Chapter 48 - Air Battle

Lydia and Dean sped down the slope, pulling up to a halt, then almost dropping onto the group.

"Troll, that way!" called Lydia, pointing.

She repeated the message to the bears with her mind-speech.

With that, the troll loomed over them, bellowing. The two bears roared and charged at the troll, knocking it over. It rolled down the slope a short way.

"How are we going to kill a troll?" Corben asked.

"We had a pickaxe," said Dean. "But I used it on the first one. Lost it under a rockslide."

"We have swords!" Sophie reminded them.

"No use on a mountain troll," Dev said.

"Wait!" Oddy cried. "I've got something here."

He pulled a block of metal, a lighter, and a knife out of his pack.

"If we can get the bears to hold it down on the ground, I'll light this and drop it into its mouth," he said.

"What is it?" Dev asked.

"A magnesium fire-starter," Oddy said in triumph. "You're supposed to shave chips off to help start a campfire. I'll feather it with my knife, light it with the jet-lighter, and drop it in the troll's mouth."

"Do it!" Lydia ordered. "I'll tell the bears what we're doing."

The troll was scrambling to stand a short way off. The bears were beating on it with their huge paws. They relented for a moment, listening to Lydia's message. The troll slipped on some scree, then regained its feet. Charging it from either side, the bears barrelled into the troll, one hitting high, the other low. The troll toppled sideways, and the bears jumped on it, pinning its arms to the ground. Oddy ran forward. There was a flash of brilliant white light which disappeared into the troll's mouth. The troll squealed like a wild boar for a second, and convulsed, throwing off the bears. It lay still, a fizzing gargle coming from its mouth, along with a cloud of incandescent steam.

"Holy crap," Corben murmured. "That was pretty harsh."

Then the third troll leaped from the top of a boulder into the middle of the group. Dev sprang at Shona, pushing her out of the way. Quinn swept Corben behind him. Dean jumped in front of Christie, holding out his machete. The bears charged up the slope to launch themselves at the troll. The troll flung an enormous fist at the taller bear's head and it staggered but swung back at the troll.

"Does anyone have their magnesium?" Oddy shouted.

Before anyone could respond, there was a howl, and another troll joined the fight. Its jaw was hanging awkwardly, flopping as it moved. It was the first troll which Lydia and Dean had left buried under the rocks. The two trolls turned on the smaller bear together, battering at it with their fists. The bear collapsed, and the trolls fell on it, smashing and rending.

"No!" Lydia shouted.

Two spells flashed out at the trolls, knocking them aside. Lydia shrieked, her hands outstretched. The trolls collapsed and lay still.

"I'm so sorry. Return to your family while you can," Lydia said to the remaining bear's mind. "There will be more attacks now three of us have used magic. Thank you."

The bear bowed to her and slumped homeward.

"We should move while we can," Dev urged.

"We can't split the team!" Lydia warned. "If there's an attack while we're apart, we'll have to use magic. That's just going to risk bringing more down on us."

"Can you use your magic to move us all?" Oddy asked.

"That doesn't solve the problem," Lydia pointed out.

"I know, but it might help the bears if we're not near them when the fighting starts!"

Lydia gawped open-mouthed at him.

"Here they come!" Dean called, pointing skyward.

A dozen flying creatures wheeled and darted overhead.

"Wyverns," Lydia said. "Not the greatest flyers, but they have beaks, claws, and a sting in the tail. Dean, hold your arm out and I'll heal your wrist. Now that we've told the Watcher where we are, a little more magic won't hurt."

"Wyverns are fire-resistant, being related to dragons," Oddy added. "Not armoured though. Swords would work, Dean."

"Come on, Soph!" Dean cried, testing his healed wrist. "This is our gig!"

He took his sword from his rucksack and swung it like a beater's bat with his healed wrist. He jumped on his broom with a roar of delight and shot upwards. Sophie followed.

Lydia pulled out her broom and mounted. She bent down to talk to Oddy.

"Just going for help," she said.

She sped off down towards the forest.

"What's she doing?! They need her!" Freddie squealed.

"Watch," said Oddy.

Dean felled his first wyvern with a swooping stroke of his blade. Sophie shot up behind him and sliced the tail off another, which was about to sting Dean. They both dodged as three others darted towards them.

"Where the hell is Lydz?!" Dean bellowed.

Sophie looked around for their leader. Between determined glances to track the wyverns, she caught sight of a dark cloud rising from the forested slopes below. A wyvern aimed head-on at her. She accelerated, slashing at the beast as she passed it. The impact jarred her arm, but the wyvern dropped from the air in a flurry of twitching wings. Dean beheaded another. Yet another descended towards Sophie. She dodged, pulled a tight loop, and plunged the point of her sword in its back between the wings. She noted it was the same beast whose tail-tip she had removed earlier.

Dean had found a rhythm. Three more wyverns flapped and flailed, broken by swipes of his sword. The air still seemed full of the hideous, two-legged mini dragons. More were arriving. The sky darkened, blotted out by their leathery wings.

With a whoop, Lydia barrelled past, cleaving a wyvern's head with her short sword. Sophie glanced around. The air was thick with flying creatures, but most bore feathers. Crows were everywhere, harassing the wyverns and pecking at their eyes. Dean had slowed and was stabbing, rather than swinging, at the wyverns to avoid hurting the birds. With a clatter of its wings, another of the beasts flew at Sophie, blood pouring from its monstrous face. She dodged and stabbed it through the chest and it crumpled, falling from the sky like a torn umbrella.

