Soar

Chapter 38

Umreo's army was waiting for us this time.

As planned, those with Darriad struck first. I stood with Hedyr and a few others on the crest of a bald hill and watched as Darriad's forces swept down on Umreo, waiting in the valley below. Behind us, in the cover of the hills and trees, our own army waited for a signal.

"There he is," Hedyr murmured. He pointed into the thick of the enemy force, where a banner with orange flames waved in the fresh morning light. "Umreo himself."

Images of razed villages, people slaughtered in the grass, and dragon fire flashed in my mind; Erizar telling me to run, the graves where we buried wide-eyed children. My skin went cold.

We watched the two forces clash, trade blows, pull back, and collect for a second assault. More of Darriad's dragons flew to join the first, and still we waited. The two armies rose in the sky and mingled so thickly I could not tell them apart, though my eyes kept searching for a small blue dragon among the rest.

Just then a horn echoed across the valley. I tore my eyes away and followed Hedyr back down the hill to where Lorkath was waiting.

Hatesa had found a place with another dragon, waiting a few spaces away. She caught my eye and nodded once as our dragons rose into the air. The rushing wind brought my mind back to the battle at hand as I tied my mask in place. Lorkath rose swiftly to get above the fray and let out an ear-splitting roar before he dove. He loosed a torrent of flame and I threw myself behind it.

The dragon in the line of Lorkath's fire had dodged. I felt the tip of his tail as I fell past, and then my hand caught on scales. No gold on its body, nor the silver that Niloth's dragons wore on their faces. I slashed at the nearest leg with my ax and dropped.

The next dragon's rider was a friend when caught my arm as I fell against his dragon's shoulder. He regarded me with shock. "Are you hurt?"

"Hardly. Thank you." I hung from his hand until an enemy came into view, then fell to meet it.

This battle was as senseless as the rest, but out of it I found a rhythm. At first I kept moving, seeking only to cause as much injury as possible to the enemy. When I started to tire, I found the nearest rebel dragon without a rider and joined her.

"They will not surrender," she called back to me as she ducked beneath a slash of dragon claws near her face.

"Neither will we."

She snorted flame and rolled, and I tried to get my bearings. Ahead was a flash of blue-white scales; to the right something bright green tumbled away. We were at the edge of the battle, which was spreading across the sky. Its shadow was like a cloud on the fields below.

The dragon I rode lifted above the fighting to search for a weak point, and I saw white Sitara in the thick of the fray. She and Morena were surrounded and badly outnumbered.

"There," I called, and leaned forward to point. The dragon craned her neck to follow my motion.

"You jump into help the rider. I'll draw off one or two the attackers." Then she tucked in her wings and dove.

Catching Sitara's tail was the best chance I had of not falling. I was not able to warn her and she panicked when she felt my arms wrap around her tail.

"It's me!" I shrieked.

Morena whirled, saw me, and called to her dragon. Sitara stopped trying to throw me, but that was all she could do. As she repeatedly lunged and ducked around attackers, I worked my way along the length of her lashing tail until I finally sat behind Morena.