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T hey flew in darkness, just below the cloud bank, racing the rising sun. Early morning was just beneath the horizon, but Jai cared little. He wanted to be seen.

The leather of his new saddle creaked beneath him. It was a marvel, seated firm where it slotted over the spines of Winter’s back, and a steel pommel at its front where Jai could grip, or strap himself to.

Jai was glad of it, a rope pulled through his belt loops and knotted to the saddle giving him comfort for the fight to come.

Aerial battles were something that even the Caelite knew little about, for much of it was done by the totems themselves. But Jai knew that majicking was chief among the way their riders would fight.

Still, Erica was bullish about their chances. The Caelite had learned in their assessment of her accompanied flight back to her homeland that much of the Gryphon Guard were busy with the war far in the west, and that only a few accompanied the lone legion cutting its way through the Great Steppe. Four of them, split in pairs to cover enough ground to find their quarry, travelling at nightfall, but always returning to the legion just before dawn. Easy enough for two dragons to take on, right?

He had a full core, and a suite of spells he’d now had some time to practise within the Caelite arena.

Still, doubts plagued him. Engaging with the Gryphon Guard was surely a breach in the Caelite’s rules – would this be enough for him to be expelled?

His rage was abating, and in the growing glow of dawn he was beginning to regret their hasty choice to fly towards the legion. Where the reinforcements would not be far from whatever Gryphon Guard they caught.

Already, they could see the perfect square of the legion in the distance, and he knew the Gryphon Guard would be returning from their night scouting soon. He only hoped they did not return at the same time.

‘There!’ Erica called.

Winter saw it too, and it took Jai a while to see them. Two specks upon the horizon, growing larger by the second. She signalled with her thumb for them to ascend into the cloud bank, and Jai’s world turned wet and dark and cold, his vision becoming a grey blur.

He closed his eyes, letting the shock of cold shake any blood lust free, his mind focusing on their circumstance. An aerial battle.

It was a terrible time to fight. For it was the first night Erica had ridden Regin, and he was hardly an expert rider himself. And neither of them were trained in how to fight from dragon back.

They would throw their beasts into the fray, forcing them into a battle not of their making, against likely veterans of such fights. But he could feel Winter’s thoughts pulsing, her twinges of alarm as she tracked the approaching enemy through the clouds.

She was eager. Angry. She knew they hunted those responsible for the massacre. She wanted this.

There was no time to think now. The enemy were close. Any moment, they would be beneath them. Jai drew his blade, feeling the wind try to tug it from his grasp. He gripped with his knees, and lifted the other hand, charging his body with mana in preparation for his spell.

He raised his blade, and Erica the same, her outline murky in the rushing clouds around them. Jai stabbed down, and Winter plunged like a falling star, their twin pulses quickening with the rapid descent.

Below was a Gryphon Rider, cloaked in a gleaming golden armour. His gryphon saw them the moment they were through the cloud bank, a screech piercing Jai’s ears. It angled upward to meet them, the mighty wings of his beast flaring out like a war banner.

Winter’s roar reverberated through the sky, an indomitable call that Jai joined with a battle cry of his own. Water blurred his eyes, and the world lurched as Winter collided with a gryphon, her claws taking its side, feathered wings battering Jai’s face.

They fell in a spinning clash of claws, beak and talons, the two beasts snapping at each other like snakes, entangled limbs sending them tumbling. The world flipping once, twice. Then again, again, Jai hardly able to keep his grip.

The gryphon’s wings battered Jai with such force that for a brief, terrifying moment, he felt himself unseated. His blade became ensnared in the sinewy mass of the gryphon’s wing, pinning him in a precarious embrace.

A hailstorm of molten sun burst from the armoured knight’s hands, wild and desperate as they plummeted in their death spiral. The heat was scorching, blasting close by, and Jai could only grip his pommel, heave back and stab the wing through, blood spitting before the blade was yanked from his grip. Time felt as if it was stretching, each second a painful eternity. He couldn’t see, couldn’t think.

