Yay, we get to find out whether Kaji kills Peri or not!
Peri could hear every pounding beat of her heart, and each one she thought would be her last, but other than her nails digging fiercely into her palms, she felt no pain. She's playing with me, Peri thought, and she gritted her teeth. She couldn't stand not knowing, so she opened her eyes to see what was taking so long. She couldn't help a squeak of fear as she stared directly into Kaji's eyes, and she cursed herself for showing weakness. It shouldn't be long now…
The minutes stretched on and neither of them moved besides the occasional lashing of the great dragon's tail. Peri felt like her heart was going to burst from the suspence, and finally she couldn't hold herself back.
"Would you kill me already?!" she burst out, then slapped her hands over her mouth. Kaji's eyes narrowed further and Peri gulped, waiting for the searing pain of being burned alive. She put her hand in a fire once, and it had hurt like all of hell. She still remembered the blisters coating the back of her hand, and the pain that came with every surge of blood in her veins. That had to be nothing compaired to being burned to death by dragon fire. But again, Kaji did nothing. The look in her eyes was furious, and Peri could almost hear her saying, "Don't tempt me."
Suddenly the green dragon rose from her crouch and straightened to her full height, which was far above Peri's head and almost to the top of the wall.
I have half a mind to tear you apart, but your bondmate would be quite upset with me when she hatched.
Peri's body was already stiff and rigid with shock, so there was no outward sign of the shock pulsing through her, but inside her mind was scrambling. Kaji could hear her?!
Yes, now shut up and stand still.
Like I could do anything else, Peri thought. I can hardly feel my feet anymore.
Don't sass me, now shut up.
I didn't say anything, Peri shot back in her mind, figuring Kaji would hear her. She did. The dragon leaned her head down and snapped her teeth together inches from Peri's face, and when Peri stumbled backwards again the door, a mental chuckle echoed through her mind.
You were thinking, and it was annoying.
Peri rolled her eyes, but tried not to think anything in particular. Kaji straightened again and there was a long pause, occasionally interrupted by reprimands to stop thinking. Peri wondered what Kaji was doing, but if the green dragon heard that thought she didn't respond. During the long silence, now that she wasn't deafened by her racing heart, Peri could now hear the occasional roar from Freida from across the city. She covered a smirk with one hand; it seemed Nick was causing more trouble than expected. Kaji shot her a look and snorted in disdain.
Don't worry, we'll catch him soon.
The smirk vanished and Peri felt a pulse of dread. Inbetween the roars and explosions (God, how much gunpowder did Nick have?) Peri noticed soft footsteps approaching the door to her back. Suddenly a strong force shoved on it from the inside, slamming into her back and sending her staggering forward. Peri caught her balance quickly and turned to see a small form slipping out through the door, the moonlight sparking on her golden hair. Iridessa. Probably here to drag me off and torture me. But the human Rider remained by the wall after she shut the gate, watching Peri squirm. Peri wondered how long it would take her to push the Rider out of the way and flee back inside, but a low growl from Kaji banished any plans of escape from her head.
"You got remarkably far, considering we were watching the entire city," Iridessa said out of the blue, and the compliment was more surprising than anything else that night. "It'd be a real pity if you got caught now, when you're already outside the city walls. That's the worst kind of failure, in my opinion."
Kaji snorted overhead, and that was pretty much what Peri felt like doing.
"So, if you're set on not feeling failure tonight, I'd run," Iridessa continued, smiling brightly. She suddenly turned and opened the door behind her, even though it should have been locked. "Do it, Kaji."
With no warning the giant dragon leaned down and put her head in front of Peri's. Bring out the egg, Kaji ordered, and she found herself fumbling with the straps of her pack, digging past the clothes and leather sheaths to wrap her hands around the midnight egg. The moment it was out of the pack, Kaji leaned down and touched her nose to the egg, and a blinding greenish-white light flared at the point where the two beings touched. Peri stood frozen for a heartbeat, seeing nothing but white light and spots, and then the light vanished. Still blinded, Peri had to guess from the sudden snap that Kaji had spread her wings. Peri was knocked flat by the blast of air from Kaji's wings, and when she could see again Kaji was gone. For a minute all she could do was lie there in shock, touching a trembling hand to her cheek in order to reassure herself that she was actually still alive. Only a mental prod from the dragonling could budge her. Peri sat up and, still blinking stars out of her vision, tried to survey the egg in her grip. It looked the same to her, but she didn't exactly trust her eyes at the moment so she decided to examine it later.
A thunderous roar sounded, deeper and more primordial than Kaji's, and Peri didn't pause to think. She knew that if it was Freida that caught her, she was definitely dead, no doubt about it. It occurred to her as she sprang to her feet that if Freida was in this part of the city again then that either meant Nick was here, still running, or that he'd been captured and now Freida was looking for her. Peri grabbed her pack off the ground and ran, sick with worry and praying it was the former. There was an enormous field surrounding the city on all sides before the actual forest began, and now it seemed endless. Peri's feet pounded the packed dirt, passing the occasional remains of a campsite. She clutched the egg tightly to her body, as if it could fly away if she didn't hold on. The trees approached with agonizing slowness, and she felt a hundred years older when she finally reached them. Their comforting shadow swallowed her up and she finally allowed herself to slow. Panting with exertion and sweating from terror and the muggy heat of the night, it was a good two minutes before she could focus on anything but breathing. And then she remembered Nick.
