Time to go, Weysh called to them. They hunched down and Weysh dove off the platform. Rushing wind cooled the sweat on Yenni’s heated skin, and she took deep, wheezing breaths of the fresh night air. Weysh arced around the pillar and took off in the opposite direction from Noriago, toward the cliffs that bordered the mountain pass. Yenni knew his main goal was to get them to safety, but she hated to know that that rat prick, as Weysh would put it, was escaping once again. She turned on Weysh’s back, watching him go.

Please, Mother Ya, must he escape justice?

Something large and winged streaked through the air like a whistling spear, colliding with Noriago. Another dragon! The two went spinning to the rocks below. Weysh landed on the other side of the gorge and spun around, so that the women wobbled atop him.

Harth! he bellowed.

Harth? She pulled on her focus runes, strengthening her vision to match Weysh’s dragon eyes. Sure enough, the other dragon was their green friend.

“Har-tha!” Yenni screamed as well. Weysh crouched, growling. Yenni could see he was anxious to go help, but he also didn’t want to leave her. A small figure leapt off Harth’s back and a moment later Zui twisted and writhed in the sky. Harth dipped and zoomed and harried Noriago while Zui, for her part, attacked Noriago with those deadly streams of hers, aiming for his wings. Noriago could protect himself from Harth’s fire, but not Zui’s jets. Harth distracted him while with practiced aim, Zui pierced each of Noriago’s wings.

Noriago fell, screeching, and crashed onto a platform below. As they watched, he tried to get up, flapping weakly before falling back to the trees. Again and again.

Zui flew over while Harth perched on the platform across from Noriago, screeching at him.

Zui touched down on the cliffs and changed. “Yenni!” she cried and hugged her. “I’m glad to see you’re okay!”

Yenni squeezed her back. “And I’m glad to see you! How did you find us?”

“Harth became quite suspicious when Weysh was supposed to show up for dinner and an hour later his plate remained unaccosted. We went to Weysh’s place to sniff him out, and caught Noriago’s scent instead. So we followed.”

Weysh let out a soft dragon moan. Thank you so much, both of you.

“Weysh, take Yenni and Carmenna back to safety and bring the peacekeepers. We’ll watch him.”

Weysh screeched his thanks to his friends and dove off the platform, speeding them back to the city.

39

The next couple of weeks were a tempest of activity. Noriago was well and truly arrested, and finally locked away in an Espannian prison. Yenni and Weysh gave testimony at the trials for Gilles Desroches and Emmanuel Devon—open and shut affairs due to the mountain of evidence against them—and they too went away.