Panic, however fleeting, gripped him. The ground was rushing towards them, a vast expanse of unyielding earth. Each second brought them closer to its embrace.

Drawing on his reserves, Jai contorted his bladeless hand. With a cry, he unleashed a surge of kinetic energy, careless of its target, of its waste. It rippled outwards in a wave, blasting the gryphon rider and his steed away.

Winter’s wings flared, and they swooped, Jai flipping and dangling from the pommel, his feet scrabbling at the side of her neck. No time to clamber back, Winter pulling out of the dive, flying higher and higher.

A beam of pale light flashed past him, and Jai smelled the stench of burning hair, and a flare of agony along his shoulder. He spun, blasting his own wave of flame, hearing the gryphon screech as it banked away.

Far above, lights flashed like lightning in a storm, the sound of Erica’s own thunderous battle. Winter was in pain, her foreleg hanging limp, her neck bleeding from a dozen claw marks.

Yet, as Winter banked and spun to face their pursuer, he saw the gryphon had turned back, circling down in a limping spiral. One of its wings was flapping awkwardly, and Jai could see his blade hanging from its wing.

‘On, girl,’ Jai hissed. ‘We have him!’

Winter, loyal beyond measure, ignored her pain, dipping her wings with a determined growl. They plummeted in pursuit, wind tearing at them, ground rushing closer and closer. Spells blazed by, and she banked left, then right, a zigzag that nearly threw Jai from his seat, his returning balls of flame sporadic, pathetic.

The gryphon skidded to a halt, Winter hot on her trail. No sooner had the gryphon spun, her armoured rider raising his hand, did they slam together.

Jai fell, his line snapping, rolling and tumbling into the grass. He came to a halt, staggered to his feet. Saw the knight, a long blade in his hand, stabbing at a writhing mass of scale, fur and feather.

Rage. Jai screamed, hurling a burst of lightning from his fingers, sparking the very air itself. The knight spun away, even as Jai pursued him through the grass.

He almost tripped on the armoured figure, the man struggling to stand in the tangle of vegetation. Bladeless, Jai straddled him, placing his hand upon the helmet, summoning the last dregs of mana he had within. He blasted fire through the slit, seeing the eyes widen, then peel away, the mailed hands snatching for his neck falling limp.

Behind him, he heard the gryphon scream, as its master’s soul shattered. Enough for Winter to wring its neck with a savage shake of her head.

Above, Jai saw Regin circling down, Erica’s blade drawn. There was no sign of her quarry.

He staggered to Winter, kneeling to see where her leg hung limp and broken.

Sobbing, he tried to heal it, but his mana was all gone. She lapped at his face, bloodying his cheeks. Jai hugged her close, relief flooding him. Never again.

Such risk, and for what? Petty vengeance? Now, in the dirt, with his love wounded and broken, their victory felt hollow. He had barely survived, surprise and luck winning the day. The Gryphon Guard were formidable indeed.

‘What happened?’ Jai called, hearing the thud of Regin’s landing.

Erica leaped down, her eyes searching above.

‘Injured, but we lost him in the clouds,’ she said, pushing her way through the grass. ‘Regin wouldn’t follow.’

The dragon snorted, licking at a burn seared across his shoulder. Jai could hardly blame him.

He turned and kicked the fallen gryphon, its beak half-open, its strange animal stench heavy in his nostrils.

Jai pulled his blade free and stabbed it deep into its chest, sawing until he could reach in and pull the soulgem from within, his hand struggling to tug forth the clotted rock.

It came away with a sick squelch.

Erica stared in awe, for it was larger than a grapefruit, a lump of golden crystal filled with liquid light.

‘We should move,’ she warned. ‘He’ll be back with the others if we’re not careful.’

Jai sniffed, and raised the blade one more time.

‘Just one more thing,’ he said.