Longfang (22 page)

‘DRAGON ATTACK!’

Sudden realisation dawned. People all across the square scattered, fleeing for cover. Kira joined them, delaying her run until the last possible instant in order to draw the dragon in as close
to the market as she dared. She darted left initially, racing under a green-and-white striped canopy and emerging on the far side wearing one of the wide-brimmed stallholder hats. Nolita had jammed
it onto her head as she passed, joining her as they both zipped up one of the nearby streets, carried along by the wave of people.

The dragon let out a roar of frustration as it pumped its wings to climb away from the square. The roar added another level to the panic and the wind generated by its great wingbeats blew
several of the canopies over, taking the tables with them and scattering fish over the ground.

Even as they ran, Kira spotted another night dragon rider in the crowd ahead. He was trying to move against the flow, his anger etched in deep lines on his face. Kira tugged Nolita’s
sleeve to catch her attention and the two of them swept by him with their heads down, faces shielded by the broad brims on their hats.

During the next few minutes, Kira and Nolita swapped hats several times with passers-by to further confuse the searching dragons and their riders. There were a few startled protests as the swaps
were made, but no one reacted fast enough to stop them. Kira also acquired a cloak that had been dropped by its owner. By the time they had circled around to the beach, Kira was confident that the
night dragons and their riders had lost track of them.

Through familiarity with her dragon and the pull of the bond, she could feel where Fang was waiting. Although she could not see him, she knew he was close to the sea wall, no more than a dozen
paces from where they were hiding at the end of a narrow alley. The final run would be a gamble. If they were seen, all their efforts would have been in vain.

‘Here we go, Nolita,’ she whispered. ‘On three: one, two, three . . .’

Hearts thumping the two girls raced the final few paces and vaulted over the wall, dropping two spans to the sand below. They landed with a simultaneous thump into the soft sand and rolled to a
stop, breathing hard. Kira looked up and saw two of the night dragons still circling. For a moment she thought they were exposed and would surely be seen, but then the air above her shimmered. Fang
had covered them with his wing. She relaxed. As far as the city was concerned, they had just vanished.

‘Kalen? Murdered? In the Grand Library?’ Lord Tarpone sat down with a thump as he stared at the messenger. ‘But who would do such a thing? He’s an
academic. He wouldn’t hurt anyone.’

Segun watched as the messenger bowed and departed and he allowed himself an inward smile. This was working out better than he had planned.

‘It is as I said, my Lord,’ he said smoothly, his deep voice full of regret. ‘The renegade riders are a danger to your people. They may look like innocent young girls, but
their appearance only serves to make them all the more dangerous. I’ve just had word from my dragon that my men are currently pursuing them through the streets towards the western quarter of
the city. Do not fear, my Lord. I will see them brought to justice for this crime.’

‘Are you sure it was these girl riders who killed Kalen?’ Lord Tarpone asked, sounding surprised. ‘What makes you so certain?’

‘It matches their previous behaviour pattern, my Lord,’ Segun replied. ‘The fact that they’re running from the scene strengthens the likelihood of their guilt. When was
the last time anyone was murdered in the Grand Library? I find it highly unlikely that it could be anyone else. They are ruthless. Especially the darker of the two.’

‘But what possible motive could they have?’

‘Motive? My Lord, these girls don’t need a motive. As I told you, my men and I have been pursuing them for some days now. Be assured, we will catch them. And when we do, justice will
be swift. It is the dragonrider way.’

Chapter Twenty

Shadow did not look well. She was holding her right wing awkwardly against her side. Once she was sure Pell was uninjured from his fall, she climbed the final few dragonlengths
to the top of the spur and lay down to rest.

‘Is Shadow going to be all right?’ Elian asked Pell as he began the gruesome task of removing the spears still sticking from Aurora’s body.

‘She will be if she’s given time to recover,’ Pell answered. ‘But we both know that’s unlikely. What are we going to do, Elian? She can’t fly in this
state.’

‘She might have to unless we can dissuade the hunters from following us,’ Elian said, easing the tip of his sword into the first wound and using it to feel around the head of the
spear for barbs.

‘Dissuade them?’ Pell asked, incredulous at the idea. ‘How can we dissuade them? They don’t want to talk. All they want is to kill our dragons so they can cut them up and
sell them. They’re barbaric!’

‘Who said anything about talking?’ Elian said, pausing to give Pell a wicked grin. ‘Aurora thinks one of them is possessed. She calls him a “joining”. If
she’s right, they are unlikely to give up even if we could talk sense to them.’

‘A joining!’ Pell breathed, his eyes widening. ‘There are stories of joinings told in Isaa, but I thought they were the stuff of nursery tales designed to keep young children
in line. You know: “Don’t be naughty, or one of the devil’s children might think you’re ripe to become a joining”.’

‘Well, it seems they are something more than that,’ Elian said, twitching with pain.

It was weird trying to tease the spear from his dragon’s foreleg, whilst feeling empathetic pain in his own arm. He tried to twist the spear free, but the spike of pain that shot through
his arm stopped him.

‘Sorry, Ra!’

‘Don’t worry, Elian. I can stand the pain, if you can. You need to get the spears out quickly. The hunters will be pushing hard to catch up with us. I’d like to be ready for
them. I see in your mind what you’re going to propose to Pell and I agree. It is the only way.’

‘Thanks, Ra,’
he said gratefully.
‘I’ll do my best to get it over with quickly.’

By probing with his sword, he knew there were no barbs on this spear. It was just the depth of the wound and the spontaneous contraction of the muscle around it that was holding it fast.

‘What are you planning, Elian?’ Pell asked. ‘There are only two of us, and I saw at least ten of them.’

