dragon archives 04 - dance with a dragon by linda k hopkins Page B

broad frame typical of the other dragons Anna had seen. Instead, her lines were longer, more graceful and feminine. Her shorter horns curved more over her head, and her tail, though still armed with sharp spikes, was not as thick and heavy.
    “Come for a ride with me,” Bronwyn said.
    Anna looked at her with surprise and took a step backwards. “No, no, I couldn’t do that.”
    “Why not?”             
    “Because …” Anna searched for a suitable answer. “Because I don’t like flying. And besides, your father might not like it.”
    “Oh,” she said, “he already knows I’m asking you.”
    “But you’re just a girl!”
    The dragon laughed, a few sparks escaping her mouth until she lowered her head to Anna’s eye level. “I’m not a girl, Aunty Anna. I’m a dragon. Look at me. Do I look like other girls my age?”
    “No, but –”
    “Please, Anna,” she said, widening her huge yellow eyes beseechingly, in a very human-like manner.
    “Well…” Anna started, and Bronwyn, sensing her wavering will, smiled.
    “I’m not as good as lifting someone onto my back as Father, but keep very still and I’ll try.”
    Anna closed her eyes and held her breath as Bronwyn’s tail snaked around her, closing around her waist. “Not so tight,” she gasped, and the tail fell away.
    “I’m sorry,” Bronwyn said.
    “It’s all right. Try again.”
    Once more, Bronwyn wrapped her tail around Anna, inch by inch, until it was coiled securely around her middle. “Are you all right?” Bronwyn asked. Anna nodded. Carefully she lifted her tail into the air and Anna felt her feet leave the ground. Bronwyn wasn’t as steady as her father, and the ground rocked and swayed below Anna, but then she was being dropped down onto Bronwyn’s broad back, where she landed with a thump. “Sorry,” Bronwyn said again, and Anna gave her a weak wave.
    “I’m fine,” she said.
    “Next time will be better,” Bronwyn assured her. She stretched out rose-bronze wings, and launched herself into the air. The ground grew distant as the dragon pushed her way higher, turning in a huge circle. Anna wrapped her arms around the long neck, and looked down at the ground flashing below them. Although Anna lived with dragons, there were only a few times she had actually ridden a dragon. She had done so once with Max, when he had taken her to a snow-covered peak near Storbrook. It was the first time she became aware of Max as someone – or something – other than the man who annoyed and irritated her, and it had left her confused. The other time had been in the dark, when Favian fetched her from the rocky island where Jack was keeping Keira and her prisoner. All she remembered of that ride was shame and regret.
    Bronwyn did not fly evenly as Favian did, but swooped and swerved with childish enthusiasm. She turned when she saw the river snaking through the woods below, following the silver ribbon as it rushed its way between the mountains and the forest. Anna gasped when Bronwyn’s belly skimmed the tops of the trees, snapping huge branches like kindling, but Bronwyn just laughed. “It tickles,” she said.
    Anna saw the spot on the ridge where Bronwyn had changed, but Bronwyn cruised right past it, pushing onwards towards the mountains where the river started its journey. The land below changed to rolling hills then grew steeper as Bronwyn pushed higher and higher. Tall peaks rose directly ahead of them, and the river tumbled from its mountain height and down a rocky face. As Bronwyn drew closer, the cold spray from the waterfall covered Anna in a fine mist. She gasped when Bronwyn directed her body at a sharp angle, and when Anna felt her body slipping backwards she wrapped her arms even tighter around Bronwyn’s neck.
    The dragon flew up the length of the waterfall, her wings laboring through the air as she lifted her huge body. A moment later she leveled out once more as she gained the height and swept over the small