Chapter 31

“How did you get out?” Cody asked Pippi, almost feeling her anxiety lessen with each moment.

Pippi closed her eyes and soaked in the silver rays of light before replying, “Like I’m sure you’ve guessed, Mordon and that other man, Lars I’m assuming, stole the keys from that bandit guard and released me from my cave. Since I’m sure you’re curious about what I mean, each cave is blocked off by a door with a designated key, except the main cavern that you were in.”

“I didn’t realize that the tunnel had gotten large enough to be considered a cavern, and how did you know Lars was with us when I never mentioned his name?” Cody asked, growing a little more interested in the elf before him.

The woman sighed, though what emotion it was coming from was unknown to Cody, before she said, “I have some questions myself, about you. Before I tell you anything more I have to learn more about you. Mordon may be very skeptical of strangers, it is his job after all, but he seemed to easily recognize you as a friend when I’m sure you haven’t known each other long. Why? Why does mistrustful Mordon trust you so openly?”

“Well, Mora had a vision-”

“Not good enough,” Pippi interrupted almost instantly. “I’ll admit that that woman has a pretty good eye for the future, but even fortunetellers can be wrong, and Mordon knows that more than anyone. Even if her vision of you was very, very good, it would take a lot to convince Mordon.

Then, Cody remembered something. Mora had told him that Pippi was looking for a place to stay for a little while. Also, by his understanding, all elves were in some sort of contact with Mrana Akano Furista and the other elves that inhabited it, and somehow Cody had forgotten what he was told to do in situations similar to this, as he recalled Heyrick saying to him before. Maybe not the exact same situation, but he knew exactly what he should say to save him from what could turn out to be a great deal of explaining. It would probably be best for everyone if he just did things quickly when time was so very short.

“I’m willing to bet that you were going to the town of Morgran for a reason, not just to stay there for a little while. Would the name Blackscales mean anything to you?” Cody asked, feeling a sly smile tug at his lips.

Pippi’s deep blue eyes lit up in surprise and she seemed very skeptical. But as she looked him over, they filled with recognition, curiosity, but chiefest of all, pride. A broad grin crossed her features and could probably easily be seen even by a human without night vision. She stood upright and stared at him with growing curiosity, all other emotions, even pride, seeming to dissolve from her face.

“No doubt that you are Blackscales, and the dragon that I assume has a dark shade, judging by your title, is the sole distraction,” Pippi said with a somehow smug grin.

Cody smiled as well before replying, “Correct. His name is Inferno, and as we speak he and Mora are slowly getting rid of the bandits to come meet us and bring us away.”

“The perfect plan, aside from the fact that I doubt he can carry us all far. He can’t be more than a moon old, but I guess he could alternate between flying and running and still get us out easily and safely.”

Cody nodded and said, “So you really were sent to Morgran to intercept me, right? How did you get tangled in with the bandits, and what will you do now that you’re free and found me?”

Pippi thought for a moment before giving her response, “By now I assume Dongoithu has kidnapped the guards that Heyr-Heyrick asked you to bring, like we all expected, so you’ll be chasing after them. If you want I’ll follow you, or go back to Mrana Akano Furista. As for the other part, that’s a slightly longer story and should probably be saved until we are out of harm’s way.”

“Alright, but I was just wondering, why did you falter a bit when you were saying Heyrick?” Cody asked, his curiosity piquing.

“I guess I’m just a little nervous still. Being trapped in a dusty old cave is awful, whether it had been for a long time or not.”

Cody instantly caught the lie, but before he could call her out on it, he heard a faint but distracting noise coming from the other side of the clearing. There, being pursued by hundreds, if not thousands of bandits astride swiftly-moving horses, were Larson and Mordon.

Moving a bit further out into the clearing Cody easily caught sight of Inferno swishing by, though to the normal human eye it would probably go unnoticed. Unfortunately, he was still being pursued by almost 20 Cleptors. Things wouldn’t end well for anyone, and one could only hope that the bandits would be the ones to suffer the most.

