‘What do you mean you took Arthur out flying?’
I stared at King Bladimir. If only the man would shut up for long enough for Turos to tell him what we had seen.
Turos cut his hand through the air ‘Father. That is not the point.’
‘You know what the Dragon Masters have said. If you push him too far, too fast, his wings may be damaged.’
‘King Bladimir,’ I said.
‘This is none of your concern young lady.’
‘Actually, Sir,’ I said, ‘it is. You need to listen to what we saw when we were flying.’ I shook my head at Turos. I mean really, there had been no reason to even mention Arthur had been with us.
King Bladimir took a deep breath, his anger warring with reason. Reason finally won out. ‘Fine.’ He threw a hand up in the air. ‘What did you see?’
‘The enemy.’ Turos said. ‘They’re here.’
‘Well, we took down their ships before, we’ll do it again.’
Turos shook his head. ‘Their ships darken the waters. There are far too many for us. Even with….’ He stopped what he was going to say, for which I was grateful.
Bladimir let out a laugh and turned to look at me. ‘The witch will do anything to go home.’
‘What are you talking about?’ I put my hands on my hips.
He looked at Turos. ‘She’s obviously bewitched you; shown you your worst fear. And no doubt now she’ll tell us the only way we can be saved is to follow her back to her own land.’
‘It is the only way to be saved.’ I stomped my foot like a small child.
‘And then we will all help you save your own land.’ He nodded his head in time with his own words. ‘Clever. Very, very clever.’
I managed not to pull a face at his words. Well, almost managed. I could tell by the twitch of Turos’s lips that he had seen my struggle.
‘Fine.’ I waved a hand magnanimously. ‘Go see for yourself.’ I stalked over to the chair in the corner and sat down, slinging one leg over the arm as I examined my nails.
‘You,’ Bladimir pointed a finger at Turos, ‘watch her.’ He pointed at me, sniffed, and then swept out of the room.
I maintained my relaxed position until he was gone, then I leapt up and started pacing the room. ‘What are we going to do?’ I ran my hands through my hair and turned to face Turos. He had taken up residence in the chair I had just vacated and was mimicking my formerly relaxed position.
‘The real question is,’ he said, ‘what are you going to do?’
I put my hands on my hips as irrational rage coursed through me. ‘Me? Why does it have to be me that does something?’
He shrugged. ‘Well, there’s nothing at all that we can do about it except fight to the death. And that doesn’t seem like a palatable option.’
I struggled to control my breathing. There had been so many of them. And all of those ships had had the weapons that had caused so much destruction the last time they had gone up against them. I couldn’t destroy all of them. Not by myself. Not without using black magic.
I paced to the window and sucked in a deep breath. We were surrounded. Totally surrounded. ‘You need to open a way again.’ I turned back to look at him.
‘How am I going to do that?’
‘The same way you did when you came and got Emerald and me. Just…’ I flourished a hand in the air.
He had been sitting forwards on the chair. Now he slumped back into it and ran his hands through his hair. ‘I didn’t do that.’
‘Well, get whoever did and do it again.’
‘Impossible.’ He closed his eyes and leant his head back.
‘Why are you being so stubborn about this?’ I strode over to him and leant down. ‘Is it a pride thing? You caught us, and now you can’t let us go?’
His eyes opened and I found myself caught like a moth in the glory of a sea of ice blue. ‘Do you think,’ he enunciated the words carefully, ‘that I would let the pettiness of my own pride condemn my friends, my family, my dragon, to death?’
I stared into his soul for a moment longer before standing again. ‘No. Of course not.’
He nodded once. ‘The man who crafted the way for me to find you died a long time ago. When we fled through the way, one of the magic makers gave us a single glass globe. It held a spell that would allow us to re-open a passage to wherever we wanted to go.’
I stared at him as my mind tried to process what he was saying. They had lied when they had said we could go home after the egg was laid. They’d never had any intention of sending us back. But that wasn’t the important thing. That wasn’t what had me totally confounded.
‘Why,’ my words came out in a whisper, ‘would you have wasted it to find me.’
‘Well technically,’ there was a wry smile on his face, ‘we weren’t trying to find you. We were trying to find Emerald.’
There was a possibility I was doing a damned fine impression of a goldfish.
He shook his head and stood, brushing past me on his way to the window. I swallowed and tried to ignore the tingles that swept down my arm where he had touched me. That really wasn’t helping the situation.
‘We have a seer.’
‘Pardon?’
‘A seer. You know, a fortune teller. Clairvoyant. A prophet.’ He rubbed the palms of his hands over the smooth stone of the window sill. ‘Most of the time she is totally crazy. But when she speaks coherently, we listen.’ Something flickered over his face, too fast for me to identify it. ‘She said if we didn’t do it, we would be lost.’
‘But,’ I opened and closed my mouth a few more times as I worked my way through that, ‘but because of it, we are lost.’ They wouldn’t have found the Millenium if not for that spell. And if they had found them, the Millenium would have had a chance to escape.
‘She is never wrong.’ He held himself stiff for a few moments more and then it seemed that he curled in on himself. His shoulders sagged and his face crumpled. ‘Well, she has never been wrong before.’ His feet dragged as he walked back to the chair. ‘If she said a storm was coming, it always came. If she said we should plant more crops that year, there was always a drought the year after.’
‘Izzy.’ Isla’s face appeared at the window for a second before disappearing again. A few seconds later it was back, and then gone again. It took me three goes to realise she was moving up-and-down in time with Arthur’s wing beats.
‘Are you crazy?’ I hissed at her. ‘If they see you we’re in so much trouble.’
‘Really?’ Her voice carried up through the window. ‘That’s what you’re worried about? I don’t think they’ll have time to deal with us before those pirates do.’
She had a valid point.
‘What do you want?’
I heard her huff. ‘The guards wouldn’t let me up and you ran off before telling me what the plan was.’
‘I don’t have a plan.’
Her head appeared for a second and then was gone again. ‘So, you’re going to let us all die?’
I could feel pressure building in the back of my head. ‘Why is this my responsibility?’
‘Can you do anything other than shoot lightning?’ Turos stood and crossed to stand beside me at the window.
‘Oh, so now my lightning isn’t good enough for you?’
‘Of course it is. But can you do anything else?’
A small pain started up at the base of my neck. ‘I can make shields. And blow things up.’ And rip out people’s hearts.
‘You’re a War Faery. Surely there are other things you can do.’
It was my turn to walk defeated to the chair. I sat and leant forward, putting my head between my legs as I fought the building pressure.
It was all up to me. It was always up to me. But this time, I didn’t know if I was up to it. War was brimming at home, and if I didn’t get back for it, all was lost. And I was trapped here, in a land where death seemed imminent.
‘She can do anything.’ Isla’s head appeared for another second. ‘Anything she needs to. She just has to believe in herself.’
‘Can she open a way back home?’
I thought about letting them know I could hear them, but I was struggling to breathe let alone speak.
‘Santanas did it. When he took Emerald.’
I put a hand in the air in an attempt to stop them. The pressure had moved from the back of my head to the front. It was throbbing and pulsing and threatening to tear me apart.
‘The problem is,’ Isla’s voice was fainter, ‘she has blocked herself.’
Turos looked over at me. ‘Why would she do that?’
‘To stop herself from using black magic.’ Her voice was just a whisper on a breeze.
Turos leant out the window and peered down. ‘Land now,’ he barked.
I tried to be worried for my friend, but my head was about to burst into a million tiny pieces. One hundred goblins creeping through the forest. Coming to find us. Coming to kill us.
‘Pull me up. She needs me.’
I leapt into the air and landed on the back of a goblin fighting Isla. Grasping his head, I ripped it to the side. There was a crack, and his arms fell limply. I jumped clear as he collapsed.
‘Izzy?’ I could feel Turos’s hand on my arm, but even though I had my eyes open I could no longer see him. I was no longer in that room.
‘Thanks,’ Isla panted. She picked up her bow and loosed a couple of arrows at a goblin attacking Wilfred.
Whoa – Wilfred? Wilfred had gone with the Ubanty Goddess, Ulandes.
‘How many more do you think there are?’
I looked around the clearing. Tiny was in the process of picking up some goblins that had popped out of the trees at his feet. One-by-one he threw them as far as he could over the top of the woods.
