‘Dead?’ Grams broke a bit off her cake and popped it into her mouth.
‘Fainted,’ Mum said. ‘Colonel Smith waved his cane in the air and started regaling stories about the Great Faery War.’
‘He’ll be going on about that for days,’ Grams said. ‘Remind me not to go up to the Toasted Toadstool tonight.’
‘Deidre Rutherspoon got such a fright she dropped a tray of coffee cups.’
Isla grimaced. She was always more contrite than I.
‘It’s all right, Dear.’ Mum patted her on the arm. ‘I was able to repair them. Then there was Lindsey Nettle.’
Grams stopped eating and looked up at Mum.
‘She fell backwards over a hedge and showed her underwear to the patrons of the Cupcake Café.’ Now she was smiling. ‘Big. White. Bloomers.’
‘Ha.’ Grams let out a satisfied snort. ‘That’ll teach her for making a play for Lionel.’
‘I was just coming out of the library,’ Sabby said. ‘Old Tom was sitting out the front. He jumped up and drew a flip knife out of his pocket. Then he screamed something about goblins and took off.’
‘He’ll be halfway to London by now.’ Grams shook her head. ‘We told them all that the veil had been sealed. A goblin attack will be impossible for at least another two weeks.’
Two weeks. Only two more weeks till the veil was penetrable again. I felt a small hard knot start up in my gut. It was both too close and too far away.
‘I’d better go and see if Emerald is okay.’ I stood and flipped the chair back around, seating it back in at the table. I’m sure the fact that I didn’t need to go and see Emerald to know she was okay wasn’t lost on any of them.
‘Here.’ Mum opened the fridge and pulled out a haunch of meat. ‘Tell her I’ll cook her something tonight.’
I took the meat from Mum and headed for the front door. Got you some meat.
Stop. Emerald’s mind screeched into mine. Don’t come down here.
Her words had the opposite effect on me to what she had intended. I dropped the meat, yanked open the door and started sprinting for the field. It didn’t take long for Scruffy to match my speed and I could hear Isla right behind me.
Emerald was in trouble, from what I couldn’t begin to imagine, but there was no way I was leaving her to fend for herself.
I raced through the trees down the hill to the meadow, running faster and faster as I felt her mounting panic.
I’m coming.
Oh no. No, no, no, no, no.
It took far too long before Isla and I burst out of the trees and onto the flat. I raised my arm ready to throw lightning and…stopped.
I told you not to come, Emerald wailed in anguish.
An enormous black dragon loomed in front of her. The sun flashed off his scales, turning him from black to brilliant scarlet for the briefest of seconds. Steam curled out of his nostrils as he pawed at the ground. His talons tore up huge chunks of dirt and hurled them into the air.
He was, to put it quite plainly, magnificent.
As I watched, Emerald bowed her head and lowered herself to the ground in a posture of submission.
Isla let out a hiss, re-strung her bow and notched an arrow. It was only then that I saw the man standing beside the dragon.
Easily seven foot tall, he was sheathed in black armour that mimicked the colour-shifting tendency of his dragon, flashing from black to ruby as he turned to observe us. A helmet covered his head and masked his eyes, leaving only his mouth visible.
He lifted one hand in our direction and called out, ‘I come in peace.’
Yeah, right. Emerald may have appeared submissive, but there was anger evident in her thoughts. Anger, and a tinge of something else. Embarrassment?
‘My name is Turos, and I have come to take Silvanta home.’
Silvanta? It took me a moment to realise he was talking about Emerald.
‘She is home,’ I yelled back.
He shook his head. ‘Your dragon does not belong here. It is time for her to come home and face her consequences.’
Emerald pressed herself further into the dirt and if I hadn’t known that she was a big, tough dragon, I would have said she was quivering.
‘What consequences?’
‘All actions pay a price.’
‘What actions? What price?’ His refusal to answer my questions was really starting to cheese me off.
