Aurora

by Mark Robson

  It would be a useful sense if I could extend it to feel the presence of others, she thought. Then I would have known that Pell was still here. Anger slowly began to replace the feeling of panic. The muscles across her chest relaxed and she drew in a deep breath. Pell knew her well enough to understand what she would be feeling at the moment. He had been cruel to deliberately conceal himself. Was this what the trip to the day dragon enclave was going to be like? Was Pell going to deliberately provoke her panic attacks to satisfy some twisted form of personal entertainment?

  The fire of her anger burned hot in her gut, but she controlled it. If Pell drew pleasure from watching her panic, how much more would he gain from seeing her get angry? Nolita had no desire to further his pleasure. She bottled her anger up deep inside. He would want to go soon and there were things she wanted to do before they left.

  Making her way back to the campsite, Nolita collected her water bottle and her precious bar of soap. Pell walked into the campsite as she was leaving for the lake. She ignored him. She needed to wash. Washing would help calm her.

  ‘Don’t be long,’ he called out to her as she left. ‘We need to get going soon.’

  ‘I’ll take as long as I want,’ she muttered under her breath.

  The water of the lake was cool and refreshing. She washed her hands first. Four turns of the soap for the first wash, three for the second. Her face and hair were next. The cool water felt wonderful as she soaped her hair. When she was finished, she wrapped the soap in its special cloth, wrung as much water from her hair as she could and walked back up to the campsite.

  Pell was packed and ready to go. He had revived the fire and was sitting next to his saddlebags chewing on a piece of roasted meat.

  ‘Feeling better?’ he asked. ‘Throw your things in your bag. We’d better get south of the mountains as early as possible. We don’t want to draw unwanted attention to ourselves.’

  Nolita did not trust herself to give a civil answer, but she went straight to the shelter and pulled her saddlebags and her blanket out in preparation to pack. The process of packing was another of her calming rituals. She spread the blanket on the ground outside the shelter and quickly took everything out of the saddlebags, laying them with precision in a neat pattern across the blanket. Once everything was laid out, she rapidly repacked, slotting and folding with careful accuracy to make the best use of the space inside the bags. The routine served a double purpose. It ensured that she never inadvertently left anything behind and the repetition helped to calm her nerves and prepare her for the day.

  Pell gave a pointed sigh as she began, but then watched her in silence. The process did not take long. Nolita had it down to a fine art.

  ‘Are you going to eat before we go?’

  ‘No,’ she said, slinging her saddlebags over her shoulder. ‘I’ll grab something later.’ She set off through the trees towards where she could feel Firestorm was waiting for her.

  ‘Your choice,’ Pell muttered with a shrug. He stamped out the little fire and carefully emptied his spare water bottle over the ashes to cool any remnant hotspots. With one final glance around the campsite to make sure they had not left anything behind, he headed off towards Shadow. The ferns that had covered the roof would begin to rot quite quickly, but the framework of the shelter would last a lot longer. It was an expected courtesy to leave such structures for other travellers.

  ‘Is everything all right, Pell?’ Shadow asked as he approached.

  ‘I’ve felt better,’ he admitted. The sight of the sleek lines of her gleaming scales between the trees lifted his mood. He could not help feeling good when he was close to her. ‘I’m just a bit irritated that we have to look after Nolita and Firestorm while Elian and Kira get to go off adventuring, that’s all.’

  ‘We’re going to the day dragon enclave,’ Shadow said. ‘Not many night dragons have ever gone there. We will be treading a path of adventure unseen by the likes of Segun.’

  ‘Trust you to see the positive!’ Pell said, smiling in spite of himself. ‘You’re right, of course, but I’d be happier if we were going alone.’

  ‘I don’t think going without them would be a good idea,’ Shadow observed. ‘The day dragon enclave will, doubtless, be pleased to see their newest heroes. I’m not sure we would be welcome without them at our side.’

  ‘I give up!’ Pell laughed aloud. ‘Your logic defeats me, Shadow. I’ll try to remember not to grouch in your presence any more. Let’s go.’