Wolfgang was shooting fireballs into the tree line where dark shapes dodged and weaved trying to escape a fiery death. Aethan, Brent, Luke and Wilfred were fighting two goblins each, their blades flicking through a complex pattern.
‘Cover me.’ I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind, pushing out through the woods. Darkness and evil swarmed around us, black hearts beating in anticipation of our death. Like homing pigeons they came.
It was too many. Too many by far.
I opened my eyes and stared at Isla, the horror must have shown on my face.
She stared back at me, her beautiful, blue eyes calm. ‘You don’t have to do this,’ she said.
I blinked. ‘That’s not what you said.’
‘It’s what I should have said.’
I could feel her hands on my arms.
I shook my head. ‘I have to. Or we’ll all die.’
‘There has to be another way. Think.’
The thousand hammers pounding on the inside of my skull changed to one single baseball bat bashing away at my head. ‘How?’
‘Oh Izzy.’ I could feel her cool hands on the side of my face. ‘There is always a way.’
All my friends stood frozen, swords and bows aimed at statue goblins. Easily a hundred goblins surrounded us. I couldn’t kill them the way I had done. That way lead to madness. So if I couldn’t kill them what could I do?
‘What would Grams do?’
It was the question I least expected, but as soon as the words left her lips a picture of my scatty, brilliant, mischievous grandmother leapt to mind. ‘She would make them all dance.’
The pressure moved out of my head and down my hands flowing out over the goblins. They woke a second before my spell got to them. One minute they wore snarls and grimaces, and the next they were turning to each other, taking each other in their arms, and beginning to waltz.
‘Oh,’ Isla clapped her hands together. ‘That is perfect.’
Another goblin skipped from the trees, a small bunch of flowers in his hand. The picture it presented was ludicrous.
‘I can’t do this to all of them.’ I could feel the smile on my face.
‘You don’t need to,’ Isla said. ‘You just need to do it to all of those blocking our exit.’
The rest of my friends fell in behind me as we moved in the direction of the waltzing goblins. I looked back over my shoulders and, at a thought, visions of each of us flickered into view right where we all had been a minute ago.
‘Nice touch.’ Isla’s hand was on my arm. ‘How long can you hold them for?’
‘Long enough for us to make our escape. Is this what I should have done?’
Isla stopped walking and turned to face me. As she shrugged her shoulders, it all disappeared from view. Suddenly we were back in the King’s study. ‘There was no one right.’
‘Only one wrong.’
She nodded.
‘For too long now you have doubted yourself.’
It took me a second to realise that the voice did not belong to Isla. We all turned toward the door at the top of the staircase where a woman garbed in a tattered, black robe stood. She lifted a hand and pointed a finger. A manacle hung from her wrist, a broken chain dangling from it.
‘The shadows of the worlds await you.’ Her hair hung in matted clumps down her back to her knees. Even through the dirt smudged on her cheeks I could see a luminous beauty. ‘You must tread warily least you welcome it once more.’ She swayed on her feet as she took a step towards me. ‘Wary, wary. The betrayer is already amongst you.’ Her pitch-black eyes seemed to swirl with an alien light. ‘What has been done, can not be undone.’
She turned her gaze to Turos and her face broke out into a broad smile. ‘Hello son,’ she said. And then she collapsed in a pile of torn fabric and dirt.
***
We were still staring at Turos’s mother, when King Bladimir returned. His eyes were wild, and his face pale and blotchy.
‘Gladaline.’ He stood over the prone woman. ‘Gladaline.’ He bent and scooped her up in his arms, cradling her to his body as he walked to the thick rug in front of the fireplace. ‘What is she doing here?’ He looked up at Turos as he lay Gladaline down on the rug.
‘She just appeared.’ Turos moved to his mother’s side.
‘Now, of all times.’ Bladimir rocked back onto his heels and let out a hard, rueful laugh. ‘Well it is the end of the world.’
Bells started ringing, their metallic cries echoing out across the valley.
‘We are all doomed.’ Bladimir’s face was blotchy as he looked over at us. ‘I have failed us.’
Gladaline stirred, her eyes opening as she reached out a hand towards Bladimir. ‘You are still as handsome as the day I first saw you,’ she said staring up at him.
‘I was only five. I’m not sure how handsome I was at five.’ His face softened as her hand brushed his cheek.
‘You were the most handsome, stubborn and rebellious five year old there was, and I knew as soon as I saw you we would be wed.’
I could hear men crying out from the dragon stables.
Gladaline pushed herself up until she was sitting. She raised a hand to her head and felt her matted locks. She pulled a face and dropped her hands as she said, ‘How long?’
‘You’ve been gone for twenty years.’ Bladimir’s hands trembled as he reached out and cupped her face. ‘Are you back now?’
Her eyes glazed for a minute, as if she were performing an internal examination. Then she blinked and met his eyes. ‘For now.’
Tears rolled down onto his cheeks as he pulled her to him and pressed a kiss to her lips. ‘At least we will be together when we die.’
‘Wait a minute,’ I said. As touching as the lovers’ reunion was, I wasn’t ready just to sit there and get killed by those pirates.
‘Why are you still here?’ His eyes were hard, cold stones.
‘So that’s it. You’ve just given up.’ I threw my hands in the air. ‘We need to get everyone moving now.’
‘You’ve seen what they can do,’ he said.
‘Yes.’ I nodded my head. ‘But you haven’t seen what I can do.’
I turned and raised a hand toward the external wall of the room. At a thought, it exploded outwards. The noise was deafening as chunks of stone arced far out into the valley.
‘My room. My wall,’ Bladimir stuttered.
‘No lightning?’ Turos asked.
‘That probably wouldn’t have worked out so well for us.’ I tried to control my pleased smile. Maybe Isla was right. Maybe I could do more than what I thought.
‘My study.’ Bladimir stood as he stared at where the wall had been.
‘One second ago you were ready to die, now you’re worried about your study?’
Gladaline let out a gentle laugh. ‘She is right love.’ She pushed herself up to stand beside him.
‘So,’ Bladimir shifted his gaze from the destruction to me. ‘You think you can blow up all those ships. There must be thousands.’
I shook my head. I’d been in this situation before but now I knew what to do. ‘I don’t need to blow them all up. I just need to create a safe path out.’
‘But there is nowhere else to go,’ he said. The desperate edge was gone from his voice, quiet resignation replaced it. ‘We’ve spent many years searching for other lands.’
‘We’ve always had to return with enough strength in our mounts to make it home. We don’t know for sure we won’t reach land before we fail.’ Turos walked over to his mother and took her hand. He raised it to his mouth and I thought I heard him whisper, ‘I’ve missed you,’ as he laid a gentle kiss on it.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Isla said, ‘we won’t be looking for new land. We’ll be returning to old ones.’
Bladimir looked toward her for the first time since he had returned from his flight. ‘What do you mean old lands, Princess.’
‘You can’t run,’ she said, ‘they will find you again eventually. It is time you returned home. You are needed there.’
‘You want us to swap our problems for yours?’
‘There is one big difference between our problem and yours.’ She smiled broadly. ‘Ours still has the chance of a happy ending.’
He let out a huff of air.
‘Listen to her love.’ Gladaline patted his arm. ‘She speaks sense.’
‘We have no way of returning.’
‘I’m not so sure about that.’ She turned her gaze onto me, and for a second I saw the same alien glow burn bright in the depths of her eyes.
‘I can take us home.’ My voice sounded strong even though my internal voice was babbling in fear.
‘It will take us a while to gather everyone. And we need to bring in the animals and…’
I stopped him with a chop of my hand. ‘You are the king. Start thinking like one. We need to go.’
His spine stiffened and his mouth worked soundlessly a few times, but then his face hardened and, for the first time since he had seen the opposing force, his demeanour returned to the strong, if not totally-rational leader I had known since I arrived. He turned to Turos and barked. ‘Put as many people on each dragon as they can carry.’ He turned to me. ‘Where will you open the gateway?’
‘Out at sea,’ I said. ‘I need space.’ Well, I wasn’t sure if that was true, but I knew I needed time. I had no idea how I was going to do it and I didn’t need the pressure of being attacked while I worked it out. We would have to fight our way clear of the horde first, and then I could do what needed to be done.
Isla reached out a hand and squeezed mine. I was pleased that neither she nor Turos let on that I had no freaking idea how to do what was needed.