He tilted his head to the side while he considered my question, and his dragon swung its head around, observing us with cold, glittering eyes. The beast let out a steam-filled snort and Turos nodded his head as if agreeing with something.
I was betting that whatever conversation had just gone on had been less than complimentary about Isla and me. The whole dragon in the head thing was pretty cool when it was me doing it, but in this context it sucked big time.
‘Put away the bow,’ I murmured to Isla. Maybe he would answer my questions if we weren’t physically threatening him.
Turos’s body language remained alert as we walked towards him. I stopped far enough away that we wouldn’t be forced to look up at him. ‘Who are you?’
He clenched his hand and placed it on his chest, bending his head as he said, ‘I am Turos, son of Bladimir, Head Dragon Rider of….’
I held a hand up to interrupt him. ‘Sorry, is it you, or your father that’s the Head Dragon Rider? Cause the way you phrased that sentence left me unsure?’
If I hadn’t been looking for it, I mightn’t have noticed the tightening of his lips that showed his annoyance. Emerald snickered in my mind and I suppressed my own smile. It was a petty triumph I knew, but a triumph none the less.
‘My father, Bladimir, is the Head Dragon Rider.’ He raised an eyebrow in the air and paused as if waiting for me to ask another question.
I waved a hand at him. ‘Do go on.’ My bad mood was definitely returning.
‘Head Dragon Rider of Millenia.’
Isla let out a gasp. ‘But, Millenia does not exist.’
‘And yet, here I stand before you.’ His smirk made my hands clench into fists.
I turned to Isla. ‘What’s Millenia?’
‘An ancient city. A mythical city.’ She shrugged one shoulder. ‘Its existence has always been a source of much debate. Like your Atlantis.’
As I turned back to Turos, light crackled across the sky. The black dragon threw its head in the air and snorted.
‘Yes,’ Turos said, ‘we must go. Come Silvanta.’
Emerald’s misery was tangible inside my mind.
‘She’s not going anywhere without me,’ I said.
‘Without us,’ Isla corrected me.
I looked over at her.
‘Don’t think you’re going to have an adventure like that without me.’
‘Now see here….’ Turos stopped speaking as the sky did that weird flicky thing again. He glanced at the black dragon and then said, ‘We are running out of time.’
I was pretty sure that wasn’t what he had been going to say. ‘We’ll just go pack some things.’
‘There’s no time.’ The sky flickered again. ‘You come now or you don’t come at all.’ His dragon lifted a leg and Turos jumped onto it, pulling himself up onto a leather harness that sat around the dragon’s neck.
‘Isadora,’ Mum called from the top of the hill. ‘What’s going on down there?’
I looked at Isla. Mum was going to kill us if we took off without an explanation, and there were no words for what Sabby would do to us.
‘I’m coming,’ Isla said, reading my mind.
The sky flickered again.
‘Quickly,’ Turos said.
‘Mum,’ I yelled as I clambered onto Emerald’s back. ‘Isla and I are going for a ride.’
‘What?’ Her voice was getting closer.
‘Wait,’ I heard Sabby yell out. ‘I’m coming too.’
Isla handed Scruffy up to me and I tucked him against my chest with my arms nestled on each side of him. ‘We may be gone for
a few days,’ I yelled. ‘You’ll miss your exams.’
‘Isadora Scrumpleton.’
I looked over my shoulder and pulled a face as Isla climbed on behind me. That had been Mum’s angry voice.
She broke from the trees onto the meadow with Sabby right behind her as Turos took flight. Their mouths gaped as they stared at the gigantic dragon. He had looked big on the ground, but in full flight the magnitude of his size became apparent. He was easily twice as big as Emerald.
Lance, Emerald thought at me. His name is Lance.
Turos and Lance circled the field, gaining height as Emerald took a few lurching steps and leapt into the air.
‘Izzy,’ Mum yelled. ‘Where are you going?’
That was a really good question.
‘Don’t you dare have another adventure without me,’ Sabby shrieked. Mia clambered up onto Sabby’s head and spread her limbs, but we were already too far above her for her to be able to glide to us. I felt a pang, but knew she would be safer with Sabby than us.
