Shadow (23 page)

Brilliant! thought Kira. It’ll take a lightning bolt from heaven to turn him now.

‘But what about the rest of the verse?’ Elian responded quickly. ‘Your interpretation doesn’t fit the last two lines at all.’

‘They could mean anything,’ Pell said dismissively. ‘You said yourself that the verse about the first orb didn’t make sense until Firestorm and Nolita had actually got
it. I’ll bet this one will be the same.’

‘That’s something we can agree on,’ Elian muttered. ‘Look, I’m not trying to kill your enthusiasm, Pell,’ he continued at a more normal volume, clearly trying
to sound reasonable. ‘I just want you to keep an open mind, that’s all. Stealing isn’t
staying pure
or
truthful.
The last two lines of the Oracle’s verse
mentions both of these. And
exercise caution
sounds like good advice right now.’

‘The orbs are dragon orbs, aren’t they?’ Nolita asked, deflecting whatever response Pell might have made.

‘Yes,’ the boys said together.

‘Well we know that dragons don’t exist in the other world, so why would there be a dragon orb there for the griffins to bring through?’ she went on.

Brilliant! Kira thought again, this time without the sarcasm. Nolita, you’re a genius! Pell can’t answer that.

But she was wrong.

‘Maybe the orb had been taken there on a previous quest,’ Pell suggested thoughtfully. ‘The Oracle has been around for millennia. Who’s to say that it didn’t send
the orb to the other world in the first place? Maybe it was for safekeeping, or something.’

Kira groaned silently. If he was willing to clutch at such long straws, then he was totally sold on his idea. It was time to break up the conversation. It had been interesting, but it was no
longer going anywhere. She faked a yawn and stretched out in catlike fashion. Elian was by her side in a flash.

‘Are you all right, Kira?’ he asked. ‘Are you warm enough?’

‘I’m fine, thanks,’ she said sleepily. ‘What time is it?’

‘Late afternoon. You slept most of the day,’ Pell said.

He might just as well have said ‘wasted most of the day’ with that tone, Kira thought. She decided not to rise to the bait. He might want a fight, but she was not ready to give him
one today.

‘No wonder I feel good,’ she said, keeping her voice deliberately distant and content. ‘Where are we?’

‘Not far from the Valley of the Griffins,’ Pell grumbled.

‘Take no notice of him,’ Elian told her. ‘We’ll get there early tomorrow. The griffins are unlikely to go anywhere.’

‘No, but Segun is,’ Pell said pointedly. ‘If he’s beaten us to the orb, getting it back will not be easy. I’d rather take on some griffins than Segun and the other
senior night dragonriders any day.’

Much as Kira hated to admit it, Pell did have a good point. She opened her eyes fully and turned to look at the white outlines of the mountains. The snowline extended almost to their bases. She
shivered at the sight. If Segun had beaten them to the orb because of her failure to cope with the cold, then two things were sure: Pell would never forgive her and the quest would become more
difficult than ever.

Chapter Twenty

‘Does Fang really know where he’s going, Shadow? Or is he making this up as he goes along? It feels as if we’re going in circles. I’m sure
we’ve been along this valley before.’

‘Fang assures me it is not far now,’
Shadow replied, but her voice in Pell’s mind held a hint of uncertainty.

They had been flying for most of the morning. In all that time they had seen no living creature other than a solitary eagle soaring high above them in the late morning sun. It was bitterly cold
up in the mountain passes. The glare of the sunlight reflecting from the great expanses of pure white snow on all sides was giving him a headache, but he was not about to complain. The weather was
still holding fair. Considering how much time they had spent in mountainous terrain recently, the elements had been most kind.

‘Not far is one thing, but knowing in which direction would be useful,’ Pell growled aloud. This was getting ridiculous.

‘He says the entrance is not immediately obvious,’
Shadow told him.
‘The griffins chose their home deliberately to avoid being found. Fang has been there once
before, but it was a long time ago. He says he will recognise the signs when he sees them.’

‘A long time ago? How long is long?’

‘Around three centuries,’
Shadow admitted.

‘Three centuries!’ Pell breathed aloud.
‘It’s no wonder he’s lost!’

‘He’s not lost, Pell.’
The night dragon hesitated for just a moment.
‘Or at least if he
is
lost, then so is Segun. Look.’

Six night dragons were flying along the valley some distance in front of them in two tandem V formations of three. The others had noticed them too. Kira and Elian were waving at him and
pointing. Nolita was staring straight ahead, as she often did, but from the tilt of her body and the angle of her head it was obvious she had also spied the dark dragons.

Fortunately, Segun and his lieutenants were flying away from them, so it was unlikely that they would notice the four dragons following in their wake. Pell instinctively glanced over each
shoulder in quick succession, checking the sky behind him for potential trouble. There were at least three other night dragons out there somewhere, and after the long delay of the previous day,
they could easily catch up.

‘We’d better slow down, Shadow. We don’t want to get too close,’
Pell suggested.
‘I don’t understand why they’re flying so
slowly.’

‘As I said, the entrance to the Valley of the Griffins is close,’
Shadow replied.
‘It is not easy to see. Segun and Widewing seem to know this. Fang tells me he
can see the markers that guide the way to the entrance now. The night dragons are almost on top of them. Yes. Look. They are turning.’

It was true. The night dragons turned to the right and switched formation until all six were flying in a single line, each astern and slightly below the one in front. Pell held his breath. It
would only need one of them to look back up the valley, and the Oracle’s chosen team would lose the element of surprise. To his amazement, it did not happen. Instead, the night dragons
disappeared one by one, seemingly straight into a solid, vertical rock wall. He let out a sigh of relief.

