His hand stilled at her request, eyes lifting up towards her face. Except their were halted by the shiny metal around her neck. His breathing hitched, his hand lifting for a second. Lips opening to speak and then he was struck into the stomach. He doubled over, grunting, hands flying to his midsection. His eyes blown wide, the pain was there but hardly present in his mind. There's no possibility. It's stolen. Deryn's head snapped up as she began to call out for help. She was writhing just ahead of him.

Silvesse threw her head back in frustration, slamming a paw down onto the earth beside them. Would you stop her screaming? It is irritating. The female, slashed her tail, striking a tree without flinching. The oak creaked and groaned, a heavy dent in the side. Deryn didn't even glance in his dragons direction, much to her dismay. Her eyes wided and the pupils snapped into slits. Are you listening?! She seethed. Absolutely not.

He reached forwards, hand landing beside her. He scrambled to get back on top of her. His free hand moving to lift the goggles up to sit on top of his head, scrunching up the hair. Dirt marred the skin beneath in dusty splotches. Deryn grasped at her arms as she tried to grip the roots of the trees. He needed to look again. He didn't believe himself.

Deryn fought to twist the woman back towards him, his brown eyes flashing with recognition. His heart dropped. This...This was bad. Conflicting emtions made his chest rise and fall rapidly as he stared down at her. She was still struggling and she was doing it well.

Silvesse watched from beside them, bewildered by her rider's actions. What was he doing? He was never this sloppy. That's why she picked him.

"Would you just," He grunted, losing grip on her arm. "Good Gods, please just," Deryn flinched as a stray arm almost clocked him on the temple. "Would you stop!" He raised his voice, overwhelmed. His chest still heaving, he regained his hold on her arm. He reached back for his rope, still battling her, he began to tie her wrists together. If successful, he would move to her legs. He couldn't let them know he cared about her.

Deryn struggled with the restaints, she was moving too much and her skin was sloughed with mud and grime. Then she stilled and he frantically tried to wrap the rope around her wrists, it couldn't be loose they'd know. Why couldn't this have been a simple hit and run. He gritted his teeth beneath the bandana. Hurry it up! Silvesse growled. Your group is finishing. Indeed, he glanced up, jaw setting. They were picking through the ruins, sliding anything of worth into their satchels and onto their dragons. Then the woman began to move and talk again.

His eyes shot down to her once more and he saw her lips move. You're kidding. After a brief moment of stillness, he narrowed his eyes as she tried to push him away.

"I don't know what you're talking about." He muttered, hands flying to hold her wrists again. She was tiring, painfully obviously tiring. "Just come with me." Deryn glanced over towards Silvesse who was approaching, she lowered herself to the ground.

"Just keep quiet and you'll be fine. They won't hurt you." He took one more glance towards her face before he quickly rose to his feet. Dirt marking his clothes from their scramble. Deryn reached down and grasped her by the torso and lifted her from the floor. Looking straight ahead, he moved to lift her onto Silvesse.

"Do not talk. Do not scream. Do not as questions." Deryn kept his voice as calm as he could but his chest was still heaving, an overwhelming panic encircling him. Her parents had enough money to pay a ransom, in days she would be back safe with her family and away from him. About time. Silvesse quipped.

As he was lifting Ada onto the beast's saddle, he heard the crunch of footsteps descending upon them. A slight peek over his shoulder confirmed that three of his group were within earshot.

"My days, Pyro. Would you hurry it up?" A woman with red hair threw her hands in the air, then gestured to the woman. "Didn't think you'd be bested by some pampered princess." She snickered, her companions joing in.

"Shut it, Fury." Deryn snapped back, an almost growl. He looked back up at Adalia, his eyes pleading that she would do as he said.

Deryn's eyes widened and a choked sound came from him as Adalia bit back to Fury. His head spinning to glare at her, did this woman have a death wish? Fury stormed up towards Deryn's side, eyes blazing with animosity. Her hand landing on Deryn's shoulder, she was decently tall but still a few inches shorter than him

"You watch your tongue, princess." Her eyes narrowed. "You're only worth the pretty pennies your parents will dish out to us, your incessant blabbering is not needed." She leaned in closer to Deryn. "And you," She raised a finger and proded at his chest. "What did you do to her that warrents that threat, huh?" Her voice lighter now her attention was away from Ada.

