The ground below passed by in a blur as the powerful black dragon sped forward, climbing higher and higher, until the creature and its rider were soaring above the clouds. Gazing down, Palemon saw the city shrink until it became the size of a dinner plate. He swiftly left behind the walled settlement of stone nestled against the shore of the deep blue sea, the connection point between the lands of the southern desert and the world.

‘Faster!’ Palemon commanded. The wings beat down furiously and the wind now whistled past the king’s face so quickly that his eyes watered and he could hear nothing besides the roar of air shrieking in his ears. With a start he wondered how the dragon could hear him and then he made a sudden realization.

Higher. He projected the command mentally rather than speaking it aloud. The copper reins quivered in his hands and the dragon climbed, obeying his will. In turn he could feel something of the dragon’s thoughts. He could sense frustration and weariness, and profound violation, but Palemon didn’t care; his steed was his to command.

The afternoon sun was setting in the west and he put it at his back, leaving Malakai far behind as he sped through the sky, heading east until he saw an immense lake in the distance on his right. Remembering the maps he’d seen, he knew that this was Lake Tara, an important freshwater lake, fed by a snaking waterway of rapids and waterfalls from the deep interior of the southern continent. He was flying so fast that soon Lake Tara was behind him, rather than ahead.

Teeth gritted, so high up that to fall would mean death in the smallest part of an instant, Palemon nonetheless felt soaring exhilaration as he continued onward. He cared nothing for the growing fatigue of the creature beneath him; when he returned he would feed it and let it rest. For now, he planned to revel in his newfound power and freedom.

The terrain below was far greener than Imakale, and he knew he was in Shadria, a dominion of the Ilean Empire and a region that had revolted in the past, but was now firmly in the grip of King Kargan in Lamara. Continuing onward, he then saw a long coastline, perpendicular to the path of his flight. The stretch of water he was looking at was the Shadrian Passage, the wide waterway that separated Shadria from Ilea and divided the Salesian continent neatly in two.

He ordered the dragon to fly lower as something caught his eye.