Longfang (23 page)

‘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 bond. 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.

‘That should do it,’
she told Elian, sounding pleased.
‘The hunters will eventually round most of them up, but the horses will be tired and fretful for some time. If
Shadow can fly even a modest distance, the hunters won’t catch up with us again today.’

Chapter Twenty-one

This place felt a world away from the white city of Harkesis, yet only three days had passed since they had eluded the searchers and slipped past Segun and his men. The
forbidding grey stone of the sea fortress and its imposing skyline gave notice to those who approached from land or sea: expect no welcome here. Even from the air the gigantic structure looked
grim, cold and empty. The enormous gates on the landward side of the castle stood open, but there were no flags flying from the solid square towers. No people walked on the thick, crenellated
walls. As Kira and Fang flew over the great structure, she saw the inner courtyards were bare of any signs of life. Where were the people who built these monstrous defences, and who were they so
afraid of that they should expend such resources on a castle of this size? A prickle ran up her spine and the skin on her arms rose in a rash of goosebumps.

The wind was blowing hard from the southwest, whipping the sea into a frothing frenzy of foam-tipped waves. Great streaks of white ran across the grey water in long streamers. Sea birds whirled
and dived above the cliffs, their mournful cries rising and falling in tones that ached with loss. Thick cloud scudded overhead, an endless racing ceiling of grey driven across the sky by the
blustery wind. Spits and spots of moisture carried on the gusts, but the clouds seemed in too much of a hurry to drop any organised rain. The dim light made the air feel thick with the onset of
night, yet it was barely past midday.

Across the wide estuary to the north, Kira could just make out the shadowy outline of a second large sea fortress.

‘Are you sure this is the place, Fang?’
she asked.
‘There’s another castle on the other side of the water.’

She knew the answer to the question before Fang replied, but she clutched at the grain of hope that she might be wrong. The Castle of Despair, he had named it. She was already beginning to see
why.

‘This is the castle we seek,’
Fang confirmed, his voice sounding as bleak as the gulls’.
‘We need to land in front of the gates. To try and land within the
walls in this wind would prove treacherous.’

The seaward side of the castle was flush to the sheer cliff, which dropped a hundred spans straight to the rocky beach below. On the landward side, there was a broad area of open land all the
way around the castle – a killing ground, stripped of cover and designed to leave any enemy brave enough, or mad enough, to assault the fortress vulnerable to the weapons of those within. A
road from the castle gates ran due east across open land and disappeared under the trees of the nearby dense forest. Aside from this large area of open ground, the countryside for miles around was
tree-covered, with only the occasional hill crowns emerging like isolated islands in a dark green sea.

They descended in a skidding arc, the wind carrying them sideways and then slowing their forward speed over the ground as they continued turning until they faced head on into the wind. When they
touched down they were barely moving forwards at all and they came to a stop in a few skipping steps. Kira dismounted, leaning into the gusts as she walked the short distance to meet Nolita. Her
companion’s blonde hair was streaming across her face.

‘It’s a bit wild, isn’t it?’ Kira commented, shaking her head to allow her own hair to catch the wind.

‘The wind, or the castle?’ Nolita answered, squinting up at the great grey walls with narrowed eyes.

‘Both. What do you think? Should we go in?’

‘I’d feel happier if the boys were here,’ the blonde girl admitted. ‘No disrespect for your skills, Kira, but I felt safer when we were travelling as a group of
four.’

‘You can tell Nolita her wish is granted,’
Fang said suddenly.
‘The others are coming. Look south.’

Kira looked. Sure enough, two dragons were approaching. They were flying low across the tree-tops. One was clearly the orange-gold colour of a dawn dragon. The other was larger and black, but
was flying awkwardly. If it was Shadow, then something was wrong with her. Kira grabbed Nolita’s arm and pointed.

‘W . . . What?’ Nolita spluttered. ‘How?’

‘I don’t know,’ Kira said, watching Aurora and Shadow turn to make their landing. ‘But I’m glad to see them. If Segun shows up now, we’ll have a fighting
chance of standing up to him.’

The two dragons swept around in a tight turn and landed nearby. For once, the fear that Nolita normally displayed in the presence of dragons was replaced by a look of relief and genuine delight.
Kira was not sure whether to be pleased by Nolita’s lack of apparent fear, or hurt that her companion did not find her company sufficient.

The boys slid to the ground next to their dragons and the girls ran to meet them.

‘How did you . . .’ Kira and Elian began simultaneously.

Kira, Elian and Nolita laughed. Pell’s face remained serious. Elian ignored him.

‘Ladies first,’ he said, giving a little bow. He then gave each of the girls a brief hug. ‘It’s good to see you – Kira . . . Nolita. Come over here. Let’s use
Ra as a shield from the wind. I don’t want to have to shout.’

Pell came with them as they moved behind Aurora, but he stood to one side, his face expressionless.

‘Well, after you abandoned us to Segun and his men . . .’ Kira started. Elian raised his hand and opened his mouth to protest, but her quick wink made him realise she was teasing.
‘It took us a while to throw him off our tracks. Fang suggested we might find the answer to the riddle in the Grand Library of Harkesis, but apparently Segun came to the same conclusion.
I’m not sure who reached Harkesis first, but that doesn’t really matter now. A scholar called Kalen was helping us with our search. We think Segun had him murdered. Once we realised the
night dragons were in the city, we ran for it. Kalen told us about the castle with his dying breath. I’m surprised we haven’t seen Segun yet. He could turn up at any moment.’

‘He’s already here,’ Pell said, his voice flat. ‘He’s hiding in the trees over there with Widewing.’

‘What!’ Kira exclaimed, looking to where Pell was pointing. ‘Fang? Is he right? Is Widewing in the trees?’

There was a pause and she could feel her dragon reaching out with his mind.

‘Ah! Yes, she is there with Segun,’
he replied, sounding apologetic.
‘She is keeping well hidden. I don’t sense any others with her, though.’

‘It must be a trap!’ Kira said aloud, her body tense and her mind racing through options. ‘How many men has he got with him? We should get out of here! Now!’

‘Don’t panic, Kira,’ Elian said calmly. ‘I don’t think he’ll bother us at the moment. We’re four. He’s alone – for the moment at least. He
sent his men into the castle a couple of hours ago and we’ve seen nothing of them since. Ra can’t sense them any more. She says they won’t return. In fact she’s been saying
a lot of gloomy things like that ever since she realised we were coming here. She seems genuinely scared of this place.’

‘Yes, Fang and Firestorm are the same,’ Kira said. ‘The castle doesn’t have a good reputation amongst the dragons. But how did you get here? How did you solve the
riddle?’