‘That is not your concern. You are dismissed.’ Captain Roeland turned his attention to some papers on his desk, indicating the meeting was over. As she got to the door Captain Roeland said, ‘Good work keeping Sergeant Sam out of the Great Hall.’
She had forgotten her run-in with Sergeant Sam. What had Sergeant Sam been up to? She needed to discuss this with Mug. At least her meeting with Captain Roeland hadn’t been too bad.
Zara snickered, ‘What did you think he was going to do? We are dragon.’
Deelind felt her eyes widen and, half-horrified, she said, ‘You know, when you say it like that you sound rather arrogant. For starters he is much older and more experienced than us. I’m sure he knows a few tricks.’
In her mind Deelind felt Zara raise her snout into the air and gave a disdainful sniff. ‘We are dragon. It is not arrogance when it is fact. We are superior. You are right, he is older and does have more experience, but the old ones can get fixed in their ways.’ Zara winked at her, humour bubbling as wind danced down a slope of fresh powder. Deelind burst out laughing. She had missed Zara way too much.
She swung by her bedroom to collect her bag and an awake, much more refreshed-looking Elp. Deelind felt Zara’s interest swing towards the Elpling.
‘Please introduce us,’ Zara said to Deelind. While Zara knew of the Elp – after all, she hadn’t slept the entire time they wore the choker – Zara and the Elpling hadn’t officially met yet.
Turning to her Elpling who was standing next to her bag on the dresser, Deelind said, ‘Elp, I have exciting news. Today my choker came off and now I can communicate with my dragon again. She has said that she would like to meet you.’
‘Zara, meet Elp. You really must help me come up with a name for him,’ Deelind said and stopped for a moment to listen to Zara.
‘Elp, Zara says it is a great pleasure to meet the only Elp in existence brave enough to travel with and assist a featherlite. She says we will do our best to ensure you are not caught in the line of our flames.’
With delighted surprise on his face and a touch of reverence, the little Elp bowed slightly and said, ‘It is my honour to greet you, Lady Zara!’
‘Lady Zara? How sweet. Yes, he’s lovely. We’ll keep him,’ said Zara. Sunlight sparkled off shiny icicles hanging from trees. Deelind shook her head in amusement at Zara’s flattered tone and the sensation of her preening. ‘Tell him, I will help him find a new name. In fact, I already have an idea forming.’
Deelind relayed the message to the Elp who looked overwhelmed with pride and excitement. She opened her bag and he hopped in, dancing a jig in his pocket. Chuckling, Deelind set out to find Mug.
* * *
She didn’t have time to find Mug. As she passed through the Middle house, Nurse Amy popped her head out of the sickroom and spotted her.
‘Dee! I’ve been keeping an eye out for you. Come on in. Let’s get that plaster cast off.’
Deelind followed Nurse Amy into the sickroom and there at the back of the room were the tools laid out ready to remove her plaster cast. She spotted Tom lying on a bed holding his knee.
‘Hey, Tom,’ she said smiling at him, ‘what did you do?’ The two of them had become good friends over the past few weeks. His antics always made her smile.
‘Just fell out of a tree,’ he replied with a dramatic sigh, looking hard-done-by.
‘He has a free spirit, much like our Elp. They can’t be contained. I think there will be a few more falls from trees before he moves onto something else to fall out of,’ observed Zara to Deelind.
‘Deelind,’ said Nurse Amy, ‘come sit. You are looking so much better.’ Deelind dumped her bag on the end of Tom’s bed and her Elp climbed onto her shoulder. Deelind sat down at the table and Nurse Amy quickly began removing the cast. A movement on her shoulder brought her attention to her Elpling who was hiding in her hair. She noticed he had gone a strange shade of yellow.
‘Why don’t you visit with Tom’s Elp for a bit while I get my cast removed? I’m sure both he and Tom would enjoy the company,’ she suggested to her Elp. Looking relieved, her Elp dashed off to chat with a delighted-looking Tom and his Elp.
‘You may feel a bit strange when it comes off,’ said Nurse Amy as the last bit of plaster fell away. ‘There, that’s done, now let’s see how your arm is doing.’ Bending Deelind’s arm, Nurse Amy looked at where the break had been. All the burnt skin had healed and there were large bits of skin peeling away. Deelind wrinkled her nose and gulped. It looked kind of disgusting.
