Chapter 9
Verrian had to fight not to let his arms tighten around Lisa’s waist as she swerved back into the trees. He listened, but the car continued to drive. It had no interest in them.
Once the vehicle was out of earshot, Verrian lost interest in it.
His mind was still reeling from Lisa’s comments.
How could she even think that it wasn’t his right to object to her seeing someone else when they were mated?
The trouble was, he couldn’t argue with her reasoning. She’d made the ultimate sacrifice for him. He couldn’t fault her for that. She hadn’t mated him for love, or even for prestige or power. She’d only done it to save his life.
He’d thought, when they talked before they’d done it, that she might have loved him. She’d sounded like she did. That’s why he’d given in.
A huge error in judgement. That was what came of being in a rush. His clan always said that to rush into a mating was a mistake, and he’d always taken that seriously. He’d kept his distance so many times, and then the one time he should have stayed strong, he’d let himself be fooled.
His heart ached. The truth was, he did want to spend the rest of his life with her. She was funny, clever, quick witted, and yet still sensitive and caring. She was perfect for him.
Pity she didn’t feel the same way.
It wasn’t her fault that he desperately wanted the mating to mean something more than she did.
And it wasn’t right for him to demand that of her. She’d already given him so much, he had no right to expect more.
Trouble was, he wasn’t sure he could keep his distance. Every time he tried to think about doing so, his stomach tied itself in knots and every fibre of his body protested.
Verrian bit back a sigh. So what was he supposed to do?
Maybe when he got back to his clan, Taurian might be able to advise him.
He gave a short laugh at the thought of his hot headed younger brother giving him advice, but Taurian had been mated while Verrian was still asleep. Surely that must have given him some wisdom?
If not, the clan must have some elders, one of them would surely be able to offer him some useful suggestions.
They just had to get back there first.
Thick tree trunks whizzed past Verrian’s head. They were moving far faster between the trees than he’d dare fly. He hoped Lisa knew what she was doing and where they were going. He couldn’t help from the ground.
Not with driving anyway. What he should be doing was listening out for anyone that might see them. Their vehicle wasn’t making any noise, but others who passed nearby would be.
Verrian focused on the sounds around them. The whistle of the wind as they passed close to trees, the hoot of a nearby owl, the sound of a car, passing somewhere to the left of them. None of those noises seemed a threat.
Verrian relaxed a little. Lisa’s plan was sound. Yet another of her brilliant ideas that would get them out of this. He wished he had ideas like that. Then maybe he’d do okay when she left him.
Verrian gave himself a shake. Not thinking about that. He was listening.
Something moved to the right of them. Verrian strained his ears. Was it an enemy? It moved suddenly, soft thumps followed by the thud of a tail. A mob of kangaroos. Nothing to worry about.
Another sound intruded into his thoughts. A far away thudding, more continuous and rhythmic than the kangaroo’s departure. It was so distant that at first Verrian wasn’t sure he was even hearing it. But slowly the sound came closer, grew more persistent.
He wasn’t sure what it was, but it couldn’t be good. “Something’s coming,” he informed Lisa.
“What?” she asked sharply.
If only he knew. “It sounds like this.” He mimicked the sound into Lisa’s mind.
She swore, out loud, but under her breath. She pulled over into the trees and immediately killed the motorbike engine and its headlights. “It’s a helicopter. Probably looking for us. We need to hide in the trees and hope they don’t see us.”
Verrian’s heart constricted. A helicopter. He’d seen the human’s flying contraptions on the television. Their high vantage point would give the humans the advantage he didn’t have right now. Would it see them from up there in the sky? He knew he could spot prey, but his eyes were better than the human’s. He’d already noticed that. “Will they be able to see us?”
“If we’re in the dark, I don’t know. I hope not. But we have a better chance than with the headlights on.”
Maybe Lisa was right and the helicopter would pass them by in the dark. She’d been right about everything else.
They waited as the sound came closer and closer, their frantic heartbeats loud in the silence of the forest.
Lisa’s hand reached for his in the darkness and held it. The simple gesture eased a little of the fear in Verrian’s heart.
Even if she didn’t love him, surely she cared a little? Maybe there was some way, once this danger was past and they were safe back in the lair with his family, that they could nurture this connection they obviously had.
Maybe if he did something spectacular enough, he could win her love.
Then the helicopter was overhead and any thoughts of doing spectacular things were blown away in the wind from its… whatever it was it used to fly. It wasn’t wings flapping, they wouldn’t make that kind of noise nor produce the kind of wind that blew the trees around so crazily.
