Blaze was slower than their pursuer. Lukas was certain that even without having to carry all the extra weight, they wouldn't stay ahead for long. They had to find a way to slow the one chasing them, and quickly. Of his companions, Vayle was untrained, and Jenna seemed ill; she'd passed out again when they'd taken off, her skin was going an ugly grey colour, and she was mumbling something too soft to hear over the rushing wind. 'I guess it's down to me and Jonah, then... though, I can't do anything from down here.' He clung to one of the talons wrapped around him and squeezed. Blaze released him a fraction, just enough so he could extricate himself from her claw. He climbed into the saddle.
"Jonah!" He yelled. "We can't outrun this!"
"I told you, Lukas, I won't let you jump off this dragon to go down in a pointless blaze of glory!" He turned back to glare at him, righteous anger burning in his eyes.
"That's not what I meant. We need to slow them down, and that will be much easier if we're working together."
Understanding dawned on his face. His mind rushed back to their lessons in Discipline. They had been taught to fight side by side with anyone and everyone – on dragonback or the ground. He nodded and turned in his seat.
"I'm thinking glass traps." Lukas suggested.
Jonah nodded fervently, then added, "And stonewalls – if we're trying to slow them down, those are perfect."
Lukas thought of their supplies and grew doubtful. "I only have twelve spears... do you think that'll be enough for glass-traps and stonewalls?"
Jonah hadn't stopped nodding, "Well, if you think about it, you don't need many glass-traps; either they work – and that's chase over – or they don't – in which case having more won't help. Use one spear for those, and keep the rest for walls. If you need more, we can drop to the ground for you."
Lukas' face grew thoughtful for a few moments, while he considered. "That's a good point, let's do that." Then he sat, straddling Blaze's tail so that he was facing their pursuers and threw over his shoulder, "Follow my lead?"
He didn't need to see it to know Jonah had made the little mock bow that he let loose every time Lukas asked that question. As usual, it was followed by a quick, "Always, Sir!" Lukas in turn acted as he always did: he just sighed and got back to the task at hand, shaking his head slightly at his friend's inability to recognise when wasn't the right time to make jokes.
He unlimbered a spear from his back and broke off a small chuck of stone, which he ground down to a fine sand. Using his mind, he suspended that sand in a square before him. Jonah did his part by letting fire lick from his outstretched hand onto the sand, melting it into a glowing red square of glass. The pane cooled rapidly in the rushing air; once it was solid, Lukas clamped it lightly between his legs. They repeated the process until they'd used an entire spear – it made them ten panes. Next, Jonah removed two small jars, each containing a candle that had burned about halfway down. In the bag on each side, there was a hole that was the exact size and shape of that jar. Jonah jammed them into the holes before lighting the candles. Lukas checked he could control the panes, and made Jonah do so too – now that the elements within the glass were mixed, they should both be able to control them. Their power over the panes was clunky, but it was enough to spring the trap. Finally, he turned to Vayle. She was twisting as far as she could in her belts, her wide eyes flitting between Lukas, Jonah, and the dragon in the distance. "When we start throwing things, I want you to face forward and keep your head down." Lukas ordered. When she shakily nodded, his voice softened slightly and he added, "We'll protect you, okay?"
Concern mingled with the fear in her eyes. "But who's protecting you?" He turned back to their pursuer, who was rapidly eating up the distance between them. He took a second spear into his hand and snapped off the tip. While they waited, he rolled it around in his hand, comforted slightly by the feeling of stone rubbing against skin.
They didn't have to wait long. The moment Lukas decided their chaser was within Jonah's range, he made a shrugging gesture and a fireball sailed over his head. It easily swerved around it, but the light passed close enough to it that the two of them could get a good look. The breath froze in Lukas's lungs. The beast chasing them had scales made of shadow, their translucence allowing sight of the black stone-like skin they covered. Its wings were thin and sinewy, but the muscles connecting them to its back were bulging. Its eyes glowed a piercing green. It was Lukas' worst fears come to life – probably all Rider's fears, for that matter. The dragon had been turned. On its back rode three more turned. Squinting hard, he could just make out that there were two with purple eyes, and one with red. Lukas pushed out the breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding. 'No brown-eyes... this fight might actually go to plan for once.' Then he frowned, as the red-eye would make Jonah's job more difficult.
He waited until they were only a few dragon lengths behind before throwing the first stone shard slightly to their right. Instantly, he had another in his palm, freshly shaved from the spear in his other hand. Jonah didn't need words to understand the intention behind it, so drew a fireball from the candle and threw it slightly to the turned dragon's left. The darkness masked the flight of the chunk of stone, whereas the bright fire drew their sight. They swerved again to avoid it, and that was when Lukas expanded the shard into a thick rectangle of levitating stone. The dragon ducked below it instinctively, wings quickly folding in to avoid collision as its neck scraped against the underside of the stone. The three Turned on its back didn't get away with a close escape. They ploughed straight into the stone wall. Two rebounded and stumbled off the dragon they were riding. The other managed to grab onto the edge of the floating obstacle. Lukas had to admit, it had good reflexes. But even they couldn't save it when he released the stonewall from his grasp, so that it and its passenger plummeted toward the ground.
