When I opened my eyes again, I was no longer in the tent.
‘What?’ I stared around in bewilderment. I should have been deep in a dreamless sleep, finally getting the rest my body needed. Not standing near a sandy beach, under a clear blue sky, staring up at a…what was that?
I walked towards the stairs that led up, up, up to the snowy-marble tower. White robes flowed around my legs, distracting me from my original focus. I spread my arms wide, gaping at the material draped over my body.
My hair flowed over one shoulder, clean and smelling like roses, and gold sandals graced my feet. I felt graceful and feminine, an unusual and not entirely comfortable experience.
I turned my attention back to the stairs. There were an awful lot of them. Perhaps I could just go and sit on the beach. I was about to do just that when a bear-like figure appeared at the top of the stairs and a familiar voice called out, ‘Well, don’t just stand there.’
‘Wilfred?’ My gasp turned to a squeal and suddenly my feet were flying up the stairs. ‘Wilfred.’ I laughed as I threw myself into his arms. ‘I like your outfit.’ He was wearing a white toga with a braided gold belt and sandals similar to mine.
He swung me around in the air, and then deposited me back on the ground. ‘Ahh Izzy.’ His bushy, red beard scratched against my face as he planted a kiss on my cheek. ‘It’s been too long.’
‘Far too long.’ I held his hands and pulled back so that I could see him properly. The tattoos Ulandes had given him when she had chosen him, entwined around his arms and up over his collar bones. I let go of a hand so I could trace the pattern with a finger. ‘How’s things?’
He shrugged and pulled a face. ‘Apart from missing you guys like crazy, pretty good.’
‘So,’ I looked around, ‘what do you crazy Demi-Gods get up to.’
He burst out laughing. ‘Demi-Gods?’
‘Well, you did come back from the dead. And now you live in heaven, that at least makes you a Demi-God.’ I looked around again. ‘Is this heaven?’ Green grass flowed out from the tower in every direction. ‘Hey. Where’d the beach go?’
‘Same place this did.’ He waved a hand and all of a sudden we were in a busy marketplace. People moved through the crowded mayhem with ease, some stopping to barter with store holders in a language I couldn’t understand. A man pushing a small cart, sold mugs of a steaming beverage which smelt of spices.
I breathed in the heavy scent coming from the mugs. ‘That smells delicious.’
‘Chai tea? It is.’
Everywhere I looked there was colour and light and movement. I backed up against a wall as a mule loaded with bolts of cloth pushed toward us.
‘Willy,’ one of the shop holders called out in a foreign accent. ‘I have that thing you ordered.’
‘Perfect.’ Wilfred slapped his hands together. ‘Come on,’ he said, grabbing my hand. ‘I need your opinion on something.’
We followed the wiry shop holder through the crowd, turning down a series of alleys until I was totally disorientated. ‘Where are we?’
‘The City of Ulandes.’
‘Of course we are.’ I rolled my eyes. ‘And where exactly is that.’
He turned to me with seriousness imprinted on his face. ‘I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you.’ He waited a beat, studying my expression, and then he burst out laughing. ‘As far as I can tell,’ he said when he could talk again. ‘We’re on a plane of existence halfway to heaven.’
‘Really?’ Wow. I hadn’t really believed in the whole heaven and hell thing.
‘No.’ He let go of my hand to punch me on the shoulder. ‘We’re in India.’
‘Oh.’ Well that would explain why everyone but us had dark skin, shiny black hair and soulful brown eyes. ‘So…you’ve been in India the whole time?’ I heard the pain in my voice.
‘What?’ His head swung toward me. ‘No. No.’ He put a hand on my arm. ‘We live….’ He waved a hand in the air. ‘But we can access here because Ulandes is worshipped openly here.’
‘So the reason you haven’t come home is because you can’t.’
He ignored the impatient gestures of the wiry, little shop keeper and turned fully toward me. Putting his hands on my shoulders he peered into my face and said, ‘Do you really believe I wouldn’t have come home if I could?’
I shrugged. I knew I was being petulant, but if a girl couldn’t be petulant with her big brother then who could she be petulant with?
‘Ahhh Izzy.’ He pulled me into a rough hug. ‘Have things been that bad?’
‘I….’ I stopped and sighed. ‘Nothing I haven’t been able to handle. But I’ve missed you.’ The last bit came out in a wail. ‘And Isla. Isla misses you so much. She puts a brave face on but…well, you know how she is.’
‘Yes.’ He nodded, a wistful look on his bearded face. ‘I know how she is.’
‘Willy.’ The little shopkeeper was at Wilfred’s side, tugging on his arm.
We started walking again. ‘We need to hurry,’ Wilfred said. ‘Ulandes wants to speak to you.’ He shot me a cheeky grin. ‘She’s expecting me to bring you straight to her.’
We followed the shopkeeper again as he navigated the maze-like markets with ease. Finally, he stopped outside a small booth. He pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked the door. ‘Come.’ He gestured to us and darted to the back of the room, waiting till we were inside and had shut and locked the door again before pressing some numbers into a keypad. There was a click, and the next door swung open.
‘Wow.’ I stopped in the doorway to take in what I was seeing. Jewellery, no artworks – each piece so exquisite and unique that they were more than mere items of jewellery, lay in velvet-lined display boxes.
‘Here.’ The man pulled a box off one of the many shelves lining the walls.
Wilfred took it and placed it on a table in the middle of the room. He stared at the lid for a few seconds before finally lifting it off.
Inside the box was a silver sculpture. Metal danced in an intricate weaving of scrolls, the solid lace making a long tube that was narrower at one end than the other. Wilfred picked it up and held it in his hands, a look of reverence on his face.
‘Do you think she’ll like it?’ He held it out to me.
I took it from him carefully, but I needn’t have bothered, because for all its visual delicacy, it was as strong as a metal rod. ‘Isla?’
He nodded.
‘What is it?’
He barked out a laugh. ‘It’s an armlet.’
‘Oh.’ I looked from the armlet to his arms and back again. It was an exact imitation of the tattoos he wore. ‘May I?’ I held it in front of my hand, waiting for his nod of assertion before I slipped it on.
The metal rippled as it contacted my skin, becoming light and elastic. I gasped as it moved with my flexing wrist. ‘It’s amazing.’ I swirled my arm as if I were wielding a sword, the armlet did not interfere with my movement at all. ‘Like it? She’s going to adore it.’
His eyes shone as I slipped it back off and handed it to him. The shopkeeper wobbled his head from side-to-side, obviously pleased with my compliments. He placed it back in the box and handed it to Wilfred. The two men shook hands and then Wilfred led me back out into the lane.
‘We’d better get going.’ He grasped my hand and the lane disappeared, and we were back at the grassy beach with the marble tower.
‘So you do live here?’
‘Nah.’ He laughed. ‘But it is a portal to where I live.’
I expected him to lead me up the stairs, but instead he took me around to the back of the tower. He placed his hand on a wooden door – the hinges rusted with age, the wood splintered and worn – and he pushed. It creaked as it swung inwards. I followed him through the door into the darkness.
‘You live in a closet,’ I said into the inky blackness.
His laugh echoed as if we were in a small room. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Help me shut it.’
I turned and put my hands on the edge of the old door, watching the green grass disappear as we managed to heave it shut. It slid into place with the click of a smoothly-oiled lock, and light illuminated the room.
