by Mark Robson
‘Absolutely!’ Pell said without pause. ‘And he’s probably right. Segun said the death of the Oracle will free his hand to seize ultimate power and rule the world. He called it “the age of dragons” and he’s deadly serious.’
‘Assuming we let the Oracle die and Segun embarks on his plan, what do you think he will do first?’ she asked.
Pell looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘He’ll look to remove his most dangerous opponents from the field,’ he said. ‘The day dragons are the only enclave strong enough to give him any serious problems. He’ll look to crush them swiftly. Once the day dragons are no longer a threat, he’ll send night dragons throughout Areth with the same message – submit to his authority, or face the consequences.’
‘That’s what I thought,’ Kira said, nodding. She turned and looked Nolita in the eye. ‘We don’t have a choice, Nolita. This isn’t a game. Scary though it is, the fate of Areth is in our hands. If we fail, our families and friends could soon be answering to Segun. Is that what you want? Can you imagine the night dragons paying a visit to your family in Cemaria?’
Nolita shuddered and Elian found he could almost picture her thoughts as the images tumbled through her mind – the black dragons swooping down from the sky to the tiny village in the woods. The people there had no weapons that would be effective against a night dragon. She had told him that her sister and brother, Sable and Balard, were brave, but their bravery was likely to get them killed if they resisted Segun’s men. He watched her face intently as she came to the realisation that Kira was right. Segun could not be allowed to see his plan through.
‘I’ll do it,’ Nolita said softly. ‘I’ll go to the enclave with Pell. The thought of the journey scares me, but the thought of not acting scares me more.’
‘Thanks, Nolita,’ said Elian, his voice sounding both grateful and relieved. ‘I knew we could count on you. You’ve been brave throughout this quest. Your family will be so proud when they hear about what you’ve done.’
‘I’ve not agreed to go yet,’ Pell pointed out.
‘But you will go,’ Elian said firmly. ‘If we’re going to get past Segun, we’re going to need all the help we can get. Getting the day dragon enclave to support us is our best chance.’
‘What if I decide I want to help the Oracle less than I want to hurt Segun?’ Pell suggested. ‘If I’m honest, I don’t trust either of them. And I like them even less.’
Elian’s eyes narrowed with anger. ‘Sometimes I think you argue for the sake of it, Pell,’ he muttered through gritted teeth.
Pell gave a short bark of laughter and shrugged his shoulders. ‘That’s a fair assessment,’ he admitted. He poked at the fire again with his stick. ‘But you’re right. I will go. It will be worth the trip just to see Segun’s face when the day dragons line up against him – assuming they will come, of course.’
‘They’ll come,’ Nolita said, her eyes distant and her voice sounding strangely prophetic. ‘They will come and Areth will never be the same again.’
Chapter Six
Dark Passage
‘Look after her, Pell,’ Elian ordered, keeping his voice to barely more than a whisper. ‘I know how you feel about her, but she’s braver than you give her credit for and I can’t help feeling she’s still got an important part to play in this quest.’ He glanced across to the shelter. He could just make out the mop of blonde hair unmoving inside.
Pell’s eyes instinctively followed Elian’s. The older boy nodded. ‘Don’t worry, Elian,’ he said. ‘I’ll make sure she gets to the day dragon enclave, but what she does then will be up to her.’
‘Good enough,’ Elian replied. ‘When you get there, ask for Barnabas. He’s the leader. He’ll know how to handle Nolita. He’ll also be able to organise the enclave. Ask him to have the day dragons in position by the day before the harvest full moon. That gives you just over two weeks, which should be ample time to fly to the enclave in Racafi and back. Hopefully, Kira and I will be waiting for you with the last two orbs.’
‘Where will you wait?’
‘There’s a lake about two hours’ flight south of the Oracle’s cave,’ Elian said. ‘Viewed from above, it looks like a grasping hand. It is the biggest for some distance around. You can’t miss it.’
‘We’ll be there. Good luck with finding the orb.’
