by Mark Robson
Pell’s muscles were tense as he watched the man pause on the other side of the grave he had made. He remembered this man. He was one of Segun’s lieutenants. The senior night dragonrider looked at the small cairn that Pell had built over Segun’s body at the base of the scree slope. He seemed thoughtful. Pell stood poised, his right hand resting on the hilt of the knife he had taken from the night dragonleader.
Despite having his entire enclave set against him, he and his three fellow questors had succeeded. The Great Quest was complete and the Oracle restored to power, but the personal cost for this achievement had been huge. He was surprised the man had not attacked him on sight. As an outlaw to the night dragon enclave, that was what Pell expected when the black dragon swept down towards him.
‘You are honest,’ the rider said thoughtfully. ‘Young and a bit naïve, but strong and honest. With experience and maturity you’ll make a fine leader of men. Your ambition was obvious when you approached Segun with news of the Great Quest. We all saw it. Segun hated you from the moment he set eyes on you. I think he saw in you a future rival. The enclave has lost a lot of good men and dragons today. The day dragons took us by surprise with their unorthodox fighting tactics, leaving the night dragon enclave significantly weakened. Worse, the Oracle is rejuvenated and knows full well that virtually our entire enclave tried to prevent that from happening.’
‘What’s your point?’ Pell asked ‘I don’t see why you’re telling me all this. By rights you should have killed me the moment you set eyes on me.’
‘True,’ the man admitted, his eyebrows drawing together in a deep frown. ‘But, given the change in circumstances the enclave now faces, I think your outlaw status should be set aside. You are the only night dragonrider in Areth whom the Oracle is likely to trust. We need you at the enclave, Pell. The Oracle will, no doubt, punish the night dragons for many years to come unless we show a change of heart. Having you with us will speed up that process.’
‘You’re inviting me back?’ Pell exclaimed. ‘In what capacity? Surely you’re not expecting me to replace Segun? That would be a mockery and you know it. If you’re looking for a puppet to manipulate, I’m not interested.’
‘No,’ the man said firmly. ‘You would not be credible as leader of the night dragon enclave. Not yet. One day maybe, but that will depend on how you and your dragon develop. You will need to build a reputation for leadership and strength if you want to lead us. The night dragon enclave has always respected those qualities. It has fallen to me to take on the role for now. I am Korath, rider of Midnight Warrior. And, in my capacity as the new leader of the enclave, I hereby reinstate you. Will you come with me?’
Pell’s stomach tightened and the burn of adrenalin swept through his core. Was this a trick? No. He could see Korath was serious. He could return to the enclave. He would be needed and respected. It was more than he could have hoped for.
‘Yes,’ he said, working hard to keep his voice steady. ‘Yes, I’ll come. But do we have to leave straight away? The otherworlder, Jack Miller, stole my chance to kill Segun. I want to pay him back for his interference in my affairs.’
‘Your revenge will have to wait,’ Korath replied. ‘The enclave needs you now. Come. The remaining senior riders are waiting for us.’
Pell nodded. ‘Very well,’ he agreed solemnly. ‘We’re going back to the enclave,’ he informed Shadow silently. ‘Are you ready to fly again?’
‘I am.’
‘Good. We want to put on a show of strength for the new leader of the night dragon enclave.’
‘Do not worry, Pell. I will not let you down.’
‘I know you won’t,’ he replied, his heart warming at his dragon’s bravery. ‘As for Jack Miller . . .’ he added under his breath, ‘. . . if I ever chance across him again, he’ll wish he’d never met me at all.’
‘Ah.! Jack Miller. Welcome.’
The Oracle’s voice was unlike anything Jack had ever experienced. He could hear it with his ears, yet somehow it reverberated inside his mind as well. The shape of the great dragon’s head in the burning column of flame reminded him of something . . . someone he had met. Although he had not had many meetings with dragons until these past few days, there was something hauntingly familiar about the creature.
Jack walked alongside Barnabas until they were about ten paces from the Oracle’s pit. Barnabas stopped and bowed. Jack followed suit.
‘It pleases me that you have come, Jack, for I would like to thank you for your part in my rebirth.’
‘I’m afraid I don’t know how to address you, Oracle of the dragons,’ Jack replied. ‘The young people you sent to my world saved my life. What I did was trivial by comparison, but I’m pleased to see them have the success they deserve.’
‘Nevertheless, you have my thanks,’ the Oracle said. ‘But your arrival is also most timely, for there is another who has been waiting to make your acquaintance.’
‘Another?’ Jack asked. ‘Who could possibly know me here?’
