As I watched them fly across the city, my breath shortened and my chest tightened until I was gasping with the memory of Grandfather’s fireball flying towards me, warning me away from him and our family cave. At least on the mountainside I’d been able to roll away and escape. Here on the flat top of the clock tower, there was nowhere for me to go.
I looked down at the scale-cloth tucked against me. Then I took a deep breath, forcing the air through the rock-hard constriction in my chest, and loosened my grip on the cloth.
I would have recognised my family’s scale patterns anywhere. Now I had to hope that they would recognise mine … and be at least curious enough, after my weeks of absence, to investigate when they saw those familiar colours.
I shook out my scale-cloth and stood on tiptoes to hook one of its sleeves over the closest of the tall, pointed stone spikes that stood one at each corner of the clock tower. The wind whipped at the long cloth, trying to snatch it from my hands, but I knotted it on tightly and started for the next of the stone spikes, holding the free end of my scale-cloth in a tight grip.
Princess Sofia sneered at me. ‘Do you really think building a shelter out of cloth will protect us from those beasts?’
‘I’m not trying to protect us.’ I stood as high on my tiptoes as I could, struggling to stretch the tip of one billowing trouser leg around the second stone spike. I had to tie it on carefully, or else the wind would blow it away within seconds. ‘I’m trying to catch their attention.’
‘Wonderful,’ the princess muttered. ‘Just wonderf– aaarrghhh!’
Her panic-filled yelp made me jerk around so fast I lost my grip on the scale-cloth. It shot out like a crimson-and-silver flag, streaming sideways in the wind between us, as the princess flattened herself into her corner, her eyes suddenly huge in her light brown face.
I didn’t have time to investigate what had scared her. I jumped up, grabbing for the cloth – but it was too late. With a horrible tearing sound, it ripped free from the single stone spike where I had tied it and flew off into the air, whirling away from me across the city …
… Directly towards the pack of dragons who had already shifted direction to fly straight for us, against the wind.
So that was what Sofia had yelped about.
As I watched, Mother tilted suddenly to the right, reaching out one massive forefoot to snag the tiny-looking scale-cloth on one claw before it could fly past her. When she caught it, she let out a roar of fury that shook the town hall beneath my feet and made my teeth and spine vibrate unbearably. Screams sounded from the streets and the building below us, but none of them slowed her down for an instant.
Tucking her forefeet and the trailing scale-cloth beneath her, she shot ahead of Grandfather, aiming straight for us like the point of a gigantic arrow, with the rest of my family forming the shape of a V behind her. I braced myself, clenching my hands into fists to keep myself steady.
‘I think you got their attention.’ The princess’s voice shook.
‘Don’t act frightened,’ I ordered, without looking back.
It was the only advice that I had time to give her.
As Mother hurtled towards us, her gigantic wings beat against the air, sending it buffeting against me until I had to grab the top of the closest stone wall with all my might to keep from being tossed over it.
‘Tell me, human!’ she roared. Her voice was like a great hammer beating against my head, making every bone in my body hurt. ‘What have you creatures done with her?’
What?
I blinked at the raging creature before me, bigger than a house and puffing smoke from her giant nostrils. Was this really my mother, who’d always lectured me on staying calm and keeping in control? I had never seen her in such a fury. I hadn’t even known that she was capable of it.
I stared at her, my mind whirling. ‘“Done with her”?’ I repeated.
‘Don’t pretend ignorance now!’ She slashed through the air with her right forefoot, trailing the scale-cloth behind her as she hovered just above the tower, her great wings flaring above her and her massive blue-and-gold face looming over me. Every one of her three-foot-long teeth was bared and gleaming in the sunlight. ‘We know your people took her. We followed her scent, and you reek of it now, so you’ve been with her yourself. And now you’re taunting us with this?’ She slapped the scale-cloth against the tower. ‘Did your human artists paint it while she lay trapped in one of your prisons? Was it a trophy of her capture, or worse? If you’ve hurt her, you’ll pay with more than your lives!’
‘Quick!’ Princess Sofia hissed behind me. ‘Give them the peace signal!’
