Free Longfang by Mark Robson Page A

I can’t tell if they have located us yet,
but if we stay here, they will find us for sure.’
    Nolita wasted no time. She was on her feet in an instant.
    ‘Night dragons!’ she said, grabbing Kira by the arm. ‘We’ve got to go! Now!’
    The two girls scrabbled to throw their things into bags and climb up onto their dragons. In little more than a minute they were on the move, taking the path that Firestorm had burned through the
trees on his way in.
    There was no sign of the ice worms as they made their take-off run through the deep snow outside the cover of the trees. Nolita was glad and Kira felt an even keener sense of relief. Launching
into the darkness was less frightening to Nolita than in daytime. The lack of visual cues made flying easier to cope with.
    No sooner were they airborne than they turned to the south, powering along at a frantic pace in an effort to slip away from the approaching night dragons. The fast rhythmic beating of the
dragons’ wings infected both girls with a breathless sense of urgency and a creeping anxiety that the night dragons would begin actively chasing them at any moment.
    Nolita felt Fire reaching out frequently with his mind. He searched ahead for any sign of Aurora and Shadow, and then more tentatively behind them to try to discern if the night dragons were
aware of them. As he said nothing, she remained content to concentrate on keeping her fear of flying under control by counting his wingbeats and keeping her eyes firmly shut.
    On they flew, the relentless falling snow and bitter temperature gradually chewing through Nolita’s thick clothing until once again numbness began to creep across her body. In subtle
incremental shades the sky brightened in anticipation of the rising sun. Whenever she did briefly open her eyes, the snow-covered landscape below appeared a ghostly grey/white in the pre-dawn
half-light. The spectral shadows and the hypnotic falling snow gave ample reason for Nolita to keep her eyes shut as much as possible.
    ‘More trouble!’
Firestorm’s warning was preceded by a surge of emotion through the bond.
‘I sense Shadow and Aurora ahead, but the main body of night dragons
are there, too. They must have split up to search for us.’
    ‘What do you think we should do?’
Nolita asked.
    ‘There is nothing we can do,’
Fire said, his voice sounding frustrated.
‘They’re too far away. We will not reach them in time. Aurora’s forming a gateway.
Segun is closing. She has no choice. Shadow’s gone.’
He paused.
‘Aurora’s gone, too. They have left us behind.’

Chapter Eight
Crash!
    ‘Bloody hell!’ Jack swore as a huge explosion lifted the tail of his aircraft, leaving it pointing almost vertically down at the ground. His ears rang with the
aftershock of the noise as he wrestled with the controls, desperately trying to coax the machine back into level flight. He pulled back further and further on the yoke with little noticeable
effect. The aircraft was accelerating towards the ground in a death dive.
    A glance over his shoulder was enough to confirm the damage was bad. The tailplane was in tatters and there were gaping holes in the fuselage. His elevators were almost completely gone, leaving
him with extremely limited pitch control.
    ‘I’m damned if I’m going down in enemy territory,’ he growled, pulling back the yoke as far as he could. ‘Come on, baby! You can do it. Don’t let me down
now.’
    The sound of the wind in the wires built rapidly from its normal whistling song to an unearthly howl as the aircraft plummeted towards the ground. The needle on the airspeed indicator cranked
around rapidly, already exceeding the maximum recommended velocity. The aircraft was falling at a speed that Jack knew could tear the fabric apart . . . and it was still accelerating.
    Was this the end? Would all his combat experience be concluded by one lucky shot from the ground? It did not seem fair. Against all the odds, he had survived far