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darkening sky and then back at his dragon.
    ‘Just as a dawn dragon has an affinity with dawn, so we night dragons can tell when night is about to begin. Let me know if you start to feel the urge to take out the orb again, but I
have a feeling it will not happen until the same time tomorrow. That gives us a day to work out how to prevent it from killing more innocents. We need to find the others. Maybe one of them will be
able to help. One thing is certain – the sooner we can get the orb to the Oracle, the better.’
    ‘I won’t argue with that,’ Pell said, a shudder rippling down his spine. ‘But are you sure we should look for the others? What if it kills them as well? I had no control,
Shadow. It was horrible. I don’t know if I can cope with carrying it any more.’
    ‘You have to, Pell. This is our duty. We have to get the orb to the Oracle in Orupee. The others share this responsibility. Don’t worry. We’ll warn them – make sure
they’re ready to run if it starts happening again. Try to be careful. Don’t touch it directly. Wrap it in your spare clothing and pack it at the bottom of the saddlebag. Make it as
difficult to reach as possible. That might give us the extra moments we need.’
    Pell did not like to point out that wrapping it deep in his saddlebag was exactly what he had done the first time. He did not want to go anywhere near the gruesome globe, but he knew he had no
choice. Shadow was right. The quest was all that remained. They had both suffered a great deal to win the orb. He had come too far to give up now.
    Picking his way back through the rows of bodies, Pell returned to the base of the rock where his open saddlebag sat in the snow. Shadow moved out of his way, uncoiling from the great boulder and
shaking the snow from her back and wings. Pell reached inside the bag and drew out his spare cloak. He turned and looked down at the black ball in the snow. It appeared inert and harmless, like a
mammoth black pearl deliberately set into a hollow of purest white.
    If it had not been for the horrors of the last few minutes, Pell would have scorned anyone else for being reluctant to pick it up. Every muscle in his body was taut as he spread his cloak over
the orb. Even with it covered, he could feel his heart hammering against his ribs. He reached down to collect it and paused. With a flash of insight he realised that this was how Nolita felt every
time she approached her dragon.
    The thought that he was acting like the cringeing girl hardened his resolve. He grabbed the orb and quickly wrapped it over and over in the cloth before stuffing it down into the base of his
saddlebag. Shuffling everything else around in the leather bag, he buried the bundle under as many things as he could. His fingers trembled as he fumbled with the buckles.
    ‘Well done, Pell,’
Shadow said smoothly.
‘Let’s go. The griffins will have released Segun and his men from the valley by now.’
    The conditions were little better than they had been when they landed. The wind was still whipping the snow through the air and visibility was very limited, but Pell could feel that Shadow was
stronger after her rest. He could feel her confidence through the bond. No sooner had they launched into the darkening sky than she began to use her ability to silence the sound of her
wing-beats.
    Pell felt safe sitting on Shadow’s back inside the unnaturally silent bubble. The light faded fast and the wind tugged at his clothing with cold fingers, but the silence had a strange way
of taking the sting out of the wind’s bitter chill. He also perceived something of the strange echo navigation sense Shadow used when flying at night. Even though her vision was limited, he
was confident she would not crash into anything. Much like a bat, she was perfectly at home flying blind in the dark.
    It was hard to keep track of the passage of time. Shadow did not want to risk following the others directly, as this was likely to put