A Rider In Need (Open)

[Chase Alan Taylor]

Chase loved flying. He loved the freedom that came with it. But of course, it did have its drawbacks. For instance, the patch of birds that he flew through just at that moment that he decided to free fall from his dragon. It was a game they played. He would dive off the side towards the treetops and his dragon would catch him. It was an equivalent to the game of chicken. Sometimes Chase could feel the leaves of a tree brush him as his dragons claws grabbed him.

But he was getting too close to this one. Way too close for comfort. His eyes flew open wide for a minute and he spun around so he could look up in the air. Where was that blasted dragon! There! Still far away though. His dragon wouldn't catch him this time, he was sure of it. He flipped back around and prepared for impact. Maybe if he tucked and rolled it wouldn't hurt so badly. When he first broke the treetops, the branches whipped his arms. He let out a curse as he fell through.

When he was just about to hit the ground, he stopped with a jerk on his leg. He squirmed around trying to figure out what was holding him there. When he managed to twist himself around and look at his legs his face paled. The branches had literally trapped his leg between them. He pulled himself up and tried tugging his leg out, but it was very difficult and he couldn't get his body in the right position to do that. He huffed and shouted. "Topaz!" He could feel his dragon get worried through their bond. He had felt that worry as Chase had fallen through the treetops, but he hasn't acted on it at first.

It took awhile for his dragon to find him and when he did, he let out a call of despair. His human was in a spot that was inaccessible to himself. He couldn't reach up there. There was no room. Chase looked at his dragon and the situation that he was really in hit him like a ton of bricks. He sighed and went for his sword on his hip. He would have to cut himself out. But when he went to reach for it, it wasn't there. He jerked around trying to find it until he did.

It laid on the ground next to Topaz. He gave a shout or irritation and folded his arms as he hung by his legs. Great. So he was stuck. Stuck until either a strong wind blew him out, or someone came along the unsuspecting dragon rider.

[Serenity Bell Knight]

The open skies and the way the air felt was great. It did look as if it was going to rain at some point and the dragon and her rider could not wait until it did. They loved the rain and how it always brought a feeling of peace to their world. Serenity and Aurora were flying over the forests of Prydein looking for a good place to take a rest when they heard a dragon call out in distress. They went to investigate and what they saw was a rider upside down in a tree, his dragon was looking up at him with no way to help him down and Serenity noticed that his sword was also laying beside his dragon.

“Aurora please get as close to the trees as you can, I’m gonna jump down and help him, you go calm his dragon.” She said.

Serenity jumped down two trees away from the rider and started to climb over. The rider was looking for his sword and when he realized it was on the ground he shouted in frustration. Oh did she ever want to laugh and she couldn’t help and she started laughing cause he crossed his arms and it made him look like he was pouting.

“Hello there, you are in quiet the predicament aren’t you?” she said trying not to laugh even more.

Serenity climbed closer so that she was close enough to to help but not to close at the same time.

“What are you doing in the tree? That is other than hanging by your foot? Wait let me take a guess you were playing a game and your dragon didn’t respond in enough time or you intended to be in the trees and I’m just interfering. If that’s the case I’m just gonna move this way a little.” As she said this she backed off a little and then she couldn’t help it she started laughing really hard.

[Chase Alan Taylor]

Topaz let out another distressed call as Chase crossed his arms in frustration. That was when he saw the female dragon. He called up to her and noticed that she was accompanied by a rider. His call turned more happy as the rider climbed though the trees towards Chase. Topaz's eyes turned to the other dragon and he nodded his thanks. "Hello! Glad someone heard my calls. It stinks that there was no way for me to help him." He looked up at his rider with worry.

Chase jumped slightly when he heard a female voice. He swiveled around to face her. And his face filled with a slight relief until he realized that she had laughed at him. His gaze narrowed slightly, his mind not even registering the fact that he thought she was very pretty. She spoke again and he looked away for a moment until he heard the part about her leaving. "No wait! It was the first and I do need help." He paused for a moment as she started laughing and his face hardened for a moment.

"Yeah yeah. Quit your laughing. It's not that funny." But his words were betrayed by himself as his face softened and he let out a small smile before laughing as well.

[Serenity Bell Knight]

Down on the ground.

Aurora listened to the other dragon thank her about hearing his calls.

“No Problem, I’m curious though. How did your rider end up stuck in a tree?”

She saw that the other dragon was worried about his rider.

“Don’t worry my rider will get yours down safely”

Just then Aurora heard laughing and she looked up to see that her rider was laughing and noticed that the other rider did not liked to be laughed at but then he started laughing as well.

Up in the tree

Serenity knew she had to get this rider out of the tree a.s.a.p. because she didn’t know how long he had been in the tree before she had arrived. She moved a little closer.

