Dragonstar (Dragonfriend Book 4)

by Marc Secchia

  Nothing.

  After a minute, Hualiama let out a breath she had been holding. “Sorry, I was certain–”

  SKREE!!

  Ice exploded against Grandion’s flank. Roaring, even though nothing penetrated his shield, he swept that area with fire. Hualiama caught a glimpse of soft, furry white wings retreating. No windroc was that big. Also, those were not feathers …

  With harsh cries, a flight of Ice-Raptors bombed the group with a flurry of ice shards mingled with powerful, chilling gouts of breath – almost like a Grey or Blue Dragon steam attack, Lia noted peripherally, drawing her inner Dragoness into the fray. Dragonsoul, I need … great! Her arrow feathered in a blazing pink eye. Again!

  Gone. The long, silky white fur that covered their bodies was an extraordinary sound-dampening device, she fed back to the Dragons. Mizuki showed them a picture of a two-legged Dragon shaped more along avian lines than purely draconic, with a narrow, beak-like mouth some fifteen feet in length that was lined with four-inch, inward-pointing fangs, and additional talons on the secondary and tertiary wing joints, which apparently functioned as the forelimbs, Hualiama concluded. Further, their fur appeared to be fireproof, or at least to be highly resistant to a straightforward Dragon fire attack.

  “Our Eastern legends would name those Wyverns, a subclass of the Dragonkind,” Mizuki noted quietly. “Four limbs as opposed to six.”

  Grandion flexed his talons. “Who cares? They die just the same. We’ve other tricks up our scaly sleeves. Watch their breath. They like to mist up a shield, making defence more difficult. They’ll close in –”

  SKREE! SKREE!

  White swirled out of the grey, seeming to pull the mists about the hurtling Dragonkind as the Ice-Raptors attacked as a pack, targeting the Copper Dragoness with a series of body-slams against her shield. She was strong, but their blows rocked her violently as they scrabbled at her pneumatic and magical-reflective shields with tooth and talon. Lia pitched in simultaneously with arrows and psychic strengthening, while Grandion screamed into the attack, savaging the elusive Ice-Raptors with talon strikes that sprayed greenish-gold Dragon blood into the air around them. The Raptors countered with a shrieking, discordant psychic attack unlike anything Lia had experienced before, but she responded quicker than thought, bubbling soothing Harmony into the Lesser Dragons. Grandion and Mizuki steadied at once, while Makani busied herself testing the efficacy of her glue-fireball attacks on the Ice-Raptors – judging by the shrieking antics of those she hit, an effective sport.

  Elki reached down to pat his mount, reloading his bow. “What of your Shivers attack, my flame-heart?”

  “I … was shaken,” Mizuki snarled wrathfully. “It won’t happen again.”

  The Dragons regrouped, casting suspicious glances at the surrounding murk, which restricted visibility to approximately one hundred and fifty feet, and worse in some areas. Hualiama had the impression, confirmed by Mizuki’s grumbling, that the attack had simply been a test. Yet, what had she felt in that split second before the Ice-Raptors pounced? A different presence? Could it have been a lurking Chrysolitic Dragon? At the same time, her Dragonsoul was thinking through the directional problem at thought-speed with the Tourmaline Dragon. Echo-location? Then the wind began to pick up, a changeable, capricious breeze that seemed even cooler than what they already knew.

  Chill factor equivalent to minus seventy-four, Mizuki accounted promptly, showing Hualiama the magical constructions and graduations she used to measure temperature.

  Cool! Lia enthused.

  Terrible joke, Elki groaned. Worse than myself.

  Mine, corrected the Copper Dragoness.

  Yours, of course, he sneered at once, drawing a displeased snarl from the Dragoness.

  This is worse than a Franxxian soup, Mizuki growled, after a minute. I’ve a feeling we’re heading in entirely the wrong direction …

  The three Dragons, and Hualiama with them, broke out into a chorus of snarls as the mists parted and showed them heading south again, directly toward Immadia!

  Chapter 6: Ever so Magnetic

  Grandion Banked, venting his spleen in a long, pained snarl. Impossible! A Dragon’s directional sense was meant to be infallible – unless the magic of these mists was wholly more intelligent than he had supposed.

