Off they went, Fire Tiger swooping in an arc that would intersect the girl's path if she stayed on the same trajectory.
She didn't, of course. As they swept past what should have been the point of intersection, they heard the girl's voice floating by, above and to their left, just out of reach. "Jae Vaughn," she called out, laughing. "Is my little dragon that much faster than the big bold Fire Tiger?" Then her voice fell silent and they heard only the wings of the girl's dragon, beating like a giant hummingbird's wings and then shooting away. Fire Tiger shot off like an arrow in immediate pursuit before the sound could die into the distance.
Suddenly the nearness of the girl brightened their senses again as she and her dragon doubled back and flew past them in the opposite direction, near enough to see. Jesse Lynn turned her face back towards them as she passed, smiling at the prince as she disappeared again into the clouds.
"You've got a little dog with you, I see," she called from out of nowhere, turning again and pulling near to coast along beside them. She was looking straight at Noodles. She looked like a little angel, or as close to an angel as Noodles could imagine. She was so beautiful she seemed to glow. The dragon she sat on was glittery purple and pink, but the glitteriness was soft, more of a gentle sparkle really. Just shiny enough to look shimmery but still stay within the bounds of good taste. Fire Tiger seemed to notice the shimmering lilac-toned dragon too. The rhythm of his breathing went off balance just a bit, not a lot, but enough that Noodles noticed it. Noodles found himself holding the opinion that Fire Tiger must be fond of this other dragon.
Now, to be fair, we should point out that Noodles couldn't really see the pinkness very well. Mostly he saw the new dragon as shimmering purple and silver. That didn't matter at all, though.
"Yes, I've got a little dog with me now," Jae Vaughn agreed, smiling at her. "I found him floating in the clouds just a little while ago. Sorry I can't introduce you, but if he has a name I don't know it."
"Well, you'll just have to give him a name, if he hasn't got one," Jess answered with a giggle. Then the pink and purple dragon vanished again, dropping straight down before zipping away toward the right. The two were quickly gone except for the trailing sound of the girl's giggling and the hum of the dragon's wings fading rapidly away.
As quickly as it happened, Jae Vaughn reacted, nudging Fire Tiger to jump immediately forward in the sky. Off they went in instant pursuit. The sounds got louder for a second, then tapered off again as the girl changed course, zig-zagging through the clouds.
Jae Vaughn and Fire Tiger moved together as if they shared the same brain. They shot through the sky in an intercept pattern, not following behind the girl, but aiming toward where she would be by the time they arrived. Sometimes they came very close, almost near enough to tag her as she changed course and darted away. That would make her start giggling all over again, and the sound of her laughter kept them informed of her position as she sped off, just out of reach.
She couldn't have been much farther away than half the length of a football field when they heard the terrifying sound of a sudden long "Skreeeee" screeching down from above, dropping onto the girl's position. It hurt their ears, like someone turning on a misadjusted stage microphone, or scraping a piece of new chalk the wrong way on a chalkboard or a stone wall.
"NO!" Jae Vaughn shouted out full strength without thinking at all, leaning forward as Fire Tiger quadrupled his speed, racing like a bullet toward where the girl should be.
"No," Jae Vaughn said again as he breathed, almost in a whisper, as if the "no" permeated his being so that the very essence of his feeling came out as part of his exhaling breath. He wasn't thinking about words. His mind was completely concentrated on moving forward at top speed toward the attacking Skreeagle and the sorcerer it carried.
Two more horrible "Skreee" cries pierced through their ears into their brains, closer and louder but still out of reach.
They heard the swish of the violet dragon's tail, as if fighting off attackers in the sky. Jae Vaughn drew a sword. He half stood up in the saddle as they swooped toward the screeching sounds. Fire Tiger knocked into one of the giant birds full force, as if he were making an airborne football tackle. As they tumbled past, Jae Vaughn turned back and swung his sword. It landed full on the bird's skull. The bird's rider tumbled off, plummeting toward the ground in a tangle of loose black robes, and beside him the giant bird dropped down out of the sky, unconscious from the blow to its head.
A second Skreeagle came at them like a hawk descending on its prey, its giant knifelike talons held out stiff and straight in front like bayonet blades. Fire Tiger's big tail swished around like a whip, knocking the bird sideways in the sky. Bird and rider separated and went spinning and falling in separate directions. The boy and his dragon righted themselves, then spun around in the sky like a dog chasing its own tail, listening for sounds, sniffing for scents, trying to catch glimpses, searching for any clue to find the vanished Jesse Lynn.