“What should we do?” Cody asked the elf as he worriedly watched his grounded companions hurtling towards them. “Do you think they’ll make it in time?”

“Follow me.”

Cody immediately did as he was told and stood up straight, watching the elf intently. He attempted to imagine what she was thinking, but it was impossible to tell. But, it was probably safe to assume that her plan wasn’t safe, for absolutely anyone involved. All he could do though was trust that she’d help them out of the danger, and if a little risk on his part could save everyone he would gladly do it.

He hardly had enough time to react before she leaped up into the tree that she had been resting against before, and disappeared in the green leaves. Unfortunately, he had agreed to follow her and that was what he intended to do, even if he wasn’t good at climbing trees. He latched onto a branch not far above his head and placed his right foot against the tree. Taking a deep breath, the rider swung himself into the tree and right on the branch that he had been hanging on to.

From there he had a slightly easier path nearer to the top by simply stepping on nearby branches, all of which seemed easily strong enough to support his weight. While he made a pretty quick climb, the nimble elf was already at the top when he had only hopped onto his fourth branch not even halfway through. But he continued to climb until he reached the branch below her, when she held up a hand to stop him.

“If…Inferno is going to be the only way we can get out of here, we need to get rid of those Cleptors on his tail. If we can do that fast enough, he may be able to swoop down and scare some of the bandits, buying Mordon and Larson some time,” the elf explained as she used her outstretched hand to pull him the rest of the up, showing how truly muscular she was.

Cody quickly settled on the branch before asking, “What do we do?”

“Tell him to come very close to us so that the birds will have to follow. Then, you’ll put that bow of yours to good use and knock them right out of the air before they arrive. As they get close enough, we’ll draw our weapons and slash at them until only a few remain, which would be easy enough for a dragon half his age to get rid of. After that, I’ll let you know of the next thing to do.”

Cody looked into her dark blue eyes skeptically and tried to figure out whether or not it seemed like a safe plan. If she knew enough about dragons, surely she would have realized how dangerous it would be for one to fly close enough to the treetops to be within a sword’s reach. Inferno had done it before, but only for a short period of time, and even then he had been far enough away that only his lengthy legs, possibly twice as long as a sword could just barely scrape against them.

“Won’t I have to use all of my arrows to make much of a difference?” Cody asked, voicing his other main worry.

Pippi sighed and answered, “Arrows are meant to be used, not to sit around for a long time, unused. Besides, we can always buy new arrows in Morgran, since I’m sure we’ll be stopping there after this is over and they have even better arrows, I’m sure.”

Cody growled at her flawless logic and wanted to debate it for a minute. He turned his head away to look away from her and think, but he just caught sight of Lars and Mordon racing towards the forest with their lives, and the bandits were gaining on them. There was absolutely no way that they could escape at the speed they were going, and what Pippi suggested was the only option they had. A slight risk, or Mordon and Larson’s death, and possibly others, was the only choice he had, and it was his alone to make.

“Inferno!” He called out, quickly making up his mind.

“I’m way ahead of you, look a bit to your right and get your bow and arrows ready.”

Cody did as the dragon asked and looked to his right. There, being pursued by three less Cleptors was Inferno diving towards the trees at a marvelous rate, despite the horrified screams of his passenger. Then he pulled up, right at the last second, and came towards the tree where Cody and Pippi sat, watching.

“Get ready,” Cody warned as he shakily got to his feet and pulled the bow off his back.

Without waiting for a response he pulled out one of the arrows, pulling it free of the quiver and knocking it. He quickly located Inferno’s speeding form, and locked his aim right on the dragon’s scaly shoulder. He took a deep breath, and pulled the string of the bow back. Finally, releasing his breath, the rider let go of the string and watched as the arrow tore away.

At first it seemed to be heading for Inferno’s leg, but the dragon was going so fast that the arrow couldn’t quite keep up with it. So, it seemed to decide to go for the base of Inferno’s tail, but soon enough that target disappeared as well. Before Cody’s eyes could even comprehend what had happened, he merely saw one of the Cleptors plummeting towards the ground with the arrow stuck firmly in its skull.

