Soft murmurs woke me. I lay beside Emerald, my hand still pressed to her side. Scruffy lay curled up against my chest, but the feel of Turos behind me was gone. For one guilty second I wished he was still there. Then I shook myself and sat up.
Emerald lifted her head and gazed at me with sleep-laden eyes. There it is, she said, nodding her head toward where her tail wrapped around an enormous egg.
Great Dark Sky. That came out of you?
I could feel her amusement in my mind.
I sat up further and Isla looked over at me from where she sat cross-legged next to the egg. ‘I can see it,’ she said. ‘I mean him or her.’ She pulled a face and turned her gaze back to the egg.
I peered back through the muted glow of the cabin to where the nearest Queen lay with her tail wrapped around her egg.
‘Is it my imagination, or is this egg bigger than the others?’
‘Not your imagination,’ Isla said. ‘Turos said it was at least twice the size of the largest egg he had ever seen.’
I could feel Emerald’s contented pride at Isla’s words.
‘Where is Turos?’ I said. ‘And where is everybody else?’
‘He’s gone to inform the Dragon Masters of the successful laying of the egg. And apparently this,’ she waved a hand between Emerald and me, ‘is not normal. Queens are not allowed to bond for this very reason. Well that, and the fact that once a Queen starts breeding she lives here, helping the others with their eggs. She only leaves to mate.’
That’s what Emerald had meant at the trial when she had said she wasn’t ready to give up her freedom.
‘But Emerald did bond. So she can’t stay.’ I wasn’t letting them keep my dragon trapped here. Not if she didn’t want to be.
Isla only pulled a face which made me worry about what else had been said while I was asleep.
I stood slowly, stretching out crinkled muscles before walking towards the egg. Isla was right. The egg shell was translucent in the light of the cavern. Inside the egg a little shadow moved. As I watched, it did a full somersault, waving its little wings around to stop.
Emerald let out a rumble. He is going to take after his father.
You know it’s a boy?
The first egg is always a boy.
‘It’s a boy,’ I said to Isla.
‘Ooooooh,’ she cooed to the egg. ‘Aunty Isla can’t wait to meet you, little man.’
How long till he hatches?
A week. Give or take a day.
I settled down across from Isla to stare in awe at the acrobatics of the baby dragon.
Turos and Lance returned a couple of hours later. ‘Sorry we took so long,’ he said as he slid off Lance with a basket in one hand. ‘I brought food.’
I waited as patiently as I could while Turos pulled out a loaf of bread, a block of cheese, and a knife. He handed me a flask of water while he cut the bread and cheese into chunks.
I grabbed some bread before he could hand it to me and bit into its soft flesh, letting out a groan as I did. It was still warm.
Lance’s jaw was wedged open with an enormous chunk of meat. He placed it gingerly in front of Emerald and nudged it toward her with his snout. She let out a pleased rumble and grasped it with her front claws while she tore a chunk off of it. She chewed twice, swallowed, and then ripped another chunk off.
Turos handed me a piece of cheese and said, ‘The first riders will arrive soon.’
I shoved the cheese into my mouth and angled my head to the side waiting for him to elaborate.
‘They will try and bond with the egg.’
I swallowed, opened my mouth to ask a question but decided instead to shove more bread in. I was still too hungry to not be chewing.
‘So soon?’ Isla was making a much daintier meal of her bread and cheese.
‘It is normal for the males to be bonded from birth.’
‘How does it work?’
‘They will come in order of seniority and take turns touching the shell. The dragon will choose its rider.’
‘That simple?’ I swallowed the last of my bread and held my hand out for more.
‘That easy.’ Turos carved another chunk off the loaf and handed it to me.
We had barely finished our meals before the first of the hopeful riders turned up. A dragon so blue I was reminded of bright summer days, swept towards us with a number of riders on his back. He waited for them to dismount and then he and his rider immediately departed.
Turos nodded as the men approached the shell. ‘Ritto,’ he said. ‘Dragons’ luck to you.’
Ritto nodded back and then stopped in front of the egg, staring reverently at the little creature inside. Then he reached out a hand and rested his palm against the shell.
I wasn’t sure if anything was meant to happen, but if it was, then Ritto wasn’t the chosen one.
He held his hand there for a minute before bowing his head and stepping backwards. Disappointment etched his features.
In that short period of time another dragon had deposited more riders. They formed a loose line, according to their rank, and one-by-one they approached the egg.