‘It seems you and our Elp have a weak stomach in common,’ said Zara, her mental voice laced with the fun of snow days.
Ignoring Zara’s teasing, Deelind watched Nurse Amy gently wash the arm.
‘How does that feel?’ said Nurse Amy.
Deelind straightened her arm. ‘Weak.’
‘Yes, that is to be expected. You can go dragon, but you are not to fly until you have strengthened that arm. Watch that arm and strengthen it slowly. Don’t rush the healing.’
On impulse, Deelind gave a surprised Nurse Amy a big hug and whispered, ‘Thank you so much for being there for me in those early days and helping me so much. You were a lifeline through it all.’
Nurse Amy hugged her hard. Patting Deelind’s shoulder, she said, ‘Oh you! You’re making me tear up. It was my pleasure to both help and get to know you. Now you make sure to stop by and visit me from time to time. I want to know how you get on.’ She stepped back and hastily blinked back tears before bustling off to get some items to help Tom.
Taking a big breath, Deelind said, ‘Did you hear that, Zara? Nurse Amy says we have to take it easy on the arm.’
‘Yes, yes. I heard,’ said Zara sounding put upon, but they both knew that neither of them would be able to wait long. The call to fly was getting too loud to ignore.
Feeling like a new person, Deelind walked to Tom’s bed and exchanged a few words with him before picking up her bag. She helped her Elpling back into the pocket in the bag, which seemed to have become his chosen spot when he was not on her shoulder. The pocket had acquired all sorts of Elp bits and bobs from goodness knows where. She felt Zara paying attention to their Elp’s possessions as if she wanted to stick her nose right in and root around the pocket.
‘I’ve just realised it, Zara. You are nosy,’ said Deelind, unable to resist teasing Zara.
‘I am not! I am curious is all. We are dragon and I understand a dragon hoard when we see one,’ she said haughtily, and frost unfurled on the edges of leaves. ‘Our little Elp has a dragon’s heart inside his free spirit. I like him better and better.’
‘Uh ha,’ said Deelind knowingly, suppressing a laugh.
While saying goodbye to Tom, it occurred to her that she hadn’t seen where Tom and Mug lived. Just then, Mug burst into the room.
‘Hey, Deelind!’ he said with a broad grin and twinkle in his eye as he pointed to her arm. ‘It’s off at last. You must be feeling lighter right now.’ Turning to Tom he said, ‘Dad wants you down in the pit as soon as Nurse Amy has patched you up.’
‘Mug, please will you show me where you live?’ Deelind said.
‘Yes!’ said Tom in delight before Mug could answer.
‘Of course, if you hadn’t had so much studying to do, I would have already shown you.’ He made a face. ‘Only we can’t now because Tom and I have to report to the pit.’
‘I understand and I still have loads of studying to get on with anyway. We need to chat soon, though,’ she said, thinking of the missing Dragonscout. ‘Thank you, Nurse Amy!’ she called out, blowing her a kiss as she walked out of the door.
CHAPTER 12
WALK OF FIRE
‘One more time!’ shouted Corporal Lucy who paced back and forth near Deelind’s head.
In dragon form, Deelind dropped down onto the tips of her wings and began doing another hundred wing push-ups.
Every afternoon during the summer holidays Corporal Lucy had been helping Deelind to get fit. She had
only managed ten minutes on her first flight with the corporal and it had been a shock to discover how weak her wing had become and how unfit she was. With hard work they had built her endurance to a point where she was now able to fly for up to two hours at a time. Their efforts were paying off and her left wing was getting stronger, but she was struggling to find the physical strength to continue through this afternoon’s session. It had been several weeks of hard study every morning at the Learning Tree and even more intense training in the afternoons with Corporal Lucy. She was physically and mentally tired.
‘Push harder! This is the only way you are going to strengthen that wing for flying!’ yelled Corporal Lucy. There was a smattering of applause and whistles around her as some Dragonknights began counting her through each push-up while others shouted out cheers of encouragement. Buoyed by their support, Deelind gritted her teeth and pushed harder.