‘There are four of us,’ Elian corrected. ‘And we are holding the high ground. I think we should try to make a stand here, even if it is only a brief one. We need them to see
that we’re not going to let them kill our dragons without a fight.’

‘All right, you’ll get no arguments from me on that count,’ Pell said. ‘But what can we do against so many?’

‘Help me get these spears out and I’ll show you,’ Elian promised. ‘Grab the shaft here and pull when I say. It will probably help if we twist it to the right at the same
time. I may not be able to pull with my full weight because of the pain through the bond, but don’t stop. It should come out cleanly if we pull it hard enough. Ready? Pull!’

The lancing spike of pain that tore through his arm caused him to cry out and tears filled his eyes. His right hand lost grip on the shaft, but he gritted his teeth, twisted and braced his back
against Aurora’s leg so that he could continue to help Pell by gripping the shaft from below and pushing the spear outwards with his left hand. The spear tore free suddenly and Pell staggered
backwards. No sooner was it clear of the wound than Aurora’s scales around the area of the wound began to glow from within.

A flood of blood from the open wound spilled over Elian’s shoulder, but the flow was short-lived. A curious burning sensation began in Elian’s arm where the sharply defined pain had
been just a few seconds before. It spread, heating his entire upper arm with a sensation that was not quite pleasure and not quite pain. Unable to resist, he rubbed at the arm to try to disperse
the intensity of the experience, but it made no difference. The fire continued to rage until he felt sure his flesh must be melting.

As suddenly as it started, the burning dissipated to a gentle tingling throb.

‘That’s better,’
Aurora announced, her head arching around on her long neck and her tongue darting across the site of the wound.
‘Thank you. Do you think you
could draw the others now?’

The spears in Aurora’s tail came out without too much difficulty, but the one in her neck proved more awkward. Although lodged at a shallow angle, it was hard to get at the wound. The
solution was to have Aurora lie on her side so Elian could stand on her neck and pull the spear free. It had particularly nasty barbs, which made the process very messy.

Each time he and Pell took out one of the weapons, Aurora’s scales around the wound lit up and Elian felt the sympathetic burning sensation as she healed the flesh under the surface. The
wounds stopped bleeding straight away and the residual pain was much reduced, which helped Elian to stop worrying about her.

‘Look!’ Pell said suddenly, drawing Elian’s attention from his dragon. He was pointing back along the valley. ‘The hunters again! I can see them in the
distance.’

‘Already? Damn!’ Elian cursed. ‘I would’ve liked more time, but we’ll just have to make do.’ He turned back to Aurora.
‘Do you think you can manage a
bit of lifting and dragging?’

‘Yes, Elian,’
she replied.
‘I’ll manage. How many do you think we’ll need?’

‘I don’t know, but we should try to set as many as we can,’
he said.
‘We don’t have long. Do what you can. I’ll get Pell to help me find some
smaller stuff.’

Aurora rolled up onto her feet and stretched out her neck. She turned her head and looked along the valley to where the hunters were just visible in the distance, and she snorted. With that she
moved off over the ridge until she was out of sight of the hunters and turned right towards the woods.

Elian grabbed Pell by the arm. ‘Come on,’ he urged. ‘There’s no point in staring at them. Help me get ready. We need to collect rocks – hand-sized – the more,
the better. There’s plenty of loose stuff over here.’

‘What are we going to do? Throw stones at them?’ Pell scoffed, standing his ground. ‘You think that’s going to make them go away? They’re not children,
Elian.’

Elian paused a moment and glared at Pell. ‘Have you ever been hit by a stone that’s the size of a man’s fist, Pell?’ Elian picked up a comfortably-sized piece of stone
and walked to the top of the slope. ‘Watch,’ he said. With that he hurled the stone off the edge of the ridge, sending it upwards at an angle of about thirty degrees and watching as the
stone arched through the air to strike the slope a long way down. ‘From up here, not only is our range huge but with the momentum the stones gain in the long drop, they will fall like deadly
hail. The hunters aren’t wearing armour and they’ll be inside our range long before we’re in theirs. The stones will give them pause for thought. Ra has gone to get us some
larger, more lethal weapons.’

Pell looked unconvinced, but he followed Elian to an area of rocky ground, where there was some loose material for them to scavenge. Before long they had a small pile of suitable ammunition
– enough for about a minute of rapid throwing.

When Pell saw what Aurora was doing, his eyes widened and his body language suddenly became a lot more positive. By the time the hunters reached the bottom of the ridge about a half hour later,
the two boys were sweating profusely, but there was fire in their eyes. They watched the hunters dismount, leaving one man to look after the horses. Spreading out in a line, they began their long
climb up the slope towards the waiting boys.

Shadow had not moved in all the time they had been working. Her injured wing twitched from time to time and Pell cast frequent worried glances at her.

‘Will she be able to fly again today?’ Elian asked. ‘We’ll not hold them off indefinitely, you know.’

‘I know,’ the older boy sighed. ‘She tells me she feels able to fly, but we won’t really know for sure until she tries. I feel her pain. I’m not sure she’s
being honest with herself. That landing earlier hurt more than she’s willing to admit.’

‘What do you think, Ra?’
Elian asked silently.
‘Will Shadow be able to fly today?’

‘She will have to, Elian,’
his dragon replied.
‘Shadow knows this. For all that she’s in a lot of pain, she has deeper reserves of strength and endurance than
most.’

Elian looked across at the enormous black dragon and he hoped with all his heart that Aurora was right. Pell could be a pain at times, but Elian had no desire to see him or his dragon fall prey
to the hunters. He drew a deep breath and held it for a moment in an effort to calm his nerves. Fourteen men were climbing the slope, with a fifteenth visible down in the valley. This last one was
leading the horses around the end of the spur in anticipation of a further journey. He would be out of sight soon, but it would not do to discount him completely.