the dragon approached. It was moving quickly. More than that, it was flying straight at them. Straight at the battle.
No, Briony realized, though she couldn’t begin to explain how she knew it with such certainty, not straight at the battle. Straight at her.
Chapter 8
The dragon flew low. Low enough that Briony could make out every nuance of its form, from the individual scales, to the claws that curved like knives on each foot.
Since it was flying directly towards her, those claws appeared more and more menacing. Even so, Briony could only watch, transfixed by the sheer majesty of it. Fal on didn’t seem to be faring much better.
A couple more beats of those great wings, and it was over them, skimming the trees around them with its tail as it flew. Briony kept close to the trunk of the one nearest her, since it offered at least some protection if the creature dove and tried to snatch at them.
It did neither though, climbing away from the trees and wheeling off in a new direction. Briony let out a breath, and then jumped as Fal on touched her arm.
“It’s here.”
“What is? The dragon? You know about it?” Briony couldn’t stop the surprise that fil ed her voice.
“I was with Aunt Sophie when it shifted into that form in town. She had us trying to fol ow it. She said it was important.”
“It shifted?” Briony echoed. “You mean that it’s like…”
“Like a werewolf.” Fal on nodded. “It has a human form too. Come on, Briony.”
“Hold on,” Briony said, resisting that tug on her arm.
“You want us to fol ow it? Just like that?”
Fal on nodded. “Your great aunt didn’t explain much, but she did say that it might lead us to somewhere that needs to be kept safe. We need to hurry, Briony.”
Stil , some part of Briony held back. There was stil a fight going on around the house, even if it had stopped briefly so that everyone could stare at the creature flying overhead. She should be helping with that, not chasing after things at random.
“Why are you two stil standing there?” Aunt Sophie ran into view, two shaggy-haired wolves beside her as she loped along. Briony recognized one as Kevin, and the other, so much smal er than him, had to be Jake. “Didn’t you see it?”
“We saw it,” Briony said. “In fact, this is the second time I’ve seen it, but…”
“You spotted it before? Where?”
“In a clearing. There were trees and flowers, and this smal stream.”
Aunt Sophie shook her head in disappointment.
“Probably just one of the decoys, then.”
“Decoys.” Things were moving far too fast for Briony.
Though she noticed that the dragon above wasn’t. As though it had sensed that they weren’t fol owing, it had wheeled back, swooping over the trees where they stood once more. “Decoys from what? And why do I get the feeling that thing wants us to fol ow it?”
“It probably does,” Aunt Sophie replied, looking up with the rest of them. “As for what’s at the end of al this, the answer to that is Palisor.”
“Palis-what?”
Aunt Sophie shook her head. “No time to explain.
We need to go, Briony.”
Briony looked back towards the house, where the fight was stil raging. “But what about the werewolves?”
“We’ve done what we can to even the odds, and individual y they should be stronger than any vampire. Now shut up and run.”
Aunt Sophie turned and ran off into the forest, her eyes skywards while Jake and Kevin loped along beside her. Briony hesitated for just a moment before taking off after her, Fal on sprinting along beside her.
Aunt Sophie set a punishing pace, and Briony found herself wondering how the older woman did it. After just a short time, Briony found her breath coming in gasps, yet Aunt Sophie kept going without any sign of discomfort.
Always, the dragon kept on ahead, apparently not looking back, yet never moving so fast that they couldn’t keep it in sight.
As the chase wore on, Briony found her legs screaming with the effort of it. Eventual y, she couldn’t go further, stumbling against the nearest of the trees, exhausted.
“Briony,” Aunt Sophie cal ed back, “this is no time to stop.”
That was easy for her to say. Aunt Sophie looked almost as fresh as the boys did, and they al had good reasons to be able to run like that. Briony, however, would be lucky if she managed to run another step.
Kevin must have sensed that, because he moved closer, nuzzling against Briony