Longfang (8 page)

No sooner had Elian begun to relax into the saddle when his heart was set racing a second time.

‘Night dragons!’
Aurora warned suddenly, her voice loud in his mind.
‘Segun and his dragon, Widewing, are coming with others. There are at least four of them and
they’re all coming this way.’

Chapter Seven

‘Have you sensed any sign of the others yet, Fire?’
Nolita asked again, huddling down as best she could against Firestorm’s back.

‘Sorry, Nolita,’
Firestorm replied, his tone glum.
‘I must have picked a wrong valley earlier. Somehow we turned further left than I realised. When we came out of the
mountains we were heading almost due north
. .
.’

‘And the others were heading south,’
Nolita finished.

Her heart sank as she considered the implications of having lost contact with the others. If she and Fire did not find them soon, she would be forced to spend a night alone with her dragon. The
thought made her stomach churn. It was the strength and support of the others that had kept her going on the quest so far. Without them she was lost.

Nolita began to feel her old fears creeping out of the dark corners of her mind. They were like sinister shadows lurking at the edge of her senses, waiting to pounce. Kira and Elian had
encouraged and emboldened her more than she had ever thought possible. She did not want to think what it would be like without them now. For the first time since her brief trial at the day dragon
enclave, she was alone with her dragon.

‘Don’t worry, Nolita,’
Fire urged, sensing his rider’s rising panic.
‘We will catch up with the others, I promise. I will fly all night if necessary, but
please don’t be foolish about this. I don’t want you to freeze to death. You don’t need to stop long. I can light you a fire in seconds so you can get warm and we can move
on.’

‘Thanks, Fire,’
Nolita replied, feeling genuinely touched. She paused. Firestorm was so caring, but she could not totally banish her fear of him. It was his size, nothing
more. Knowing him intimately through the bond, she now accepted her fear was irrational, but even being convinced that he meant her no harm was not enough to banish the feelings.

‘It’s me who should be apologising,’
she continued.
‘I hope you understand. I know you’d never deliberately hurt me, but my fears will not go away. It
doesn’t make any sense, but I can’t stop the feelings. That’s just the way it is.’

‘You have come further than you realise, dragonrider,’
he said, his tone flavoured with pride.
‘I have watched you learn to control your fears in two short weeks. New
circumstances inevitably cause them to flare. The fears have dominated your life for a long time, but I can see your bravery is more than a match for them. Be assured I will not test your strength
unnecessarily, Nolita. We will press southwards and continue to look for the others as long as we can.’

The light was fading and the snow showed no sign of letting up. The bitter cold had long since numbed the feeling in Nolita’s toes, fingers and cheeks. Her fur-lined clothing had insulated
her body against the worst of the wind chill, but they had been airborne for a considerable time now. Her body was cold-soaked and she knew she would have to land soon or risk permanent injury.

Visibility was very limited. Even during occasional lulls when the snow’s intensity thinned, Nolita could see about a league at best. In the heavier bursts, she was unable to see more than
a few hundred paces. The constant bombardment of snowflakes forced her to half close her eyes so that her lashes kept the flakes from blurring her vision. The fading light heralded the impending
fall of night. It would not be long before the darkness effectively blinded her altogether.

When Fire made the link with Fang, Nolita felt his surge of excitement and relief through the bond and guessed he had found at least one of the others. Her mirrored emotions were short-lived.
Fire’s thoughts moved instantly to urgent concern, bordering on panic.

‘What is it? What’s wrong, Fire?’

‘It’s Fang and Kira,’
he answered, his mental voice sounding clipped in her mind.
‘They’re in trouble, but I can help. Hang on.’

Hanging on was not easy. With no sensation left in her fingers and her limbs weakened by hours of flying in the bitter cold, all Nolita could do was lean forwards and wrap her arms around the
ridge in front of the saddle. Fire dipped into a shallow dive and began to drive forwards with all his might in an effort to reach Fang and Kira as quickly as possible. Nolita closed her eyes,
feeling the wind rush increase as Fire accelerated through the blizzard.

‘Brace yourself. We will land shortly,’
Fire warned.
‘Keep your head down. This will be like when we had to burn our way out of the wood, except this time we’re
going in.’

Nolita did not know how she could possibly brace herself any more, but she was glad of the warning. The abrupt change of speed and body angle was almost too much. If she had not known it was
coming, the sudden deceleration and running landing would most likely have thrown her from the saddle. The abrupt strain as they landed made the muscles in her arms feel as if they were exploding
as she fought to stay on Fire’s back.

Fire slowed to a walk and Nolita felt his chest expand beneath her as he inhaled ready to breathe his hottest fire. Eyes closed, and half dangling by stirrups and arms, she wriggled backwards
until she settled into her saddle. The rumbling roar of Fire’s flame made her instinctively hold her breath. She expected him to pause before entering the trees, but he continued walking
forwards into the burning path ahead.

The crackling of burning wood and the stinging smell of smoke filled the air. The reflected heat of Firestorm’s torching breath was so hot that Nolita feared her numbed flesh might blister
without her feeling the damage. He paused his deluge of fire and suddenly she could hear Kira’s voice ahead.

‘Kill them, Fire! Kill them all!’

She was hysterical! The shock of hearing the normally fearless huntress in such a state was enough to make Nolita risk opening her eyes. Firestorm drew another breath. Fiery twigs and charred
pine needles were dripping from the trees around them in an orange and black rain. Smoke and steam filled the air, but Nolita could just see the outline of Fang through the swirling murk ahead. In
the brief moments before Fire began spraying more bright flames from his mouth, she had time to make out what looked like dozens of ropes holding Fang in place. There was also a wide ring of red
around him where his blood had stained the snow.

‘What the . .
.
?’ she spluttered.

