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them in the path of their pursuers again. Instead she
stayed amongst the mountains, threading through valley after valley in a zigzagging route southwards before finally turning left and heading for the edge of the mountain range. Once they were
clear, they turned south, paralleling the line of peaks and flying on into the night.
    ‘I’ve located Elian and Aurora,’
Shadow announced suddenly.
    Pell was relieved. He was freezing cold and desperately tired. He wanted to find shelter, have a hot drink, eat some food and catch a few hours of sleep. If Elian had stopped, then so could
he.
    ‘Where?’
he asked.
    ‘Not far,’
Shadow replied, her voice encouraging.
‘They are holed up in a small wood just ahead and to our left. Hang on tight. We’re going down.’
    ‘Great. How did you find them?’
    ‘I didn’t. Aurora sensed me coming. She has given me directions. We should be there in less than a minute.’
    Pell was so relieved it hurt inside.
    ‘Are the girls there as well?’
he asked.
    There was a pause and Pell could feel Shadow reaching ahead with her mind.
    ‘I don’t think so,’
she said eventually.
‘If they are there, Fire and Fang are hiding their minds from me most effectively. I can feel no trace of
them.’
    Pell decided it would be a relief if they were not there. Kira brought out the worst in him. Everything she said seemed to spark him to anger. And Nolita was no less annoying. Her cringing fear
and maddening little rituals drove him to distraction. All that hand-washing! It beggared belief that she was a dragonrider at all.
    They descended steeply, adjusting their course to the left and dropping down into the darkness. Pell could not see a thing. He felt, more than saw, the ground approach. An instant before Shadow
adjusted the angle of her wings to arrest their rate of descent, his buttocks clenched instinctively and his stomach muscles tightened in anticipation. Shadow back-winged to a gentle landing.
Falling snow brushed at Pell’s face with tickling gentleness as it fell in a thick swarm around him.
    ‘Where are they, Shadow?’ he asked aloud. ‘I can’t see a thing.’
    ‘In the trees just ahead,’
she replied.
‘No more than about fifty of your paces, I’d say.’
    ‘I can’t even see the trees,’ he grunted. ‘Shall I get down, or can you get to them with me on your back?’
    ‘I suggest you get down,’
Shadow said.
‘The pines are quite thick. I will have to squeeze between the trees to reach them.’
    Pell knew from past experience that trying to get in amongst densely packed trees on a dragon’s back could be uncomfortable. In this light he would not be able to see the branches coming.
At least if he was on foot he could feel his way through the needle-laden boughs.
    Stiff with cold, he slid down Shadow’s left flank and landed with a thump into the ankle-deep snow. The shock of landing transmitted through his legs and up his back, carrying a ripple of
pain that highlighted just how cold-soaked he was. He grimaced as he straightened up, rubbing briefly at his thighs and lower back before taking his first careful steps forwards.
    The fifty paces felt more like five hundred. He had to feel his way into the darkness, taking each blind step carefully for fear of a branch in the eye, or of stepping into an unseen hole. The
dim light from Elian’s hidden fire was not visible until Pell was little more than ten paces away from where Elian was sitting. He had cleverly built it on the far side of a fallen tree, in
the crook between the trunk and one of the larger branches. It was tucked almost underneath, which restricted the light, but ensured that the heat would all reflect outwards in a specific
direction.
    All Pell could see of Elian was his head and shoulders over the fallen tree trunk that blocked his path, but he could tell that the younger boy was scanning the darkness, looking for him.
    ‘Evening, Elian,’ Pell said, trying to sound casual. ‘Nice spot