Bladimir nodded. ‘Get each dragon airborne as soon as it is loaded. They can wait on the other side of the valley until we are all ready.’
Turos nodded his head and raced from the room. Isla and I followed right behind him.
‘Scruffy,’ I said. I was happy that Turos didn’t point out that I had said we didn’t have time to get animals. I would have had to knock him senseless and that would have stalled our departure.
‘Meet you down at the stables.’ He and Isla turned left as I turned right and started running down the corridors towards our rooms.
The bells continued to ring out and people bustled past me, hastily-packed bags of possessions clutched to their chest. Mothers held onto small children with one hand, while cloth carriers on their backs held their babies. Men belted swords to their waists or clutched axes in their hands. They weren’t going to help them today, but they would be needed where we were going.
For a second, guilt lanced into my gut. I was taking them to a land about to be torn apart by war. And I was happy about that, because a legion of dragons and the extra warriors would mean we had a better chance of winning. I batted the guilt away. That was immaterial to what was happening here. Without the opportunity to fight for existence in another land they would all be lost anyway.
I turned a corner and sprinted up a winding staircase. Fewer and fewer people appeared in the halls and they were practically deserted by the time I got to my and Isla’s rooms. I pushed open the door, expecting to find my little familiar right there.
‘Scruffy,’ I raced to my room. Where was he? It wasn’t possible he had slept through those bells. ‘Scruffy.’
‘Don’t move witch.’ The voice was clipped.
I turned towards it. A warrior sat in one of the chairs in the corner of my bedroom. He held Scruffy, wrapped in a towel so that only his nose protruded. Scruffy’s lips were curled back, his canines exposed as he let out a low, rasping growl.
‘What do you want?’
Where are you? Emerald’s thoughts were tense.
The man pulled a face as a foul smell washed over us. ‘I’ve spent the last half hour smelling that. I’ve a mind to kill him just to make it stop.’
I have a little problem. I won’t be long.
‘He gets gassy when he’s scared. Please don’t hurt him. I’ll do whatever you want.’
He blew out a big breath of air. ‘That’s right witch. You will at that.’
Emerald let out a huff. Hurry. The first group of invaders has landed.
I’ll be there as soon as I deal with the man holding Scruffy hostage in my room.
I felt her alarm flow into me. Traitor.
Obviously. Now, if you don’t mind. I’m a little busy.
I held a hand out towards the man. ‘What do you want?’
He growled and pushed the tip of a knife to Scruffy’s neck. ‘I want you to put your hands behind your back. And then I want you to die.’
‘Really?’ I placed my hands behind my back. ‘You think I’m just going to let you kill me?’
‘If it’s you or your smelly dog, I’m thinking you’ll let me.’
The twitch of his wrist alerted me to what he was planning. Before he could throw the knife, I sent out a surge of will towards him, willing him to be frozen in place. I could tell by the way his eyes widened that it had worked.
I stalked towards him, balling up my fist as I did. ‘Nobody, messes with my dog.’
I put all my speed into the blow I delivered. His eyes rolled back as his head rocked to the side. I plucked Scruffy from him, pulling off the towel and holding him to my chest. He wriggled in my arms till he could reach my face with his tongue.
The door flew open as Turos rushed into the room. ‘You’re safe?’ He stared at the unconscious warrior, sitting stiffly in the chair.
I released my spell and he sagged to the side, his knife sliding from his hand to the floor.
Turos stared at him for a second. ‘Kalvin,’ he finally said. ‘His brother was the man…’ His voice trailed off.
‘The man I fried in the hall that day?’
He nodded his head. ‘Kalvin was a friend. Or so I thought.’
‘What should we do with him?’
‘We leave him. You ready?’
I nodded and followed him to the window. He pushed it further open and stepped out onto Lance’s head, turning nimbly and jumping backwards so that his legs laid down on either side of the huge dragon’s neck. I tucked Scruffy under one arm and stepped up to crouch on the ledge. I took Turos’s outstretched hand with my free one, waiting for the next downward sweep of Lance’s wings before stepping onto his head. Turos took Scruffy from me as I slid down to sit in front of him. He wedged my little familiar between us, wrapping his arms around me to hold him securely in place.
I told myself that I wasn’t so much enjoying the feel of his broad chest pressed up against my back and his strong arms holding me against him, as I was the knowledge that Scruffy was safe. But my shiver gave lie to that thought, and instead, I found myself remembering the feel of him pressing me down into the mattress, and the sensations he had brought to life with his caresses.
He leant in even further and I felt his lips graze my neck, and then Lance was backing away from my window and we were flying down to the launching platform.
As we approached, three dragons took to the air. I counted ten people on each of their backs. They were held in place by a web of leather straps and harnesses that criss-crossed its way down the dragon’s body. Of those ten, at least two were warriors, bows in their hands and full quivers on their backs.
Another couple of dragons crouched low while people clambered up their legs, pulling themselves up into the harnesses and strapping themselves in. Teams of riders worked together, fitting the harnesses.
‘For a nation that has never known war, you certainly are prepared.’ I looked over my shoulder at Turos.
‘We’ve been practising for this day for a very long time.’
‘But….’ I stopped my question. Gladaline. His mother had warned them and they had listened and prepared.
Lance tucked his wings and dropped the last ten metres, landing on the only free piece of platform. I braced for the impact, but his legs took most of the force.
Emerald shook her head and did a dragon impression of an eye roll. So nice of you to join us.
Arthur squatted in front of her, Isla by his side.
I looked out over the valley. Dragons circled like birds of prey while others sat perched on rocky outcrops. I saw a couple of females, their offspring clasped in their front feet. They didn’t have any extra riders on their backs. People queued in the entry to the platform, their bodies tense as they awaited their turn to mount a dragon. Children cried and others shrieked in excitement. Mothers shushed and harried their brood, drying eyes and runny noses.
‘We should work out the best route.’ I turned and walked to Emerald.
Turos stopped me with a touch on my arm. ‘You’re riding with me.’
‘But…’
He shook his head. ‘No buts. She has to carry Arthur and Isla. We don’t know how far we are going to have to fly. And you have to concentrate on what you are doing. You need me to protect you.’
‘I can protect myself, thank you very much.’
‘Don’t be stubborn.’ He shook my shoulder gently. ‘Isla told me you might collapse if it requires too much power.’
‘That only happened once.’
He quirked an eyebrow but said nothing.
‘Fine.’ I turned and stalked back towards Lance, watching as his harness was fitted.
As soon as he was ready, eight black-garbed warriors scrambled onto his back. I knew Markus, Chanda and Yadler from my training sessions, but the rest were new to me.
Turos leapt up and held his arms out for Scruffy. I passed him up so he could strap him into a woven basket. He reached back down and hauled me up in front of him, settling an arm on either side of me.
‘Don’t go getting any ideas,’ I said.
His laugh warmed the back of my neck and I tried to pretend it was that, and not anything else, that made me blush.
Emerald walked to the edge of the platform with Isla perched on her neck. Arthur leapt off in front of her and she followed, snatching him out of the air with her front legs. He wiggled around as if trying to get comfortable and I could see Isla smiling. I could imagine the whining that was going on in her head.
I braced as Lance leapt off, sweeping past other dragons as he circled up. The air vibrated with the beating of dragon wings as we dodged and swerved, finally breaking free of the maelstrom of bodies to burst up and over the line of mountains.
At least ten ships had docked and the intruders were flooding out of them and onto the beaches. The rest of the ships stood sentinel, dotted around the island as far out into the ocean as I could see.
It wouldn’t be long before those pirates made their way up to the city. Half an hour at the most.
I looked out over the ocean, searching for a weak point in the layout of the ships. There was none. They were dotted with military precision. We were going to have to circle as high as we could as fast as we could, but even then, as soon as we rose above the height of the mountains they would have us in their line of fire.
As if to prove my words, there was a booming noise. A flash of light highlighted which ship had fired at us. Lance tucked his wings and dived to the right. I saw a large ball of metal flash by on our left. Another boom sounded, and was quickly followed by a third. I let Lance dodge them rather than throw a shield up against them. I was going to need all the strength I had.
I gestured to Turos to head back to the castle. He nodded once and tightened his arms around me as Lance turned a half loop and headed back over the mountains. The pirates were already high up the side of the rocky landscape. Once they got to the top, they’d start heading down into the valley. I could feel sweat starting to prickle at the base of my neck. We were cutting our departure rather fine.