It hovered above them, its forward momentum stopped. Had it seen them somehow?
Was there any other excuse for it stopping right here?
But how? Could it somehow see in the darkness and trees?
Verrian held his breath.
Lisa’s hand squeezed his. She was barely breathing too.
Then suddenly a spotlight came on, directed straight at them, its beam shining through the branches and illuminating the spot where they stood. An unnaturally loud voice said, “This is the police. Please step out of the trees.”
“Crap,” Lisa’s panicked voice said in Verrian’s head. “They’ve found us.”
“We need to run. Maybe even fly,” Verrian said back.
“No.” Lisa shook her head. “Not fly. They’ll be able to keep up. Then they’ll know you’re a dragon. No flying.”
He hadn’t listened to her last time. Instead, he’d convinced her that flying was the best option, and it had led them into this mess. This time, he was going to listen. “What do we do then?”
Lisa was silent for a second. She took a couple of deep breaths, and her heartrate slowed a little. “They’ll have backup here soon, we need to move now. There isn’t room for them to land here. We have to lose them somehow. Maybe, if they can’t hear the bike, we can lose them in the trees.”
There was only one flaw in her plan. “They will be able to see the headlights,” Verrian pointed out. “And you said you couldn’t drive without them.”
Lisa’s shoulders slumped. “What are we going to do then? Surrender?”
That wasn’t even an option. Verrian would fly up there and attack the helicopter before he’d surrender.
Somehow, he didn’t think Lisa would approve of that plan.
“I’ll drive,” he said. “My dragon eyes can see better in the dark than your human ones.”
Lisa looked at him doubtfully. “You don’t know how.”
“Show me, quickly.”
Their mental conversation was far faster than a physical one would have been, but they were still running out of time. There was no time to argue.
Lisa quickly explained the bike’s controls. Not too confusing. Verrian threw his leg over the bike, and Lisa climbed on behind him.
For a minute, Verrian was frozen with uncertainty. He’d tried many examples of the human’s technology in the last few days, and managed them well enough. But this was different. This motorbike wasn’t like the computer or the TV or the fridge. It wasn’t going to just sit there and wait for him to bumble his way around.
It was a powerful machine, and it needed to be handled with confidence and certainty. If he hesitated, then the bike would win.
He did have one experience that mirrored that almost exactly.
Every time he spread his wings and took off, it was exactly the same. One wrong move, and he could come crashing down to the ground. But he never had.
Verrian grasped hold of that confidence, and used it.
The helicopter hovered over their heads, the sound loud enough that Verrian wasn’t even sure they could hear the bike engine over it. As he started it up, he covered it anyway.
“Step out of the trees, a police car will be here soon. You are directed to wait until they arrive,” the loud voice from the helicopter said again.
It was as though it knew what they were planning on doing.
In the distance, Verrian could hear a siren. They were coming.
Panic filled him. This was bad. Very bad.
What if he never saw his brothers and sisters again? What if he never saw his clan again? What if they took him away from Lisa?
He couldn’t bear that.
He needed to do something about that helicopter. Since Lisa had vetoed flying, he couldn’t fly up there and attack it. He’d have to do it from the ground.
At the same time as riding the bike. No pressure.
He kicked the bike into gear and they started forwards through the trees, Verrian had a clear view of the aircraft, shining its light directly into his eyes, blinding him.
Verrian focused down on the ground, away from the lights. He didn’t need to see it, the sound told him exactly where it was.
Verrian sent a directed burst of sound directly at the whirring craft. He was pretty sure he could knock it out of the air with his sound blast, but that wasn’t what he was aiming for. If the helicopter fell to the ground, he didn’t think the humans would survive the fall, and he didn’t want to kill them. Not if he had another choice.
This blast was designed to deafen the pilots, just for long enough to disorient them.
It must have done something, because the light suddenly dipped. It took Verrian’s eyes a few seconds to adjust to the darkness enough to be able to tell where he should drive. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping to hurry the adjustment.
A strange, high pitched sound filled the clearing. For a moment, Verrian panicked. Were they somehow turning his sound back around on them, but the sound cut off after a few seconds. Feedback, from whatever device they had used to create the loud voices.
He could see the way now, the trees darker than the spaces between them. It was going to be a wild ride, but he could do it.
Not that they had much choice.