The door wasn’t old and splintered from this side. The grain of the wood glowed in the light, oiled till it gleamed. An ornate handle, that I was guessing was solid gold, and two metal bands, also gold, decorated the surface. The metal bands were decorated with the same design that Wilfred wore on his arms.
I gasped as I turned back from the door. We were no longer in a closet. Instead, massive arches curved above us, mosaic tiles glittering in the light. The arches swept up so high I had to crane my head back to see them meet. They supported the ceiling of the hall that opened up in front of us.
‘Come on.’ Wilfred started walking. ‘She’s waiting for us in the ornate garden.’
I followed him, trying not to trip over my feet as I gawked at the beauty of our surroundings. We walked for a few minutes before I realised that there was no way we were within the tower.
‘What is this?’
‘It’s Ulandes’ residence.’
‘No. I mean how can this be inside that tower?’
‘Do you really think you’d understand the answer even if I knew it?’
He had a point. I had chosen not to do science at school for a very good reason.
We walked for a few minutes more before the passageway we were on opened up onto a balcony. A sweeping staircase curved around the balcony as it descended to a massive garden full of fountains and flowers.
I followed Wilfred down the stairs, looking around for Ulandes as I did. A woman, garbed in white robes as we were, but also wearing a broad-brimmed hat, bent over a small shrub, hacking away at a dying limb with a small saw.
Wilfred walked up to the gardener and said, ‘Got her.’
The woman sighed, putting down the saw as she turned towards us. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘After all this time, no grovelling in my presence, no bowing, not even a polite nod of your head?’ She took off her hat and ruffled up her hair and I was surprised to recognise the Goddess who had floated out of the statue and brought Wilfred back to life.
I dropped to my knees and bowed my head.
‘See,’ Ulandes said, ‘she gets it.’ But there was merriment in her voice, and I could tell that this was a conversation they had had many times.
I felt her fingertips brush my hair as she said, ‘Rise child.’
I rose back to my feet and met her sombre expression. So many questions flooded into me, but none of them seemed important enough to disturb a deity with.
‘Come,’ she said. ‘Let’s sit.’ She turned and walked – not floated – down a path in the garden, navigating several turns before I could see what she was heading for. It took several more minutes to reach the pagoda and its low slung couches. Pools of water ran on three sides of it, the sounds of fountains instantly unwinding the tension in my shoulders. Flashes of bright colours turned out to be fish, but not like any fish I had seen before. These were all the colours of the rainbow. Brilliant golds and reds like other goldfish, but also green and blue and purple. Some had stripes and some were perfectly polka-dotted.
Ulandes saw me staring at them. ‘I find normal goldfish so boring,’ she said as she sat gracefully onto one of the couches.
A bird flew down and perched on her shoulder. As she raised a hand to scratch its neck, her robe slipped up her arm revealing a twirling, dancing tattoo the same as Wilfred’s. But where his was black, hers looked like she’d been gilded with 24 carat gold.
I sank onto a couch opposite her, and Wilfred slumped onto a third. He surreptitiously placed the box, holding Isla’s gift, behind a cushion.
‘Really?’ Ulandes said. ‘Like I wouldn’t notice.’ She held her hand out and he puffed out a sigh, reminding me of a naughty boy caught with his hand in the cookie jar. With a burst of intuition, I realised that it was all an act for her amusement.
He pulled the box back out and handed it to her, a small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. ‘I thought, maybe, Izzy could take it back to her for me.’ He didn’t have to say who ‘her’ was.
She took the lid off the box and viewed the armlet inside. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said.
Wilfred’s shoulders slumped in defeat.
‘Not like this anyway.’ She pulled it out of the box and held it up, turning it from side-to-side as she examined it. ‘I mean it’s very nice and everything, but do you think it’s good enough for her?’ There was an almost reverent quality to the way she said ‘her’.
He shuffled his feet. ‘It was all I could afford. You don’t pay well you know.’ He flashed a quick smile at her.
‘I suppose I don’t.’ She tilted her head to the side as she continued her examination. ‘Well, perhaps this will make up for that.’ She placed the fingertip of her free hand to the armlet and a faint glow started at the point of contact. It flowed out over the piece of jewellery till the whole thing was glowing in her hand.’ She took her finger away and re-examined it. ‘And I think some bling,’ she said. ‘What girl doesn’t like a little bling in her life?’ She touched her finger quickly to several points over the armlet. ‘There.’ She nodded her head in satisfaction. ‘That’s better. Except…I think she needs two. One for each arm.’ She waved her free hand and a second one, a mirror image of the first, appeared.
She passed them back to Wilfred. He took them, staring at them with wide, astonished eyes. I leant closer to affirm what I was looking at.
The armlet was no longer silver, now it was solid gold. And set into that gold at the points she had touched, gigantic diamonds sparkled. Before it had been beautiful, now it was magnificent. They, were magnificent.
‘Thank you,’ he whispered, tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. ‘I’ve never been able to give her a gift worthy of her.’
‘There is no gift worthy of her,’ Ulandes said. ‘But they will suffice.’ She turned her pleased look from Wilfred to me. ‘How are you?’
The question I’d heard a million times, held so much more weight coming from her. I opened my mouth to give her my rote answer of ‘fine’, but under the sombre eyes of the Goddess I found, instead, the truth tumbling out.
‘I’m scared,’ I said. ‘I’m so scared that if I concentrate on it at all I think I’ll start screaming and won’t be able to stop.’ I paused while I sorted through my emotions, looking for the next most important. ‘I’m terrified of Santanas, and to be perfectly honest Galanta isn’t too much further behind. But the worst of it all is that I’m scared I’m going to let everyone down.’
Now that the words had started I couldn’t seem to stem their flow. ‘I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what they expect of me. I know I have all this power,’ I flapped my hands at my chest, ‘inside me, but I don’t think it will be enough. He’s got so much more experience, and she’s so cunning.’ My voice gained speed as it rose in timbre. ‘And then there’s all their warriors. Even with the dark faeries, we’re grossly outnumbered. And people are going to die. I mean thousands. Tens of thousands.’ I waved my arms around wildly. ‘And their families are going to be without them. Children without fathers. Wives without husbands, and it’s all because of me.’
Tears stung the corners of my eyes and then broke over the wall of my lower lid. ‘I’m not enough.’ I shook my head. ‘And everybody thinks I am going to be their saviour, but all I am is a fraud.’ A hiccupped sob escaped with the word fraud.
Wilfred scooted over onto the couch beside me and pulled me into him. It felt so good to have his brotherly arms wrapped around me. I had missed his calm, optimistic presence more than I had realised. I buried my head into his chest and let all the emotions I had been suppressing out.
It felt like I was deflating. The terror, the shame, the confusion, all draining out of me with my tears. And at the end of my crying torrent, all that was left was me. I felt smaller, and still fragile, but somehow, more resolute. As if, somehow, facing my fears and releasing them, had made me stronger.
I sat back up and wiped the backs of my hands across my eyes, sniffling as I did. Wilfred waved his hand in a flourish and a handkerchief appeared in his fingers.
‘Show off,’ Ulandes sighed as he handed it to me.
I stared at it for a second before taking it and blowing my nose noisily. ‘I hope they have a good laundry wherever this came from,’ I said.
‘It is just ethereal matter,’ Ulandes said. ‘My disciples,’ she shook her head at the word as if unbelieving that Wilfred was her disciple, ‘can manipulate it while we are here. It will disappear as soon as you leave. My gifts, on the other hand, will stay.’ She nodded her head at the armlets.
