by Mark Robson
‘But that’s not—’
‘Not true,’ he interrupted. ‘Not the reason you cannot be my rider. Yes, I know. I know it as you know it. I understand your fear, Nolita. I taste it in my mind constantly. How could I not come to understand it? But look around you, Nolita. Do you think the others here understand it? Can you see why my fears are every bit as valid as yours?’
Nolita looked around at the lines of watching dragonriders, and then turned to look at the ranks of dragons. She shuddered. A week ago she would have fainted under the scrutiny of even one pair of those huge, lurking beasts’ eyes. Since spending a week in the presence of dragons she realised it would take more than a dragon’s stare to produce such a response in her again.
‘I think I understand,’ she admitted slowly. ‘What do you think they see, though?’
‘I believe they see us both standing tall and facing our fears without flinching,’ Firestorm replied. ‘If you were to climb on my back now and let me carry you up to collect the orb, then they would likely consider us heroic, for we would have achieved something that many of them do not wish to attempt.’
‘So this is the test? All I have to do is ride you to collect the orb?’ Nolita asked.
‘It appears that by doing so you will have faced your deepest fear. That is what the test demands.’
‘And you? Where is the test for you in that?’ she demanded, feeling very much that she was getting the worst of this test.
‘I face the possibility that you will baulk and walk away. My shame amongst my peers will then live with me for ever.’ Firestorm paused for a moment to let his words sink in. ‘I know how difficult this is for you, Nolita, but I will not beg you. This is your choice. Will you come with me and collect the first orb? It is waiting for us.’
The churning in her stomach intensified as she forced herself to consider climbing into the waiting saddle. The silence in the great cavern was deafening. She closed her eyes and tried to remember the feeling of bravery that the Oracle had momentarily inspired in her heart. If she failed, the Oracle would die. She did not want to be responsible for killing the one who had given her hope. If she climbed into the saddle and let Firestorm carry her up to the orb, her companions would be ecstatic. The image of their response was vivid in her mind’s eye. She would be a heroine worthy of the tales she had so loved as a little girl. How hard could it be?
Nolita drew in a deep breath through her nose and expelled it through her mouth. She inhaled another and then took a step forwards. No sooner had she made that first step than a deep rumble shook the chamber. Was the volcano about to erupt? Was it an earthquake? The floor of the chamber ahead of her bucked and heaved before crumbling and dropping away. Her breath caught in her throat and she dropped to one knee for stability as she found herself facing a narrow bridge of rock that spanned an abyss of immeasurable depth between her and Firestorm. There was no way around. The walls to either side were sheer, offering no alternative route.
‘Don’t look down!’ Firestorm said quickly.
‘Too late,’ Nolita replied, her head spinning as she fought to control her breathing. Sweat broke out on her forehead and every muscle in her body tightened. It’s not real, she told herself. It can’t be. The other dragons and dragonriders would have reacted if it was real. There would have been panic.
‘Look at me, Nolita,’ Firestorm said, keeping his tone calm and supportive. ‘Concentrate on me. Treat everything else here as illusion. This is a test, but the Oracle wants you to succeed. It doesn’t want to harm you. You felt that in your encounter. Barnabas and the dragons don’t want to hurt you either. You know it’s true. Come on! Focus. You can do it. I believe in you.’
‘It’s so narrow,’ she thought back, as she took in the yawning depths to either side of her. The bridge was not even a full pace wide and although it was formed of rock, it did not look strong enough to support her weight.
‘It’s not real,’ Firestorm assured her. ‘The cavern is as it was. The ground beneath your feet is solid.’
She clenched her fingers into fists, feeling the slickness of sweat on her palms. He was right. She knew it, but her mind could not accept it over the evidence of her eyes. What would happen if she were to fall off the bridge, or ignore it altogether and step off the cliff?
‘Don’t do that,’ Firestorm warned. ‘The illusions created by dragons can feel very real. Just look at me and concentrate on walking across the bridge.’