Now it was just the dragon. Lukas appraised the beast's wings again – they looked so thin that he could tear then with a blunt stick. 'The glass trap should be perfect, then.' He grabbed the top pane on the pile and threw it upwards. At its apex, he flexed his will to hold it still, while Jonah tried to expand it. The pane vibrated, conflicted about what to do. The vibrations built and built until it shattered, a single smooth pane suddenly becoming a collection of wicked shards. Instantly, the two men forced the shards down, aiming for the wings or eyes. The dragon folded in again, entering a dive to avoid the sharp rain. The two riders forced the shards down after it; as things were, the beast would either hit their trap or hit the ground, and Lukas liked the sound of either. Unsurprisingly, the dragon had other ideas. It opened its wings to kill its speed, then flipped over so that the glass shattered harmlessly against its scales. Righting itself, it pushed air into its wings, and continued chasing.
Lukas threw out another stone – Jonah readying a large fireball. This time, Lukas formed the wall, while Jonah waited to see which way the beast would swerve. When it tried to pass around the right-hand side, Jonah threw his fireball into its path. It reared back with a screech. It flailed in the air, so the Riders tried the glass trap again. This time, the shards didn't even come close. With a single beat of its wings, the dragon pushed backwards out of their path; as they adjusted their aim, it took a huge inhale. When it blew out again, its breath came like a gale – the shards blown back at their senders. Time seemed to slow for Lukas as he dropped another stone in front of them, already growing into a shield as it left his hand. He could see a shard levelled straight at Jonah's chest. As it inched closer, the shield grew to try and catch it, but it didn't grow quite fast enough. The shard scraped along the edge of the shield, redirecting slightly to imbed itself into Jonah's shoulder instead of his heart. He went down with a yell of surprise and pain. He would have tumbled if he hadn't grabbed onto the saddle with his remaining arm. Maintaining the shield with his mind, Lukas manhandled Jonah into a more stable position on Blaze's back. But the bleeding man shook his head, "We need you slowing that thing, or we're all dead, not just me."
"I won't be able to do enough on my own!" He yelled, the hopelessness of their situation starting to get to him.
"I don't need you to." Jonah grunted, "Just hold it off until I heal my arm."
Lukas was confused. 'How does he expect to heal himself without another Fire Rider?' Then his eyes drifted up to Vayle, who had sat there, head down against Blaze's scales just like he'd told her to. She was no rider, but she had power to spare. "Get Vayle to help you. I'll give you time." With that, he turned again. He pulled sharp spikes out of the edge of the shield and threw it, spinning, at their pursuer. It had nearly caught them, but was forced to dodge back and up, losing the progress it had built up.
Amid the enraged roar from behind her, Vaylerie heard her name. "Vayle! I need your help. Can you unbuckle yourself and get over here?"
"Unbuckle...?" She threw a quick glance over Blaze's flanks, at the ground so far below. She blanched. "I... I don't think I can..."
"Look at me, Vayle!" Came the pained yell from behind her. She listened to it, turning around to be fixed by those fierce amber eyes. "We will not let you fall."
She was still unsure, but she believed him. She set about undoing her harness, and then crawled over to him. There was a shard of glass about as long as her forearm sticking out of his shoulder, which was rapidly losing blood. "What do I do?"
"First, I need to you to control fire. Lukas said you did it before, can you do it again?"
"The other times I burned everything around me!"
Seeing her starting to panic, he fixed a reassuring grin onto his face and said, "The other times you didn't have me to guide you." Her eyes were still wide, but she nodded. "Okay, I need you to empty your mind of as much as possible – just ignoring things won't do, you need to remove them entirely. First, find a stable seat."
She jammed her knees beneath the saddlebags either side of her. "Good. Now close your eyes and take deep breaths." She did that, too. After a while, her shoulders started to relax. "Very good, Vayle – you're doing great. Now, focus on the sounds of your heart, your breathing, and my voice. Tune out everything else you can hear." Her forehead furrowed in concentration. Her breath rasped in and out of her lungs. Her heart beat loudly. His voice was warm and soothing.
"Now, without opening your eyes, I want you to find the candle."
"How can I—"
"Don't think about it. Just let its energy flow into your mind, and you will know where it is." She didn't understand, but she relaxed again. Deep, rasping breaths. Loud heartbeats. Warm, soothing voice. 'But he isn't speaking.' She turned her head to the right to follow the sound, and found a flickering red dot on the inside of her eyes. Reaching out to it, her hand brushed against leather before closing on smooth glass. "Amazing." Jonah gasped, "I've never seen anyone grasp that so fast... But, that's not all I need to teach you. Don't open your eyes, yet. Put that next to your right leg." She did so. "Now, find the fire on your left. This time, don't reach out with your hand. Reach out with your mind."
