Inferno yawned loudly before slowly opening his eyes. The sun was just beginning to rise over the trees when he noticed Midnight Stalker padding silently around on the other side of the river. He snorted with humor as he told Cody, “I guess he’s as worried as you are about the battle.”
The dragon couldn’t help but smile at the thought of shredding through his enemies. He then cringed as he remembered what it was like when he tried to follow Avalsmokes and Omen’s kidnappers. Then he realized that his rider had not responded to his words at all.
“Cody, wake up!” Inferno growled and waited patiently for the human to slowly stagger onto his two feet and walk over to his head. It never happened.
Inferno lashed his thick, scaly tail in frustration as he stood and looked at all of the sleeping humans. Cody wasn’t among them. He rolled his eyes and reached out his mind, searching for the presence of his rider in the forest. He felt absolutely nothing. There was only absence, as if Cody had just vanished completely from Semiones.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at Midnight Stalker, though the black wolf didn’t even notice.
“Where is my rider!?” Inferno roared in his mind to the alpha wolf.
Midnight Stalker stopped abruptly in his tracks to look in surprise at the dragon, though he resumed his pacing without a thought. Inferno had talked to him before without telling Cody; just like he peered into the minds of everyone else they met to make sure they weren’t an immediate threat. He rarely expected a response, but he had had full conversations with the wolf and expected more from him.
In a single bound Inferno leaped over the stream and crashed into Midnight Stalker. Pinning the wolf down with his right forepaw he hissed again, “Where is my rider!?”
“I don’t know!” came the familiar voice in a startled tone. “A few hours ago I awoke to find him and Bleeding Demon gone.”
“And you never told me!?” Inferno roared back.
The wolf visibly shook with pure fright as he replied, “I thought that they would return before sunrise.”
“And they haven’t, have they?” Inferno hissed.
“N-n-no.”
Inferno roared loudly before saying, “If you had anything to do with this, I will flay your skin and wear you on my head as a hat in the hail!”
Inferno backed away and left Midnight Stalker to quiver, still on his back. Whimpers escaped from him as he finally managed to pull himself to his paws and cower away. The dragon felt satisfied to see the wolf back away to the edge of the trees with his ears flat and his tail between his legs.
“What is going on?”
Inferno growled quietly as he turned towards the voice to see a gray she-wolf he didn’t recognize and Larson, Mora, and Pippi watching him and the wolf leader with obvious concern and confusion. Inferno snorted smoke in their direction, not wanting to communicate with all of them in such an intimate way as he normally did. He turned his head back over to the alpha wolf, forcing him to explain the situation.
Midnight Stalker cautiously made his way around Inferno to get closer to his wolf warrior before he slowly announced, “Bleeding Demon and the Twilight Rider have gone missing in the middle of the night.
Everyone gasped, but then instantly looked at Inferno. He drew his lips back as he snarled at the two wolves and three humanoids. Until he knew exactly what happened, everyone was a threat to him and his rider, and he wasn’t going to let them forget it.
“We would never harm the Twilight Rider, you should know that,” Midnight Stalker soothed allowed, more confident with the other wolf right beside him.
Inferno focused his icy blue gaze on the black wolf before roaring, “Then perhaps you would like to explain why your second-in-command has gone missing as well? Surely you can imagine where my hostilities originate?”
Midnight Stalker seemed a little afraid as he answered, “I give you my word that I would make no move against your rider. Anything Bleeding Demon has done to him, will be of his own choosing.”
Inferno ignored the others as they began talking amongst themselves. He slowly sat and thought about the words, though he kept his tail moving behind him constantly to show that he was cautious, in case it was some sort of trap.
“I swear by my leadership,” Midnight Stalker added. The sincerity in his eyes seemed genuine.
“I believe you,” Inferno began as he cautiously stood again, “For now.”
“Bleeding Demon must have been working for the enemy,” Larson breathed.
The gray she-wolf stepped forward carefully before saying, “We’ve suspected that he has been for several moons, but Midnight Stalker has refused to believe it.”
“He was as loyal a deputy as you’ll ever meet!” the alpha growled to the warrior.
Inferno roared in fury as he pounced on the wolf again and growled, “And yet, he has kidnapped my rider and is probably going to lead us all to our deaths!”