‘Is it going to be all right?’ I asked.
She smiled. ‘Child, even I don’t know that. I do know that you have a chance of succeeding.’
‘Where there’s a will there’s a way,’ Wilfred said, leaning back and crossing his arms behind his head.
‘Something like that.’ Her smile was wistful.
‘Will you help us?’ My voice held a pleading quality.
‘I will do what I can. But you have to understand, I can only intervene in world events if my followers are directly threatened.’
‘But, the Ubanty are coming.’ I crossed my fingers. I hoped they were coming. I couldn’t see the dark faeries leaving their servants behind. I mean who would put up their tents and cook their meals?
‘Yes, they are. But at the moment, they are not my followers. They need to choose me again. Then, and only then, will I be able to help.’
‘Where’s Samuel?’ Thinking of her people made me think of my one-time saviour.
She smiled. ‘I may have sent him back to be with his own people.’
A wave of understanding washed over me and relief quickly followed. She couldn’t act directly, but she was manipulating the situation to her advantage. She had sent her loyal disciple back to walk with his people and to show them the way.
She sat up straight and cocked her head to the side as if listening to something. ‘We don’t have much time,’ she said. ‘There is something you need to know.’
‘What?’ I was desperately hoping she was going to show me how to destroy Santanas.
‘The battle that is about to begin, will not determine the outcome of the war.’ She stood and crossed to stand in front of me. ‘The real battle is in here.’ She reached out and put her hand on my chest over my heart. ‘This is where victory or defeat is going to occur.’
My confusion must have been evident for she said, ‘I wish I could just give you the answer you seek, but that is not allowed. All through time, evil has clashed with all that is good. The people involved are just instruments, the outcome based on their purity. All I can tell you is that you must not let hate shadow your heart, for if you do, you will become an agent of the dark. And then the dark will triumph over the light. Always, always, the answer is to be found in love.’
She cocked her head again and said, ‘It is time. The battle is to be joined. Wilfred, you must take her back, but you must return.’ Her voice was cold stone as she said the last words. In this, she would not tolerate disobedience.
He nodded his head and took my hand, and suddenly we were back on the grass beside the sandy beach. ‘Will you give these to her?’ he asked, holding out the armbands to me.
‘Of course.’ I took them from him and then threw my arms around him. ‘I’ll see you soon?’
He nodded and rubbed his hands together. ‘As soon as I can, I’ll be there.’ He let out a laugh. ‘I’ve got a thing or two to show you.’
I smiled back, thinking about the mind trick Turos had taught me. ‘Oh good,’ I said. ‘Cause I’ve got a thing or two to show you.’
He rubbed has hands again, laughing as he said, ‘Game on,’ and then he was gone. Well, I guess it was me that was gone.
I could feel someone shaking my shoulder and could hear a bugle’s shrill notes echoing. Something had happened while I was sleeping. It was time to return to the real world.
***
‘Wake up.’ Isla gave me one more big shake and I opened my eyes. ‘Oh. Thank the Dark Sky. You gave me a fright. I thought something had…where did they come from?’ Her blue eyes, round with astonishment, were staring down at my hands.
I sat up and held the armlets out to her. ‘They’re for you. From Wilfred.’ I thought about it. ‘Well this one is from Wilfred,’ I shook the one in my right hand, ‘and this one is from Ulandes.’ I shook my left hand.
‘Wilfred?’ Her voice was a hushed whisper. ‘You saw him? You saw her?’ She said ‘her’ the same way that Ulandes had.
I stared at her while several pieces of a puzzle tumbled into place. ‘Oh Dark Sky,’ I said. ‘You’ve been praying to her.’
I’d never seen Isla blush before. She made up for that now. ‘She’s a Goddess.’ She shrugged her shoulders, and grimaced. ‘How could I not worship her?’
So not just praying. Worshipping. ‘Well, she seems to really like you,’ I said.
Her blush brightened and she ducked her head, a pleased smile on her face. ‘How is he?’
‘Same old,’ I said. ‘Giving poor Ulandes a run for her money. You should try them on. They made them for you.’
She looked at them properly for the first time, her eyes widening at their splendour. ‘Oh.’ It was a soft gasp. ‘They’re…they’re perfect.’ She slipped her arm into one and it rippled as it had when I had tried it on, moulding itself to her forearms. Her mouth made a silent ‘O’ and then she slipped on the second one. This time though, a blast of energy exploded from them, knocking Isla onto the floor and me back onto the bed.
‘Buzznuckle,’ I shrieked, throwing my hands up to shield my face. ‘Isla. Isla.’ I threw myself off the bed onto the floor beside her, expecting the worst. But her arms were still intact.
She held them above her face, turning them from side-to-side as she stared at them. The armlets were no longer there. Instead, golden tattoos, the same as Ulandes, graced her arms. The diamonds seemed to have been set into her skin, but when I reached out and ran a finger over them they were soft.
‘Great Dark Sky.’ I breathed out the words.
She sat up slowly, still staring at her arms. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but I could tell by the look on her face they were tears of joy. She didn’t say anything, and she didn’t have to. I knew why she was crying.
Most of her life she had been an outcast; the faery who had shamed the nation. Never to be married, never to be loved, she had thrown herself not into bitterness, but into servitude. Protecting those who scorned her, fighting for their lives and their freedom. And through all of that, she was barely even accepted by her own mother.
For the first time since Arracon had raped her, she had been judged and found worthy. And by the look of her forearms, not just worthy. It seemed she had been placed on a pedestal of her own. I could feel the joy bursting out of me as I placed my arms around her.
The bugle cried out again, and this time I could hear men shouting.
‘What’s happening?’ I asked.
‘They’ve started coming through the pass.’
They were coming. It was happening. It was time.
I pushed myself back to my feet and rubbed my hands nervously on the outside of my pants. I wasn’t ready for this. Would never be ready for this. I patted my hands over my arms and legs, the feel of the cold steel strapped there calming my mind. ‘Where’s Sabby?’
‘She went to find Thomas.’
‘Izzy?’ Aethan’s head appeared in the tent flap. ‘We need to go. Now.’
Isla grabbed the dreamcatcher out from underneath my pillow and tucked it back in the bag, then she followed me out of the tent. Emerald, Lance and Arthur were waiting for us beyond the campfire. A group of Millenium stood off to the side.
Grams and Lionel, well recovered from his head injury, waited with Turos. General Tamsonite strode backwards and forwards, giving orders in a calmly-authorative voice. If he was worried, it didn’t show. I was happy he was in charge. I knew my voice would be quavering if I tried to talk at all. The thought of meeting my grandfather again was not filling me with any joy.
The three of us joined them, waiting for Tamsonite to give us his attention.
He finished yelling orders and turned to us. ‘We need to hold them off until the night faeries arrive. Can you bring down the pass?’ He directed the last question to Aethan.
Aethan scratched at his cheek while he considered the question. ‘There’s a constriction about half way down,’ he said. ‘It would be the best place to block it.’ He looked at me. ‘Could you do it?’
‘Do what?’ I had no idea what he was talking about.
‘Cause a landslide.’
‘Oh.’ I would do anything if it meant putting off a confrontation with Santanas for a little longer. ‘What would I be dealing with?’
‘Sheer cliffs standing about 50 yards apart.’