”How about we get you out of this tree?”

She didn’t know how she was going to get him out she could pull on one of the branches that had his leg trapped. The more she thought about it that was the only way because if she used her sword the branch would splinter and harm the rider. And she wasn’t going to do that. She looked down to see how the rider was going to fall; the height would break something if he fell. Serenity had rope on her and so she moved a branch down from where the rider was. She was now in arm’s length of him. And she got the idea to tie the rope to the branch above and she handed him the other end.

“Ok hold onto this and don’t let it go. I will count to the count of three and then I will set your foot free from the branch, just so you know if you don’t hold the rope you will fall and I’m trying to prevent that.”

Serenity did not wait for him to respond she went up to the branch with his leg and grabbed at the branch. She looked down to make sure that he was holding onto the rope.

”1…. 2…. 3!” she pulled on the branch and it let go of the riders leg.

[Chase Alan Taylor]

Topaz hung his head as the dragon asked how Chase had ended up in a tree. He gave a small growl of disappointment in himself before speaking. "We were playing a game in which he dives off my side and I catch him before he hits the treetops. Like the game cat and mouse. But I misjudged how long it would take me to get to him and he fell too fast."

He looked up at her and spoke. A slightly happier tone to his voice. "That's great! I'm Topaz by the way. His name is Chase."

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As she moved closer and spoke he leaned up trying to look. He sighed though. If only he had had his sword. Instead he just looked at her and shrugged. He was clueless and how to do it. This had never happened to him before. He watched as she seemed to evaluate the situation. Curiously, he was wondering what she was thinking until she tied a rope to a tree branch. The rope dangled in front of him and he grabbed onto it like she said.

At the count of three, his grip tightened slightly as she moved the tree branch, causing his leg to fall free. His lower body fell and sort of jerked his arms as he held on tight. Once he stopped swinging, he swung his legs onto a branch and straddled it slightly before getting his balance and sliding from one to the other until he was back on the ground. As he reached his dragon, he gave him a reassuring pat on the neck and picked up his sword placing it in his scabbard.

Once the girl reached the ground he turned and smiled at her. "Thanks for that. I don't know what would've happened if you and your dragon came around. By the way," he held out his hand for her to shake, "the names Chase Taylor. This guy is Topaz." Now that he was righted he could see how pretty she really was.

His next glance, after they shook hands was to his dragon. He looked a little embarrassed still and Chase just laughed and gave him a light tap on the forehead. "Really Topaz. It's fine. I'm fine. See?" He held up his arms and grinned as his dragon perked up. Once again looking like himself.

[Serenity Bell Knight]

Serenity waited and watched to make sure that the rider actually made it down and she started down after him. As soon as she reached the ground and turned around the other rider introduced himself along with his dragon, and he thanked her for helping him as well. She then introduced herself and her dragon.

“My name is Serenity Knight and this is Aurora.” She said while putting her hand on Aurora.

She noticed that Topaz still looked a little down but Chase told his dragon that he was ok and that helped the dragon look a little better.

“Serenity it is going to rain we should find somewhere to stay.” Aurora told her.

She started to think about a place to stay but she didn’t really want to be stuck indoors now she liked being out in the open even if it was raining because it brought a semblance of peace to her. Serenity looked up to the sky and tried to think about what she was going to do but she wanted it to rain so that she didn't have to think, she helped Chase and Topaz and now she didn't want to leave she found the rider and dragon duo funny. She looked back down at Chase and laughed.

[Chase Alan Taylor]

Chase nodded to her and her dragon as Serenity introduced herself and her dragon. ”Well it was nice to meet both of you. I wish the circumstances would’ve been a little different.” A small sly grin came to his face as he said this. He paused slightly as she spoke to her dragon. And he glanced at his own. Topaz stepped forward and nudged Chase in the side with his snout. He and his dragon knew of a place not far from here that could protect them both from the rain.

Chase cleared his throat, feeling sort of bad for interrupting, but he didn’t want to break up with the other duo just yet. After all, Serenity was pretty and nice. It had been awhile since he had been around someone like her. ”We do know of a place not far from here you can hide out. We found it while flying. It’s a whole in a mountain large enough for four or more dragons. Topaz believes it to be an old nesting area for dragons long ago. It should provide the protection from the rain if you would like to join us.”

Truthfully, he and Topaz had been heading that way after their little accident anyways. Topaz could sense the rain coming and the jump was supposed to be the last of the day. That’s why he was glad he was found so soon. No telling what could’ve happened if lightning and thunder could’ve happened while he was stuck in the tree. He climbed up Topaz’s back as he awaited her answer.