Sure enough, after only a few seconds there came the sound of something gigantic stirring, of a massive exhalation of breath as something gathered itself ready for action, and then they heard the terrifying, unmistakable sound of huge wings flapping and a monstrous throat panting with exertion. Thomas made the mistake of looking behind him, not even this terrible danger stifling his insatiable curiosity, and he screamed as he saw an impossibly large head rising on the end of a long, serpentine neck from behind the very building they'd just emerged from. It searched this way and that, and gave a bellow of rage as its eyes fixed on the questers. Then it lunged forward, smashing its way right through the building, bringing it down in a shower of rubble and billowing clouds of dust. Thomas screamed again, turning and running faster then he'd ever run in his life, knowing that nothing but speed could save them now.

     They reached a street that was still full of vegetation just seconds before the dragon, and they dived in, praying that the cover it provided would be enough to hide them. Thomas half expected it to incinerate them with a blast of flame, even though he knew that it would want the book intact, so he gasped in relief when it merely launched itself into the air, passing overhead with a rush of displaced air, landing in the street ahead of them and blocking it completely. Behind them, he heard the Shadowsoldiers closing in, their numbers growing as more and more appeared out of doorways and sidestreets. They were trapped!

     The dragon stretched its huge head out on the end of its long neck, trying to see the intruders through the thick vegetation. It was like trying to find eight mice in long grass, with only the occasional rustle of a leafy branch betraying their position. It reached out a huge, scaly forepaw, each finger of which was the size of a man's leg, and with a single swipe cleared a great swathe of vegetation right across the street, then another, but the enemies remained hidden. For a moment, it considered clearing the whole street with a blast of flame, but the precious book couldn't be damaged at any cost. There'd be time enough to punish these impudent intruders when the book was safely in their hands, but for the time being it sat back and let its tiny bipedal servants sort them out. It waved a claw at the Shadowsoldiers who had lined up across the street, and they rushed into the greenery with a great shout.

     Thomas and the others had stood paralysed with terror as the dragon's claw raked through the greenery just a few feet away from them. Looking up, he could see the underside of the huge reptile's chin twenty feet above him. Its skin was covered with brick red scales, some as large as dinnerplates, but the underside of its neck was yellower and softer looking and clusters of short tendrils hung from the hinges of its jaws. The overall effect was one of supreme power, confidence and majesty, and the wizard felt an insane surge of pride that he was about to be killed by such a magnificent creature.

     But it was not to be, and he felt a strange sense of betrayal as he heard the Shadowsoldiers closing in behind. Then he felt someone grab his arm, and looked around to see Drake pulling him to the side of the street. "Come on," he hissed. "If we can get inside this building, we've got a chance. Pray that there's a back way out." They climbed in through the window, and found the others already there, clearing away a pile of rubble that blocked the door into the next room.

     With all of them working together, it took just a few seconds to clear the door, and then they were through. They ran from room to room, trying to get as far away from the dragon as possible, until they came to the building's opposite side and exited through another window into a small alley, piled high with rubble in places and choked with low shrubbery, none of it more than three feet high. They struggled along it, heading for the door into the next building that they saw a few yards away, but as they were going in the dragon's head appeared in the sky above them as it leapt up onto the building they'd just left, its claws sending a shower of tiles and masonry down onto them as it scrabbled for purchase. Drake waved the others in and, as the huge head snaked down towards him on the end of its long neck, the huge jaws opening wide to snap him up, he swung his huge broadsword, breaking a couple of teeth and cutting its gum. The head jerked back in surprise, dripping a few drops of black blood, and as it shot down again for another strike Drake vanished through the door.

     The dragon gave a roar of amusement, enjoying the chase, and leapt across the alley onto the second building. The eight travellers ran from room to room in near panic as they heard the giant lizard tearing the roof off and then reaching down with its claws to tear through the dividing floors. They reached another external door, but were dismayed to find that it led to a wide main road completely cleared of vegetation, and as Shaun timidly crept out, the dragon saw him and he jumped back inside, just in time to avoid a lash from its tail.

     "We're trapped!" he cried. "What do we do now?"

     Before anyone could reply, a giant scaly claw ripped out the ceiling, showering them with rubble, and they looked up to see the dragon looking down at them. "Don't look at it!" cried Thomas, remembering how he'd been frozen with fear earlier, but it was too late for Diana, Shaun, Matthew and Petronax who were caught by the creature's gaze like mice in the gaze of a cobra, sheer terror draining their will and leaving them helpless to move, or even to look away. The dragon reached down with its claw, and Drake draw his sword for a last desperate and futile defence.

     Thomas acted quickly. Summoning up all his willpower to resist the panic that threatened to overwhelm him, he looked the dragon right in the eyes, pointed his finger and shot a pair of firebolts, one into each eyeball. It roared in pain and closed its eyes, freeing the four it had held spellbound, and Thomas urged them out into the street before it could recover, just in time. Just a second after the last of them ran out the door, the whole building exploded in flames, knocking them flat into the ashes. They picked themselves up and scrambled through a doorway on the other side of the street, just as the dragon recovered its eyesight and searched around for them in fury.

     "No, you fool!" they heard a distant human voice calling. "You'll destroy the book!"

     "They stung me!" roared the dragon in a deep, booming voice, its eyes still smarting painfully. "Rotten, horrible little human! Nobody stings me like that! I'll burn them all!" It tore the roofs from one building after another, trying to find the one they had escaped into.

     "Get the book first!" called the human voice again. "Then you can do whatever you want with them!"

     "Don't give me orders!" bellowed the dragon. "I don't take orders from any human! Not even you!"

     "Krassban put me in charge of this expedition, not you!" shouted back the human. "Destroy the book, and we might as well all go home, and then you'll have him to answer to."

     There was no reply to that. This Krassban, whoever he is, must be a pretty formidable person, thought Thomas. He wondered whether the goblin who'd found them had heard Petronax say where the Orb was, and if so, how long it would take for the human in charge to hear of it. When he did, they wouldn't need the book any longer, and there'd no longer be any reason to take them alive. He imagined the goblin tugging at the human commander's sleeve, trying to get his attention, and shuddered as the whole building they were in shook with the dragon's fury.