Leif stood his ground, by his side his brave warriors, and together they faced the dragons.

"We need to lure them in," Synan whispered, backing up with the others. "Get Gaeshi out past them into the open and he'll have enough room to turn without fear of crushing us."

"I won't leave you," Gaeshi muttered, his eyes fixed on the advancing dragons.

"You will do as I command you, Gaeshi Sarkany," Leif said. "Hopefully the dragons will follow you and you can lead them away or kill them. If we stay in here, we'll be safe enough from you, you'd never fit! But these two threaten all of us. If they kill us then at least you'll have got away."

Gaeshi shook his head but said nothing and a look passed between him and Leif. It wasn't a very good plan. Once Gaeshi turned, they'd have three dragons to contend with and even if he was more interested in fighting the two smaller dragons than the Elani it wasn't certain he'd beat them.

"Stick together," Leif said. "If we separate then so will the dragons."

One of the dragons thrust its head forward, flicking its tongue, but Leif, Lachlan and Orsino each struck out with their staffs. With a startled hiss, the beast drew back and snapped at its companion in annoyance.

"Now!" Synan cried, pushing Gaeshi forward. "Go!"

Gaeshi leapt into a roll and slipped past the first dragon. The second turned, enraged by the move, and turned its long neck to reach after the boy.

"Hey!" Leif jumped up onto a rock and banged his staff against the wall. "Here, stupid beast!"

The others took his lead and started banging and stomping and doing just about anything to draw the attention away from Gaeshi.

The dragon whipped round, opened its mouth wide and snapped at Leif. He jumped back, his heart lurching in panic. The dragon hissed, its breath hot and so close that it almost made him sick.

Gaeshi paused for a moment before he made it safely to the open of Silence Gorge.

"Turn!" Leif yelled. He couldn't keep the sound of desperation from his voice. The two dragons were almost on top of them. "Turn, turn!"

The walls of the cave lit up as Gaeshi turned and then there came the deep angry rumble of a large male dragon.

It was strange to witness. The two smaller dragons clearly recognised the sound because they stopped in their tracks and turned their heads to look back. Then, as they fought with each other to turn around in the tight space and investigate, the rumble sounded again.

Leif knew the sound. He'd heard it before. Quickly and as calmly as he could, he directed his companions to lie flat on the ground and hold their shirts or hands or anything over their heads.

It was done just in time, a whoosh of fire so loud it deafened them, shot into the cave and past the twin dragons. It seemed to go on forever but it did the trick. The two dragons almost tripped over themselves to get out of there and they were so badly burnt that they didn't bother hanging around.

Breathing heavily, Leif looked up. There, at the cave entrance a huge dragon sought to push its way in. He'd never seen Gaeshi like this. Jet black eyes glinted and fearsome claws scrabbled at the rock. The beast let forth an annoyed grunt and pulled its head back into the open. Then there was that rumble again, deep and frightening.

"Heads down!" Leif cried. "Keep them doooown!"

Another burst of flames hurried into the cave, though smaller than the first. And then a black eye peered in at the entrance.

#

The morning sun rose across Silence Gorge and across its path, briefly, a swallow flitted before wheeling into the distance. In this light, the grey walls of the gorge seemed almost pink. The air was still and warm with not a single breeze to chill them and Sorrel felt more content than she had in days.

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"We've been up all night," Mariko commented, kicking at the stones beneath her feet.

Sorrel grinned. "It's been nice to talk to another woman," she said. "I bet Leif's been worried though."

A hissing filled the air and two dragons flew over, their movements jerky and haphazard. Sorrel froze, hand poised at her sword though the dragons didn't stop. They carried on into the distance and disappeared out of sight.

Still tense, she looked down the gorge. "Oh no," she said. Gaeshi's dragon raked its claws at the earth, its head at the cave where she'd left her brother and friends.

Blood pounded in her ears and she started to run. "No you don't! Gaeshi!"

She ran faster than she had ever done before, leaving Mariko behind her. She sped onwards, tears springing to her eyes. "Gaeshi!" she screamed.

The dragon pulled its massive head away from the cave opening and half-turned towards the cry. Blinded by hot tears, she drew her sword and with an agonised yell thrust it into the beast's side, through the scales and into soft flesh, tearing it out again.

The dragon staggered on its feet. Then it turned its head and gazed down at her with its deep black eyes.

Gaeshi. He'd never hurt me.

