Chapter 19: The Dragonrider's Manual
WHOOSH
Wind blowing in her hair, Annie was trembling because of the enormous creature she was... riding?
She wasn't sure what to call whatever she was doing. But she was sure about one thing which is that she loved every second of it.
She could see the skies clearer than ever, the clouds and the sun beaming brightly. The winds blew past her face and left her hair even more curlier.
She took a deep breath and could almost smell the moist air as she felt every rise and dive the Horntail took. She felt exhilarated and strangely, freedom even though her feet were strapped to it as tight as possible.
ROAWR ROAWR
The Hungarian Horntail let out low, cute growls of pleasure as if this was heaven for it.
And it truly was. Even for Annie.
But, she couldn't say the same about the niffler positioned in one of her big coat pockets.
Teddy's eyes were glaring at Annie's with panic and he was squeaking loudly at her as if to ask her, "WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU PUT US ON THIS THING???"
His paws were holding her so tightly, that it almost caused her pain.
Annie smiled a crazy smile and said in a chilling voice, "From now on, every time you misbehave, I'm going to threaten you with a ride on the back of the Hungarian Horntail."
SQUEEEAAAAKKK
Teddy squeaked even more loudly while squeezing her tighter and closed his eyes in despair.
Looking at his reaction, Annie couldn't help but burst into laughter, "Hahaha!"
Although, it sounded like a mad woman's laughter to poor Teddy.
Glancing at the poor Teddy in satisfaction, Annie thought, 'Finally! A threat has scared him after being threatened so many times by me and Newt. Towards Newt, he was even more rebellious. He just wants to pit Newt against me, because I like giving him more freedom than him.'
Annie moved her head, brows raised in satisfaction.
"You and I", She pointed at Teddy and said, "are made for each other. We both like shiny things and are ready to kill for them. We'd go way too far to take what we have in mind. The only difference is… you are filling your soft little belly with them."
She trusted herself enough to take one of her hands off the Hungarian Horntail and put it in the coat pocket where Teddy was hiding himself. Moving her hand on his fluffy skin, she found his stomach and massaged it.
Poor Teddy was unable to control himself and fell into the devious trap set by Annie. He bravely fought against the extremely pleasant feeling she was making him feel but alas, he was defeated.
PURR PURR
Hearing him purr made Annie smiled at him and said while petting him on the head, "Who's a good boy? Who's a clever boy? You, Teddy! You are!"
While she was busy petting him, she had forgotten that she only had one hand on the dragon and that realization hit her. Suddenly.
'Wait! I forgot! Oh shit! I am so going to slip from the Horntail's back and die!'
"Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't loo-"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
She screamed and screamed until she had no breath left and was too tired to exhaust her lungs more. She knew that panicking unnecessarily would make things worse than they already were. The Horntail could throw them off its back any second.
At least, the screaming helped her clear her head from such thoughts.
With a long and deep breath, she tried to control herself and grabbed another scale of the Horntail. After a few more minutes, she did not feel as scared.
"See? It was a big deal only because you made it to be one.", She told herself in a reassuring tone and smiled down at Teddy, who was still scared to death.
She knew something that might help him.
She took her hand off the Horntail's back almost carelessly now and started massaging the niffler's tummy. Once her hand touched his tummy, his eyes came back to normal and were almost closing. It was working. Teddy was in a state of pleasure. He also forgot to grip Annie almost to the point of pain. Instead, his tiny palms just went back inside of the coat pocket.
"Good boy. For once", Annie said as she petted his head again and sighed with ease.
As if feeling the sudden change of mood, the Hungarian Horntail slowed down its speed after a minute or two and started lowering them to the ground until she almost touched it.
'Finally!', Annie thought.
Maybe the ride was longer because of how scared Annie and Teddy were. The Horntail was like a dog. If you were scared of it, it would be scared of you and would be more aggressive. But if you learned how to control your instant reaction...it would make it easier on you. That was also why Teddy couldn't control his own body and gripped her harder.
After a while, the Horntail safely landed on the ground.