Their fight, Allie realized, was over.
She reached back and felt Sirin take her hand.
Bellacrux … She couldn’t think of anything more to say. She could only send the emotions welling up in her—gratitude, love, sorrow, fear.
In return, she felt her Lock’s soothing mental embrace. Even in the face of destruction, Bellacrux radiated calm.
You have fought nobly, Allinson Moran. It has been my honor to be at your side.
Oh, Bell. I love you.
She braced herself, squeezing Sirin’s hand tightly. D’Mara raised her hand, the other Raptors waiting for her signal.
“Finish it, Valkea,” D’Mara said. “After all, it’s not every day you get to destroy a Lennix Grand.”
She dropped her hand, and six dragons unleashed their fire all at once.
Allie didn’t scream. Even though her eyes closed and her heart stopped beating and she squeezed Sirin’s hand so tight the girl’s bones crunched, she didn’t scream.
But she also didn’t feel the flames scorching her flesh.
Instead, she felt a rush of wind and heard a furious, defiant roar that left her head ringing.
Allie opened her eyes.
And gasped.
Lysander!
The Silver dragon had appeared out of nowhere, and now covered them with his own body, his shining wings and tail and claws forming a living shield of flameproof scales. The Raptors’ flame rolled off him harmlessly.
“Joss!” Allie screamed.
If her brother had been atop Lysander when the flames hit—
Then she saw them: a pair of familiar, wonderful, blindingly bright yellow shoes dangling under Lysander’s wing.
Joss was tucked safely under his Lock’s fireproof membrane wing, and he grinned and waved when Allie’s gaze met his.
“Allie!”
“JOSS!”
Allie ached to throw her arms around him and never let go again, but there was no time. Lysander pulled away, hurling himself at Valkea and scattering the other Raptors with a mighty thrash of his tail. Joss climbed up and took his seat atop his Lock, waving at Allie and Sirin.
Below him, Lysander unleashed a torrent of fire—and unlike the red flames all other dragons made, his were blue-white, almost blinding to look at.
“Look!” Sirin shouted. “Lysander’s got his fire!”
Allie cheered and waved back at her brother, reeling from the sudden joy that flooded her. A moment ago, she’d been bracing for death—and now, Joss was back. Lysander was back. And there was no mistaking the small green blur flying directly at them.
“Sammi!” Sirin cried. She opened her arms and the hatchling flung herself into them.
They weren’t the only surprises—a lightning-fast Blue harried the Raptors who’d been attacking the humans, using his superior speed to strike and then dart away again, too quick to catch.
“Declan?” Allie stared. Last she knew, Declan had deserted his family and vanished.
“Long story!” Joss called as Lysander hurtled past them, intercepting Trixtan before he could bite down on Bellacrux’s tail.
In the chaos, no one saw Decimus streaking toward them until it was too late, racing over the skin of the sea. Edward roared and raised a firestik in each hand, while Decimus sent a blast of fire swirling toward Bellacrux’s unprotected belly.
But then both were thoroughly doused by an enormous wave that seemed to come rushing out of nowhere. A moment later, Allie saw a sleek head rise from the water, hissing and churning up the sea with a lashing, coiled body.
“Thorval!”
The Blue dragon had left his lake at last.
Thorval bugled in greeting before turning back to Decimus. The Blue couldn’t fly, but blood and bone, he could swim. And he still had his fire, which he now used to chase Decimus and Edward across the bay.
Allie caught a glimpse of D’Mara’s face—stunned, furious, bewildered. But she was the Lennix leader for a reason, and already she had regrouped and gotten control of her flight. Raptors flew to join her, arranging themselves in a circling formation that left them less exposed to Declan and Ramon’s sizzling-fast attacks and Lysander’s blue fire.
Bellacrux winged away, toward the cluster of tall buildings that seemed to be the hub of the city. Lysander and Ramon followed, and Thorval dipped in and out of the waves. They would do some regrouping of their own. The three dragons landed on the shore, in a shady park filled with humans. Thorval lingered in the water, keeping a close eye on the Raptors, who still circled in the sky above the water.
