Page 25 of Flames and Blood

That’s when my dragon rises.

Not at either of the men. Not at anything inside this box. She comes up aimed at the dark outside the mesh, straight up the road ahead of us, and she’s harder to hold than she’s ever been.

I put everything I have into keeping her down.

That used to be enough. It isn’t now. She isn’t fighting me. She’s just coming, and I can’t stop her, and both vehicles keep slowing into the turn around us.

She isn’t afraid.

She’s the only thing in this compartment that isn’t.

Something’s about to happen.

She’s been waiting for it.

Chapter 6

Crowe

I take the truck up the fire road faster than the map says anyone should. Their road is the highway. Wide, easy, the kind a convoy picks when it doesn’t want questions at a fuel stop. Mine is a logging track that climbs straight up through the forest, and no vehicle their size would risk it. Rougher ground, fewer miles. I drive every one of them too fast to be sensible.

Two roads, and one place they meet. A pass with a single road through it and one turn tight enough to drop any vehicle to walking pace.

I know roughly when they’ll reach it. I know exactly when the sun comes up. Everything I’m going to do has to fit between those two.

Not long.

The truck drops through a washout hard enough to bounce the gear in the back, and I hear Kent catch his rifle before it slides off the seat. In the mirror, he’s got it across his knees, checking it a second time.

Meyer sits with one boot braced against the seat frame and watches the road climb past the window.

“How many are we dealing with?” the kid asks.

“The order lists two riding in the back with her. That’s all it lists.”

“And the ones it doesn’t list?”

“There’ll be a driver. There’ll be a man beside him. After that I’m guessing, and I don’t like guessing.”

“Right.” He turns the rifle over. “Because there’s three of us.”

“There’s three of us.”

“Almost too easy.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself, kid,” Meyer tells him.

We climb for a while. The trees close over the track. Past the headlights there’s nothing at all.

“When did you last feed?” I ask Kent.

“Before we left the site.”

“Meyer?”

“Same.”

“Good. Nobody starts anything hungry.” I take the next bend without slowing. “And nobody feeds on that mountain. Not off the crew, not off anyone in that vehicle, not for any reason you think is a good one at the time.”