It was my turn to look thoughtful. ‘If I threw enough power at it I’d be able to take bites out of it. Even if the whole thing didn’t give, it would be enough rubble to make getting through difficult.’
‘Excellent.’ Tamsonite clapped his hands together. ‘Take who you need to get it done.’
‘Turos,’ Aethan said. ‘We’ll need you and your men to provide cover for us. If they’ve made it as far as the pass we’ll be under fire.’ He ran a hand through his hair and stared off to where the pass waited. ‘Just you and us,’ he said when he turned back to Turos. ‘If we come in force they’ll know we are attacking. If it’s just us, they may think we’re on their side.’
‘May think?’ Turos raised one eyebrow.
A grin flashed across Aethan’s face. ‘No guts no glory.’
Turos gave me a long look before he nodded and strode off towards Lance. The Millenium followed in his wake.
‘We’re coming,’ Grams said.
‘I don’t think so.’ I didn’t like the thought of her being anywhere near a goblin, let alone an army of them.
‘Think stink,’ she said. ‘Lionel and I will be able to deflect enemy fire. You won’t be able to hold a shield and bring down a mountain.’
‘She’s right.’ Aethan’s voice brooked no argument. ‘We need them.’
‘What about us?’ Isla had her gleaming forearms crossed across her chest.
Aethan turned to her, opened his mouth, and then stopped to stare at her arms. ‘Where did that come from?’ He reached out a finger to touch her skin but she slapped his hand away.
‘They were a present.’ She quirked an eyebrow at him as if daring him to ask more. ‘You were saying?’
It will be too dangerous for Arthur and Isla.
‘Emerald said it will be too dangerous for Arthur,’ I said.
She turned her steely gaze on me.
‘Hey. Don’t shoot the messenger.’ I raised my hands in the air.
‘You’re probably right.’ She shrugged her shoulders.
I stared at her suspiciously. ‘That’s it? No argument?’
‘No need to argue when you are right.’ She gave me her lightest, airiest smile and then walked over to Arthur, throwing her arms around his neck and rubbing at the nose he offered her. She showed him her arms and he sniffed at them a few times before letting out a pleased chuffing sound. She scrambled up and secured the bag to the harness behind her. ‘I’ll go join the rest of the dragons.’ They lifted into the air and disappeared in the direction of the field they had landed on.
‘You thinking what I’m thinking?’ I said to Aethan.
‘Yup. That was way too easy.’ He touched my arm lightly and I followed him over to Emerald.
Sabby and Thomas were waiting there with a half dozen Border Guard. I waved at the Guards, a couple of whom I recognised.
‘We’re not coming, are we?’ Sabby said.
I shook my head. ‘You’re too valuable to risk on this mission.’
She smiled as she shoved my shoulder. ‘You mean I’d be of no use.’
I pulled a face. ‘Healing on dragon back might be a tad difficult.’
She threw her arms around me. ‘Stay safe,’ she said.
I held onto her for a few moments, savouring the feel of my oldest, dearest friend. Then I gave Thomas a quick hug and scrambled up onto Emerald’s neck. Aethan was behind me a heartbeat later, keeping a respectable distance this time when he strapped himself in. I flashed him a smile, pleased he was taking our deal seriously.
I’m not going to be able to shield us, I said to Emerald. Not while I’m trying to cause a landslide.
Their spears and arrows will not harm Lance or me. Arthur would be another matter. His belly scales are still soft. He shouldn’t even be flying yet. Her words were tinged with a mixture of fear and pride.
He’s growing so quickly.
It is unprecedented. Now, just pride.
Lance threw back his head and took a couple of hopping steps, thrusting his enormous wings out to the side in a giant sweep. He jumped into the air as his wings pushed down again, and then he was flapping up into the sky, away from us.
It is so much easier to take off from a mountain top, Emerald said, a wistful sigh in her thoughts. Then she followed Lance’s example, running forwards as she gained speed and momentum before finally becoming airborne.
I spent the rest of the trip worrying. If they had already made it far enough down the pass it would be two dragons and a collection of twenty witches, faeries and Milleniums taking on the whole damned goblin army. I wondered if the Giants would be there. Because that would seriously affect how low we could fly if we were having to worry about Giants. An adult giant could possibly grab the foot of a low flying dragon, causing it to crash into the sides of the pass.
The looming mountains changed from a gloomy darkness in the distance to large sentinels rearing ahead of us. Lance altered direction, heading toward the break in the long line of peaks. The air grew colder and I wrapped my arms around myself to try and hold in some body heat.
And then we were close enough to see them; a black stain on the earth ahead, flowing out of the mouth of the pass like a putrid tidal wave. I heard Aethan swear behind me. They were even further ahead than we had thought. They had already cleared the pass. This was going to be dangerous.
Turos wants to link, Emerald said. It will make communicating easier.
I knew he was right, but I reached out towards him and Lance with trepidation. Our minds touched and then flowed together and all of a sudden I had four wings, four arms, twelve legs and scales.
Why do you always go too far? I could feel Turos sighing. Pull back a little. If you’re this deep you won’t be able to concentrate on what you need to do.
I pulled back into my own body as Emerald said, She can’t help it. She’s an overachiever.
Obviously. I felt rather than heard Turos chuckle. We need to stay high for as long as possible. Gives them less chance to attack us.
I nodded, realised he couldn’t see me and then said, Let’s do it.
The warriors on Lance’s back readied their bows as we sped towards the beginning of the pass. Goblins pointed and turned to watch us go, but none of them raised weapons in our direction. It seemed Aethan’s gamble had paid off. I wasn’t that surprised. Dragons did look pretty bad-ass, and all the other bad-ass creatures were already working with Santanas.
We sped through the pass, my enjoyment of the trip blending with Emerald’s, Lance’s and Turos’s. It required steep navigation in parts but it had nothing on the entry to the breeding caves.
‘Woo hoo,’ Grams hollered behind me.
After a few minutes, my enjoyment was dulled by what I saw below. Goblins jammed the pass beneath us, their bodies pressing forwards in a tide of death towards our army. I gritted my teeth and narrowed my eyes. We had to stop them. We had to give the night faeries time to get to us.
It took us about five minutes to reach the constriction in the pass. A fifty yard section where the two mountain ranges closed on each other as if to fight or dance. Lance turned sideways to flit through the gap and then flew upwards into a loop.
‘What do you think?’ Turos and Aethan asked me the same question at once.
I turned to stare at the narrowing as we whipped through it. Two smooth walls faced each other. There were no boulders or outcrops or ledges of any kind.
‘It may take a while,’ I informed them at the same time.
I saw the warriors on Lance’s back ready their bows and felt Aethan moving behind me. Emerald slowed her motion and twisted in the air, heading back towards the narrowing.
I lifted my hands and shot a blast of lightning into the mouth of the pass. Goblins were lifted from their feet, flying backwards into their brethren. Rocks exploded from the cliffs on either side of them, raining sharp shrapnel down upon them. But the cliffs themselves stood like sentinels. I fired two blasts of energy down to the right as we flew through the pass. A crack appeared in the smooth wall, fissuring upwards a few feet. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.
Goblins can be stupid, but not so stupid as to not realise we were the enemy. They roared and began pulling crude bows off their backs. I could feel Lance and Turos sweeping down behind me and knew the warriors with them were laying down covering fire.
Lance flew high as Emerald turned, then he swooped in right behind us.
You can do this, Turos’s voice was like smooth silk inside my head.
