Warding Song

As the rowboat bumped against the hull, Eleyna stared in awe at the massive ship. She climbed up the ladder onto the deck, and a well-dressed man stepped forwards. “Captain John Lambton, at your service,” he introduced himself with a bow. “Welcome aboard the DHS Ascalon.”

“Thank you, captain. It’s a barquentine, right?” she inquired curiously.

“Why, yes. It’s not every day I meet a young lady so familiar with ships. Might I ask who you are, miss, and how you came to be on that island?”

She’d already thought of a cover story. “My name’s Ellie Flanders. I was out sailing with my dad; we were heading back to Limuanes, but – but there was a bad storm. He got washed overboard, and I couldn’t sail our dinghy by myself, so it ran aground.” She forced a few tears into her eyes, and added: “It was awful, getting stranded, and … I think my dad must have drowned.”

Lambton pursed his lips in sympathy. “My condolences, Miss. Is your mother … ?” he trailed off, hesitant, as if he didn’t know how to ask.

Before her eyes, an opportunity unfolded. “No,” Eleyna replied, guessing what he was trying to inquire about. Then she added, “but if you’ll have me, Captain, I’d be willing to join your crew. I know girls aren’t supposed to be aboard a ship, but I don’t mind dressing like a boy, and I can do scutwork.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Well, it’s a generous offer, but our line of work is no place for a maiden. We’ll take you back to Limuanes; surely you must have some other family there, who could take you in?” Lambton inquired.

Disappointed, but deciding not to push her luck, Eleyna replied, “I have an aunt … but don’t worry, once I’m back home I can manage,” she insisted.

“Good. Now, speaking of our work – we followed a dragon here, and I hope you’ll be willing to tell us what you know about the creature, if anything.”

“Er, I don’t … ” Eleyna trailed off. “I didn’t even realise there was a dragon until this afternoon. I think it was nesting on the mountain, but it never attacked me. I, um, saw it trying to breathe fire, but nothing came out the first couple times.” She stifled a massive yawn. “Sorry. I haven’t slept well.”

“No, no, it’s my own fault for keeping you here. Mr Liddan, escort Miss Flanders somewhere she can rest, if you would.” George led Eleyna to his cabin. He bid her goodnight and left; she peeled off her boots, rubbed her feet, and curled up on the cot. As soon as her head hit the pillow, she slept.

Trill could hear waves sloshing. She could smell seawater too. The ground was hard, flat, and … moving? It slowly rose and fell, like the flank of a dragon in sleep. It occurred to Trill that if she could hear, and smell, and feel, she was probably not dead. So she opened her eyes, and wished she hadn’t.

She was in a cage. Flames hovered against the far wall. The cage was long enough for her to stretch out, but narrowed so she could not turn. Trill quivered. The wingless ones had not killed her, so what else would they do?

Horrible notions came to mind; that they would eat her, or leave her trapped and mock her for being a runt. Trill whimpered. It’s all my fault … I should’ve left that island sooner. I should’ve gone home … I should have listened to Chirr-See. Guilt writhed like snakes in her belly once more. If she hadn’t let the wingless ones hunt him in the first place, they would both be free.

A thought flitted across her mind, too fast to ponder. Trill felt, briefly, a little glimmer of hope. The wingless ones hadn’t slain her … was there, then, a chance that Chirr-See had not been slain either? Trill did not dwell on this idea; nor did she realise it had come to her, at least not consciously.

Those few fish felt like they had been swallowed days ago. Trill had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. There was no food in sight, only a hollow filled with water. She dipped her tongue in. It was fresh; she swallowed great gulps. With her thirst quenched, Trill lowered her head once more. The floating-nest kept moving. Trill disliked the sensation; it made her feel sick. Nevertheless, she was exhausted, and the bobbing lulled her to sleep.

Hours later, Eleyna was woken by a knock. She yawned profusely and went to open the door. George was waiting outside the cabin. “Begging your pardon, but the captain’s invited you to his table for dinner,” he explained.

“That’d be great, thanks,” she replied, “just let me put my shoes back on.” This done, she followed George – who told her he was the quartermaster – to a larger cabin in the fo’castle with a dining table set out. Captain Lambton sat at the head; as a guest, Eleyna was invited to sit at his right.

“Have you slept well?” he asked, as the cook served brined beef and peas.

“Yes, thank you,” she replied, “and thanks for rescuing me from that island.”

“You’re welcome. I bet you couldn’t sleep a wink with that creature nearby.”