"JESS!" Prince Jae Vaughn shouted, with a louder sound than Noodles would have thought a human could make. "JESS! WHERE ARE YOU?"
Then he fell silent and listened. There was nothing. No sound. No clue.
The dragon retracted his wings just for a second, and the boy and his dragon, together with Noodles, fell like a rock, just until they got below the level of the clouds. When Fire Tiger spread his wings again it had the same effect as opening a parachute. They floated in the clear sky just below the clouds, like a hang glider or a seagull.
Noodles immediately noticed something in the distance, toward the mountains. He let out an urgent little whine and nudged the boy, meanwhile pointing his nose and one paw toward the giant bird moving away in the distance towards the mountaintops.
"Gotcha," Jae Vaughn said with conviction as Fire Tiger shot full speed toward the departing apparition.
As they got closer, they could see that the black-cloaked sorcerer riding the Skreeagle had a little girl trapped under his arm. She was struggling, but he was too strong for her. "Jae Vaughn!" she cried out. It was Jesse Lynn's voice.
The boy and the dragon were closing in on the Skreeagle, covering the distance between them rapidly, moving five times as fast as the Skreeagle. The mountains were close, though, and the sorcerer had a big head start on the boy. Fire Tiger's breath panted like the sound of a train engine, and his big wings beat the sky like the oars of a racing canoe hitting the water. He drew rapidly closer to the Skreeagle, but even as he did so, the Skreeagle was drawing closer to the mountains.
Noodles growled a low rumbling growl and trembled with anticipation. He could barely control the fierce energy of his desire to leap at the Skreeagle's throat and throttle it, forcing it to release the little girl. The closer the boy and his dragon came to the giant bird, the more the little dog trembled, the more his muscles grew tense in preparation to spring, and the more focused his attention became. His front legs were straight, his back legs crouched to jump, his nose thrust forward toward the quarry. His teeth were bared in a little snarl as Fire Tiger's mighty wingbeats brought them nearer and nearer.
As it drew close to the mountain, the Skreeagle swerved toward the dark opening of an enormous cavern. Jae Vaughn and Fire Tiger turned faster than the bird, angling to cut off its path. The rocky dirt and grass of the mountainside was under them and beside them close enough to smell as they raced with all possible speed to intercept.
Fire Tiger came between the Skreeagle and the entrance to the cave, blocking the path, spinning to face the bird. Jae Vaughn stood in his saddle, sword drawn. The bird let out the high pitched terrible skreech for which it is named as it angled its wings to turn suddenly upward, beak and eyes directed towards the mountaintop, aiming to fly over Fire Tiger's head.
In that instant the bird's throat was exposed, and Noodles knew, without thinking, that he could jump far enough to reach it. As soon as he saw the exposed throat of the bird, the dog leapt up towar
ds it with a mighty eruption of all the strength in his powerful hind legs. His teeth closed onto the narrowest part of the bird's throat, and with all his inner strength Noodles focused his will on holding his grip as the bird thrashed about in the sky, trying to shake him off.
Jae Vaughn's sword struck the bird's head full force, and it tumbled onto the side of the mountain, still thrashing, with Noodles' teeth still sunk into its neck. Jesse Lynn, and the sorcerer who had taken her captive, both tumbled down toward the mountainside. The girl squirmed loose from the man's grip as they fell, and they landed on soft dirt a few yards away from the bird and a few yards apart from each other.
Jesse Lynn was young and strong and alert, so she jumped to her feet quickly and ran toward where Fire Tiger was landing.
The sorcerer was a strong man, but he was slower to rise than the little girl. She was already leaping up onto the dragon's back, slipping in behind Jae Vaughn on the saddle, before the sorcerer's head had cleared. She wrapped her arms around the prince's waist and held on tightly as Fire Tiger rose quickly and hovered just out of the sorcerer's reach. The Skreeagle stopped thrashing and lay still.
"Come on, dog," Jae Vaughn called out, and whistled. Noodles came running. Fire Tiger swooped down and Noodles jumped up. With all three aboard, the dragon took off without looking back, heading toward the Kingdom by the River.
Chapter 5
Noodles the Cockapoo Stands Guard Page 4