The Unmaking (The Last Days of Tian Di, #2)(29)

The dragon lifted its head ever so slightly, looking back at her, waiting. So she put her dagger away and took hold of one of the gold spikes with both hands. She braced her left foot against the creature’s neck and heaved herself up and over, so she was seated at the base of the neck, between spikes, her back against the one behind her, holding on to the one ahead of her. As soon as she was settled, the dragon lumbered towards that square of light. The Mancer Citadel could move from place to place in Di Shang but for some years now it had been perched on the edge of a cliff in the arid plains approaching the Western Ocean. The door opened onto a dizzying drop into a canyon. The dragon leaped through the open door, joyfully stretched out its huge wings and pounded the air. The other dragons, letting out sharp, whistling screams, followed close behind. All five of them, including the dragon that carried Eliza, swooped down into the canyon and soared back up, embracing the wind and spitting fire. Unlike the wild dragons Swarn commanded, these dragons spent most of their time in a dark cavern. No wonder the open sky seemed to bring them such delight. Eliza, too, felt a great release in leaving the conquered Citadel behind. A part of her wanted only to go and hide or return to Tian Xia and beg Swarn for protection as Charlie had told her to. But she knew Nia was not lying when she said the monster she had made was going to find Eliza’s mother. There was no time to go to Tian Xia, and hiding was not an option. It was not only her mother she had to protect. She was the Shang Sorceress. If the Mancers were all turned to stone there was only her to stop the thing before it hurt anyone. Nia knew her well and had created the perfect distraction.

As these thoughts raced through her mind, something struck her like a thunderbolt – created. I’ve made something special, Nia had said. Eliza couldn’t be sure that the thing was not Illusion but if Nia thought Eliza might have Faery blood with which to defend herself against Illusion it seemed unlikely she would rely on it. The ravens had warned her about Nia’s coming and about Making. Could it be that Nia had in fact Made a monster, just as that long ago wizard had Made the mortal dragons? If the thing was not an Illusion, what else could it be?

At her command, the dragons veered south over the parched earth. She kept an eye out for Charlie but did not see him and tried not to worry. Unlike her mother and all the people in the border towns between here and the desert, Charlie could take care of himself. He was a survivor, she told herself. The dragons dove in formation. Soon Eliza saw what they had seen. Nia’s creature was flying low to the ground in an odd sort of zig-zag, roaring occasionally.

Eliza kept the Onbeweglich Cord always looped at the back of her coat. They had been a birthday present from Foss. While Foss had no doubt been right that it was excessive to use such powerful bonds on Abimbola Broom, they would be useful now. If Nia had Made this creature, then perhaps catching and killing it would hurt her in some way. Two of the dragons were making for it at a terrifying speed. When they were almost upon it they each spat a long blade of fire straight into it. The creature seemed to draw the flames into itself, absorbing the fire into its burning body, trailing flames through the air and burning even more brightly in the seams and cracks between its seared flesh. Eliza’s dragon stayed above the others to give her a good view of what was happening. Fire would be of no use, obviously. The thing was already on fire; it was half made of fire. A third dragon dove into the thing and made to tear it apart with its vicious talons. The talons cut right through the monster but could not pull it apart. It was bonded tight by something else, something not physical. The burning flesh and bright, visible bone was severed in so many places and yet everything remained in place as if held together by some internal gravity. They had been flying low and the dragon hurled the burning beast to the ground. It tumbled and rolled and then rose upright with another roar, wings flexing. It was a roar of such unrelenting agony and rage that Eliza’s heart clenched and a sob rose to her throat. Another dragon made a pass over its head. The beast leaped into the air and scraped its spiked fists against the scales of the dragon’s belly. The dragon screamed and pounded its wings, rising out of reach, but the thing moved with it and drove several fists at once right into its chest. The other dragons all made for the thing at once and it fell away from them, spinning in flames as they breathed great balls of fire onto it. The hurt dragon crashed to the ground and threw its head back with a hideous scream. The monster was upon it in no time, slashing at its neck, and had to be pulled off by the three others while Ka’s dragon circled anxiously overhead with Eliza on its back. What Eliza saw below her was a simple stalemate. The dragons were faster and stronger and outnumbered Nia’s creation but the thing had one very clear advantage – it seemed to be indestructible. The dragons could tear it to pieces but it was already torn to pieces. They could burn it with fire but it was already burning. How could they destroy destruction embodied? They could delay it and hold it off but until they understood how it had been Made they could not kill it.

The hurt dragon was spitting blood now, thrashing its wings with rage. But Eliza knew enough from Swarn’s tales of dragon-killing to know it was not near death yet.

“Down,” Eliza told Ka’s dragon and he dove straight for the raging beast. As they approached, she felt her breath drawn out of her, the air growing hot and thin and then unbreathable. This was not like killing the Cra. She could not make an error here. She gave herself over to her Deep Knowing, whirled the Onbeweglich Cord over her head and let them fly, holding one end in her hand. The lasso at the other end looped neatly over the monster’s neck and Eliza pulled it fast. The dragon circled the thing at breakneck speed and Eliza wound the Cord around it. She had it, bound fast. But just as soon as she felt a surge of triumph the thing began to burn brighter inside, bleeding lava out between its cracks. It strained and strained and twisted and then burst free of the Cord, leaving the Magic rope she had used to lasso so many of the Cra in tatters. Ka’s dragon rose quickly out of reach of the thing. It did not pursue them. Eliza drew in a deep shuddering breath of air.