‘Jack?’ a female voice asked, sounding unsure, yet excited. ‘I’ve searched all over Areth for you, Jack, yet you have eluded me until now. Where have you been hiding?’
Jack did not know what to say. He looked around the Oracle’s cave, but he could not see the owner of the voice. She sounded lovely . . . and hauntingly familiar. Then it dawned on him. He had heard the Oracle’s voice both in his ears and in his mind, but this voice had rung only in his mind. He spun round, his eyes coming to rest on a day dragon that was approaching down the ramp from the entrance of the Oracle’s cave. She was the owner of the voice. He did not know how he knew it, but he could not be more certain.
‘Hello?’ he said tentatively. ‘This is dashed strange! Are you sure you’ve got the right man? Did you know I’m not from this world?’
‘I did not know, Jack,’ the dragon replied. ‘But that does explain why I could not find you before now. It does not matter where you come from. You are here now. I am Bright Flame, your dragon.’
Elian looked across the campfire at Kira. The design she had painted on her face this evening reflected brightly in the orange light of the flames. It had been her suggestion to come back to the site in the woods near the meadow where Kasau and his hunters had attacked them. Elian was pleased to be visiting it one last time, but it felt strange to be there without Nolita and Pell.
There had been no sign of Pell after the battle. Jack had told them what he had seen and how he had intervened in Pell’s fight with Segun, and the new Oracle had assured them that Pell and Shadow were alive and well, but would not say where they had gone.
‘So what are you going to do now, Kira?’ Elian asked.
Kira stared intently at the flames and did not look up at the question. ‘I’m not entirely sure,’ she admitted slowly. ‘When I first set out with Fang, I thought I’d be able to rejoin my tribe and take up my place with the hunters when the quest was done, but now I know that can never happen.’ She poked at the base of the fire with a stick, causing several clouds of bright sparks to rise. ‘Fang wants to take me to the dusk dragon enclave. It’s a long way to Ratalucia without the luxury of a short cut through France. The journey will give us a chance to get to know one another better. Now that I’ve accepted I’ll be spending the rest of my life with him, it feels important that I understand more of Fang and how he thinks. How about you?’
‘At first I thought I’d go back and see my parents,’ Elian admitted sheepishly. ‘To let them know I’m all right and tell them about the Great Quest.’
‘But you’ve changed your mind?’
‘Yes,’ he said, smiling fondly as he glanced at Aurora, who was sleeping nearby. ‘There’ll be plenty of time for that later. Ra and I are going back to the dawn dragon enclave to spend some time with Tarl, Neema, Blaze and Shimmer. But we’re going to fly the long way there this time. I’ve had my fill of travelling between worlds. It’s a bit strange really, because before Aurora came along I was always dreaming about going on advent
ures and especially about flying on a dragon. I’m sort of hoping this journey will be more like the adventures I dreamed about – exciting but a lot less dangerous!’
Kira laughed. ‘I can understand that,’ she said. ‘You’ve grown during the past few weeks, Elian. I’m not sure your parents will recognise the boy who they waved goodbye to when you finally decide to return.’
‘Oh, I don’t know about that . . .’
‘I’m serious,’ she insisted. ‘You’ve changed more than you realise.’
‘I’m going to miss you, Kira,’ he countered. ‘If I’ve changed, it’s because I’ve learned a lot of things from you. Thanks.’
Kira could not ignore his gaze any longer. She looked up and was not surprised to see tears welling in Elian’s eyes.
‘Don’t worry, Elian. We’ll cross paths again,’ she assured him. ‘Just you wait and see.’
Sweat ran down Torgan’s face, dripping in a steady flow from his nose and chin, as he stood over the anvil hammering the bar of red-hot iron again and again. His huge forearms made light work of hefting the heavy hammer, but his sweat was not from effort so much as from the heat of the forge. There was a bitter wind blowing outside. It had swirled in through the open door of his smithy, time and again through the day, but the blasting heat that was pouring from the forge had pulled its teeth.
The blacksmith continued hammering until the glow in the metal faded. It was almost the right shape now. He returned it to the intense heat of the fire one last time, resting it amongst the coals and then withdrawing the tongs.
Placing the hammer down on the anvil, he laid the tongs next to it and waited for the metal to heat up again. There was a sweat rag on the nearby bench. He turned towards it, but as he reached out his arm a movement near the doorway caught his eye. A strange blur hung in the air. It looked like a miniature cloud of sooty-grey smoke, but it was not escaping the smithy – it was entering.
