Sam Bowring - Destiny's Rift

‘But he spared us,’ she added, almost to herself. ‘He spared me.’

A shadow passed across the sun.

Bel felt wind on the back of his neck, making the droplets of water there cold. The ground shook as something heavy landed upstream, and Hiza gasped. Bel turned slowly, almost knowing what it was he would see. There, some thirty paces away, straddling the stream, was the other dragon.

‘If it’s not one thing …’ he muttered to himself.

The dragon was as large as his mother, but much more terrifying – after all, he was alive. Covered with green scales, his long neck wobbled shakily as he considered them first with one eye, then the other – which was huge. Bloodshot veins crisscrossed it like a complex system of roots, and it bulged horribly, fit to burst from its socket. The creature blinked, a scaly lid sliding down over the malformed eye more slowly than over the other, stretching but not fully covering it before retreating. Maybe that was where I am destined to strike , thought Bel, through the eye into the brain, bypassing the creature’s armoured skin .

Hiza and M’Meska, who were closer to the beast, began to back away. The dragon inhaled, wide nostrils flaring, discernibly drawing the air around them towards him.

‘Behind me,’ said Bel. He rose to his feet; this was made more difficult by Jaya clinging to him, but he managed to bring her up also.

‘We should make for the trees,’ whispered Hiza. The woods, into which the stream ran, were only a few paces away.

The dragon spoke, his voice cracked and strangely high-pitched, as if it were an effort to strangle words out of his throat.

‘These are the ones,’ he said. ‘Yes, yes, left their smell in the cave. What do they say, these? What do they say, how do they say, what what do they say, say?’ He took an ungainly step forward, as if he lacked a sense of balance.

‘Back up,’ muttered Bel. ‘Everyone back up.’

‘What about you?’ whispered Jaya.

‘Go,’ he said, and felt behind him to give her a push towards the trees. She grabbed at him but Hiza took her arm, dragging her away as Bel drew his sword.

‘Tiny pig-sticker,’ hissed the dragon, eyeballing the blade. ‘Good for cutting heads off reeds, good for slicing bread …good for swishing ’way the flies, good to make things red. Good, good.’ He chortled, a discordant sound full of many mismatched notes. ‘Good for killing Olakanzar dead? We shall see, we shall see. Shall we see?’

Bel felt the familiar tingling of his blood, but had no sense yet of what move he should make. Something was there, though – he could feel it.

‘We did not kill your mother!’ he called.

It was the wrong thing to say. The dragon’s eyes shone with fury, and it rocked on its heels and roared. As it came forward it opened its mouth, and molten flame spewed forth. Bel stumbled away from the heat and heard Jaya cry out from the trees. He fell into the stream and rolled to look for his companions. They were waiting just inside the wood, watching in terror. There were the steps to be taken. For a moment he lay confused, for they did not lead towards the dragon, but away. Then, bitterly, he understood – he could not hope to win this fight. The path was telling him to flee.

The dragon cantered forward, gathering momentum, and opened his mouth for a second burst. In a second Bel was on his feet, sloshing through the stream and heading for the trees.

‘Fall back!’ he shouted, and his companions drew away into the woods. He barrelled in after them as unworldly heat dogged his heels, then he broke through branches and sprawled headlong into the undergrowth. Trees behind him blazed alight. Then M’Meska was hauling him to his feet. ‘Further,’ he wheezed.

There came a great rending as the dragon smashed down trunks, thrusting his head in after them. Bel forced himself to push on, winded though he was, and together they fled further into the wood. Fire erupted once more behind them, and instantly the entire edge of the wood was burning.

Some fifty paces from the wood’s edge Bel had to stop, for he had no breath. The others circled him, watching the flashing flames and angry eyes that stared back. Bel could feel his face reddening as he struggled to suck in air.

‘Dragon!’ called Hiza, his voice quavering. ‘Do you hear me?’

‘Olakanzar!’ raged the dragon, shaking the trees and making leaves fall.

‘Olakanzar, then!’ shouted back Hiza. ‘It was not us who tore apart your mother! How could we, small that we are, when your mother was so mighty?’

The head wobbled back and forth, the enormous baleful eye searching for them amongst the growth.

‘They lie?’ the dragon said. ‘Do they lie? Do they lie like the grass lies on the ground, like the meaning of words lies within sound?’

‘It like black one said,’ muttered M’Meska. ‘Dragon insane is.’

‘Yes,’ wheezed Bel. ‘I doubt there is any reasoning with him.’

‘We do not lie!’ called Hiza hopelessly. ‘There were others, Mireforms, monsters from Fenvarrow – they killed your mother! Smell them out and you will have your revenge!’

‘Smell?’ hissed the dragon. ‘Smell nothing but little Varenkai in my cave, her cave, our cave, no longer, no more.’ He gave an odd whimper, and his claw went to his malformed eye as if to scratch it, but halted. He blinked rapidly, still not managing to cover it fully with his lid. ‘Itchy, itchy,’ he whined. ‘The itchy knows you lie, lie, LIE!’

Flames burst through the trees again, too distant to do them any harm. Smoke was beginning to waft through the forest, however, black and choking. Great claws uprooted tree trunks as the dragon forced his bulk further into the wood. His progress was slow but steady.

‘We need to move,’ said Jaya, holding a sleeve to her mouth.

‘Before he sets the whole forest aflame,’ agreed Hiza.

‘Maybe he do that anyway,’ said M’Meska.

They went deeper into the wood. The sounds of the dragon fell away behind them, although there now came the distinct crackling of an inferno.

‘Which way?’ said Hiza.

A whooshing made them all jump. ‘Down!’ shouted Bel. The canopy was instantly dripping with fire as the treetops above them turned to torches, and they heard wing beats as the dragon flew overhead.

‘Lizards should be small,’ rasped M’Meska, getting to her feet. ‘Like me. That lizard too big.’

‘He means to smoke us out,’ said Hiza.

‘Let’s head north,’ said Bel, ‘away from where he found us, away from this patch of forest altogether.’

‘The dragon’s cave is back north,’ said Jaya.

‘We’ll aim west of it,’ said Bel. ‘Where there’s still cover, where the wood thins to a band that runs along the mountains. All right?’

The others nodded, and they began to run. Soon the worst of the smoke was behind them, but an acrid haze permeated everything, making breathing painful. Off to the side somewhere they heard another outpouring of dragon fire, and then minutes later it came from ahead.

‘He’s trying to enclose us!’ said Hiza.

‘Keep going!’ shouted Bel, and they passed beneath fiery treetops with flames edging down the trunks, where the dragon had flown only moments before. ‘Perhaps he will think us trapped in the circle he’s creating!’

There came a snapping as the dragon landed almost atop them, sending branches crashing down, breaking a hole in the canopy. He scrambled clumsily for purchase on the uneven platform of crushed wood beneath him and lowered his head under the canopy.

‘Run, scoundrels!’ he snarled as they veered away. ‘Run, but you won’t find any place to hide, except perhaps inside your own black bones.’ He chortled a strange, almost musical chortle, like a wind chime whipped by a storm.