But I had more important things to think about. Wonder blossomed in my chest as I stared into my mother’s rage-filled golden eyes. ‘Wait. You all came here looking … for me?’
The next instant I had to dodge a giant smokeball as Mother snorted with fury. Cries of shock sounded from below, and I spared a moment to be grateful that the princess was up here with me, keeping any overexcited mages from letting loose their attacks.
But it was only a moment before Mother snarled, ‘I’m not looking for you or for any other insignificant human. We’re here to bring my daughter safely home!’
Well, then.
I straightened to my full height, letting go of the wall. I’d got the hang of bracing myself against the wind by then. And no matter how much I had been dreading it, I couldn’t put this off any longer. I took a deep breath, looked into my mother’s maddened gaze, and said:
‘It’s me, Mother. Aventurine. But I can’t come home. See?’ I held out my arms to show her. ‘I was turned into a human.’
Mother jerked backwards so quickly I nearly fell over from the sudden gust of wind that hit me.
Then her mouth opened wider than I had ever seen it before, wide enough to swallow three of me. ‘You dare lie to me now?’
Suddenly all the other dragons were lunging forward to surround us, abandoning their formation to hone in on the clock tower, tails lashing, roaring as one in an overwhelming wave of sound that pummelled us from all directions.
‘That’s it!’ Princess Sofia dived for the trapdoor. ‘I’m telling them –’
‘No!’ I grabbed her cloak to pull her back. ‘It’s not too late. I just have to explain –’
‘Humans always lie!’ Grandfather snarled, and his hot breath swept across us, making Sofia let out a squeak of panic. ‘I told you, daughter, you must be patient. It will take time to drag the truth from creatures who can’t even understand honesty or sincerity.’
‘What?’ Sofia gave a jerk of outrage and stopped trying to get away. ‘What did he just say about us?’
‘Let me,’ said Citrine smugly, and nudged Mother aside in mid-air. Her blue-and-silver scales shimmered in the sunlight as she lowered her massive head to watch us with a cold, assessing gaze. ‘Allow me to explain the situation, puny humans. We have the ability to not only burn your city to the ground, but to create such a devastation across your countryside that it will never grow food for your species again. There will be stories told for a hundred years of the misfortunes of the kingdom that once existed here – before it made the mistake of incurring our wrath. Unless …’ She cocked her head to one side. ‘All you need to do is release my foolish younger sister. If she is unharmed, we will be forgiving. But trust me,’ she added sweetly, ‘you do not wish to see my temper.’
The princess’s eyes widened. ‘She sounds just like my sister,’ she whispered.
‘I know.’ I crossed my arms and glared up at my own big sister, who had always, always thought she could tell me what to do. And who exactly did she think she was calling foolish? ‘Actually, Citrine, I’m not scared of you,’ I yelled back. ‘What are you really going to do – write an epic poem at us if we try to hold out against you? Because you know how much I hate your poetry! And no matter what you say, no one really needs to understand the stupid rules of iambic pentameter!’
The vertical pupils of Citrine’s
eyes snapped small and then large again. She hissed out a choking cloud of smoke. ‘Aventurine?’
‘That is not Aventurine!’ spat our mother. ‘Look at her. She’s human!’
Citrine’s snout lowered towards us until it nearly touched my face. I didn’t budge. I didn’t lower my chin. I refused to even cough at the smoke that surrounded me. ‘Well?’ I demanded, my voice only slightly hoarse.
‘She smells like Aventurine,’ Citrine snarled. ‘She’s as stubborn and impertinent as Aventurine, too.’
Aunt Tourmaline nosed at me from my left. ‘Is it normal for humans to have golden eyes?’
‘No,’ said Princess Sofia firmly. She was holding herself stiffly, with her arms wrapped tightly around her chest, but she looked too angry to be scared as she added, ‘Trust me: nothing about this girl is at all normal.’
‘And no one painted that cloth with my colours.’ I pointed to the scale-cloth that still hung from Mother’s claw. ‘That’s the only covering that was left on me after the spell of transformation.’
