Kelly peered at her in astonishment. “You’re kidding, right? Do you have any idea how fast a Dahak is? What if he outflies you? You’ll both be dragon food! Do you have any idea how cold it’s going to be flying in this weather? Haven’t you heard of the windchill factor? You’ll freeze to death; he’ll have elfsickles, and I’ll never see you again!” she squealed concernedly.
“We’re going to be alright, Kelly,” Dalton posed. “We have a good plan.”
“Uh huh. Dalton — no offense or anything, but you and your sister are a bit accident prone. What if something goes terribly wrong; do you have some sort of backup plan?”
“Umm — no, not exactly. Try not to worry Kelly, we’ll see you soon; I hope,” Kayla replied gravely.
“Wait – hold on, I have an idea to help you,” she said running out of their room. Shortly, she returned with two large plastic bags. Tearing a small hole in the bottom of each bag, then arm holes, she handed one to each of them. “Pull them over your heads, then put on extra clothes. The plastic will keep out the wind and you’ll stay warmer.”
“Thanks Kelly. Guess we’ll see you later,” Dalton said as he pulled on his coat and gloves. They grabbed their broomsticks and stepped out into the cold Colorado air. Making sure the druid saw them, they mounted their brooms and rose into the air.
The druid watched intently as the twins neared the aegis field. Realizing what they were going to do, he growled to his minions, “keep the others here. No one leaves, no one enters.” He shrieked in anguish as the elves teleported through the shield. He rose from the ground in his true form to give chase.
Dalton and Kayla streaked to the south as fast as their brooms would carry them. Looking back, they saw the huge dragon rising above the trees.
Dalton was thankful for their racing brooms. They could easily maneuver quick turns and they were fast. The Dahak had very large wings, but his body size and weight were a disadvantage.
The Dahak was able to match the pace set by Dalton and Kayla, but could not close on their position. He followed, knowing as soon as the twins cleared the mountains they would need to descend to a lower altitude for warmth. Flying downward, he would gain enough speed to catch his prey.
An hour into their flight, Dalton and Kayla were so numb from the cold they could barely move. They had to descend now or risk falling off their brooms.
‘Kayla, when I tell you — swerve to the right sharply. When the Dahak angles to turn, swerve back to the south and do a steep dive to a lower elevation. Ready?’ He glanced over and at her nod, ‘Now!’
Dalton’s plan caught the dragon off guard. As he turned his huge body to follow, the twins were already flying to the south, dropping steeply to a lower elevation. Bellowing, the monster turned and dove after them, but failed to gain any advantage.
The twins had descended over two-thousand feet into much warmer air. Dalton glanced back at the creature chasing them. ‘He’s not giving up! I thought by now he might be tiring a little,’ he projected in thought to his sister.
‘He wants us dead. Your trick only made him more determined to catch us. What did you expect? Kayla retorted.
‘Nothing, I guess,’ he returned. They flew on, hugging their brooms closely for speed. The dragon followed, patiently waiting for their eventual error. Dalton checked his watch again, figuring they must be far enough south by now.
‘Sis, we’re going to change directions. We’ll head directly west, into the afternoon sun. He’s gonna have problems seeing two little specks in front of him, two more hours should put us over Praxis City, I hope.’
‘Hope your directions are better than last time,’ she returned.
‘Err – yeah. Turn west – now!’ he said, pulling his broom in a tight turn.
The dragon was watching for another trick. As the twins made their turn, he angled immediately. Flapping his wings extra hard, he acquired a large gain on their position. He held his crosier, ready to unleash his spells as he neared them.
Glancing back, Dalton almost panicked. The huge beast was directly behind them. Then he saw the crosier as the dragon fired a ball of energy at them. His first shot missed Dalton by inches.
The next shot grazed Kayla’s neck scarf, catching it on fire. She quickly unwrapped it and threw the burning scarf towards the dragon’s face.
‘Kayla, he’s too close! When I tell you, do a fast turn in the opposite direction. We’ll fly straight past his snout going east. He can’t turn as fast as us, but watch out for his wings and slipstream. Now! Turn!’ he yelled in thought.
They split off, one left and one right. Dalton was correct; the dragon was momentarily confused as they sped past him on both sides. He pulled upward to slow his forward momentum and angled his form to follow. He tried flapping his large wings to regain the distance between them.
Unfortunately, Dalton and Kayla were now heading in the wrong direction. ‘Okay Sis, we’re way out in front of him, but we have to turn back to the west again. We’ll make a slow steady circle to the south, then west. Maybe he’ll just follow and not notice what we’re up to.’
The dragon immediately knew what they were doing.
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