Fire Dragon - Katharine Kerr [120]
“True!”
Still, she skimmed the ground and charged them one more time. The men screamed, wrenched their horses' heads around, and let them run where they would. Arzosah pulled up, gained height in a mad flap of wings, and flew fast away, chortling to herself. Rhodry tipped back his head and howled in berserk laughter.
To Dallandra it seemed that they travelled through the thick humid air of the forest for only a short space of time, but she knew perfectly well that in the physical world, Time was speeding along. Whenever they came to a clearing, she would look up, hoping to see the dragon, but they had ridden clear of the trees before Arzosah caught up to them. At the edge of the forest grew a tall tree, half of which burned perpetually with golden flames, whilst the other half grew green in full leaf. With a roar of greeting, Arzosah swooped overhead and landed near the living side. Dallandra was relieved to see Rhodry still on her back. She nudged her horse to a jog and trotted over to join them, with Evandar close behind.
“News!” Rhodry called out. “We've seen Raena, leading Horsekin through—well, through wherever this may be.”
“Evil news, then! How many of them were there?”
“Not more than a score. A good many found themselves on the ground when their horses got a noseful of Arzosah.”
“It was glorious,” Arzosah chimed in. “And I nearly caught that rotten-hearted little mazrak, too. She nipped through some sort of gate twixt worlds just ahead of my front teeth. Huh. I wonder if she'll come back for her delightful friends?”
“If she doesn't, I will,” Evandar said. “But come along, all of you! We daren't linger here. Move, move!”
With one long grumble of a roar, the dragon flung herself into the air. Dallandra swung her horse's head around and trotted after Evandar down a long dirt path that skirted the forest. She kept looking back and counting, but this time everyone in their ragged procession followed right along. At an enormous pile of grey boulders, they turned away from the forest edge, but still Evandar chivvied them to make speed. Not until they had got well clear did Evandar let them halt.
On the flat crest of a low hill, much like the one from which they'd first seen the dweomer mist, the line fanned out, allowing the horsemen to pull up abreast. The dragon began to circle above. Dallandra noticed that while the archers looked nervously ahead and muttered among themselves, Carra was smiling, all anticipation. Just below them the path ran down the gentle slope into a gathering mist, shot with pale stains of swirling colors on the silver-grey.
“Just go through that mist and you'll find yourself on the road to Cerr Cawnen,” Evandar said. “The town's but a few miles on.”
“You're not coming with us?” Dallandra said.
“Not just at the moment, not with Raena flying around the Lands as if the stinking bitch owned them!”
“True spoken, but once we're in Cerr Cawnen—”
“I'll never be far away. Shaetano's lurking there, you know, hoping for a chance at mischief. But I'd best be gone. Raena's not going to dawdle around waiting for me.”
Evandar swung a leg over his horse's back and slid down to the ground. He tossed her the end of the halter rope.
“Take this poor beast with you, will you? He'll only be a nuisance to me now.”
“Very well, but—”
“I know, I know. I'll take him back to his owner later.”
With a cheery wave Evandar turned and jogged off. Dallandra watched until he plunged into the forest and disappeared, then rode back to the others.
“We're almost there,” she said. “Jahdo, no doubt you can lead us the last few miles home.”
Evandar had not gone far into the forest before he changed his form into the red hawk. With a harsh cry he leapt into the air and took to his wings, gliding on the wind over the trees, then flying fast to gain height. As he soared, he looked this way and that, searching for the raven, but if she lurked in the thick cover, he never saw her. Finally he left the forest behind and flew over the green hills of the new Wildlands.