrow over Orvay again. Asking Gyrt. “Do you love her?"

“Love Thyna? Well, there is a mutual understand and trust between us, if you call that love. Yes, but if you ask if I want to take her as a mate, then no. She is a lovely dragoness, but not my type." He felt a bit dirty about the small white lie, knowing the feelings he had but he did not ever dare to move upon. He was both jealous and proud on that little human she was carrying.

Orvay cheered up just a little bit, wanting to speak more, but a sudden loud roar broke the flight of the five dragons. Gyrt looked down below to the source of the roar and saw about six dragons in full metal armour and riders on their backs flying up towards them.

“We got company!" Gyrt shouted to his pack. Quickly they formed a v-shape formation and picked up the pace, beating their wings faster and faster to make sure to put some distance between them and the dragons from below. They did have the upper hand in altitude and were still ahead of the group, but Gyrt hoped they would have been gone further before being spotted. He sniffed the air and could smell the faint scent of Thyna's heat. Did those dragons hunt her down on scent? They did fly high enough for the scent to dissipate, even this far behind the scent was hardly noticeable.

He looked down at the gear of the riders, each of them was geared up to take down a dragon. Well, this was the moment he had dreaded for, he was going to be put to the test if he was really dying with his free wings or being tied to the ground like an animal.