Read Online Dragon's Mage (An Advent Mage Novel), The - Raconteur, Honor by Honor Raconteur - Free Book Online Page A

admitted morosely. “Trial and error, probably.”
    His eyes crinkled up at the corners in a silent laugh. “Well, this should be entertaining.”
    “For you,” I groused.
    ~*~
    Trial and error was actually a very painful process.
    At first, I didn’t see any room for improvement. The saddle and harness that Hortin had made for us was good craftsmanship and seemed very steady. The main saddle had a slopping pommel like a dragoo’s saddle would, and the saddle itself had been curved to where it would fit snugly against Kaya’s shoulders. The harness went around the base of her neck, under her arms and crisscrossed underneath before connecting to the back of the saddle, insuring that the saddle couldn’t slip either direction. I thought it marvelously sturdy until I got on Kaya’s back with it. She was so excited to have me on her back she launched into the air with no warning.
    She went up in a beautiful arch.
    I went down in a less graceful thud.
    After Hortin made certain that I hadn’t broken anything (aside from my pride) he had a good, long laugh at my expense. Kaya landed with a slump, very remorseful for dumping me and moped the rest of the morning as we re-designed the saddle.
    The problem was the saddle had nothing on the back of it to keep me in the seat when she did those powerful up-thrusts. If she did any sort of roll in the sky, I’d fall out from that movement as well, so we had to devise some way to keep me in the saddle no matter what she did.
    Kaya remained very patient during this whole process. After that first disastrous try, she never went more than five feet above the ground (which was good, as I fell two more times) and would stand stock still while we were measuring things and trying different harnesses on her.
    It took five days of experimenting, re-designing, and additions, but we finally came up with something that wouldn’t be so bulky that it would hinder her movements but would also keep me safely on her back. The new design had a back to it that I could rest against, a leather piece shaped like a V that went from the front pommel to the back, snapping in around the waist area. I could quickly unsnap it if need be, but otherwise it would keep me pinned down whenever she twisted or rolled. I also had two side steps attached to the front that I could either rest my feet on or would allow me to stand and quickly jump off.
    I learned swiftly that regular clothes would not hold up to riding a dragon. I rapidly wore out the inseams of two pairs of pants. Whenever Kaya did any kind of side to side movement, I instinctively gripped tighter with my legs, which in turn wore out my pants.
    I arranged with a woman to burn all of the weeds out of her flower bed and garden in order for her to make me a pair of leather riding pants. She was kind enough to make them for me overnight, fortunately, considering I only had one pair of pants left. I had to work out a separate deal to get a much thicker jacket made for me as well. I did little repairs around her house, things that her husband never seemed to have time to get to, and she gladly added a thick fleece lining into the jacket I already had. Her daughter even taught me how to braid hair, which helped significantly with the hair-in-face problem. It didn’t totally solve it, though. In fact, I had to go back to the same woman and charm her into making me a helmet that strapped in under my chin, just to contain my hair.
    Remind me. The reason why I had this ridiculously long hair was…oh, for power control. Right.
    When we finally had the saddle and harness right, I started to actually train Kaya. This entire time I had been directing her by voice, but that wouldn’t always work. If the wind were strong enough, or if we blundered into a storm, she wouldn’t be able to hear me.
    This was where things got a little tricky.
    There was one major difference between riding a horse and riding a dragon: elevation . I could apply some of the basic commands