by Mark Robson
Nolita had trodden the circular arguments before, but this time they felt different. The encounter with the Oracle had changed her somehow and these logical conclusions did not seem so pointless any more. A feeling of progress gave her a glimmer of hope that warmed her inside.
‘The least I can do is to try to complete my part of the quest,’ she whispered. ‘I’m not alone, and my brave companions can help me.’
She began to get up with the intention of returning quietly to the campsite, but a stealthy movement on the other side of the stream caused her to freeze. Cold clamped her gut and her breath seized in her chest as she realised something was creeping towards her through the darkness. All thoughts of bravery vanished. A wave of goosepimples raised the hairs on her arms and her mouth felt suddenly dry. What was it? What predators stalked Orupee?
She concentrated hard on remaining totally still and watching for further hints of movement. As she watched, she saw not one, but several dark shadows moving forwards in a line. It was well that her eyes were adjusted to the dark, as it helped her to identify the shapes. They were human. What was more, they were all carrying spears.
Chapter Nineteen
Attack
It took a heartbeat or two for Nolita to realise what the men were doing. Their movements were cautious and silent. They were hunting the beasts.
For a moment her heart surged with excitement. If they killed the beast, then she would be free of him for ever. As soon as the thought entered her mind she realised she had to stop them. If the hunters killed the beasts, then the Oracle would die. Despite her fears she really wanted to help the Dragon Spirit. Through the Oracle hope had been reborn in her heart. She was not ready to risk losing that hope before it had time to grow.
What would Elian or Kira do now? she thought. Would they shout a warning, or run to fetch help? No. That would just alert the hunters that they’d been discovered. The answer was simple, but she instinctively shied away from it. She would have to speak with the beast through the mind contact they shared. The problem was that she did not know how.
‘Concentrate, Nolita,’ she breathed, willing her heart and mind to be still. ‘Just concentrate on the beast and think your warning to him.’
‘Beast?’ she thought, focusing her mind as totally as she could on the name. ‘F . . . Firestorm, can you hear me?’
‘Yes, Nolita,’ Firestorm responded immediately, clearly surprised by her call. ‘Your mental voice is strong. I can hear you clearly.’
‘You’re in danger. There are hunters near the stream. They’re coming closer,’ she projected, strangely pleased to have anything she did described as ‘strong’.
‘Dragonhunters! Try to remain hidden. I’ll alert the others and we’ll get you to safety as soon as we can. Can you tell how many there are?’
‘No,’ she replied. ‘I can see a line of them. I’d guess at least a dozen.’
‘A large party! Your warning may have saved us all. Thank you, Nolita.’
Tears welled in Nolita’s eyes. Firestorm’s voice had sounded proud. It had been a long time since anyone had been proud of anything she had done. She should feel unclean after speaking to the dragon, but for once the instinct to wash did not touch her, and the sense of freedom this brought felt wonderful.
Husam crept forwards, spear at the ready. The hulking shadow of Tembo to his right calmed some of his jitters. The big man’s presence had always given him comfort. Husam had looked forward to this attack with excited anticipation, but now the moment was approaching, he could not shake off the bad feelings that haunted his conscience.
To reach this valley had taken three weeks of the most gruelling travel that Husam had ever known. Kasau had pushed the party relentlessly, to the point where Husam suspected the strange man had become obsessed beyond reason. Several of the party had given up and turned aside, unable to cope with the punishing pace. Kasau had let them go without a word. The remaining hunters had ridden halfway across one continent, sailed over a sea and penetrated deep into a second. Aside from the sea voyage, which had lasted two days, Husam had enjoyed no more than a couple of hours’ rest each day. He felt tired, but the adrenaline flowing through his body as the hunt neared its conclusion heightened his senses, giving him a feeling of alertness that he hoped was not false.
How Kasau had tracked the dawn dragon here was still a mystery. However, the strange hunter appeared to have a sixth sense when it came to dragons. If he said the dawn dragon was here, then Husam would not question him. Kasau had proved his abilities on more than one occasion.