She forced herself through the steps again. Rasping breaths, beating heart, soothing voice. Twisting in that direction, she found another red spot. She started to move her arm before she remembered her task and let it fall back to her side. She imagined herself reaching out and clutching the fire. It was comfortingly warm against her mind. She curled an imagined fist around it and lifted it. The red dot moved upwards. She imagined drawing it towards herself, and the red dot danced closer. "That's great, Vayle. You're doing great. Now, open your eyes, and put the fire back into the jar." This was slightly harder. She found it difficult to block out her surroundings when they were assaulting her eyes. She steadied her mind by staring into the flames. The flickering light entranced her – everything fell out of focus except for the flame and her imagined hand still holding onto it. In her peripheral vision, she saw the gleam of glass. She imagined herself reaching over and into the glass, flame in hand. She dropped it back onto the wick, and the candle began to burn again.
"Okay, you've grasped all the skills. Now I'll explain how I need you to use them: somewhere inside yourself, there is a fire. I need you to find that, pick it up, and move it out of your hand. Form it into a ball and then open your eyes. Can you do that?" She nodded and then closed her eyes. 'Rasping breaths, beating heart, soothing voice...' She heard the whispers of the candles on either side. She heard the chatter of Jonah before her, and the roar of Blaze beneath her. But underneath those sounds – muffled but not obscured – she heard singing. She hunted for the source of the singing. She imagined herself in miniature inside her body. She started in her mind, but could see no red dots. Floating downwards to her neck, the singing grew louder. A faint light emanated beneath her, and she dropped down into her chest. The light was blinding, and the singing deafening. She fell to her knees on an unseen floor, overwhelmed. Struggling back to her feet, she forced herself towards the source. This close, she could see it was pulsating – like a drum setting the beat to the song. Suddenly, she realised something was wrong. "It's the wrong... colour..."
Jonah's head snapped up, she shouldn't be able to speak while she searched. He strived to keep his shock out of his voice as he asked, "What's wrong, Vayle?"
"It should be... red... but it's white..." Concentration threaded her brow, "But it feels like fire... what should I do?"
Jonah was flummoxed. He'd never heard of power looking white before. Even the Light Riders only saw yellow. Fighting to keep his voice level and soothing, he suggested, "If you can, bring the white light out of your hand."
The miniature Vaylerie rested her hand against the bright white shape. She scooped up as much of the light as she could carry and set off to her right. Climbing up to her shoulder, she ran down her arm. She could feel the barrier between her body and the outside, and it felt strong. But she knew she had to get through it; instinctively, she threw her miniature self at the barrier in her palm.
Suddenly, her consciousness snapped back into her mind, and she reeled back with a gasp. Struggling to adjust to the change, she steadied herself against Blaze's back with her left hand. When she her head stopped spinning, she realised there was a spinning ball of air in her right hand, a white flame sat unmoving within it. They both stared at the ball in amazed silence. Jonah was the first to snap out of the reverie. He yanked the shard out of his shoulder with a grunt, and then drew the fire out of Vayle's palm. When it collected in his hand, it was red, and a swirling nexus of white light was left behind. Jonah pushed the fire into his shoulder and relaxed with a sigh. When he pulled his hand back, his wound had closed into a pink line. Then he thought of something, and started yelling orders. "Send that thing high!" was thrown at Lukas, and, "When you get a shot, throw your ball at the dragon!"
Lukas split two of his three remaining spears in half, and threw out the four huge chunks that left him with. He used them to form a huge barricade – like a cube with the top missing. The dragon was forced to swerve up, or hit one of the stones. Lukas moved the barricade along with it, forcing it higher and higher. Then he yelled, "Now!" and flipped the barricade. The dragon didn't react fast enough to avoid crashing into the stone that had suddenly appeared above it. With a clear line at the monster, Vaylerie threw her ball of light. She knew the dragon would be stunned after that collision, and probably drop from the sky. Hence, she aimed the ball straight at it, hoping they would fall at the same pace and collide mid-air. She was dismayed when the ball actually flew in a straight line. The dragon fell away, and the ball connected with the barricade. The ensuing explosion obliterated the stone squares, and sent the dragon speeding downwards. It crashed down with a crunch, wings splayed around the crater it had caused. But Lukas wasn't satisfied to leave it up to chance. He Threw out the remaining eight panes of glass, followed by his final spear cut into eight parts. Each stone shattered a pane, and Lukas forced a waterfall of pointed glass down into the dragon. Once again, most shattered harmlessly against the scales, but the sheer volume of glass falling out of the sky ensured the beast's wings were completely shredded. Completely exhausted, Lukas fell back onto Blaze's back and stared at the sky. "What in The Dragon's name just happened?" He gasped.
"Vayle did." Jonah supplied, an impressed smile on his face.
Vaylerie blushed slightly and stared at her hands. "I really did, didn't I?"