It sat crouched on the hillside, barely a metre or so off the road. Dark black scales, lean body, large red-brown eyes. One clawed hand resting on what looked like the body of a woman. It hardly seemed to notice what was stuck beneath those long, curved talons. It’s focus was on the dark blue SUV in it’s other hand. A second body, likely a man this time, was limply hanging from the front windscreen. The dragon opened its mouth wide in almost a lazy yawn. Several pointed teeth were laid bare for all the living to see. Then it crunched down into the back of the vehicle as if it were nothing but butter.

They could hear the screech of tearing metal as it attempted to rip the rear cab right off.

The dragon released the car and bit down again in a slightly different position. Then it suddenly shook its head rapidly side to side. The body hanging out the front was tossed about so violently that there was no question about his state of being. As they passed by, the dragon stilled. Then it hunched its shoulders and dropped its head like a cat stalking prey. Two large eyes blinked a couple times and watched carefully as Cat’s car passed on metres in front of it. Its head turned to follow where they moved. As they pulled further away, slowly it started up its chewing again.

Kass watched it watching them until they’d disappeared around the next bend.

“I guess that one already had a meal,” Cat said once they were a little further down the road.

Kass was still looking behind them, holding her breath, half waiting for it to chase after them.

“It’s better not to look them in the eye,” Cat added.

Kass gave a slightly nervous laugh. “Is it likely to chase after us?”

Cat didn’t immediately answer. After a few seconds of silence she replied, “I hope not. It looked young. You see why SUVs are a bad idea though.”

“What will you do if it does?”

Another pause. “Is that your gun in the back?”

Kass nodded.

“Sometimes the young ones have a gap between their scales. You’re probably better off using telekinesis though.”

Kass shook her head. “I’d be just as likely to push us off the cliff.”

“Well, I guess I’ll just have to drive fast then.”

Kass glanced back behind them. “Shit.”

“What?”

“It’s following.”

“Shit.” Cat hit the accelerator.

Kass watched the dragon silently. At first it crawled along the mountainside. She wondered how young it really was. It was lean, not as bulky as the one that had been in the sky earlier but it was big, at least twice at big as their car. Just before they rounded the next bend, Kass saw it suddenly take to the sky.

“It’s in the air,” she told Cat in case the knowledge might be useful.

Cat gave the barest of nods but didn’t speak.

Kass tried to gauge her expression without looking directly at her. She didn’t want to distract her from her driving.

Cat shifted rapidly down gears and then back up again as they weaved around tight corners. Cliffs rose up on both sides of them now and the road angled upward slightly.

Kass turned her attention to the sky. This pass was narrow and she hoped it was hard for a dragon to follow them through it. She suspected it was staying up high, waiting for them to emerge out onto more open terrain.

She was right.

As the slopes fell away and they suddenly burst out onto flat open plains of tussock grass, a shadow fell over them.

“Fuck!” Cat mumbled and slammed on the brakes. She hit reverse. Expertly she weaved them backward several metres and then into a sudden 180 degree spin. Twisting the wheel rapidly she drove them back beneath the towering walls of rock. A little way in she did the same thing again. Then she parked up and waited.

“What are we doing?” Kass asked.

“I forgot that was out there. Don’t want to race a young skinny dragon on an open plain. We’ll lure it in here and that should give us enough of a head start.”

‘Should?’ Kass thought but she didn’t speak. She knew Cat worked best on instinct, and this was her domain. Out here, Kass had to trust that instinct. Besides what other option was there?

“Just hope no one comes up fast behind us,” Cat added without a look back.

Kass kept her eyes on the sky as well. They were too close to the corner behind them for any warning to make much difference. There was no point looking back. Up was where the avoidable danger was, the more immediate threat.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Kass spotted it first. A brief shadow, there one moment and gone the next. She pointed. “It’s just over that ridge.”

Cat nodded. “We need it to come down.”

Kass bit her lip but still she did not question. Briefly she wondered what it would be like to die by dragon. It probably wasn’t too different from a car accident, unless it used its flames. It hadn’t on that last car but Kass knew they sometimes did. She just didn’t know enough about dragons to know why or when. At least dragon fire would probably be quick. It burned far far hotter than normal fire, hot enough to melt steel.

For a moment Kass imagined her death as some kind of release, a deserved penance, an escape, if there were such things. But then her thoughts flitted to Jesse and to Baelfyre’s earlier words. It wouldn’t be fair to leave him with such threats hanging over his head. Even if she was dead, she didn’t trust Baelfyre not to try to use her son. He was the child of two high profile assassins and Kass knew all too well how useful children were in war. Jesse’s father had grown up like that and Kass knew he’d never really left war behind him. Perhaps she hadn’t either. It had taken just a little too much.

Now, here she sat, waiting for a dragon to descend upon her. Kass wasn’t sure how many million seconds they sat quietly in that car but eventually she noticed a shadow on the hill moving slowly down.

“There,” she whispered, not sure why she felt the need to be so quiet.

But Cat nodded and replied. “I see it.”

Kass shot her a questioning glance, wondering how close Cat was planning on letting it get.

