“Radiance.”
“Ra-di-ance.”
“Ra! Di! Ance!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
The wall shattered. Not the whole thing, obviously. Just the part around the gate. But even so, a ridiculous amount of rock flew into the farm. What could possibly have broken the stone walls like that?
Manato turned at the nearby corner, and headed toward the next one. The noise had spooked the goblins, and they were now running around the pit screaming.
“Radiance.”
“Ra-di-ance.”
“Ra! Di! Ance!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
Another section of the wall exploded, sending the same amount of stone flying as the first time. The debris fell down into the pit, hitting some of the goblins directly and causing them to collapse.
“Radiance.”
“Ra-di-ance.”
“Ra! Di! Ance!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
“Radiance.”
“Ra-di-ance.”
“Ra! Di! Ance!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
The wall was gradually being broken down as destruction spread along its length, heading toward the corner that Manato and the others had passed. There was so much dust being thrown into the air that he couldn’t see what was going on beyond the broken walls.
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance! Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
Were the converted causing those explosions? They had to be, right? Or could it be that the man with the distinctive voice was doing it all by himself? Was that even possible?
The four of them were almost at the far corner now. The goblins in the pit were doing their best to distance themselves from the gate. Some even tried to crawl up out of the hole. But it looked like they were acting purely out of panic rather than having any kind of plan to escape.
“Yori, Riyo! Call your dragons!” Haru shouted to the two girls. “That guy—that thing isn’t a normal enemy! We can’t take it in a fight!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance! Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
Even though they’d put some distance between themselves and the destruction, the man’s voice was still audible as he shouted about radiance and smashed the walls of the farm.
Yori and Riyo got out their whistles and blew into them while still running away. Manato couldn’t hear anything, but he was pretty sure that they were making a sound.
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance! Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!”
What he could hear, however, was the man shouting and the walls getting smashed. They had already been demolished all the way up to the corner that Manato and the others had gone past. They were getting close to the next one now. Most of the goblins were trying to crawl up out of the pit.
“How long is this going to take?!” Haru asked in a raised voice.
He probably meant how long was it going to take for Karambit and Ushaska, the winged dragons, to fly to them.
Yori shook her head. “They would have been in the mountains, so it’ll be a while yet!”
“Okay, let’s wait for the dragons in this corner!”
“Ra! Diii! Aaaaance! Ra! Diii! Aaaaance!” the man shouted, and more sections of the wall were destroyed.
Manato and the others finally reached the corner.
“Yori,” Riyo said, pointing up above her head.
Manato looked in that direction too. Something was up there. Flying. Was it just the one? No, two were coming. They had to be the winged dragons, Karambit and Ushaska.
Yori glanced around the area, looking like she was thinking about something. It only took her a moment to come to a conclusion.
“They won’t be able to land down here. We have to get over this wall.”
“Climb!” Haru shouted, gesturing for them to get going.
Yori and Riyo started climbing. Manato joined them. Haru started climbing after Manato, but they reached the top at the same time. Yori and Riyo worked their way down the other side of the wall a little, then jumped. Manato was itching to throw himself all the way off, but thought better of it and followed their example instead. Haru landed on the ground as well a moment later.
Yori and Riyo moved a short distance away from the wall, and started calling the winged dragons down by raising one hand up to the pre-sunset sky. Was that really all they had to do?
Apparently so. Karambit and Ushaska circled around, and then came in from the west and slightly to the south. They slowed as they descended, and both touched down smoothly. There was no stumbling or pitching forward into the ground. The winged dragons seemed to understand the situation, as instead of fully folding their wings in, they lowered their posture as if to say “hop on.” Yori got on Karambit, of course, and Riyo got on Ushaska.
“Manato, get on Ushaska! Haruhiro, you join Yori on Karambit!” Yori ordered.
Haru did so without saying anything. The dragons weren’t really meant to be ridden by more than one person, so they needed to sit as close together as possible. Haru seemed a bit hesitant, but Yori grabbed his arms and wrapped them firmly around her belly like she was demonstrating how it should be done to a novice. Manato tried to do the same, but Riyo seized him by the shoulders.
“Go in front.”
“Oh. Not in the back?” Manato asked for confirmation, and Riyo nodded before repeating herself.
“Go in front.”
“Okay, front it is!”
As Manato tried to straddle Ushaska, Riyo shifted back to make space for him. He wasn’t riding the dragon bareback. There was a saddle made of leather or something for people to sit on. But it had apparently been designed with only one rider in mind, because even though Manato slid forward as far as he could, Riyo’s butt still probably ended up hanging off the back of the saddle. Or maybe not. He wasn’t sure.
Riyo leaned forward, the front of her body pressing tight against his back. She was taller than Manato, so doing this left her jaw pushing up against Manato’s right temple, which meant she must have been leaning a bit to the right. Manato felt like that wasn’t very good for her, so he tilted his head to the left to allow her to sit facing straight ahead.