As the afternoons had gone by, the odd Dragonknight walking by would stop to watch for a bit as if assessing her metal. Apparently, word had got around and now each afternoon Deelind could expect a small audience of off-duty Dragonknights yelling advice and cheers, jostling each other and trading insults.
To strengthen Deelind’s dragon body and develop her flying skills, Lucy and Deelind had converted most of the training field on the Upper house into a dragon obstacle course. The Dragonknights had watched the process whispering to each other. Some gesticulated excitedly while others just looked doubtful. A few had pitched in to help with some particularly tricky bits of the course. The result had been amazing. The course was so good that the Dragonknights started using it in their own training, regularly adapting it to keep the training fresh.
After the hundredth push-up, Deelind leapt over a two-storey wooden wall and glided low over a length of field laden with razor-sharp wire. With four hard flaps to build up her speed, she lined herself up to dive through a metal hoop suspended in the air with magic. The hoop would sometimes move, burst into flames or spray water at the approaching dragon and required fast reflexes. She tucked in her wings, her aim had to be precise or she risked crashing to the ground into all the razor wire. Luck was with her. The hoop remained stationary and she slipped through it like a professional.
In the distance she could hear loud practised ‘ooohs and aaahs’ timed for each manoeuvre and then her onlookers would laugh riotously amongst themselves before practising their ‘oohing and aahing’ for the next set of manoeuvres. Amused, Deelind shook her head. Her audience really did have too much fun at her expense.
Opening her wings, she made a hard, right-hand turn at the bottom of the field by the dragon statues and crossed the short distance into another tight, right-hand turn to bring her back up the field. Weaving through several tall poles moving from left to right, she flew back up the field. She grabbed a football off the top of a table and put it into a bucket on the edge of the field without puncturing the ball with her claws. With today’s training complete, she went human and collapsed on the floor, panting. Sweat ran down her face and her sweat-soaked shirt clung to her body. She ached all over. Sensing a shadow come over her, she opened her eyes to see Corporal Lucy standing over her with her hand stuck out. Reaching up to take Corporal Lucy’s hand she stood bent over catching her breath. Several Dragonknights came up and slapped her on the back with words of encouragement before wandering off, chatting amongst themselves.
‘Good work today,’ Lucy said, looking tired herself. The pace of Deelind’s training programme over the summer had been gruelling for them both. ‘Let’s take a rest day tomorrow. We’ve pushed you hard over the last few weeks. You need to go and enjoy a few days of the summer holiday and I wouldn’t mind a small break myself.’
All Deelind could do was nod in agreement. Staggering her way to Echo barracks, Deelind took a long, hot shower. The shower stalls were spacious. Choosing one with a shower bench she sat and let the hot spray massage her sore muscles. Her shower done and feeling a bit more revived, she dressed and headed towards the manor house for something to eat. Just as she turned the corner after exiting Echo barracks, she bumped into a solid wall that was Sergeant Blake, the Beta squad leader.
‘Oomph,’ she said, bouncing off Sergeant Blake.
Reaching out quickly to help steady her, Blake said, ‘Sorry about that. I was looking for you. Would you like to come eat with us tonight?’
Although Blake’s expression was open and friendly, Deelind still asked, ‘Am I allowed to?’ Blake had made it clear to her a couple of weeks ago that, as with Lucy, she could relax the formalities with him when others weren’t around. The offer to eat with them was surprising. While the Dragonknights had been warming to her over the past few weeks and including her in their comradeships, she had seen that they were a tight-knit group and breaking into the clique was almost impossible.
‘Of course, you are. Come,’ he said, and they headed to the mess hall. The hall was massive and there were rows and rows of tables but only fifteen tables had food on them. No one was sitting at the tables yet. Some humans from Brakenhill Village walked in bearing heaped trays of food and placed them on the tables. In the huge fireplace were two whole pigs roasting on a large spit. Drops of fat hissed in the fire.
‘We used to sit in our squadrons but there are so few of us now that we just sit at any table. Austin,’ called Blake, raising his hand to signal one of the waiters, ‘when you next go down to the terrace to collect more food, please tell Miss Tibi that Deelind will be eating with us tonight.’
