Longfang (4 page)

‘They are trying to panic us,’
Fang explained, sounding as calm as ever.
‘In this sort of weather it’s easy to become disoriented and fly into the side of a
mountain. They are trying to engineer a convenient accident.’

‘Where are the others? Are they all right?’

There was a short pause and Kira felt Fang communicating with the other dragons, though she could not hear what was said.

‘Each dragon is working alone now,’
he reported.
‘It’s almost impossible to keep a safe formation position anyway. We have agreed to try to meet at the edge of
the range some way south of here. We don’t have a particular meeting place in mind. No one knows the geography around here very well, so we don’t have a suitable landmark. It might take
a while to find everyone again in the dark, but at least we all know roughly where the others are going.’

‘So we’re on our own,’ Kira breathed thoughtfully, more to herself than to Fang. ‘Good. At least we don’t have to worry about looking out for the others.’

No sooner had the words passed her lips than she began to feel guilty. Was it right to run away and leave the others at the mercy of the night dragons?

She leaned forwards again, streamlining herself against Fang’s back. The lower she got, the more the wind seemed to lose its icy bite. The easiest option was to run, but was the easy way
the best way? Being a dusk dragon, Fang could use his chameleonlike ability to blend into any background. His camouflage made him impossible to see in the falling snow. The night dragons would
never catch him. The same could not be said for the others, though. Firestorm’s blue scales, Shadow’s black scales and particularly Aurora’s bright golden scales would make each
of them visible from some distance.

Kira sighed as she realised her conscience would not allow her to think only of herself. She had not wanted to become a part of the dragonrider community, but she was now involved in an
important quest that required the four dragons and their riders to work together towards a common goal. Like it or not, they were a team.

There was an alternative to running. She could turn the situation into a hunt – swap roles from hunted to hunter. It was what she did best. If she and Fang began hunting down the night
dragons, her friends would have more of a chance to escape.

‘What do you think, Fang?’
she asked, aware of his presence in her mind. She could feel him listening to her thoughts as she played through the mental debate.
‘Should
we make a run for it, or stick around and cause some trouble?’

‘That depends on what you want to achieve,’
he replied.
‘I can see value in trying to confuse the night dragons, but I’m not strong enough to fight them. The
night dragons are all far larger than the biggest dusk dragon. Any one of them would be more than a match for me in a straight fight.’

‘I try never to get into a fight with my prey,’
Kira assured him.
‘Confusing the night dragons would be great. It will give our friends a chance to escape unseen. We
should be able to slip past the night dragons at any time in these conditions.’

‘True, providing I don’t lose track of my bearings,’
he pointed out.
‘I don’t want to find myself inadvertently flying back the way we just came. We might
deceive this party only to run into Segun and his men by accident.’

‘No. That wouldn’t be good,’
Kira agreed.

‘Also, this party knows there is a dusk dragon in our group, so they will be alert to my abilities. It will not be easy to fool them. Are you sure you want to do this? It could be a lot
more dangerous than you think.’

‘No, I’m not sure,’
Kira admitted.
‘But I can’t just let the others be hunted down. We have to do something.’

‘Very well. Hold on tight. I have an idea that might work.’

Kira wanted to discuss his idea, but she was given no chance. She felt Fang reach out with his mind. A moment later he turned to the left and drew in a deep breath. The bellow took her
completely by surprise. She had never heard Fang roar like that before. Even his challenging roar during the attack by the dragonhunters had sounded nothing like this. On and on it went, seeming
all the longer because she knew it had the full attention of any night dragon for miles around. What did he think he was doing? If she had known what he was about to do, she would have thought
twice about playing the heroine.

The tone of Fang’s bellow carried a challenge that said, ‘Come and get me if you think you’re strong enough’. No self-respecting night dragon would be able to turn down
such a taunt. Kira huddled down tight to Fang’s back. Her eyes scanned the sky around them for signs of the night dragons she knew would be homing in.

It did not take long for the first dragon shape to loom out of the murky snow. It came from ahead. Fang camouflaged instantly, disappearing from under Kira. His unnerving ability to blend into
his surroundings did not normally worry her, but this time Fang simultaneously folded his wings and dropped abruptly to dip under the incoming night dragon. Her stomach lurched towards her throat.
It was a particularly horrible sensation, because it felt as if Fang had really vanished into thin air and left her to fall. The feeling was short-lived. Fang snapped his wings out, soaring
underneath the night dragon and climbing back to his level.

No sooner had Fang reached the night dragon’s level than he reappeared and roared again. His reward was a screech of frustration from the dragon he had just avoided and then a second one
that sounded more surprised. Then there was silence. Both screeches appeared to have come from the same direction and distance.

‘They nearly collided,’
Fang said, sounding smug. His voice echoed strangely inside her head, but Kira was quick to recognise the phenomenon. He had narrowed their mental link
to prevent other dragons from tapping into their thoughts.
‘It has shaken them up. I can feel their relief. They know they were lucky. Hold on tight. It’s time to lead them on a bit
of a dance.’

Kira did not reply. She concentrated on holding on as tightly as she could to the pommel of the saddle. When she had suggested causing trouble, she had imagined directing Fang in a stealthy hunt
and distracting the night dragons with hit-and-run attacks. This open taunting was not her style and she felt very uncomfortable with her dragon’s tactics. The cold did not help. Her mind
felt slow and fogged, and she was fast losing sensation in her extremities. Although she would have been perfectly at home playing hide-and-seek with any of the deadly animals in the warm savannah
of Racafi, this three-dimensional game in the freezing, snow-filled air of the mountains of northern Isaa made her feel terribly small and lost.