Her mouth was full of beef, so Eleyna only nodded. “Mm, this is delicious,” she complimented, even though it was really quite tough and salty.

Patrick remarked casually, “aye, there’s nothing like a bit of roasted dragon steak.” Eleyna nearly choked on the beef. Captain Lambton reached over to thump her on the back, whilst the other men around them sniggered.

Eleyna eyed the slab of meat on her plate warily. “Is this from a dragon?”

“Don’t worry, it’s beef,” George assured her. “Patrick tells that awful joke to all newcomers at the table. I keep telling him to get better material, but Patrick thinks I need a better sense of humour.”

“I think you need a sense of humour, period,” his friend retorted.

“Humour is a distraction. A very dangerous thing in our line of work,” George insisted, slinging a dirty look at Patrick from across the table. “If you recall that one time – ”

“I recall, I recall, I get it – ”

George smiled at Patrick's annoyance and turned to Eleyna. “You would not believe the amount of times I’ve had to rescue our humorous friend over here,” he told her.

“It isn’t that often!”

“That’s enough. Get a cabin already, you two,” Lambton snapped. The other hunters jeered at them. “We have a guest.” Eleyna didn’t mind, though; she liked hearing their banter. It reminded her of the Tenebra’s crew, or Pablo and Javier messing around. Now that the subject had come up, however, her curiosity was piqued. “Did you capture the dragon?” she inquired.

“We did, and it was far easier than usual,” replied Lambton. “The beast hardly put up a fight before it passed out. Really, the hardest part was getting it back to the ship.”

“What are you going to do with it?” Eleyna inquired. The captain cleared his throat, and took a long sip of ale, not meeting her eyes. “With all respect, Captain, whatever you do, I can handle hearing it. Are you going to kill it?”

“Normally we would,” he admitted, “and harvest the throat sac for pieces of crystal, but this dragon can’t breathe fire, so it will barely have any.”

“You mean healing crystals?” asked Eleyna.

“We get that sort now and then, but mostly it’s the common kind, only good for pistols and muskets. That’s how they breathe fire, you see. By crushing a crystal and squeezing the pieces in their throat sacs to make a spark, that ignites the gas they breathe out. Same thing as a quartzlock pistol; those are the ones used by the Imperials, y’know.”

Eleyna was fascinated. “What about dragons who haven’t eaten crystals?”

“Usually we take them to the nearest alchemist guild, and slay them there, so as to harvest the bones and organs fresh. The alchemists experiment on them, creating medicines and potions. The skin makes for good fireproof armour.” His vambrace was made of leathery hide. “The claws, teeth and spines fetch a good bit of gold too, especially from Fire Agates like that one.”

Despite her assertion that she could handle it, Eleyna felt a bit queasy. “You said that’s what you usually do,” she noted. “What’s different this time?”

“Ah, you are a sharp one, aren’t you?” he noted. “Well, you wouldn’t have noticed, but this specimen is small for its kind – a runt, if you will. The larger and healthier the dragon, the more valuable their parts are. This one isn’t worth the effort to harvest it, but it’s big enough that it could be put to work. There’s a mine we’re going to sell it to, after we’ve dropped you off.”

Something occurred to her. “Um, Captain, how do you get the dragons into the Ascalon?” she inquired. “Wouldn’t they be too big to haul up the sides?”

“Indeed. First we load it onto a catamaran and sail that to the stern of the ship. A section of the stern is lowered from inside, like a drawbridge. It’s hinged above the waterline, so we don’t flood every time. That forms a ramp; we haul the dragon up, stick it in a cage, and close up the stern.”

“How do you actually capture the dragons? I mean, they’re huge.”

“The safest way is to lace bait with lotus essence and wait for a dragon to eat it. Knocks “em right out. We dip our arrows in the same stuff, but it takes a lot of those to bring down a full-grown dragon. Then there’s all the chains and nets we use to restrain “em, and our shields of course, for the fire.”

Eleyna was starving, and her food was getting cold. When she’d nearly finished, another question occurred to her. “Captain Lambton?”

“Where did the dragon come from? I thought they were all gone.”

“It’s impossible to say where this particular dragon came from, but they’re not all gone. Far from it. For instance, there’s a species on the mainland called Tourmalions, because they have manes like a lion that are coloured like tourmaline gems,” Lambton explained.

“Dragons used to be all over the place, but then the Empire colonised this archipelago and hunted them,” George continued. “It takes a lot of effort and risk to conquer a dragon nest, however, so nowadays raids only happen when absolutely necessary. Now and then one of them gets bold and ventures too near humans. That’s where we come in.”

