Almost as soon as Sonic had left Sally and the others to find Dulcy, Tails had returned to the cave where they had been hiding out. His monster was no more - it had shrunk smaller and smaller until it had simply winked out of existence. He had been racing back to the caves in delectation, brimming over with his success. That's when he had seen IT. And as he entered the cave, and started screaming to his friends about IT, the thing pulled back its head and flames flared out of its mouth.
Sonic, mounted on the frantically fleeing Dulcy's back, stared upwards, frozen in terror as the dragon slowly, almost lazily drew its head round after them, so the flame burned a mere metre away from the tip of Sonic's quills. The hot, cruel stroke of the flames almost charred Dulcy's scales, even from such a distance away. She screamed in terror - and then went crashing down, at the cave entrance.
The others were all waiting there.
"Dulce! Dulce! You okay?" Sonic screamed, once he had recovered from rolling off of Dulcy's back in the last moments of the fall.
"I'm not hurt," the dragon said, implying that with a dragon twice her size, which was about to realise that she had survived its first attack, and is probably about to give it a second try any minute, with a flame twice the heat intensity and length as the first - she didn't feel all right.
"Look, Dulcy, listen to me. You've got to fly. Emyain can get us out of here, but we'll have more of a chance of escaping the dragon in the air. Do you understand?" Sally said, panicking.
"Yesss..." Dulcy whimpered.
"D'ya thank y'al c'n carry all o' us!" Bunnie said.
"I-I'll try - HURRY UP!" Dulcy squealed. The dragon's first flame had burned itself out and it had a clear view of the charred remains, everywhere its flame had touched...but it paused in a moment of astonishment... the other dragon was still alive - and it looked like it would get airborne again any minute... The dragon reared back its head, slowly flapping closer to its prey. It would take half a minute to build up a flame big enough to strike again - but the other, puny dragon wouldn't have gotten far by then...
Below, the six friends had frantically scrambled and leapt, trying to mount Dulcy in the intense heat, which made her scales and their fur wet and slippery with sweat. At last, Tails had managed to help them all aboard, and as they clung on desperately, Dulcy flapped her wings, trying to get airborne.
Above, the other dragon watched its prey rise unsteadily into the air. Its mouth opened - and the flame burned again. Dulcy screamed in terror and shot forwards in the air. The dragon followed, lengthening its flame. Then there was a bright flash, and the other dragon had - disappeared.
In Lyrehtis, Dulcy bumped down in something that vaguely resembled a landing. Those clinging onto her back where thrown about like whips, and Tails and Emyain were thrown off.
"Sorry, guys!" she called to them, as they picked themselves up.
"How did you do that!" Sonic gasped, still not fully recovered from the terror of the dragon's attack.
"It has always been simple for me to travel between the Eramli realm and this. To get back here, I simply have to think hard about Lyrehtis whilst moving forwards - and I can simply walk back. It took me longer than usual this time, because I had to get you through with me."
"We STILL don't have what we came here for!" Sonic said, frustratedly.
"And the Lyrehs'll be after us again, any minute!"
"Maybe you should leave, and hopefully I can retrieve your things. I could meet up with you with them if you waited at a safe distance from Raider's Peak," Emyain said. "If I can find my half brother-he might know what the Lyrehs have done with your things."
Sally was undecided. Maybe some of them should leave - a smaller group would be less conspicuous in the yrehs' tunnels - but should they really leave Emyain on her own at the mercy of her race? Surprisingly, it was Sonic who made the decision for her.
"Sal - go. I can hear more Lyrehs coming. I'll stay here and help Emyain!" he told her.
"But-" she began.
"Go - just go!" the hedgehog yelled, ears twisted round, tuned into the approaching footsteps of an army of Lyrehs. Sally gave in. The others wanted to run, that was clear.
"C'm on then!" she yelled, leading the group out of sight, just as the first of the Lyrehs arrived on the scene. To find - nothing. Sonic had hoisted Emyain into his arms and vanished down the opposite tunnel a moment before. Their leader yelled something in Lyrehnian to his troops and they chased after Sally and the others.