The pre-dawn glow was increasing steadily, as was the swell of the dawn chorus. Aurora was eager to get airborne. Elian could feel her energy and anticipation. Kira was already mounted and waiting. Leaping lightly up Aurora’s side, Elian settled into his saddle. With a farewell salute to Pell, he gave his dragon the silent command to leave.
Aurora turned on the spot and bounded away through the green sea of ferns with Fang following close behind. Within moments they had left the ground and were climbing across the still water of the lake. The air was cool, but not cold, and the sky was cloudless as far as the eye could see. The breeze had died out, killing all hints of turbulence. It was a beautiful morning for flying.
Elian could feel the dawn approaching. He had become attuned to Aurora’s instincts. He could feel her strength building and her will gathering as she prepared to open the gateway. The sudden flood of energy that poured through her raged and roared in a mind-numbing torrent, as she tore apart the fabric of time and space and opened the vortex. It swirled in front of them, waiting like the gaping mouth of a monster about to swallow its victim whole.
Kira and Fang surged past them and flew straight into the grim grey vortex at high speed. They vanished into the grey cloud, disappearing the instant they entered. Elian braced himself for the passage between worlds. The twisting wrench of entry felt as though his body had been distorted out of its natural shape. Even though he had made the jump to the other world several times, experience did not reduce the discomfort.
From the moment he entered, Elian could no longer feel Aurora under him. The familiar sensation of weightlessness was no longer as terrifying as it had been the first time. But the total lack of any sensation was as spooky as ever. No sound. Nothing to see. No smell. No taste. No sensations of touch or pressure on his body. It was good that it did not last long. Such a lack of stimuli could easily cause a person to lose their mind if they were subjected to it for any length of time.
The wrench of emergence was welcome, but any thoughts of relief were short-lived as the air around him suddenly erupted with fire and noise.
‘What on Areth . . .?’ Elian gasped.
It was slightly darker here, but the explosions were so frequent and so close that the nearby countryside appeared more vivid than it would in full daylight. White and orange fire split the air around them and exploded from the ground below in great sunflowers of flame. Dawn was not far away. The eastern sky was a crown of light blue.
‘We’ve arrived in the middle of a battle,’ Aurora said urgently. ‘Fang has started to climb. We need to get away quickly.’
‘No arguments here!’ Elian replied.
The drone of several flying machines filled the momentary gaps in the barrage of explosions. There were a number of machines both ahead and behind them. What were they doing flying at this time of night? Unless they had launched some time ago, they must have got airborne in the dark! How did they keep from crashing into one another?
‘The machines are fairly evenly spaced,’ Aurora said. ‘The men in the machine approaching from behind us are full of anticipation. They are preparing to drop weapons on the area directly below us. The ones in the machine in front are relieved. They have dropped their weapons and are concentrating on looking for landmarks to navigate home by. They seem to be following a set route in a steady stream.’
‘What’s down there?’ Elian asked.
‘Large buildings and some horseless carriages that are mounted on metal lines on the ground,’ she replied. ‘There are quite a lot people down there, too.’
‘Is Jack in one of the flying machines?’
Elian felt Aurora reach out with her mind. Sh
e searched the sky around them looking for the airman they had encountered on previous visits to this world. All the time she was searching, she was also climbing higher and higher, her wings pounding in a powerful rhythm that lifted them out of the immediate path of the flying machines.
‘I don’t think so,’ she said eventually. ‘Though I can’t be totally sure.’
Elian was also scanning the sky when a sudden blast of light, heat and sound smashed into him with no warning. By chance, he was looking to his right, directly at the spot where the weapon exploded. Instinct made him flinch away. As his head snapped to the left, he felt pain flash forwards in a line from his right earlobe across his cheek and a simultaneous flare of pain erupt in his right thigh. Aurora lurched into a turn to the left, roaring with anger and shared pain. The suddenness of the rolling motion combined with the shockwave from the explosion nearly threw Elian from the saddle. Only his instinctive reaction to grip the pommel with all his might saved him from a long fall into the dark.