‘All right. I’ll do my best.’
Nolita stood up slowly and looked ahead at Firestorm. His appearance had changed. He looked to be almost leering at her. Was that a hint of red in his eyes? Had his horns grown longer? His lips were drawn back to reveal a toothy grin that looked distinctly evil. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes for a moment to see if she could dispel the image. She opened her eyes. If anything, Firestorm looked even more evil than before.
‘It’s all illusion,’ she said aloud. ‘It’s not real. I can do this. I am strong enough.’
With grim determination she took a step forwards onto the narrow span of rock. It held her weight. She took another. The bridge shuddered and there was a horrible sound of grating rock, but it held. Her stomach was knotted so tight that it felt as if she would never be able to eat again. Another step forwards. Right foot in front of left. Left in front of right. Step by step she moved across the span until she reached the mid point. Left in front of right – suddenly the rock under her right foot crumbled and she stepped forwards quickly as a section of the bridge began to fall away behind her.
‘Run!’ Firestorm urged. ‘Don’t think. Just run!’
A crack appeared a pace ahead of her and she leaped forwards, entering a madcap sprint across the rest of the span. As she ran the bridge continued to crumble away behind her, the segments falling silently into the black void. Ahead of her the dragon got to his feet, his jaws opening wide in anticipation of her arrival on his side of the abyss. Nolita skidded to a momentary halt. Which was the better end – to fall into the abyss, or be eaten by the waiting beast?
‘No! Don’t stop, Nolita. Keep going!’ Firestorm urged.
For the first time, Nolita felt trust and love flooding through the bond. He was right. This was the test. He was not the evil creature she could see. She had felt his pride when she had warned him of the dragonhunters. If she did as he said, she would feel his pride again. It felt good to have someone proud of her. The apparition before her was horrible – enormous and terrifying beyond belief, but somehow she closed her mind to it and sprinted forwards again. For a moment she felt she was not going to make it. The collapsing sections behind her cracked and fell with increasing pace, but with a final surge she launched into a flying leap that carried her across to the far side even as the bridge fell away beneath her.
As she landed, she fell and rolled forwards until she was directly beneath the slavering jaws of the beast. Her heart nearly froze in her chest, but the beast made no move to attack, so she climbed carefully back to her feet.
‘Well done, Nolita,’ Firestorm said, his proud voice filling her with warmth. It felt good. She could do this. It was possible. Ignoring his appearance, she moved towards Firestorm’s foreleg. In her mind she tried to imagine that she was about to climb onto Aurora’s back as she had done every day for the past five days. She pictured Elian climbing into position behind her and his steadying hands on her waist. It was a comforting image, but it shattered when her fingers touched Firestorm’s scales.
The sensation she felt as she touched him for the first time sent a shock through her body. Her instinctive reaction was to pull back as if burned. This was nothing like touching Aurora. The sensation was a world apart, as if her fingertips were touching an extension of her own body. Her fingers somehow joined with the dragon in a way that felt astonishingly intimate.
Her instinct was to turn and run. If she went through with this, she would have to face it every day. To face this every day? It was too much for them to a
sk of her. Shudders of horror ripped through her body. She began to turn with the intention of escaping as fast as she could, but as she did so, the Oracle’s voice seemed to whisper in her ear. Its words froze her in place as it echoed through her mind. ‘Attain ye the orb; vanquish the fears. Attain ye the orb; vanquish the fears. Attain ye . . .’
She did not want to let the Oracle down. The Oracle had given her hope. It would die without her help. Repeating this over and over in her head, Nolita regained her focus. With gritted teeth she placed her hand on Firestorm’s side and with swift, unthinking movements, she climbed his foreleg and swung her body up into the saddle. She gripped the pommel, her palms slick with sweat as another convulsive shudder rippled through her body.
‘Take us out of here, Firestorm,’ she shouted, her voice reverberating in the huge cavern. ‘We’ve got an orb to find.’
