Shadow (19 page)

Shadow eased slightly higher above the ground and began to accelerate forwards still faster, her powerful wings driving them on down the valley with great sweeping strokes. Pell glanced back
over his shoulder again, but he could still not see their pursuers.

‘We’re clear,’ he told Elian aloud. ‘The guard dragons will never catch us now.’

‘Good,’ Elian responded, his voice tight with relief. ‘I think I’ve had my fill of excitement for one day.’

Chapter Sixteen

Kira felt almost comfortable as Fang descended into formation alongside Shadow. For the first time in a while she was back in familiar territory. They were involved in a hunt
– well, more of a chase, or a race, depending on one’s viewpoint, but the principles were similar. There was the added complication that whilst they were chasing down Segun in a race to
the Valley of the Griffins, the four companions were in turn being hunted by an unknown number of night dragons.

Translating their circumstances into the framework of a hunt put her at ease with this new phase of their quest. There would be danger, but that went hand in hand with a hunt. Rather than
dwelling on the negatives, Kira began to think through the practical things they could do to improve their chances of success.

A hunter had to master many disciplines: endurance, patience, stealth, strength, focus and, in the final moments, accuracy with weapons. Kira had trained her mind and body in these disciplines
for season after season, but her companions would need guidance if they were to complete their mission and return to the Oracle with the second orb. Elian and Nolita were malleable enough, but Pell
was going to be a problem. He was so absorbed with leading that he was likely to oppose anything Kira said, no matter how sensible. Pell had set her teeth on edge from the moment he first spoke to
her, but she knew that continually clashing with him would not help their cause.

Gods but he’s annoying! she thought. But I mustn’t let him get to me. The trick will be to make him think we’re all following his lead and listening to his ideas, whilst
guiding him along a sensible path. If he wasn’t so pigheaded, it would be easy.

‘Thinking about Pell, Kira?’

‘How did you guess?’

‘I’ve not yet seen anything else fire your mind with such angry frustration,’
Fang observed with wry amusement.
‘You and he are alike in many ways. It is
inevitable that you will clash.’

‘I am nothing like Pell!’
she said, outraged by the suggestion.
‘How can you even think such a thing?’

‘I meant no offence, Kira,’
Fang replied, unrepentant.
‘But the two of you are strong-willed, determined, and focused on your goals. Where you differ is in the
nature of your ambition. Shadow is quite similar as well, but I venture she is more willing to listen to reason than either of you riders. If I heard correctly, you are thinking about manipulating
Pell into following your lead by fooling him into believing he is dictating our path.’

‘That’s right.’

‘Your best avenue to achieve that end is through Shadow,’
Fang suggested.
‘Pell listens to her, and Shadow respects my age and experience. I can plant ideas in her
mind that she will relate to Pell. He will then do as you wish, but think he and Shadow are doing all the work. Be warned: it will be frustrating to see him take all the credit. You will need to
exercise considerable self-control to make it work.’

‘I’ll cope,’
Kira said quickly.

‘I hope so,’
Fang replied.
‘Because if you lose your temper and give the game away, he will develop a whole new level of wariness.’

Kira fell to thinking about that for some time. It was true, she realised. Despite all the discipline she had learned with the hunters of her tribe, she was still quick to feel anger. Holding
herself in check might not be as easy as she thought, but she would only need to do it until they got the night orb. Once they had that, the search would move on to the dusk orb and all
Pell’s arguments for being leader would no longer have any weight.

The two trios flew on into the night, holding a steady course to the north and west of the great mountain range that housed the night dragon enclave. Kira’s thoughts wandered as she became
lost, staring with renewed wonder at the beauty of the starlit sky. The third moon, Tritos, was climbing now, its pale blue face round and chill – very different from the silvery hue of the
great moon and the pinkish shade of Bimodar, the other minor moon. A shooting star flashed across the heavens, followed swiftly by a second. Her breath caught in her throat. No matter how much she
stared at the stars they never failed to fill her with a sense of awe.

‘I think you should know that Firestorm and Aurora are above us.’
Fang’s voice in her head startled her from her thoughts. How long had passed? Judging by how far the
moons had progressed across the sky it had been quite a while.
‘They will be alongside us shortly. Now that we are all together again, I have shown each of the other dragons an image of
where we are going. If for any reason we do get separated, then we will aim to meet up at the Valley of the Griffins.’

Kira experienced a flash of irritation that Fang had not asked her opinion before deciding to share such important information with the others. She could not fault the dragon’s logic, but
it was hard not to dwell on the fact that Fang had let their biggest bargaining asset go unused. Had Fang done this deliberately to test her? Her dragon was perceptive and clever. She felt sure he
already knew her better than her parents had ever done. Was Fang manipulating her just as she intended to manipulate Pell? She laughed aloud at that thought.

‘What a group we are!’ she muttered through her chuckling.

‘What’s happened?’ Nolita asked, leaning forwards. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Nothing, Nolita,’ Kira replied over her shoulder. ‘Nothing at all.’

A sudden movement to their right drew her eyes. Firestorm and Aurora were descending into formation alongside them, their colours not distinguishable in the darkness, but their black outlines
clearly different from those of night dragons.

Kira’s back ached, and her eyes felt hot and gritty with tiredness. They needed to get as far from the night dragon enclave as possible under cover of darkness. If they were going to rest
it would be better to do it during the daytime. But she was so exhausted that she felt it could be dangerous to continue flying. One thing was sure – no matter when they stopped, Pell would
argue the case for pressing on longer.

Fang was also weary. The rhythm of his wing-beats was faster than usual as he strained to keep up with the much larger night dragon. Shadow was setting a wicked pace.

