Astralux digs her claws into the forest moss-covered ground, tearing up shrubs and dead leaves as she dodges behind a tree to avoid the black-vaned bolt from Vladykar Lochan’s crossbow. Vitegadium paws at the ground slower, more tired than Astralux. Vladykar Eder’s bolt slices open a small cut on his right rear leg, and Vitegadium stumbles, Thorn hissing in shared pain.
I hurriedly pat Astralux’s shoulder. “Breathe at them!”
Astralux arches her neck and fires a blast of bright white light at Pesokvglazu’s face. Vladykar Lochan spots it and turns his head, but his dragon isn’t fast enough and gives a yelp as the light splashes over his face and lingers on his head. When Astralux turns to breathe at Velenosever, however, the dragon is ready, shielding his face with his wing as Astralux’s light washes over it. He barrels down on us, claws outstretched.
Growling, Astralux leaps forward as Velenosever’s front left claws swipe the air behind us. My bonded dragon takes off at a sprint—but not before swinging the spine on the tip of her tail at Velenosever and gouging his leg. Astralux bounds off.
“I can’t outrun Velenosever,” Astralux pants as she goes.
“We need to find a better hiding spot,” I say. “Head toward where we saw Thorn and Vitegadium go.”
Nodding, Astralux arches around, the heavy beat of Velenosever’s wings just above and behind us. I look back just in time to see Vladykar Eder fire another bolt at us, and I use my shield to clumsily deflect it. Still, the fact that I’m reacting fast enough gives me courage when he loads another bolt.
I spot the rising sun glint off of Pesokvglazu’s light copper scales as he flies after Velenosever. “Our distraction worked,” I say. “But now we have everyone’s attention.”
Astralux chuckles in between her panting. “We do … seem to be … good at that.” Leaping over a small rise, Astralux spreads her wings and dives down a short descent into a far rockier area, only a few sparse trees around us. At first I’m afraid, wondering if we’re going to have a place to hide. And then I spot numerous holes along the mountainsides.
“As soon as you round this small mountain,” I say, “hide in the first crag or cave you can find.”
Sand blasts down directly in front of us, making my heart jump, and Astralux’s scales scrape against the rocks as she tries to avoid it. I feel Velenosever looming over us. Spinning in my seat, I summon magic to my right hand and blast as much fire as I can—and a blue-flamed, red-tinged sphere of fire, two-hands in diameter, whirls up into Velenosever’s chest. The dragon roars and hesitates in his flying, trying to bat it out.
Wasting no time, Astralux slips into a crag between two towering cliffs. The space gets tighter, but it also goes deeper, and at last Astralux finds a small mini-cave to one side. She flutters inside, taking gulps of air, while I dismount and throw the dark-red dust all over her scales, diminishing her iridescent white shine.
We both freeze at the sound of heavy wings beating close. “Estelle, Astralux,” Vladykar Eder’s voice filters through. “We know you’re hiding in there.”
I look at Astralux, but neither of us say a word, my dragon now breathing slow and evenly through her open mouth to quiet her panting. Hearing a pebble clatter down the side of the crag, I wonder if Vladykar Eder and Vladykar Lochan would slip down here without their dragons. Both of them are skilled enough that together, they could give Astralux and me trouble. Nervous, I search through the tiny cave we’re in, hoping to find a hidden passageway. Astralux keeps watch, her scales ruffled.
Astralux makes a noise—I’m not sure what it is exactly, it wasn’t quite a growl but it was too soft to be a yip—yet it catches my attention, and I look up in time to see sand barrel down straight in front of her face. My heart leaps in fear and I rush back to her side, but she holds out her wing, stopping me.
“You can’t hide in there forever,” Vladykar Lochan says. It sounds like he’s right above us, his voice echoing throughout the crag.
“They’re just trying to fish us out,” Astralux whispers. We both freeze at the sound of rocks skidding. “Or maybe the humans are coming down,” she mutters. “Not good.”
Ariadna help us, we’re about to be trapped in a cave. And Astralux might be a dragon, but I’ve seen her and Vladykar Lochan spar as if they were equals—and Vladykar Eder seems like the more experienced one between the two Vladykar humans. Let alone Pesokvglazu and Velenosever keeping watch from above, no doubt ready to cut off our escape if we attempt to flee.
“Estelle?” Vladykar Lochan says, his voice much closer. “My little silver fox, where are you?”
I rush back toward the far end of the cave, searching everywhere for a loose wall. At last, on the north side of our tiny cave, I feel the rocks shudder as I press them. “Astralux, push on this,” I whisper.
The dragon nudges the nub of her nose against the wall, and it crumbles—and behind it, I can see a passageway that descends out of sight. It’s going to be a tight squeeze for Astralux, so I undo the saddle on her back and drag the bags and the saddle off.
Astralux makes a face as she peers into the hole. “I’m going to be useless in here.”
“I’m out of other ideas,” I say. “We have to go!”