I concentrated on that fissure, sending blow-after-blow pounding into the rock. It widened, snaking further up the cliff, but the slab of rock stayed frustratingly intact.
The goblins’ arrows started peppering upwards. They bounced off Lance’s and Emerald’s hard scales, but their wings were more vulnerable. I knew what could happen if too many arrows ripped into the wing membranes. But before I could worry too much, the arrows from below began deflecting before they made it to us. I turned to see Grams and Lionel hard at work. Their wands whipping side-to-side as they knocked the arrows from the air. Both had big grins on their faces and I was pretty sure Grams was cackling.
Aethan and the rest of the Border Guard returned fire, arrows whipping towards the goblins. There were so many of them that nearly every arrow found a mark, and yet there was no lessening in the attack from below. There were just too many of them for us to make a difference.
Emerald turned and we headed back to the pass. I ignored the goblins, I ignored their arrows, they weren’t my problem. I concentrated on the crack, spacing each blow a few feet apart as I worked my way up the cliff. Loose rocks sprinkled down from further up the mountain, but the cliff stayed maddeningly intact.
Ahhh, Izzy. No pressure or anything, but there seems to be a giant heading our way.
I took my eyes off the mountain long enough to look down the pass toward the Gonian Crater. Not one, but two giants waded through the goblins, tossing them aside as if they were annoying insects. Whizbang. At the pace they were moving, we had maybe five minutes before they arrived.
Screaming in frustration, like I wanted to, was going to get me nowhere. I turned my attention back to the crack. It was traversing more quickly now, snaking up the cliff, but staying within the mountain. I needed it to exit, to break.
I didn’t look at the giants. I didn’t need to. I could feel where they were through my connection with Turos. They were closing, far too fast. My next pass would be my last before we had to deal with them as well.
You can do it. The warmth of Turos’s faith flowed into me.
I stiffened my spine, took a huge breath and let my mind flow into the fissure. I braced within it, and then I shoved, expanding outwards, spreading the crack. I felt it give, a creaking, tearing sound rasping from the rock. My blood pounded in my ears as I took another breath and strained again. The crack ran upwards, racing away from me. I chased it, pushing as I went, my breath coming in short, sharp pants as sweat poured off me.
They’re nearly here.
White lights danced in front of my eyes and I swayed in my seat. I felt Aethan’s hands around my waist and heard Turos growl in my head.
‘No pressure, Izzy,’ Aethan said, ‘but we just ran out of arrows.’
I ignored it all. Time was draining away from us. If I didn’t do this before the giants got there, the army would have the whole might of Santanas’s force bearing down upon us.
I flowed into it one more time, pressure building in my head as I strained against the rock. It was going to be me, or the mountain. We weren’t both coming out of this in one piece.
Just when I thought it was going to be me, there was a noise like a thousand whips cracking. It reverberated out through the pass as a shudder ran through the mountain.
I pulled back into my own body, dizzy from the lack of oxygen. Cracks ran out like the roots of a tree. They sped up the mountain, wrapping around the bulge like a lover’s arms.
There was a cry of triumph from behind me and I could feel Turos cheering in my head.
A slab broke away from the surface and slid to the floor of the gorge. It speared through a dozen goblins and into the ground below.
For a few, frustrating moments, I thought that that, was it. And then the whole side of the mountain came crashing down. Rock tore and splintered as it bounced into the pass, rebounding off the far wall and tumbling thunderously to the ground below.
‘Woo hoo.’ I heard Aethan’s voice join with that of his men.
‘Take that,’ Grams shrieked.
I watched the chaos over my shoulder as Emerald winged her way down the pass. A cloud of dust swirled high in the air, masking the giants from view. When it settled, I could see chunks of rock blocking the pass way up past the giants heads.
I let out a sigh of relief and turned to the front as I sagged back against Aethan.
That ought to hold them for a while. Turos’s voice was smug in my head.
I nodded wearily, too tired to respond.
Aethan’s arms tightened, pulling me back against him further. ‘Don’t read anything into this,’ he said into my ear. ‘I just don’t want you falling off.’
I closed my eyes and relaxed against him, preparing to sever the link in my mind. It was bad enough knowing that Turos’s jealousy would be tearing him apart, I really didn’t need to be experiencing it. A millisecond before I ended it, angered surprise raked through me. I felt Lance twist his head as the talons of a giant eagle reached for his eyes.
I snapped my eyes open and sat upright. A second Vulpine appeared above Lance. The rider leapt from the enormous eagle’s back, landing like a cat behind the last Millenium warrior. Emerald roared in outrage, and Lance rolled in response to her mental cry, but it was too late. A knife slashed through the air and red sprayed from the Millenium’s throat. He slumped to the side and the Vulpine leapt from Lance, back onto the neck of his eagle.
‘Watch out,’ Grams shrieked.
I looked up to see another eagle streaking towards us. I loosened the straps holding me in and bounced to my feet, opening myself even further to Emerald so that her every movement felt like my own.
I had only tried this once before, and then only when just she and I were bonded. This time, there were four of us. Awareness of Lance and Turos smacked into me, and suddenly, I could feel every movement of every muscle fibre. It was as if their nerves extended from their minds into mine, as if their movements were extensions of my own.
I felt Turos doing the same thing, felt him testing the boundaries of our combined awareness. I felt him nod his head in satisfaction as his lips pulled back in a satisfied smile. We were four, but we were one.
A wave of dizziness, at the vastness of my new body, swept over me and I crouched and grasped the harness for balance. It was gone in a second, leaving me only with my strange new awareness.
‘What are you doing?’ Aethan’s voice was alarmed.
‘Trust me.’ I emptied my mind, pushing away my worries and my fears.
The first Vulpine landed behind Lionel. He twisted in his seat, flicking his wand but the man jumped over the spell and landed behind the last Guard.
I recognised him. Bernard. A tall, jolly fae with a wife and three children. He spun and flicked a dagger. The Vulpine dodged, but not enough to stop it catching him in the side of his thigh. It sliced through material and skin as it passed but did no real damage.
I reached down and grabbed one of the leather straps. Emerald didn’t even need my command to know what to do. She started to roll to one side, and then quickly flicked the other way. The Vulpine flew off the far side from where his eagle had expected. The eagle tucked its wings in tight by its sides as it dived after him.
I didn’t get to see if the eagle made it or not because three more eagles launched their attacks. One harried Emerald’s head, darting in to peck at her eyes with its sharp beak. She blasted it with fire and it shrieked and fell away while the rider on its back slapped at the burning feathers.
Two more of the warriors landed, both of them behind Bernard. I leapt through the air, landing behind the furthest. He spun to face me but his movements were like a slug’s. I slashed twice at him in the time it took him to lift his weapon. His eyes held mute surprise as he looked down at the blood gushing from his sliced throat. I kicked him to the side and his lifeless body tumbled from Emerald’s back. An eagle’s shriek of rage echoed up from below.
Bernard stood with his legs spread wide and one of the leather straps looped around his left wrist and clenched in his fist. He parried a dagger blow easily, flicking his sword first one way and then back the other. But the Vulpine had the advantage of balance and the use of both hands. I kicked my foot into the back of his knees and as he collapsed forward, Bernard’s blade whipped through his wrist, severing his hand. He screamed and clutched the stump to his chest before throwing himself off Emerald’s back.
We broke from the pass out onto the plain beyond, and like a flock of seagulls fighting over a scrap of bread, the Vulpine dived. The air was suddenly thick with white feathers.