Three more dragons sprung from the platform as we soared down towards it. They swept out over the valley with their civilians clinging to their harnesses. Five more adults, each holding the hand of a child, rushed to the next waiting dragon. They climbed up into the harnesses, taking the children from the outstretched arms of the warriors and securing them in front of them.
Faster. We needed to move faster.
Lance landed on a rocky outcrop off to the side of the platform. Emerald was already waiting there, Isla sitting calmly on her neck while Arthur played with a boulder. He rolled it to the edge with his front legs and then used his snout to push it over. It bounced and crashed its way through the low shrubs that grew on that part of the mountain.
Emerald let out a huff and, reaching out, seized the scruff of Arthur’s neck with her teeth. She lifted him into the air and shook him gently before placing him back on the ground.
Trouble maker. She tried to sound mad, but unmistakeable pride shone through the cracks in her words.
He looked up at her and batted his ginormous golden eyes, an innocent expression on his face as he dragged a toe back and forth through the dirt.
I squashed a smile and looked back at the platform, watching as dragon-after-dragon leapt over the edge and winged their way across the sky.
I looked up the mountain’s side to where I estimated the pirates would come. It was still clear, but it wouldn’t be long before they started cascading down from the crest.
Dragons perched like gargoyles along the sides of the range as it curved around the valley. I could see glassy scales gleaming where the rising sun met the earth. Dragons huffed and snorted, shaking their magnificent heads as smoke coiled out of their nostrils.
The handlers’ fingers flew as they buckled the harnesses. The people moved with speed and efficiency borne of long practice as they climbed onto the dragons. But even knowing they had practised this before, even knowing they were carrying out a drill, I couldn’t still the fear that was creeping up my spine. We weren’t going to make it in time.
I jammed my teeth together to stop myself from screaming at them to hurry, and then looked back up the mountain.
The first of the pirates crested the top, standing silhouetted in place for a moment before scrambling down towards us. My breath caught in my throat as a dozen more followed, and then a dozen more. I lifted a shaking hand and pointed towards them.
Lance growled and Turos let out a groan. A hundred dragon heads swivelled to stare, their large cat eyes fixed on their prey.
More and more of the strangers flowed over the top, until it seemed a black shadow moved over the ground.
Lance threw his head back into the air, let out a challenging roar, and pushed himself forwards, rocketing off the side of the mountain. Emerald shot out a leg and pinned Arthur to the ground, he looked like a swatted fly with his little wings stretched out to either side as he shook his head and huffed out a little growl. Isla sat forwards in her seat, her arm stretched towards me.
Kill them. Kill them all. Emerald’s orders bounced around inside my head as we sped towards our enemy.
All fear left me. All thoughts of strange weapons and the knowledge that tens of thousands more were waiting where these had come from. All I could see was the tide of the enemy flowing down to harm my charges.
Turos slithered backwards away from me, and I heard the sound of arrows being fitted to bows. The warriors behind me were ready and waiting. But I didn’t need an arrow, and I certainly didn’t need a bow.
The pirates paused as we sped towards them, raising strange metallic objects into the air. I heard a roar as they bucked in their hands and I formed a shield in front of us. But this shield was different to any I had formed before. This one wasn’t solid. And it flexed as the metal hit it, pulling back towards us, before springing back out. The small shards of metal reversed their flight and whipped back towards their makers.
Several of the men shrieked in pain, and fell to the ground, others clasped at limbs with their free hands while they aimed their weapons at us.
I heard the twang of arrows being released and dropped my shield. The Border Guard had trained me, and to me they were the elite, but if we had gone up against Turos and his warriors with our bows, we all would have been dead before we’d loaded a second time.
The arrows swept past me in a nearly continuous stream as they calmed their minds and put all else aside. Pirates collapsed with the feathered end of arrows standing out from their chests. But with the arrows firing, we had no shield.
Lance let out a roar as the little metal pellets peppered into him. I could feel Emerald, twisting with frustration, her desire to join her mate warring with her need to protect her child. Her agonised bellow sounded from behind us.
I’ve got this, I said.
I calmed my mind, removing all thoughts, all worries, all fears, and then I swept my hands out and unleashed my fury on the enemy.
Lance’s fire raked them moments before my power exploded the ground out from beneath their feet. Flaming bodies flew into the air, arcing out into the valley with rock and dirt and foliage. Men screamed and batted at themselves with frantic hands and others stood and stared at the gaping hole where their friends had been.
I unleashed my will again as we whipped past them, a spray of dust and dirt heralding where I ripped at the ground with my mind. More bodies tumbled through the air, while still others landed thirty metres away from where they had started, smacking into their brethren as if they had been the weapons I had unleashed.
Arrows flickered past, and more fire roared across them, and then we were past them. I threw up a shield to our rear and swivelled to observe the chaos we had reeked.
Lance banked as quickly as he could, fire belching out in front of him as he roared. His whole body shook with rage. I clutched at my harness with both hands and looked down toward the landing platform. People scurried desperately towards waiting dragons. Fear radiated from every movement, every glance over their shoulders.
I turned to look back up the mountain. A sea of black moved towards us. I heard the bellow of more dragons and two more lifted from the side of the mountain and flapped towards us. A score more warriors with calm faces placed arrows onto bow strings.
I drew air in through my nose and let it out through my mouth. A slow, measured breath. These men, they were nothing to me. Ants to be destroyed. I lifted a palm as we approached again, and fired a bolt of lightning into them. Arrows lanced down on them while more lightning followed. I peppered the ground with mini-explosions, watching impassively as bodies flew and men screamed. It meant nothing to me. The only thing that mattered, was stopping their flow down towards the innocent people waiting to escape.
Some managed, through the panic of our attack, to fire their weapons at us. It was impossible to shield while we were attacking, and I felt Lance shudder beneath us as he took the brunt of their attack.
Emerald roared in my head as she shared her mate’s pain. I launched two more lightning bolts and three more explosions, and then we were past them again. We flew wide to allow the next dragons their turn at attack.
Is he okay? I sent the message to Emerald rather than risk breaking Turos’s concentration.
It is the equivalent of you being stung by a bee. Many, many times. Anger and guilt danced through her thoughts.
You belong there. With Arthur.
I could feel her grinding her massive teeth.
Dragons roared and raced toward the enemy and we were forced to fly a larger loop this time. More and more dragons joined us, until there was a continual stream of attack. It meant poor Lance was not wearing the entire brunt of their attack, but it also meant more of our dragons were being weakened before our escape.
On our next pass, I perfected my ground explosions so that there was a continual detonation of the earth, exploding in perfect rhythm as we swept by. Fire covered the hill, clinging to the low-lying shrubs, and licking over many of the prone bodies of the fallen enemy. I released one perfect, three-pronged lightning bolt over my shoulder and then slammed a shield into place.
‘It’s done.’ Turos gestured past me to the landing platform, and I saw the last few dragons lift into the air.
Emerald let out a shriek of rage and lifted into the air. She snatched Arthur up and flapped towards us, her eyes burning as she searched Lance’s flanks for signs of damage. I leant sideways and looked backwards. Blood flecked his sides, and dark holes bloomed in the smoothness of his shiny, black scales.
She spat fire and turned toward the enemy, then shook her head and glanced down at Arthur. Her desire for revenge battled with her maternal instinct. She threw back her head and let out a shriek that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. Then she fell into formation beside us as we winged our way higher and higher.
A spiral of dragons followed us up, our shadows blotting out the mountain on the far side of the crater from the sun. The whole ground seemed to tremble beneath us with the combined might of the thrum of our wings. Roars and snorts and snarls echoed off the walls, as the dragons tried to carry their vulnerable cargo to safety.
I threw up a shield in front of the pirates who had breached the safety of our home. I wasn’t going to be able to protect all of us when we left the volcano, but for now I would do what I could.
I saw Bladimir with Gladaline nestled in front of him, her long, matted locks blowing crazily around both of them. His dragon was a huge, blue beast, but none were as large as Lance. None as fierce or magnificent as Lance.
Stop that, I snapped at Emerald.
Well, you have to admit, he is the most handsome of them all.
Yes, I said, not sure if I was talking about Lance or Turos, he is that.
