Aurora (12 page)

‘Longtail is wily,’
she observed.
‘I was hoping to draw her into a straight chase, but she’s outmanoeuvred me and gained the advantage. I’m afraid we
could be in trouble here.’

‘I’ve got an idea that could tip the balance in our favour,’
Pell said.
‘We need to find a narrow box canyon. Preferably one with no room to turn around without
landing.’

‘What do you have in mind, Pell?’
Shadow asked, curious.

Pell told her.

Shadow did not reply for some time. Pell could feel her thinking his suggestion through. When she did finally speak, her response was not quite what Pell expected.

‘It is terribly risky,’
she said slowly.
‘If we’re too close to Longtail when we try it, we could all get killed.’

‘Surely everything’s risky, isn’t it? It’s two against one. This gives us the element of surprise.’

‘You’re right,’
she agreed.
‘I doubt there are many dragons who would attempt it. My hesitation stems from my inability to decide if your plan demonstrates
boldness or insanity!’

‘There’s a night dragon right behind your tail . . . and it’s not Shadow!’ Nolita gasped. With her body flat against Fire’s back and her hands
wound through the stirrups, the only way Nolita could look behind was by raising an arm slightly and peering underneath and back along the length of her dragon’s body.

‘This is where flying starts to get really interesting,’
Fire replied.
‘Hold yourself tight to my back and try not to be afraid. We’re going to have to turn
hard and often.’

‘Where’s Shadow gone?’

‘She’s drawn off the other two night dragons,’
he replied.
‘She and Pell are heading over the high pass to our right. The dragon behind us is called Deepshade.
We’re one against one now.’

Nolita was horrified. Pell had left her. She was alone with her dragon. That held more significance than the fact they were under attack. The familiar wall of black terror began to rise. Her
breathing quickened and she could feel her heartbeat accelerating. Her dragon’s fatigue was making every sinew in her body ache in sympathy, yet from somewhere she could feel him summoning
strength from a seemingly impossible reserve.

‘Turning right,’
Fire told her, simultaneously snapping into such a vicious turn, he appeared to be pivoting around his right wingtip.

A brutal force, far greater than any she had experienced before, crushed Nolita’s body against the saddle. Nolita screamed. She could not help it. A deep inhalation swelled Fire’s
back beneath her. He arched his head on his long neck and blasted a stream of fire past her at the closing night dragon. She knew that he could breathe far hotter fire, but this blast seemed to
cost him more than any she had felt before. Deepshade screeched, though Nolita could not tell if it was through pain, or rage.

‘Turning left.’

The transition was so fast that her head spun with the speed of the rolling motion. For a brief moment, the force pressing her against Fire’s back eased, only to return an instant later as
he wheeled hard in the opposite direction. There was a slight bump, like a jolt of turbulence and the turn smoothed again.

‘That was close!’
Fang exclaimed.
‘Deepshade turns faster than most night dragons. I’ve not got the energy to drag this out. We must take them down quickly, or
they will kill us for sure. I’m going to try something I saw one of those flying machines do in the other world.’

Nolita was struggling to focus on what Fire was telling her. She did not know what had just happened, nor what he intended to do, and she was too scared to ask. Her fingers were gripping the
leather of the stirrups so hard that she could feel her nails cutting into her palms. She screwed her eyes as tightly shut as she could and, stifling a scream, gritted her teeth together so hard
that the muscles on either side of her jaw bulged fit to burst.

The rolling motion this time, as Fire reversed the turn, was not so severe. But instead of the crushing pressure decreasing as he rolled, it increased slightly and then very gradually decreased
until it disappeared altogether. As the force decreased, so did the noise of the wind rush and Nolita began to feel a curious sensation, as if she was about to float free of her dragon’s
back. Still the steady rolling motion to the right continued. Was it never going to stop? What was Firestorm doing?

As gradually as the force holding her against Fire had eased, so it began to build again. Nolita no longer had any idea which way was up, but she did not dare to open her eyes. She could feel
Fire brewing another jet of flame as his back swelled beneath her. The pressure forcing her against the saddle continued to build, pressing harder and harder. Firestorm loosed another roar of fiery
breath, drawing a second screech from Deepshade. This time, curiously, the sound originated ahead of them, and there was no mistaking it for anything other than a cry of pain.

A surge of triumph swept through the bond, almost overwhelming Nolita with its intensity. The emotion lasted barely an instant, only to be replaced by an equally potent wave of panic. Where the
force holding her against her dragon’s back had been increasing smoothly up until this moment, suddenly it peaked with savage power, squashing her flat against his back. As suddenly as it
peaked, so the force was gone. With the release came a third flood of emotion – relief.

‘It’s over,’
Fire told her wearily.
‘Deepshade won’t be following us any more.’

Nolita cautiously cracked open her eyes. They were flying very low along the valley basin. Glancing over her shoulder, she glimpsed the night dragon on the ground behind them. She saw movement.
It was not dead.

‘What did you do?’ she gasped.

‘I burned a large hole through her right wing,’
Fire said gravely.
‘It was a horrible thing to do, but I was left with no choice. Without a miracle, she will not fly
again for a long time. I am pleased she and her rider survived the crash. I would not like to be responsible for the death of another dragon, or worse, for turning one rogue.’

‘But Deepshade was behind us,’
Nolita said, trying to replay the sensations she had felt as they had manoeuvred.
‘How did you turn the fight around so
quickly?’

‘I did something that I don’t think any dragon has ever tried before,’
Fire replied.
‘I completed a full roll to the right.’

‘A full roll? What do you mean?’

‘I mean we turned to the right, but kept the roll element of the turn going until we turned through an upside down position and back to normal flight.’

