“A night bird. An owl,” Leo said.
“What else will we see or hear?”
“Maybe wolves or deer. Other birds. Hopefully, not a single dragon.”
Leo stripped off his boots, then his clothes and handed them to Gwenyth. She rolled them up into a bundle, and plaited her hair to keep it out of her face, and tied the end with a scrap of cloth she ripped from the bottom of her tunic.
“Ready,” she announced.
Leo stood back and morphed to his dragon. He nuzzled her arm before picking her up and taking off. Straight into a cloud of bugs. She gasped and made a choking sound, almost dropping Leo’s clothing and boots in her attempts to get the icky bugs out of her mouth.
“Fly higher,” she called.
He did, and while she could see nothing apart from tree silhouettes and old volcanic plugs, she didn’t think others would spot them either. It was quiet flying this high above the forest, and she heard no birds or animals. Instead, the wind rushed past them, and a quick glimpse above showed stars peeking between ominous clouds.
The moon slid into view half an hour later, and she spotted a lake in a clearing in the forest. Still no dragons. Had they ceased the search?
Probably not.
There had been something about the determination in Nan and in Leo’s parents that told Gwenyth this was not over. As she scanned the landscape below them, she considered the reasons his parents and Nan were so insistent on the joining.
Without warning, Leo swooped toward the trees.
Popsicles. While she’d pondered, she’d failed to spot the two massive dragons hovering in the sky ahead of them. The nearest dragon trumpeted a victory trill and arrowed toward them talons outstretched.
He or she let rip with a stream of fire. Leo dodged, but the heat of the flames seared Gwenyth’s skin.
Since he was carrying her, Leo couldn’t return their attack. He could simply evade.
“Go lower,” she shouted. “When we’re close to the ground, release me.”
The two dragons split up while Leo hesitated, hovering in the air. Gwenyth turned her head and spied a dragon intending to attack from behind. The other dragon—a black—rushed them head-on.
“Watch out, Leo,” she screamed.
Leo gave a hard flap of his wings and shot upward before either dragon could attack. He flew fast and strong, swooping low to the ground. When he reached a small clearing, he flew even lower before he dropped her. Even though she’d expected it, she hit the ground hard. For long seconds, she gasped for breath, the abrupt collision with the firm ground exploding the air from her lungs. Obviously, she was not designed for flying or leaping from a moving dragon.
The sharpwhop-whopof wings forced her to haste. She shoved to her feet with an audible groan and raced for the trees. A shot of flames seared the ground right where she’d sprawled mere seconds earlier. Sparks shot through the dried grass, and a blaze soon danced through the spot where she’d landed. Gwenyth retreated until the trees acted as a protective umbrella. The flames grew larger and lit the foliage.
From where she stood, Gwenyth couldn’t see Leo or the dragon attacking him. She scuttled through the waist-high undergrowth while trying to make the least amount of noise. She planned to find an alternative place to view the overhead struggle, and hopefully, she’d think of a way to aid Leo.
She crept to the tree line. Both of the dragons—the black and the green—were attacking Leo. They were taking turns and attempting to tire him.
Gwenyth spied several fist-size rocks and scooped one up to gauge its weight. Now to test her throwing skills.
Another random thought surfaced. She’d been on the rep softball team as a youngster. Time to put her skills to use. She mentally measured the distance and fired her first rock.Bullseye!It worked better than she’d thought. She fired at the black dragon since she knew for certain this one wasn’t Leo. Her second rock missed, but the third missile struck the dragon’s chest as it banked to rush Leo.
Gwenyth put muscle behind her fourth rock and took satisfaction at the dragon’s screech of fury. She hefted the next stone and fired, missing because the creature wheeled and flew straight at her position. Flames flared around her, crackling and hissing as they fed on the undergrowth and trees. Gwenyth jerked back and sprinted deeper into the woods. She scooped up more rocks and slipped between the trunks until she found another vantage point.
When she was in position, she spotted Leo and the green dragon.
The black dragon was nowhere in sight. Gwenyth stilled, peeking from behind the wide girth of a mature tree. She paused, wondering whether she should fire more rocks. No, she’d hate to hit Leo by mistake.
She collected ammunition, sneaking through the trees and avoiding the smoking area while keeping watch for the black monster. Had she injured the dragon enough to ground it?
Surely not. Gwenyth stilled and watched, scanning her surroundings. The skip of a small pebble along a clear spot of ground had her freezing in position. Where was that dragon?
A pale shape slipped between the trees over to Gwenyth’s right before disappearing. She kept watching, and the shape darted closer to Gwenyth’s position. Was that Nan?