We continued circling up past the line of the mountains. The ships were still there, exactly where they had been. A minute or so after we appeared, I heard the first of the low booms. We spiralled ever higher, till the air became thin, and breathing was difficult. More booms echoed the first and I could see puffs of light and smoke coming from the ships nearest to the island.
A dragon’s roar tore at the sky behind us, and I turned to see it falling; its neck bent at an impossible angle, flesh and blood spewing from the rent. People screamed and I saw a few jump, arms extended as they sought refuge. Two were snatched from the air, but a third plummeted, joining the rest of the riders as they smashed into the valley floor. I averted my eyes at the last instant, unable to watch.
Turos rested his hand on my shoulder, his fingers squeezing harder than he probably realised.
It was impossible to think that just a few hours ago, we had lain in a mess of tangled body limbs as our hands and lips explored each other. Now, an entire nation fled for their lives. And not all of us were going to make it.
I reached up and clutched his fingers, squeezing back. I would do what I could to save his people. I would. But already guilt was starting to trail its fingernails down my spine. I couldn’t save us all. That much was evident. And the life of everyone I failed was going to weigh heavily on my mind.
Lance changed direction and headed out over the ships, arrowing towards the horizon. The flotilla of dragons followed, their wings rustling the thin air behind us.
I placed a disc of shield below us, broadening it as far as I could. The rat-a-tat-tat of the ship’s weapons rattled below us. Most of it bounced off my shield, but some made it around. Dragons snorted as metal pounded into the softness of their underbellies.
The larger missiles I was able to stop, flexing my shield and firing them back. Most plummeted into the ocean below, large sprays of water the only sign of their passing. But some tore through the planking of a ship’s deck, wood splintering and tearing in its wake.
Our arrows were useless from this height. And although I knew I would be able to strike the ships with lightning, that would mean dropping my shield. The peppering in my mind told me my shield was being harassed by a continual barrage of smaller pellets. I couldn’t drop that shield, even for a few seconds.
‘Tell Lance to get the group to come in closer,’ I yelled over my shoulder to Turos.
‘They daren’t fly any lower. If they come any closer the buffeting from their wings will disturb everyone’s wind stream.’
‘I can’t shield us all spread out like this.’
He didn’t waste any more energy yelling at me, but a few moments later Lance slowed, and the dragons from the edges tucked in beneath us. I tugged at my shield, thinning it a little till all of us were covered.
Sweat trickled down my brow at the effort of holding the shield, and still I couldn’t see an end to those ships. I needed to get to a clear patch of sea so I could open a way back home. And even then, I didn’t know if I could do it. The closest I had gotten before, was feeling the thickness of the walls between this world and my own. I hadn’t been able to draw it back. I didn’t even know if I had enough power to do it.
A dragon screamed behind us, and then another roared in anger. Human screams reached my ears, panicked shouts, crying. I looked over my shoulder. A dragon was struggling to hold its height with one wing bent at an odd angle. The thin leather stretched over the bones was torn. As I watched, the tear extended, ripping through the tissue till the wing was useless.
The dragon pivoted to the side and fell from the sky, a roar of pain and anger, married with the cries of the riders, fading into the distance.
A second later the dragon smacked into my shield, its descent slowed as the flexible force field stretched down. I hardened the shield before it could fling them back into the air again. The extra weight added another layer of sweat to my forehead.
A large metal ball whizzed down past Lance’s head. He snorted and started to the side.
‘They’re firing over us,’ I screamed back at Lance.
‘Can you block it?’
I shook my head. The weight of the dragon and its riders now resting on the shield was taking nearly everything I had.
Another dragon roared and a few moments later I felt the shield flex again. I gasped and grabbed at the edges of the shield trying to hold it in place. The weight of the dragons’ bodies was pulling it down, turning it more into a sling than a shield. My carefully constructed edges were gone and it wouldn’t be long now before the edges of the pack started to feel the brunt of the attack.
A dragon off to the side below us shuddered. It shook its head and continued flying but droplets of blood sprayed out from its side.
‘Can’t you attack them?’ Turos yelled.
‘Which ship?’ We were being fired at by so many of them. And although every hundred metres we flew meant ships behind could no longer reach us, it is also meant we were now in range of the ships ahead of us. I would have to blow every single ship within a half mile radius out of the water. And I didn’t know if I had the fire power for it.
Human shrieks were now added to that of the dragons and when I looked down, blood splattered the shield.
Turos let out a curse. I turned to see him clutching at his left arm. Blood dribbled out from beneath his fingers. ‘I’m okay,’ he shouted. ‘Just a scratch.’
I stared at him for another second.
‘Get down,’ he said, flapping his wounded arm at me.
I ducked, crouching over Scruffy and making myself as small as possible. How are you going? Emerald was right behind us.
I’ll be better when we get back home.
Home? I had thought she wanted to stay here.
No use crying over spilt milk.
I snorted. She’d got that saying from Grams and suddenly I missed my scatty, brilliant Grandmother with an urgency that hurt. I could almost feel her there with me, feel her reaching out towards me to wrap me in her arms.
I sat straight up in the air and Turos batted me back down.
‘I’ve got it,’ I shrieked.
‘You’ve been hit?’
I shook my head, hugging my arms around myself. I could still feel Grams as if she were right there with me. All I had to do was hold onto that feeling for a little while longer.
‘There.’ Turos pointed an arm past me.
I squinted my eyes and peered at the horizon. A pure stretch of ocean had appeared. No ships stained its brilliant blue. I just had to hold it together for a little while longer.
I didn’t even hear the next dragon that fell from the sky. Its body slammed into the shield and I felt a crack start in the fabric of my mind. I swayed in my harness and Turos steadied me with a hand.
‘Can you hold them while you open the gate?’
‘I have to.’
I looked down. Other dragons had picked up the stranded riders that were still conscious, but a few bodies lay sprawled beside those of the dragons. I didn’t want to be the person who committed them to their deaths.
The strip of blue was getting wider and I heard a few cheers from behind. We had to get far enough beyond the ships that they wouldn’t be able to access any gateway I opened before I closed it again. I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t open up right down to the level of the ocean.
‘Izzy.’ Turos tapped my left shoulder and pointed past me in that direction.
A huge storm was brewing on the horizon. Sheets of lightning danced through the green-black clouds. The water beneath had changed from smooth silk to dancing whitecaps.
The storm swirled in place for a few moments before leaping forward like a frisky racehorse, running to intercept us where we would leave the flotilla behind.
It wasn’t possible that it was natural. Not possible at all.
I resisted the urge to smash myself in the head. We had known from the beginning that there must be a magic maker. Known by the way they had shown up when a way had been opened by magic. Deduced and then forgotten.
Lance altered his course away from the dark storm. I didn’t think it was going to make any difference though. Our new route was going to take us longer, which would give the storm time to catch us.
‘Izzy.’ Turos leant forward and yelled in my ear. ‘How are you holding up?’
‘Oh just fantastic.’ I couldn’t help the frustration from bubbling in my voice. I had just worked out how to open the portal and now we had the storm to contend with.
‘No, I mean with holding the shield.’
‘Not great,’ I gritted out through clenched teeth.
As if to prove my point another dragon fell from the sky, its body joining the others a few seconds later. Pain lanced through my head as I fought to hold the shield in place.
‘You need to let them go.’
‘I can’t.’ I shook my head.
‘Can’t or won’t?’ He shook me as if trying to get me to see reason.
‘Won’t,’ I screamed.
‘You are our commander. We need you.’
I had carried them this far. I could take them the full way.
‘You are our only hope. If you fail, trying to save a few of us, we all die.’
The storm seemed to grow as it closed in on us. The water beneath it boiled, water spouts swirling up into the sky.
Damn him to the Great Dark Sky and back.
‘You need to let go of them and save your strength.’
I glanced down at the dragons. One of them shook his head as if trying to clear it. We were so close to the edge of the ships. It wouldn’t be long before I didn’t need the shield at all.
Wind whipped at us; a gale force that grabbed my braid and streamed it out behind me. Lightning sheets danced across the edge of my vision. Lance altered his flight a little more and suddenly the storm was behind us, racing after us.
A few more beats of the dragon’s wings and we would be free of the pirates and at the mercy of the storm.