At the sight of the dragons, the people in the park withdrew, gasping and pointing strange little metal objects at them. Allie wondered if they were weapons—then remembered Sirin explaining the devices back in Oxford.
As if to confirm her very thought, one of the nearest people—a teenage boy in a puffy coat and floppy hat—yelled out, “Dragon dudes! Over here! Say cheese!”
They should be running for their lives, she sent to Bellacrux, and instead they’re … taking pictures?!
Humans, returned Bellacrux, as if that explained everything.
Other people now rushed in and ordered everyone to stay back. These men and women wore uniforms and carried objects that reminded Allie of firestix. Guns, she realized. She’d heard Sirin talk about them before. These must be soldiers of some sort. They watched the dragons warily and held the crowd back. Declan raised his hands, to show they were unarmed, but Ramon growled in warning. Everyone backed up farther at the sight of his gleaming fangs and spreading wings.
Meanwhile, Joss had jumped down from Lysander and ran to them. Allie rushed to meet him, colliding in a tangle of limbs and tears and happy laughter.
“You’re alive!” Allie yelled.
Joss laughed. “I’m still surprised about that too! Did you get the Heart?”
“If we had, do you think we’d be fighting for our lives right now?”
“We have to find it.”
“Obviously!” Even with four more dragons—and that was counting Sammi—they were still hopelessly outnumbered, and now they’d lost the element of surprise.
“Any ideas, Sirin?” Allie turned around. “Sirin?”
Sirin had jumped down, but instead of joining them, she’d walked to the edge of the sidewalk that circled the park. On the other side of an iron railing, waves lapped the shore.
Sammi was squirming in Sirin’s arms, licking the girl’s face, but Sirin didn’t even seem aware of the little dragon. Instead she was staring at the water, her eyes wide and unfocused.
“Sirin?” Allie repeated.
Sammi whined, trying to get the girl’s attention, but Sirin didn’t even move.
“What’s wrong with her?” Joss asked. “Is she hurt?”
Sammi jumped down and ran in frantic circles around his Lock. Alarmed, Allie grabbed Sirin’s shoulder and shook her.
The girl started, then blinked rapidly, as if clearing her head. “Allie?”
“You zoned out,” Allie said. “Are you okay?”
“I …” Again Sirin’s eyes wandered to the water and filled with fog. “The Heart …”
“What about it?”
“I think I know …”
Without another word, Sirin suddenly climbed onto the railing, balanced there a moment—then jumped into the sea.
Sirin barely felt the shock of the cold water closing over her head. She felt like she was in a dream. Not even Sammi’s frantic messages could stop her from plunging deeper into the sea.
Sirin, Sirin, Sirin, Sirin! Come back!
It’s all right, she returned faintly. I … I have to keep going.
Why?
It was a good question, but one for which Sirin had no answer.
She could feel Sammi’s panic and confusion, but it was like background noise, a TV running in another room. Easy to ignore.
Harder to ignore was the feeling at the tip of her nose, like an itch she couldn’t scratch away.
Thi
s way! it said, without using words. Deeper! Farther!
Sirin swam. She kicked her legs and angled for the bottom of the sea, feeling completely certain which way she should go. The water around her was murky and brown and a bit oily.
Then hands grabbed her. Pulled her to the surface. Held her there as she coughed and gasped.
“Sirin!” Joss said. He had one of her arms, and Allie had the other. They were stronger swimmers than her. Sirin remembered that they’d grown up by the sea.
“What were you thinking?” demanded Allie.
“I don’t know, except that …” A wave splashed Sirin’s face and she spat out salty water. “It’s hard to explain. But I just have this feeling. Please, let me go. I think I can find the Skyspinner’s Heart.”
“But how do you know?”
“I don’t. But it came over me all at once. This feeling, like an itch, or a whisper. It’s almost like I’ve been here before, and some part of me knows the way to go even though the rest of me doesn’t.”
“This feeling,” said Allie, “you’re sure it’s not just, I don’t know … hunger? Indigestion?”