‘Spell?!’ Grandfather reared back, his scaly neck lengthening in his horror. ‘I might have known! They tricked you and broke you. Didn’t I tell you never to trust a human? My poor hatchling …’
‘Aventurine.’ And that was Mother, sounding more dangerous than I had ever heard her. Her voice was a hiss that slithered through the air, full of the promise of scorching violence and revenge. Her golden eyes fixed on me hypnotically, making every inch of me want to obey her. ‘Tell me who did this to you.’
I sighed heavily. ‘A food mage,’ I told her. ‘But it’s too late to make him pay. He’s long gone. And besides –’ I gritted my teeth, trying to hold the infuriating words back, but I couldn’t stop myself from adding in a grim, unhappy mutter – ‘he was only defending himself from being eaten.’
I hated the fact that nowadays I actually understood his point of view.
Mother lashed her tail, sending a nearby chimney toppling to the ground below. ‘I told you not to leave the mountain. I told you!’
‘Oh, Mother,’ sighed Citrine, in her most aggravating tone. ‘Aventurine never listened to anyone in her life. I always said that would lead to trouble, didn’t I? And now she’s been ruined and broken, all because you couldn’t keep her in order. If you’d only –’
‘Enough!’ I roared, trembling with fury. ‘Just listen to me, all of you, for once in your lives. Listen!’ Panting, I glared at them, my fists clenched. ‘I am not broken. And I am not ruined either! I’ve finally found my passion.’
‘What?’ All five of the dragons around me spoke at once, heat flaring over me.
Grandfather spoke over all the rest. ‘What do you mean, you’ve found your passion? Here?’ Smoke billowed out from his nostrils as he snorted with disbelief. ‘You know humans don’t understand true scholarship. Their tiny brains can’t begin to comprehend the intellectual beauties of –’
‘I beg your par–’ the princess began indignantly.
But I spoke before she could finish. ‘Humans have something better than scholarship,’ I told them all. ‘They have chocolate.’
Then I smiled a broad, human smile, as for once in my life I saw my whole family stunned into silence, all of them staring at me in incomprehension. For the first time ever, I understood something that even my older sister didn’t.
‘Just wait,’ I said smugly. ‘I’ll show you all.’
CHAPTER 23
If Marina was surprised by her new customers, she didn’t show it. She and Horst arrived less than an hour after Silke and three soldiers had been sent to fetch them from the Chocolate Heart. By then, the great square in front of the town hall had been cleared to make a space for my family to gather. The rest of the soldiers hadn’t left, of course – they were waiting inside the town hall along with the frustrated battle mages, just in case something went wrong after all. The king and crown princess stood outside the front door, beside the lord mayor, wearing expressions that looked strained but gracious.
Princess Sofia wasn’t standing with them. Instead she stood in the centre of the group of dragons, scowling and waving her arms energetically as she argued with my grandfather about the merits of human scholarship. Who could have guessed that a princess would be interested in dusty old philosophy books? I only wished that my brother was there to take part in the debate. Jasper would have absolutely loved it.
As Marina appeared at the furthest street corner, ahead of Horst and Silke, she took in the whole scene with one long look … and then shrugged and marched on towards us, her face expressionless as ever.
Horst, Silke and the soldiers were all laden with covered hotplates and carrying heavy-looking packs on their backs that must have held even more. All that Marina carried was one enormous bundle in the shape of a giant presentation pot, wrapped up in towels to preserve the warmth.
I knew exactly what must be inside.
‘Well, girl?’ she said, as I ran over to greet her. Her gaze passed over the huge, magnificently scaled bodies of my family, all the way to the king, crown princess and lord mayor, who stood with frozen smiles on their faces. ‘You were this determined to make me cook for royalty after all?’
‘You came,’ I said. A grin burst across my face, impossible to repress. ‘You didn’t freeze up this time, or have a moment.’
‘Hmmph,’ said Marina. ‘I’ve had quite enough of those already. And besides …’ Her gaze rested on me, looking strangely enigmatic. ‘You’d be surprised just how capable I felt of anything, after drinking a cup of your hot chocolate.’
