Chapter 29

            With a grunt from the effort it took, Cody expertly swung himself onto Inferno’s neck right in front of the saddle. The dragon was lying down like he always did when he was about to be mounted, But for the past week or so the rider had been using a foothold to climb on. This time, however, he was determined to get what little reputation he had lost after his fight with Mordon, back.

            While he clung on to the neck in front of him for support until he could get his balance, Mora slowly approached them. She dipped her head respectfully towards the dragon, who returned the polite gesture, before she clambered into the saddle behind Cody. A broad grin was on her face when she began to truly grasp the fact that she was going to be flying with a dragon, an opportunity that probably hadn’t come along for any non-rider in centuries.

            Cody looked towards the horizon just in time to see the last rays of sunlight disappear from sight and the purple twilight take its place. In the other direction, the silver-shining moon was already dancing above the treetops and pouring its watery light. What few, dark leaves remained tethered to the wavy branches of wood reflected the light so perfectly.

The scales below the rider began to twist, bend, and curve as Inferno slowly stood and got his muscles working for the first time in hours. He shook his unusually massive head, making Cody and Mora sway slightly as if it were not a living creature, but a small earthquake. He turned his shining blue eyes towards the two people perched on his back, and their stark contrast with the mostly dark world and body around them made Cody shiver.

“Are we ready to leave?” The dragon asked somewhat reluctantly, not enjoying the plan the humans had worked out in the slightest.

Cody ignored him for a moment as he looked down at where their other companions had been about an hour ago. It would take about two hours to get to the hideout on foot, according to Lars, so he and Mordon had left earlier to make sure that they arrived to do their part in the plan at the opportune moment, as the mercenary had called it.

While Inferno would be easily able to get to the bandit stronghold in little more than 15 minutes, it was decided that they would go slowly so that they would be able to fend off vicious Cleptors one at a time, and increase their chances of winning. Their role in the plan was simplest, and yet a very terrifying and difficult one. Then again, Mora, Larson, and Mora had the most difficult and dangerous tasks yet.

With very little agitation in his movements, despite the potential danger ahead, Cody looked back at Mora and couldn’t help but smile at the determination that shown in her fiery yellow eyes. He made sure that she saw his own determination and excitement, before turning back to Inferno. The dragon’s somewhat regretful, but still rather eager eyes made the rider feel both happy and sad at the same time. Cody hoped that Inferno was just feeling overprotective of his rider, not getting the definite feeling that something bad would happen.

“We are ready,” Cody announced with a sigh, aloud for Mora’s benefit.

The dragon snorted his approval before attempting to stretch out his wings in the small clearing. Seeing as that wouldn’t work very well, he growled a quick warning to both of his passengers before leaping straight into the air. He spread his wings as soon as he was able, but it didn’t stop him from painfully skimming his paws and stomach against the treetops and breaking quite a few of them.

The dragon quickly snorted, “That was not fun. I didn’t get too badly hurt, but it definitely got me a bit.”

Cody smiled a reassuring smile before patting Inferno’s scales to display how he disliked his dragon’s pain. Then again, Inferno could have chosen to go back to the larger clearing where the two had slept before and even taken off from without any injury, but instead he chose to risk it because of their lessening time. Luckily it didn’t turn out worse, at least.

Before long the injuries were forgotten, and after turning around to see a certain astonished-looking face, Cody was more than pleased. He was more than glad that Mora was enjoying the flight, even when she could have possibly been only an hour away from death. Her optimistic attitude was almost instantly mirrored by the dragon, who must have enjoyed having someone love his flying as much as his rider did.

As exhilarating and exciting as the flight was, none of them could get rid of the slight fear and worry that constantly nagged at them in the back of their heads. The further they went, the more tense and fearful, as well as reluctant Inferno became. Cody made absolutely sure that his eyes didn’t miss anything around them as he searched for Cleptors and bandits, but so far things were clear.

It would have seemed like any old flight with Inferno and an exciting time to be with their first conscious rider aside from Cody, but he knew their job and kept his hand just above his sword sheath at all times. Every now and then he would check to make sure he had every last arrow and the axe and bow around his back at all times, just in case he lost his sword, again. But he was prepared, and there were no trees nearby, only passing below in a blur of grey and brown as they flew incredibly slowly, for a dragon that is.

As for Mora, she seemed completely relaxed and carefree, as well as enthusiastic about absolutely everything. She was probably enjoying the view and the wind as it caressed her face. But Cody could easily guess that she was most excited about getting her elf friend, Pippi, back to her and her brother. The rider probably would have felt the same way if they were going to rescue his friends, or see if Autumn had survived the magic poison that Dongoithu had given her, but they were getting one step closer to that hunt. Then again, Cody couldn’t help but feel saddened by the very thought that he may never see her, or the others, ever again.

