hearts to race. They were producing a lot of energy, but not enough. Arkin was almost unconscious now. They needed more, and the beating of the dragon’s wings was like thunder. He reached into Keither’s mind and body, forcing the fat cells to give up their contents, forcing as much energy out as he could. He looked up through a gap in the trees to see a pale-green sky. No, not the sky. Wings and a long, snake-like body with four black-clawed feet. The dragon seemed to be leaching light from the sky as it passed overhead. The trees blew from the torrent of downward air but it didn’t look down. Finally, the sound of wings died down and Legon released the magic.
* * * * *
Sasha took an inventory of herself. She felt like her whole body was buzzing now that Legon was no longer draining it. Her heart was pounding and she closed her eyes, breathing deep, repeating a calming script. The sound of wings was gone, and she thought that the dragon either hadn’t seen them or didn’t care. The thing that amazed her was just how strong it was. When it passed overhead it hadn’t even looked down, so it must not have been concentrating on whatever spell it was using to find them.
Murray was covered in sweat, along with all the other horses. Sasha felt like she needed to sleep, but there was something that seemed off to her. There was something missing in her mind… Arkin! She got off Murray and rushed over the carpenter, who was lying across Phaedra’s neck, passed out in his saddle.
“Arkin, Arkin, are you awake?” she said, shaking him but trying to not to be loud.
“Yes, Sasha, I’m fine. It’s passed now. We will sleep here tonight.”
She looked around. This was not a great place to camp for the night. They were off the road, which was good, but they were in thick trees. Still, the brush could be good in case anything else flew over head. Kovos still had his head cocked up to the sky, looking, waiting for the dragon to come swooping down on them. Legon looked fine, though; he wasn’t breathing hard and he looked calm, his eyes closed and body still. She poked him with her mind. His voice came reverberating back into hers.
“I’m fine. I’m trying to see if the coast is clear.”
As he said this to her she became aware of the minds of other animals. There was a deer that was about fifty yards away sniffing the air and looking for whatever had caused the trees to move. Further was an eagle that was surveying the forest with shrewd eyes. This was new to her; she had never thought of using the animals in an area to do reconnaissance, but it was smart. Legon was taking advantage of all of their senses and using his mind to gently nudge them to look and go where he wanted. He wasn’t doing much; he was letting the animals’ survival instincts do most of the work. Also smart. He opened his eyes.
“Are you all ok?” he said. Sasha sensed that he knew exactly how much energy he had taken from all of them, but this was the polite thing to do.
“Legon, I’ve seen that one before,” Sara said, sounding terrified. “He’s from Salez. We need to get to the border soon.”
Arkin spoke. “He was looking for us. There’s no denying that, but we have about two weeks until we reach the border towns and safety. Now we need to rest.”
“Arkin, are you going to be alright?” Sara asked.
“I’m fine, just very tired, as are all of you and the horses. That was a lot of energy we needed to use.” He looked up at Legon with a look of new-found respect.
“Using the fat in our bodies along with hormones and endorphins was very wise of you. I am impressed.”
“Thank you,” Legon said
Legon was thinking hard; Sasha could feel it. She felt him tapping into the logical part of her mind. He was using the information from the animals to figure out the best place to rest for a day or so, and the best ways into the hiding spots and out of them.
“There is a good place about one hundred yards over there,” he said, pointing into some dense brush.
“But that’s thick wood,” Kovos said, looking cynical.
“Only for a little way, then it opens. The forest canopy is high there,” Sasha said.