Roars were still sounding from the city, and she realized she'd underestimated her friend. She could barely stay out of the grip of dragons for two minutes, and he'd been running for at least five, probably more. She left her pack where she'd dropped it and returned to the edge of the trees, the egg clutched in her sweaty hands. She could barely make out the shapes of Freida and Kaji swooping over the rooftops, unable to fit into the narrow streets below. It seemed Nick was staying away from the wider streets that could be found near the docks and the square, making it near impossible for the dragons to reach him. Peri could picture him laughing maniacally as he ran through the dark streets, his enormous hunters thwarted over and over again. Peri gingerly sat down and leaned back against a thick trunk, knowing her legs would be aching in the morning.
Suddenly, both dragons dropped down on two houses, apparently trying to get down into the street below. Kaji vanished after some struggling, but Freida was much to large to fit after the slimmer dragon. Peri realized her hands were clenched into fists and that she could make them relax, but she couldn't spare much attention for her disobediant hands. Just then, Freida and Kaji gave twin roars of fury and they took to the air again. They seemed to be wheeling about randomly, as if they'd lost their quarry. Peri frowned in confusion and rubbed at her aching calves.
She sat there for about an hour, and all during that time neither dragon could seem to locate Nick in the streets below. Peri couldn't help a smug grin, remembering Kaji's confidence that Nick would soon be in their clutches. It seemed her friend had more than a few tricks up his sleeves, along with a few weapons. Freida was just swooping low over the city when she seemed to sense something.
The dragon twisted in midair and immediately shot for the section of the city Peri had escaped from, making her think that maybe she'd done something to draw the dragon's attention. But Freida seemed focused on the streets below, slowing to a crawl and inspecting something carefully. Eventually she had to fly away or crash to the ground, but she soon swooped around for another pass. Peri realized her body had tensed up again and that her heart was pounding hard on her ribcage. If Nick was caught now she wasn't sure if she could handle it. After about six passes, Freida hadn't found anything, but she refused to move on to another part of the city. She had just winged her way up to gather momentum when the tiny spot that was Saphira Gate suddenly burst open. Peri leaped to her feet and spotted a dark figure sprinting out across the field, running far faster than Peri had been able to. It was only a few seconds before Freida's roar told her Nick had been spotted.
The two dragons wheeled around with frightening speed and shot off towards Nick, who was almost halfway across the field. Peri felt like screaming and jumping up and down, but she bit her tongue and stayed still, doing all those things in her head. Freida and Kaji shot over the wall and looped around the field, slowing down so they could swoop down and pluck Nick off the ground. Peri was suddenly struck with a fierce impulse and she followed itm, racing back to her pack and snatching her bow off the ground. She left the egg with the rest of her weapons and, grabbing her quiver, ran back to the edge of the trees. She got back just in time to see Nick dive aside, barely avoiding Freida's extended claws. With lightning speed Peri strung the bow and had an arrow nocked, although she had no clue how to shoot a bow. She had to try for her only friend. Maybe her best friend. Nick rolled instantly back to his feet and kept running, and Peri noticed he was limping. Kaji swooped down at him and missed, maybe on purpose, maybe not. Peri turned her arrow towards Freida. She was the one to worry about.
So the next time Freida ducked down to claw at Nick, Peri let loose an arrow. She couldn't see where it went, but it didn't seem to have hit the great dragon. She noticed it though, and that was enough to distract her from Nick for a second. Freida roared angrily and winged away, preparing for another attempt. Peri nocked another arrow and waited, urging Nick on with her mind. He only had maybe two hundred yards, but his injury was clearly slowing him down. He was going at half his original pace, and he was definitely slowing. Peri found she couldn't breathe as Kaji swooped again and missed. Freida came right after, giving Nick no time to recover. By some stroke of luck, his leg buckled underneath him and he crumpled to the ground. Peri could swear she saw Freida's talons graze Nick's back, but the dragon flew away emptyclawed. Peri watched painfully as Nick struggled to his feet and kept running. For a moment Peri actually thought he would make it.
And then a bolt of energy split the night.
Shooting across the open field from Saphira Gate, it hit Nick in the back and he went tumbling down in a flurry of limbs. Peri couldn't stop the scream that clawed its way out of her throat and she didn't want to. For an agonizing moment, Nick didn't move and she thought he was dead. But then she saw him stir and overwhelming relief crashed into her mind. She didn't think and ran out of the trees towards her fallen friend. She fell to her knees beside him, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder, and was just struggling to her feet when another bolt nearly took off her face. She screamed again and fell back down. Nick stirred beside her, blinking open his brown eyes. They seemed stunned, but they managed to latch onto her face.
"No, get out of here," he rasped, trying to push her away. "Don't let them catch you too."
"They're not catching either of us," Peri said vehemently, just as another bolt whizzed by her shoulder. The dragons seemed to have disappeared now that Dareth- because that was undoubtedly who it was- had arrived. Nick's gaze hardened and he pushed her away with more force.
"Go," he snapped as harshly as he could, although his expression was twisted with pain. "I didn't get shot by a rabid elf-Rider just so you can too."
Peri realized she was seconds away from crying, and she was shocked. She never cried, not anymore. She blinked furiously and got to her feet, picking up her bow from where she'd dropped it.
"I'll find you," she promised, and Nick gave a hurried nod.
"Go," he coughed out, and Peri obeyed, fighting back tears. She ran blindly back to the trees, dodging the occasional bolt of energy, and stumbled to a stop once she'd reached safety. She turned to watch as Dareth reached her friend, and she fought the urge to shoot the elf in the face. Because one, she'd miss, and two, that'd be a waste of a good arrow. Dareth knelt down beside Nick's fallen form and scooped him into his arms. Freida swooped down out of the sky a minute later and picked Nick up in her talons. Peri watched hopelessly, choking on sobs, as her friend's limp form was borne off into the sky. It took her a moment to realize Dareth was walking towards the trees- and straight towards her.
You guys must really hate me now. I'd say sorry, but then I'd be lying. :3