by Mark Robson
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
Hatching
‘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.’
Elian did not need to talk with Aurora to know that Kira was right. He could feel it too, but the thought of returning to the other world terrified him. The adventure of riding a dragon and embarking on a quest had been exciting at the beginning. Faced with the prospect of going back to the dangers and horrors of a war he did not understand sent wave after wave of icy fear down his back.
‘We’re not furthering the quest by staying here,’ she added, watching him intently. ‘The hunters in my tribe would not have stayed in one place this long unless they were convinced of eventual success.’
Elian felt his face begin to burn with embarrassment. Did she think him a coward? At the moment he felt like one. Nolita had faced her fears. Was this how she had felt before her trial in the Chamber of the Sun’s Steps? If so, then he now appreciated just how brave she was.
‘You are not a coward, Elian,’ Aurora assured him. ‘You are nervous. That is understandable. I am nervous, too.’
‘Go get some sleep, Kira,’ he advised, turning to busy himself with packing things into his saddlebags in an effort to find focus and hide his flushed cheeks. ‘Don’t worry. I’ll be ready. I’ll be turning in shortly. Can you ask Neema and Tarl to come and see me, please? I’d like to thank them before we go, but I don’t want to wake them before sunrise to do it.’
‘Of course.’
Kira strode away quickly. The fear in Elian’s eyes had been obvious. She did not want to embarrass him unnecessarily. He had suffered a trauma that would take time to heal, but they did not have the luxury of giving him time to recover fully. They had to complete the quest with all possible speed. Segun had had another week to marshal his dragons. How many were blockading the Oracle’s cave now? And what about Nolita and Pell? Had they reached the day dragon enclave yet? Would Barnabas bring the day dragons to their aide? She hoped so. If not, the job of trying to sneak past Segun’s men would surely fall to her and Fang. While normally she was happy to brave danger, she felt that a solo effort would be doomed to failure. Segun was no fool. With the resources he had available, she doubted he would leave any chink in his defences for her to exploit.
Tarl and Neema were hovering at the entrance to the hatching chamber. Kira could hear Blaze shuffling around inside, the dragon’s great talons clicking and scraping against the stone floor. They agreed to go and see Elian straight away, but Tarl gave an anxious glance back towards the chamber as he left, and Kira had to work hard to keep from smiling at his worry. He looked shattered through lack of sleep and she doubted that tonight would bring him the rest he needed.
Her message delivered, Kira went to her chamber, packed her saddlebags ready for the morning and climbed into bed. Excited by the prospect of getting underway again, Kira found it hard to get to sleep at first. When she finally drifted off, it seemed she had hardly settled when Fang woke her. She groaned. Surely dawn could not be here already?
‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s not time to leave yet. We still have several hours until dawn, but I thought you would want to see this before we go.’
‘The eggs?’ Kira asked, jolting upright on the low bed.
‘The first is hatching now,’ Fang confirmed.
For all her restlessness and desire to press on with the quest, the excitement in Fang’s tone was infectious. The unique nature of this opportunity was not lost on her, despite her hard line with Elian. She paused only long enough to throw on some clothing before racing out of her room and through the enclave to the hatching chamber entrance. She arrived, breathless, but fully awake a few moments later.
Tarl and Neema were whispering excitedly to one another. They beamed at Kira.
‘Didn’t think it would be long before we saw you,’ Neema said in a breathy voice. ‘You’re just in time, but don’t enter the chamber. When a hatchling is born, all it thinks about is eating. I wouldn’t want a dragonet to see you as its first meal.’
‘Have any of them hatched yet?’
‘The first has cracked its shell,’ Tarl said proudly. ‘It should break out any moment now.’
‘And because it has hatched before sunrise, it will be a night dragon . . .’ Kira observed, unable to stop a shiver running up and down her spine as she said it.
‘Eventually, yes,’ Neema replied. ‘But according to the archives, when dragons first hatch, they all appear much the same. It takes some time before their bodies change and develop the characteristic nature of their mature dragon type.’
‘According to the archives’ was a phrase that was beginning to get on Kira’s nerves. Everything these two dragonriders did seemed to be referenced to what the archives told them.
‘I didn’t realise that,’ she admitted. ‘So are you expecting them all to hatch at about the same time, or will it take a while?’