‘I’ll tell you all about it when we get back,’ I hollered down to them. I wasn’t sure if they heard me or not.
I passed the leather straps tied around Emerald’s neck back to Isla. She grabbed them and, as she pulled back, the leather webbing we had constructed for Scruffy opened up. I tucked him into it and crossed a second set of straps over the top of it. He stuck his head out of the top of his safety harness, a broad doggy grin on his face.
‘They’re not going to be very happy,’ Isla yelled into my ear.
That was probably the understatement of the year.
Emerald stretched out her neck and sped after Lance. The sky flickered again, but this time, it didn’t stop. Tiny licks of lightning danced around us. I held out a hand, watching as they prickled over the surface of my skin.
Faster and faster they swirled, growing in size as well as number until all I could see were the lights.
Hang on,’ Emerald told me.
‘Hold tight,’ I yelled over my shoulder as I wrapped the leather around my wrists.
And then the lights coalesced into a huge ball of light in front of us. I could see the silhouette of Turos hunching over Lance’s neck. The ball pulsed once, twice and as it pulsed the third time, Emerald let out a roar. The ball exploded, light rolling away like a shockwave from a hole rent in the sky.
Tendrils of icy air licked my face as we raced towards the black void. The blue of our sky disappeared and black encased us. Cold pressed in on all sides and I fought to breathe. I heard Isla’s choked breath behind me and Scruffy let out a whine.
Before I could panic there was a second explosion and a blue slice appeared. Light blazed, illuminating us in its radiance. Two more strokes of Emerald’s wings and we were through.
I sucked in air and looked behind to check Isla was all right.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she gave me a huge smile. ‘I can’t believe you tried to make me stay behind. I mean, that was awesome.’
Blue water stretched to the horizon below us. Lance banked to the left at the same time as Emerald did. She at least knew where we were going.
Where are we?
Millenia. Her thoughts held the feel of a shoulder shrug. I imagined if she had been a teenager she might have added a, ‘Duh,’ at the end.
I sighed. When she got all sullen it wasn’t worth trying to converse with her.
Scruffy looked up at me, his tongue hanging out in a doggy smile. He nestled down into his riding bag and closed his eyes.
‘There.’ Isla leant forwards and pointed straight ahead.
I squinted at the horizon but it took me another minute before I could see what she already had. Smoke. Lots of it.
A few minutes later I could make out the shape of mountains pushing into the sky. A soft orange glow was visible on the tip of the highest mountain. The smoke came from this.
A volcano? Oh, that was just great.
‘At least we’ll be warm,’ Isla yelled into my ear.
I turned to look at her. ‘Have you not heard of Pompeii?’
She flashed me a grin. ‘What’s a little ash?’
The volcano never erupts. It was the first thing Emerald had said voluntarily since we had got there.
It’s always never till the first time.
She let out a little snort of amusement.
I took that as a good sign. So…do I need to start calling you Silvanta?
There was a pause before she said, I never really did like that name much. Admittedly, it was better than ‘Dragon’.
That’s what Santanas used to call you?
She shook her head up and down. I would appreciate it if you would continue to call me Emerald. It will remind me of happier times.
I thought a question mark at her but she ignored me.
The mountains stretched higher and higher as we soared towards them, till they towered above. As we got closer I could make out structures on the highest mountain. Graceful buildings, linked by arched bridges. Steeples and towers rose into the air like delicate pieces of lacework.
Each building had a large platform at its front, and as I watched, a dragon emerged from an enormous entry way and strode to the middle of the platform. A person, dressed in an outfit similar to Turos’s, jumped lithely up onto the dragon’s neck. A second later they were airborne.
I could feel Emerald’s distress radiating into my mind and I rubbed a hand over her scales. As we headed for the largest of the buildings her anguish increased, tears built in my eyes as I shared her emotions.
We swooped down towards a platform where a group of men, covered in full-length, black capes waited. They were still as they watched our approach.