Dragons at the back of the pack began to roar and our speed as a group increased. Lightning arced overhead and I threw out a hand, my own lightning racing to meet it. The two electrical currents met in a blinding blaze of sparks as energy exploded outwards in a wave.
Air punched me in the gut and threw me back into Turos. His arms wrapped around me for a second before he pushed me upright. I pulled my feet up beneath myself and flipped around so that I was facing him. I looked past the dragons to where I could see the sky, a pot of boiling ink ready to stain us black.
‘Let them go,’ Turos yelled.
Another blaze of lightning streaked towards us. I threw up both hands, extending the shield up behind us to meet it. Electricity seared the edges of my mind as it roared across the surface of my shield.
‘Izzy.’ Turos’s voice was gentle as he placed a hand on each side of my face and turned my gaze to meet his. Tears glimmered in his eyes. ‘You have to let them go.’
Damn him. He was right. I couldn’t hold the shield, and protect us from the storm and open a gateway. I had to let them go.
‘No,’ I choked out. ‘I can’t.’
‘You have to.’ He leant forwards, resting his forehead against mine. ‘You have to,’ he whispered again.
I held onto him, blinking tears from my eyes as I found the strength to do what I had to. He kissed me. A gentle, sweet kiss full, not of passion, but of understanding and support.
I let the shield slither from my mind. Tears, tracked down my face and sobs racked me as I felt them falling, fading away. But there was no time to mourn them, no time to feel the full depth of my failure. Now was the time to fight.
I pulled back from Turos and looked toward the storm. Wind rocked me in my seat and dragons and Millenium cried out in fear. I stared into the storm, mesmerised by the dancing darkness that was coming to claim our lives. And within that storm, darker even than the circling clouds, a figure appeared.
It soared towards us, and it was only as it got closer that I realised it wasn’t flying. A dragon, larger and blacker than Lance, bore the man on its back. Swirling yellow eyes glared maleficently and, as the dragon threw back its head and roared, lightning shot from the man’s hands.
‘Santanas,’ I gasped. ‘Dark Sky, its Santanas.’
Lance turned to stare behind him as I threw back a lightning bolt. I wasn’t quite fast enough and it met his at the edge of the dragon pack, the flying sparks causing shrieks of pain.
My mind flew through the possibilities of him being here until it settled on the one obvious answer. This wasn’t the Santanas from my realm. This was the Santanas in this alternate reality.
‘Granddaughter.’ His voice thundered over the noise of the storm. ‘I am surprised to see you here. I left you in charge of Europe.’
Another piece of the puzzle fell into place. In this alternate reality, Santanas hadn’t been trapped. He had gone on to rule the world.
‘Hello Grandfather,’ I yelled. ‘Just out for a morning flight.’ We were well beyond the ships now. It was time to open the gateway. But there was no way I could risk this Santanas following us through to our world.
‘So I can see.’ His lips curled up. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you had found the missing dragons?’
Dark Sky, was it possible there was a tribe of dark faery/Ubanty offspring and a pack of dragons on an island in our world? My head spun as I tried to work through the implications of his words.
‘I was going to surprise you.’
The storm had backed off during our conversation. ‘But why would you let them attack you.’ He flew a little closer. ‘They follow your word as much as mine.’ His eyes narrowed as he stared at me. ‘Isadora, where is your scar?’
I threw up a shield at the precise moment he unleashed a wall of fire at me. It washed across my invisible barricade, gone as quickly as it appeared.
I heard the twang of bow strings and arrows raced towards Santanas.
He flicked his hand and let out a crazy laugh as the arrows flew wide. ‘You are not as strong as she.’
‘Maybe not.’ I tossed a fireball of my own at him. ‘But I’m strong enough.’
He batted the fireball out of the sky like a child batting away a tennis ball, and I used that second of distraction to concentrate on Grams again. An intense longing immediately started up in my gut.
More arrows followed my fireball as the warriors on Lance released volley after volley. When my feeling of longing was as strong as I could make it, I threw a hand out behind me. I peeled back the layers between this world and my own as my longing sought my grandmother.
Turos let out a shout and I risked a glance over my shoulder to see a crack appearing in the sky behind us.
‘Go,’ I screamed. Go, I urged Emerald.
She took off towards that rent in the world, the rest of the dragons fleeing after her. The storm exploded, fingers of black cloud roaring after the dragons, as lightning danced across the gap.
‘Close your eyes,’ I shouted to my companions. Then I pulled the lightning towards us, swirling it into a spinning vortex and using it as an electrical shield.
Light roared, burning through the darkness provided by my eyelids. I gathered it up, until I could feel the energy leaking though my pores. It sent little shocks over the surface of my skin and Lance grunted in discomfort as it flowed from me to him.
I could feel my hair standing away from my body as I plucked a piece from the nimbus surrounding me and threw it towards Santanas. His dragon let out a roar and I opened my eyes to see it charging towards us as Santanas seized my electrical ball and sent it back.
Lance screamed his challenge and reared back his head, getting ready to strike. Dark Sky. The last thing we needed was to get caught up in two male dragons fighting for dominance.
The strange dragon rolled to the side, squealing as the tip of its wing brushed through the edge of my electrical shield.
I plucked off two more pieces of lightning and threw them at Santanas. He laughed as he deflected them. I knew I wasn’t going to hurt him. Not that easily. But while he was engaging me, the others were getting away.
Black clouds closed around us from either side as wind ripped at our clothes. Lance snorted as the cloud brushed him, and blood droplets flew from his nose as he shook his head.
‘The clouds,’ Turos yelled. ‘They’re eating his flesh.’
I threw another electrical ball at Santanas as Lance turned and fled from the storm.
‘I’m disappointed,’ Santanas called. ‘Is that the best you’ve got?’
Half of the dragons were already through the gateway.
‘You can’t get away that easily.’ Santanas’ voice floated to us on the edge of the storm.
As fast as Lance was flying, the black clouds were keeping pace. They swirled and danced, occasional tendrils reaching out to brush Lance’s side. With each touch, his snort was louder, more fearful. He rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder.
‘Easy boy,’ Turos said, pressing his hand to the big dragon’s flank. ‘Easy.’ He looked into my eyes and whispered, ‘I hope you’ve got something up your sleeve.’
I nodded, tension giving the movement a mechanical feel. I hoped I did too. But the truth was I was nearing exhaustion.
Santanas’s dragon was coasting behind Lance as if he were out for a casual afternoon flight. I threw the last of my stored electrical balls at Santanas and risked a look over my shoulder. We were almost there. Almost.
Santanas laughed again. ‘I’m thinking I’ll give you to my Isadora as a present. She liked dolls when she was a little girl. She’s going to love you.’
I gritted my teeth, trying hard not to think about what I was like in this world. What atrocities had I committed? How many people had I harmed?
Turos squeezed my arm as he said, ‘Whatever you’re going to do, do it now.’
It was true that I couldn’t harm Santanas, not exhausted as I was. But there was nothing to stop me from harming his mount.
Santanas raised a hand in the air, a triumphant look on his face. I reached out my mind and seized his dragon’s wings. I wrapped air around them, and then I pulled all the moisture out of the air and I froze it onto his wings. One second they were closing on us, Santanas about to unleash his killing blow, and the next they were falling from the sky, balls of ice wrapped around his dragon’s wings.
I had no doubt he would unravel my work before they smacked into the ocean. But we only needed a little time.
Turos let out a yell of triumph as the world around us changed from dark to light. I saw the gateway from the other side, a slash in the fabric of the sky. I grasped it and heaved it shut, melding it closed in my mind. And then I turned to look over my shoulder to where we were heading.
Turos grabbed my head and pushed me down as an arrow sluiced through where I had been.
I let out a shriek and surveyed the ground below. We were in Eynsford, just as I had been hoping we would be. But it was not the Eynsford we had left.
Lance banked suddenly, and Turos wrapped an arm around me, holding me tight as we swerved and dodged around an eagle of unbelievable proportions. A masked figure sat on its back. As I watched, the figure jumped nimbly from the eagle onto Lance’s back. He swept a short blade at one of the warriors there, was blocked, and then leapt back off Lance, into the air, and onto the back of the eagle.
The Vulpines were here.
I looked around, trying to take in what I was looking at. Dragons and eagles swooped and dived, involved in aerial battle. Arrows flew and civilians wielded swords and axes to prevent the Vulpine warriors landing on their dragons.
