Operation Honey Trap vs The Emperor of the Apocalypse-Chapter 212: Derwent by Dragon

[Suggested song for this Chapter – Opening by Carter Burwell]

Delphi assumed Miro had been told where to go and she just had to hang on for the ride now.

Alton must be behind this somewhere to have informed Han to send her dragon.

She tried her best to hold her breath for as long as possible before tapping Miro to surface, putting as much distance between her and that evil place as possible before she raised her head where it might be seen.

She belatedly realised that they were surrounded by dragons on all sides, seemingly swimming in formation in a circle around them. She couldn’t tell if there were other dragons that she knew among the escort, but Miro was definitely controlling the group, and there were at least seven or eight of them.

She knew it wasn’t time to relax yet, but she did feel mildly better knowing she and Miro weren’t alone. These waters were known to be populated by other varieties of tubiàn.

She hung on grimly as the effects of the freezing cold water and the salt stinging her eyes finally made themselves felt. Not time to give in to mild discomfort girl, she told herself sternly as she started to shiver.

Thankfully the dragons were even faster in water than they were on land. It was one of the things that made them such efficient killing machines during the War. They did eventually need oxygen, but they could go for minutes at a time without air.

Miro seemed to sense that Delphi was starting to struggle with the long seconds holding her breath. He swam up to the surface and hovered just beneath it, allowing just his nostrils to breach the water.

Delphi saw what he was up to and mimicked the creature, laying herself flat on his back and gripping his sides with her hands, allowing her face to just breach the waves so she could breathe more easily.

It wasn’t perfect because waves were still breaking over her face and occasionally filling her mouth with water, but it was much better than the extended periods underwater which were starting to make her feel light-headed.

The steady rhythm of Miro’s powerful strokes was almost calming as she lay on her back and stared up at the sky, but she knew that she couldn’t afford to relax just yet.

She raised her head briefly to look behind them. The palace was slowly becoming a small speck in the distance. Some boats had already hit the water, no doubt searching for her, but they didn’t seem to be heading in their direction yet. She lay her head flat again, not wanting to be spotted by a diligent soldier with binoculars.

Her confidence was increasing with each passing minute now. If the guards did give chase, she would order Miro into shore and make a run for it.

They were approaching the headland where the exclusive golf club the royal family all played at was located. Delphi had been there once or twice for events. She would feel infinitely better when they rounded this piece of land and were finally out of sight of the palace.

A huge weight suddenly slammed into her from the left, knocking her from Miro’s back.

All was chaos in the water for a few moments before Miro found her again, using his nose to flip her onto his back where she grabbed his neck as he swam away from the disturbance.

She looked behind them to see the fins of at least three tubiàn orcas, now engaged in a fight with the dragons. The water swirled and roiled around the commotion and the high pitched squeaks of the orcas rang out across the waves, a horribly familiar sound to Delphi, who was taken straight back to the whales’ attack on their boat.

One of the dragons seemed to be floating on the surface, perhaps injured or dead... It was no doubt what had struck her and Miro. An orca had rammed the creature, slamming it into them.

"Keep going Miro," she panted. "Don’t stop!"

The dragon didn’t look back, putting on a burst of speed that finally took them around the headland and out of sight of the palace.

She looked behind again and there was no sight of the orcas or the boats.

If the soldiers had spotted those orcas fighting, they may well assume she had been eaten by them.

"You can swim above the water now Miro," she told him, relieved not to have to lie flat and have the brackish water keep covering her mouth and nose, though she didn’t even think about relaxing now that she knew those orcas were on their tail.

She wrapped her arms around Miro’s neck and turned her head to keep watch behind them.

"I’ll keep a lookout for the whales, Miro," she told him. "You just keep on putting distance between us and them, boy."

Her dragon swam on with swift steady strokes.

Finally, her straining eyes caught sight of the remnants of their dragon escort, struggling to catch up to Miro.

"Here they come, boy," she murmured, more to herself. "Looks like they beat those devils in the end."

Of course, Miro would already know this through their hive mind communication.

She tried to count the dragons when they arrived and rearranged themselves around her and Miro. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought they were one short.

Where previously there had been three dragons on each side of them and one at the front and rear, there were now two on one side and three on the other making the formation uneven.

She gave Miro a gentle pat. "Sorry for your loss, Miro. And thank you for the sacrifice."

He turned and stared steadily at her. She might have imagined it, but he seemed to dip his head in acknowledgement.

Miro and his team continued to plough their way up the Derwent River. Delphi’s shivering had become so violent now that her arms were struggling to grip onto him, though she was more than glad of the flattening of the choppy waves as the estuary gradually gave way to the river, and they finally headed into a cove.

The cove was bounded by a narrow headland that was covered in dry yellow grass and sparse stubby eucalypts. Miro and her seven escorts headed in towards the shallows where they started to walk across an inlet where grass grew from the bank into the water. The beasts clambered up a steep slope to arrive at a yellow gravel road that blended in with the spinifex grass. There was no sign of humans or human habitation in sight.

Miro seemed to be looking about him for something, when Delphi caught the faint sound of hoofbeats on gravel.

She squinted her sore eyes down the road and saw a horse galloping towards them.

"Quick, hide Miro!" she hissed; discretion was the better part of valour after all.