Firestorm did not need telling twice. He let out a roar of triumph and in two quick paces was airborne, his joy at his rider’s courage lending his wings extraordinary power. As they soared into the air and climbed through the glorious golden pillar of light, the cavern filled with the cheers of the gathered riders and the approving roars of the assembled dragons.
The view as they emerged from the mouth of the gigantic cavern was extraordinary. They were inside the crater of the volcano, surrounded on all sides by vertical walls of rock. Below them, the crater’s floor was punctuated with pockets of greenery and pools of water. The very centre was effectively a shallow lake, its water sparkling like the surface of a giant jewel in the midday sun. Nolita had never seen anything like it before and, surrounded by the walls of rock, she forgot about heights as Firestorm circled upwards to escape the volcano’s throat for the open sky beyond.
When they reached the rim of the crater, the sister peak became apparent immediately. It was a few leagues south and west of the peak containing the day dragon enclave. Firestorm flew towards it at speed to minimise the time in the air for his rider.
After the storms of the previous day, the sky looked almost washed clean of cloud. A few fair-weather cumulous clouds bumbled along in the distance, widely scattered and showing no signs of growth. Aside from a very occasional light bump, the air aloft was smooth and the breeze light.
Once free from the top of the first volcano, however, Nolita’s fear returned in force. The side of the volcano dropped away beneath her so far that at the base leagues below, individual trees were no longer distinguishable. Woodland had become a carpet in another shade of green. She was alone on a dragon’s back, far, far above the ground. Her fingers clamped even more tightly around the pommel of the saddle, her knuckles bright white with the effort. Her head started to spin with dizziness and her heart pounded as she fought to remain conscious.
‘Don’t look down. Don’t look down. Don’t look . . .’ she panted, frantically trying to regain control.
‘I will not let you die, Nolita. If you fall, I will catch you.’
Nolita clung to Firestorm’s words – not for comfort, but because at this moment she could think of nothing worse than to have the dragon’s talons, or jaws, pluck her from the air.
Must not faint, she thought. Not far to go. Focus on the peak. Look for the orb. Stay in control.
Somehow she fought down the panic attack, ruthlessly suppressing her natural instinct to pass out. The ground was rising towards them again, and as their height reduced, her panic lessened. She saw the flash of light on the southernmost edge of the rim long before she saw anything in detail.
‘Did you see that?’ she called aloud.
‘Yes, Nolita,’ he replied. ‘It was very bright. We’ll be there in just a moment or two.’
They swooped in to land with Nolita holding her breath. The drop to either side of the rim appeared horrific, but the dragon landed lightly and without hesitation.
As soon as Firestorm had settled, Nolita unlocked her fingers from the pommel and slid down his side. She hurried several paces from the dragon and sat down. Suddenly it was all too much; the effects of her wild emotional swings caught up, her stomach convulsed and she vomited.
‘Are you all right?’ Firestorm’s voice in her head was filled with concern.
‘A lot better now,’ she replied aloud with a laugh that held a note of hysteria. She wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Give me a minute and I’ll be fine.’
Chapter Twenty-Three
The First Orb
Nolita’s head was spinning. Her chest felt tight with a combination of raging emotions, together with the physical after-effects of the flying and her sickness. With her eyes closed and her head in her hands, the trial of bravery she’d been through so far began to blur into a dreamlike montage of images, yet she did not need to pinch herself to know that it had been real.
She opened her eyes and eased herself gently to her feet. The orb was nearby, mounted on a plinth of solid metal that must have been put there to prevent it from being damaged. Nolita approached it cautiously, a sudden premonition prickling her senses.
The orb was a little larger than an apple and looked to be a perfectly spherical piece of hollow crystal. It was beautiful, refracting multicoloured rainbows of colour in the sunlight, but at the same time it looked disappointingly ordinary. How could recovering this pretty bauble help to save the Oracle? Did it have special powers? She reached out her hand towards it, but hesitated. Her fingers hovered for a moment above the surface of the crystal and then she withdrew them. This was what she had undergone the trial to obtain. What was she waiting for?