  At once, Hualiama sat bolt upright in her saddle and exclaimed, “Intelligence! Brilliant, Grandion. Either it’s the Ice-Raptors or the Chrysolitic Dragons, or both, but something’s manipulating those mists to behave as they do. They might even be allies acting to complement each other’s abilities, in a mutualistic relationship. I sensed something different just before the attack. I suspect that the Ice-Raptors might just be lackeys to the Chrysolitic Dragons.”

  The Tourmaline snorted a pleased fireball. Many times, the cunning of Lia’s thoughts betrayed her true draconic nature. Now was such a moment.

  He responded, “Alright, hatchling ancient-paws. How do we smoke them out? More importantly, how do we stop flying in circles until we drop into the Cloudlands?”

  Lia scratched her chin. “Sight is out. Echo location, either physical or magical, is also unlikely to work. So, I think –”

  “Ley lines,” said Elki, with his patented smirk.

  Hualiama stared at him. “You! Have I told you what a stinking genius you are?”

  “Frequently, minus the stink,” he said.

  “What are ley lines?” Saori inquired.

  “Sheer animal magnetism,” boasted the Fra’aniorian Prince. “They’re like what happens when I smile at you.”

  “Actually, the Prince is a somewhat mistaken genius,” said Hualiama, giving Elki a broad wink. “My brother’s sauntering around the wrong Island. Ley lines are an idea that places of significance are linked in a mystical grid of power that covers our Island-World. What Elki was thinking of is navigation by the magnetic field lines, which are regular and predictable–”

  “Except in the North, where there’s a great deal of interference which gives rise to the auroral phenomena you enjoyed so much,” Grandion pointed out. “They are also potentially open to manipulation.”

  “Not if we manipulate them first,” said his Rider.

  Grandion opened and shut his mouth three times before he managed to produce a coherent response. “How do you propose to do that, Hualiama?” He had aimed for sarcasm, but what emerged was pure, draconic disbelief-admiration.

  She hedged, “Well, how certain are we that our directional senses were being manipulated?”

  “One hundred percent!” Makani, Mizuki and Grandion all snarled in concert.

  “As I thought,” returned the Star Dragoness. “Therefore, I propose we give it back to them with interest.”

  “How?” Grandion repeated.

  “Well, the magnetic field is a function of our Island-World’s Balance. Some Dragon scientists believe it protects us from harmful cosmic radiation. So, I propose to manipulate those harmonies in a flagrant abuse of the magic and principles Siiyumiel taught us –”

  “For the greater good?” Elki snorted.

  “Exactly. Essentially, I’m going to sing us through.”

  Prince Qilong looked as pained as if he had seen his own spirit flying off over the Isles. “Is she often like this?”

  “Constantly,” said Grandion.

  “One man’s insanity is another man’s genius,” said the Prince of Fra’anior.

  “Glad we know another word for your kind of genius,” said Saori, prodding him in the ribs.

  “Actually, it won me you,” he retorted.

  Grandion eyed the kissing couple balefully. The idea that he might one day behave like that? May a Blue colour spit Green Acid!

  It took her three hours, but another of Hualiama’s draconic traits was an inability to acknowledge that the word ‘yield’ belonged in the Island Standard dictionary. Everyone chipped in as she experimented upon influencing the magnetic field with her Balance magic, but oddly, it was Sumio, who had an exceptional music
al ear and perfect pitch, who identified the necessary corrections to her efforts. Then, Hualiama worked with the Dragonesses to develop a subterfuge they thought might just work on the enemy while keeping their own course true.

  Finally, she stood in front of Shayitha and bade the Princess strap her legs to Grandion’s spine spikes, suggesting that when the enemy found out they had been duped, they might just take exception to the ruse. That could be painful. Shayitha murmured that she might better employ the straps on Hualiama’s mouth, since setting Immadia’s magnetic fields to Imbalance was the very definition of provocation on too many levels to enumerate.

  “Save that for the kidnapping,” Imaytha joked.

  The Immadian enchantress seemed rather grim about the mouth, however. Grandion wondered what was eating her – as Dragons would say, better meat in the bowl than meat running off whole.

  Then, the girl began to weave her song-magic in the magnetic sphere, and the Island-World shifted around him.

