Longfang by Mark Robson Read Free Book Online Page B

purchase on Fang’s body. Having gained a hold with their teeth, the worms had then burrowed back, tail first into the frozen ground and were now holding Fang in place like a web of
living ropes. She could feel his muscles bunching and straining as he tried to lift his belly from the ground, but he could no longer move.
    The pain in her leg was forgotten. Her fear was absolute. Worse – she could feel it shared and amplified by her dragon. The snowy carpet under the trees was alive with rippling movement as
more and more worms swam through the snow towards them. They were trapped and she could see no way out. Without a miracle, she and Fang were going to die a horrible death.
    It was strange. Normally flying hazards served to increase Nolita’s fears, but the onset of the snowstorm had actually helped her to control her emotions. The dancing
white flakes provided a mesmerising show that held her attention and deadened her mind to reality. Perhaps it was because it reminded her of midwinter feasts back home in Cemaria – happy
times with family and friends. Perhaps it was the subtle way it played with her vision, never allowing her focus to settle at any one distance. Whatever the reason, Nolita was surprisingly content
to be flying on Firestorm’s back this afternoon.
    It was cold, of course. Bitterly cold. But the rhythm of Firestorm’s wingbeats and the gentle rising and falling motion of his body had become so familiar over the past two weeks that her
fear of falling from his back had dimmed. It was the first physical contact with her dragon each time she flew that she dreaded the most. The act of reaching up and touching her dragon’s leg
in order to mount him still filled her mind with black dread.
    She knew it was irrational. Through her bond with Firestorm, she could feel his thoughts and emotions. To begin with she had been convinced he was trying to deceive her, but she could no longer
deny the truth. The dragon cared deeply for her. But even her intimate knowledge of his feelings did not curb her physical reaction to his size and appearance. Nolita had learned ways to counter
her fear of heights whilst flying, but she had found nothing that could help dim her reaction to Firestorm’s size and initial proximity.
    A night dragon’s screaming cry rent the air behind her. The sound struck her with a force that was almost physical. She had allowed the snow to lull her vision and detach her mind from her
situation. An attack by night dragons had always been a possibility, but she had not expected it to come so soon. Where were her friends? Elian was to her left, riding Aurora, but he was barely
visible and there was no sign of the others. In the blink of an eye her fears were back with full force.
    ‘Hang on,’
Fire’s voice warned in her mind.
‘It’s too dangerous to stay with the others. We’re going it alone.’
    Nolita did not reply. Instead, she clung with all her might to the pommel of her saddle. Firestorm dipped his right wing, turning positively away from Aurora for a few seconds before turning
back to parallel his original course.
    Another scream sounded. This one seemed to come from directly ahead. There was a short pause and then a bellowing roar unlike anything Nolita had ever heard before. Her heart was pounding hard
and fast. A huge shadow suddenly blossomed ahead and slightly above them. It was a night dragon. There was no mistaking the sheer size of it. It cut across them, angling towards the source of the
huge roar that had reverberated a few seconds before.
    ‘It’s all right. The roar was Fang,’
Firestorm informed her.
‘He’s going to draw the night dragons off and give the rest of us a chance to get away.
It’s lucky he got their attention, or that one would have seen us for sure.’
    Nolita wanted to feel relief, but she was too scared. The dancing white curtain of snow that had lulled her mind moments earlier had suddenly become a white veil of terror. Behind it