Eagles had joined the fight. At close quarters, they were immense, at least as big as the wyverns. Sophie, Lydia and Dean despatched the remaining wyverns the eagles and crows had not yet torn into. Lydia pulled to a halt and waved her hand in thanks to their feathered friends. The crows wheeled around in a flock and set off for the forest. The eagles spread their wings and swooped for the mountain slope to catch the rising air in their pinions.

Sophie looked at her friends. A blood-spattered Dean was grinning and panting. Lydia was congratulating them on their battle. Sophie thought she received a hard look from her leader. Sophie sighed. She had, with Christie, been the first to resort to magic again. She resolved to apologise as soon as a chance arose. They glided down to where the rest of the team was standing and cheering.

"We got a couple that were injured," Christie was saying. "But we saw them off without them hurting anyone. You were amazing up there, Dean, considering you're an idiot."

"We should move away quickly," Dev reminded Lydia. "So the Watcher doesn't know where we are."

"He's right," Oddy agreed. "We needn't go far, but we have to get out of here before he can send anything else."

"We just need a second to clean the brooms," Lydia scowled. "They're slippery with blood. But you're right; we'll leave."

Lydia pulled a T-shirt from her rucksack and wiped the handle of her broom. Dean and Sophie copied.

"OK!" Lydia called. "Usual groups. We'll go as quickly as we can to the other side of the mountain and back. Once we're all there, we'll move again before we set up a day camp to check the mandala. Xander, you come with me."

Xander acknowledged. As soon as Lydia had mounted her hovering broom, he sprang up in front to join her. Quinn joined Dean, and Christie sat with Sophie.

After rushing the team around to the far side of the mountain, they set off on a longer shuttle flight. They made their camp in a mountain pass many kilometres further into the mountain range. The mountains here were higher, and they were nearing the snowline, even in the pass well below the peaks. They put up the boys' tent for Freddie to consult the mandala, and the command tent for the rest to take an early lunch.

While the others ate and chatted, Lydia went out on Sophie's broom with Xander to "scout around". In fact, they went all the way back to see the bears, to apologise and to check they were not under any threat. They bore Lydia no ill-will and felt honoured that one of their clan had lost his life assisting her. It was a humbling experience for Lydia. She was glad of Xander's company. As they rushed to return to the Companions, Lydia discovered Xander could also sense the cold without it harming or distressing him, just as she could. She wondered what other secrets the magical cat kept hidden.

As they closed on their camp, she could see that several of the group were outside the tent. They were scouring the sky for a sign of her return. As she swooped in to land, she was relieved to see they were excited, even jubilant.

"What is it?" she called, bringing the broom to a halt.

The others pushed Freddie to the front.

"I, the Grand High Boojalum of the Mandala, can reveal that the next token is… another ball-shaped thingy," he announced.

Lydia brushed frost from her jacket. "Let me see, O Boojalum. Inside the tent might be best."

They went in and Freddie handed her the mandala. Inside it, she saw…

"It's an egg," she pronounced.

"Is it?" Freddie asked. "Let's have a look. Oh, yeah. I think you're right. I thought it looked a bit loppy."

"So what kind of egg would we find in these mountains that would be a fire token?" Lydia mused.

"I can present but two possibilities," Quinn said. "The egg of a dragon, or the egg of a firebird."

"Can you tell which it is?" Lydia asked, holding the mandala up for the tall wanderer to see.

"Normally, the size would give it away," he replied, taking the mandala and examining it. "But there is no real clue of scale."

"May I have a look?" Oddy asked.

Quinn nodded and handed him and Freddie the mandala. Oddy peered inside while Freddie held it. They moved to the darkest corner of the tent.

"I can see a bit more without the light on it," Oddy told them all. "There is a nest. It looks like the egg's mother has lined it with down and feathers. Dragon nests have sand or gravel, so they don't burn. I guess it's a firebird's nest."

The others complimented him on his detective work.

Lydia looked up at the vagabond. "Where will we find a firebird's nest in these mountains, Quinn?"

"I have heard tales they live in this mountain range," he said. "They are coloured rather like the red phoenix, though more akin to an eagle in shape. They are a good size, surpassed only by the great vulture and the king eagle amongst the birds. Larger than your wyverns, too. Lofty peaks are where they are oft seen. Beyond that, I hold no further insights."

"Well, the mandala will lead me to the right mountain," Lydia said. "Then it depends how helpful it's going to be. It might be more specific. I'll have to use the eyes of the eagles, I guess."

Lydia held the mandala for a while to get the feeling of where it was directing her. Giving it back to Freddie, she went outside to survey the surrounding mountains. There was a strange, bitter smell in the air. It distracted her for a moment, waking a memory she could not place. Shaking the moment off, she realised the mandala was drawing her to a mountain they could see from the pass. There was a wide, barren valley between them and the mountain, with a river running through it. The mountain itself was colossal. It was possibly the highest peak of that range. They were in a col between two peaks yet, despite the distance, the peak seemed to tower over them.

"So," Dev said, appearing beside her, "all we have to do is to search that mountain. It is probably no bigger than the area of the Cairngorms."

"The work of a moment, as my gran says," Dean noted, joining them.

Then Lydia recalled the memory she had sought. Professor Trelawney was saying something about a bitter smell. It had been the smell of betrayal, she had said.