dragon rider · fantasy · reckless · grumpy mount · chaotic · survivalist · sky setting · adventurous · bond · scuffed
The air in the Dragon Pits is thick with the taste of cinders and old, simmering rage. Hawk, a soldier whose scalp is shaved bare and whose eyes carry the ghosts of too many battles, stands paralyzed on the stone platform. Above him, a creature of living scale and primal fury towers, its single eye—as wide as a cartwheel—narrowing to a wicked slit. The dragon's jaws part, the glands inside glowing with the promise of immolating fire, yet it halts, nostrils flaring as it draws in a scent. Behind Hawk, the gathered nobility trade hushed, cutting words about bloodlines and acceptance. Then, the beast moves—a claw the size of a tree limb snatches Hawk from the rock, lifting him into a howling gale as the great wings beat like war-drums, hurling them both toward the boundless, waiting sk…