  He reached her side, leaped nimbly up her foreleg and slung the saddlebags into position. It took a moment to buckle them into place before he mounted the saddle and slotted his feet into the stirrups. Shadow moved out from between the trees. Firestorm and Nolita were already waiting. The two dragons looked at one another for a moment before leaping forwards and into the air.

  The dragons climbed, side by side, into the bright early morning sky, angling first across the sparkling water of the lake and then, as they gained height, turning southwest across the hills and flying towards the western mountains of central Orupee. They could not avoid crossing the range, but prudence dictated that they avoid the immediate area around the Oracle’s cave. The range curved around to the southwest here, so they could parallel the mountains for a long way before they would be forced in among the peaks.

  Pell glanced across at Nolita. Her complexion was usually pale but, from this distance, her face looked positively milky-white and her blonde hair streamed out behind her like a golden banner. At first he thought it was the distance that made it appear as if her eyes were closed. The sun was bright and low. When combined with the wind rush it was reasonable to slit one’s eyes, but there was something unseeing about the way she was holding her head. Was she really so scared that she could not look? Pell closed his eyes for a moment to see what it was like to fly blind. He did not keep them closed for long.

  Firestorm appeared to be working hard to climb at this rate, but Pell could feel that Shadow was virtually cruising. Pride for his dragon swelled within him. She was an incredible dragon – strong and powerful. No matter what Segun and the other riders from the night dragon enclave did, they could not change her. Shadow was unique – and she loved him. For all his dreams of power and status, when it came down to the core of what life was all about, she was all that mattered. Since meeting her, he had felt complete, as if a part of himself that he had never realised was missing had clicked into place.

  His feelings for Shadow made it doubly difficult to understand Nolita’s continuing fear. How could she not feel the same way about her dragon as he did about Shadow? How could she remain so fearful when her bond with Firestorm allowed her to reach inside him and touch the very depths of his love for her? It did not make any sense. Unless her bond with Firestorm was not like the one he enjoyed with his dragon. Wasn’t every bond between rider and dragon the same?

  Pell had never really stopped to wonder much about the other riders and dragons before. He had been so caught up in his own plans and goals that it had not crossed his mind to think through such questions. With Kira around, he had felt compelled to focus on controlling the group. Now that she had gone with Elian, he had lost his chief source of irritation and competition. Nolita would go where he led.

  ‘It looks as if trouble is set to plague us,’ Shadow warned, interrupting his thoughts.

  ‘What sort of trouble?’ Pell asked, instantly alert and scanning the sky around them.

  ‘Three night dragons approaching from behind and to the left,’ she said, her voice in his mind sounding grim. ‘The leader is called Darkhorn. He is telling me to land. They are angling to intercept. What do you want me to do?’

  Pell looked left to locate the night dragons, and then ahead and left to the mountains. The range was still a long way off and they were closing towards the peaks at a shallow angle. He could not see the night dragons yet, but he did not doubt Shadow’s word. If she was right and they were already positioning to intercept, then any thoughts of hiding were
out of the question. It was run, fight or surrender. Pell had no intentions of surrendering, but the other two options did not seem likely to meet with success.

  ‘Are Firestorm and Nolita aware?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘What do your instincts tell you, Shadow? Should we run or fight?’

  ‘I think we should try to run,’ she said. ‘Firestorm is brave, but the odds do not favour us in a fight. The three night dragons are still some way off. If we run it will take them some time to catch up. They may give up the chase if they think it is going to be too much effort. I imagine their persistence will depend on their orders.’

  ‘That makes sense but which way should we run?’ he asked. ‘If we turn and make a run for the mountains, we create a bigger corner for them to cut.’

  ‘You are right,’ she replied. ‘That would not be a good idea. Let us make them run as far as possible by keeping them directly behind us.’