A sudden noise caused Husam to look up. A dragon was getting airborne. The unmistakable sound of huge wingbeats caused his heart to leap. Had the dragons detected their presence? Had they travelled all this way only to have their prey escape at the last moment? No. He could only hear a single set of wingbeats. Squinting, he could just make out the dark outline of another dragon ahead.
He paused, looking down the line to his left to see if Kasau would relay instructions. A few heartbeats later the man to his left gave a series of exaggerated hand signals. The light from the moons and stars was plenty for him to be able to see and interpret the signals. ‘Target ahead. Continue.’
So the dawn dragon is still on the ground, he thought. Even if we lose the dusk dragon through bad timing, the dawn dragon is the kill of choice.
A stream cut across the meadow in front of him. The water was not wide or deep, but it had eroded a steep-sided course across the field, the banks of which were about as deep as the average man was tall. Taking care not to make any noise, he slipped silently down the bank to the water’s edge. It was easy enough to cross silently, though he did hear a slight splash to his right. It was Tembo. He had jumped the stream comfortably, but where he had landed was slick with moisture and one of his feet had slipped back into the water. Given Kasau’s obsession with this hunt it was probably a good thing that Tembo was out towards the end of the line. He winced. Had the big man been closer to Kasau, their leader might have killed him for his error.
As he eased up the far bank of the stream, Husam could clearly see the outline of their target ahead. A quick glance to right and left revealed that the line was reforming at the top of the bank. This was it.
It took a moment or two for the stragglers to get to the top of the bank. Kneeling, he waited for the final signal. The man to his left raised a hand. He raised his left in an imitation of the signal and glanced right to make sure Tembo was similarly poised. To his left the man’s hand dropped and he began to move forwards swiftly and silently as the final charge began. Husam dropped his hand and was up and running a split heartbeat later, but as he leaped forward his doubts suddenly swelled within him like an abscess, the pressure building rapidly until it threatened to burst.
A huge roar split the air as the dragon sensed their approach and the dawn dragon’s outline suddenly began to glow with rapidly increasing brilliance. Back in Racafi, the hunters who had been unfortunate enough to look at the dawn dragon when she had done this before had seen spots before their eyes for days afterwards. Some still complained of blind areas in their vision now. Husam had no intention of letting the dragon damage his eyesight, so he lowered his eyes to focus on the ground directly in front of him. He found the light from the dawn dragon was actually helpful, as he could see every lump and bump in the ground ahead.
‘Throw!’ the call from Kasau was loud and filled with triumph. Husam drew his arm back, and squinting into the now brilliant light, he hurled his spear with all his might towards the body of the dragon. A rapid series of grunts from either side of him told him that the rest of the hunters had likewise loosed their weapons.
There was a breathless pause for no more than a heartbeat before chaos erupted. The light from the dawn dragon suddenly dimmed to a bearable level. Simultaneously a monstrous jet of flame erupted, seemingly from the body of the dawn dragon, to consume the flight of hurled spears. All the weapons had wooden shafts tipped with dragonhorn exce
pt that of Kasau, which was made totally from dragonhorn, tip and shaft. There was little short of molten lava that could melt dragonbone, but the shafts of the majority of the weapons disintegrated in an instant within that flaming inferno, leaving the tips to fall harmlessly short. The only weapon that sailed on in a deadly arc was Kasau’s.
Husam, shielding his eyes against the flare of fire, followed its flight. He held his breath as it dived towards its target, but just as he thought it must strike home, the dawn dragon’s tail whipped around and swatted it aside with immaculate timing. For a moment he was stunned. He froze, unable to move as his mind tried to grapple with what had just happened.
The dawn dragon roared again; a deafening bellow of defiance as she turned to face the hunters. To Husam’s amazement, from behind her arose the shape of a second dragon that strutted around to stand alongside her. Lifting its head, this second dragon also roared with fury. Suddenly all became clear. This was not the dusk dragon they had met earlier, but a day dragon – proud, strong and full of wrathful fire.
