Free Aurora by Mark Robson

If we run it
will take them some time to catch up. They may give up the chase if they think it is going to be too much effort. I imagine their persistence will depend on their orders.’
    ‘That makes sense but which way should we run?’
he asked.
‘If we turn and make a run for the mountains, we create a bigger corner for them to cut.’
    ‘You are right,’
she replied.
‘That would not be a good idea. Let us make them run as far as possible by keeping them directly behind us.’
    Shadow eased into a gentle turn to the right, adjusting her heading by about twenty degrees before rolling back into straight and level flight. She also began to accelerate. Pell looked across
to see if Firestorm had followed. He had. The blue day dragon’s wings were pumping hard to keep up with Shadow, but there was tightness in the set of his face that conveyed determination.
Pell was surprised. He had never noticed facial expressions on dragons before, and had not thought them capable of demonstrating emotion in that way.
    Pell’s heart raced as Shadow powered westwards, but it did not take long for the initial surge of adrenalin to die away. Craning his neck, he scanned the sky for any sign of the pursuing
dragons, but he could see nothing. It was hard to force his eyes to focus much beyond Shadow’s tail, which rose and fell in mesmerising waves behind them.
    Looking ahead, he could see wispy puffs of fair-weather cloud beginning to form slightly above them in the otherwise cloudless sky, but Pell judged they would not grow into anything substantial
enough to offer cover. Shadow had climbed to about a thousand spans. She was no longer climbing, instead concentrating on setting a pace that was fast, but one that she and Firestorm could maintain
for a long time if necessary.
    As time passed, the feeling of danger faded. Aside from the slight increase of the wind rush and higher tempo of the dragons’ wingbeats, the flight felt much like any other. The
countryside slipped past beneath them. The sun was climbing fast, its bright rays making it a pleasure to be airborne.
    ‘How are we doing?’
he asked Shadow eventually.
    ‘They are no longer gaining,’
she replied.
‘I hoped they would give up, but they are still following. Darkhorn is livid that we have not heeded her warning. She has
made it clear that they will not give up the chase. If you look directly behind us and at a similar level, you should be able to see them.’
    Pell twisted again and looked for some time. He was about to give up when he finally spotted them. Three tiny black dots, unmoving. Were they really at a similar level? They looked as if they
were lower in the sky, but Pell knew that perspective could play tricks on a person’s eyes in the air. He did not doubt Shadow’s word. If she said they were at a similar height, then
they were.
    ‘So what now?’
Pell asked.
‘Do you think they’re bluffing? Will they give up if we run fast enough?’
    ‘It doesn’t look that way,’
Shadow admitted.
‘It looks as if we are in this race for the long haul.’
    ‘What about Firestorm? Can he keep up this pace?’
    ‘Firestorm is already proving his resilience,’
Shadow said, a note of surprise and grudging respect colouring her tone.
‘It must be hurting him to fly at this speed,
but he has not asked me to slow down and he is showing no signs of fading yet. Only time will tell how long he can keep going.’

Chapter Eight
Dawn Dragon Enclave
    Elian woke suddenly. His body felt slick with sweat and his heart was beating hard. There was a painful ringing sound inside his head and everything around him was blurred. He
blinked several times. The surface of his eyes stung with each movement of his eyelids and his clarity of vision did not improve. He tried to sit up but, as soon as he moved, it felt as if the room
had been picked up by a giant and tossed, tumbling into space. The movement also triggered a spike of pain in his right leg.
    He flopped back