‘Turning left,’
Fang warned. He roared again, disappearing from under her a second time and suddenly dipping his left wing into a hard turn. Once again the great night dragons
converged on the spot from which he had issued his challenge. Despite his warning, Kira was surprised by the abruptness of the turn. Clinging on with all her strength, she held fast to the saddle,
but by the time they rolled back to wings level, her arms were shaking with the effort.

Fang reappeared under her. He roared again. This time three night dragon voices responded with screeches filled with anger and frustration.

‘You’ve certainly got their attention, Fang,’
Kira observed, trying to stay calm.
‘Are they all after us now?’

‘Yes. All three are nearby. They have all answered my challenge.’

‘Great!’
she said, feeling about as far from great as possible.
‘Now what do we do?’

‘We fly rings around them, of course,’
Fang replied, sounding surprised by the question.
‘Keep them busy long enough for the others to get away and then sneak off
ourselves.’

He turned back towards the night dragons, powering upwards this time and disappearing again. Kira could feel him searching the area ahead and below them with his eyes and his mind. She shivered.
What if they anticipated his move? Suddenly three dark dragon-shaped outlines appeared in close formation ahead and slightly below them. They loomed unnaturally large against the backdrop of
falling white flecks. Fang materialised again and dived at the huge shapes. With the advantage of height and surprise, Fang’s appearance caused them to scatter as he swooped down at them like
a striking falcon only to disappear again at the last second. On silent wings he soared back up into the relative safety of the murky cloud.

Again and again Fang taunted the night dragons, each time manoeuvring to confuse or disorient them. With every flashing encounter his three adversaries became wiser to his tactics. Gradually
they started to coordinate their efforts against him. Kira could do nothing other than hang on. It was not a pleasant sensation to have to place all her trust in Fang even though he was her partner
for life. She was very much used to controlling her own destiny, but there was nothing she could do to help. Flying tactics were Fang’s domain. He was old and wily. She knew better than to
interfere, but as the night dragons became more organised, so the game they were playing became progressively more dangerous.

‘I think that’s enough, Fang,’
she said eventually.
‘We’ve pushed our luck to the limit. Let’s get out of here.’

‘I agree,’
he replied.
‘I was not expecting the pincer response they pulled on the last run. They’re no fools. I can’t feel any of our friends nearby, so
we’ve achieved our aim.’

Fang stayed camouflaged as he dipped his right wing and entered a descending spiral. He kept the turn tight, but not horribly so. Kira looked down in an effort to see the ground. When Fang
levelled his wings and began to beat them again in the familiar rhythm he used for distance flying, Kira was surprised to realise that she had been looking without seeing for some time. She had
become so used to the milky whiteness inside the murky snowstorm that she had not detected the subtly different white of the carpet covering the valley floor below.

A burning sensation rushed up from her stomach to the back of her throat and a sour taste settled on her tongue. She did not know if Fang had seen the ground approaching, or if he had an inbuilt
sense of how high he was. Either way, the shock of comprehension when she registered how low they had come made her appreciate her dragon’s abilities all the more. Fang could have crashed
into the ground and she would never have seen it coming. It was a scary thought.

They flew along the valley basin in total silence. The snow continued to fall around them, but the visibility was sufficient for Fang to navigate safely.

‘Do you think the night dragons are following us?’
she asked, as they turned left into a narrower valley.

‘It’s hard to say,’
Fang replied.
‘They were still adapting tactics to try to catch me in the act of taunting them when we left. They will think our
disappearance is another ruse to begin with, but I doubt they will take long to realise the truth.’

The light was fading fast. The dark clouds overhead made it feel more like dusk than late afternoon. Kira quickly lost all sense of which way they were heading. All the valleys looked similar.
Some were wider than others, but all were buried in snow. Through her mental link with Fang she felt his confidence that they were heading in the right direction, but she had no way of helping or
checking.

When the valley walls finally disappeared, Kira heaved a sigh of relief. Snow was still falling, but the sky was definitely lighter. Without the menace of huge peaks looming to either side of
them, Kira instinctively began to relax, and the cold suddenly began to feel more intense than ever.

Fang turned to the right, seeking to parallel the mountain range southwards. Assuming they had safely navigated clear of the peaks, her companions would be doing the same. Kira could feel
herself succumbing to the cold. Having felt its insidious bite before, she was now aware of the danger. The signs were unmistakeable.

‘I’m sorry, Fang, but if we don’t land soon I’m going to freeze,’
she warned.

‘I know,’
he replied.
‘I’ve been looking for somewhere safe to set down for a while now, but I’ve not sensed anywhere useable. I’m not sure what to
do.’

‘I think we’re just going to have to land and make the best of what’s around,’
she said, her body trembling violently.
‘Can you see any woodland? I know
it’s dangerous, but I’m going to need a fire to warm me up.’

Kira held her breath as she sensed Fang straining to see through snow and mist.

‘Yes,’
he said.
‘There is woodland not far to our left, but . . .’

‘But what?’ she gasped aloud. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘It’s probably nothing,’
he said slowly, but he sounded troubled.
‘For a moment I felt a flicker of something – a presence.’

‘Another dragon?’
she asked.

Fang did not answer straight away. She could feel him straining as he swept the area ahead with his mind. Kira could just make out the trees of a pine forest. The treetops were laden with snow,
but the conical shapes and the freckles of dark green amongst the shroud of white were unmistakeable.

‘I don’t think so,’
he replied.
‘It was such a fleeting impression that it’s impossible to be certain. Whatever it was, it’s not there now. The snow
must be confusing my senses. We’ll land.’