The sea surrounding Frith is a spectacular purple. It is crystal clear except for a brief period each year when it turns green and freezes solid. Every year the young dragons perfect their flying skills during the freeze when the ice can support their weight and assist with clumsy landings. These are the days of Phoenix when all the young dragons display their dragoncrafts and if they are successful earn their quest pouches.
Soot and his friends Ember and Spark attended dragon academy where Professor Blaze taught them in the ways of dragoncraft. Subjects essential to the mastery of dragoncraft are; aerodynamics (all about flying), pyrotechnics (all about blowing flames) and chivalry (all about being a very nice dragon). Aerodynamics are essential to flight and as dragons are really too heavy to fly except with the aid of strong wind currents, a good knowledge of flight theory is the best chance of success. Fortunately the weather in Frith is quite windy and one can see dragons flying most days except during the days of Mogadon when the wind dies down to a whisper and even Professor Blaze is grounded.
Ember was a wiz at flight theory and he knew all the wing stretches, dips and flapping patterns. He was looking forward to the day when Professor Blaze would take the class to the practice cliff. Spark was a natural at pyrotechnics and had from a very early age learned to blow fireballs with great accuracy. This skill made him a favorite for the fizzbang team. Soot was born with a loose fire spurter, which made his fireballs quite unreliable. They often missed their target. His wings were underdeveloped for his age and flight though not impossible was going to be particularly difficult for him. He was definitely not looking forward to flight practice though he knew his theory quite well. He was, however, very tall for his age and stood head and neck above the rest of his classmates. As he was a most obliging dragon, he would help his classmates gather some of the choicest conkers from the highest branches of the horse chestnut trees. These three dragons had been best friends since dragongarten and their friendship served them very well as we shall see.
Our story begins on the morning of the first day of Phoenix. The dragons were all gathered on the slope leading to the edge of Gillies Cliff. Professor Blaze was in quite a flap giving last minute flight instructions to his students.
“Hurry along now, dragons,” he urged. “The wind’s blowing 20 knots from the north - a perfect morning for flight practice. The ice is thick enough but a bit rough. You must land heels first with your claws retracted or you will fall on your snout.” Ember started to jump up and down practicing his heel landings. Spark was hopping around alongside him spitting out mini fireballs. “Look, Ember,” he puffed, “I’m going to blow some fire ahead of me as I come in to land to help smooth out the ice.”
“My, my, what long nails you have Soot,” remarked Professor Blaze as he strode past him. “Better keep those toes up. Right, then dragons,” he said, turning his attention to the rest of the class, “Watch closely as I demonstrate.”
Professor Blaze unfolded his wings and licked the tips with his long red tongue. He then started to do a running bounce towards the edge of the cliff. At the last minute he straightened and stretched his neck out, sprung into the air and caught an updraft of breeze that soon had him gliding effortlessly out over the bay. He dipped his wings slightly and started a smooth descent to the ice surface landing heels first and sliding to the beach with graceful ease. He then hopped onto a large boulder, turned his snout into the wind and leapt off the boulder flapping his wings with powerful strokes back up to the cliff top.
“Now, who is going to be first?” he said, catching his breath. There was an awkward silence as the dragons examined their claws and licked their wings. It all seemed a bit scary. The wind coming in from the frozen sea had patches of swirling orange mist forming where it mixed with the warmer air at the top of the cliff. The ice was hissing and creaking and a very long way down. Ember started to recite to himself the five points for beginner gliding and landing.
“That’s right, Ember,” chimed in Prof. Blaze. “Neck outstretched for take off, wings balanced and level for flight, dipped for descend, heels down and snout up for landing. Off you go then,” said Prof. Blaze.
Ember swallowed hard and started to bounce towards the cliff’s edge.
“Faster,” shouted Prof. Blaze and Ember picked up speed as he neared the edge.
“Wing tips up!” was the last thing he heard before jumping off the cliff. His eyes were closed and his heart thumbing so loudly he could actually hear it. He felt the air rushing against his wings and his body plunging downwards. He opened one eye and saw the ice rushing towards him and the mist swirling in the wind. He spread his wings as far apart as he could, clenched his fangs and uttered a dragon prayer. Then a warm air pocket lifted him up. He opened both eyes and saw that everything had slowed down. He was no longer hurtling towards the ice but slowly gliding towards the large red circle that Prof. Blaze had painted on the ice. As he got down closer to the surface he hit some cold air and it bounced him around a bit.