Sighing, Astralux stretches herself out and begins crawling into the hole. I nervously watch the cave’s entrance, and then as soon as Astralux tail slips in, I follow her, our equipment slung over my shoulders, save the saddle which I drag behind me.
I hear Astralux’s spines and scales scrape against the stone and see marks from her claws as she struggles to pull herself through. “I’m going to get stuck,” Astralux growls.
“I’ll pull you out if that happens,” I say.
Astralux chuckles. “I have to say, Estelle,” she says, her voice muffled as her body fills the entire hole, “I wouldn’t have expected this confidence from you even a month ago.”
I smile faintly. “A bit of training and experience helps.”
Astralux’s tail taps on the ground in front of me. “I see a bigger opening!” She wriggles through faster and then her body sinks to a lower level. I follow to see that we’ve come to what appears to be the bottom of a hole. Astralux is peering up at the bright sky above, and glances at me. “We should hurry out while we still have time, before they realize we’ve gotten away.”
Nodding, I tie the saddle back on her, securing the saddlebags and equipment, and then mount. Astralux spreads her wings but leaps at the edge of the wall, clawing at it to pull herself up as she bats her wings for further lift. This enables my dragon to half-crawl, half-fly out of the hole at quite the rapid pace. Reaching the top, she peeks her head over the edge slowly and then pulls herself up. I look around with her, and both of us freeze at the sight of Velenosever’s stump of a tail from behind a large boulder about ten meters east of us.
Astralux quietly slinks off west, toward the beacon of light that still outshines everything, and slips around the rocks, no doubt to try and cut off visibility from the Vladykars. She continues in this manner for a solid fifteen minutes, while I stare east, expecting to see the Vladykars flying after us once more.
“No doubt they found our escape route,” Astralux murmurs. “I’m probably better off flying now.”
“Yes,” I say, “but fly low. We need to keep cover as much as possible.”
“I agree.” Astralux takes off into the air but dives around the next mountainside we come to, weaving around boulders as much as possible. We both keep an eye on the skies as she goes.
“I hope Thorn and Vitegadium are okay,” I say.
“I’m sure they’re fine,” Astralux says. “We distracted the Vladykars, which would have given Vitegadium a chance to hide better and get some rest.”
“Speaking of rest, how are you feeling?” I ask.
Astralux shrugs in-between a flap of her wings. “I can keep going a while longer before I’ll need to rest.” She looks at me from the corner of her eye and grins. “You don’t remember when we first met? I’d been fleeing for days at that point.”
“True.”
We both fall quiet as we close the distance to the beacon of light. Ariadna’s Star outshines even the sun, despite the clear day.
Astralux suddenly dives down and hides behind a boulder. I crouch low, unsure of what she saw but trusting her decision. She peers around the rock slowly, her scales ruffling again.
“I’m certain I saw a dragon up ahead,” Astralux murmurs.
Leaning out to the side, I peer toward the beacon. We’ve made great progress, despite everything we’ve faced—I would guess that a short flight up and northwest, and we could fly straight into the light. I can’t see its source, down low in the folds of a mountainside like we are, but it truly looks as if it shines out of sight into the skies above.
I tense as a draconic form flies around the light. It’s shadowed as it flies in front of the light, blocking my sight from seeing its color or much about its rider. That said, I recognize nothing about the dragon and rider’s shape or style. “I’m not sure if that’s a friend or a foe,” I murmur.
Astralux stiffens as a second dragon and rider swoop in the other direction. “Vladykars,” she growls softly.
I follow her gaze to see the Vladykars’ coat of arms borne on the armor of this second rider, who I don’t recognize. I sink in my seat as I see yet a third dragon and rider pair, flying about the light.
“The Vladykars got here first,” Astralux says mournfully.
My fear slowly transitions to confusion, and I frown. “Why are they just flying around the light though?”
Astralux looks back at me and tilts her head. “I…I don’t know.”
I slide down from the saddle and throw more dirt over her scales. “I think we need to get closer.”
Nodding, Astralux waits until I get back into the saddle. Then she half-flies, half-leaps from boulder shadow to crag, stealthily making her way toward them. I can’t help tensing as we get closer meter by meter. Then, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand up straight, I glance back—and my stomach knots over as I spot two dragons flying toward us.
“Hide!” I hiss. “Dragons and riders from behind!”
Astralux sprints so fast into the shadow of the mountainside I nearly topple off, clinging to the saddle horn with one hand as she spins, ducking low. She curls her tail, which is sticking out in sunlight, around herself, and we stare out with wide eyes as none other than our Vladykar pursuers fly up to join their comrades.
“Hail, Eder!” a voice says from ahead. “And Lochan!”
I spot four pairs of Vladykars fly over to speak with Vladykar Eder and Vladykar Lochan. While Velenosever looks to be the largest among them, we’re now talking about six Vladykar pairs total. And Astralux and I aren’t that well-hidden.
I tell myself that throwing up will only get us caught and swallow the bile that rises in my throat.
Tamara Rivers 
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