Cody repeated the process until all of his arrows were gone, and only about seven of the vicious birds remained. Only about two thirds of his shots were successful, but it was still pretty impressive to hit such fast beasts so many times. Enough thought, he scolded himself, get your sword! Without a second thought, his body obeyed his own command and his right hand locked firmly onto the thick handle of his black sword. He drew it from its sheath and held it tightly while bringing it close to his side.

Inferno turned slightly so that he could kill one of the birds before he continued on his flight almost straight towards his rider and the she-elf. His icy eyes locked onto the two people briefly, as if to make sure that they were ready, before he suddenly tore upwards and into the sky only seconds before he would have collided with them. The Cleptors seemed slightly surprised, but since they had already been chasing the dragon for a while, they must have been at least partway prepared.

Either way, they had been just slow enough to respond that they got dangerously close to Cody’s sword. The rider instantly responded by forcing the mighty blade forward with all of the strength he could muster. It easily tore through the falcon’s feather-covered skin and the bird’s blood began leaking through the wound. The scarlet droplets were rivers of death, transfixing the wielder of the weapon as he studied them with unusually great interest.

Then, he was pulled from his thoughts as he noticed that he had slowly started to lower his arm and so the sword followed, until it was pointing closer towards the ground. The lifeless Cleptor fell to the earth, disappearing between the branches below. Cody shook his head to clear his fascination, and stuck his sword out towards an eagle. It successfully tore at the creatures wing, and though it was still alive it no longer had any way to stay in the air and plummeted downwards to its death.

Cody looked to the side to face another, but before he could do anything else he was stopped by the sight of the last nearby Cleptor joining the others on the ground. Its killer, evidently Pippi, had a sort of happy but also somewhat bored expression on her face. She noticed him watching her, and simply pointed to their right. The rider followed her finger to see Inferno being chased by a single Cleptor, a falcon. Easily enough, he twisted around and killed it.

“Now he should go to save Larson and Mordon,” Pippi suggested casually after seeing witnessing the same thing.

“Already on it,” Inferno said, picking up on the words through his rider.

Cody chuckled quietly, making sure Pippi didn’t notice before saying to the dragon, “Am I no longer a part of things?”

Inferno let out a brief snort of laughter, or what passed for laughter for a dragon, before he eagerly flapped his wings. He was almost invisible thanks to his speed, and Cody only occasionally caught sight of the dragon floating above them, until he dove down. The rider refocused his attention on the two men that were still making a dash for the forest, the bandits only a few dozen yards away.

But, with a mighty roar Inferno appeared before them with his razor-like fangs bared, a menacing growl quickly following. Without hesitation Larson dove forward and eagerly climbed into the saddle in front of Mora. Mordon, however, shot a quick glance behind him at the horsemen. They may have been terrified of the dragon, but they seemed to begin recognize him as a beatable threat, if they worked together.

Noticing the same, Mordon seemed to sigh before he jumped onto Inferno’s back behind his sister. Cody noticed that there was at least enough room for three in the saddle, but if they had been in any other circumstances it would have been a very laughable sight indeed. But, it was probably best that they were all in the saddle, at least so they could have some sort of way to stay on without experience.

Without waiting for them to settle in, Inferno jumped into the air and began flapping his wings wildly. Three people weren’t too bad for him to carry, even though it seemed a little difficult for him, but he was desperate to get to his rider and so he flew rather unsteadily and had a less than comfortable takeoff. Luckily, as he flew he began to get a better grasp on his flight and steadied out, slightly.

The dragon wasn’t far away from the tree. His two front paws were stretching forward as far as they could go, but his wing seemed to have trouble keeping up with the strain, and he unintentionally veered to the right. As soon as he was able, Inferno turned around and locked his very desperate gaze on the two people that were his targets. With one last flap of his wings, he was upon them.