‘Gods!’ Husam exclaimed. The potential presence of a day dragon had never entered their thinking when they had discussed how they would strike.
The two dragons were beautiful, yet terrifying. Hunters normally killed them through stealth, but the element of surprise had been lost here. Husam knew it took a brave or foolish hunter to assault an alert and angry dragon.
In the light of the dawn dragon’s glowing scales, every ridge and horn on the two creatures seemed sharper, larger and more deadly. The day dragon opened its jaws again, drawing in a deep breath. Its huge teeth gleamed ivory white for a moment before its head whipped forwards on its long neck, spewing a new jet of deadly flame across the meadow. It twisted its head from side to side, spraying the flames back and forth. The fire reflected in the great eyes of both dragons gave them an almost demonic appearance in the flickering light.
Although the flames fell short of the hunters, Husam was forced to turn away as the wave of heat struck him like a giant hammer. He dropped into a crouch, choking on the smoke and fumes. His hands rose automatically to protect his face as his shirt rapidly became hot against his back. He cried out in pain as he began to feel his skin cook. Billowing smoke and terrified yells filled the air and for a moment he thought he would bake where he crouched. Suddenly the punishing blast of heat stopped and Husam struggled upright in readiness to run.
A sudden movement caught his eye. It was Kasau. To Husam’s amazement, even as the day dragon drew another breath, the hunter sprinted forwards through the writhing coils of smoke with a dragonbone blade in his hand. Those hunters not already running away were rooted where they stood. What did Kasau think he was doing? To attack two alert dragons alone and from a position of weakness was suicide.
A sudden roar from a different quarter struck such fear into Husam that his throat seemed to seize and his stomach knotted as he spun to face this new threat. The dusk dragon they thought had flown away was charging to attack the line of hunters from the right flank.
But if the dusk dragon is here, then what dragon did we see take off earlier? he thought. There were all together too many dragons. The attack had failed and if they were to escape with their lives, then they needed to run like they had never run before.
‘Tembo! Run! Now!’ he yelled, turning towards the big man and grabbing his arm as he launched into a sprint. Tembo did not need any further encouragement. Together they pelted back across the meadow, reaching the stream in quick time.
As they slid down into the watercourse a huge shadow passed silently overhead, momentarily blotting out a large number of stars. Husam ducked his head and pulled Tembo down with him. An ear-piercing shriek suddenly split the air, bringing a wave of fear even more potent than that inspired by the roars of the three dragons.
‘What on Areth is that?’ Husam asked aloud. He looked back. He could not resist.
‘That’s Shadow. You don’t want to mess with her,’ said a girl’s voice from no more than a few paces to his right. He whirled around. He could not see her through the smoke and darkness, but she sounded calm as she continued. ‘I suggest you carry on running if you want to live. I would, if I were in your boots.’
At that moment the great shadow stooped. Husam whirled to watch in terrified fascination as it dropped like a stone from the sky onto the field from which he had just run. As it neared the ground he realised the shadow’s target.
Kasau had almost reached the two waiting dragons when the deafening screech stopped him in his tracks. Confused, he looked around and saw the dusk dragon charging his line of hunters from the right. A flash of annoyance that none of the hunters had followed him in his attack caused him to curl his upper lip back in a snarl. He knew instantly, however, that the roaring dusk dragon had not made the unearthly screech. His eyes flicked upwards.
The dragonhunter dived to the right as Shadow dropped from the sky towards him like a giant falcon. Her massive talons missed him by a whisker, driving deep into the earth where he had been standing a split heartbeat before. As he rolled to his feet he swept the air above his body with his sword. The blade did not connect. Despite her size and heavily armoured hide, Shadow was wary of the dragonbone sword. She lunged, mouth gaping wide. Prudence stopped her short, just out of reach of the blade. For a moment, Kasau held her at bay and his mismatched eyes filled with fanatical zeal as he leaped into the offensive.