More dragons came and more men queued and the afternoon turned into night. Well I guessed it did by the fact that my stomach started rumbling again and Turos dished out more bread and cheese. Lance returned with more meat for Emerald when they were down to the last few candidates. These didn’t look old enough to be shaving.
The dragon masters stood in a half circle off to the side, observing the proceedings. As the queue shortened and the number of boys dwindled I could hear them muttering amongst themselves.
The last applicant approached Emerald’s egg, a look of glee on his face. He stretched his hand out confidently as he claimed the egg for himself. His palm came into contact with the shell and I waited for something, anything that would tell me a bond had been formed.
A minute later he dropped his hand and stepped back, looking over toward the Masters. ‘It’s a dud,’ he said, his face screwing up in disgust. ‘A stupid, useless dud.’
He drew back his foot as if to kick the egg and everything happened at once. A snarling growl came out of Lance’s mouth as the boy’s foot headed towards the egg.
Stop him, Emerald screamed in my head.
Turos and I threw ourselves towards him, trying to stop him before he shattered the shell, but we were too far away.
Isla, however, had been sitting on the other side of the egg. She threw herself over the top of it, landing just in time to prevent his foot from connecting with it. Instead, it buried itself deep into her abdomen.
She let out an, ‘Oooff,’ as she wrapped around his foot like a rag doll, soaking up the blow that was meant for the egg.
I howled in rage and threw my hand out at the boy. He flew into the air, tumbling over-and-over before landing at the feet of the Masters. They seemed surprised to see him there, blinking around in the gloomy light as if trying to work out where he had come from.
Lance snorted, flames shooting out of his nose as he fixed angry eyes on the now trembling child. He pulled himself up so he towered above the boy, opening his mouth to roar.
‘Easy, Lance.’ Turos placed his hand in the air. ‘No harm was done.’
It occurred to me that he was talking out loud for the sake of the Dragon Masters, I wondered what conversation he was really having with Lance.
‘There, there,’ Isla cooed. She knelt beside the dragon egg, her arms wrapped around her middle and tears tracking down her face. ‘It’s okay now.’
As we watched, she let go of her stomach and reached a hand out towards the shell. ‘Aunty Isla won’t let anything happen to you.’
The instant her palm came into contact with the egg, a million streams of light shot out of the shell. They raced across the cavern, bouncing off stalactites and chasing away the shadows.
Isla closed her eyes, a blissful smile on her face as her body swayed from side-to-side. The light returned from the far end of the cavern, forming one gigantic beam as it raced towards Isla.
I thought it would burn her when it made contact with her skin, but instead, it lit her up from the inside out till she glowed like the setting sun. She threw her head back as the light swirled around her and the egg. And then, just as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. The light sucked back into the egg and Isla sagged beside it.
‘Hello Arthur,’ she said to the egg, and then she collapsed onto the ground, one hand still pressed against the shell.
***
‘You could have warned me.’ I looked up at Turos from where I knelt beside Isla.
‘Warned you about?’
‘What was going to happen.’
‘Believe me, if I’d have known, I would have warned you.’
‘Then this,’ I gestured between the egg and Isla, ‘is not the norm?’ That would explain the hissed conversation amongst the Dragon Masters and their rapid departure.
He shook his head and sat down beside me. ‘The biggest reaction we’ve had before this was a bubble of light.’ He looked at Emerald and then back to where Isla still touched the egg.
We could see the shadow of the baby dragon, the tip of one wing pressed up against the inside of the shell where Isla’s hand rested.
‘But then none of this is normal.’ He let out a sigh and scratched the side of his nose. ‘It makes me wonder if anything will ever be normal again.’
I quirked my head to the side and frowned. It didn’t seem like the events of today, or indeed the past two days, were enough to illicit that reaction. ‘Something else has happened?’ It was the only possible conclusion.
He pulled a face. ‘I’m tired and over reacting.’
‘And keeping secrets.’
‘Pot, kettle, black.’ Turos pointed a finger at me. ‘I nearly died of fright when you blasted that boy out of the way.’ He shook his head as he muttered, ‘Luckily no one else seemed to have noticed.’
‘It’s okay Arthur, I’m here,’ Isla murmured. Her fingertips stayed glued to the shell as she rolled over. The little shadow mimicked her movement.
I smiled as I turned back to Turos. ‘Is that normal?’
He put his hands on his hips and glared at me. ‘Stop changing the subject.’