She trembled all over and hot tears rolled down her cheeks. She let the sword fall from her grasp as the dragon collapsed to the ground in a cloud of dust.

"No!" she sobbed, staring blankly at what she had done. Now she truly did feel weak as her legs shook and her knees buckled and all the blood drained from her hands.

"What the...?" Mariko caught up and stared in utter disbelief at the body of the fallen dragon.

Sorrel brought her hands to her face and watched through her fingers as the dragon disappeared to be replaced by Gaeshi Sarkany. She wiped the tears from her eyes, sniffed hard, and turned into the cave, ignoring Mariko altogether.

She peered at the dark shapes at the back of the cave, sickness settling in her stomach, and wondered what sort of terrible damage Gaeshi – as the dragon – had accomplished.

"Leif? Cloud?" She took a step forwards. Her hands shook and tingled with pins and needles. "Synan? Anyone!" Her last cry was almost a scream, desperate for an answer.

There was a cough, then, "Sorrel..."

"Leif! Oh Leif!" She had never been so happy to see her brother in all her life. She ran forwards and fell into his open arms. He grunted and she could tell he'd been injured. Before she had chance to ask, two other of the dark shapes rose from the ground.

"Lachlan, Synan! Where are the others? Who's..." She pulled away from her brother and went to the final shape, which didn't move or stir when she gently touched it.

Leif held up his hand, burnt and blistered, to stop Synan going to her side.

Sorrel, full of concern, turned the body over. She let out a strangled sob and jumped back from the corpse. It was Orsino. Though she almost didn't recognise him. Orsino had been a carpenter, and a good one at that. He had a wife and two small children who the Lamya had taken into captivity.

"Sorrel, where's Gaeshi?" Leif asked, his voice soft.

At that point, Mariko entered the cave and wiped blood from her hands into her coat. "Well that's it," she said, "you've killed 'im good n' proper!"

Sorrel glared at the Lamya and said slowly, "You took the amulet."

Lachlan, who so far had been quiet, looked sharply at Mariko. "This is your fault?"

Mariko shrugged and took a step backwards. "Indirectly, I suppose..."

Lachlan grasped his staff and with wide eyes and an angry yell, he swung it towards the Lamya.

Sorrel took hold of her brother's staff with her left hand, tossed it to her right and quickly, powerfully, barred Lachlan from striking Mariko. She looked at him and said firmly, "No more."

Lachlan turned his head and looked at her in surprise. She knew he hadn't expected that from her, not from little Sorrel. She glared at the hot–headed trainee, glad she had unnerved him. She wasn't weak, she wasn't. Nobody could think that of her now. She had killed a dragon. Lachlan frowned and lowered his staff, leaving Mariko to breathe a sigh of relief.

Sorrel turned to Leif and gently took his hands in her own. "You're burnt," she said. She looked at Old Synan, his long white hair singed black, his face red and his glasses broken. Lachlan had a deep graze across his eyebrow where he had fallen onto hard rock. "Gaeshi did all this? Orsino..."

"Shh..." Leif whispered. "I ordered Gaeshi to turn, were it not for him we'd all be dead."

"Where's Cloud?" she asked. "Please tell me he's—"

"Safe," Leif said. "The others are safe."

Sorrel looked to Synan for confirmation. The old man nodded and sighed. "There were two smaller dragons, young miss, sent by Corrinus no doubt, the others are safe but there's no time to explain. Gaeshi needs us."

She frowned towards the mouth of the cave, where the body of Gaeshi Sarkany now lay. "But he's—"

"Dead?" Synan chuckled and shook his head sadly. "Never trust the word of a Lamya, Sorrel. No, Gaeshi's stronger than you think."

She looked at Leif, hope leaping to her heart, and hurried outside. The sun was full over Silence Gorge now, and true to its name, the place was deathly quiet and sombre. She stood over Gaeshi's body and shook her head. He was dead! No movement, no sound, no breathing, nothing. Just a gaping wound that she had caused and blood everywhere.

Leif stood by her side and put his arm around her shoulder as she cried. There were no words he could say to comfort her. She leaned into him as Old Synan knelt by the boy's side and tore a strip of clothing from his own body to hold against the wound. Mariko watched on, hands on her hips.

Sorrel clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She pushed away from Leif, trembling with anger and she called out a threat to her foe. "Two dead but you can't kill me, Corrinus! I'll find you! And when I do, the Kingdom of Malinas will finally be free!"