Only a minute later, another rider was chosen- a cinem by a purple class 5. The violet dust explosion that followed was even larger than it had been with the class 4's choosing. Excitement made every second drag on so long that it felt as if minutes had passed before a higher class dragon finally chose someone. It was a crimson class 6 that reminded me of Firehorn. I suddenly wished that the actual Firehorn would stay as far away from me as possible. As good as I was with animals, I didn't think I could handle one as vicious as him.
When the class 6 strode up to a cinem girl, I felt my hopes plummet to the tip of my tail. This was the fifth cinem who'd been chosen, along with three wizards. Not a single talme had even been looked at by the dragons. Nervous energy took over my previous feeling of excitement as I watched the girl reach out her hand to touch the dragon's head. The crimson cloud that appeared around them was so bright that I couldn't bear to even look in their direction. When it suddenly flashed out in a shower of red dust, I was glad. Even so, I regretted the fact that the number of dragons was dwindling. There were only twenty eight left and what looked to be about two hundred possible riders. It felt like I was only one talme in a crowd of wizards and cinems who were being chosen before my very eyes.
The seconds turned to drawn out minutes to what I swore was an extremely long hour. There were three dragons left. Only three, and the crowd of potential riders wasn't getting much smaller. Just four talmes had been picked of the thirty three riders chosen so far. My chances seemed slimmer than ever with the last three dragons being class 7. There was no way they'd chose me, a talme, but I couldn't keep from hoping they would. At this point, I'd be okay with even having Firehorn as a dragon. And that's saying something. The other two dragons were Leera and a blue female whose name I didn't remember.
Suddenly, the blue one seemed to spot what she was looking for. She leapt over four rows of people to land in front of yet another cinem. Even though they were six rows in front of me, I ducked and shielded my eyes along with everyone else. The last class 7 who'd chosen had left me seeing spots for five minutes. It was not a pleasant experience, and I waited until the burning glow that I could still see past my hands was completely extinguished before uncovering my eyes. The dragon-rider pair walked off together to join the rest of the riders, most of whom were still raptly watching the Ceremony.
I turned back to watch the remaining two dragons and was almost blinded by another joining in progress. Just in time, I covered my eyes and waited it out. Time seemed to speed up then, each second ticking faster than it should've. There was only one dragon left, one chance, one hope.
Leera looked out over all of us waiting there, her eyes oddly blank. She slowly walked down one row and up the next, coming closer and closer. I couldn't stop my nerves from absolutely buzzing as I watched. Soon, she was only two rows away. Then she stopped. I froze, hands held to my chest to keep my fluttering heart from escaping. She was lowering her head, eyes closed. I couldn't watch my last hope fading away, so I covered my eyes early, hiding the tears welling up in my eyes.
But when the light never came, I brought my hand down from my face. Leera had stopped mid-bow, seemingly unaware of the cinem waiting below. He looked as if he was about to try and jump to reach her head if she didn't finish the bow. I recognized him from the alley and figured Leera was the one who'd been collared on his orders. But somehow, Leera seemed to be fighting the magic. She pulled back from him as a black and red cloud formed around her head. It seemed to yank her towards the cinem, but she reared on her hind legs and roared. The late-afternoon sun seemed to disappear as she spread her wings. Fire formed in her mouth, flames flickering outward, a million huge candles. They didn't do anything to the cloud.
The entire crowd was watching, some calling for enforcers to come and lock the cinem up. I saw only Leera and her fight, even as several armored men with swords dragged the shouting cinem away. She roared again, the sound hitting me as if I'd been punched. I'd heard about mind-jinking before and knew that the only way magic that powerful could be dispelled was if the dragon it was cast on could fight it off. If they couldn't, they would be killed to stop the magic from forcing them to choose a criminal.
"Come on, Leera," I murmured. There was no way she could hear me, but I tried to encourage her anyway. At that moment, I didn't care who she chose. I didn't care if I was locked in my room for a thousand more days because I broke out. I just wanted her to fight and to win. She was so powerful, so majestic that I couldn't stand to see her cut down because of a criminal's choice to enslave her mind.
"You can do it. Don't stop fighting," I hissed, fists clenched.
She thrashed her head, spitting fire into the air. My heart nearly stopped when she suddenly stilled, and I thought it was the end for her. She would never take her first flight with a rider, never train alongside the best and brightest at the Academy. I felt like I was losing a dear friend, not a beast I hardly knew.
But then, something miraculous happened. With a final toss of her horns, the cloud faded away. She dropped to all fours again, tucking her wings against her side. I had to work to keep my knees from buckling in relief. She was fine. She'd won. And now, I realized, she would have to choose.
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