Eleyna excused herself to go and use the toilet. She was on her way back to her cabin, when she passed by the dining room and overheard her name – well, her fake name. Eleyna paused, and stepped closer to eavesdrop. “It’s a shame,” George was saying. “She seems like such a nice young girl.”

“Aye. Makes you wonder how a maiden like that got involved with pirates,” agreed Lambton. Eleyna frowned. “First stowing away, then stealing!”

“I feel sorry for whoever’s dinghy she nicked,” Patrick chuckled.

George retorted, “Boats can be replaced. I don’t think Ellie is so bad; I’m sure she’ll get back on the right track after this little misadventure.”

“She needs someone to steer her right,” declared Lambton. “We’ll sail to Amohanes, tell the Imperials about Ellie, and let them take care of the rest.”

At that point, Eleyna had heard enough. She backed away, then forced herself to walk to the cabin, lest they heard her running feet. Her fists clenched. Once she was inside the cabin, Eleyna fell onto the bed and groaned into the pillow. Why did her luck have to be so abysmal?

It never crossed her mind that giving them an alias would lead to this; she’d been certain no one had seen her steal the dinghy! Of course, she had been found with pirates, and slipped away from the Imperials, and a boat was stolen that night … Eleyna could see how they might have put two and two together. Especially using her aunt's surname, when Cat had been arrested.

It’s not fair. Rogue, you help those with wit, and I’ve got plenty! She turned her thoughts to escaping, before they could hand her over to the Imperials. This was easier said than done; there was no way she could get off this ship and away from them. Even if she could get ahead in one of those rowboats, Eleyna couldn’t lower one down by herself, without anyone noticing.

Amohanes wasn’t far. They’d be there by morning, so she had to get away tonight. But how? she asked herself. I’m stuck, unless I do something crazy.

A thought made her stop dead. There was something that could get her off this ship … the dragon. That’s insane. It’s a dragon, for Rogue’s sake, not a flying horse. Even if it did carry me away, it would probably eat me or something. Yet even as she said it, it felt like a lie. If the dragon had wanted her dead, it would have killed her back there. Instead, it had left her alone.

The hunters even told her that it should have attacked, that a solitary dragon was usually the most aggressive. This dragon had not harmed her once, all the time she’d been stranded on its island. Eleyna couldn’t fathom why.

The only thing that seemed to fit was that the dragon had been afraid of her. If it’s scared of me, it won’t want me going near it. She grimaced, realising she was actually considering this insane plan. If being stranded made one go mad, then clearly she had lost her mind. I guess you were right, Marcus.

If failure meant imprisonment or death (be it by dragon or hanging), then she had nothing left to lose. Eleyna wondered how she could tame the beast. With meat, perhaps, but if she was caught poking around in the food stores they’d be more suspicious. She didn’t have anything a dragon might want.

… Or did she? Eleyna pulled out her amethyst locket. The captain said they use crystals like these to breathe fire … maybe I can lure it out with this.

Getting the dragon out wouldn’t be the hardest part; getting out alongside it would. The creature would surely make a bid for freedom at the first opportunity. She’d cross that bridge when she came to it. Besides, she thought as she checked her belongings, and slung on her rucksack, we’re both doomed. I couldn’t save my crew, but maybe I can save this one soul.

Eleyna tucked a spare pillow under the sheet as a decoy. Then she put on her rucksack and slipped out of the cabin. No one was around. Keeping close to the bulkhead, Eleyna headed off in search of a hatch down to the lower decks of the ship. Along the companionway, she heard footsteps approaching, muffled voices, and froze. Two men turned the corner.

The hunters walked past, talking in low voices. Neither spotted Eleyna, who had flattened herself behind a jutting support strut. It wouldn’t conceal a man, but she was slim enough to hide until they were out of sight.

Ears strained for approaching footsteps, whilst trying to keep her own feather-light, she made her way through the ship. Eleyna made it to the next deck, but before she could go further, she heard someone coming from up ahead. Also from behind, so no matter where she hid, they’d spot her. She looked around and darted for a nearby hatch, ducking out of sight just in time.

It was a hammock-bay, and half the crew was down here already. Judging from the snoring they were fast asleep. Eleyna noticed a jacket and helmet hanging from a hook besides the nearest hammock. She smiled despite everything; that was just what she needed. When the coast was clear, Eleyna stepped out of her hiding place and tiptoed towards the hammock.

