Captain Devvid"s sinewy form melted onto the muscular back of Moonraker, a few minutes after the Queen had gyred to the sky on her Lockjaw, off to the west. He thumbed the secret amulet of silver and jewels, muttered the incantation the King had taught him, and both he and the dragon disappeared. The world appeared as though through a pane of shimmering glass in his invisibility, but he could hear perfectly well.
When beneath his thighs Moonraker ascended and turned westward, following his mistress through instinct and guidance, Devvid smiled at the simplicity and ease of the chase. He could see his Queen on Lockjaw far ahead, a dot almost lost in the puffy white clouds above Gracklen. They banked to the right and then to the left, soared over badlands and rugged snow-capped mountains, th