Sirin shook her head. “I don’t know what it is. But I trust it.”
“Sirin …” Allie looked up, to where the Raptors were still circling in the distance.
Sirin shut her eyes, trying to focus on the strange pull inside her. “There’s a cave, I think. Under the water. It’s there, right there. It will take us to the Skyspinner. Please, you have to trust me. We have to jump.”
“I trust her,” said Joss. “Besides, it’s not like we have anything else to go on.”
Still Allie hesitated.
“Allie.” Sirin gripped the girl’s arm tightly. “Please.”
“Fine,” said Allie. “But we’re coming with you.”
Sirin smiled, hope blooming. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
They dived together, swimming side by side. Sirin led the way, following the tug inside her as if it were a string. The waves were not too strong here, but the dark water made it difficult to see. She swam and swam, until her lungs began to burn and her limbs ached. Doubt made her slow down, and she realized just how stupid this was, swimming into darkness, following nothing but a vague instinct. It reminded her of the time she’d gone hiking with her mum, and had gone wandering off on her own. She’d followed a faint path through the trees for an hour, thinking it was the trail, only to end up totally lost. It hadn’t been a trail at all, but her imagination making it seem like the right way. Was that all this was? A wild-goose chase down a false trail?
She began to feel shame, throwing herself into the sea without a moment’s thought, and now dragging Joss and Allie down with her.
Just as she started to give up, her eyes going upward to the surface, something brushed her leg. Sirin screamed, bubbles streaming from her mouth. But then she saw a familiar blue eye glinting in the murky water.
Thorval.
Sirin grabbed hold of the Blue dragon and saw Allie and Joss do the same. With her hand around his scales, she was pulled along at four times the pace she’d been swimming. Thorval twisted through the water as if he’d been born in it, and Sirin supposed he might have.
Then Joss tugged Sirin’s coat and pointed.
There!
A smudge of darkness in the gloom.
An underwater cave! But as they got closer, Sirin saw it wasn’t an ordinary cave. This one was shaped out of stone … stone that looked very much like an enormous dragon’s skull. The opening was framed by jagged teeth, a gaping maw big enough to swallow them whole.
Her skin pricked as Thorval sped through the open mouth and lifted out of the water, into a pitch-black tunnel almost entirely flooded with water. Between the water and the ceiling of the tunnel was a layer of air—stale, tepid air that stank of fish and garbage—but Sirin breathed it in as if it were a fresh mountain breeze. Thorval opened his mouth and let a thin stream of fire curl over his tongue, providing enough light to illuminate the rough dirt walls and ceiling of the cave. Only now that Sirin could see, she realized it was more tunnel than cave, for it stretched ahead, dark and lined with stone.
“You were right,” Allie gasped. “Sirin, how did you know this would be here?”
Sirin shrugged, feeling light-headed. The tug inside her was still there, urging her to go deeper down the tunnel. The goose bumps on her arms weren’t just from the cold water.
“This is her,” said Thorval, flames licking his teeth as he spoke. “The Skyspinner.”
“I can’t believe it,” said Allie. “She would have turned to stone when she died, like any dragon, and then rested here for two thousand years.”
“So … we’re in her throat,” Sirin said, her eyes growing very wide.
“Gross,” said Joss. Then he added, “Cool.”
The walls around them must have been the Skyspinner’s long neck once. Sirin shivered at the thought. The dragon queen must have been enormous.
“Great Scott!” said the Blue, in Nessie’s high-pitched voice. “It really is the old queen! And all this time, Thorval, I thought you’d gone bonkers!”
“Bonkers!” Thorval replied to his other self, sounding offended. “Bah! I am not bonkers.”
Allie coughed.
The tug inside Sirin was stronger than ever, as if a frantic butterfly were trapped inside her ribs, trying to push her forward.
“We have to keep going,” Sirin whispered. “It’s close. It’s so close. This is it. We’re almost there.”
“I can go no farther, younglings,” said Thorval. “As it is, my chest is wedged rather uncomfortably in the old queen’s jaws. But I can give you light to guide you.”
“Best dunk yourselves under, you lot,” added Nessie.
