chapter 38 over the mountain

The next morning the dragon rose first, just past the dawning of the light. She stretched and then looked around for any sign of potential dangers. When it seemed that everything was fine, she headed over to where the warlock was still in a deep sleep. She stood there for a few minutes just staring at him. Within a few minutes he jerked awake as if he'd been scared half to death by a nightmare.

"Kadrid don't do that!" He barked at her.

"Don't do what?" She asked in an innocent tone.

" Stare at me like that until I jump up awake, it startles me."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." She said, lowering her head in shame.

"It's okay, really. I'll live no harm done." He told her. The commotion had woke Pandora as well.

"Good morning, dear." He told her.

"Good morning to the two of you as well." She replied.

"Shall we all rise and get an early start today?" He suggested to them.

"Can I fly today, please?" The dragon asked him with excitement and a look of hope.

Salem winked at Pandora and said nothing for a long moment. His only intention was to make her squirm for a minute. Once she had that panicked look he simply nodded yes and grinned at her.

"I can, really? You're not just teasing me this time?"

"I'm not teasing you in the least bit. You may fly whenever you're ready." He replied.

"Then hop onto my back both of you." The two did as the dragon asked, climbing on as quickly as possible.

"Are you two ready?" She asked.

"Yes dragon, go for it." Salem replied.

The dragon nodded and then shot off as fast as a cannon into the air. She flew quickly flapping her wings harder and harder enjoying the rush only flying through the air could provide for her. Kadrid began to twirl and flip through the smaller clouds, she absolutley loved it. Pandora held on to the dragon tighter squealing with excitement.

"You have got to stop showing off you're bound to get hurt again." Salem told her.

The dragon rolled her eyes and let out a soft growl. Then she did as he asked of her. She hated to admit it but he was probably right. She stopped going half the speed as before and glided softly across the skies.As she flew Pandora looked down at the forest below. She thought that maybe with flying it would take a few hours off of the long trip home. She couldn't wait to be nice and cozy in the warlocks home with her two favorite heroes. She couldn't wait to get back to thier lives and put the entire fiasco behind her. She wanted to get back to the spellbooks, potion lessons and wine with her favorite warlock.

"Are we getting close yet?" Pandora asked.

" Not yet, we still have a long way to go." The dragon informed her.

Kadrid kept right on flying so long as no one asked to stop. She would just keep going, this was what she lived and breathed for. Flying through the open skies brought her a great sense of euphoric happiness, she reveled in it. The dragon flew through the skies passing over several forests, small towns and villages. She kept going well over a six hour run. She usually didn't fly for this long, but she wanted to get them all home as fast as she could. She was exhausted but didn't care. She would keep going as long as she was able to. Thirty minutes later after passing over another small town, Pandora spoke up.

"Can we possibly land pretty soon?" The sorceress asked.

"What's the matter?" She asked her friend with genuine concern.

"My muscles are getting very stiff. I need to walk a little to stretch my legs."

"Sure, anything for you." She replied looking for a good place to land them.

"Can you hold on a little while? There's a mountain that looks to be about seven miles away, I'd like to get us past it first."

Neither the warlock or the sorceress argued with her, they knew climbing that mountain would have taken them half a day or more depending on how difficult of a hike it might have been. Salem was completley fine with it. After this whole ordeal he wasn't sure he'd ever want to leave the comforts of home again. He grinned, just thinking of his dungeon tower, the labratory and the massive waterfall near it. He could hardly wait to get home and get settled with his two favorite creatures. Pandora was worth all of the trouble he had endured. He would go to the ends of the known and unknown universe for her. He had developed an infinate bond with her the moment he had met her. He didn't question it. She was meant to be in his life. He enjoyed her company, the insightful way of thinking, even her aura brought a nice feminine glow into the darkest part of his heart. For him she seemed to be his perfect oposite. Daydreaming and lost in his own mind, he hadn't noticed when they had passed by the gigantic monstrosity of a mountain until he felt the huge, loud thud of the dragon landing on the soft forest floor. The jolting motion brought his thoughts back to the present time and place.