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I DON’T SENSE ANYONE...
Well, something was moving in the sky and it wasn’t the fireball that Saboraak just dodged.
I didn’t dodge it well. It hit my foot.
It’s surprising they hit anything at all. Those things are terribly inaccurate.
It hurt! You can be flippant about it when it’s your foot!
Look! There it was again, something rising in the sky.
“Do you see that?” Zyla called down to me.
“It’s not a dragon,” I called back. “I don’t know what it is.”
Now that we were gaining height, I could see that the flames had spread. The forest fire was working its way toward us, leaping from one clump of bushes to the next. It would be here by morning.
Magikas combed the foothill we had camped on waiting to launch inaccurate bursts of magic on anything that moved.
I think they were camped on the other side of the hill. They were there all along. I’m surprised you didn’t notice them sooner. You were keeping watch, right?
Was my face flushing? It felt hot suddenly.
“That’s a rug!” Zyla called down. “Are those Magikas sitting on it?”
Impossible! Rugs didn’t fly!
It is a rug. And there are two more. I don’t know how fast those things are, but I’m slow with you four on my back.
“They’re blocking our route northwest!” Zyla called. “Can your dragon outmaneuver them?”
The nearest carpet crackled with light and then the Magika at the front of it – was that the front? – lifted his hands and lightning shot toward us. Saboraak shuddered.
That hurt!
Quick! Fly down the hill from our camp until you see a cluster of rock with a bunch of deadfall at the center.
What? That’s heading towards danger! I won’t do it. I’ve never been hurt so many times as since I met you. I need to stay with the Whites for a month!
Listen to me! I have a plan!
Your plans always involve ridiculous risks!
My arm was getting sore holding the strap and dangling from the stirrup and her last dodge had left me flapping in the wind in a way I didn’t even like to think of. Worse, that Magika was lifting his lightning-hands again. How could I get Saborak to trust me?
Ask!
Trust me!
I felt her mental sigh.
Where are these rocks?
A second flash of lightning crackled toward us and Saboraak swung wildly. I couldn’t prevent a very unmanly screech as the stirrup swung outward and my grip slid a hand’s width down the strap I was clutching.
Skies and stars! I can do the flying, but I can’t hold on for you, too. Take some responsibility – for your own life, if nothing else!
Demanding, arrogant, self-righteous dragon!
Silly boy!
There it was! I could see the heaps of deadwood below me. I wouldn’t be able to get a dragon into the crack in the rock, but if she burned through that wood ...
She was flaming before I explained my idea, her steady stream of yellow-hot flame ripping through fallen logs, rotting branches, and dead leaves. After a moment, the netting below gave way and the deadfall dropped in a free-fall of burning wood, popping sparks, and wet debris.
Follow it down!
Saboraak dove and I gritted my teeth as the stirrup followed her movements. It felt like I was falling, too.
You sent me down a dead end!
Go through the door!
“What is this place?” Zyla asked from up in the saddle. She had her hands full keeping Bataar and Zin safely in place. As usual, Zin didn’t seem to even know where she was. And Zyla had to push and pull her and the unconscious Bataar back into place every time Saboraak moved.
We needed to find a place to get these two some help before they dragged us down so far we never recovered.
Lightning hit the rock wall beside us as Saboraak made a wobbling landing on the edge of the dais. I glanced upward and fought the instinct to duck as I saw three rectangles blocking the bright moonlight above. How many of those carpets did they have?
“We’re getting out!” I called to Zyla. “Hold on tight!”
Trapped!
Just go through the flaming arch!
It’s not flaming. It’s made of stone.
Flaming is a curse word you dense, flaming dragon!
I think your language gets worse under stress. And for the record, I object to your choice of curse. I ‘flame’ things and you benefit from that.
Just go through the door!
The rectangles were getting bigger as they descended, lighting crackling down from them and striking the dais around us. If she didn’t hurry, we were going to get hit any time now...
It’s going to be tight! Hang on!
Saboraak crept forward and I tried not to gasp as her head and shoulders disappeared. Zyla made a strangled sound in her throat but her expression was determined. She forced Zin and Bataar’s heads down, so they wouldn’t hit the top of the door.
I finally did gasp as they went through into oblivion and then I moaned as the doorframe scraped across my back. Agh! I was going to come loose! I redoubled my grip, pressing my face into Saboraak’s side and hoping we could squeeze through. The breath was knocked out of me and I felt as though I was being wrung of every drop of blood and then burning pain washed over me followed by an icy burst of wind.
We were through!
Almost.
Pain struck my heel and I reeled from it, my body temporarily frozen and my grip on the leather strap loosening for just a second. A second was too much.
I fell away from Saboraak’s side.