‘Oh fine.’ I let out a huff. ‘I have a tenuous hold on some magical powers. Sometimes they do what I want them to.’
‘Is that why you don’t use it much?’
‘I spent most of my life without it,’ I said. ‘So I guess that’s part of it. But mostly it’s because when I do use it, things tend to blow up.’ I remembered my conversation with Deidre from the night before. She had said they had found a magic maker to help them. ‘None of you have any magic?’ I didn’t mean for it to sound as incredulous as it did. Even though I hadn’t had access to my own powers till just under a year ago, I had been immersed in a magical world my whole life.
He shook his head. ‘Our bond with the dragons is the closest thing to magic that we’ve got.’
‘But…’ I shook my head. ‘When I punched you.’
‘Oh this?’ He laughed and waved a hand at his nose. ‘Good use of herbs.’
‘No, not that. Your warriors. They moved so swiftly.’
‘Oh that. No magic there. I could teach you how to do that.’
‘You could?’ My mind started to race. If I could take that sort of technique home with me then maybe this trip wasn’t a total waste. Our chances against the goblins would dramatically improve if we could move that swiftly. I put my hand on his arm. ‘Will you?’
‘Sure.’ He shrugged. ‘Got nothing else I need to be doing. We can start right now.’
I heard a dragon roar from the other side of the cavern.
Turos tilted his head so that an ear was facing in that direction. ‘Sounds like another egg on its way.’
The sound of dragon’s wings, came to me over the next roar. I looked up to see the sky-blue dragon winging its way towards us. A single rider sat on its neck, his eyes fixed on Turos.
The dragon fluttered his wings backwards, bringing himself to a soft landing about ten metres from where we were sitting. The rider didn’t dismount, instead beckoning to Turos with one hand while holding out a piece of paper with the other.
‘Maybe not right now,’ Turos muttered as he hopped up. He strode towards the rider, took the message from him and opened it. I watched as his eyes scanned down the page. He folded it back up and looked back toward me.
‘I have to go talk to father. I’ll return with food.’
He looked over to where Lance lay with his snout pressed up against Emerald’s, shook his head and then walked back to the other dragon. He leapt lightly onto the dragon’s front thigh and scrambled up till he was sitting behind the other rider. Within seconds they were winging their way back across the cavern.
‘Is it just me,’ Isla mumbled, ‘or is it hot in here?’
‘It’s hot.’ I reached out for a water bottle and handed it to her, helping her sit up so she could drink it.
She took it with her free hand and tipped the contents into her mouth and then over her head. ‘That feels good.’ She dropped the bottle and raked her hand through her hair.
‘How long are you going to hang onto the egg?’
‘As long as it takes.’ She stared at the egg with a gooey look on her face. ‘Can you believe he chose me?’
‘I can believe it. The Dragon Masters weren’t too happy.’
‘You think they’ll try to take him off me?’ Worry marred her voice.
‘I think it’s a bit of a done deal,’ I said. ‘Bonding is for life.’
We were silent for a few moments while we contemplated the real meaning of my words.
‘They’re not going to let me leave, are they?’ she finally whispered.
‘They have to.’ My voice held more conviction than I felt.
We were alone, in another world. If they decided we weren’t going home then there was nothing we could do about it.
We sat like that, our silence joining us, until Turos returned with food.
***
‘I don’t see how this is anything to do with making me move faster.’ I opened my eyes and stared at Turos.
‘It has everything to do with it.’
I narrowed my eyes, searching for a hint of a smile on his face. There was none.
‘Just do as he says, Izzy.’ Isla sat with her back against the egg, her head resting against its long sweeping curve.
I could see Arthur’s shadow as his fluttering wings spun him round-and-round. Watching him made me dizzy. Although in the last few days the loops had become slower as he grew within the confines of his shell. Turos advised us that it wouldn’t be too much longer until he hatched.
‘Fine.’ I let out a huff and closed my eyes, sneaking one open again immediately to check out Turos’s face. He still wasn’t smiling.
‘Take a deep breath in,’ he intoned, ‘and clear your mind of everything.’
I took a breath, filling up my lungs until I could feel them swelling inside me.
‘Remove all your thoughts. One-by-one. Examine them and then discard them.’
I thought about Mum and Sabby and how annoyed they would be. It had been a week since we had left with Lance and Turos. Then I took that thought, along with the emotions it evoked, and I pushed it from my mind.
