As it passed the clearing, the dragon's head turned. For an instant, Kendra glimpsed a glaring eye, bright as a sapphire. The dragon wheeled and broke hard, wings thrust out like parachutes. Dipping below the treetops, the immense predator plowed through the tall pines, bulky body noisily felling trees as it smashed to a halt.
"It saw us," Mara and Trask said with one voice.
"Heads up," Dougan warned. Many of the perytons in the meadow had reversed their course and were now coming back toward them.
Most of the perytons landed between thirty and fifty yards from the edge of the meadow, springing and flapping hard in the attempt to clear at least the initial treetops.
Kendra saw one peryton stumble badly. Instead of jumping, it skimmed forward just above the ground, feathery wings spread wide. As it neared the trees, the peryton lost momentum and crumpled, flattening a strip of brush.
As the creature staggered to its feet, Mara darted from cover, casting her spear aside and seizing the peryton by the base of the antlers. The lean muscles in her arms tensed as the peryton swayed and jerked in her grasp, but soon the creature calmed, and she pressed her forehead to its muzzle. With the woman and the creature standing together, Kendra glanced down and noticed that the peryton cast an incongruently humanoid shadow.
Farther across the meadow, the dragon emerged from the trees on foot, wings folded, neck craning up like some nightmarish dinosaur. Elaborate spines and ridges projected from the horny head. Even from a distance, Kendra felt numbing fear wash over her. Wings still tucked, the immense dragon galloped toward them, burnished scales gleaming metallic blues and purples.
Trask scooped Kendra into his arms and ran out into the meadow. Mara now sat astride the elk-sized peryton, and Trask heaved Kendra in front of her. Mara dug in her heels and the peryton lunged forward, running along the border of the meadow parallel to the trees, taking them away from the charging dragon.
The volcanic roar behind them made Kendra clamp one hand over an ear. She needed the other to hang on. The peryton jumped, and Kendra's stomach lurched like she was on a roller coaster. The wings flapped, but they did not rise very high. Over her shoulder, Kendra saw the dragon taking flight in pursuit. Dougan and Trask waved their arms, trying to distract the raging beast, but the dragon ignored them.
Mendigo crashed out from under the trees into the meadow, holding the knapsack by a leather strap. The puppet flung the knapsack at Kendra, and Mara caught it as the peryton sprang again, climbing a little higher this time.
A huge shadow fell over Kendra, and Mara leaned toward the trees. The peryton swerved, and suddenly they were weaving through a slalom course of pines. Lightning flashed and a trunk off to one side burst asunder. Mara handed Kendra the knapsack. The next time the peryton hit the ground, Mara leapt off, rolling to a stop.
Without Mara's weight, the peryton climbed higher. Kendra caught glimpses of other frightened perytons racing through the woods. Above the trees the dragon bellowed again.
Kendra and her peryton burst from the trees, losing altitude over a pond in a grassy clearing. Instead of helping her get away, fleeing astride the peryton seemed to attract the dragon's attention, so she flung herself from the winged mount, skipping twice on the surface of the frigid water before coming to a stop in the shallows. Her peryton splashed down in the shallows, then took flight again, vanishing into the trees.
When Kendra stood, the water came to her thighs. Slowed by the water, she sloshed toward the shore, fumbling with the flap of the knapsack. If she climbed inside, the dragon might miss her. But as she exited the water, the dragon alighted in the grassy area beside the pond, filling the field. This dragon was ten times the size of Chalize, the coppery dragon that had ravaged Lost Mesa. Kendra found herself gazing up into eyes like burning sapphires.
"You shine brightly, small one," the dragon said. Each word sounded like three female voices shouting a dissonant chord.
Dripping, shivering, Kendra could not move. She wanted to reply, but her jaws felt glued shut. Her lips twitched. A response awaited in her mind. She wanted to say, "Not as bright as you," but her mouth refused to make the words. Kendra groaned feebly.
"No last words?" the dragon said. "How disappointing."
* * *
Seth dangled from the ladder near the top of the knapsack. He looked down at Bubda. "The dragon got her. Kendra can't speak."
"Nothing you can do," the troll advised. "Live to fight another day."