Neema and Tarl looked at one another questioningly and then shrugged. ‘We don’t know,’ Tarl answered. ‘The records don’t say. We think it will take at least a few hours for the full clutch to hatch. Take a look. The one that’s cracking is towards the right of the pile.’
The three of them arranged themselves in the doorway so they could all look into the chamber without crossing the threshold. The only source of light inside the chamber was Blaze, whose glowing scales bathed the huge mottled eggs in a warm, golden haze. Blaze had curled protectively in a semi-circle behind the eggs. The dragon’s eyes were gleaming as she watched intently over them.
A slight movement and a surprisingly loud cracking sound drew Kira’s attention. One of the eggs towards the right of the clutch was rocking and a long crack had appeared in its side. Another crack. Another. And suddenly, the shell split wide, spilling an ugly, gangling creature abruptly onto the floor. It screeched with protest and flopped around awkwardly, trying to get to its feet.
Kira felt an almost overpowering urge to run to the dragonet’s aide. It looked so helpless.
‘Don’t!’ Fang warned in her mind. ‘It will kill you if you get too close. Do not fear. It will right itself soon enough.’
No sooner had Fang spoken in her mind than the baby dragon found its feet. Its oversized head swayed on its long, spindly neck and its legs wobbled as it fought to stay upright. The strangely colourless eyes looked devoid of intelligence. They were cold and flat, and held a look that Kira recognised instantly – the look of a predator.
The dragonet’s scales were also colourless. They had an almost translucent quality, though Kira could not actually see the tissue and organs beneath. If she had been asked to describe its colour, she would have instinctively said grey, though it was nothing like the grey of her dusk dragon.
‘Why doesn’t Blaze help it?’ she asked Fang.
‘Dragonets must learn to fend for themselves from the moment they are born,’ he replied. ‘Blaze has put food in the chamber. Finding it will be the young dragon’s first quest. Do not fret. It will not take long.’
Almost as if the dragonet had heard Fang’s words, it took its first few tottering steps. Arching its neck, the creature raised its wedge-shaped head high and took a long, wobbling look around the chamber. Its gaze swept past the pile of raw meat stacked not far away and when it moved again, it moved unswervingly towards the ready food.
‘Did I miss much?’
Kira started. She had not heard Elian approach.
‘The first one’s just hatched,’ she told him excitedly. ‘Here. Take a look.’
She moved aside to give him room to lean against the doorframe. He looked into the chamber just in time to see the top of a second egg erupt as the dragonet inside forced its head through the top. It looked absurd with a cap of shell on its head, but Kira resisted the urge to giggle. She did not want to upset Tarl.
The first dragonet was attacking the pile of meat with startling ferocity. Picking up piece after piece, it tipped back its head and swallowed each one whole. It had problems with one of the larger pieces, coughing it back up several times. But rather than drop it and move on to another
piece, the young dragon persevered until it succeeded in swallowing the huge hunk of flesh and keeping it down.
‘Obstinate little nipper, isn’t he?’ Kira observed aloud.
‘Remind you of anyone?’ Elian said.
‘You, actually!’
‘Ha! Very funny.’
Kira knew that dragons did not really chew their food. Fang sometimes held a piece of meat in his mouth and rolled it around on his tongue, giving the impression he was chewing, but this was an illusion. Dragons ripped a kill to pieces with their sharp teeth and then swallowed the pieces, bones and all. The pile of meat near the eggs had already been shredded, presumably by Blaze, into much smaller pieces than an adult dragon would consume.
The second hatchling shouldered out of its egg and tottered forwards on uncertain feet. Its head turned, eyes scanning the room until it was looking at the doorway, where the four riders were standing. Opening its mouth wide, it let out a screech and took two rapid steps forwards.
Kira gasped as she saw the intent in its eyes. She knew the look from predators she had encountered in the savannah. It was the look of a killer. Although newly hatched, the dragon had nearly as much body mass as she did. It was slow and uncoordinated but, nevertheless, she could appreciate the potential danger it posed.
A rumbling sound from Blaze stopped the hatch-ling in its tracks. Its head snapped around and it let out a defiant screech to its mother, but the objection was over-ruled by another, slightly louder warning rumble. The dragonet screeched again, but turned obediently to where the first was feasting and staggered the short distance to the waiting food.