The sun was scorching hot. Even with the wind touching his cheeks as they flew, Ling could feel his clothes sticking on his back. It seemed like the road they chose to take was not a good one. But they didn't have the time to plan so they just avoided the straight, main road in case they have pursuers.
"Maga, maybe it's okay to go down for now. Let's find a place to hide from the sun."
Maga had already been flying for half a day. Since it should be faster than other beasts in the city, nobody would probably be able to catch up after them. Besides, the two went out last night while the city still slept. These children didn't really have to worry by now.
Maga grunted as an answer, swiveling its eyes in various directions to look for a place. However, the area was sparse so they flew for a while before finding a cave.
Meanwhile, Ling was deep in his thoughts, thinking about the happenings the day before. After the race, they flew back to the city, back to Loid's office to wait for the man's promise before flying off. When the man came in, he paused, surprise filling his face, before hastily closing the door.
"What are you doing here?!" he whispered. Not that he wanted to reneged on his promise but the kid actually brought his dragon inside. Just how did they enter here?
He didn't have to wait for long to get an answer though. Suddenly, he felt the strong wind coming from his usually locked windows. The papers around his desk were flying to the floor. Because of the storm that just stopped, the wind was also coming in with moisture. He immediately dropped down on his knees to get the papers. Maybe he could save most of it. Then, he just ignored whether the boy answered.
Perhaps he should have the windows changed to something smaller, Loid thought. But he had actually chosen this position for his office because he could get a lot of sun in the morning.
Ling was not a bit sheepish. Unlike the man, he refused to leave Maga inside the storage area again. Maga was his friend. Therefore, he kept staring with a straight face at the man, still shielding Maga behind him.
Once Loid looked at them after he had closed the windows, he sighed. "Young man, no need to be angry. You know why we had to hide your dragon yesterday. Now that the city was looking for him, you can introduce yourselves."
Of course, Loid still thought that the children were from Kal'wa. If the people knew that he hid them for his own purposes, his reputation might suffer, so he better show them to the mayor now.
"Sir, we only came here to hear what you have promised."
The kid kept a vigilant posture, making Loid unable to move and call for his people. He sighed. "But the city could provide you better help. Perhaps you could wait here for your people to get you. The city has a lot to offer." Then, he proceeded to tell them of these offers.
Ling hesitated. Loid thought that the kid decided it was easier for them to wait in the city. However, Ling was thinking how to run away without the city noticing. Ling and Maga were not people from Kal'wa, so it wasn't good to deceive the city people like that. He only wanted to talk to the dragon riders about what he should know about his friend. Then, maybe it was possible for them to return to their village.
Besides, from what Loid was saying, some people should always be around them. Despite getting out in the city, it was still like a prison. Ling didn't want that. Aside from learning about Maga, he never forgot his dream to travel around the world.
Afterwards, Ling was able to extract from Loid where the dragon riders went. It was to Syudad. Hence, he would be able to get help from his clan there. Thinking about it, he became excited meeting his eldest sister again and introduce Maga to her.
After telling Loid that they would return tomorrow morning—it was just one lie, Ling and Maga flew out the office. They then flew out of the city as soon as the whole city slept. They'd let Loid deal with the situation of them missing tomorrow. That should be payment enough for their work that day.
Now, they had flown for miles, going to Syudad, but they still haven't seen the half of this journey. After getting enough details from Loid, Ling knew that travelling to Syudad would usually take weeks. But that's by foot or a carriage. It should be faster if they flew.
The cave Maga found later was small. It was just an opening on the side of a small hill but it was enough as the two waited for the sun to set. There were no other creatures passing by so the quiet was a little bit suffocating.
"What do you think Rin and the rest are doing now?"
Maga tilted its head to look at Ling, its eyes in slits after staring too long at the brightness outside. Then, it laid on its back, offering its belly to Ling.
"I wasn't talking about what Rin will do to you." Ling laughed. But he still went and scratched the dragon's belly until it crooned.
"Do you think we should have brought them with us too?" When the dragon nodded, Ling just sighed.
Later, the two flew off again. They had eaten at the cave first before going since they might not find another rest area. However, Ling was wishing they could find a place to hunt though. Eating fish for days was getting stale.
After flying for an hour, Ling could finally feel the change in the wind. There were also visible life 'mists' in the area despite the still sparse land in their views. That meant they were near a place with other living creatures.
It was getting dark when they finally saw a lone tree. Although thin, it was thriving. That was soon followed by another tree, then another with clusters of grass around, until a small green point was visible in their eyes.
Smelling the delicious scent in the air, Maga flew faster. Hence, the two weren't able to sense the spear coming in front of them when they reached the forest.
It hit Ling on his shoulder. The force of the attack made him fall off Maga's back. Sensing its passenger missing, Maga turned around. When it saw the falling boy, it collapsed its wings to dive down and catch him but another spear flew from below. This time, it managed to hit Maga's wing.
The dragon roared from the pain. Still, it tried to fold its wings to fall faster and catch up to Ling. However, another spear flew off, hitting one of Maga's leg this time. Despite trying to fly away while moving its one wing, Maga was unable to. That last spear was attached to a rope, being held by a man on a bird's back and it pulled the dragon away.