With the flap closed, Seth had seen nothing, and the room felt none of the motion during the pursuit, but he had been listening to the frantic chase. He had no idea what perytons were, but he could tell there had been many of them, and that a dragon was chasing them. The thunderous roars had sent Bubda scurrying to the farthest corner of the storage room, where he now cowered.
"I'm a shadow charmer," Seth said. "I may be able to talk to the dragon."
"Better if we play a game of Yahtzee."
"Wish me luck." Seth pushed up the flap and climbed out of the knapsack. He was in a field beside Kendra, near a rippling pond. The dragon was bigger than he would have imagined: the horny head larger than a car, the claws longer than swords, the body a massive hill of flashing scales comparable in size only to a whale.
"Another one?" the dragon exclaimed in its ringing triple voice. "Similar aspects--siblings, I would suppose, but opposites, one dark, the other light. Have you a sharper tongue than your sister?"
Seth was no longer aware of Kendra beside him. He was unafraid, his muscles felt no paralysis, but he found himself utterly fascinated. Those eyes--jewels enlivened by a radiant inner fire. He lost all sense of urgency beneath the mesmerizing gaze.
"Double disappointment," the dragon lamented. "I take it silence runs in the family? Whom shall I devour first? Light or darkness? Perhaps both together?"
The dragon shifted its gaze back to Kendra, and Seth glanced over at his sister. Had the dragon said it meant to eat them? His head was swimming. He didn't want to die. He didn't want his sister to die. Bracing himself for dragon teeth, he took her hand. All of a sudden, cold clarity rushed through Seth's mind.
"Neither!" Kendra blurted, squeezing his fingers. "Shouldn't we get acquainted first?"
"She speaks," the dragon exclaimed, eyes narrowing. "Why the delay?"
Seth stared the dragon in the eyes. "We were overwhelmed at first." The dragon still looked impressive, but whatever spell had clouded his thinking no longer bothered him.
"We've never seen such a spectacular dragon before," Kendra agreed.
The dragon lowered her head near them. They could feel the humid exhalations from her wide nostrils. "You have spoken to dragons before?"
"Only a couple," Kendra said. "None so impressive as you."
"You interrupted my hunt," the dragon snapped. "I have not seen humans in ages. The novelty distracted me. You do not belong here."
"We don't plan to stay long," Seth said.
The dragon made a melodic humming that Seth took for a chuckle. "You disrupted my plans. Perchance I should return the favor."
"We don't taste good," Seth warned. "Kendra is bonier than she looks, and I don't bathe much."
"How about a game," the dragon proposed. "I shall round up the rest of your party. There were six others, I believe. I will devour the four dullest, and find a use for the others as servants in my lair."
"I think not!" called a stern voice. Seth turned and saw Gavin striding from the woods. He had previously seen him only in a photograph.
The dragon looked up. "A third speaker, nearly as youthful as the others. Neither light nor dark. I could sandwich you between the other two. What sadistic human sent younglings to Wyrmroost?"
"Kendra, Seth, get in the knapsack," Gavin commanded.
The dragon hooked a claw into the strap and flung the knapsack away. "Unacceptable."
Opening his mouth wide enough to show his molars, Gavin began to shriek and squeal in what sounded like magnified dolphin chatter. The dragon responded in louder tones, a cacophonous symphony of tortured string instruments. They screeched back and forth several times before the dragon turned her blazing gaze back to Kendra and Seth.
"You have a unique protector," the dragon acknowledged. "I had no idea that dragon brothers persisted in the world. Out of respect for his singular status and surpassing eloquence, I will spare you and your friends. Enjoy your reprieve. Do not linger here."
The dragon sprang skyward, vast wings unfolding. Seth raised an arm to shield his eyes from the brief windstorm. Once aloft, the dragon passed swiftly out of view, heading back toward the larger meadow.
Gavin jogged over to them. "You all right?" he asked Kendra.
"I'm fine. This is my brother."
"I s-s-s-suspected," Gavin spluttered.
Kendra grabbed Seth by his upper arms and shook him. "What are you doing here?"