Torgan picked up the rag and wiped it across his forehead, being careful not to obscure his vision. He had never seen anything like the cloud before. It was fascinating. Smoke and steam did not form coherent puffs of cloud like this. They dispersed quickly. Whatever it was, the smudge of dark vapour was not following the natural order of gases.
Despite the strong draft the cloud hovered in the doorway. For the briefest instant, a chill swept through Torgan and he sensed danger – too late. With breathtaking suddenness, the thing swooped and struck. There was no chance for the blacksmith to dodge. It hit him full in the chest with enough force to lift him from his feet and fling him across the smithy. He crashed to the floor, stunned.
For a moment he remained there as his hands automatically felt around the impact point on his chest for injury. Strangely, he felt no pain. As he climbed back to his feet, he felt invigorated and stronger than ever before. What had happened? His head felt light. New thoughts were running through his mind. Unusual thoughts. Alien. There were things he had to do. Places he had to visit. He climbed to his feet and walked to the open door. Someone waved at him from across the lane. He waved back. It was a reflex action, but it felt wrong. He did not belong here.
Walking back into the smithy, he went to the very back and opened the cupboard where he kept the few weapons he had made and kept over the years. There was the long sword and the double-bladed axe.
‘Not ideal,’ he thought, taking a careful look at each weapon. ‘But it’s a start.’
Crossing the smithy to the door that led into the main part of the house, he opened it and went through into the kitchen. His wife was chopping vegetables for lunch.
‘Is everything all right, dear?’ she asked. ‘You’re not finished already, are you?’
‘Something’s come up,’ he replied, his voice sounding strange even in his own ears. ‘I’ve got to go out. I might be gone a while.’
‘What are you carrying that for?’ she said, pointing at the axe with a horrified expression on her face. ‘Are you in some sort of trouble? You’re not intending to fight, are you?’
‘I’m not in any sort of trouble,’ he assured her, moving towards the door that led to their sleeping room. ‘There’s just something I have to do, that’s all.’
She walked to intercept him, raising a hand to stop him from leaving the room before finishing their conversation.
‘You’re not telling me everything, Torgan,’ she accused. ‘I can hear it in your voice. And what have you done to your eye? Have you burned it, or something?’
‘Which eye?’
‘Your left,’ she said, moving closer still. ‘The colour is different – it looks darker. Are you sure you’re all right?’
‘I’m fine, dear,’ he said. ‘Everything is just fine.’
Author’s Note
on Baron Manfred von Richthofen
An aura of mystery shrouds the death of Baron Manfred von Richthofen. In writing about it here, I tried to recreate the path and timing of his last flight as accurately as possible from the information available. It has been fairly well established that his death was caused by machine gun fire from the ground. The bullet that killed him was a standard .303 round fired from long range, but as to who fired the fatal shot – I’m not sure that we will ever know for sure. On balance of probability it seems likely that Sgt C. B. Popkin, a Vickers gunner with the 24th Machine Gun Company, had the best claim. However, it is said that even he had his doubts. Who knows? Maybe there was a dusk dragon there after all!
Regardless of who did fire the killing shot, one thing is clear – 21st April 1918 shall long be remembered as the day the world of aviation lost one of its most colourful and charismatic characters.
FOUR DRAGONRIDERS ON A MISSION TO SAVE THEIR WORLD
FIRESTORM
Book 1 in the fantasy series
Nolita is terrified of dragons! Learning to fly her day dragon is dangerous enough without irrational fears to contend with and a vicious dragonhunter on her tail. With Elian, another novice rider, she seeks the first of four orbs, to save the leader of all dragonkind. To do so, she must face her worst fears, and face them alone . . .
ISBN: 978-1-84738-068-5
SHADOW
Book 2 in the fantasy series
Pell and his night dragon Shadow must find the dark orb to help save the Oracle, leader of all dragonkind. But Segun, a power-hungry tyrant, stands in their way. Pell must use his flying skills, bravery and resourcefulness to the limit, as Segun is determined to get the orb - even if it means killing the opposition.
ISBN: 978-1-84738-069-2
DRAGON ORB: LONGFANG
Book 3 in the fantasy series
FOUR DRAGONRIDERS ON A
MISSION TO SAVE THEIR WORLD
Kira and her dust dragon, Longfang, must find the third orb to save the Oracle, leader of the dragonkind. Following a path beset with dangers, and traps that maim a kill, the four dragonriders must reach the twilight world of Castle of Shadows. Kira knows enough to be anxious. What twisted sacrifice will this orb demand?
ISBN: 978-1-84738-070-8