“Keep your wings straight,” bellowed Prof. Blaze. Ember stiffened his wings and straightened his flight. His heels were well stuck out in front of him as he came in to land and he slid along the ice with his tail grazing the surface. He came to a shuddering halt. I made it! Thought Ember. My tail is a bit sore – but I made it!
His feet felt like jelly and he waddled to the nearest flat rock and sat down. Before long, he could see the rest of the dragons taking off one by one and after a while as they all got a little braver, a few leapt into the air at the same time.
“One at a time” – shouted Prof. Blaze. “Dear, dear, this will not do at all,” he muttered as he leapt out after them. A good thing too, because two young dragons collided on the way down and started to go into a tailspin. He swooped under them stopping their free fall and coached instructions into the terrified dragons’ ears until they corrected their posture and resumed gliding normally. Finally, Soot was the only dragon left. He stood trembling at the edge of the cliff. He had been about to jump just before the collision that would have ended in a catastrophe if weren’t for Prof. Blaze’s gallantry. I don’t think I can do it, thought Soot. I wish I hadn’t eaten that extra plate of porridge this morning. I’m sure I’m too heavy.
He looked down and could see all the others way below, waving their wings and encouraging him to jump. Prof. Blaze nodded his head and clapped his paws to encourage him. Tears of fear welled up inside of Soot. They squeezed their way through his tear ducts and started to flow uncontrollably down his thick leathery skin. I can’t do it. I just can’t do it. He poked his head under his wing and stood frozen to the spot. Some of the dragons on the beach started to snigger at him. Then, just as he was about to turn around and skulk home, Ember and Spark arrived at his side.
“We ran all the way back up the path from the beach,” they puffed.
“Come on, Soot, you can do it.”
“Can’t,” said Soot, but he peeked out from under his wing and couldn’t help just feeling a little less terrified now that his two friends were beside him.
“It’s really fun! Said Ember. “Scary, but fun.”
“See where that swirl of orange mist is? Said Spark.
“Uh –huh,”said Soot.
“That’s a warm air pocket. It will give you a big boost to get gliding.” Soot waddled a little closer to the edge.
“You’ll feel like you’re dropping like a boulder at first,” said Ember, remembering his scary launch, “---but if you keep your neck stretched out and your wings spread, that warm air pocket will slow you right down.”
“Yeah,” said Spark, “and then you’ll be cruising, all they way to the big landing target on the ice.” Soot looked down to the landing strip on the ice. He could see the rest of the dragons on the beach. They were collecting driftwood for a fire they had started and were getting set up for a gizzard roast. They had quite lost interest in him. Prof. Blaze, however, was still looking up at him, nodding his head and flapping his wings in an encouraging way. And Soot did love gizzards. Suddenly, Ember sprang into the air, swooped downwards and caught the warm air pocket like a pro. Spark gave Soot ever so slight a nudge.
“You next,” he said as he batted Soot’s shoulder with his wing. The last thing in Frith that Soot wanted was to be left standing all by himself once again on the cliff. He leapt wildly into the air stretching his neck out as far as it would go. Soot was a bit bottom heavy so it was very hard for him to stay horizontal. His body wanted to flip into a vertical tailspin. Spark was right behind him and every time Soot looked liked he was loosing his glide and about to plummet he would blow out a great blast of fire and create just enough of a warm air pocket to give Soot a bit of a boost. Soot was wobbling quite a bit from side to side as his wings were not quite large enough to keep his glide balanced. He held them stiffly, stretching them out as much as he possibly could. Ember, who was just a little ahead of him created a slipstream to help smooth out the path for him. In this way the three friends made their way down towards the ice. As they came close to the target, Prof. Blaze started to shout instructions.
“Prepare for landing. Dip your wings! You’ll over shoot the target!” Ember and Spark dipped their wings, and started to make their landing. Soot’s wings were stiffened into position and try as he might he couldn’t budge them. He over shot the target and made his landing exactly where the ice and the beach met. His heels hit the ice and then an instant later dug into the sand, jolting him to a stop that toppled him forward onto his snout. His forward momentum pushed him snout-first along the beach and he finally came to a stop a whisker’s breath from the campfire.
“A bit rough, but well done,” laughed Prof. Blaze. Soot lay in the sand quite exhausted from the whole ordeal until some dragon shouted, “gizzards and guts, who wants some gizzards and guts.”
Soot could smell the deliciously pungent odor of bar-b-qued gizzards and guts and he slowly pulled himself up to a sitting position and wiped the sand from his snout.
“Over here, please,” he said and everyone laughed.