Inferno’s tail lashed angrily as the pinned wolf howled, “We don’t know that Bleeding Demon has done anything of the sort!”
“Yes we do,” the she-wolf growled to her leader. “You need to face it.”
Mora stepped forward and yelled for them all to hear, “Stop it, stop fighting! If this is true, Bleeding Demon probably took Cody to the exact place that we are headed. It would make the most sense to continue the plan as normal.”
“If you haven’t noticed, we have no leader anymore,” Midnight Stalker grumbled as he wiggled free of Inferno’s grip.
“Yes we do,” Pippi announced boldly. “We have Inferno.”
Instantly, all eyes were on the dragon. He returned each gaze with his own, neither accepting nor rejecting the position Pippi had suggested he fulfill. Finally his eyes fell upon Midnight Stalker, and the wolf’s eyes narrowed at Inferno. He obviously didn’t like the idea after Inferno had accused his beta several times of kidnapping. The wolf lowered his eyes shamefully to the earth without warning.
“I can’t allow my denial to get in the way, not when the Twilight Rider and his friends’ lives are at stake,” Midnight Stalker announced quietly as he bowed to Inferno.
Inferno, satisfied with the wolf’s answer, stuck his right foreleg out and lowered his own head to the ground to bow in return. After a few brief moments he turned back to Pippi and dipped his head slightly. He tentatively reached out with his mind to the elf and everyone else and gave his confident confirmation. They were all very surprised, except the alpha wolf, but didn’t dwell on it. Pippi dipped her own head in return.
“When do we leave?” Mora asked Inferno.
The dragon looked at the sun that was now hanging comfortably above the trees before telling everyone, “Ready the other wolves, we leave immediately.”
As soon as he had said it, everyone raced off without question. He felt wonderfully powerful with the obedience they were all displaying to him, but his heart ached for Cody. The role of leader came naturally to Inferno, but at the moment he was just being desperate. They would probably arrive at the cave where Cody was with the enemy in an hour, and they were leaving in the morning. Because only Mora and Larson had poor night vision, it would have been ideal for them to leave at nightfall. They might catch the enemy off guard and even have the advantage in the darkness, but the dragon needed his rider.
The wolves all began to howl in unison, signaling that they were ready to run. In reply, Inferno roared as loudly as he could in the hopes that they would all hear. He heard their noise die down and could faintly see a wave of fur through the trees. Once he was sure that they were ready, Inferno unfurled his wings and slowly adjusted their position, enjoying the feel of the forest.
Time to go, Inferno told himself. He reared onto his hind legs and pushed off hard from the ground, leaping into the air. Instantly he tucked his legs close to his body and flapped his wings furiously, getting as much distance from the ground as he could. By the time he had gone high enough to be satisfied, the wolves could only be glimpsed in the forest, running along furiously.
Inferno closed his eyes briefly as he flew at the very bottom of a cloud and felt his wings beat at it. When he opened his eyes he saw that his wings were delicately pushing the clouds around and he could just barely sense water condensing on his scales. The water made him feel comfortably cool, even at the frigid height.
The dragon forced himself to enjoy his first long-distance flight without a passenger, though he would have much preferred to have in the saddle. He let out a deep sigh and swooped around the smoke cloud that followed from his nostrils. He shook his entire body, just to feel the saddle slide smoothly across his scales.
With a flick of his tail, Inferno placed himself into a steep dive, almost straight at the ground ahead. Dangerously close to the ground, he tilted his wings ever-so-slightly and swooped right back up a ways. He forced his legs forward against the rough winds and used his razor-sharp talons to cling to the side of a large rock jutting from the ground. He hauled himself to the top and sat, dangling his tail over the side.
All around him the forest was gone, replaced by blackened stone walls, cliffs, and treacherous precipices. The ground had numerous stones poking out, highly dangerous to any beast that wasn’t careful walking through. After a few minutes, Inferno saw the first of the wolves walking out onto the rocky surface.
“Why have we stopped?” Midnight Stalker asked as he padded forward, refusing to hide the anger in his voice.
Inferno grew more anxious by the second, but calmly flicked his tail upward and pointed his snout towards a ledge not overly far from the ground before he replied to everyone, “We are here. The time for battle is upon us!”