“Were you serious about what you said before?” Cody couldn’t help but ask the woman behind him, turning his head so she could hear hm.

“What exactly are you talking about?” she asked in return as she seemed displeased that she had been pulled out of her thoughts.

Cody tried to act completely emotionless when he explained further, “Will you and your brother help me save my friends if we can manage to save yours?”

She gave him a warm, tender, and motherly smile. Mora then leaned forward slightly and pushed her hand ahead of the spike in front of her to rest it on Cody’s shoulder comfortingly. But the look in her eyes made him feel far from relieved.

“I will most definitely help you save your friends if I can, whether I know them or not. I’m sure we will manage to save Pippi, and when we do, we will all follow you without reluctance.”

“Why don’t you sound so sure?” Cody asked sadly and skeptically.

Mora winced before replying, “I’m not too sure about my brother. While I can honestly say without a shadow of a doubt, Pippi and I will follow you if we are able, Mordon is a completely different story. I have never seen him be so mistrusting of anyone, except maybe Bragg Randy. And yet even that seems like nothing compared to how he’s treating you.”

While he was glad that he had two people on his side, Cody felt even worse knowing that he was seen as lesser to a cunning thief. The thought made him want to gag, and he felt truly awful that Mordon felt the way he did. To make matters worse, he had betrayed what little trust was left between them by falling asleep at his post. Everything seemed so unfair, since he really hadn’t done anything worthy of this treatment.

“As long as we show how trustworthy we are and save Pippi, perhaps we can still earn his trust,” Inferno told him in an attempt to make him more focused on the job at hand and to make him feel better at the same time.

Cody laughed and decided to go with the topic, “You honestly think you can carry yourself, Mora, Mordon, Pippi, Larson and I for more than a few yards?”

“And you honestly think we have travelled all the way to Morgran completely by flying, don’t you? Of course I can’t carry them all far, but we can always get horses. And let’s not forget that I have legs,” Inferno said as he dipped slightly to the left, taking Cody slightly by surprise.

“I am well aware that you have four of them, but what is your point?” Cody thought for Inferno to hear as he leaned slightly with the mighty creature.

The dragon snorted and said, “Dragons can also run way faster than a horse, despite our tremendous size. I believe that I could carry five people at a bit slower than a horse’s pace, plus I won’t tire as fast, and I won’t cost anyone a bronze coin. The seating situation is a bit worse, but I think Mordon and Pippi can share the saddle because they are newer and untrustworthy. You, Lars, and Mora can manage perfectly well without a saddle.”

“How do you know that Lars and Mora will be fine without the saddle?”

“You could share a seat with Larson while Mora, having already ridden a bit, might be able to handle it on her own further forward. Or maybe three can fit in the saddle,” Inferno suggested.

Cody tried to imagine three people in the saddle, but the idea made it too difficult to keep from laughing. He didn’t want to suddenly burst into laughter and confuse Mora, but the idea was just so insanely humorous to him that it was difficult not to. But, He finally managed to do it.

“We can worry about that later I guess,” Cody said as he wiped a tiny tear from his eyes after trying so hard to keep himself together, and he converted to the more serious task at hand. “I suppose we can settle that later. We have no clue if Pippi is still alive, and we don’t know if any of us will make it out alive ourselves.”

Inferno gravely and silently agreed. And not a moment too soon, for Cody saw a tiny shape hurtling towards them at a tremendous speed. Only a few seconds later it came into clearer focus, and Cody instantly recognized it as an eagle Cleptor. He didn’t hesitate to draw his sword, and judging by the determined thoughts in his dragon’s head and the surprised gasp from behind him, he wasn’t the only one who had seen the approaching threat and was preparing for the fight.

The dragon slowed slightly, allowing the giant and deadly bird to approach them so they wouldn’t trigger any other Cleptor attacks. One was perfectly sufficient, and they would keep it at that number so they could gradually make it through their forces. They had been flying for a while and were probably just passing Lars and Mordon, if their calculations were correct. Cody and Inferno’s immediate job: cut down all of the birds for the walkers’ safe passage.

Inferno circled for a while until the bird approached. The dragon easily tore at it with his razor-like talons and put the bird in his mouth, getting a pretty decent appetizer as well as safe crossing through the forest for those below. They very slowly pressed forward, and it finally fully registered in Cody’s mind that they weren’t playing anymore, they were battling for human, and elven, lives.