Meanwhile, directed into a dark, silent room by Emyain, Sonic skidded to a halt. Freya was asleep in one corner, and Emyain went over and woke her. There was a makeshift bed of long grasses covered in two sheets against the back wall. It was a lot colder in here, and it looked damp. He couldn't hear anyone coming though -yet. It could only be a matter of time...
"Now what?" he demanded.
"I'll try to contact my brother again," Emyain said. She assumed the same position as before.
"How? Is it like telepathy or something?" he asked.
"Something like that - let me concentrate!" Emyain cried, irritably.
"Sorry!" the hedgehog apologised. He dashed about the room, agitated and nervous. Even Freya was pacing impatiently. Sonic was sure they'd be discovered any minute - and now he could hear footsteps, hurrying towards them.
"He's coming!" Emyain cried, suddenly standing. A short young Lyreh came hurtling down the tunnel.
"This way, come on! The Lyrehs are searching for you!" he panted, then ran off again.
"I told him what we were looking for," Emyain explained as they chased after him. Freya ran alongside Emyain.
"I stole the things from the storage room soon after the Lyrehs collected them from where your friends camped. It was me who warned them to leave," Emyain's brother explained. "And I hid the stuff back here. The Lyrehs found out just before you got back and they've been chasing me!"
Behind them, they could hear the running footsteps and strange cries of the Lyrehs chasing them. Emyain's brother belted into a room and rushed back, carrying a small brown sack.
"It's all still here. C'm on, let's get outta here!" he gasped, racing away as fast as he could run - which was quite fast compared to the speed of the other Lyrehs. Sonic was impressed.
The Lyrehs pursued them through the tunnels, yelling and throwing strange objects and stones. But Emyain and her brother were tiring now, and they were gaining. There was only one thing to do.
"Just yell directions to me, okay!" Sonic shouted, grabbing Emyain and her brothers hands in one of his, and Freya's collar in the other, and speeding away from the jeering Lyrehs. At another time, it might have seemed insane to suddenly grab a panther he hardly knew and drag it along with him, but Sonic wasn't exactly thinking straight with half of Lyrehtis pursuing him everywhere he ran, especially now that some of them were firing weapons. More Lyrehs were joining the pursuit as they progressed through the tunnels.
"There! There! Up ahead is the main portal between our realms!"Emyain's brother screamed to Sonic. "They'll have to pass though in small groups, which'll give us time to escape. If there's some-where I can transport you all back to before they get out..."
"KNOTHOLE! That's where we live. It's in a secret location in the Great Forest," Sonic yelled back. As he raced through the portal, there was a bright flash of light and a loud ripping sound. For brief seconds, Sonic had the sensation of running as fast as he could, but not getting anywhere. It was like being in a dream...
The light flickered away, and they floated down, close to where Sally, Bunnie and Tails had camped.
"Where are the others?" Sonic cried. There they were-hidden amongst the foliage of the woodland. "We got the stuff! C'm over here, quickly, the Lyrehs are coming!" His friends rushed to his side.
"Now, everybody, concentrate! Think very hard about Knothole," Emyain's brother said as all of them linked hands.
As the first Lyrehs began emerging from the crack in the sky, their prey vanished in an instant...
And landed rather heavily in the middle of Knothole, with a bang. As they picked themselves up, and Emyain's brother handed Sally the sack, Antoine, Rotor and several more of Knothole's residents came running over to investigate.
"Princess! Would you be minding to be telling us what ees going on? Who are zees people? And dis CREEeture?" Antoine demanded, staring at Emyain, her brother and Freya. Sally smiled, retrieving Nicole from the sack and dusting her off.
"It's a long story, Antoine. And I for one am glad it's over," she smiled. "Come back with us to the war room and we'll tell you all, about it."
Meanwhile, the Lyrehs had retreated back to their own realm. They had failed. The invaders had escaped, and there was now no way of tracking them down. However, they were not beaten. The information they had downloaded from Nicole before Emyain's brother had stolen her, might well reveal their location, once it was translated. And then it was only a matter of time before they could reap their revenge...
The End