Down below, goblins swarmed over the field below my house. Border guards battled them, but from my aerial survey I could see they were badly outnumbered.
‘We have to go down,’ I screamed, pointing at the battle. ‘They need our help.’
‘Your place is with your dragon.’
He was right. Again. Damn him to hell and back.
Emerald, I called.
Jump left on my call.
I flipped back to face the front and untied Scruffy’s carrier basket. I tucked him under one arm, and looked back over my shoulder. ‘We’ll get rid of these birds,’ I said to Turos, ‘and then I’ll meet you on the ground.’
He pulled me towards him and pressed his lips to mine in a short, hard kiss. ‘I look forward to it,’ he said as he winked at me.
Now, Emerald screamed in my mind.
I winked back and then leapt off Lance. Emerald levelled out beneath me and I slid smoothly onto her neck. I grabbed onto the harness and then tied Scruffy on. He looked up at me with his huge, yellow eyes and licked my hand through the basket.
Where’s Isla?
She’s on Arthur. Her tone told me how much she approved of that.
I looked around and spied the little orange dragon. His size gave him an advantage over the adult dragons. He was much more nimble. As I watched, he twisted through the air to avoid the outstretched talons of an eagle.
Isla, a smile born of excitement stretching her mouth wide, released two arrows into the eagle’s rider. He toppled from the bird’s back and the eagle was forced to give up his pursuit of Arthur, instead racing after his master.
Everywhere I looked, dragons and eagles twisted and dodged. Fire scorched eagles’ feathers and talons tore at tender snouts. Millenium released arrows and the Vulpine leapt from eagle to dragon to eagle. The white feathers of the eagles were tinged with the pink of blood.
Incoming. To our nine.
I tore my eyes back to my left, holding onto the reins with one hand and jumping to my feet. I placed my spare hand on the hilt of my sword but did not draw it.
The eagle was closing fast. Its rider wore black robes, and I could see now that it wasn’t so much a mask they were wearing, but the end of a turban hooked over the lower half of their faces. He crouched on the eagle’s neck, one hand holding a leather strap, the other his curved blade.
I calmed my mind, pushing out all thoughts as I waited for his attack.
The eagle peeled off to the right, slashing at Emerald’s neck as the Bedouin man leapt towards me. I whipped my blade out in front of me at the last possible second and his momentum carried him onto my sword point. I staggered backwards and Emerald banked so that the force carried me into her, and not off her neck. The tip of my sword sank deep into his stomach, emerging out his back. His eyes widened, and he clutched at his chest where blood soaked through his black robes.
Then his eyes hardened and his blade swept around to meet me. I blocked his arm movement, lifted a knee between us, and kicked him off my sword. He flew backwards, arms and legs outstretched like a man floating in the ocean.
His eagle appeared beneath him, and he crashed onto it before sliding off again, leaving a large bloody smear on the creature’s feathers.
Hang on. Emerald executed a perfect barrel roll, using one of her wings to snap down on an eagle. I heard the sound of bones cracking. It let out a cry, falling from the sky with one wing flapping uselessly.
I risked a glance below. More of the Guard had arrived but they were still badly outnumbered.
Emerald let out a puff of fire, and an eagle squawked and dived, the feathers on its tail lighting up like a candle. I released a couple of arrows into its rider, not even waiting to see if they had landed before looking around us.
Lance snatched at the air; his strong jaws clamping down on the eagle and rider in one bite. He shook his head like a cat with a mouse and feathers exploded in all directions. Then he spat them back out, blasting them with a stream of fire as they fell from the sky.
Behind you.
I felt the vibration even as Emerald warned me, ducking just in time to avoid having my head severed from my body. The blade whistled over my head and I kicked out behind, connecting with the knee of my attacker. There was a sickening popping noise and a screech of pain. I spun, swinging my other leg around in a swiping kick Turos had taught me. It connected with the side of my attacker’s head and he flew sideways off Emerald’s back.
I panted slightly as I looked around for the next eagle. But there were none. We had outnumbered them and out-fought them, and they were fleeing.
Some of the dragons, holding only warriors, chased after them; dragons nipping eagles from the air, and blasting others with flames. It wasn’t turning out to be a very good day for the Vulpines.
Without me having to say anything, Emerald headed for the ground battle. Her flame would be no good, the two sides were two heavily engaged for her to be able to cook goblins without hitting any of the Guard.
I knocked an arrow to my bow and fired at a goblin. The arrow buried itself deep in the base of his neck and he toppled to the side. I fired off two more arrows before Emerald finished her first pass over them. She snatched a goblin up with each of her front legs, carrying them up high into the sky before throwing them into the trees.
I reached for another arrow, but the quiver slung on the side of Emerald’s neck was empty.
Let me down, I said. Emerald could wreak havoc without me, my sword was going to be the most help now.
She didn’t so much land as just skim across the top of the battle. I gave Scruffy a pat on the head, warned her to look after him, and then leapt off her neck and onto the back of a huge goblin warrior. My momentum knocked him forwards, onto his knees, and before he could recover I grasped his head in both hands and twisted it savagely to the side. It broke with a satisfying snap.
I jumped to my feet and Rako said, ‘Well girl, you sure do know how to make an entrance.’
I shot him a grin, but before I could respond, a goblin holding a dagger in each hand ran at me. I cleared my mind of everything and attacked.
Every other time when I had engaged the Millenium warriors’ mind technique, I had been fighting those doing the same. So I wasn’t quite prepared for what happened this time.
It was as if everybody else on that field’s movement dropped to half – no, a quarter – of what it had been. It was as if they moved through water. I, on the other hand, seemed to be moving at a normal speed.
I twirled with my sword and lopped off both the goblin’s hands, and then I spun and took his head. I jumped over his still-falling body and engaged two goblins on the far side. They just had time to look surprised before I slashed through one’s neck, severing the carotid artery. I plucked a dagger out of his hands and spun and wedged it into the other’s chest.
Across the field I saw another man moving at normal speed. Turos. Fighting his way towards me through the mass of goblins.
‘Winner takes all,’ he yelled, an excited grin on his face.
‘I’ve already got four,’ I called back. ‘Make that five.’ I hamstringed a goblin and slit his throat as he fell backwards.
‘Six,’ Turos called.
‘What?’ I took a second to look over at him. He had a sword in each hand.
Emerald swooped over the battlefield again. I could feel excitement radiating out from her. She grabbed two more goblins and took them high into the air before throwing them into the trees. Lance flew through a few seconds later, repeating her performance.
I stooped and picked up a second sword from a fallen Border Guard. Jamis. I suppressed the pang of grief. He had been a good man, and I was going to put his sword to good use seeking his revenge.
‘Ten,’ Turos called out.
Damn him, he was pushing his lead out too far for me to catch him. I whirled my swords and ran at the nearest goblin. I leapt at him, feet first, using his body as a spring board as I bounded up into the air. As I spun, my braid whipped him in the face, and then I followed that up with my sword. I landed, pivoted, slashed at two goblins’ necks, sprang into the air again over their toppling bodies and turned a full somersault before I landed.
I saluted a slow-moving Border Guard, grinning at the look of shock on his face, and then bounded up and onto a goblin’s shoulder, mimicking a move I had once seen Isla do, as I ran from shoulder-to-shoulder. Where she had used arrows, I used my swords like walking sticks, plunging them down at a slightly outward angle into the goblins’ throats. Their bodies gave out beneath me as I pushed off for my next victim.
Arthur fluttered into view. He hovered above the fight and I saw Isla, her face calm as she fired shots off into the melee below. At the speed she was firing it only took her a few seconds to empty her quiver. She patted Arthur on the neck, then slid off and dropped to a crouch on the ground, her sword already in her hand.
I leapt off my last goblin, landing in front of Turos. ‘Twenty,’ I said, giving him a grin.
‘Impressive.’ He gave me a mock bow, sweeping out to the side with his sword as he stood back up.
A goblin, his hand raised to strike, grunted, looking down in shock at the sword stuck in his belly. He let out a gurgle and fell to his knees.
‘Twenty-two,’ he said.
‘Oh buzznuckle.’ I turned to re-enter the fight, but there were no more goblins standing.
Isla whipped her sword off on the coat of a goblin she had just beheaded. ‘Twenty-three,’ she said. ‘Did I win?’