The hunter wasn’t facing her. She took a step. The wooden board creaked. He stirred, began to roll over. Eleyna crawled underneath the hammock. She remained motionless until the man had gone back to sleep, then slowly rose to her feet, donned the helmet and shrugged into the fireproof jacket.

With the helmet covering her face, and the jacket concealing her hands, Eleyna moved through the ship more confidently. When someone passed she stepped aside, and they were too busy to pay attention to her. Don’t look at their faces. Don’t talk to anyone. Hopefully, no one would talk to her.

Her fingers trembled, heart thudding a quickened drumbeat. This wasn’t much better than being marooned, with a dragon lurking nearby. At any point someone might challenge her, or give an order that she’d have no way to refuse. Disguised or not, she hid from the crew whenever she could.

In one such instance, she took refuge in a storeroom, and hid behind some barrels. They reeked of salted fish. Someone followed her; to her alarm, his footsteps came closer to her. Eleyna scrunched down as far as she could go. Her pulse thumped in her ears; she half-expected them to hear it too.

If she was caught here, now, it would seem like she was trying to steal food. They’d throw her in the brig for sure. He heaved a barrel of fish into his arms and carried it away. It was probably food for the dragon, and she could follow him straight there. She emerged and saw the man walking away.

He led her further into the depths of the ship, until he went down through a hatch. A growl emanated from below. “Shuddup, ya heap o’ scales!”

Eleyna waited for the man to re-emerge. Her heart was in her throat. She was so close. There were so many things that could go wrong. The dragon might attack her and rampage as soon as it was loose. It might be chained up and she’d have no way to release it without finding the keys. It might escape and leave her behind, to bear the brunt of freeing it in the first place.

The Imperials might have been lenient with her before, but if she did this there was no going back. She wouldn’t be seen as an orphan who fell in with a bad crowd; she’d be a criminal. Well, she was a criminal, but so far she’d gotten away without anyone really knowing that. Eleyna took a deep breath. It was either this or prison, or the gallows. She had nothing left to lose.

Finally the man trudged back up the companionway. Once he was out of sight, Eleyna slipped out of hiding and climbed down through the hatch.

The dragon had its head buried in a trough of raw fish. It gulped them down, but when she drew closer, the dragon looked up and snarled viciously. The sight of those fangs, each as long as her forearm, made Eleyna want to run. Trembling, she pulled out her locket, dangling it in front of the dragon.

Its eyes fixed on the amethyst. Eleyna held the locket up to distract it as she peered at the lock. It was a simple bolt. I guess there’s no need for a proper lock, so long as the dragons can’t open it, she mused. It’s not as if they’d expect anyone to be crazy enough to let the dragons out … like I must be.

She slid the bolt across, and opened the door as wide as it could go. The dragon stared at her and didn’t move. She backed away, and it slowly rose to its feet, wings hunched. It was taller than a horse and twice as long; if this was a runt, Eleyna didn’t want to know how large a full-grown one would be. “Shhh,” she urged. The creature put its head out and sniffed cautiously.

She’d been sure it would bull right past her and try to claw its way free. Now she found herself wishing it would hurry up. Eleyna looked for a way to lower the drawbridge. There was the catamaran, folded in half so as to fit inside the ship. Beside it was a winch, chains stretching to a thick metal ring.

There was a winch on the other side; both meant to be turned in unison to open the hatch. I’ll have to crank one at a time … I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Before she could get to work, Eleyna had to deal with the dragon. It had noticed the hatch and was trying to stick its head through the gap. “You won’t fit, you stupid thing,” she muttered, before whistling to get its attention. It stared at her, pupils slitted. “Shhh. Stay.” Feeling ridiculous – it wasn’t a dog – she patted the air with her palms and repeated “Stay. Put. There.”

The dragon stared at her. Eleyna turned the wheel counter-clockwise. It was stiff and heavy. She turned it as fast as she could, and the chain began to wind in. Somewhere, a bell rang. The hunters would be alerted now.

She turned the wheel faster, but the winches weren’t designed for single use. One side of the drawbridge opened a sliver; Eleyna could feel the ship straining not to go off course. The dragon hurried forwards, climbing onto the pontoon boat and clawing at the gap. “You can’t fit!” she cried.

Eleyna heard shouting, running boots – the hunters were coming. They’d force the dragon back in its cage and throw her in the brig, and the Imperials would throw her in prison or hang her for theft … she forced these unpleasant thoughts aside, and kept turning the wheel. There was nothing else she could do. Footsteps thumped on the ladder as someone climbed down.