The next few minutes were confusing. Elian’s ears were ringing and his right ear was incredibly painful. Everything sounded distant and unreal. Nor could he see very much. A large yellow flash spot blocked his vision wherever he looked. Everything around the spot was blurred, and blinking hurt the surface of his eyes. Even with his eyes closed, the yellow splash of colour remained.
Aurora appeared to be having problems flying straight and her voice in his mind sounded distant. He could tell that she was also hurt. Her thoughts were laced with a rising sense of panic, but he could not think straight enough to respond with any coherent thoughts of his own. There were more explosions. Some were close enough to rock Aurora further, but none inflicted more pain.
An inner fire began to burn in Elian’s mind and chest. Power was building inside him. The sun was approaching the horizon. In his confused state it took a while to realise the fire he could feel was Aurora gathering energy to form another vortex. He wanted to call out. He could feel that the full power of dawn was still some way off. He wanted to tell her to stop – tell her not to overstretch herself. The thought of entering a passage back to Areth while injured terrified him. Jumping between worlds was uncomfortable enough when he was fit and well, but at the moment he was barely hanging on to her back. What would happen if he fell inside the vortex?
He wished he could communicate with his dragon, but he could not channel his thoughts into any sort of organised stream. He wanted to ask how she was, but he could not reach her. He did not see the vortex form. One moment was confusion and pain, the next he was floating in the grey nothingness that filled the place between worlds. All pain ceased. The yellow flash spot was gone, replaced by never-ending grey. The ringing in his ears stopped. The tranquillity of the passage cocooned him in a bubble of peace.
For the first time, Elian did not even feel the wrench as he entered the place between worlds. He would never have believed it possible to feel relief at being there, but the sudden cessation of pain and confusion was a blissful release. He had just enough time to think that to fall into such a peaceful place would not be such a bad thing before being hurled back into reality.
Lashing rain whipped him with stinging lines of icy cold as they emerged. The flash spot blossomed instantly before his eyes and his right ear felt as if someone had pierced it deep inside with a long needle. Within seconds he was not just flying blind and deaf but also soaked to the skin and freezing cold. The realisation that he might be about to die was a shock. From the moment he had left home he had faced dangers. Dragonhunters, extreme cold, demons and night dragons – any one could have killed him, but he had escaped each challenge unscathed. For the first time, Elian suddenly became painfully aware of the fragile nature of life. He could not tell the extent of his own injuries and his dragon could be dying for all he knew. Was it all about to end? Was he about to crash and die? Robbed of his sight and hearing, all Elian could do was to hang onto the pommel and hope that Aurora still possessed the strength to get them to safety.
Blurred shadows loomed around him. It felt as though they were amongst mountains again. Aurora bucked and rolled beneath him like a wild stallion. He knew in his heart that it was turbulence, but for an insane moment he thought she might be trying to throw him from her back. Sheer desperation kept his fingers wrapped tightly around the pommel. He squeezed it so hard that his fingers seemed to lock and he doubted he could have let go again if he had wanted to.
All at once Aurora gave a huge lurch, like a horse leaping over a high hedge, and the pummelling rain cut off in an instant. The wind that had tugged at his clothing and hair also stopped abruptly and Aurora’s motion switched from a flying rhythm to a running one. Relief warmed him. They had landed.
Aurora slowed to a stop and Elian leaned forwards slowly until his cheek rested against her back ridge just in front of the saddle. His fingers would not let go of the pommel, so he bent over them. He had thought that when the rain stopped his vision would clear but, although the flash spot was receding, his sight remained blurred and no amount of blinking made any difference. He could no longer feel his right foot and he felt sick with the pain in his ears and eyes.
The lullaby of unconsciousness began to sing its drowsy invitation but Elian refused to listen to its dreamy voice. There was something important that he had to do. He could not afford to rest. Another voice, distant, harsh and demanding began to intrude. Was that Aurora? No. It was Kira! He could hear her. He wasn’t deaf. He could hear Kira. She wanted something. Legs bowed? Letter owed? What was she saying?