‘I don’t understand,’
he said.
‘Why didn’t they notice us? You sensed those other night dragons while they were still miles away the other
day.’

‘Yes, but we were on the lookout for other dragons,’ Shadow replied. ‘Segun and his men have no reason to expect us to be behind them. They think you are safely locked up
at the enclave and that the others have gone to Racafi. Also, the entrance to the Valley of the Griffins is rather special. I imagine their attention was very much on where they were
going.’

‘Special? In what way?’

‘You will see,’
Shadow said cryptically.
‘I don’t want to ruin it for you.’

Curious as Pell was, a rising feeling of panic began to take over. His relief at not having been seen by the leaders of the night dragon enclave had momentarily blinded him to the fact that
Segun had beaten them to the valley. What should they do now?

The night dragons outnumbered them. Fang, Firestorm and Aurora had some interesting abilities, but for all their clever tricks he could not imagine any of them seriously troubling the night
dragons if it came to a fight.

‘I feel your concern,’
Shadow said.
‘There is no need to worry just yet, Pell. Fang tells me the night dragons will not harm us while we’re in the Valley of
the Griffins. We should follow Segun with all haste to ensure he does not secure the orb before we get there.’

Pell was dubious.
‘And how does Fang know this?’
he asked.

‘He says the griffins control what happens within their valley. They will not allow an unprovoked attack. He sounds very sure. Although griffins are smaller than dragons, they are very
fierce when aroused. Even Segun will be wary of angering them.’

Shadow led the way to where the night dragons had turned right and disappeared. Pell looked with growing confusion at the sheer cliff that formed the wall of the valley to his right. It looked
solid. He could have sworn the night dragons had turned here, but perhaps he was mistaken. They must have turned further along the valley. A feeling of amusement filtered through the bond.

‘You were not mistaken, Pell,’
Shadow told him as she dipped her right wing and started to turn towards the cliff-face.
‘The entrance to the valley is right here.
The griffins are highly intelligent creatures and they have used a clever mix of reflected light and shadow to hide the path to their home. Only those who know the markers are likely to find it.
But it’s not easy to see, even when you know what you’re looking
for.’

They continued to turn until they were flying straight towards the solid wall of rock.

‘Shadow? What are you doing, Shadow?’
Pell asked aloud, a note of panic in his voice.

She did not answer. They were rapidly approaching the cliff-face and alarm bells began to ring in Pell’s head. He instinctively tightened his grip on the pommel and all his muscles became
taut with anticipation. Although he had learned to trust Shadow over the past two season rotations, every synapse in his brain was screaming ‘DANGER!’ as his sense of self-preservation
kicked into full alert.

‘
SHADOW!
’

It was too late. Even if they turned hard now, they would still hit the rock. Pell took a sharp intake of breath and closed his eyes, ducking down behind Shadow’s ridge and bracing against
the inevitable impact.

He counted down in his head: three, two, one . . . he flinched. Nothing happened. They should have hit the wall by now. His mind spun with confusion. He cracked his eyes open just a touch and
gasped in amazement. They were flying along a narrow path, barely wider than Shadow’s wingspan. He looked around and the illusion created by the colouring and texture of the cliff-face became
obvious. Once penetrated, the path into the rock wall was clear, but when viewed from the valley it had been impossible to see.

The path was actually a short tunnel, open at both ends. They were already approaching the real rock wall at the far end of the short passage. Pell could just see that there was an opening to
the left. It would be a tight turn for a dragon the size of Shadow, but she did not seem concerned.

‘Hang on, Pell,’
she warned.

One moment they were flying straight and level, the next Shadow’s left wingtip was pointing directly at the rocky ground and the force pushing Pell into the saddle increased rapidly until
he felt as though he was being crushed. Then she rolled the other way and Pell had to hang on for all he was worth to avoid sliding over Shadow’s side.

He looked back over his shoulder. Kira and Fang were close behind, with Firestorm just coming into view behind them. The thought that Kira might have been close enough to see him cowering in his
saddle as they approached the cliff-wall crossed his mind.

‘Damn!’ he muttered. ‘She’s not going to let me hear the last of this.’

He switched his focus forwards, grinding his teeth and screwing his face up to try to disperse the flush of embarrassment that burned his cheeks. Ahead, a rapidly widening canyon with sheer
rocky walls curved away to the right. He looked up, trying to assess if it was possible to fly into this valley from above. A dragon could do it easily, but whether a rider would survive a flight
in the freezing temperature up at that altitude was questionable. The mountains were not as high as those that housed the night dragon enclave, but they were high enough to offer similar dangers to
the unwary.

The canyon continued to curve and widen until they emerged into the main valley. The basin here was wide and white with snow, contrasted only by the occasional grey sides of large rocks
scattered across the valley floor, and the great grey cliffs powering up thousands of spans on either side. The winding line of a stream was visible in the middle of the valley, but at points where
the flow slowed, the surface had frozen and the ice was hidden underneath a blanket of snow.

The six night dragons had landed not far ahead, their huge bodies standing out like dirty black scars in the skin of white snow that covered the smooth valley floor. The riders had dismounted
and were standing in a huddle, surrounded by their dragons. Of the griffins, there was no sign.

Segun and his riders were quick to spot the incoming dragons. The huddle broke instantly, the dragonriders scattering to their dragons. It was too late to avoid a confrontation now. The only
advantage they held over the six night dragons was one of energy, but in his heart Pell knew that a fight with Segun and his riders could only end one way -in disaster.