  Shadow eased into a gentle turn to the right, adjusting her heading by about twenty degrees before rolling back into straight and level flight. She also began to accelerate. Pell looked across to see if Firestorm had followed. He had. The blue day dragon’s wings were pumping hard to keep up with Shadow, but there was tightness in the set of his face that conveyed determination. Pell was surprised. He had never noticed facial expressions on dragons before, and had not thought them capable of demonstrating emotion in that way.

  Pell’s heart raced as Shadow powered westwards, but it did not take long for the initial surge of adrenalin to die away. Craning his neck, he scanned the sky for any sign of the pursuing dragons, but he could see nothing. It was hard to force his eyes to focus much beyond Shadow’s tail, which rose and fell in mesmerising waves behind them.

  Looking ahead, he could see wispy puffs of fair-weather cloud beginning to form slightly above them in the otherwise cloudless sky, but Pell judged they would not grow into anything substantial enough to offer cover. Shadow had climbed to about a thousand spans. She was no longer climbing, instead concentrating on setting a pace that was fast, but one that she and Firestorm could maintain for a long time if necessary.

  As time passed, the feeling of danger faded. Aside from the slight increase of the wind rush and higher tempo of the dragons’ wingbeats, the flight felt much like any other. The countryside slipped past beneath them. The sun was climbing fast, its bright rays making it a pleasure to be airborne.

  ‘How are we doing?’ he asked Shadow eventually.

  ‘They are no longer gaining,’ she replied. ‘I hoped they would give up, but they are still following. Darkhorn is livid that we have not heeded her warning. She has made it clear that they will not give up the chase. If you look directly behind us and at a similar level, you should be able to see them.’

  Pell twisted again and looked for some time. He was about to give up when he finally spotted them. Three tiny black dots, unmoving. Were they really at a similar level? They looked as if they were lower in the sky, but Pell knew that perspective could play tricks on a person’s eyes in the air. He did not doubt Shadow’s word. If she said they were at a similar height, then they were.

  ‘So what now?’ Pell asked. ‘Do you think they’re bluffing? Will they give up if we run fast enough?’

  ‘It doesn’t look that way,’ Shadow admitted. ‘It looks as if we are in this race for the long haul.’

  ‘What about Firestorm? Can he keep up this pace?’

  ‘Firestorm is already proving his resilience,’ Shadow said, a note of surprise and grudging respect colouring her tone. ‘It must be hurting him to fly at this speed, but he has not asked me to slow down and he is showing no signs of fading yet. Only time will tell how long he can keep going.’

  Chapter Eight

  Dawn Dragon Enclave

  Elian woke suddenly. His body felt slick with sweat and his heart was beating hard. There was a painful ringing sound inside his head and everything around him was blurred. He blinked several times. The surface of his eyes stung with each movement of his eyelids and his clarity of vision did not improve. He tried to sit up but, as soon as he moved, it felt as if the room had been picked up by a giant and tossed, tumbling into space. The movement also triggered a spike of pain in his right leg.

  He flopped back down against the soft pillow with a groan and closed his eyes. Even with his eyes closed the tumbling sensation remained. It made him feel nauseous. What was happening? Was he sick?

  Memories of the short trip through France began to flood back. The explosion. The pain. He was injured. Was it bad? Was he blind? Deaf? A surge of panic began to build inside him.

  ‘Calm down, Elian. I am here.’

  ‘Aurora! What happened? The world is spinning out of control. I can’t see anything.’

  ‘Relax,’ she soothed. ‘You are safe now. One of the flash-bang weapons in the other world exploded right next to us. You suffered a nasty wound to your right leg. I can feel your disorientation. I do not understand the sensations you are experiencing. I will get Fang to send Kira to you now.’

  ‘Your voice . . .’ Elian began. He paused for several heartbeats before finishing. ‘. . . it sounds so weak. Are you all right?’

  ‘It is my own fault,’ she admitted. ‘When the flash-bang struck, I panicked. I tried to form a gateway before true dawn. I succeeded . . . just. But it drained me terribly. It was all I could do to fly the short distance to land here in the dawn dragon enclave. I will need to recuperate for some time before I fly again.’