Cody sighed deeply with relief to feel the warm but rough grasp of his dragon and his feet left the branch behind. Looking over, he saw Pippi smile gratefully towards him, and he closed his eyes upon realizing that their troubles were over. But, he couldn’t have been more wrong.

“That awkward start I had, I can’t get my flight quite right. Either I land or we crash-land!” Inferno roared.

“Then land!” Cody said aloud so Pippi could hear his plan as well. “Pippi and I will jump out of your grasp just before your paws touch the ground and we’ll climb on again so you can take off properly!”

Inferno nodded and dove into the trees, making Cody and Pippi cover their heads to avoid the long branches. Upon seeing the ground fast approaching, Cody leapt away from Inferno and tumbled into the dirt, closely followed by Pippi. Not wasting any time, they raced over to Inferno’s side and clambered up one after the other, Cody sitting against the spike ahead uncomfortably while Pippi hurriedly settled in behind them.

“Go!” Cody yelled aloud.

Before Inferno could even stretch out his wings again, three bandits burst from the trees only 30 feet behind them. Two of them, being archers, immediately began firing at the six beings seemingly without aim. Inferno responded by opening up his wings and leaping forward, straight out of the trees again, more fluidly this time.

A few more arrows tore through the trees blindly, but Inferno was already well on his way, racing through the night sky. But, after a few minutes, carrying five people was already taking its toll on him, and he was only going a bit faster than a racehorse could run. He continued to propel them forward as fast as he could, but he was still slowing.

Mora seemed a little upset about his condition, and said, “If you could, Cody, tell him to land in a clearing after maybe ten minutes. The bandits should be about an hour’s travel behind us by then if they stop to plan about what to do, which I assume they will. We will have enough time to rest up before moving on. Plus, we can probably plan our next course of action then.”

Cody agreed, and heard other noises like grunts of agreement coming from the others, except Mordon. He must have still been a little wary and mistrustful somehow, and the rider was able to accept that. He conveyed the message to Inferno, who also agreed that it was the best option. So, they continued flying for a little while with determination rippling through every muscle in the dragon’s body.

After what seemed like only a minute or two, they half dove, half crashed into the ground in the same clearing that Inferno and Cody had slept in on previous nights. The dragon let out a grunt of pleasure as he let his leathery wings fall loosely to the ground on either side, not even bothering to draw them closer or even fold them.

Cody grinned and slid off of his back and onto the ground. He hadn’t realized just how much he had missed it while he was in the tree. He was fine with flying on his dragon’s back, or at least his neck, but since he hadn’t been in a tree before the sensation was less than pleasurable.

“I can’t carry all five of you for too long,” Inferno groaned as the other passengers slid off.

Cody chuckled, and Pippi immediately asked with evident relief in her voice, “What’s so funny?”

“Inferno just said that he won’t be having too much fun carrying all five of us around for too long,” Cody replied with yet another chuckle.

“He’ll be having a little more fun after a little bit then.”

The somewhat weak reply made Cody turn back towards the saddle on Inferno’s back to see what was going on. He saw Larson helping Mordon out of the black seat, though it was clear that Mordon, hidden from Cody’s view, was the creator of the sentence.

“What are you talking about?” Cody asked.

Lars shot him a worried look, and then turned his sad eyes on Mora as he lowered to a squatting position. He looked down at the grass as if shamefully before waddling out of the way. There, resting against Inferno’s left foreleg with a regretful frown on his face, was Mordon. And on Mordon’s clothes, right by his arm but more on his chest, was a red spot.

He had been wounded, though it didn’t seem bad judging by how deep the wound seemed and the exact position it was at, so his words only further confused Cody. Then, he saw Larson stand, with an arrow held firmly in his hands. The mercenary turned, and revealed the arrow’s tip to Mora, Pippi, and Cody. It was faintly coated in some sort of green liquid that seemed to have been mostly replaced by Mordon’s blood. But there was no doubt that the green liquid was poison, and that it had entered Mordon’s body.