Dragonfang Read Online Free PDF Page B

them?’
    Osric’s eyes suddenly shone. He looked thunderstruck. ‘Of course there is, and it is said that He will come on the back of a crimson dragon, breathing fire to shatter the bonds of His people!’
    ‘Well,’ said Daretor, ‘I think it’s time he came, don’t you?’
    Later that night, as the castle slept, three figures lurked in the shadows of the Dragon Keepers’ quarters. One of them crept forward and stole silently through a door. A moment later there wasa sharp cry, and the figure emerged bearing a ring of keys that he took care to stop from jangling.
    The three then crossed to the holding pens, moving to one in particular. They stopped in front of it. Osric whispered, ‘I must go in alone and speak to her. I will tell her we are going on a training flight. She will not care. Dragons do not think as we do.’
    He vanished into the pen and there were a series of low growls, then a kind of odd purring noise. Osric returned and beckoned them in. The dragon, which was still an adolescent, was hunched on the floor. Osric had rigged a canopy on its back. He helped Daretor and Zimak to climb the dragon’s flank and buckle themselves in to the seating harness. Then he took the pilot’s seat and placing the palm of his hand on the dragon’s neck, whispered a soft command.
    The dragon moved forward. It entered the hangar and had almost reached the launching area when the alarm was given. A squad of soldiers, roused from their sleep, charged onto the hangar floor just as Osric’s dragon sprang from the launching pad and sailed into the night air of the vast crater.
    Picking up speed, it shot towards the canyon in the distant wall.
    Daretor raised his voice above the hissing slipstream. ‘How soon can they launch a pursuit?’
    Osric shook his head. ‘Bare moments, I fear, but dragons cannot navigate the canyon with any certainty at night when there are no moons in the sky. If we get that far, we are safe.’
    ‘Then what makes you think we can get through the canyon?’ Zimak asked.
    ‘This dragon is half the size of the adults. It will be easy.’
    Zimak frowned. ‘S’cressling has three of us to carry and our pursuers will only have one.’
    Daretor looked behind. ‘They’re coming!’
    Spouts of flame lit up the face of the Tower Inviolate as a trio of adult dragons launched themselves in pursuit. The adults may have been too big to negotiate the narrow canyon in the dark, but they were also faster than the adolescent. With dismaying speed, they closed the gap.
    ‘We’re not going to make it!’ yelled Zimak, staring back.
    ‘What’s to stop them going above the canyons, over the rock wall?’ Daretor asked.
    ‘The air is too thin. The dragons cannot fly that high,’ Osric replied.
    The dragons were coming into firing range. Suddenly, flames mushroomed towards them. ‘Fire!’ yelled Daretor.
    Osric gave the dragon a command and it twisted aside, narrowly avoiding the swelling tongue of flame that would have incinerated them.
    The three dragons now arranged themselves in a tight formation. ‘They will fire at once.’ said Osric. ‘We have only one chance. Grab on tightly.’
    They had acquired a great deal of height in the race towards the canyon entrance, but it was still a good three miles away. Osric put the dragon into a steep dive, gaining speed. It half-folded its wings and almost fell towards the canyon opening, its adolescent body more streamlined than those behind it. It picked up speed and actually widened the distance between them and their pursuers.
    ‘They don’t dare put on too much speed,’ Osric said. ‘Because they are heavier they would not be able to pull up in time.’
    The dragons spat flames again but it was clear they had lost the initiative. With a final frightening whoosh, the adolescent dragon speared into the canyon almost at ground level and cameclose to crashing. It quickly gained height again and sped on over the canyon maze.
    Zimak expelled a deep sigh of