Longfang

by Mark Robson

  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

  Making a Stand

  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 o
n 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.

  ‘Right, Pell, you take the men to the right and I’ll aim for the ones to the left,’ Elian said decisively. ‘Remember, we need to get them to bunch together so Ra has a more compact target. She will help us as they get closer.’

  ‘I’ll do my best,’ Pell replied. ‘Good luck.’

  The two boys picked up a stone in each hand and waited. They had tried throwing a handful of rocks at different angles to get a feel for their range, so the moment the hunters came close enough they let fly with their first stones. Once they had started, they did not stop. They stooped again and again to pick up further ammunition, launching a continuous barrage at either end of the line.

  Most of the stones missed their marks, but Pell got lucky with one, a flattish rock that spun, twisting through the air in a curve that the unfortunate hunter did not predict. It caught him on the shoulder, smashing down with such force that it snapped his collarbone like a twig. He fell, yelling and clutching at his shoulder. As Elian had hoped, the line began to contract, the men instinctively closing together as the rain of stones dropped like bombs from the sky.

  Aurora timed her first strike beautifully. Almost at the instant Pell’s rock struck down the man at the far right, she appeared at the crest of the ridge. Heaving the heavy load between her jaws, she whipped it out and over the edge, using every last scrap of power and leverage her long neck offered.

  Distracted by their colleague’s cry, the men did not see the enormous tree trunk coming until its first ominous wooden thud reverberated through the ground under their feet. To begin with, the tree did not so much roll down the hill as gambol, making it doubly difficult to evade. Two men were hit full on and another was struck a glancing blow as he attempted to dive over the top of it. Elian had used the dragonbone sword like an axe to remove the branches. The blade had passed through the thick branches like a knife slicing soft cheese. Once the trunk was in motion, it bounded down the slope, accelerating at a frightening rate.

  A few seconds later, Aurora hoisted another tree trunk into the air. The last remnants of the hunters’ line disintegrated as the second enormous projectile hurtled down the slopes. Chaos reigned. Some of the men began to retreat. Others accelerated, trying to press home their attack. The remainder dithered, or were injured.

  The hunters’ confusion was a thing of beauty. Elian picked up more stones to rain down upon them, sending rock after rock in a steady stream, but he was running out fast. Pell’s pile was almost gone too. Aurora swung her third and final tree trunk, aiming it at the men still moving forwards.

  ‘Time to go!’ Elian called across to Pell.

  The two boys raced to their dragons and leapt up into their saddles with practised ease. Aurora waited for Shadow to lead. The great black dragon let out an ear-splitting shriek of defiance at the hunters before racing across the spur and hurling herself off the far edge. Her wings spread to catch the air beneath their vast span and she sailed from the ridge into the sky. Elian held his breath. For one horrible second it looked as though Shadow’s injured right wing would fold under the strain. She wobbled dangerously, but quickly steadied herself and gently began to beat her wings with a reassuring rhythm.

  ‘Ready, Ra?’ he asked. He felt her eagerness through the bond. ‘Let’s go.’

  Following Shadow off the ridge, they launched into the sky. To Elian’s surprise, however, Aurora did not follow the black dragon for more than a few wingbeats. Instead she dipped her left wing and began to descend in a fast gliding arc down into the valley below.

  ‘What are you doing, Ra?’ Elian called aloud. The pain of her wounds was all but gone as far as he could tell through the b
ond. There was no reason he could think of for her to be descending.

  ‘I’m going to make it more difficult for the hunters to follow us this time,’ she replied.

  The wind tugged at Elian’s hair as they continued to accelerate in the long curving turn. Suddenly Elian saw her target – the horses. Of course! he thought. It’s the perfect opportunity.

  He squinted his eyes and leaned low to Aurora’s back as they dived faster and faster. The horses were quick to spot the approaching dragon. The solitary man leading them fought to keep control as they bucked and reared with fear. He was thrown to the ground as the horses pulled in every direction, each trying desperately to get free from the chain.

  Aurora lifted her talons into their strike position and grabbed at the lead horse, lifting it into the air with a lurch and tossing it into the rest of the line. Many of the horses were bowled over. Elian felt sorry for them as he and Aurora soared upwards in a steep climb into the sky. The poor animals were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. But this was no time to get sentimental. Shadow was unlikely to be able to fly far. Aurora turned on a wingtip, reversing direction and diving back in for another pass.

  The man in charge of the horses saw what was happening and decided enough was enough. Live horses were more useful than dead ones. With a flash of steel he drew his sword and slashed at the rope that held the horses together, running through an iron hoop on each set of reins. Those horses that were still on their feet suddenly found they were free. In a matter of seconds they scattered like chaff, galloping away at a speed born out of panic.

  Aurora passed over, driving the horses away. She circled, spooking the horses still further and forcing them to run fast and far. Shadow was little more than a speck in the distance when Aurora began the long chase to catch her up.