  ‘I don’t think I’ll be ready to fly for some time, either.’ The spinning sensation was gradually slowing. Elian tried opening his eyes, but he was quick to close them again. ‘I can’t focus and my head is full of noise.’

  ‘Neema and Shimmer have gone to fetch a village medicine man they think might be able to help,’ Aurora said, her voice surprisingly positive. ‘He has a reputation for working miracles.’

  ‘Neema?’

  ‘Neema is a dawn dragonrider here at the enclave,’ she explained. ‘Her partner, Shimmer, is a particularly fine-looking dragon. His scales are most attractive.’

  ‘Reeeally?’ Elian said, intrigued by her description. ‘Attractive! That’s the first time I’ve heard you describe another dragon in that way.’

  ‘Well,’ she replied, giving no hint that she had picked up on his inflection. ‘That is because Shimmer is more attractive than most. When your sight has recovered, you will see what I mean. He has always been popular as a mate with female dragons from the day, dusk and dawn enclaves. He has recently flown Blaze. She is in the hatching cave brooding over her clutch of eggs.’

  ‘Flown Blaze? What do you mean . . .?’ Elian began to ask. He stopped as his mind connected the phrase with the clutch of eggs. ‘No, never mind. I get the idea, but you say Shimmer is popular as a mate. Don’t dragons have life partners?’

  ‘No, Elian,’ she said. ‘Our mating traditions are very different from yours. We live for a long time, so nature has restricted our urge to mate. Dragons spend much of their lives travelling alone. When the urge does come, we may be a long way from the mate of our choice. Finding a suitable mate then becomes a matter of—’

  ‘Enough information!’ Elian interrupted, feeling his cheeks flush. ‘I think I get the idea.’ This conversation was straying into areas he was not comfortable with, and he got the distinct feeling that Aurora was willing to explain things in more detail than he was ready for.

  ‘I do not understand your embarrassment, Elian,’ Aurora said. ‘Mating is a perfectly natural course of events for every creature, man or dragon. It is nothing to be embarrassed about.’

  ‘No. I know,’ he replied, mentally squirming as he tried to think of a way of diverting her. ‘So have you ever . . .’ He left the sentence hanging, mentally kicking himself for starting down this path.

  ‘Mated?’ she finished, her tone still matter-of-fact. ‘No. The urge has never touched me. It is not unusual amongst dragons for a female not to mate. When w
e do, we tend to produce a lot of offspring. Blaze has over forty eggs hardening in the hatching cave. Perhaps a third of those that hatch will survive. Life as a young dragonet is hard. But if we mated with the frequency you humans did, the world would be overrun with dragons very quickly.’

  Elian could appreciate that. He tried to work out how fast the dragon population would expand if dragons produced offspring more regularly, and the numbers got very big, very quickly. It was a useful diversion to take his mind from the pain in his leg and his eyes.

  A sound broke through the white noise that was blanketing his hearing. Someone had entered the room and was trying to talk to him. It took a moment for him to recognise Kira’s voice. He tried opening his eyes again. The room was still blurred, but he could see moving shapes. Kira’s voice became clearer as she approached to his left.

  ‘Elian? Can you hear me?’

  ‘Yes I can hear you,’ he said, his own voice sounding strange inside his head. ‘But only through my left ear, and that feels strange. There is a constant sort of crackly, ringing noise that’s making it hard for me to hear, and I can’t see properly. My vision is constantly out of focus.’

  ‘I’ve brought someone to see you,’ she said, speaking slowly. ‘He’s come to help make you better.’

  The blurry outlines switched around and another person leaned over him. Cool, strong hands touched Elian’s cheeks, the fingers gently feeling around to the back of his neck, carefully avoiding his ears.

  ‘Hello Elian.’ The deep male voice was clear despite the noise inside Elian’s head. ‘My name is Haithan.’

  Although he was out of focus, Elian could make out that Haithan had an impressive flowing mane of golden hair. The man’s hands made a complete sweep of Elian’s upper body, gently feeling for anything unusual. Elian tensed as the hands reached the tops of his legs.