"Easy!" He shrugged away from her. "What did you think? That I wandered off into the woods at Fablehaven to pout? Give me a little credit. I stowed away. Good thing I
did. Don't you get what happened? Together we're a dragon tamer!"
"I was impressed," Gavin said. "You were looking Nafia in the eyes and speaking naturally. None of the others would have been capable of that. I watched for a moment before speaking up."
"How are the others?" Kendra asked.
Gavin winced. "T-T-Tanu took a hard fall. I think it knocked him out. Warren was gored. He got hung up on the antlers of a peryton right at the start. It d-d-dragged him quite a ways. Sorry I lost track of you for a while. I was trying to help him."
"Will he be all right?" Kendra asked.
"He's hurt, but he'll recover."
"What did you tell the dragon?" Seth asked.
"I just talked tough. They think it's cute. And of course I used my claim as a dragon brother. I told Nafia you were all here under my protection." Gavin looked Kendra up and down. "You must be cold."
"I wasn't feeling it before," she said. Her arms were curled up against her chest. Seth could see her shivering.
Gavin trotted over and retrieved the knapsack. "Get inside and find a change of clothes. Things are b-b-b-bad enough without you catching pneumonia."
Kendra nodded and climbed into the knapsack. Seth closed the flap.
"Should we go find Warren and the others?" Seth asked.
"You read my mind."
Chapter 20 Griffins
They found Warren concealed underneath the tangled deadfall where Gavin had left him. Kendra was still changing her clothes inside the storage room. Dougan, Gavin, and Seth heaved rotten limbs out of the way. Looking up at Seth, Warren gave a wan smile, the right side of his shirt soaked dark with blood. "Looks like the cat's out of the bag," he muttered.
"You knew about Seth?" Dougan asked. "I might have caught wind of his presence." Gavin crouched, examining the wounds in Warren's shoulder and upper chest. Warren winced when Gavin fingered the sodden fabric near one of the punctures. "Ugly," Gavin said.
"Sharp antlers," Warren gasped. "Not a very impressive way to go. Stabbed by a deer. Don't put that on my tombstone. Blame the dragon."
"You'll be all right," Dougan assured him, his eyes less confident than his voice.
"Where's Tanu?" Warren asked.
"Big guy took a spill," Dougan said. "Lost consciousness. Mara and Trask are trying to revive him."
"What stopped the dragon?" Warren asked.
"Gavin spoke to her," Seth said. "He used dragon talk. It was freaky. He calmed her down and sent her away."
"Seth and Kendra were holding their own," Gavin approved.
"Sorry to be the weak link," Warren muttered. "The deer gored me and kept on running. I was spitted on those antlers for a long time. Long enough to really notice, you know? To think about it."
Trask and Mara came jogging down from higher on the hill, led by Tanu. The brawny Samoan glared at Seth. "What are you doing here?"
"You missed me during your inspection," Seth replied.
"Perfect," Tanu muttered. He dropped to his knees beside Warren. "Sorry I'm late."
"Heard you banged your head," Warren said.
Wearing an embarrassed grin, Tanu smoothed a hand over his thick, dark hair. "Don't know what happened. Must have tripped and hit a rock." Tanu produced a knife.
Warren grimaced as Tanu began to cut away his shirt. "I feel sorry for the rock."
Tanu shrugged. "It smacked me pretty good. I've never been knocked out before. Thick skull." He slashed away a wide section of fabric.
Warren eyed the knife. "You're not dizzy or anything?"
"I do my best work dizzy." Tanu ripped away another portion of the bloody shirt. He set aside the knife, rummaged in his satchel, fished out a small bottle, uncapped it, and took a sip.
"How about some of that for me?" Warren carped.
Tanu squinted and clenched his teeth, then shook his head briskly. "You don't want this stuff. This is to clear me up, sharpen my senses. Trust me, you're going to want things dulled."
"You're the doctor."
Tanu scrabbled through his satchel again. "Not strictly speaking."
"Right, well, you're the medicine man."
"Try some of this." Tanu poured a small amount of potion onto a cotton ball, then wafted it beneath Warren's nostrils.
"Whoa," Warren said, going slightly cross-eyed. "That's more like it."