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Bigelow had again been chasing them for several days. Dogged and determined, yet with despair hovering around the edge of his thoughts, Dave climbed down as rapidly as he could to the fifth terrace. He still felt a twinge of vertigo because of his fear of heights, but he seemed to have spent so much time climbing in Feiramar, and now in Abaddon, that his fear only gave him occasional pause.
Hanomer had chosen not to lead them down the same route by which they had ascended; they were a few hundred meters east, where they could make the descent more rapidly. Suddenly Arlana who was next to Dave hissed, “Down!” Dave flattened himself onto the cliff face as a brown dragon banked away from the cliff wall below them and dove for the fifth terrace.
That was close, thought Dave. Luckily, the monster’s attention had been directed below.
Dave squeezed Arlana’s shoulder in thanks. The gliding brown dragon disappeared behind a buttress of rock. Then the air was riven by a roar, followed by a loud hiss—as of sizzling bacon on a monstrous scale—such that the sounds seemed to shake the cliff face.
“I think the green dragons are under attack by the browns,” said Arlana.
Arlana and Dave were about one hundred meters above the terrace. They climbed down to a narrow ledge and waited for the others.
“Did you see that brown dragon that buzzed us?” asked Linder. Dave nodded.
“The green dragons are under attack. You can hear the fighting. What do we do?” asked Arlana.
“Friends,” said Hanomer, “there is only one honorable thing to do. The green dragons rescued us, so we must come to their aid.”
There was silence. Al looked from face to face. “He’s right. I’m going to go with Hanomer. Is anyone coming with us?”
“Which way do we go?” asked Dave.
“Follow me,” said Hanomer as he began to race along the ledge. The ledge ran unbroken for about seventy meters, when a gap of about seven meters stopped them short. Hanomer had already fastened a rope across the gap and had disappeared around a rock buttress up ahead. Arlana and Dave crossed first, followed by the others. They left the rope behind.
When Dave rounded the buttress, which took some climbing, he saw Hanomer up ahead on hands and knees peering cautiously over the rim of the ledge. About two dozen brown dragons were circling overhead. The outnumbered green dragons could just be seen crouching at the entrance of their caves, sending forth bursts of flame whenever a brown dragon strayed too close. Dragon carcasses littered the rocks in front of the cave. It looked like the bodies of two greens and one brown. Several brown dragons landed and approached the cave entrance nearest to them, blasting a continuous wall of flame.
The three gun-bearers arrived. “Can you take a shot?” asked Dave.
“Makalo is the best shot, let him shoot. We’re running short on ammo,” said Linder.
Makalo took aim at the dragons on the ground who were attacking the cave.
“Friend Makalo,” said Hanomer putting his hand on Makalo’s arm, “do not shoot from here. The brown dragons will see us after your first shot. We have no chance to survive here. Follow me. I know a better place nearby.” Hanomer carefully climbed down another seven meters and moved horizontally along the cliff face. Then he disappeared.
Dave and the others followed, warily keeping an eye on the battle raging ahead. He saw what Hanomer had been making for—a small opening in the cliff. Makalo took up his position at the mouth while the others went down the narrow passage. Makalo fired off his first shot. Then another, then a third.
“How did you know about this place, Hanomer?” Dave asked.
“When we were staying in the cave that Hiszt assigned to us, I went exploring while you were asleep. I found many passages and openings. This was one of them.”
Just then Makalo raced back from the opening and bolted down the passage. “Head down the passage,” he shouted, “They’re coming!” Everyone jumped up and raced down the winding passage. Dave heard a whoosh behind him, felt intense heat, and sniffed a sweet smell that reminded him of a chemistry experiment he had once done. The companions flattened themselves against a wall.
“Are they following us in?” Dave whispered.
“I don’t think so,” said Makalo, “the outer passage is filled with flame. I’m not sure those dragons could squeeze through the narrow parts of this passage.”
Dave could feel a draft blowing from the lower parts of the cave, feeding the raging fire with oxygen. It’s like standing in a chimney, he thought.
They started moving again, further down the passage with Hanomer in the lead. Luminescent lichen covered the walls of the passage and gave it a dull green-yellow light. After a few minutes, the cave began to feel familiar to Dave. He saw daylight up ahead.
Makalo edged forward along with Linder and Thomas. All three began shooting. Dave had to see what was happening. He crouched at the cave mouth, deafened by the shots. Green and brown dragons were flying in tight circles like an aerial dogfight with columns of flame filling the air. He watched one brown dragon first dodge, then fly straight into another’s flame, light up like a burning torch, and plunge over the edge of the terrace into the depths beyond.
Then the battle was over. The rocky terrace in front of the caves was littered with carcasses of dragons, most brown but some green. The greens dragged the brown carcasses into a heap and then burned them. They dragged the greens into the far cave.
Dave and the rest of the band sat at the cave mouth and pulled out their trail rations to eat as they watched for a second attack. After some time Hiszt came out and approached the band. “Little ones, you have saved my mate and my tribe. How did you kill those browns from a distance?” Hiszt was looking at Makalo.