  * * * *

  Flicker looked up from his meal of ermine entrails as trills of alarm spread throughout the developing warren. The world’s ending! The mountains are falling, cried the frightened dragonets.

  At once, he roared on the mental level, Be strong, dragonets! This is a mighty working of magic. Warn the other warrens. Bring all dragonets inside.

  Immediately, the mental community-network raced in operation. This was an innovation he had been working on to try to help the dragonets to develop early warning systems and co-operation between the usually competitive warrens. If the Ice-Raptors ever found a warren, they would need this network to be operating perfectly.

  He scented the air, extending his sixth and seventh senses. That hint of laughter, that chime of starlight seeming to vibrate upon the very air … Hualiama!

  Then, he frowned, sensing what she manipulated went far beyond what he had assumed, and clearly, far beyond the bounds of her understanding. His jaw dropped. Did she not understand the implications? How the magnetic fields protected the Island-World?

  Hualiama! How he wished his mental reach could be like the Great Onyx, so that he could swat her like a lava-fly.

  Quietly, desperately, Flicker tried to explain to her how dangerously she had twisted reality. Then, he left the warren and flew quick-winged for Immadia City, having to navigate by memory rather than instinct, for his directional sense was entirely backward. More importantly, he must warn the Humans before disaster struck.

  His wings buzzed as rapidly as any speeding dragonfly. That Blue-Star. When would she learn one could not dance unthinking through life?

  * * * *

  Hualiama’s eyes flickered open. She was certain Flicker had been trying to speak to her, but she could not make out his indistinct, faraway mental speech. Instead, she hummed softly yet with a resonance that seemed to fill the otherworldly chamber of surrounding mists, as the Dragons winged onward in the direction that every instinct told them was the wrong one, except that it was right. There had been no attack this time. Did that mean the Ice-Raptors had found them by accident, or were the problems they faced more sinister yet?

  Such as the storm screaming in from the West … and a strong, distasteful sense of Imbalance in the far South, reverberating through the magnetic flux like an ill wind vibrating a Dragon’s wings.

  A problem for another day.

  Renew your shields if you get plastered with ice, said Makani, referring to a construct she and Mizuki had developed that should slough off extra ice before it built up. Don’t try to fight back with warmth.

  Miserable mist, Mizuki added. My Riders think they can kiss all day long and never be seen.

  Suddenly, the Immadian Queen’s head snapped about. “Landmass! Dodge!”

  Grandion and Mizuki flung themselves to port, and Makani to starboard. Whoosh! Lia blinked as she peered back over her shoulder. Scaly rock? As in … whoosh! She might have detected the pressure differential, but far too late. Suddenly the Immadian Queen was the one in the driving seat, yelling instructions at the Dragons with great urgency but a rather inadequate understanding of Dragon flight mechanics or even, several times, where her left and right were as Grandion jinked and dodged sharply. Rock – if it was rock – peppered the mists in this region, shooting from beneath with infeasible speed. Again, Lia thought of draconic bones and scales. Knucklebones popped up and down, rocketing upward or plummeting from above without any warning. As the Tourmaline, dogged closely by the Copper Dragoness, accelerated to catch Makani before she disappeared entirely behind the drifting, everlasting mists, the Grey voiced a sharp cry and slewed in the air, bouncing off a boulder. She seemed to recover immediately.

  Ice-Raptors! Mizuki bugled. Makani – down and out!

  The Grey snapped her wings shut and plummeted, twisting her body to avoid the converging attackers. Grandion chortled as the Ice-Raptors slammed into each other rather than finding the Dragoness; he made the snarling mêlée pay with a violent spray of ice shards long enough to pin several groups together like meat on skewers. Next, he pummelled the survivors with a powerful psychic attack, cutting off that characteristic screaming which had so shaken Mizuki before. Ice blew across their shield like a clattering of hailstones, only these shards were designed for lacerating Dragons’ wings. Grandion switched shields to the secondary layer he had formed within the first, broke free with a surge of his mighty shoulders, and seized an Ice-Raptor in his jaws. Crack!

  Meantime, the Riders made their arrows count, aiming for the head or better still, the eyes and throats of the Ice-Raptors. They were not as thickly armoured as the Lesser Dragons, so that a solid hit would plug up to the fletching.

