Ghost Rider

CHAPTER XLVI: The Rescue

I gazed at the clouds surrounding me, glowing with bright and brilliant hues. Almost as if the sky itself was alive, beckoning me to live in the air, and sleep in its arms. It had been a long time since I had been so far from the ground.

I felt as though I was chained to the land, gravity being my captor. But it was over now. I would no longer be trapped, forced to merely stare at the sky and not be apart of it.

Anticipation nearly had my hands trembling and my knees weak. Atop Windsheer, I sat behind Heather as we continued to slice through air, with one destination, one goal, in mind: rescue Amber. Neither of us spoke a word the entire flight. We had both memorized the plan, taking count of every detail, keeping in mind every mistake that could be made.

Guilt had long since flooded my mind, though it resided towards the back. I had left- no I had abandoned- my most loyal companion, the other half of my soul, for four months. She suffered at the hands of the Dragon Hunters because of me. Because of my weakness.

Deep down, I knew Heather was right in forcing me to stay until I could fight well enough to strengthen our chances enough to ensure a possible victory. Nevertheless, the guilt was not surrendering, it refused to leave me alone.

At last, a large, flat island popped over the horizon and came into our view.

"That's our target." Heather pointed out with her index finger towards a rather large group of flickering lights near the water. "We will land a few miles away from the camp and walk the rest of the way. We need the surprise advantage, and flying Windsheer to close to the camp could endanger that."

I nodded, but quickly remembered that Heather was in front of me and could witness no such gesture. "Got it." I finally uttered, mulling over the plan once more in my head.

Sneak to the back of the Dragon Hunter base and take out one of the guards; the leaner the guard is, the better. Plus, they have to be wearing a helmet.

I put on the guard's uniform, and walk straight into the base. Slowly making my way towards where Heather told me Amber is being held.

During all of this, Heather will don the ripped up clothes I came in. We ripped them up even more to make it appear as convincing as possible. She will claim to be a shipwrecked traveler, and create a distraction.

The Dragon Hunter base is entirely occupied by men who we are assuming have not seen a woman in a decent amount of time.

Guards and other Dragon Hunters alike will inevitably flock towards her, giving me a small but open window to quickly set Amber free. As soon as give the signal, which will be an explosion, Windsheer will swoop down and pick up Heather, I will mount Amber, and then we will let all hell break loose.

"We're landing." Heather announced above the wind.

"Okay." I replied.

The second we landed in a small clearing surrounded by tall pine trees clad in red bark, we dismounted Windsheer and Heather sent her off to the place she trained her to hide in until she called her.

It was just Heather and I now. Two teenage girls trained to be warriors, moulded to be survivors, against a small army who had everything to gain by our demise.

There was something we did not have that the Dragon Hunters did. And, ironically, it was an advantage. We had nothing to loose. Everything I had was stripped away from me. My family, my people, my dragon. Heather had no family, no one to live for besides her dragon, who could very well die in this mess as well.

I have found that something so sorrowful, so pitiful, so depressing, was one of the most key things to winning a daunting, nearly impossible battle.