The dragon hadn’t noticed the hunter yet, but it certainly did when they fired an arrow at its flank. It flinched and roared, twisting in the cramped space and kicking out with one huge taloned paw. “Dragon loose!” yelled George, backing away swiftly from the attempted strike. “You down there, get away!”

More hunters ran between the cages, taking aim with crossbows. The dragon lashed its tail, swatting them aside like flies. Eleyna flinched at the sight, but kept spinning the wheel desperately. If the dragon could keep them at bay for long enough, there was a still a chance she could –

A hand gripped her arm so tight it bruised. “Have you gone mad?!” George shouted, yanking the helmet off. Eleyna had forgotten she was wearing it. No wonder the dragon growled the first time it spotted her. George’s eyes widened in shock. Then they narrowed, and he dragged her away.

Eleyna struggled, but she couldn’t break his hold. “You’re hurting me!” Suddenly, the whole ship jerked, and George’s grip slackened. She tore her arm free and staggered, but was knocked off her feet by another hard jolt. It was the dragon, throwing itself against the partly-lowered drawbridge. George and his fellow hunters retreated to fire at it from a safe distance.

The dragon shrieked as arrows peppered its hide. It drew its wings up to shield itself and shoved desperately. I’ve definitely gone mad, thought Eleyna, before scrambling across the companionway under the dragon’s tail. “Hold fire!” cried Patrick. “Miss Flanders! Ellie! Get away from it!”

She didn’t listen. What was the point? Instead she reached the other winch and turned it, spinning the wheel fast as she could. The drawbridge cracked as the dragon threw its weight against the wood over and over again.

“Judge condemn you, girl, what are you doing?” Lambton demanded. She felt bad about breaking his ship. Hopefully they wouldn’t sink. “I was going to tell them to go easy on you, but mark my words, if you don’t surrender – !”

The dragon rammed the stern again, cutting him off. “Ellie, get out of there, you’ll get killed! We have to help her,” declared Patrick, rushing forward.

“Get back, you idiot!” George yelled, lunging after him. “You’ve got no helmet!”

She glanced back just in time to see the dragon’s tail lash towards both men like a cracking whip; George threw himself to the deck, but Patrick was slammed against the bulkhead. He slumped, blood dripping down his temple. “No!” George crawled towards his fallen friend to drag Patrick clear.

Eleyna flinched. She hadn’t meant for him to get hurt … she thought of trying to distract the dragon, but it would probably attack her as well. It shoved its forepaws against the straining, splintering wood, long tail lashing from side to side, inadvertently keeping the hunters from reaching Eleyna.

The ship jerked, and she lost her grip. The drawbridge was on the verge of breaking. It’s now or never. Heart in her mouth, Eleyna scrambled towards the dragon’s tail, then jumped and grabbed onto the spines running down its length. Fernando had taught her how to hold a sword blade without getting cut on it; she gripped the spines tightly, braced her feet against them and started to climb. Just like going up the rigging in the wind, she told herself.

Arrows whizzed past, unnervingly close. The dragon and Eleyna shrieked. “Hold fire!” Lambton cried. “You might hit her!” For a moment she thought he was concerned, until he added, “we’ll have enough on our hands as it is without tending to this thief!”

By now she was on the dragon’s hips; it didn’t appear to have noticed her. It kept breathing out, jaws agape … Eleyna realised it was trying to breathe fire. She ducked as fire burst all around the dragon’s head, setting the wood alight. The drawbridge gave way at last, and crashed noisily into the water.

The dragon surged forwards, scrambled out of the gap, and spread its wings. Eleyna held on for dear life as it ascended, and glanced over her shoulder, down at the Ascalon with her broken stern shrinking below them.

Trill flew as fast as she could, heading back to that island. Something stuck to her flank; Trill glanced over her shoulder. A wingless one was sitting on her! Panicked, she bucked and twirled upside down. The wingless one shrieked in fear, but kept its grip. Trill growled at it … but then looked closer.

This was the small one that washed up on the island … the one who let her out of the cage. Trill had been so desperate to escape, she’d not questioned why. It helped me get out, and it’s not really a threat, not like the other ones. It’ll get off when I land. I can figure out what to do about it later, she decided.

Even though she had slept, Trill felt herself tiring. Stupid weak wings. The sharp sticks in her wings and flanks hurt, and her tail ached from lashing it so much. At last she landed clumsily on the shore, throwing up plumes of sand as she skidded to a halt. The wingless one slumped to the ground.