They sped through the trees. Verrian twisted around, trying to see if the helicopter was following them without throwing the bike off balance. He couldn’t see any sign of the flying vehicle. His heart skipped a beat. Had he done it?
“Are they gone?” he asked.
It almost seemed too easy.
Lisa twisted around to look. “No,” she said flatly.
At the same time, Verrian saw it. Some distance back, but still moving towards them.
How was the vehicle tracking them? It couldn’t possibly be by sound.
“How are they finding us?” he demanded
“Heat signatures probably. They have a camera that can detect the heat we’re giving off. There’s no fooling that one.”
The humans were, indeed, ingenious. It would be almost impossible to spoof.
That is, if you weren’t a dragon.
Verrian knew that his sound could create heat. Not hot enough to set anything on fire, but with enough of it, surely he could confuse the helicopter? If he could make the whole area hotter, it would never be able to see them.
Trouble was, the whole area was huge. He couldn’t possibly cover enough of it to enable them to escape undetected.
Maybe though, he could confuse them a little.
Verrian created intense bursts of sound, enough to generate plenty of heat, and sent them out in all directions. At the same time, he swerved to the left, making sure to send one burst of sound in the direction they had been travelling.
It was working. The light flicked off them for a second, hopefully following one of his bursts. Then it was back.
It wasn’t enough. He needed more.
Summoning all the energy he could, and drawing a little from his mate, Verrian sent another burst of sound up at the helicopter, a little stronger than the one he’d sent earlier. That should have the pilot’s ears ringing. At the same time, he sent out more waves of heat creating sound.
The sirens were getting closer. Once the police car found them, they’d have two vehicles to evade. In a moment of inspiration, Verrian pulled out the sound of the sirens, and magnified it at the helicopter.
The more he could throw at them, the more chance he had of distracting them.
This time, it worked. The light dipped, and it didn’t find them again.
They sped through the darkness. Verrian used all his concentration to weave his way through the trees. He could see, but not as well as he would have liked.
The sound from the helicopter faded away.
Unfortunately, the sound of the siren didn’t.
“The police car’s found us,” Lisa said, her voice panicked.
Verrian glanced over his shoulder, the bike swerving, tree branches whipping his face as he tried to look back to gauge where the car was.
The red and blue flashing lights nearly blinded his eyes that were adjusted to the darkness. He’d never seen them before, but the sound of the siren was all too familiar.
“We’re never going to get away.” Lisa’s tone was hopeless.
Verrian’s heart constricted. Lisa was always so positive, always so sure that there was a way out. If she’d lost hope…
No, he wouldn’t believe that this was it. He wasn’t going to give up.
He stared back. The larger car wasn’t as nimble as they were. Perhaps they could lose it in the trees? He swerved deeper into the forest. Surely the car couldn’t follow them here?
They didn’t make it far before the ground began to rise sharply. They broke out of the neat, tidy, rows of pine trees into wild Australian bush.
Not the sort of area you could ride any kind of vehicle through. Especially not in the dark.
Verrian swerved back into the forest, back towards the police car.
It was on a road, even if it was a bumpy dirt one and it could go faster than they could over the rough terrain. It was gaining on them.
Verrian twisted around and threw a blast of sound at them. Unlike the helicopter, this seemed to have no visible effect.
He hesitated over throwing a stronger blast.
If it were a dragon following them, he wouldn’t hesitate, but humans were different. They caused a lot of problems, but so far, none had actually tried to hurt him.
They weren’t dragons, and they weren’t even remotely prepared for what he could throw at them.
He needed a better way. He didn’t want to injure them, just slow them down enough for them to get away.
Branches snapped under the wheel of the bike and he had to swerve around a larger branch.
Out there on the road, the police car wasn’t meeting with any such obstacles.
Maybe he needed to give them one.
Verrian aimed his blast at the trunk of one of the pine trees. His aim wasn’t deafening sound this time, but a concussive blast. Enough to damage the tree trunk, and send it crashing down across the road, its canopy hit the trees on the other side, completely blocking the road.
The police car hit the brakes, swerving to a stop just before it hit the tree.
Verrian didn’t stop or look back. They sped on through the darkness, slowly leaving the sirens behind.
Still, it was a long time before Verrian’s breathing slowed back to a normal pace. He kept expecting to hear more helicopters or police sirens behind them. Surely the humans wouldn’t give up so easily?
When none appeared, he came to the conclusion that they must have taken the bait. Hopefully they’d given up on him and Lisa because they were off chasing Ultrima.
That thought was immensely satisfying.