Emerald flared her wings and took a few running steps before she came to a stop. Isla dismounted and I untied Scruffy and handed him down to her, before sliding down.
Turos approached the group and bowed low over the offered hand of the man in the lead. ‘Father,’ he said. ‘I have returned.’
I let out a snort. I mean I would have thought that that part at least was obvious.
Bladimir turned to observe us. ‘You successfully managed to capture her?’
‘She came willingly with Silvanta.’
Emerald’s low moan filled my mind.
‘And the other one?’
‘A faery Princess.’
Bladimir nodded his head. ‘She will be of use to us.’ He clapped Turos on the shoulder and said, ‘You have done well, my boy.’
Turos pulled his helmet off his head and ran his hand through bleached-white hair. His smile, when he turned to look at us was full of smug arrogance.
I took two quick steps towards him, leapt into the air, and smacked my fist into his face as hard as I could.
The rest of the men surged towards me, pulling weapons from underneath their cloaks.
‘Don’t hurt her,’ Bladimir roared. ‘We need her alive.’
Don’t fight them. Emerald’s panicked thought echoed around my head.
I ignored her as I turned to face the pack, ready to kill them all if I had to.
Where normal men would have still been a few paces away, the leader was already on me. He moved with such speed as he whipped a wooden baton at my head that I only just managed to deflect it. And even then the tip of it struck the side of my skull.
‘Izzy.’ I heard Isla shout my name, saw her struggling beside me.
My head rocked to the side and I collapsed to my knees. I raised a hand to my hair and stared incoherently at my red-stained fingers. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was blood running from Turos’s nose. I felt a smile stretch my lips as my vision faded, and then all I heard was white noise.
2
Order in the Court
I opened my eyelids to find Isla sitting cross-legged beside me. Her eyes were closed and her lips were moving but either I had lost my hearing or no sound was coming out.
I let out a little groan as I lifted my head off the mattress
. Her eyes flew open and she leaned over, pressing a hand to my forehead as her beautiful blue eyes stared into mine. I could feel a heavy weight on my stomach and lifted a hand to feel Scruffy’s body nestled there.
‘Well,’ Isla said, taking her hand off my forehead. ‘That went well.’
‘You think?’ I let out a groan, sat up on the edge of the bed, and looked around. We were in a small, dark room, with a door made of metal bars, and one tiny window.
‘We’re still alive.’
‘I wish I wasn’t.’ I moved Scruffy to the mattress beside me so that I could bend forwards and put my head in my hands. It hurt like a bastard.
‘You say that, but I know you, and if you were dead you’d be really, really annoyed.’
I let out a laugh which quickly changed to a groan.
‘Shame we didn’t bring Sabby,’ Isla said. ‘She’d have had you fixed up in no time.’
I looked up at her through my fingers. ‘I’m pretty glad we didn’t bring her. In fact I’m wishing we hadn’t come.’
She waved a hand in the air and sat back down on the end of the mattress, curling her legs up underneath her in one graceful movement. ‘It’s just like school camp. The first day all the kids are boo-hooing and wanting to go home, but by day three they’re all having a lovely time.’
I shook my head. ‘I don’t remember ever having been concussed then locked in a prison cell while on school camp.’
‘Oh,’ she said, ‘you just haven’t lived then.’
I stretched out my mind feeling for Emerald. She wasn’t there.
Sitting bolt upright on the bed, I tried again. Still nothing.
‘Oh no,’ I said.
‘What?’ Isla tilted her head, her face taking on a serious expression.
‘Emerald’s gone. What if they’ve killed her?’ Tears welled in my eyes. Why hadn’t we taken a stance back at the meadow when there was only Lance and Turos? We may have had a chance then.
Because you were looking for a reason to get out of there. A reason to leave.
The ugly little voice in my head had seen what I hadn’t. I’d been so keen to come with Emerald, not for her sake, but for mine. I was selfish, and mean, and….
Faery Revenge Page 2