It tried to crawl away, but threw up instead. Trill hissed and backed away, watching it warily. It merely lay on its back, panting. She didn’t understand wingless ones, and this one was very strange indeed. It had called others of its own kind to hunt her, but then opened the cage and let her out.

Trill gathered the last of her strength and took off again, flying up to the mountain cave. It did not feel like a safe place anymore; the scent of wingless ones and their rock-vines was too strong. There were none there now, though. Trill groomed herself, tugging out the sticks and licking the wounds left behind. She had to twist and curl up tight to reach them all.

If another dragon was there … if Chirr-See were there … he would have helped her pull the sharp sticks out. Or he wouldn’t have let her get caught in the first place. I can’t stay here, she knew, but I can’t go home, either. They’d banish me again as soon as they found out what I did. Just for a firestone … .

Trill looked towards the beach where she’d left the wingless one. It had a firestone, she remembered; a purple one, rare and much sought after. She needed it more. I’ll have to steal the firestone somehow.

The wingless ones who captured her would come back to find her again. She reared up to look for the floating-nest; she couldn’t see it, but it was out there. Then she peered at the small wingless one. It wasn’t there. A scuffling noise made her look down; it was climbing up towards her, and she tensed.

The humming in her throat grew stronger as it approached. She’d missed that feeling. It held out the firestone in one paw, and came closer to her. Trill snarled. It froze, then slowly crouched down and placed the firestone on a rock. It backed away, never taking its eyes off Trill, and simply … waited.

Trill sniffed at the firestone. It was stuck in some kind of shiny yellow rock. She picked up a small boulder and smashed it down on the purple stone. The wingless one flinched, but Trill paid no attention. She gulped the pieces into her crop, reared up and threw her head back, sending flames skyward. Trill roared in triumph.

Eleyna was cold and tired; her arms ached painfully from clinging to that spine. When the dragon turned upside down, for a few dreadful moments Eleyna had feared she would plummet to her death, but somehow she’d managed to hold on. At least the dragon hadn’t eaten her after it landed.

Once some feeling came back to her numb legs, Eleyna staggered into the forest, clutching at her rucksack, thankful that she hadn’t lost it. Ignoring the cockatrices, she headed for the river. What was I thinking? she wondered. First I get shipwrecked, then I get rescued, and then I break a dragon out of its cage and it takes me right back to the island I was stranded on.

Eleyna rubbed at her temples, half-expecting to feel the stiff leather and metal of a helmet. Patrick’s helmet. She had taken it; he wasn’t wearing it when the dragon struck him. Eleyna shivered, recalling the blood that trickled down. “Maybe he survived,” she murmured. “And he’s just hurt.”

His jacket was a weight on her shoulders in more ways than one, too hot and cumbersome. Eleyna shrugged it off. Out of habit she felt in the pockets for anything useful, but they were empty. She hung the jacket on a branch.

Her dinghy was gone, and the nearest ship was crewed by people who weren’t very pleased with her now, to say the least. Eleyna was pretty sure she’d already gone mad, freeing the dragon. I might as well embrace it, she decided. Maybe, if she could earn its trust, it would let her ride on its back.

Dragons needed crystals to breathe fire, and this one had been interested in her locket. Maybe it’ll calm down if I give this crystal to it. Eleyna tried to prise out the amethyst, but it was embedded deep into the gold.

She’d have to give up all but the chain. This locket was left to her by her mother … how could she let it be destroyed? I don’t have a choice … and besides, if my mum really cared, she’d have stayed with me herself. She had a map to Ocaranes. Eleyna didn’t really need the locket anymore.

She followed the river upstream in search of the dragon, though a tiny part of her hoped she wouldn’t find it. Or at least that she would find it before it found her. She pulled the locket off its chain, which might come in useful.

Eleyna looked up and found the dragon staring at her. She held up the amethyst in a shaking hand. As before, the dragon fixated on the crystal. She moved forwards, but it recoiled and snarled. She set the locket on a rock and backed away. The dragon cocked its head to the side, like a dog, then scrambled towards the locket. It sniffed the crystal, then picked up a boulder in its claws and smashed down on the locket. Eleyna flinched. She was beginning to regret this decision, but it was too late to turn back now.

The dragon swallowed bits of amethyst. As the sun rose, it reared up, threw back its head and breathed out a plume of fire, then let out a mighty roar.