"... And three!" grunted Taz. He and Fletch flung their weight against a makeshift stone lever. The rock in front of them rumbled backwards. Jay darted through the hole, nabbed a Drakon guard by the wing and spun it into a wall. It went still.
"Good job," panted Fletch.
Jay did a helicopter in the enclosed space, sniffing the air. He bounded left down the tunnel they had found themselves in.
The tunnel-rocks were a product of preexisting caves and landquake cracks, a jumbled maze of tunnels, holes, rooms and slots barely wide enough for a Coppertail to squeeze through. Jay kept stopping and sniffing at intersections, then picking routes that somehow avoided all Drakon contact until right outside the prison room. Taz and Fletch wriggled through the last crack as hissing exploded in the cave beyond. They emerged to find Jay swishing his tail among several dead Drakons. He trotted to the cave's far side and gave a click and a hiss down a chasm. There were startled cries from its depths. Several Coppertails whispered gleeful greetings while Taz and Fletch investigated the sides of the chasm. Jay paced the rim, pretending not to hear the stream of clicks, pops and hisses being fired back at him by Adder, the herd's Northlander. Someone smacked Adder and got hissed at.
Finding a suitable route, the two Rocklanders vanished into the shadows. Moments later, Fletch called up, "There's a tunnel exit here that they've almost excavated! We'll take them out through there. Are you good on your own?"
There was no reply.
Jay stood frozen as a huge white shape uncurled from the shadows, shaking off the dust that had been masking her scent.
"I figured I would catch at least one renegade with this setup," said Winter. "It worked out better than I'd hoped. And who are you, Coppertail? You smell like a Northlander."
Jay backed towards the wall. The Mountainair started forwards, feeling her way through the darkness with frightening grace for a night-blind creature.
"Jay?" called Fletch from below.
"Jay, answer us!" said Taz, annoyed.
"Jay?" said Winter softly. "You have an interesting name..."
There was a blur of motion. Winter pounced and the Northlander dove between her paws. He was back through the crack as her hindclaws gouged rock where he'd stood a heartbeat before. In the cave, Winter lay down and rolled in the dust again. The scent of charcoal erased her smell before it could drift down the chasm. She got up quietly and padded out of the room.
Sethral crept through the rocks, her wings half spread to dissipate the heat already blurring the air around her. Rock flat dust, luckily, was everywhere. It had not been hard to camouflage. Ahead was the tunnel exit where the twins and Jay had agreed to lead the Coppertails. Sethral checked for Drakons and peeked over a rise towards it. Her blood ran cold. Drakons. Nearly thirty were crouched behind rocks in front of her, downwind of the tunnel.
Sethral felt like all the air had been sucked out of the rocks around her. This could only mean one thing: that Winter had anticipated the renegades' arrival and was already prepared. They had walked straight into a trap.
A flicker of motion caught Sethral's attention. She could have sworn she'd seen something step between the rocks.
There it was again.
There was a creature in the rocks.
Maybe a head taller than Silversand, a creature like a small Coppertail settled in a hollow with the grace of a hunter. Sethral found herself frozen by a piercing golden gaze. She let her wings rise slightly. The creature rose to a crouch again. It cast a flicker of a glance towards the Drakons, then stepped very deliberately away. It was going to move crosswind from the tunnel: a speed attacker's position. This was a Drakon attack. It was also leaving the air downwind—the Drakons' escape route—completely unguarded. Sethral shifted her position for a quick lift-off, suddenly smiling. That look was an invitation, or she was a Royal. A team attack with a Drakon hunter? Yes please.
But a Drakon hunter? What was that creature?
The sun was still climbing up the sky, and the temperature rose perceptibly with each passing heartbeat. Sethral was about to wonder if the twins and Jay had gotten held up underground when a shout rang from the tunnel.
The Drakon-hunter attacked. Drakons screamed as a copper shape streaked through their ranks, sending them whizzing for the sky. Sethral leaped into the air. Taz, Fletch and the Coppertails burst from the tunnel. More Drakons poured out after them. A storm of wings and noise blotted out the sky, and dust stormed the ground. The Coppertails scattered.
The Drakons were panicking. Sethral flew at them and they plunged, got hit by the Drakon-hunter and shot skywards again. Two were dead on the ground. Sethral grappled another Drakon, spun and flung it groundwards. It crumpled in a copper flash. Sethral had barely whipped another flyer down when six Drakons massed and dove at her hunting partner. The blow was sickening. Suddenly, cries cut through the panic, lords screaming orders and flights regrouping. Sethral was seized from behind and plunged to the ground. Stunned by the impact, she lay still while ropes appeared about her wings, paws and muzzle.
Drakons to her left swarmed back as the six-flight retreated. The Drakon-hunter lay limp in a scarlet stain, his chest heaving. Drakons danced in and back, claws clutching ropes but lacking the courage to put them on. A lord screeched angry orders. One Drakon bolder than the rest got a rope around the creature's neck, then pinned him down. Another cinched a locking noose around his muzzle. The Drakons relaxed, chattering in relief. Several leaped forwards to bind the creature's paws, and the muzzle and neck nooses were tripled. The creature did not fight back.
It struck Sethral suddenly that she had not seen Jay with the twins. A lump she did not like thudded into the pit of her stomach. This had been a trap, after all, and Drakons had clearly ambushed the escapees underground. Where was the Northlander?
Claws seized the ropes tying Sethral's body, and she was yanked into the air. The Drakons flew back to the tunnel-rocks and flung both her and the Drakon-hunter to the ground in the ring of spires. Sethral played unconscious.