If they had been able to attack us like this in the pass, where we were forced to fly single file, we would have been in a huge amount of trouble, but here, on the plain, Lance and Emerald could use each other’s strengths.
They flew at each other, their fiery breaths scouring the sky of the attacking birds. And then they flew upwards into a loop, snatching birds out of the air with their front feet, and using their massive teeth to permanently disable them.
I knew where we were, but I also knew where we were all going to be. As we levelled out again, I leapt into the air, coming down on Emerald’s broad back behind Bernard. Then I ran down Emerald’s back, swiping at the incoming eagles with my swords. I dived off the side, high into the air, turning a somersault as I whipped a blade through a Vulpine’s neck before landing in a squat on Lance’s back.
I knelt as Turos leapt over me, his blades flashing in the afternoon sun, and came back up to my feet as a half dozen Vulpines jumped to Lance’s back. I didn’t need to look to know a similar number of the enemy had just landed on Emerald. Neither did Turos.
Without arrows, we were turning into sitting ducks. We had to clear this mess up and get the hell out of there.
I took two quick steps towards him. He jammed his swords into their scabbards and bent, linking his hands together. I landed with a foot on his outstretched hands and, with a grunt of exertion, he straightened, flinging me high into the air.
I flew in a dive towards Emerald, tucking into a forward roll. She banked towards me, slowing my momentum as I came to my feet. I ball-kicked the closest Vulpine in the face, flipping into a backward somersault, up and over number two.
I was moving far faster than they expected, and as I passed over him, I saw him slash his dagger down into the space I had just vacated. I landed behind him and shoved the tip of my sword up under his ribcage. Then I kicked him forwards, using him as a springboard as I leapt back at the first one.
Grams and Lionel had managed to snare another two in a spell, and the Border Guard was battling the last two.
Turos’s muscles flexed as he fought. The fierce grin on my face mirrored his. I looked over at him, just for a second, and a Vulpine landed on top of me. I dropped to Emerald’s back, and he stepped onto my wrist, pinning my sword arm in place. Everything sped up as I lost my grip on my centre of calm.
I felt Turos stiffen in alarm. His cry of horror in my head, echoed Aethan’s.
The Vulpine was too close to me for me to launch a lightning bolt. I would hurt all of us if I did. I raised my spare hand, trying to grab his wrist to prevent the killing blow, but I was too slow.
The light glinted off the edge of the dagger as it sped towards me. I winced, waiting for the bite of the metal, but before it found my flesh, an arrow thunked into the man’s throat. He looked confused as his hand wavered up towards his neck, and then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the side.
I looked from the arrow to Aethan, but he wasn’t looking at me. I felt Emerald huff in pride as I turned to follow his gaze.
Arthur glowed like the sun himself as the light flickered off his scales. Isla stood on his back, her knees slightly bent, her feet tucked under his scales. Almost too fast for me to see, she notched another arrow, pulled her hand back to her cheek, and released it. Four more followed just as swiftly and the eagles pulled away from us.
She looked like the Goddess of War, riding her dragon chariot as she dealt out death. Her forearms sparkled as the diamonds imbedded in her skin threw off rays of light.
Arthur was nimbler than his parents, but all his manoeuvring couldn’t shake the eagle that dropped in on his tail. Isla knocked her arrow and sighted down its length, but the bird twisted in the sky so swiftly and unexpectedly that Isla didn’t release. She couldn’t predict where the eagle would go next. I felt my stomach clench in fear, but then Arthur looked back, his tongue hanging out in his normal goofy grin, and I realised it was all a ploy. Isla shoved her feet further under the scales and tucked her body, and then Arthur was rolling, like a swimmer performing a tumble turn.
He came out of the roll facing the unsuspecting eagle, and unleashed a gush of flames into the bird’s face. Isla released three lightning quick arrows into it, and it plummeted like a stone.
I copied Isla, tucking my feet under scales as Emerald dived towards the ground. I leant forwards, thrilling in the feel of the wind roaring past me as she sped up.
The eagle she was chasing popped its wings out like a parachute and shot up above her line of descent. I fired a lightning bolt upwards and it exploded in a puff of singed, white feathers.
Then, as one, the eagles pulled away. Like a long line of geese, they formed up into a loose V and headed back towards the Gonian Crater.
My heartbeat began to slow from its frantic beat, back towards normal as I walked up Emerald’s back and slid into my spot in front of Aethan.
Slowly, I withdrew my awareness, slithering back into my own body, until I could hear Emerald, but nothing else. I felt small and inconsequential in comparison to what I had. A dragon’s sense of self was so much bigger, so much more than what I was used to. And to have been a part of two of them, well, it was like nothing else I had ever experienced.
Arthur and Isla dropped in next to us, Isla’s broad smile mimicking Arthur’s except for one small thing. She managed to keep her tongue inside her mouth.
‘Yippeee,’ Grams shouted as we banked. I pivoted my head to look at her. She had both her arms stretched out wide as she enjoyed the speed rush from our descent.
There was no need to give the enemy the exact co-ordinates of our army so we flew a wide arc back to camp. We soared down around the far side of the hills which were currently sheltering us from view and back along the edge of the forest on our left flank.
I still wasn’t sure if I was sold on the idea of having a forest so close to the camp. All of my worst goblin encounters had happened in forests. And while it would stop them sweeping around the hill and coming en masse at us, it also meant danger could more easily creep up on us. In the end I had to conclude that the danger that could ‘creep up on us’ would do less damage than a ravaging horde of goblins and orcs.
I scanned the forest below, looking for unfriendly visitors. I could tell Turos saw it at the same time as I did, because Lance banked at the same time as Emerald.
‘What is it?’ Aethan leant forwards and stared out past me.
‘There’s something…weird,’ there was no other way to describe it, ‘in that stand of trees.’ I pointed to an area populated by oaks. A narrow gap with a small creek, meandered through the trees. Something lumpy filled a part of the gap.
As I watched, it moved, and one of the lumps became an arm, and another a foot and I realised what it was.
A giant, lying in the forest.
Lance let out a roar and dipped in a dive towards it. Flames streaked out of his nostrils as he raced for an easy kill.
‘Stop,’ I yelled at the same time that I heard Isla let out a shriek, but Turos was too far ahead to hear us.
Stop him, I urged Emerald. He’s a friend.
Well, I was assuming he was a friend. There was no other reason he would be on this side of the mountain range and not the other.
Lance pulled up at the last second, the downward draft from his wings throwing leaves and sticks into the air over the body of the giant.
Emerald and Arthur landed at the edge of the forest and a second later Isla and I took off at a run into the trees.
‘Izzy, wait,’ Aethan yelled. ‘We can’t be sure it’s him.’
But I knew in my heart who it was.
Isla looked back over her shoulder at me, a smile spreading her lips wide. She dodged through the trees, heading in the direction we had seen him.
The ground shook, throwing us to our knees.
‘It’s him,’ Isla said, pushing herself back up.
We took off at a sprint, leaves and twigs slapping our faces and arms. The ground trembled again and I heard a familiar voice say, ‘Ouchy. Nasty dragon made a mess of Tiny’s bed.’
I let out a laugh as I flew through the trees, matching Isla stride-for-stride as we raced each other to him.
‘Tiny,’ we yelled together. ‘Tiny.’
The trembling stopped and his voice rumbled, ‘Izzy? Isla?’ We burst from the trees a hundred yards from where he sat.