‘Yes sir,’ said Austin and he quickly left the mess hall. Deelind saw now that the vast amounts of food she used to carry up to the terrace ended up here in the featherlite mess hall. Easing his large frame into a chair, Blake indicated to Deelind to take the seat next to him. Dragonknights began wandering in, sitting either in groups or on their own. They all wore the same uniform they had worn to her gran’s funeral.
‘Do the Dragonknights always dress formally for the evening meal?’ Deelind asked Blake.
Looking at Deelind, Blake gave a mysterious smile. ‘Not usually but today is a special occasion. Just wait and see.’
Deelind frowned to herself. What on earth was coming next?
Soon the hall was buzzing with voices. Conversation flowed around the Dragonknights’ daily lives, mixed in with joking and bantering. It was amazing to witness the tight bonds they had with each other. She noticed that neither Captain Roeland, Sergeant Sam nor Corporal Lucy were there. Along with the roasted pork from the spit, piles of roast chicken, vegetables and hot bread were consumed along with plenty of ice cream and chocolate sauce for dessert. As if responding to some hidden signal, the conversation in the hall ended abruptly.
‘Initiation time!’ shouted a Dragonknight sitting behind Deelind.
The sound of fists drummed the tables as Dragonknights began shouting, ‘Deelind! Deelind!’ Deelind could feel her face go red and her heart sink into her stomach. Zara paced inside her, ice shards slamming into trees at the sense of threat. Like her, Zara was tired and a little cranky. Things could go badly.
Silence fell as Blake stood, raising his hands. ‘It is our tradition that a new featherlite is welcomed into our fold. It’s taken a while to get the opportunity to welcome Deelind, what with her breaking her arm on the battlefield and then entertaining us with her antics on the training field…’ Blake paused until the piercing whistles and rowdiness died down, ‘but the time has finally come where her welcome is due and she gets a chance to show us what she’s made of. Just in case the evolving obstacle course wasn’t enough for the more sceptical amongst you. As Deelind is underage we cannot ask her to down a gallon or two of root beer, so let’s do the Walk of Fire instead!’
In an uproar of agreement and excitement charging the air, the Dragonknights stood and headed out into the middle of the field which was now miraculously clear of the obstacle course.
‘What is the Walk of Fire?’ Deelind asked, feeling Zara perking up and ice shards melting, as Deelind walke
d with Blake out into the field.
‘It is normally the initiation into becoming a Dragonknight. We will go dragon and form two rows facing inwards, forming a tunnel. You are to walk or run down the length of the tunnel without going dragon. If you make it to the other side without transforming, you pass the initiation.’
‘What do you think?’ she asked Zara.
‘We will be fine. All these Dragonknights made it, it can’t be that hard,’ said Zara. ‘We are dragon and we do have the advantage of Father’s courage. This will be fun, certainly more fun than our training sessions. It’s even called the Walk of Fire. How can it not be glorious? Fire is wonderful.’
Deelind pushed back the urge to shield her eyes when bright sunshine reflected off a frozen landscape in Zara’s voice. Clearly Zara was happy and while she didn’t disagree with Zara, Deelind wasn’t as confident. The name ‘Walk of Fire’ had a completely different meaning to her and wonderful wasn’t what came to mind.
‘We can’t make you do this,’ said Blake. ‘However, if you do it and pass, you will earn the respect of the Dragonknights. If you don’t do it or fail, they will tease you for years to come.’
‘I will do it.’
‘Remember what you see and what happens to you in the tunnel is not real. It is a test of nerves and courage. Wait here, I will go to the other end. Once I have changed, walk down the tunnel. Do not turn back. You can walk or run but walking shows more courage.’
Deelind watched Blake walk to the other end and go dragon. He stood at the end of the tunnel blocking the exit. Nervous, she walked up to the first two dragons. They just stood and looked at her. This whole situation was rather bizarre. She could swear one had just winked at her. Shrugging her shoulders slightly, she walked past them to the next two dragons and the first two moved in behind her, blocking off the entrance. Her heart raced as they started to breathe hot, burning fire down on her. Yelping, she set off down the tunnel at a run, terror ripping through her. Instantly she struggled to move forward because of a strong wind Blake was creating down the tunnel with his large dragon wings. The wind caused the flames to blow into her face and whip around her body.
Deelind and The Icefire Page 18