‘But that’s impossible! I would have fallen . . . or at least been hanging by my arms from the stirrups,’ Nolita insisted.

‘If I had tried simply to roll, then yes, I imagine that is what would have happened,’
Fire agreed.
‘But I didn’t. When we were in the other world I saw one of
those flying machines complete a sort of looping roll. The machine was constantly pitching upwards relative to the man inside while rolling at the same time. It was the constant tipping upward
movement that kept you from falling, though I’m not sure I did it quite right. I felt you almost leave my back as we got to the fully upside down position.’

Nolita was confused.

‘I’m not sure I really understand what you mean. I still don’t see how a roll could take you from in front of Deepshade to behind her,’
Nolita said, slowly
straightening herself in the saddle until she was sitting upright.

‘Well, to begin with she tried to follow,’
Fire explained.
‘But when she reached the limit of her comfort zone, she panicked and rolled her wings level. Because she
had lost so much speed, she had to accelerate to stay airborne, but this powered her ahead of us. As I completed the roll, she was below and in front of me. I could not have asked for a more
perfect outcome. Unfortunately, I misjudged the second half of the roll, leaving us in a steeper dive than I anticipated. We nearly flew straight into the ground. The next time we do it, I will be
sure to start with more height.’

‘
NEXT TIME!
’ Nolita choked, still struggling to believe that she had actually been upside down on her dragon’s back.
‘There will be no “next time”!
No “we”! and no more crazy stunts! Is that clear – NEVER!’
She shuddered.
‘Shouldn’t we be trying to catch up with Pell and Shadow now?’
she
asked, trying to change the subject.

There was a long pause before Fire answered.

‘We can’t follow them,’
he replied wearily.

‘Why not?’

‘They have crossed the line of mountains to our right. Unless I can find a low-level way through, or they re-cross to this valley, we’re on our own for a while longer. I’m
far too tired to consider trying one of the high passes. I will try to put some distance between Deepshade and us, but I must land soon. I am exhausted. I need to rest.’

All the wild emotional swings of the past few minutes faded as the implications of Fire’s words sank in. The cold hard core of fear solidified in Nolita’s stomach and she began to
shake. She had been alone with Firestorm for a few hours in Isaa, but then they had had a plan to reunite with the rest of the group. This time there was no plan. She was alone with her dragon, and
that scared her even more than flying upside down had done.

Chapter Eleven

‘We’ve already lost a whole week!’ Kira snapped, her eyes narrowing. Her whole body was taut with emotion. ‘We can’t stay any longer, Elian. Make
sure you’re ready to go. Fang tells me Aurora thinks you’re fit enough to fly. We should leave tomorrow at dawn. Fang and I have both been experiencing a growing feeling that the
answers we need are in the other world. I know you must be reluctant to go back after our last visit, but we have no choice.’

‘Blaze’s eggs are likely to begin hatching any day now,’ Elian replied. ‘Aren’t you curious to see hatchling dragons?’

Kira gave him a hard stare. She could see it was a shame to miss such a unique occasion, but she was determined. ‘Yes, I’m curious,’ she admitted. ‘But I’m not
going to start cooing over a gaggle of baby dragons and allow them to sidetrack me from our quest. We’re running out of time and we’re no closer to finding the final orb now than we
were when we arrived.’

There had been a growing sense of anticipation as the eggs had hardened during the last few days. Tarl and Neema had fussed about the enclave, ensuring there was plenty of food ready for the
hatchlings and preparing the caves where the newly hatched dragons could spend time until they were ready to fly out and fend for themselves.

If the dragons could have used their power to make Elian better, they would have left sooner and his fascination with the hatching would not have been so acute. Shimmer had been terribly
disappointed when his attempts at healing Elian had failed. He did exactly as Aurora had directed, but nothing happened.

Aurora had also tried to heal her rider – to no avail. Unlike a day dragon’s potent healing fire, it appeared that while a dawn dragon’s ability to transfer its inner power
through its scales could be used to heal dragons, it could not be used to heal their human riders.

Elian’s eyesight had continued to recover naturally during the week. It was almost back to normal now, with only a slight blurriness, but his hearing remained limited. The background
ringing noise had gone, but he was still almost completely deaf in his right ear.

The wound in Elian’s leg was also still painful. The damaged muscles in his right thigh were not yet able to bear his full weight. Where Haithan had removed the fragment of metal, the
flesh appeared to be healing cleanly, but it required bandaging with linen strips twice a day, and would continue to do so for some time.

Elian had progressed quickly from hobbling around the enclave on wooden crutches, to limping with a single stick for support but, unless they could find a friendly day dragon to cut short the
healing process, the leg was going to take a long time to fully recover. He was reluctant to get going, but he knew in his heart that he was fit enough to fly and they could not delay any
longer.

Finally, Elian sighed and nodded. ‘Do you know where to look in the other world?’ he asked Kira. ‘I don’t want to stumble around blindly. To be frank, I don’t want
to go at all.’

An intense flashback to the explosion caused his chest to tighten. For a moment he was there again. It was dark. The strange, remote battle was going on around him. He was blind, deaf and
paralysed by fear. Then it was gone. His eyes refocused on Kira and he gave an awkward grimace as he fought down the remnants of panic that threatened to overwhelm him. He took a slow, deep breath.
Then another.

‘I don’t think we’ll have to search,’ she replied carefully. ‘I’ve got a feeling the answer we’re looking for will find us. The man, Jack Miller, is the
key. I don’t pretend to understand what his connection is, or why he is a part of this, but we need to find him again if we want to find the orb. Fang and I can both feel it. Aurora feels it
too. Talk to her. She’s been hesitant to push you into going back because she shares your apprehension, but she feels the pull as we do.’