Chapter 10: Flying

   It had taken them only a very few moments to turn the nets into a makeshift saddle that would restrain Ardan and Rheto, holding them to Fulkar's back with one of his giant spikes serving as a kind of seat back. Soon they were strapped in, Rheto now a scaley blue, and Fulkar stretched his wings preparing to take off.
  "Are you ready?" Fulkar roared.
  "Yes, we are," answered Ardan. His hands flexed as he tightened his grip on the nets. Fulkar lowered his body to the ground, bending his knees until his belly touched the rough sand. Suddenly he launched himself straight up into the air, opening his wings and soaring in the wind. Ardan opened his eyes only after he felt the great wings settle into a rhythm. He hadn't realized he had closed his eyes, but they were wide open now. They were so high in the air that the largest trees looked like small seeds, and the fastest horse in the world could never have dreamed of matching their speed. Ardan was amazed. In the first second of flight, he saw more of the world than he had in the whole of his lifetime. The sand stretched out as far as he could see. It touched the rising sun on the horizon, but in the sky that was still dark, rose what he could only assume to be mountains. He had heard of them, learned of them through stories, but never seen them. They were massive and beautiful and as he stared at them, trying to take them in, he realized that Fulkar was flying toward them.