A young Drakon sidled up to the Drakon-hunter. Reaching out, it nipped the creature and leaped back again. A second youngster took interest. It repeated the nip, then also dashed to safety. Both were chatter-giggling. A wing poked Sethral's back. She gritted her teeth and forced herself to stay motionless as mouthpart tips stabbed her fur. The urge to clobber the Drakon was overwhelming.
A buzz of wings made the youngsters scatter. One of Winter's messenger-Drakons landed on a spire and rapped out a message. Drakons massed to it. When every guard had been gathered, the messenger gave another order. The cloud splintered into flights and zoomed in every direction. The tunnel-rocks were left empty. Sethral opened her eyes and made sure the coast was clear before starting to wriggle. Her satchel was trapped against her side, but she had her knife in there. She sucked in her ribs, feeling the bag slide down her side. A pebble rattled into the hollow. Sethral leaped in of her skin as a creature dropped after it.
"Jay!"
The Northlander nearly collapsed in the shade of the stones. He looked ready to pass out. After a moment he pushed away from the wall and bounded to her side.
"Jay, I have a knife in my bag in a wood sheath," said Sethral. "Get it out and I can get out of here on my own. What happened to you? What happened in the tunnels?"
Jay opened her bag in two flicks and found the knife. He dropped it at her paws, then moved to the Drakon-hunter. Throwing a glance over him, he picked him up by the scruff like he weighed nothing and moved him to the shade. There was a buzz of Drakon wings. In a panicked blur, Jay was over the top of the spire ring and gone. Sethral bit back a swearword. She played dead as the Drakon flight spotted the Coppertail and shot off in hot pursuit.
When the Drakons were gone again, Sethral made short work of her ropes and ran to the Drakon-hunter's side. "Hey, thanks for saving my friends," she murmured, running a paw over his forehead. It was hot with fever. Wounds matted the creature's soft, copper fur, and the ropes were slick and red. Sethral grabbed one and started sawing.
The moment the last rope fell away, the creature flew to his paws. Golden eyes darted around the hollow; the moment he spotted an exit, he was gone. Sethral dropped her knife, her claws shaking. She laid them on the stone. The reek of fear hung heavy in the air, and she could not even tell whose fear it was.
Silversand leaped from Wing's back the moment the Rockhall plateaus loomed ahead. By the time Whipper had helped Wing across the boulder field and in the skylight entrance, the cat had already filled Taz and Fletch in on their entire experience. Whipper hugged the twins while Wing stepped off the second exit ledge and looked around nervously.
"Are the Coppertails okay?" pleaded Whipper. "And where are Jay and Sethral?"
"We got the Coppertails out," said Fletch. "We got separated from Jay in the prison tunnels, and then more Drakons showed up so we couldn't get back to him. I'm assuming he took off."
"And we haven't seen Seth since we left the escape tunnels with the Coppertails," said Taz. "She and some other creature were taking out a Drakon ambush when we got above ground."
Silversand began to run in anxious circles. Taz grabbed her tail and sat her down, but he looked as uneasy as she.
Wing had lain down in a wall shadow. Whipper left the twins and Silversand arguing about Sethral and came over.
Wing pushed him back as tried to reach his haunch. "I'm fine."
"No you're not, you're stubborn. Let me see. You were limping the whole way here."
"I don't want anyone in my fur."
"I promise I won't hurt it. Wing, you're hurt; stop being this way! Please!"
Wing blocked him again, then got up and moved.
Whipper huffed and went back to the twins. They both lay down. Whipper cuffed them as they giggled weakly, then distracted himself in searching their fur for injuries.
"Who's he?" said Taz in an undertone.
"Wing. The Black Prince. Winter caught him too, and he's been helping us."
"You trust him?"
Whipper nodded.
"Something's coming!" cried Silversand, leaping back from the window.
A heartbeat later Sethral blasted into the hall. "Oh Whipper, Silver, thank Shelha," she gasped, flinging herself on the Forester and hugging him tightly. She was shaking all over. "Taz and Fletch, we need to go back to the inner Rocklands. Jay's in trouble and we need to find him now. All of Winter's Drakons are on his tail, our rescue was a trap, Winter was in your cave and I have never seen Jay look so scared. We can't leave him out there!"
"Seth, what are you talking about?" said Taz. "We only tangled with Drakons!"
"It was more than just Drakons! Taz, the tunnel-rocks Drakons left on a hunt on the orders of one of Winter's messengers. Jay came by and helped free me, and I saw one of those patrols chase after him. He bolted. There were no guards so I snuck into the tunnels, and you weren't alone in that prison cave! Winter was there too, hiding her smell and waiting! She chased Jay out of the cave! Winter is chasing Jay!"
Confusion drained from the twins' faces.
"But she won't find him, will she?" said Silversand, looking from the twins to Sethral. "Jay can escape, right? And she can't track him in the inner Rocklands! You said nobody could!"
"She can find him without tracking if her Drakons get enough time," said Sethral. "I'm going back! I'm not leaving a renegade to this!"
Taz brought her down in a flying tackle. "That's suicide!" he snarled.
"And if we don't, it's murder! Let me go!"
There was a swish of fur and Taz was knocked backwards. Wing grabbed Sethral and cast her into the air before vanishing after Whipper out the window.
"Who are you and what in Shelha's name are you doing?" gasped Sethral when she caught up to them outside.
"Finding Jay," said Wing. "I can track in the Rocklands."