Liberator by Bryan Davis

spoke. “Behold our enemy.”
    Berkah turned to him. “Why are we hiding from these weaklings? We could overwhelm them in mere minutes.”
    “Their flight difficulty is due to the length of time they spent in captivity, so do not underestimate their power. They will soon become the extraordinary flyers they once were. And they have no fear of any dragon. In fact, they are likely flying straight to our village in search of us. They mean to destroy us all.”
    “Why?” Mallerin asked. “What have we done to them?”
    “They are the Benefile, the enforcers, misguided keepers of the Code. Like Alaph, king of the Northlands, they think the dragons of the Southlands have brutalized humans, so they have come to deliver punishment. Yet, if we position ourselves and time events perfectly, they will conquer the humans for us, and we will have a Starlighter who will, in turn, conquer them.”
    When the white dragons flew out of sight, Taushin straightened and held his head high. “It is time to set our bait for Koren.”
    “What bait might that be?” Berkah asked.
    “Suffering children.”
    “But the children are all in the village or the grottoes. The patriarchs moved them there when they saw us leave. If the Benefile are as dangerous as you claim, the children will not be accessible to us.”
    “Not so, Berkah. The cattle children are in a wilderness refuge. As the most pitiful of all children, they will be the best bait possible. We need only to guide them safely to the village and see to it that they suffer along the way. Koren will see it, and she will come.”
    Berkah nodded. “We have searched the wilderness for that refuge before, but it has not been a high priority. Perhaps if we all search again—”
    “No need, and too dangerous. If we all fly over the entire wilderness, the Benefile will certainly see us.”
    “Then how do you propose that we find them?”
    “I will send someone on a hunting expedition.” Taushin pointed a wing at a drone. “You will go.”
    The drone lowered his head in submission. “What must I do?”
    “Since you are small, you will be able to fly with stealth. If you locate the escaped cattle children, return and report their whereabouts. Kill any adults you find. While you are hunting, we will watch from here. Even if you locate nothing, I expect that one of the traitor dragons will eventually lead us to the refuge, so watch for any member of Arxad’s family.”
    Koren groaned. Pain in her shoulders streaked down her spine and ripped across her limbs. With every flap of his wings, the dragon’s claws dug in deeper, then eased back, a rhythm of agony that gouged her senses. If only she could find the strength to speak to him, maybe he would come under her control, at least long enough to set her down and ease the pain.
    As the setting Solarus bobbed in her darkening vision, cold air swept through her thin clothing. Her cloak, now dry, trailed behind, too far to reach with pain-stiffened arms. Clenching her teeth, she refused to shiver. Any movement would make the torture even worse.
    Ahead, the white caps of the Northlands had come into view. Although the trees now carried far less snow than before, the mountain peaks were still buried in it. Dark clouds loomed on the northern horizon, like a gray hat sitting on an old man’s hoary head.
    She closed her eyes. Maybe gathering Cassabrie’s messages from Exodus would bring new energy, especially if the tales carried good news.
    As she concentrated, images flashed in her mind — soldiers gathering in the midst of slush and mud, then marching into fields of green grass and multicolored flowers. Farther back, a dragon flew, too distant to identify, and far enough away that the soldiers might not even know that he lurked behind them.
    After a few seconds of contemplating the confusing scene, she opened her eyes. A line of men dressed in dark uniforms appeared against a backdrop of color. As in hervision, they had just passed the