A particularly bright flash showed Koryon turning to look back at Elgan. He looked afraid. He said apologetically, “I can’t do this forever. I’m getting tired.”
“So will Jaegendar, and he’s old. Aren’t you in better shape than he is?”
“Jaegendar,” Koryon said firmly, “doesn’t have a rider.”
Elgan considered, then spoke through cupped hands over the thunder. “Drift forward, then to the left and down. It’s time.”
“If we have to,” Koryon said glumly.
As they broke free of the clouds, they saw that the burning buildings below them had subsided. Elgan tugged Koryon’s right rein, directing him toward the ruined granary where they had left Beldieze.
The wind tore the clouds apart. Elgan said in relief, “We’ll have sunshine soon, I think.”
“Will that give us some kind of advantage?”
“It’ll give someone an advantage,” he said vaguely. “Don’t go straight to the granary; circle around and check for signs of him. Go leftward,” he added hastily. This was not a time to use the classic patterns.
Koryon banked left, then spilled air from his wings to drop. Elgan grabbed the lance pin tightly. “Where are you going?”
Before he could answer, Elgan looked up and said tightly, “Company to our left.”
Without waiting to check, Koryon banked dizzily to the left.
Jaegendar swooped out of one of the remaining clouds, then vanished, but there was no question that he must have seen them.
Koryon finished his turn and leveled off. “What next?”
“He’s not to either side.” The remaining clouds had nearly dissipated except for the thunderhead hanging over the valley.
In full sunlight, Koryon nearly hovered in place, craning his neck up and down.
“Below?” He peered. “Above?” He squinted. “Nope. We lost him, I hope.”
A shadow fell on them, growing darker every second. Elgan shouted in sudden panic, “He was in the sun! He was in the-”
Koryon jerked sideways as Elgan brought the lance straight up. Jaegendar, smashing down past them, scraped his left wing on the lance.
But after the shock of impact, Elgan dropped the lance. It passed under Koryon’s body and out of sight.
They rose up close to the cloud cover again. Jaegendar slowed and turned, watching them, roaring out as he saw Elgan empty-handed. Koryon, his neck stretched out straight, straining, flapped his wings frantically sideways as fast as possible.
When they looked up, the thunderhead had drifted over the valley; Jaegendar, circling just under the darkest clouds, descended toward them. His black body was silhouetted in the flashes of lightning.
Koryon said in nearly his natural voice, “Oh, good, you made him mad.”
*****
“You made him mad?” Darien said in disbelief, caught up in the story in spite of himself. “What kind of fool’s trick is that?”
“A fool’s trick,” Gannie said grimly. He drifted to the right of the window, peering out without leaving a silhouette. Elinor had fallen asleep on Kory’s back; he swooped forward and dropped her into Peilanne’s arms without waking the child.
“Still,” Gannie said thoughtfully, “An angry enemy isn’t a thinking enemy. The one hope left is that you can trick him …”
*****
“He tricked us,” Koryon said, scanning the sky frantically. “Where did he go?”
“He dove toward us, then slingshotted back into the clouds while my body hid him from you. He’s that good.” They dove, picking up velocity.
Koryon flapped forward, dropping slightly to gain velocity from the dive. His body was still rigidly straight. “This is awkward. Do you think he knows you haven’t got the lance?”
“He saw me drop it. I’m sure of that.” Elgan flexed his empty arms, trying to relax.
The circular pond lay ahead. Koryon banked toward it, spilling air from his left wing to drop as he turned. He watched their shadow on the grass, tracking until he was nearly between the pond and the sun, directly overhead.
In the blinding moment when the pond was a fiery golden disk, Koryon saw, or thought he saw, a second small black dot reflected above them. He hissed to Elgan, “Look up. Now.”
He looked. “I can’t see a thing-”
“Hold your thumb up, block the sun out with it, and look for wings to either side.”