*ON HOLD* The Airborne Oracles [Book I - Breeding the fire]

Chapter Twenty

[Hugeiniau]

Wake up.

"Another minute."

Wake up!

With a nudge to her side, Paduss pestered Nixie. She could practically feel the dragon's restlessness in her mind.

Wake up! Dragons are near.

Her eyes shut open and she sat up immediately. She focused on her hearing. The faint rumble of dragon calls in the distance neared them.

"You could have said so," she squinted her eyes at Paduss, but returned her attention to the impending beasts. She could not wait for them to reach her to find out who it was, she had to act; and by the sound of it, she had to act fast.

The bag she carried was thrown over her back and she stomped out the remainder of burning coals of the previous night.

"Paduss, we have to hurry."

There was no time to strap herself in. The vibration of oncoming wyverns could almost be felt on the bedrocks. She simply mounted on Paduss and clasped her fists around his fiery mane.

Her heart pounded against her chest. Should she depend on good fortune and hope they pass? Surely they would not travel back and forth in less than a day over the same terrain without reason. Reason being - they were trying to trace her. Or should she take a chance and fly ahead of them in attempt to escape their wrath?

One thing was for certain, she did not want to be captured and killed by Irgis. No matter how much it grieved her, she needed to stay strong for her child.

A high-pitched ululation echoed down the vacuum of boulders.

Fear came over in realisation of what she just heard.

These dragons were not of Corpt, she would recognise that tongue trill anywhere - Baccata was near. He was calling out to the rest of the riders that he found something.

It was now or never.

She gulped and turned her attention to the task at hand. "Paduss, you better spark out of here like you have never flown before," she whispered.

With a last attempt to prove her ears wrong, she listened to the hollows imitating the sounds from above. To her disappointment, another shrill of riders yelled to and fro in the air.

"Paduss, now!"

Atramentous bat-wings spiked up in preparation of a sudden blast. Paduss ruffled his head upwards and propped his muscular, prehensile tail down to the bedrock for balance. He let out a low gnarr as he sniffed the stratosphere.

Nixie squeezed her thighs tighter onto the dragon and steadied her grip on his aigrette. Now was not the time to fall or slip off. This was a matter of life or death.

The creature curved his back down and angled his leathery pinions vertical. His claws thawed the ground and then, with one last bellow he jolted upwards.

Her surroundings came into close view the moment they hovered above the large stones.

Right in front of her, she saw multiple dragons coming her way. Baccata was right in front with his beast. His eyes widened at the sight of her and she widened her gaze at him in response. If eyes could plead, they did with him to let her get away.

She could see the faint gleams of gold in the back of the clan of dragons. Irgis must have seen them by now.

In the lone second of silence, it was as if her world stopped amidst the chaos. She could feel her entire being tugging at her heart to go to her mate. To let Irgis take care of her. To allow Paduss a reunion with Freya. To let love win.