"I didn't do anything. Just roughed her up a little, she was trying to run." Deryn shrugged, glancing over his shoulder at Adalia. His eyes glinting in the remains of the fire ahead of them. Fury narrowed her eyes for a moment before she cracked a smile, leaning in closer to him, up on her toes.

"I'm just glad you got her. We can sell her off and be set for months. Well done, handsome." She pressed her lips to his cheek, one hand slid across his chest before she pulled away, fingers lingering. Deryn kept his head turned, eyes locked on Adalia.

Fury snapped her attention back to the others. "Well! Come on! Let's get out of here before more of these idiots show up." She raised a hand and waved it, a grey dragon descending before her. The others followed behind her, signalling to their own beasts.

Silvesse kept still, only her eyes flitted down to her rider once he began to ascend her leg. Deryn's eyes were hard, face set with no emotion. He twisted, moving Ada to sit in front of him. He wasn't going to trust her to not throw herself off the side of Silvesse mid-flight. He sat her between his legs.

"Don't move, you'll slip." Deryn mumbled beside her. His arms reaching around the sides of her to grip the saddle. Do not scare her. He warned Silvesse, only earning an annoyed huff as the female beat her wings, lifting them skyward.

His hand lifted to pull the riding goggles back into place, they fit snug against the high bridge of his nose, the dark glass obscuring his eyes from the outside world. In front of him, his prisoner was squirming at the unfamiliar sensation of being lifted high into the night sky. It was obvious in the way Silvesse twitched her ears that the woman’s complaining was beginning to wear on already thin ice, the dragon was behaving for now, but Deryn didn’t have any true control over the beast. Silvesse merely assisted him and if he asked her to do something she didn’t want to then she would certainly do the opposite.

The snap of wings finally subsided and the ride lulled into a more peaceful pace, riding along the currents of air rather than forcing their way through them. Ahead of them several other dragons of varying colours and sizes were gliding through the night sky with ease, Deryn thought it looked beautiful but he was sure Ada thought the opposite. If her minute shaking was anything to go off of, that is.

Cutting through the steady sound of air rushing past his ears was the lilting voice of the woman in front of him. Deryn dipped his chin down to look at her, but all he could truly see was the hair being blown about in the high winds. He was sure his own mop of hair was streaking behind him as well, but the ends of hers were licking at his neck. He didn’t speak a word to her, he was sure it would result in some form of reprimand from Adalia.

Instead, he unfurled his fingers from the front of the saddle, keeping one in place as he moved the other towards her. Pushing his hand onto her opposite shoulder and pulling her flush against his chest in a sort of make-shift seat belt. It wouldn’t truly make her any safer, but it would at least feel like it. Deryn angled his legs a hint more inwards, making Adalia’s legs press into Silvesse that little bit more.

He kept himself as steady as possible, unwilling to make Silvesse annoyed to the point of taking an impromptu dive downwards just to listen to the woman squeal. Thankfully, his dragon remained calm the entire flight, her wing beats were smooth and she followed closely behind Fury and her companion. Only when they began to approach their lair did the red-headed woman look over her shoulder to Deryn. He was sure beneath her scarf mask and goggles she had a twitch of annoyance at the position he was in with Adalia, but it didn’t show as she flicked her arm out and gave a quick gesture.

Begrudgingly, Deryn retracted his arm which had been in place for well over half an hour now and moved to his own hip. He produced a ribbon of dark fabric, letting go of the saddle completely now, he leaned his torso backwards. This took away most of the support he was giving Ada, but he needed both of his hands for this part.

“Do what they say,” He finally spoke, keeping up his facade of harshness only to let himself bleed into the next word. “Please.” With that, Deryn flipped the fabric over Adalia’s eyes and tied it behind her head, ensuring that she couldn’t see where they were about to dive into. He gripped the front of the saddle again, he needed to now or else he would come flying off too. He squashed his legs into Ada’s and hunched himself over her in an attempt to secure her a little more.

“Don’t let go.” He gave the warning a few heartbeats before Silvesse let out a shrill noise and snapped her wings into her body, taking a nose dive. The air rushed past his head like he was navigating through a tornado as Silvesse took all the twists and turns required to reach their lair. Some of it was to disorient their captive, but most of it was needed in order to weave through the rock spires and cliff faces of the mountain range. The torment only came to an end as Silvesse latched onto the edge of a slate ledge, clambering her way up as other dragons mimicked her on either side.