“It’s them!” shouted Fillan. “Coll, it’s them!”
Dragon and Wolf were fighting.
Wolf seemed even more gaunt from here, straggly and desperate, losing ground with every step. Dragon was huge and covered in armour plating. It looked indestructible. It looked like nothing could stop it, ever. It struck again and again, driving Wolf back towards a cliff edge.
“Go!” shouted Coll. “Come on, go!”
Cub tumbled downwards and Brann swore as the crew lost their rhythm. Coll could feel her trying to keep control of Cub’s shape. “We need power!” she roared.
Coll understood. He tried to pour his faith into their little Construct. “Cub!” he roared. “Cub!”
“Cub!” shouted Fillan, and Rieka too. Cub’s wings pulled into a dive and he steadied, studying his prey, aiming for Dragon’s head. “CUB!” shouted the crew.
Dragon didn’t notice until almost too late. It reared its head back in surprise and Cub’s beak narrowly missed its eyes, instead gouging a scar across its snout. Cub tried to claw at Dragon’s face, but Dragon swung its huge muzzle and smashed against the smaller Construct, sending them hurtling through the air and crashing to the ground.
Coll and the others were thrown from side to side. The gyroscopes and stabilisers screamed, trying to absorb the impact, but Coll’s ears rang and his shoulders ached from the harness straps.
He stared up at Dragon as it lumbered towards them. “Move,” he muttered, but Brann just shook her head in confusion. She seemed stunned.
Coll stared at her. “Wolf shape!” he roared suddenly. “We need to be wolf shape again!” He pushed his thoughts down into the Construct. Dragon raised a mighty foot to crush them—
Cub transformed back into wolf form, his wings becoming legs again, his feathers turning into fur. Coll felt Fillan’s willpower join his, and their Construct scrambled away on four legs just as the foot smashed down.
Dragon stopped and leaned back. It gazed at them, tipping its head as if surprised. But then it rumbled forward again, and the ground trembled under its massive weight.
They couldn’t fight like this, Coll thought. On the ground Dragon would destroy them…
“We need to fly again!” he shouted. “Brann, think Raven! Give us wings!”
Brann nodded and closed her eyes. Cub’s front feet splayed back out into wings and flapped, and Coll desperately counted down-and-up, down-and-up as the little Construct fluttered into the air. Dragon stopped again, watching them.
“Lead it round!” Coll ordered, and Brann guided Cub through the air behind Dragon, forcing it to turn. They tried to swoop, but Dragon reared up more quickly than they expected, and they pulled back again. Dragon’s stubby wings flapped as if trying to lift it into the air, but it was too armoured now, too heavy to fly.
“We’re safe here!” Brann shouted.
But Dragon’s tail suddenly whipped round like a mace. They only just pulled back in time; Coll watched the spiked tail swish past a metre away, and the force of the air sent them tumbling.
Then Dragon gave a surprised snarl, almost a yelp. It turned back and Coll saw – Wolf was attacking!
She had leapt while Dragon was distracted, and now her huge jaws crunched down on Dragon’s head. She seemed to have had a surge of energy, and was clawing and scraping in fury. Brann steadied Cub, lifted them up high, and brought the little Construct down like an arrow, faster and faster. They slammed into Dragon’s back, Cub’s long sharp beak gouged into the armour, and Coll shuddered as he felt the collision through every bone in his body.
Dragon’s hide buckled, twisted – and ripped open!
The Construct roared in fury, perhaps even in pain, and it shook itself violently. Cub tumbled to the ground again, sorting his wings just enough to slow his fall before he landed.
“Wolf shape again!” shouted Coll. “Lose the wings!”
Cub’s wings became paws, racing forward along the ground out of Dragon’s reach. And now, behind them, the real Wolf was attacking again! She seized Dragon’s back, aiming for the torn armour, trying to worry it loose.
Coll, battered and dizzy, checked the others. “Is everyone all right?” he bellowed.
Brann swore very loudly. Fillan stuck up a thumb. Kevin was tucked under his arm and making excited chick-chicks. But Rieka shook her head.
“It’s not enough,” she muttered. “Dragon’s just too big, Coll. It’s not enough.”
Coll stared up at the massive Construct. Even as he watched, it hurled Wolf away and she slammed into the trees with a yelp. Rieka was right. Between them, all they’d managed was to buckle one piece of armour, and they’d been lucky. If Dragon got one solid hit on them… It was so big and heavy, indomitable, almost tottering on its dragon legs under the huge weight of armour. Coll felt a sympathetic pain in his knee as his new prosthetic dug into him. He was still unsteady with it…
He looked down. “Fillan? Can you be … Boar?”
The others stared at him. “Boar?” asked Fillan. He frowned for a moment, then nodded. “I can be Boar. Boar… Yes.”
Dragon heaved forward. Coll said, “Now, Fillan. Do it now and aim for its ankles. Do it now!”
Cub ran towards Dragon. As he did so, Fillan closed his eyes and the little Construct changed mid-run. His head spread wider and thicker, becoming ridged and powerful. Long, thick tusks with razor-sharp tips grew up and out of his mouth, and his body became barrel-shaped, his legs short but powerful—
“BOAR!” shouted Fillan.
Dragon swung its head down but Cub slipped underneath, dipped his head and smashed hard into Dragon’s front-right leg, with the speed of a wolf and the force of a boar. There was the horrible sound of splintering metal, and Dragon yelped and stumbled back in surprise and pain.
“BOOOAR!” screamed Fillan in triumph.
Dragon scrambled backwards, trying to reach underneath itself to get to this aggravating tiny Construct, but Cub was too fast. He sped up again and smashed into the same leg, actually leaping off the ground and jabbing with his tusks. “BOOAR!”
Dragon stumbled back again. It bellowed with rage, swiping down, retreating. It raised a front paw and swatted Cub with a lucky blow and Coll’s world flipped.
“Argh!” Cub tumbled over and over and crashed to the ground. Coll gasped, but Fillan screamed defiance and Cub jumped to his feet and thundered back in. Dragon prepared to attack, but then snarled – Wolf was attacking from the other side!
As Dragon turned to deal with Wolf, Cub smashed at its legs again. Dragon was forced back.