He felt hands grip him on either side of his jacket and pull him to his left. Let go! That was it. She wanted him to let go. He wanted to comply. He trusted Kira but his fingers refused to obey. The hands searched under his body and prised his fingers free. A spike of pain shot down his right leg as he was eased out of the saddle. He gasped with the shock of it. More hands supported him from below, lowering him gently down Aurora’s side. Pell? Nolita? Had they returned to Orupee? No, that couldn’t be it. The weather had been fine in Orupee when they left. It was cold and raining here. Where was he?
Elian groaned. He was being carried, but by whom, or to where, he had no idea. Voices spoke to him – distant dreamlike voices. He tried to concentrate on what they were saying. They sounded both concerned and encouraging.
Suddenly he realised he was no longer moving. His bearers had put him down. Where had they taken him? When he tried to remember how long he had been carried for, he could find no frame of reference. It had felt like an eternity, yet it might have been a few heartbeats. He could feel a soft mattress under his back. Someone was bathing his right cheek and ear. A burning sensation was spreading across his face that helped him to focus. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words would form on his lips.
Excruciating pain suddenly roared in his right thigh, causing him to buck violently on the mattress. He cried out, feeling the vibrations of that cry rattle around inside his head. For some time afterwards his teeth ached and his ears felt as though they were bleeding. Gentle pressure was being applied to the leg. It hurt, but nothing like that first shock of pain. This felt comforting. Blurry shapes moved around him, bent over him and made faint encouraging crooning noises.
‘Rest, Elian.’
‘Aurora?’ he asked. His single word question asked many things – how are you? Where have you been? Where are you now?
‘I’m all right,’ she said wearily. ‘But you are injured. Rest. We’re at the enclave of the dawn dragons.’
‘Why couldn’t I reach you? I couldn’t hear your voice.’
‘I’ll try to explain it when you’ve had some rest, dragonrider,’ she assured him. ‘Now close your eyes and sleep.’
She was gone again. He felt her presence cut off as if a door had been shut between them. What was going on? He desperately wanted to know, but now that he had heard from her he could feel his body relaxing. The dreamy lassitude he had felt after they landed began to sing to him again. This time h
e did not resist. Within seconds his body began to feel lighter and he felt himself drift loose on the dark tide of sleep.
Chapter Seven
Pursuit
Nolita awoke with a start. The whooshing sound of retreating dragon wings brought her to her hands and knees in an instant. She was alone in the shelter. She crawled outside. There was no sign of anyone around the campsite. Had they all left her? The tightening sensation of panic gripped her chest making it difficult to breathe. She could feel her heart rate accelerating as fear swept through her.
Fumbling for her boots, she struggled into them and stumbled across to the edge of the trees. She arrived just in time to see Aurora disappearing into a swirling grey vortex at the far end of the lake. The vortex collapsed behind her. She was gone. But who had gone through ahead of her? Had anyone stayed behind? The thought of reaching out to Firestorm made her chest tighten further. She interlocked her fingers and squeezed them together until sharp spikes of pain forced her to ease off the pressure.
‘Shadow and Pell are still here.’
Firestorm’s voice in her mind made her jump and then shudder. She doubted she would ever get used to the feeling of having a voice talk to her inside her head. She hated the sensation. It felt wrong – an invasion of her privacy. It left her nowhere to hide. She knew the dragon could hear her thoughts, but she did not know how much he could hear. Were there any corners of her mind that he could not reach?
‘Pell is behind you and to your right,’ Firestorm continued. ‘He’s watching you from the trees. I cannot say for certain, but I think he is taking pleasure from watching your discomfort.’
‘Thank you,’ she thought back, projecting the words at the tenuous bridge she knew to be the path between their minds.
She did not need to look for Firestorm. She could feel where he was. Since she had accepted her role as a dragonrider, she had gradually become aware that she had gained another sense relating to her dragon. Even when she could not physically see him, she could feel where he was. At the moment she sensed he was tucked away among the trees a little way down towards the lake.