  Keep singing, Grandion snarled at her mid-whirl, lashing out with his tail. The resulting collision with four Raptors rattled his Riders sharply. Somewhere amidst the chaos, Hualiama heard Prince Qilong raising his battleccry; then, there was a strange, echoing silence around her as her voice seemed to pitch into nothingness. Again, she sensed presence, and a hint of that burned-lily scent she had identified in the library.

  We’re friends, she called, hoping she might be sensing Chrysolitic Dragons.

  The mist seemed to explode with Ice-Raptors. SKREE! SKREE! Amidst the chaos of flying boulders, the Raptors wheeled into the attack with uncanny precision, crying their vicious mental blasts that threatened to pulverise her brain, but Mizuki’s Shivers power shrieked through a register unattainable even to the Raptors and shattered an entire battle segment; still, Hualiama was shocked to spy some of the furry white fiends escaping the carnage with apparently minimal damage. How had they avoided that acoustic-magical bombshell? Behind her, the Queen’s hands crackled hideously as she fired amethyst-coloured bolts into the fray; the arrow-shaped magical constructs appeared to behave like sticky directed lightning, tracking their target up to impact and then sticking to deliver an explosive electrical discharge. The sickly scent of burned fur whipped into her nostrils, making her inner Dragoness snarl in delight.

  “Imaytha! Strike for Immadia!” she whooped.

  The wind gusted violently now, slewing the Dragons about as their wings took strain and their flying prowess was tested to the limit. Rocks flew up or fell, some clashing into each other and creating spinning knots of shards. Grandion bellowed as a boulder struck him in the hindquarters, but he rotated with the heavy blow, spraying ice to clear Makani’s immediate environs of attackers. Some of the Raptors linked wings as they dived into the attack, seeking to corral and bring down the Lesser Dragons by weight of numbers, creating living nets to snarl them up.

  Lia sang and shored up the Dragons’ shields simultaneously, holding her trio together by main force as the Dragons dived and darted, seeking an end to the flying boulders. Freezing rain sleeted across Grandion’s shield, but his control was immaculate, keeping his wings clear as he shepherded the two Dragonesses through the danger zone. She glimpsed Brazo standing up in his saddle to spear a smaller Raptor repeatedly in the jaw with his daggers; somehow, it had b
roken Makani’s shield and the Dragoness was bleeding, but none too heavily. Isiki lay sideways out of her saddle in order to fire an arrow rearward along Makani’s back, point-blank into the Ice-Raptor’s right eye.

  She twizzled her neck, searching with every sense alive as the Raptors suddenly seemed to fade into the freezing rain. The winds shrieked one more time before they abruptly broke out into glorious suns-shine.

  Five or more Islands stood before them in the middle distance, perfect white peaks above turquoise Cloudlands, but Hualiama’s first thought was for the skies. The Dragons. There! Like crysglass held underwater, she saw the light behaving strangely just a couple of hundred feet off Grandion’s port wingtip. Got you this time, she crowed. See where we ended up.

  Silvery laughter teased her senses. Then, the translucent phenomenon clearly executed a double-take, shivering like wind chimes struck by a breeze as it realised that the small Dragonwing had broken through to where they were least wanted.

  Lia drew a deep breath. Gambit number one. DRAGON, OBEY!

  The glassy disturbance flickered, and winked slightly as it shot off into the distance, leaving Hualiama stunned. Azziala’s Command-hold had fizzled. It had failed to conquer a Dragon!

  How did the mass of a Dragon move like near-invisible mercury flowing through thin air?

  This was … she shook her head in unqualified disbelief. The Shapeshifter Dragoness ran over her construct half a dozen times in her mind. Flawless. She had been forced to use the Command-hold on Grandion, after all, and had been a victim herself. She should have control of a Chrysolitic Dragon. Instead, she had most likely turned them into mortal foes.

  * * * *

  Grandion gazed out over the perfect Islands, panting heavily as he deliberately dispelled the aftershocks of battle-madness in his muscles, limbs and Dragon powers. He saw what Hualiama had done, how she had disguised her Star Dragoness-presence until the crucial split second, performed a perfect ambush … and failed. She ran a hand slowly though her hair, gritting her teeth audibly. Then, the girl yelled in fury and struck her knees with her fists.