Dave answered for Makalo who was still learning the Common Tongue. “We have a weapon, Hiszt, that can kill at a distance. It shoots a small piece of metal at great speed that causes enormous damage when it hits its target.”
“A formidable weapon. Arrows are deadly but can be avoided. Your weapon’s teeth I cannot even see. Come we must talk. You mustn’t think we are safe. The browns that escaped know where we are and will bring more browns. Many more. We will not survive the next attack. By the way, what brought you back? I thought you were returning to the uplands?”
“We were walking into a trap, Hiszt,” said Arlana. “Our enemy was waiting for us up top, and even now, is climbing down to pursue us. We don’t know where to go next.”
“Wait here,” said Hiszt, “perhaps we can help each other.” Hiszt waddled back into the burial cave.
After about twenty minutes the dragons emerged and stood in a semi-circle before the companions. “We have a proposal to make,” said Hiszt. “An alliance between our peoples. We have to find a new home. We have to leave. What if we took you across the gulf to your home? We can’t fly that high, but we might find a home near you. What do you say?”
Dave and Al looked at each other, “How would you take us across the gulf?”
“You would ride. It means we have to glide to lower elevations to support the extra weight of a rider on our backs, but we can fly long distances and make it to the other side.”
After a few minutes of discussion, the dragons and the group of friends agreed upon an alliance. As Dave looked at the proposal, he realized they had no choice but to accept it. Attempting to traverse the sheer, six-kilometer-deep rock wall that separated them from the terraces below Seth or climbing down to Sheol and then edging along the shore of the infernal sea to climb back up to Seth, both seemed a sure ticket to extinction.
The next step was to pair the riders with the dragons. Hanomer was too small to ride alone, so he was paired with Arlana. Dave and Hiszt talked about how to keep the riders on the dragons should they fall asleep during the long flight and discussed the idea of improvising saddles.
“I am sorry now that we burned all the brown dragon carcasses,” said Hiszt, “dragon skin, especially from the belly, would make an excellent ‘saddle’ as you call it.”
Al and Hanomer searched the cliff leading to the sixth terrace for any dragons that might have crashed there. Sure enough, the bodies of two brown dragons had become wedged into the cliff as they fell. Al and Hanomer skinned the belly hide off the carcasses, and using ropes, worked the hides back up to the Hiszt’s terrace. They also collected dragon intestines for the sewing required.
The process of scraping the hides clean, washing them in the creek, and drying them took days. When they were dry, Dave used his tree-grown knife, Skene Dhu to cut the tough dragon hides into saddles and strips. With Dave handling all the cutting, the others spent time completing the sewing.
While the companions were finishing the saddles, they had some disquieting news. Hiszt had sent several of his scouts to search the lower levels. One had spotted a growing band of brown dragons that was gathering four terraces below them. They were preparing for an assault. It appeared that time was running out.
With renewed urgency, Dave and the others worked in shifts to sew the straps and loops that served as stirrups onto the saddles using the dragon intestines.
The work progressed so slowly. Dave expected the brown dragons to appear and begin another battle at any moment.
The weather below them turned ugly. Black roiling clouds churned far below them. Maybe the browns can’t fly in this weather, thought Dave, redoubling his effort to finish his work.
Three days later, the saddles were finished. The friends strapped the saddles onto the dragons, and allowed them to take a few test flights without riders. When the dragons were comfortable, Dave mounted Hiszt who was poised at the edge of the cliff, while Arlana and Hanomer clung to Hiszt’s mate, Hirsa. Dave had sewn loops into the front and back of each saddle, to which the riders could attach their climbing harnesses, so that even if they were unconscious, they would not fall out of the saddle. The others were also assigned to dragons.
The clouds below them were still thick, and the scent of thunder was in the air. The storm had not abated, but had turned more violent.
Hiszt turned his fanged head to Dave. It struck Dave as eerie to see the long snake-like neck allow the dragon’s head to turn completely around and look at him.
“Are you ready little one?” asked Hiszt. “We will all have to glide a long way before the air is thick enough for us to fly with your additional weight. We will try to stay close to the bottomless cliff where few dragons fly.”
Dave swallowed hard as he looked over the cliff into the black clouds flecked with lightning bolts. The clouds seemed to be rising. “I’m ready.”
Hiszt launched himself off the cliff with wings extended wide. The other dragons also launched themselves into the air and plummeted until the air was thick enough that they could bear their burdens. They quickly picked up speed even though their angle of descent was only about ten degrees. The dragons banked left and glided along the long, unbroken cliff, which Hiszt had called the Bottomless Cliff.
There’s no place to land. Either we make it or crash, thought Dave.
They plunged into the thick clouds where visibility was zero. Dave hoped the others were nearby. Hiszt began to emit some high frequency chirps, that struck Dave as being completely incongruous considering the dragon’s size. Lightning blinded Dave’s eyes, and the sound of the thunder was deafening. How could he keep from getting disoriented? If we fly into that cliff wall ...
Hiszt banked right, still emitting his cry. The wind picked up until Hiszt was buffeted back and forth. Still chirping amid the cacophony of thunder, Hiszt continued to glide.
We’re totally lost, thought Dave. We’ll never find the other side.