Inferno Legacy: Valor of the Dragon (Book One)

Chapter 45

            Inferno yawned loudly before slowly opening his eyes. The sun was just beginning to rise over the trees when he noticed Midnight Stalker padding silently around on the other side of the river. He snorted with humor as he told Cody, “I guess he’s as worried as you are about the battle.”

            The dragon couldn’t help but smile at the thought of shredding through his enemies. He then cringed as he remembered what it was like when he tried to follow Avalsmokes and Omen’s kidnappers. Then he realized that his rider had not responded to his words at all.

            “Cody, wake up!” Inferno growled and waited patiently for the human to slowly stagger onto his two feet and walk over to his head. It never happened.

            Inferno lashed his thick, scaly tail in frustration as he stood and looked at all of the sleeping humans. Cody wasn’t among them. He rolled his eyes and reached out his mind, searching for the presence of his rider in the forest. He felt absolutely nothing. There was only absence, as if Cody had just vanished completely from Semiones.

            He narrowed his eyes and glared at Midnight Stalker, though the black wolf didn’t even notice.

“Where is my rider!?” Inferno roared in his mind to the alpha wolf.

            Midnight Stalker stopped abruptly in his tracks to look in surprise at the dragon, though he resumed his pacing without a thought. Inferno had talked to him before without telling Cody; just like he peered into the minds of everyone else they met to make sure they weren’t an immediate threat. He rarely expected a response, but he had had full conversations with the wolf and expected more from him.

            In a single bound Inferno leaped over the stream and crashed into Midnight Stalker. Pinning the wolf down with his right forepaw he hissed again, “Where is my rider!?”

            “I don’t know!” came the familiar voice in a startled tone. “A few hours ago I awoke to find him and Bleeding Demon gone.”

            “And you never told me!?” Inferno roared back.

            The wolf visibly shook with pure fright as he replied, “I thought that they would return before sunrise.”

            “And they haven’t, have they?” Inferno hissed.

            “N-n-no.”

            Inferno roared loudly before saying, “If you had anything to do with this, I will flay your skin and wear you on my head as a hat in the hail!”

            Inferno backed away and left Midnight Stalker to quiver, still on his back. Whimpers escaped from him as he finally managed to pull himself to his paws and cower away. The dragon felt satisfied to see the wolf back away to the edge of the trees with his ears flat and his tail between his legs.

            “What is going on?”

            Inferno growled quietly as he turned towards the voice to see a gray she-wolf he didn’t recognize and Larson, Mora, and Pippi watching him and the wolf leader with obvious concern and confusion. Inferno snorted smoke in their direction, not wanting to communicate with all of them in such an intimate way as he normally did. He turned his head back over to the alpha wolf, forcing him to explain the situation.

            Midnight Stalker cautiously made his way around Inferno to get closer to his wolf warrior before he slowly announced, “Bleeding Demon and the Twilight Rider have gone missing in the middle of the night.