Something in her words – and tone – made a tickling sensation start up between my shoulders. Something … But I didn’t have time to ask for explanations. The king himself was beckoning to us.
‘Our chocolatier has arrived!’ He’d pitched his voice to carry through the square, and my relatives’ massive heads swung around to follow as Marina walked steadily past them towards the king, with me at her side and Horst close behind. ‘Madam Chocolatier, our, ah, honoured guests –’ His Majesty gestured nervously towards my family – ‘have requested a taste of your famous hot chocolate. They’ve heard that it’s the best in the city, apparently.’
The lord mayor made an unintelligible sputtering noise. His face, I was pleased to see, was nearly purple with frustration.
‘Of course! We are always delighted to provide for the king’s most favoured guests.’ Horst bowed sweepingly, first to the king, crown princess and lord mayor, and then to my family and Princess Sofia. His face might have looked significantly tighter than usual, and the whites of his eyes more noticeable, as his gaze took in the gigantic dragons who filled the square, but his businessman’s smile never faltered. ‘If we might set up our offerings?’
At a word from the king, two of the soldiers hurried inside to retrieve a long wooden table from the town hall. Then all three soldiers helped Horst and Silke empty out the sacks and hotplates, laying everything out in luxuriant profusion. Chocolate creams in tall, curving glasses stood beside chocolate tarts in silver pie dishes. Giant plates had been filled with larger-than-usual chocolate-almond conceits, next to even more new dishes I’d never seen before, which Marina must have invented while I was away. The unmistakable heavenly smell of chocolate rose from the table to twine through the crisp autumn air, and every dragon head lifted to breathe it in.
Ten golden eyes gleamed in reaction. Five golden gazes fixed with intense interest upon the table.
Marina stepped forward at the last, pulling off the thick towels that had protected a two-foot-high presentation pot in shining silver. She set the massive pot in the centre of the table, smirking at Horst. ‘You see?’ she said. ‘Not so stupid of me after all to cart this thing all the way from Villenne!’ Then she turned to me, dusting off her hands. ‘Aventurine? Would you care to do the honours this time?’
Oh, would I!
Using all of the muscles that I’d built up in her kitchen, I raised the giant, heavy pot in both hands an
d slowly, carefully tipped it to pour the dark, steaming chocolate into the five empty bowls that waited nearby.
Hissing sounded from all around the square as the smell of hot chocolate floated through the air. I inhaled deeply as I poured, recognising every scent inside it: vanilla, nutmeg, and, oh yes …
‘I thought they might like plenty of chilli in their chocolate,’ said Marina, ‘just like you do.’
I gave the first bowl to Grandfather, of course. But I carried Mother her bowl next, and I kept my eyes on hers as I set the bowl on the ground in front of her, my chest tightening. ‘Just taste it,’ I told her. ‘You’ll understand.’
Please understand, I added silently. I wouldn’t demean myself by saying it out loud. But I couldn’t move away from her either. I just stood there, waiting, leaving the rest of my family unserved.
Mother looked down at me for a long moment. I curled my fingers tightly into my palms as I recognised that look. It was the same look she’d given me a hundred times before, as she’d prepared to find out exactly how far behind I was in all of my studies.
It was a look that said she hoped to be surprised … but didn’t expect it.
Then she lowered her massive snout and daintily, carefully, stretched her long, forked tongue towards the bowl.
No one in the square said a word as her tongue flicked out again and again … and again. Then the bowl was suddenly empty, and her golden eyes flared wide as she looked back at me with an expression I had never seen on her face before. ‘You can make this?’ she demanded.
‘She can,’ said Marina, from just behind me. I hadn’t even heard her join me, I’d been so focused on my mother. Marina’s voice was steady and calm, though, and her hand landed firmly on my shoulder, grounding me. ‘She’s the best apprentice I’ve ever had.’
‘Aventurine?’ said Citrine. ‘But – !’
Her voice cut off as Mother’s tail flicked warningly, sending a gust of wind rushing across the square.
‘Quiet!’ Mother told my older sister, for the first time that I could remember. ‘Taste your chocolate.’
The Dragon with a Chocolate Heart Page 17