‘What is it, Nolita? Is something the matter?’
‘I’m not sure, Firestorm,’ she replied aloud, grateful to have a reason to voice her misgivings. ‘It’s probably my imagination, but I’ve got a weird feeling something’s not right here. I think there’s something about the orb that Barnabas hasn’t told us. Do you think this could be another part of the trial?’
Firestorm concentrated for a moment. Nolita could feel him reaching out with his mind.
‘I sense nothing from the orb. As far as I can tell, there’s no danger here,’ he said, giving what Nolita interpreted as a mental shrug. ‘If you don’t wish to carry it, then place it on my tongue and I’ll keep it safe within my mouth as we fly back.’
Firestorm moved around and lowered his head until his lower jaw rested on the ground a few paces to Nolita’s left. She flinched as he opened his mouth and pushed his tongue forward. To be this close to a dragon’s open mouth, even if it was not angled towards her, caused the dark clouds of fear to boil up inside her mind again. She staggered slightly, as dizziness brought her to the brink of fainting. Grabbing the metal plinth on which the orb was mounted, she steadied herself, closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath.
On opening her eyes, she did not hesitate. In one swift movement, she reached out with her right hand, grabbed the orb with her fingertips and turned her palm upwards to support the crystal. The instant she did so, she realised that her forebodings had been correct. Where her fingertips held the orb she felt the strangest sensation, as if her fingers were being sucked in through the surface of the crystal.
She tried to return the orb to the plinth, but her hand could not release it. Pain erupted in her fingertips and she screamed aloud as hot spikes of lightning shot up her arm.
‘What is it, Nolita? What’s happening? Put it down! Put it down!’ Firestorm’s voice echoed loud in her mind, but she could not respond. Her eyes widened with horror as the first droplets of blood formed on her fingertips and trickled down the inner surface of the hollow orb, drawn by the fierce suction force. Even as she watched, the droplets began to collect at the base of the crystal. More blood followed, as the initial droplets became an increasing flow.
Panic overtook her. Still screaming, she staggered back from the plinth, the pooling blood sloshing around inside the orb. She grabbed her right wrist with her left hand and began to shake it with all her might, desperate to dislodge the leech-like globe of crystal. The co
nsequences of breaking the orb if she dropped it did not enter her thinking. Pain and terror at what the orb was doing to her overruled all other thought.
‘Give it to me! Give it to me!’ Firestorm’s voice in her head mirrored her panic.
For the first time since first encountering Firestorm she ran to him gladly. Her desperation to be rid of the orb momentarily enabled her to put aside her fear of the dragon and reach out to him for help.
‘Put it on my tongue,’ Firestorm ordered.
Without thinking, Nolita thrust her arm between the dragon’s great jaws and placed the orb on Firestorm’s tongue. The dragon flinched slightly at the contact, for no sooner did the orb touch him than it began to draw his blood as well. To Nolita’s horror, however, no matter how hard she pulled, she could not release her fingers. Dragon blood was now bubbling in great quantity from Firestorm’s tongue and mixing with the blood still flowing from her fingertips. The bright red rivulets were mixing and darkening as the orb slowly filled.
Was it her imagination? Was the orb growing? Would it keep sucking their blood until they were both empty husks of skin and bone?
Oh, gods, don’t let it be so! she prayed, her mind shrieking with the pain in her hand. It was almost as if a line of fire was racing from her fingertips, up her arm and into her head. The burning terrified her. Pain had never frightened her before. She had always had a high tolerance to physical discomfort, but this sensation was different – almost alien in its origin. Was she now going to add another fear to her list?
‘It’s slowing.’ Firestorm’s voice in her head was calm now. ‘Relax, dragonrider. You’re not going to die.’
He was right. The orb was almost full and the pain was receding.
‘I believe I understand the Oracle’s riddle about this orb now,’ Firestorm added thoughtfully. ‘Like all riddles, the meaning is obvious when you know the answer.’