I thought about Scruffy lying on his back against Emerald, his loud snores echoing in the cavern.
‘You hear nothing, see nothing, smell nothing.’
I opened my eyes. ‘How am I meant to clear my head of all sound with you yabbering at me continuously?’
This time a small smile did curl up the corners of his mouth, but his ice-blue eyes remained serious. ‘Stop arguing and do it.’
I let out a huff and closed my eyes again, noting though, that he’d stopped talking. For now. Turos never stopped talking for long.
I sifted through my mind. Mum and Radismus. Grams and Lionel. The frustration over trying to get the government to realise the imminent danger we were in. Those things were easy to neutralise. But there were far too many other things in my head. Things too painful to examine. Things I didn’t want to put aside.
‘Now put your hands behind your back and open your eyes.’ Turos kept his voice low.
When I complied, his clenched fist was in front of my face. I kept my hands where they were until his opened. The small stone housed within tumbled towards the ground. I snapped my hands round as fast as I could, just catching it before it landed. It was a small improvement on my last effort in which I hadn’t caught it at all.
‘You do it,’ I said.
I held my hand in front of his face while he closed his eyes, waiting for him to open them again before letting go of the stone. His hand moved so fast I hardly even saw it. One moment it was behind his back, the next in front of his face, holding the stone.
‘Impressive,’ Isla said. It was the first time we had practised in front of her. While she had remained in the cavern with Emerald and Arthur, I had come and gone as cabin fever set in.
‘I still don’t see how it works.’ I could feel my lower lip pushing out into a pout.
‘Thoughts cause friction in our actions. If they are there at the forefront of our mind, they take up time and energy.’
‘But, I’m not aware of them.’
‘It makes no difference. Your subconscious brain is a fickle thing. It flicks between thoughts and reality like a butterfly as it analyses everything you are doing, comparing it to the past and present. Those hidden emotions affect your actions. Clear them away and there is nothing stopping you, nothing slowing you. You are focused and of purpose and unstoppable.’
He knows what he is talking about. Emerald’s mind held a tinge of amusement. At least one of us was enjoying this.
Isla sat up straighter. She stretched her head to one side and then the other, pushing her arms above her head. ‘I feel so cramped,’ she said. ‘Like I need to stretch or something.’
‘Well you have been sitting in the one spot for a week.’ She had only left Arthur’s side for toilet breaks, and even they had been speedy.
She shook her head. ‘Not like that. Like….’
A crackling noise stopped her from finishing her sentence.
‘Oh.’ Her eyes went round and she spun toward the egg. Small cracks had appeared on the surface nearest her.
It’s time. Emerald removed her tail and turned so that she was facing the egg. She pressed her snout gently against the side and snorted. He is so eager to be out.
I could see the little dragon, the tips of his wings pushing out on the egg as he strained to break the shell.
‘Come on Arthur.’ Isla stood and placed both her palms against it. ‘You can do it.’
With his wings still pressed against either side, he wedged his back and feet up onto opposite sides of the egg. His whole body strained as he threw his little head backwards with the effort of pushing.
‘Ahhhhh, Isla,’ I said.
‘Shhhh. He’s almost here.’
‘You may want to step back a little.’
The words were just out of my mouth when, with a cracking snap, the shell shattered. A wave of fluid poured out of the egg and all over Isla. Arthur rode the wave like a professional surfer, bowling into Isla and carrying her to the ground.
When the liquid cleared, Isla lay flat on her back. Arthur sat on her chest, his brilliant, orange scales sparkling in the light of the lava. He blinked his eyes, shook his head, and then leant forward and pressed his snout to her face.
‘Oh Arthur.’ Isla let out a laugh and then wrapped her arms around him, still managing, even though she was covered in dragon embryotic fluid, to look beautiful.
Emerald and Lance crowded in on either side as Emerald’s triumphant voice echoed in my head. He’s perfect. He’s beautiful.
‘Is that a common colour?’ I asked Turos. None of the dragons I had seen had even come close to Arthur’s colouring.
He shook his head, his mouth partly open as he stared at the little dragon. ‘He’s magnificent,’ he finally said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like him.’
And even though I was overjoyed at Arthur’s safe arrival, a tiny fear crept into the front of my mind.
If Arthur was such a rarity, there was no way they were going to let him go. And since there was no way I was leaving here without Isla, and no way she was leaving without him, that meant only one thing.
Things were going to get ugly.