A second roaring jet of fire sprayed from her dragon’s mouth. He played it back and forth across the snow between them and Fang. To her amazement the snow did not just melt. It retreated
in a wriggling mass of serpentine whiteness. She rubbed her eyes, thinking she was seeing things, but the rubbing made no difference. The squirming wave of white was definitely alive. Alive with
what, she did not care to know.

Gradually, Fire breathed the flames closer and closer to Fang. Nolita no longer cared about burning embers. Her attention was focused on Kira and Fang. With startling abruptness, all the
rope-like creatures released their grip on Fang and joined the multitude in the fast retreating wave. Fang opened his mouth and roared. Nolita could see he was still straining against something.
The dusk dragon’s muscles were bunching hard as he pushed up from the ground with all his strength. Quivering with the effort, he surged to his feet and turned. Another long line of the
creatures was attached to his other side. Firestorm breathed more fire at them and they were quick to detach and snake away at an alarming speed to join the myriad others.

‘Kira? Are you all right?’ Nolita called anxiously.

‘A lot better for seeing you and Firestorm,’ she called back. ‘If you hadn’t come along, we would be dead for sure.’

‘Is it safe to climb down, Fire?’
Nolita asked.

‘So long as you stay in the area I’ve cleared of snow, you will be perfectly safe,’
he replied.
‘The swarm won’t venture onto the bare ground by
choice.’

Although she was tempted to ask him about the swarm, Nolita wanted to see Kira. She slid down Fire’s side and hit the ground running. The earth steamed beneath her feet, still warm from
Firestorm’s torching breath. Kira was dismounting more slowly. As Nolita drew closer, her run faltered first to a stuttering walk and then to a complete stop. Fang was every bit as big as
Firestorm. His looming presence set all the alarms going inside her head again. Her legs refused to take her any closer, so she waited.

Kira slid the last few hand spans to the ground and promptly collapsed, clutching at her right leg. Fixing her focus firmly on her friend, Nolita gritted her teeth and blanked the hulking
presence of the dusk dragon from her mind. Forcing her legs to move, she stumbled the final short distance to Kira’s side. The Racafian girl was curled on the ground, sobbing. Nolita knelt
down beside her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

‘It’s all right, Kira,’ she said softly, her heart racing. ‘It’s all right. Fire will heal your leg. You’ll be fine. Hush now. It’ll all be all right.
You’ll see.’

Kira looked up at her, eyes filled with tears not just born of pain, but of anguish and guilt. ‘I hesitated, Nolita,’ she said. ‘
I
hesitated! I didn’t do as Fang
said and I nearly got us both killed. If you hadn’t come along those . . . those
things
would have eaten us and it would have been
my
fault.’

‘You don’t know that for certain, Kira,’ Nolita protested. ‘There were masses of them. Who’s to say they wouldn’t have pinned Fang down anyway? They must be
strong to hold down a dragon. It looked to me as though flames were about the only thing that would shift them.’

‘That’s just it,’ Kira sobbed, ‘I couldn’t even light a fire. What sort of a hunter can’t light a fire? If I’d got a fire going, they probably
wouldn’t have come near us at all. I’m pathetic!’

‘Nonsense!’ Nolita said firmly, shocked to see Kira like this. ‘You’re one of the most capable people I know. It’s freezing and you’re from a tropical
climate. What do you expect? Now stop running yourself down and let’s get your leg sorted out. What were those things anyway? They looked disgusting.’

‘Fang called them ice worms, and “disgusting” doesn’t begin to describe them.’ Kira shuddered and her eyes went distant. ‘No eyes, a large mouth full of the
most horrible teeth you’ve ever seen . . . and tough! I never realised something that size could be so difficult to kill.’

Firestorm was quick to breathe his healing fire over Kira. Nolita sat with her back to her dragon, but also in the flow of his amazing blue nimbus. A sense of warmth and well-being rushed
through her as she sat with her friend. Her fatigue melted away and sensation returned to her fingers, toes, cheeks, nose and ears. Next to her, Kira sighed with relief as the pain in her leg first
eased and then disappeared altogether. No sooner had her wound closed than she was on her feet and at her dragon’s side.

Fang’s healing was next. It took several breaths of the blue flames to heal all of the dusk dragon’s injuries. There were dozens of nasty wounds in the underside of his body. Some of
the ice worms had eaten right through his scales and deep into his flesh.

Nolita watched with mixed feelings as Firestorm moved away. She was delighted to see Kira free from pain, but even with her friend at her side, Nolita was unable to totally banish the
apprehension that she always felt in the presence of the dragons. When he walked away from her, she felt a sense of relief, but this time he did not go far. Fire took a few steps and grabbed a
fallen pine trunk between his teeth. Although not fully grown, the tree was heavy. With a series of jerking movements that reminded Nolita of a dog pulling at a rope, he dragged the tree trunk into
the centre of the area he had cleared of snow and then he snapped it neatly in two. Using his great talons with remarkable dexterity, he rolled the two halves together before setting fire to
them.

As Firestorm moved away from the burning logs, Nolita and Kira moved closer to enjoy the generous heat they gave off. Nolita had felt so well after bathing in Firestorm’s restoring breath,
she was surprised at how tired she felt. It took a while for her to realise that this fatigue was not her own. It was coming through the bond. The healing fire of her dragon had revived her and her
friends, but his efforts had left him exhausted.

‘Thanks, Fire. You were amazing. Now rest,’
she told him gratefully.
‘You’ve earned it.’

‘Thank you, Nolita,’
he replied.
‘But we must not stop long. We have to find the others before dawn. Aurora’s gateway to the other world will be a welcome sight
at sunrise. Segun and his men cannot follow us there. It will be good to leave them as far behind as possible.’