“We have to get Erob to safety as quickly as possible,” Pa said. “Ezaara, please give Adelina some freshweed too, to mask her scent.” He nodded at Adelina as she stuffed the bitter leaves into her mouth. “We’ve all had ours. Remember, Erob is our goal. If tharuks are around, we’ll communicate via our dragons to decide our strategy. If Erob’s gut is too badly injured, Ezaara may need to stitch him up temporarily before we move him. Before our dragons mind-meld with Maazini to get Erob’s exact location, does anyone have questions?”
“Yes,” said Adelina. “Why aren’t the council rescuing my brother?”
Hans frowned. “As far as I understand, the council wants us to retrieve Erob first, then we’ll use the information he has to free Roberto.”
Thank the Egg, Adelina had asked. Ezaara was half crazy with worry.
Ezaara, Zaarusha and Handel mind-melded with Maazini.
Ezaara was hit with Maazini’s sense of bone-weariness. Then she saw Erob, his head slumped on stony ground near a glade of trees. The side of his belly was ruptured. In her mind’s eye, they ascended and Erob grew smaller. It wasn’t a glade of trees he was lying near; he was in a clearing in a vast forest—Great Spanglewood Forest—with mountains rising a short distance away.
“Those are the Terramites,” Zaarusha said. “He’s very near Death Valley. There are bound to be tharuks nearby.”
“Then we’ll deal with them,” Handel snarled.
Ezaara held up the ring Ma had lent her—Anakisha’s ancient ring of power. “Are you ready, Pa?” At his nod, she slipped the ring on her finger, rubbed it, calling, “Kisha.”
“Ana,” called Pa, rubbing his ring.
With a pop, Dragons’ Hold disappeared.
Suddenly, they were in a tunnel of billowing clouds, bathed in golden light, their dragons suspended in midair. A willowy woman in a white gown approached, the clouds visible through her transparent figure. Ezaara recognized her from Zaarusha’s memories—Zaarusha’s last rider, Anakisha, who’d died in a desperate battle years ago.
Zaarusha crooned a bittersweet melody of love and loss.
Anakisha smiled, mind-melding with all of them. “The years have treated you well, Zaarusha. Thank you for bringing your new rider and Hans to see me.”
“It’s good to see you again, Anakisha.” Hans said. “My daughter, Ezaara, is yet to fully qualify, however, she’s doing well.”
“It’s pleasing to see Zaarusha so well loved.” Anakisha nodded at Ezaara. “Remember, only use these rings of power in dire need.” A dark shadow rippled along the tunnel wall.
“We’re in need. Zaarusha’s son, Erob, is dying,” Ezaara melded.
Zaarusha rumbled, showing Anakisha their destination.
Her ex-rider smiled. “It’s wonderful to see you again, my friend.”
With a crack, they were above Great Spanglewood Forest. The sinking sun splashed its blood-red rays over the jagged Terramites. Roars ricocheted off the trees. Burning torches blazed. Tharuks yanked on chains, dragging Erob’s limp body across a stony clearing.
Ezaara readied her bow, mind-melding with Erob. Nothing. A faint blue thread of sathir was all she could sense. “Zaarusha, I can’t talk to him.”
“Neither can I, but I can talk to them,” she snarled, diving at the tharuks. Fire gusted from her jaws, sweeping a group of beasts off their feet and leaving them smoking. An arrow whipped past Ezaara’s cheek as Adelina let one fly. A tharuk fell, the shaft embedded in its eye.
More tharuks ran from the trees, aiming arrows. Ezaara loosed an arrow, hitting a tharuk in the chest. It stumbled, crashing to the stone.
Handel roared past, chasing a group of beasts.
Arrows rose in the air, whistling toward Zaarusha’s wing, dripping green gunge. “Look out, limplock.” Ezaara shrieked.
The queen swerved. “Thanks.”
In Erob’s wake was a trail of churned-up earth and stones where the beasts had dragged him. A wide swathe glistened in the setting sun. “Zaarusha, lower, I need to see what that is.”
Zaarusha swooped low, heading over the trail, blasting flame at the monsters in her way. Her fire illuminated an ugly sight. A wide slick of Erob’s blood marred the ground, leading to an enormous rent in his belly. His pale, moist entrails glinted. Ezaara’s hand flew to her mouth as her gorge rose.
“Pull harder,” yelled a tharuk troop leader, his bellow carrying above the mayhem.
The beasts heaved on the chains. Erob’s belly skin split further, the gaping wound growing with each tug.
“They’re killing him,” Adelina screamed in Ezaara’s ear. “We have to stop them.”
Zaarusha swooped lower, slashing tharuks with her talons as she sped toward her son.
Adelina’s arms loosened from around Ezaara’s waist. Chill air rushed across Ezaara’s back. Adelina dropped off Zaarusha. With a crunch of stone, rolling to stand, Adelina was running to Erob, sword out.
“No, Adelina,” Ezaara cried.
Handel swooped. Stones crunched as Tomaaz dropped to the ground and pelted after her. Handel flew above them, blasting tharuks with fire, clearing the way to Erob.
Zaarusha whirled to flame a new troop of beasts that burst from the trees. Ezaara nocked and fired, felling tharuks as fast as she could, but more kept coming.
The queen grabbed the trunk of a young tree and wrenched. Roots ripped from the earth. Rocks and clods fell from the tree’s tangled roots onto the tharuks, knocking some out. She swung the tree, sending tharuks crashing to the rocks. With a roar, Zaarusha dropped the tree onto the beasts, trapping most of them beneath it.
Opening her jaws, she blasted fire. The branches caught. Flames licked along the trunk, incinerating the beasts in a column of fire that rose to meet the bloody-red sky. Through the stinking smoke, Ezaara aimed at two tharuks that had escaped, felling them with her arrows.
Zaarusha wheeled back to Erob.
Near Erob’s head, Tomaaz was hacking at a tharuk. Its claws swung near his face and he jumped back, his spine against Erob’s snout, then lunged.
With a
