Dravadon hurtled towards the ground with terrific speed, tearing his way through the cold mountain air as he went before snapping his wings open at the last moment and arching his back. Mist trailed from his outstretched wings as he turned his dive into horizontal flight mere inches from the rocky ground at the bottom of the mountain pass. He was being hunted and they were very near, only the other side of the nearest mountain to his right if he guessed correctly.

Not wanting to lose any speed, the great golden dragon pumped his enormous wings, straining his muscles and clawing his way through the air. He actually managed to increase his speed as he headed for another mountain across the valley from where he was now, if he could get there in time he may evade the hunters altogether. It was not to be; he heard the distant roar as one of the ‘aeroplanes’ spotted him and headed for him as fast as its engines could push it.

Thinking quickly, Dravadon cut to his left and dived into the larger valley, trading height for even more speed. He turned his head only a fraction to glance at his pursuer out of the very corner of his left eye. Krrakh! It was one of the new aeroplanes, the fastest one the humans had yet built. Even for a dragon, Dravadon was fast in the air and could out accelerate most of the humans’ flying machines, but not this one. It would take something a little more devious to out fly this thing.

He folded his wings as much as he could without falling from the sky and as the jet approached he pulled up suddenly, wings outspread. By trading speed for height and pulling up high into the air, Dravadon evaded the kill and was level with the top of the mountain within seconds. He pulled back even more until he was flying upside down over the peak of the mountain, he could almost feel the eyes of the flying human upon him as he arched backwards even more and headed over the top of the mountain to fly down the other side.

The moment there was solid rock between him and his foe he rolled hard to one side, dived and stretched out his legs, an instant later they reeled under the impact as he hit the mountainside. He spared no time however, he could sense the aeroplane coming around the mountain to his right and so ran to his left on all four legs, wings half extended. He had just managed it; landing close enough to the summit of the mountain so that he could run around the peak, keeping it between him and that which was hunting him.

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As he heard the roar of the flame-spewing engines recede he leaped from the mountain, snapping his wings open and flying as fast as he could back into the valley. He dived steeply, staying low and making his way back across the valley before seeing another of his pursuers. This one was somewhat slower, coming from behind another mountain a couple of miles to his left. Maybe it wouldn’t see him. No, he was between it and the sun and much lower in the sky than either, the human pilot easily saw the sunlight glinting off the bright golden scales. A moment later, Dravadon saw the aeroplane bank towards him.

If he could just get the other side of this mountain ridge there was a chance he could escape. With powerful wing beats he made it and dived into another valley on the other the side, though this one was little more than a narrow gap between two mountains.

Dravadon pumped his wings, gaining incredible speed again and banked right between this mountain and yet another, he heard this new pursuer as it cleared the ridge, just moments before he flew behind the mountain.

In front of him Dravadon saw the valley floor drop away and widen into a great grassy plain with a sparkling shallow lake in the middle. No shelter there. Taking a chance, Dravadon curled to his right, pumped his wings and climbed steeply, hugging the mountainside mere feet away. Astonishingly as the jet following him came around the mountain, the pilot failed to spot him and flew past, several thousand feet below him.

This was better than he had dared to hope, Dravadon hugged the mountainside, flying past this mountain just below the level of its peak and continuing to the next, heading back to the large valley and keeping as low as he could manage. The hunters had lost him and he was not eager to allow them to find him again. He heard the echoing rumble as the first hunter flew towards its companion, past Dravadon’s current position.

This was all too easy. Dravadon flew on, low and fast, passing between two more mountains and back into and through the valley. He didn’t stop here however, flying hard he went between two more tall mountains, curling between them and around to his right, then to his left around another mountain.

This continued for some time, enough that the sun had progressed several degrees in its course across the sky. Eventually, Dravadon spotted a small mountain lake just below the snowline and landed to drink. After satisfying his thirst he looked to the sky, he could see one of the aeroplanes flying high, trying to spot him. But he knew well that as long as he stayed in the mountain’s shadow so that a stray glint of sunlight from his scales didn’t give him away he was far too distant for the human eye to pick him out.

So Dravadon lay down in the shadows and simply rested, watching the afternoon pass.