Husam stood entranced by the scene, with Tembo at his side. He felt duty bound to help his embattled leader, but fear and indecision kept him from moving. Kasau pressed forwards, forcing Shadow to hop back in a most ungainly fashion. The canny night dragon gave another dummy lunge as she did so, keeping the dragonhunter focused on her head and talons, whilst whipping her long tail around to strike from the side. If she had tried the tactic in the daytime, it was unlikely that it would have succeeded. But in the dying light offered by the remnants of the dawn dragon’s fading glow, Kasau sensed the danger too late. The night dragon’s tail smashed into him from the side with the weight and force of a falling tree.
The impact knocked him clear off his feet. Pain erupted in his chest as he fell and his sword flew from his grip, spinning end over end in a lazy arc. As he hit the ground, Kasau rolled, but he was not fast enough. More pain exploded like red fire as great talons pierced his thigh and stomach, pinning him to the ground. Instinctively he grabbed at the talons in an effort to pull himself free. They felt smooth and polished, like the marble pillars of the great temple in Mero where he had grown up, and equally as immovable, as he strained against the dragon’s deadly hold. His strength was slipping away. He was soaked in his own blood. It was over. He knew it, but he could not accept it. Drifting smoke and the musky scent of the night dragon wafted over him. But it was the meaty breath and the great gaping jaws descending towards him that ignited his spirit to a final act of defiance. With a shuddering gasp he drew his knife an instant before the great teeth struck.
Husam winced as Shadow pounced like an oversized cat. He saw the night dragon’s talons impale Kasau, but to his amazement, despite the dragon’s deadly strike he saw the dragonhunter reach to his hip and draw a dagger. What Kasau hoped to do with it, Husam could not begin to imagine, but before the dying hunter had a chance to raise the blade in anger, the dragon’s jaws opened wide and bit him with the speed of a striking viper. Husam lowered his eyes quickly as the sickening sounds of Kasau’s death were followed by a strange, rumbling growl of satisfaction from the dragon.
‘Roughly translated, I believe that was dragon for “Mmm, crunchy!”’ the girl’s voice said calmly from the darkness. ‘You’d better start running – she’s got the taste for blood now.’
Husam was not about to argue with such obvious logic. He spun, but as he did so something hit him from behind with so much force that it picked him from his feet and threw him several paces through the air.
‘Husam? Are you all right?’ Tembo asked, racing to his friend’s aid as he lay sprawle
d on the ground.
‘I think so,’ he gasped. His back still felt scorched and he could now smell that the hair on the back of his neck had been singed as well. ‘Whatever hit me didn’t hurt. Let’s get out of here. This was a bad idea from the start.’ His heart raced and his chest was heaving as he fought for breath. He did not want to say more. His mind seemed suddenly filled with strange pictures and sounds.
‘No arguments with that here,’ Tembo said quickly.
The big man hauled Husam to his feet and together they ran away into the valley as fast as they could. Had the light been better, or had Tembo paused to look his friend in the eyes before they ran, he might have thought twice about following his friend. It was not until the next morning that he was to discover the strange change in Husam. In the early misty light, as they stirred the ashes of their little campfire into life, a chill shot down Tembo’s spine. It was startling. His friend’s eyes were no longer their normal, azure blue – well, the right one was, but the left had changed. It was darker. So dark, it was almost purple.
Chapter Twenty
Journey
In the morning, swathes of blackened grass and odd fragmented remains of weapons were all that marked the dramatic events of the previous evening. Elian turned the dragonbone sword over and over in his hands as he considered what had happened. The sword looked identical to the one Kasau had carried, but that was impossible. Kasau and his hunting party were in Racafi, hundreds of leagues south of their position. It made no sense.
‘Elian, I have a confession to make.’ Aurora sounded embarrassed. Considering her normal superior tone, Elian was surprised to hear the penitent note in her voice.
‘A confession, Ra?’ he replied, looking up into his dragon’s amber eyes. ‘What sort of confession?’