Not too long later a second Cleptor appeared; a hawk. And it was obvious to Cody that the bandits had a vast and nearly unlimited supply of the birds, which would make their task next to impossible to complete by nightfall. But, for Pippi’s sake, for Omen’s sake, for Avalsmokes’s sake, and for Ashheart’s sake, they had to cut down the dreadful birds in their path.

Cody felt Inferno turn slightly to the left to face their opponent, and only seconds later he felt several feather brush his face. He caught one in his free hand before stuffing it in his pocket, thinking it may be of some use in the future. Perhaps they could be expensive? While they were perfectly rich enough, they had no clue how much money they would need in the future and it was always good to have some sort of plan, in Cody’s eyes. Maybe they could help with some sort of clothing?

The rider felt Inferno about to make a comment, but his thoughts were quickly cut off by the screeching of two more Cleptors coming at them from below. They had just enough time to agree that they should slow down a bit more on their path before the birds were upon them. Without taking the time to identify the exact species, Cody slashed at one of them with his sword, killing it instantly, while the dragon tore at the other with tooth and claw.

“Are you sure we’ll be already?” Cody heard Mora ask from behind them.

He turned around slightly to reply, “As long as we slow our pace we should be alright. I’m sure when we get deeper into their territory the attacks will increase, but not by too much and for now we’re okay.”

He saw Mora nod worriedly before focusing his attention on the enemy Cleptors, since two more had appeared on the horizon. They were a pretty decent distance away, so instead of racing ahead to meet them and possibly triggering more attacks, Inferno abruptly turned and began to circle over a small river. The thought of water made Cody feel parched and he realized just how long it had been since his last drink. Shaking away his thirst, he looked up to see another bird approaching from the side from a distance.

“I’ll handle the two ahead, you get the other and watch for more,” Inferno said after reading his rider’s thoughts and learning of the approaching creature.

Cody nodded, and the dragon burst forward and broke from the constant circle just in time to crash into the closer Cleptors. They also seemed to burst feathers, just out of the rider’s view because of the dragon body in his way. Moments later he ran his sword straight through the other Cleptor’s large, feathery body.

“There’s another one approaching from the left, oh and one straight ahead!” Cody announced the very moment his eyes landed on the birds.

A third one popped up right where Inferno was staring to the right and the rider caught sight of it soon after. Taking a look at the other two, they both decided that they were going to be trapped, and as they were they couldn’t fight them all off at once. Cody instantly realized that one of the three non-feathered beings would have to be injured, although possibly all of them.

“None of us are getting hurt if I can help it,” Inferno roared, picking up on his rider’s thoughts. “Hang on tight!”

Before Cody could respond Inferno flipped onto his back just before the birds arrived, allowing him to easily shred each one with harm coming to the two passengers on his neck or himself, although maybe it was too soon to tell.

While Mora was thoroughly terrified of the sudden flipping, her legs were firmly tied to the saddle thanks to the life-saving leg straps. The actual rider, however, was having far less luck. He was unprepared for it, and didn’t even know Inferno could have possibly thought about such a move. As a result, he found himself clinging on to the whit spike ahead of him with one hand and the other still clasping his sword, while both feet were pressed against the black scales as tightly as they could be.

Only a few seconds after the dragon had gone upside-down, Cody’s feet lost their hold and he found himself dangling by nothing but the white spike. He would have shouted for his dragon to go upright again, but even his own thoughts seemed too far out of reach. Not a moment later, he lost his hold entirely and found himself falling through the air. He finally got his voice back, at least. Unfortunately, all that he could force out of his mouth was an ear-piercing scream, something he wasn’t very proud of but it would make no difference if he was dead.

But I won’t die, he calmly said to himself as he began to gather his thoughts. The dark green, seemingly never-ending forest below was fast approaching, but he closed his eyes and refused to care. His dragon would come to his rescue and they would be perfectly fine as long as he remained calm.

Through his closed eyes he faintly noticed how the light of the moon stopped for a moment, and not long after he felt long, tough branch-like claws wrap around his body. He twisted his head around to look Inferno straight in the eye, but what he saw in those blue orbs scared him more than the fall first had.

Fear.

Surely he wasn’t that worried about me, he knew he could catch me, Cody assured himself as he shook the uneasiness away. But if it wasn’t fear for his fall, then what could it have been? The dragon seemed to be pleading with his rider to look down for some reason, and he obeyed. As far as he could tell, nothing seemed different. The dark brown, black and grey trees seemed just the same as they always had been.

“Inferno?” He asked his dragon as his stomach began to twist and turn with unease.

The black shape slowly lifted his rider back onto his neck before asking, “You noticed?”

Cody ignored what he said and asked aloud, voicing the disconcerting feelings and thoughts inside him, “Since when are the tops of trees black, grey, and brown?”