They did, and Sirin looked up to see the dragon breathing fire down the length of the tunnel. In the red light that filtered through the water, she saw Allie and Joss staring wide-eyed, their hair floating around their heads.
When Thorval was done, they popped up again, and Sirin gasped.
“Talonfari!” Allie said. The word for the dragons’ form of writing, just like the ones they’d seen in the library of Tashiva Lhaa. Jagged runes were engraved all down the tunnel walls and ceiling. They’d caught and held Thorval’s fire, and now glowed dimly red, providing enough light to see by.
“What does it say?” Sirin asked the dragon.
“They are the words of an ancient lament,” said Thorval. “Someone must have come here, after the Skyspinner died, and carved them into her stone remains.”
“A dragon?” Allie raised her eyebrows. “I thought you were the only one left behind, Thorval.”
“Not a dragon,” Thorval replied. “These runes are too small and neatly carved. It was a human who left them here.”
“Can you translate it?” asked Sirin.
He peered at them a moment more, before shaking his great head. “I cannot. The words are too full of sorrow, too full of suffering. If I spoke them aloud, I should sink to the bottom of the sea with the weight of them in my heart, and not rise for a century.”
“Ach,” said Nessie, rolling his eyes. “Not again!”
Sirin gasped suddenly, as she felt a flurry of alarm ripple through her. It took her a moment to realize it was coming from Sammi, who was still swooping and diving in the sky.
What’s wrong? she asked her Lock.
Tooth and claw and wing! Sammi replied in a frenzy. I must tear and scratch!
Sirin turned to the others. “The Raptors are attacking again!”
Allie nodded. “I just heard from Bellacrux. She says she and Lysander will hold them at bay as long as they can.”
“I will return and give them my aid,” said Thorval. “I have dreamed of wreaking vengeance on Raptor flesh for two millennia.”
“Look out for Sammi too,” Sirin begged him. “She’s not half as big and strong as she thinks she is.”
Sammi gave her a mental hiss for that.
“I wi
ll,” said Thorval. “But hurry. We will not hold them off for long.”
“Toodles for now!” piped Nessie, sounding more than ready to be gone from the eerie tunnel.
With that, the Blue dragon withdrew, his head sliding through the water and back out of the Skyspinner’s gaping stone jaws.
And the three kids were left alone.
“Right,” said Sirin. “Onward, then.”
Beneath the glow of the fiery runes, they swam deeper through the black water, down the stone throat of the fallen queen of the dragons.
The tunnel—Sirin couldn’t let herself think of it as a throat or she’d definitely lose her nerve—rose gradually until at last they were wading instead of swimming, then walking on damp stone. Hundreds more runes glowed in the darkness, even beneath their feet. Their breaths and footsteps echoed, mingling with the drip of water.
“This is the strangest place I’ve ever been,” whispered Joss.
“I think it’s the strangest place any of us will ever be,” said Sirin.
Finally, they came to an enormous cavern. It had to be the Skyspinner’s torso, though it looked to Sirin more like an actual cave, except for the curved ridges running down the walls—ribs, she realized with a shudder. Stalactites hung from the ceiling like sharp icicles, and stalagmites rose around the edges of the chamber to meet them. Drips echoed from every corner, and the whole place was lit by glowing talonfari runes.
“Look,” breathed Allie. She pointed to particularly gnarled mass of stone, where stalactites and stalagmites had met to form narrow columns. In the center of these, as if wreathed in stone vines, sat a different sort of rock. This one was smooth and dark, not like the warm brown tones of the stone around it. It was about the size of Sirin’s head, smaller than she’d have expected it to be, given the size of the dragon it had once belonged to. “That’s it,” said Sirin. “It has to be.”
That thing, she thought, had once been a pumping heart.
Joss approached it first, raising a hand, but not quite touching it. It was so black that it seemed to suck in the light from the runes around it.
“It’s broken,” he said. “See?”
Sirin leaned over to see it was true. The rock had cracks running over it, and one small place where a piece had been chipped away.
The Lost Lands Page 19