Without taking her eyes from that dragon, Cat replied, “Wait for it.”

Kass felt like every muscle in her body had tensed up. Her mind thought of a million different ways this might go but still she didn’t panic.

She could see out of the corner of her eye, Cat’s hand resting on the gearshift, ready to move the moment the time was right. Her fingers shifted ever so subtly.

Kass understood that motion. She’d been taught to do that before a fight. Keep tense but not too tense, just enough to keep the blood flowing. Relaxed subtle movement to stop the body falling asleep. Keep it moving, be ready. Her life was in Cat’s hands but Kass knew how to recognise skill when it existed. Knowing how to accurately read people and the danger in a situation was how she’d managed to stay alive this long.

Despite all that trust, she could not keep her heart from beating rapidly as that shadow got within 100 metres of them. How fast could a dragon leap? How far could their flames reach?

At just past the 50m mark the dragon suddenly sprung forward. Quicker than her namesake, Cat dropped into gear right at the same time. Somehow she’d revved the engine up perfectly to match the acceleration she wanted. The car sped off with barely a pause as the dragon overshot right above them, hitting the road where’d they’d been only a moment before.

Kass didn’t even have time to see how the dragon reacted after that.

They weren’t far from the plains. Cat had obviously gone in just enough that she estimated she could beat the dragon back out and get some distance between them.

Kass didn’t move. Didn’t even look back as they roared across open road. It wouldn’t have made a difference. They were committed and right now any distraction could be deadly.

Slight bumps in the road sent them flying. Hit something at the wrong angle and they’d soon find themselves rolling across tussocks.

It wasn’t until they were almost three quarters of the way across the open patch that Kass reached for her gun, just in case. With this much open air she might get a chance at a clean shot.

A glance behind them put her in a more relaxed state. She could see the dragon’s shadow and it was far enough back that she knew they’d make it. Still, if she could line up a shot. Maybe out the back window? It was up high at the moment. Would it come down behind them or try and pick them up from above?

Cat seemed to read her thoughts. “Don’t you dare put a hole in my back window.”

Kass raised her eyebrows. “Not even to kill a dragon.”

“You won’t hit it.”

There was a pause where Kass didn’t say anything and Cat added, “And not because you aren’t a good shot. Their scales are metal. You won’t be able to see what to shoot from here.” Finally she added, “Besides, we’re gonna make it.”

Kass set her gun slowly back down on the rear seat. She didn’t ask Cat what happened once they made it to the next open plain, or worse, something just open enough that it could easily chase them between the mountains. Were they just going to play leap frog with the dragon until they got out the other side? Would it stop chasing them then? Kass didn’t know how far dragons travelled but she didn’t think it was likely to tire before Cat did.

As they wound their way back among tight mountain passes, Kass asked, “How come it didn’t try to set us on fire?”

“Young dragons like to play with their food.”

“How old’s young?”

“That one? Probably a couple decades.”

“What’s our next move?”

“Find another dragon.”

“Find another...” Kass trailed off in confusion.

“Hopefully. They’re territorial.”

“Oh.”

“Tell me if it starts to come down,” Cat said.

Kass nodded.

Kass watched the sky as Cat watched the road.

They dropped down into a lower valley, surrounded by pine trees. Several times the dragon swooped in close only to overshoot them. Kass was starting to see a pattern in its behaviour. It was over-eager and Cat knew it. She’d slow down at certain points and let it catch up before veering away and out of reach around bends it couldn’t quite take. At one point it even crashed into the mountain causing a small rock fall.

As Kass watched the dust disappear around another gathering of pines she asked, “What about the older ones.”

“They’re even worse at cornering but I wouldn’t let them get this close. Tight stuff’s alright and they can’t accelerate as quick. They’ll all catch you on a long enough plain or anything in between if you’re not paying attention. To be honest I might be wrong about the young ones and fire. Some of them are extra fiery but this one doesn’t seem to be one of those.”

“You mean it could have set us on fire before?”

Cat shrugged. “Didn’t really have any other option. I don’t think we would have gotten quite so far ahead if it hadn’t gone for the lunge. Oh shit!” Cat suddenly swerved to the left, narrowly dodging an outstretched claw. Then she cackled manically as they sped into a dark tunnel and then out the other side a moment later. “There’s our distraction.”

“Sorry,” Kass said. She could have sworn she’d seen the dragon up in the skies only a moment before.

“Not you,” Cat replied with a smile. “That was another dragon.”

“Another one...” Kass twisted in her seat to watch the mountain range behind them. Sure enough, a moment later a fat red dragon rose up from the top of it, followed moments later by the smaller, speedy black one.

“Uh, Cat. What do we do if they’re both following?”

She didn’t like the look that crossed Cat’s face at that question.

Worriedly, Kass turned back to watch their pursuers.

For a moment it seemed like they now had two dragons on their tail, but then suddenly the red one darted toward the black one. Then they both veered off, taking snaps at each other. A fireball lit up the sky.

Kass breathed a sigh of relief as they disappeared out of sight, still locked in some kind of territorial dispute.

When she turned to look at Cat she could see a smile.

Cat glanced toward her. “Told ya,” she said with a smirk.