‘Yet more bravado, no doubt,’ Kira sighed.
‘Time for you to start planting those ideas in Shadow’s mind, Fang,’
she told him.
‘We need to rest.
Pell’s probably feeling great after Firestorm’s healing earlier, and Shadow had a day’s rest before setting out tonight. The rest of us are beat. We need to stop, if only for a
short while. Do you think we’re being followed?’

There was a pause before Fang answered.
‘No,’
he said.
‘At least, if there
are
any dragons following, they are too far behind for me to sense. I rather
suspect they have given up and gone back. A break would be good. I shall see what I can do.’

A
few minutes passed in silence.

‘Kira, Shadow has just asked if any of we three “smaller” dragons, or our riders, require a rest,’
Fang eventually told her.
‘How would you like me to
respond?’

Kira made a rude noise.

‘I shall interpret that as “Yes, thank you, Shadow. That would be much appreciated,”’
Fang responded, his tone deadpan.

Kira could feel his amusement through the bond.
‘You’re just loving this, aren’t you?’
she accused.

‘I do find it entertaining, yes,’
he admitted.
‘Firestorm also had the good sense to brush off Shadow’s insult. Aurora, on the other wing, is rather less
pleased. Her response to Shadow’s phrasing was so cold I’ll be surprised if our night dragon friend is not suffering frostbite! Tell Nolita to hold on. We are going
down.’

Although the first hint of the approaching dawn was already beginning to lighten the sky to the east, it was still effectively full night. Of the dragons, Fang had by far the best night vision.
For all her posturing, Shadow was sensible enough to accept this, so it was Fang who directed them down to a landing point next to a small stand of trees in the middle of a huge open field, where
the land was flat in all directions.

Once safely on the ground, the riders were quick to dismount. The trees were spaced widely enough for the dragons to move underneath the leafy canopy. Camouflaging the dragons on the ground was
key to avoid capture, Kira realised. It was easy enough here, but as they moved further northwards into the open tundra they would be less likely to find such convenient cover.

‘Let’s have a brief fire and get some hot food and drink inside us,’ Kira suggested.

‘A fire!’ Pell challenged immediately. ‘Are you mad? It’ll draw the night dragons like moths.’

Kira sighed. ‘You’re welcome to eat cold food if you wish, Pell,’ she told him. ‘But I’m going to cook, whether you like it or not. It’s been a challenging
day and we need to eat properly. It’s not a short journey to the Valley of the Griffins. We’re going to need all our strength. Let’s try to gather some wood.’

Elian and Nolita were quick to join Kira in her search, but Pell remained still for some moments before reluctantly making a token effort. Soon they had gathered a good pile of wood, but
kindling was impossible to find.

‘Nolita, can Firestorm light it for us?’ Kira asked. ‘It would save a lot of time and I don’t want to have the fire alight any longer than necessary. We’re not
going to be here long enough to worry about building shelters. Our dragons can cover us with their wings while we sleep.’

Nolita looked horrified. Even in the darkness, Kira could tell that the colour had drained from the girl’s face at Kira’s suggestion of sleeping close to the dragons, and she looked
close to tears. But somehow Nolita held herself together. Her eyes went blank for an instant as she communicated Kira’s request. ‘He says he will,’ she replied.

‘Good. Thank you, Nolita. Stand back, everyone.’

Firestorm curled his head around on his long neck until it was close to where the riders had piled the wood. The young people moved well back. Kira held her breath as the dragon inhaled. An
image flashed into her mind of Firestorm’s flaming breath destroying the trees in the other world. She winced, but she need not have worried. When Fire breathed out, the flame that spewed
from his mouth was small and controlled, but very hot.

The gathered branches and sticks were not altogether dry. They spluttered and popped at the blaze of heat, and smoke billowed into clouds that fingered their way through the branches and leaves,
curling and reaching up as if feeling for the open sky. Firestorm continued to breathe out and out, his fiery breath seemingly neverending.

‘That should be enough, thank you, Nolita,’ Kira said, stepping forwards.

A heartbeat later Firestorm stopped his flame and drew his head away to allow more space around the fire. Kira held her hands out towards the dancing orange tongues, enjoying the warmth and
friendly light they cast. The others moved forwards to join her. Now that it was up to temperature, the smoke from the fire had reduced to little more than a haze, but the smell of it lingered
under the trees for some time.

Within a very short time Kira had a pan of water heating, whilst simultaneously frying up a meaty concoction that smelled heavenly to the tired riders. Considering his reluctance to help build a
fire, Pell was quick enough to dig in to his portion of the food. He ate so fast that Kira was left wondering exactly what he had been fed during his short spell in the night dragon cell. Not a lot
by the look of it, she thought, a wicked little smile twisting her lips as the words ‘Serves him right’ crossed her mind.

‘That’s not very charitable, Kira,’
Fang teased, keeping his tone as serious as ever.

‘I’ve just fed him, haven’t I?’
she snapped.
‘After his lack of appreciation for the risks we faced to get him out of that cell, and his objection to
the fire, I’d say that’s pretty charitable. I can’t help it if he’s a self-centred, arrogant little—
’

‘I hardly think you could describe him as little,’
Fang interrupted, clearly amused by her vitriolic response.
‘He is bigger than you are.’

‘There’s little and there’s
little
,’
she responded.

Fang did not understand, but he did not need to. Kira’s tone said it all.

‘Just remember that you are supposed to be letting him think he is leading,’
Fang said.
‘You forced his hand tonight with the fire. If you keep doing that sort of
thing, he will become very difficult. Try to let him get his way every now and then. Perhaps you could practise. Why not thank him for suggesting the rest stop?’