‘Tiny,’ we both shrieked.
‘Dollies?’ He let out a gurgling laugh as we scrambled up onto his leg and then raced along his shin bone as if it was a bridge. He reached out a hand and we each grabbed a finger, hugging them as if they were trees.
‘Dollies.’ He nodded his head with satisfaction and then lifted his hand up to his mouth so that he could plant enormous kisses on our bodies.
‘Tiny.’ Aethan appeared in the clearing. ‘It’s good to see you man.’ He jumped up onto Tiny’s leg and trotted up till he was standing on his thigh.
Tiny examined him with one eye while the other one stared off to the side. ‘Aethan.’ He prodded him with the fingertips of his free hand. It was meant to be gentle I’m sure, but Aethan lost his balance and fell into a crouch. ‘Where’s Willy?’ Tiny placed all of us on his thigh next to Aethan and then looked around the clearing.
‘He’s not here,’ Isla said. ‘But he will be. And look,’ she held her arms up for Tiny to admire her shiny markings, ‘he gave me these.’
‘Pretty.’ Tiny nodded his head.
Aethan looked at Isla’s arms again. ‘You saw Wilfred?’
‘No.’ She shook her head, her smile telling me she knew she was driving him crazy.
‘But….’ He stopped and shook his head. He knew Isla too well to play along with her game.
‘What are you doing here?’ I said. ‘It’s dangerous. There’s going to be a war.’
Tiny’s misshaped face screwed up, the tip of his tongue popping out between his teeth as he nodded his head. ‘Tiny knows. Tiny came to help.’
Turos, Grams and Lionel stepped out of the trees. The rest of the Millenium hung back, spreading out in a protective fan around us.
‘Blimey,’ Grams said, ‘that’s the biggest giant I’ve ever seen.’ She peered up at him. ‘If I’m not mistaken, you must be Berdina Flatfoot’s son.’
‘You knew Mummy?’ Tiny leant forwards and the small shift in his body threw us to our knees. ‘Oops. Sorry.’ He patted us roughly, each stroke forcing my head further onto my spine, and then turned his attention back to Grams.
‘She was a dear friend of mine,’ Grams said. ‘I am so sorry. I heard about her death. She was a true hero.’
Tears welled up in Tiny’s eyes and I scampered down the side of his pants onto the ground. I knew all too well what happened when Tiny started to cry and I didn’t feel like dodging basketball-sized tears. Isla and Aethan landed beside me.
‘I don’t really remember her,’ he said.
‘My dear fellow.’ Grams marched forwards and patted him on the leg. ‘Would you like me to tell you some stories?’
Tiny nodded his head, and tears flew out in an arc, smacking into the ground around us like water bombs.
‘Well,’ Grams held a hand out to him, ‘why don’t you follow us back to camp and I’ll tell you all about it?’
The ground trembled as Tiny placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. I widened my stance, relaxing my knees to ride it.
‘May I suggest you let us get airborne first?’ Lionel looked up from his position on all fours.
‘Ooooopps.’ A sheepish smile tugged at Tiny’s lips.
He waited till we were all back on dragon back before he stood up.
‘Tell Turos we’ll head back and warn the army we’ve got a giant with us. I should also brief Tamsonite on the success of our mission as soon as possible.’
I nodded my head at Aethan’s words and opened my mind to Emerald. A few seconds later I saw Turos nod his head and lift a hand in farewell. Emerald circled the odd group once before we shot off towards the army. I could tell she was uncomfortable leaving Arthur behind with a giant.
He won’t hurt him, I reassured her.
It’s just that he’s bigger than Arthur. What if he accidentally swipes him from the air?
I didn’t point out that he was bigger than her and Lance as well. He won’t. I hoped.
She let out a small puff of smoke and kept the rest of her worries to herself.
A few minutes later we landed at the front of our troops. I watched as Tamsonite came to meet us. Rako, King Arwyn and another man accompanied him. I was guessing by the General’s stripes the last man wore, that he was the human General.
‘General Robertson,’ Aethan said, nodding his head at the man. ‘Father.’ He clasped forearms with Arwyn and then pulled him into a hug. They slapped each other on the back before releasing each other again. ‘Rako, Wolfgang, good to see you.’
I waved from my place next to Emerald and Wolfgang waved back. Rako wasn’t the wavy type, he dipped his head in a nod instead.
‘Well met, well met,’ General Tamsonite said. ‘How did you fare?’
‘The mission was a success, Sir,’ Aethan said. ‘Except for one thing. A few thousand of them had already made it through the pass. If they keep moving at the same pace, they’ll be here by nightfall.’
Tamsonite muttered an oath. ‘Oh well. It will give the new recruits something to cut their teeth on.’
‘There’s a chance they may realise they’ve been cut off from the rest of the army and wait,’ Aethan continued.
Tamsonite nodded. ‘Well at least with aerial surveillance we will have some warning. Did you get a look at the rest of the army?’
Aethan shook his head. ‘We couldn’t see the crater from where we were.’
‘We’ve had word from King Arracon,’ King Arwyn said. ‘They are a day away.’
‘How is that possible?’ Aethan asked what I am sure we were all wondering.
‘Turns out their entire force is mounted. As are their slaves.’ Arwyn shook his head at the thought of that many horses. ‘They can cover in a day what it’s been taking us four to do.’
Aethan looked around. ‘Speaking of night faeries?’
‘She’s with the rear guard,’ Rako said. ‘It’s the safest place.’
I nudged Aethan and raised my eyebrows at him when he looked at me.
He didn’t miss a beat as he turned back to Tamsonite. ‘Sir, on our way back to camp we came across a friendly giant. He’s the son of Berdina Flatfoot. He should arrive in about thirty minutes and it would be good if our troops didn’t try to kill him.’
‘Berdina’s son, hey?’ Tamsonite nodded his head. ‘She was a fine giant. One of a kind.’ He turned to his personal aide. ‘Roger,’ he barked, ‘make your way to the rear of the army and when you see a giant coming sound the stand down call. Just don’t do it so loudly that the whole damned army hears you.’ He shook his head and turned back to us. ‘The last thing we need with a possible horde about to attack is an army taking a siesta.’
Roger saluted, turned, and ran towards a line of horses picketed to the side. He pulled the reins of a roan mare off a wooden post and jumped onto her back.
‘Can you organise an air reconnaissance?’ Tamsonite asked. ‘I’d like to know if we are expecting an imminent attack or not.’
I nodded and closed my eyes as I opened my mind towards Emerald.
‘Oh and can you see if King Bladimir is free. I think a council of war might be in order.’
I nodded again and started to close my eyes.
‘And I guess we should get Prince Turos as well. He’ll be heading the dragon riders.’
I closed them again.
‘Tell them all to meet us at the command tent.’
I opened my eyes and stared at him. ‘Is that it?’
He ignored the snippy tone in my voice. Apparently you don’t get to be the General in charge of the army by being phased by temperamental eighteen year olds. ‘For now.’
This time when I closed my eyes he was silent. Emerald sent the requests for reconnaissance, Turos and Bladimir out to the appropriate dragons.
‘All done, Sir,’ I said when she had finished. ‘They are on their way.’
‘Splendid. Shall we?’ He held his arm out in the direction of the tent and then led the way. Arwyn, Robertson and Rako fell in beside him.
