Only nine more to go…
He desperately wanted to fly wingtip-to-wingtip with Connie through the race, sharing in her triumph, but he had a job to do. The racing planes became just distant glints as he flew out to sea at full speed.
*Do you have a plan, by the way?* Killian sent to him, his mental voice a little faint with distance.
*Yes,* Chase replied, the wind whistling past his flattened ears. *I'm going to find the bastard who tried to kill my mate, and I'm going to kick his fucking head in.*
There was no further time for talking. He could see the wyvern now. It was a little lower down than him, flying close to the sea. Its long, jagged wings beat steadily, propelling it at incredible speed.
Kill! His pegasus filled his mind with a single-minded need to smash the wyvern out of the sky. No one attacks our mate! Kill!
Shrieking in challenge, Chase folded his wings and stooped. The wyvern's wedge-shape head whipped round, its large, acid-yellow eyes widening in alarm as it spotted him. Its narrow chest swelled. It spat out a cloud of acid.
Chase flicked a pinion, swooping around the deadly mist. He lashed out at the wyvern with his razor-sharp front hooves. It twisted its sinuous body, evading his kick. He didn't give it a chance to recover, striking out at it with both teeth and hooves.
If I stay close, it can't use its acid. Just got to watch out for the tail.
The wyvern's deadly, scorpion-like tail curved over its back, the needle sharp tip swinging to target him. Chase was so busy keeping an eye on it that he nearly forgot that the front half of the wyvern was just as dangerous. Its head darted at him, fangs gleaming with poison.
Chase backwinged hard, nearly stalling out as the wyvern's teeth snapped shut on empty air. Off balance, he couldn't avoid the wyvern's tail as it whipped round. It didn't manage to sting him, but the powerful blow still sent him tumbling across the sky.
The wyvern didn't press its advantage. Instead, it increased its wingbeats, shooting away from him like a bullet out of a gun. Although the wyvern's deadly acid and poisonous tail made it more than a match for a pegasus, it didn't seem to be interested in a fight. Chase guessed that Sammy had ordered it to evade him and head straight for the race, to make sure Connie didn't win.
Recovering himself, Chase shot after the wyvern. It twisted its neck, breathing out a couple more blasts of acid to cover its retreat. Chase banked round the drifting clouds in tight, swooping arcs, locked onto the wyvern like a heat-seeking missile, but every evasive maneuver cost him precious time.
The wyvern's long wings boomed with every stroke, propelling it away from him at a phenomenal pace. Chase's powerful flight muscles burned as he tried to keep up. Even at the very limits of his speed, the wyvern was creeping away from him.
*The planes are heading out to sea.* Killian's anxious mental voice burst into his head. *They'll be nearing you soon. Connie's worked her way up to sixth position. Are you okay? Do you need help?*
*Stay with the race!* Chase flung back, his psychic voice as out-of-breath as his physical body. He needed Killian there as a last-ditch defense, if worst came to worst.
Chase bared his teeth in a frustrated snarl as the wyvern inched yet farther away. No matter how he pushed himself, he couldn't catch up. He had more strength and endurance, but the wyvern was simply faster in level flight than he was. It only needed to maintain its speed for a few more minutes before it would be in the midst of the air race.
What would Connie do…?
He altered the angle of his wings, striving to gain height rather than speed. The wyvern dropped away beneath him, pulling ahead. Its wedge-shaped head swiveled on its long, sinuous neck as it tried to work out where he'd gone. Borrowing a trick from WWII fighter pilots, Chase headed straight for the sun, hiding in the dazzling rays as he climbed even highe
r.
He could see the racing planes now, and hear the air-shaking thunder of their combined engines. Connie's Spitfire was immediately apparent, a predatory hawk-shape amidst the smaller light aircraft. A group of RV-7s scattered in disarray as she roared straight through their midst.
The wyvern's head swung, locking onto the Spitfire. It soared up on an intercept course.
He's attacking our mate! His pegasus was frantic. Protect! Strike! Kill!
Chase fought for control, struggling to resist the pegasus's overwhelming instinct to immediately dive after the wyvern. He was usually so in tune with his stallion that it felt unnatural to go against its desires.
But for once, he had to keep a cool head. Rushing in too quickly would result in disaster.
Wait, he told the stallion. Wait! We're only going to get one shot at this!
The wyvern was too fast and agile for him. He knew that his only chance was to dive at terminal velocity, falling so fast that even the wyvern's hair-trigger reflexes wouldn't be able to evade him. But to do that, he had to get higher.
*Now, Killian!* he sent to his cousin, as he clawed his way upward. *Delay it!*
Killian swooped at the wyvern. The wyvern shook him off, easily dodging the attacks. It had reached the race corridor now. It avoided a couple of planes, allowing them to pass unhindered, then hovered, waiting. Killian darted at its head like a crow mobbing a bird of prey, but the wyvern just blasted acid at him, forcing him to veer away.
*I can't get close!* Killian sent to him in dismay. *It's right in Connie's path, and I can't get it to budge.*