He turned around to see Mora’s eyes widen in horror, and when she took her turn to look down the terror increased tenfold. Perhaps their plan of moving slowly wasn’t fool-proof as much as they thought it would be. The sound of screeches and cries from below made the rider want to scream in fright, and seeing the gigantic mass of Cleptors would only increase the urge, so he fought his desire to look down at them and instead glued his eyes to the horizon.

“Look, over there, to the right!” Inferno announced, his fears abating slightly.

Cody followed his gaze to see what he was looking at, and caught sight of a mountainous, hilly region. A sort of glow seemed to emanate from it, indicating bands of fires out in the open air. As they got a bit closer, Cody caught sight of a dark hole in one of the mountain-like hills, likely a hidden passage or shelter in what he presumed would be the bandit camp. There next task would prove to be difficult, because they were supposed to locate Lars and Mordon somewhere among the trees below, and after that everything would only get worse.

Inferno swooped along the very treetops and tried to ignore the Cleptors in hot pursuit, following every route that would be likely to hold the mercenary and guard. Soon they got dangerously close to the camp, and any bandits would either notice their approach simply because of the flock of blood-thirsty freaks of nature behind them, or be intrigued by it and set out to follow. Either way, they hoped they could accomplish their next job before the attention was turned on them and the bandits realized that they were up against a dragon. If they couldn’t do it, all hope would be lost.

Inferno snorted with pleasure before announcing, “They are exactly where we planned, and I just saw them racing through the trees about ten minutes away from the looter sentinels, by their speed at least.”

“Okay, get their attention!” Cody hollered out loud for Mora’s benefit.

He could sense the woman behind him squirming uncomfortably with the thought of the next part of the plan. Frankly he didn’t blame her, because the thought sent chills up his spine as well, but so many lives were counting on the success of the mission, that he concluded that fear wasn’t an option.

“Get closer to them if you can Inferno. Just make sure you don’t get hurt.”

“My scales are just tough enough to stand even the worst of their arrow attacks, but my wings are a different story. Here goes nothing!” Inferno said with a gleeful grin.

Cody nodded in approval before allowing the dragon to unleash a mighty roar as they passed over the camp. Below they saw hundreds, if not thousands of men scurrying towards horses and their weapons, while some poured out of the caves like cockroaches. The one cave Cody had seen before seemed to hold no one, judging by the fact that not a single person entered or left while they passed overhead.

“Slow down,” Cody regretfully asked his dragon when he realized just how slow the bandits were.

The goal was to get enough attention out of the camp for the humans to slip through unnoticed, but it was difficult when not everyone was on their horses or even armed yet. Inferno snorted in displeasure as he obeyed, circling the camp once or twice but shooting fearful glances in the direction of the approaching Cleptors.

Out of nowhere, a barrage of arrows came flying towards them, and Inferno somehow managed to dodge each and every one.

“We have to get going,” Inferno roared painfully as an arrow tore through his wing during a second attack.

Cody nodded and replied, “Behind that hill, they won’t notice if they’re far enough behind us.”

“They could find you-”

“I have to do this!” Cody howled back, interrupting his dragon.

“Are you sure about this?” Mora asked fearfully from behind him.

The rider smiled and didn’t turn back as he replied, “We’ll be fine, and we’ll get Pippi back.”

Mora seemed unconvinced, but she no longer had time to choose to back out. But then Cody realized something, and hoped he had enough time to explain it before they had to leave.

“I need to go, but don’t you both think that it would be better if someone stayed in the saddle? If the bandits happen to notice that there’s a saddle but no one in it, or even assume that Inferno has a rider and no one is on his back, surely someone will go back and check the caves for intruders, right?” Cody suggested, knowing how hard it would probably be for Mora to leave.

She seemed suddenly excited by the idea, while Inferno seemed rather worried and argued, “She could very easily get hurt.”

“Would you rather have every one of us injured except yourself simply because a few of the bandits were observant?”

Inferno growled, but shook his head and begrudgingly agreed. Mora also seemed to know what was going on and sat up straighter in the saddle. She grabbed Cody’s arm and looked him in the eye briefly as Inferno rounded the hill.

“Get everyone back safe,” she pleaded.

Cody looked into her saddened, fiery eyes before nodding and replying, “I will.”

“Promise?”

The rider thought of the consequences briefly before answering, “I promise.”

“Cody, you better go, like, instantly!” Inferno growled in warning as they all caught sight of two Cleptors beginning to round the hill as well.

If Cody didn’t leave now, it would be too late. He swung his left leg over Inferno’s neck until both of his legs were together and he was ready to go. He looked one last time into the blazing eyes of his friend on his right, and the icy ones of his dragon on the left. With a deep breath, he leaped.