We beat King Bladimir to the tent by a few minutes. Gladaline was with him, the stately way she held herself belying her visual appearance. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who hadn’t had time to bathe since coming through the gateway from Millenium.
‘This is my wife, Queen Gladaline.’ King Bladimir had a firm grip on her hand. ‘Darling, this is King Arwyn, Prince Aethan, General Tamsonite, General Robertson and the head of the fae Border Guard, Rako. And of course you have already met Isadora Gabrielle.’
Gladaline tilted her head as Rako, Aethan and the Generals bowed to her. King Arwyn gave her a nod of his own.
I started with a curtsy before realising it was hard to curtsy when wearing pants. I moved into an awkward bow and finished it up with a head tilt. I’m sure it looked more like a weird dance movement than anything else but the only person who seemed to see it was Aethan. He placed his hand over his mouth and coughed as he struggled not to laugh.
‘I thought she should be here as well. She sometimes has a,’ Bladimir cleared his throat, ‘useful way of looking at things.’
‘Of course.’ Tamsonite waved a hand at the chairs that were arranged around a large table and everyone sat down. I had already done a head count and realised we were one chair short. That suited me fine. Instead, I stood to the side, leaning up against one of the tent poles. I really didn’t want to be a part of the planning. In fact, I was kind of hoping they’d forget about me entirely. The last thing I wanted was a plan which involved me saving the day.
Turos’s head appeared through the tent opening. He grinned when he saw there were no seats left and came over to where I was trying to blend into the tent canvas. His shoulder touched mine as he leant up against the other side of the tent pole. I saw Aethan glance towards us and stiffen.
The tent flap moved and Wolfgang appeared in the entrance. ‘Ahhh. This is the right tent. Good. It’s so easy to get disorientated when all the tents look the same.’ He winked at me and then looked at the table.
Aethan jumped to his feet. ‘Please,’ he said, ‘have my seat.’ He moved over to stand on the other side of me.
I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and muttered, ‘Men,’ under my breath.
A bugle called far off in the distance. Tiny had arrived.
‘Are we all here?’ Tamsonite looked around the table.
My mind wandered while he filled them in on the situation at the pass. I was trying not to think about any of it. It wasn’t that I was worried about facing goblins, orcs, Vulpine or dwarfs. The giants did make me pause just a little. I still hadn’t worked out the logistical best way to deal with them, but I was betting if I blew out their knee caps it would pretty much be game over for them.
No, it wasn’t any of them that had my stomach churning in knots. I was worried about something far more worrisome. I felt like I’d been chosen captain of a sports team when I wasn’t actually up to it. If only this was as simple as something that started with a coin toss and ended with a victory lap and maybe an ale at the local pub.
Instead, soon, sooner than I cared to think about, it was going to begin. And shortly afterwards I would face Santanas again on the battlefield. Things hadn’t worked out so well for us the last time that had happened. I wasn’t up to it. I knew that. And I was pretty sure everybody else did as well. And that only made me feel even sicker.
A throat cleared outside the tent.
‘Come in Roger,’ Tamsonite called.
A hand appeared pushing back the flap and Roger’s body followed his head. He looked around the circle of leaders as he threw a salute. ‘The giant has arrived, Sir. And the aerial surveillance has arrived back as well.’
‘Splendid.’ Tamsonite struck his palm down on the table. ‘Send them in.’
Isla slipped through the opening and stood in front of the table. She threw her father a smile and then turned to look at General Tamsonite and General Robertson. ‘They’re coming,’ she said. ‘I’m not even sure they realise they’ve been cut off from the rest of their group. I estimate they will come into view in about an hour.’
Robertson chuckled and rubbed his hands together. ‘Like lambs to the slaughter.’
Isla tipped her head to the side. ‘Possibly. Of course the Vulpine circling over them may make things a little more difficult.’ She smiled. ‘A couple of them thought it would be best if Arthur and I didn’t make it back.’ Her smile broadened.
Turos sucked in his breath. I felt him move and turned to see him shaking his head. I knew what he was thinking. It hadn’t been Arthur and Isla that had been sent out to scout. She must have convinced the other dragonrider to escort Tiny in instead. ‘We’re smaller. We’ll be less visible.’ I could hear her persuasive voice echoing in my head. I was pretty sure her beatific smile had just got one of the dragon riders into big trouble.
She didn’t seem concerned though. She took up a position behind her father’s chair as if acting as his guard but I knew it was really so she had a better view of the map.
‘And so it begins, again.’ Wolfgang’s voice was tinged with sadness.
I felt my spine stiffen as the full import of his words struck me. I was worrying about going up against my grandfather, a man I had never known. Wolfgang was about to go up against his son-in-law, a man he had known. Known and loved. And it wasn’t the first time he had done this.
It didn’t really matter whether or not we could win. What mattered was that we fought tooth and nail trying. What mattered the most was that we said no to a life of fear and tyranny, instead, choosing to fight for our freedom.
I took in a deep breath and let it slowly back out again. Yes, that I could do.
‘Our main threat,’ Tamsonite stated the obvious, ‘will come from aerial attacks, and any spells they throw at us.
Their voices droned on while I thought about what Ulandes has said. What had she meant by any of it? And how could the real battle be in me? What did I have to do? Did I have to do it at a certain time? If I didn’t, would we lose?’
‘Gentlemen,’ Tamsonite looked at Bladimir and Wolfgang, ‘how do we stand on those fronts?’
‘Our dragons will eat those mangy eagles for breakfast.’
‘The spellcasters stand ready to serve.’
Tamsonite smoothed down his gigantic moustache. ‘Well, I don’t think there is anything else we need to discuss. Let’s get moving. If we start marching now, we should be in place in time to deal with them before dark.’ He pushed his chair back from the table and stood.
Dark Sky. I’d day dreamed my way through the whole briefing. ‘Urrrrr,’ I said. ‘What do you want me to do?’
Rako scratched at the corner of his mouth. A habit I had noticed that presented when he was trying not to smile. ‘May I?’ He looked at Tamsonite and Robertson, waiting for them to nod before he continued. ‘Izzy. You are to do whatever needs to be done. Within the limits of course.’
‘That’s it?’ I knew what he was talking about. No black magic.
He nodded. ‘That’s it.’
Huh. So much for getting direction from them. I was no closer to understanding what my part in all of this was.
I traced a finger over the map while the rest of them filed from the room. I had flown over this area, so it all looked familiar. Turos stood next to me, staring intently at the map, but I had a feeling he wasn’t concentrating on it.
‘What’s up?’ I spoke softly enough that the others wouldn’t hear.
‘Not sure.’ He traced a finger over the line of hills which currently sheltered us from view from the Pass of Bones. ‘Something’s not right though.’
‘How so?’
‘Don’t know.’ He turned to look at me. ‘But when I figure it out, you’ll be the first to know.’
‘You see it too?’ Aethan let the tent flap fall and walked back over to the table. The two of them faced each other, but for the first time there was no animosity in their stances.
Turos nodded. ‘Things aren’t what they seem.’
‘They never are.’ Aethan tilted his head as he scratched at the side of his face. ‘Tell your men to be ready to move quickly.’ He smiled at his own words.
‘Agreed.’ Turos held out his hand. ‘We work together on this.’
‘To keep her safe?’ Aethan nodded. ‘Always.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ Exasperation tinged my voice.
The tent flap pushed up and Isla pushed back through the opening. ‘They’re talking about the trap,’ Isla said.