Rako walked in slow motion towards me. ‘Hooooowww aaarreee yooou doing thaaat?’ Not only did it look like he was walking through water, he sounded like he was speaking under water too.
I smiled at him and released my mind control. ‘How were we doing what?’
‘That’s what you were talking about,’ he said. ‘The training you were going through.’
I nodded. ‘If we can train the Guard we’re going to have a definite advantage.’
Rako shook his head. ‘There’s no time to train. Santanas’s armies are pushing harder than we thought. They’re almost at Isilvitania.’
‘Izzy.’ I turned to see Aethan striding towards us. His black hair was ruffled up and blood and grime covered one side of his stubble-coated face. He reached me and his hand moved awkwardly towards me before falling back to his side. ‘Thank the Dark Sky you’re back. You’re safe.’
‘Aethan.’ I put a hand on the side of his face, brushing at the blood with my fingers. ‘Are you hurt?’
He covered my hand with his and the flutter set up inside my stomach again, but this time it was for a very different reason. ‘Not my blood.’ His voice was low and husky and he got that look in his eyes that meant he was going to kiss me.
I stared mesmerised into the depths of his navy-blue eyes. I could already feel the heat from his muscled body radiating out towards me, any second now and I would feel the hardness of him wrapping around me.
Except, there was a reason I wasn’t meant to kiss him. I knew it, but I was exhausted, and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what it was.
I felt Aethan’s fingers flex on top of mine, and knew he was about to make his move.
‘Hmmmmmhmmm.’ Turos cleared his throat loudly and stepped up next to me.
I saw Aethan’s eyes break from mine and travel up the length of the bronzed, muscled warrior. Turos stood a good foot higher than Aethan and was at least half as wide again. I had gotten used to how massive he was, but seeing the slight shock in Aethan’s eyes reminded me once again.
I pulled my hand from Aethan’s face and stepped back, wobbling a little on legs made of jelly.
Ebony. He was going to marry Ebony.
Turos stepped to my side and wrapped an arm around me, steadying my wobble.
‘Prince Turos of Millenia at your service.’ He bowed his head to Rako and then to Aethan.
‘Rako, head of the Border Guard.’ Rako bowed in return.
‘Prince Aethan of Isilvitania.’ Aethan’s voice had a hard brittle edge as his eyes travelled from Turos, along Turos’s arm to me. One of his fists clenched and the muscles in his jaw bulged.
‘Aethan,’ Isla shrieked and threw herself into his arms. She looked over her shoulder at me and winked.
One-by-one the dragons had been landing at the far end of the field. Five hundred dragons take up quite a bit of room and it wasn’t long before they were hovering over our heads, looking for space to land.
‘You brought them all?’ Rako asked.
‘Had to. Santanas attacked.’
His eyebrows rode up his forehead and he scratched vigorously at the long scar running down his cheek.
‘Not our Santanas. The alternate reality one.’ I was tired. So bone tired. All I wanted to do was have a little lie down.
‘We’d better move back.’ Rako looked up at the sky where dragons flew slow circles looking for a place to land. ‘Get the dead and wounded,’ he called.
‘Father.’
I turned at Turos’s voice to see King Bladimir walking towards us. Gladaline strode by his side, her head held high. Even though her hair was dirty and matted, and her clothes covered in dirt, she looked every bit a Queen.
I heard Turos making introductions between his parents, and Rako and Aethan, as the Guard lifted their fallen comrades and started walking towards the edge of the field.
‘Bring them up to the house,’ a familiar voice called. ‘We’ve gathered healers.’
I let out a gasp of delight. ‘Sabby?’
At the sound of my voice, Sabby’s fur scarf unravelled from her throat. It clambered up onto her head, let out a mewl and launched itself into the air.
Mia.
I held out my arms and the little monster thumped into me, wrapping her winged limbs around my neck and hanging on tight. Her whole body wriggled as she nuzzled her head up under my chin.
‘Oh, Mia.’ I ran my hands over her fur. ‘I missed you girl.’
She mewed a few more times and then climbed up onto my shoulder to wrap around my neck.
Sabby picked her way gingerly through the field of fallen. ‘About time you came back.’ She put her hands on her hips but her smile told me she was pleased to see me.
‘Oh Sabby.’ I laughed and flung my arms around her. ‘I’ve missed you.’
She pulled back and stared into my face. ‘I should be so mad at you. I told you not to go off and have an adventure without me.’ She looked around the field. ‘Hubba hubba, who is that?’
I followed her eyes to see Turos watching us. When I met his gaze he smiled and sauntered towards us. Bladimir was talking fervently to Rako, waving his arms around and gesturing towards his people.
‘Oh my,’ Sabby said. ‘He’s even bigger close up.’
He rested an arm casually on my shoulder and held a hand out to her. ‘You must be Sabby. Izzy told me all about you.’
‘Well hopefully,’ she threw him a stunning smile, ‘she’ll tell me all about you. But alas, for now I have to go and heal the wounded.’
Mia reached out her nose to sniff at Turos. She let go of my neck and scampered up his arm, running her paws over his face as she nipped at his jaw.
‘Ah,’ Turos peered down at Mia, ‘what is it?’
‘Mia is a narathymia. She’s technically a monster.’
‘A monster?’ He reached out a finger and scratched her under the neck and she let out a purr. ‘She’s too adorable to be a monster.’
‘Santanas took her baby. I promised her we’d find it.’ I watched her wind herself around his neck. ‘She likes you.’
‘What’s not to like?’ He held his hands out sideways.
A smile curved my lips as I looked up into his beautiful eyes. ‘Want to come and meet my Mum and Grams?’
He nodded and reached out to thread his fingers through mine. It felt very natural.
‘Izzy.’ Aethan stood off to the side. This time there was no mistaking how his eyes lingered on where Turos was touching me. ‘Can I have a word with you?’
‘Can it wait? There are wounded I should attend to.’
He nodded his head but said, ‘It will only take a minute.’
I squeezed Turos’s hand before letting go to walk over to where Aethan stood to the side.
He didn’t talk straight away. He scratched the side of his nose and looked out towards the field at the dragons that were settling down to rest. I sighed as I realised I was going to have to heal them as well.
‘You did well,’ he finally said. ‘We’re going to need them.’
‘That’s not why I brought them here.’ Dark Sky, I wasn’t so ruthless as to potentially commit a whole nation of people to their deaths just to try and save us. ‘We had to leave. This was the only safe place to come.’ I let out a snort as I realised the ludicrousness of my words. I had taken them from the frying pan to the fire. ‘Is that what you wanted to talk about?’
‘I missed you.’ He took my hand. ‘I miss you.’
I pulled my hand back. ‘We’ve had this conversation. It didn’t end well last time either.’ A wave of exhaustion rolled over me.
‘Yes well….’ He stopped and stared at me intently. ‘You told me you hadn’t met anyone else.’
‘I hadn’t.’ I looked over my shoulder at Turos. He stood facing us, his enormous frame tense as if he was about to explode into action. Oh great. That was the last thing I needed. ‘He’s a friend. A good friend.’ I decided now was not the time to mention that there had been kissing involved.
Aethan looked over at Turos. His eyes narrowed and then he nodded his head. ‘You may think that, but I know a possessive male when I see one. Well, I’m throwing my hat in the ring.’ He looked back at me and this time when he grabbed my hand I didn’t shake him off. ‘I’m not letting you go that easily. I’m going to fight for you.’
‘But Ebony….’
‘Ebony be damned. It’s you I love.’ The intensity of his words hammered into my heart.
I could feel my breathing coming in short, ragged bursts. It was too overwhelming. All too much. The political ramification of what Aethan was suggesting was disastrous. But I knew I wanted him to try. And that fact – the fact I wanted him to try, made me realise that Turos had become more than just a friend. My feelings for him were no longer just my hormones calling. Somewhere along the way he had stolen a piece of my heart. And now I didn’t know who owned the biggest piece.
The last of my strength gave out. A wave of nausea rolled over me. I heard Aethan call my name as my sight disappeared and my knees buckled. I felt hands catching me and lowering me to the ground. I heard Sabby speaking urgently, calling my name. Felt the sharp snap of a palm connecting with my cheek.
I felt big, gentle hands cradling my head while still others held my hands. And then I escaped to the blissfulness of darkness, and the comforting buzz of white noise.