by Linda McNabb
CHAPTER TWELVE - ROYAL TEST
‘Pretend we’re here to watch. We’ll grab him again at the bottom of the stairs,’ Alyxa whispered, then spoke out loud. ‘Come on, that’s enough joking around. Of course we’re here to watch. We wouldn’t miss it for anything. Glory to the red dragons!’
Myles let go of his little brother and ruffled his hair. ‘Good joke, eh, little brother? We had you fooled there.’
‘We knew you liked a good laugh,’ Logan added a little stiffly, and grinned to hide his worry.
Erik looked from one to the other, still a little wary, then laughed and punched Myles in the arm. ‘Is father here, too?’
‘He was busy,’ Myles replied just as Djana came into the room.
‘Who are they?’ Djana asked a little cautiously.
‘They’re from my home. They’ve come to watch the ceremony,’ Erik explained with a grin and a slap on his brother’s back. ‘This is Myles, Logan and...’
‘Alyxa,’ Alyxa supplied shortly. ‘We wouldn’t have missed this for anything.’
‘They’re not from Radolk Falls?’ Djana asked slowly. It was obvious that she wasn’t going to be so easily convinced. ‘Longtooth will have to be told about this.’
‘After the ceremony,’ Logan suggested, looking as sincere as he could manage. ‘I’d love to meet Longtooth but we don’t want to delay the ceremony.’
‘No, of course we don’t.’ Djana frowned a little but didn’t press the subject any further. ‘We have to get moving. They’re all waiting in the park.’
‘After you,’ Myles said with a gracious bow and a smile. Djana beckoned to Erik, cast one more frowning look at the three strangers, and then left the room with the young prince.
‘The light was out at the last turn of the stairs before the bottom,’ Myles muttered behind his hand. ‘We might have to knock them both out though.’
Logan didn’t like the idea of having to hurt Djana. It wasn’t her fault she was under the red dragons’ charm, but he didn’t say anything. As they reached the dark part of the stairs their plans were ruined anyway, as two burly men, dressed in red and gold tunics, came up the stairs to meet them.
‘We were just coming up to see what was taking so long, Enchantress,’ one of them said, thrusting a lamp towards the three travellers and glaring at them suspiciously.
‘Set up three more chairs on the dais,’ Djana ordered. ‘We have three special guests who have travelled a long way to witness the ceremony.’
‘That won’t be necessary,’ Logan said hurriedly. ‘We’re happy to watch from the back.’
‘Nonsense,’ Djana said, raising an eyebrow and staring at Logan with a challenging gaze. ‘We wouldn’t want you getting lost in the crowd before you get a chance to meet Longtooth.’
Logan fell silent. Clearly she didn’t trust them and Logan wondered how they were supposed to get out of this in one piece.
‘At once, Enchantress Djana,’ the large man said, bowing deeply and hurrying off ahead of his fellow guard.
Instead of heading out the door to the marketplace, Djana led them through a maze of hallways that made them lose any hope of making a run for it. The remaining guard had fallen to the back of the group and followed silently.
A rumbling noise was getting louder with each door they went through, and soon it was vibrating under their feet.
‘What’s that?’ Alyxa whispered to Logan, who just shrugged. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but they seemed to be heading right for it.
‘Erik, I’ll lead you up to the dais where you’ll sit before the brass bowl, next to Longtooth,’ Djana instructed the prince solemnly as she paused before a larger, metal-braced, wooden door. ‘Don’t do anything until after he addresses the clan.’
‘Don’t worry, Djana. Everything will be OK,’ Erik assured her, smiling with a distant, happy grin that sent a shiver down Logan’s back.
Djana seemed reassured by the prince’s words and opened the door. It didn’t lead to another hallway and Logan was tempted to try his luck by running back the way they had come. Getting lost seemed a much better option right now. The door led outside, obviously on the opposite side to the marketplace, and the source of the rumbling became heart-stoppingly clear.
Dozens of red dragons were crowded into a small park, dwarfing the few trees that were scattered here and there. They were all drumming their tails on the ground in rhythm with each other, and they were facing a small wooden pavilion at the end of the park. A platform had been built on the roof of the pavilion, and a guard was hurriedly hoisting three extra chairs onto it. He placed them next to the chair that sat before a small wooden table. Every window of the surrounding buildings was crammed with townsfolk. Logan glanced up and saw that there were even people on the roofs. They were all chattering excitedly and a man was walking among those on the roof, selling bags of snacks.
Look Half-Wing, he’s here! a dragon hissed in an excited whisper as he nudged a fellow dragon who had a deformed wing.
Don’t go getting too excited, Half-Wing muttered. They’ve brought a dozen boys over the years and none of them was The One.’
But think, if it is, then we’ll be able to get rid of this cold, horrible place. We’ll be warm again and we won’t have to crowd into Red Mountain. The first dragon sighed with longing.
The drumming stepped up to a furious pace as word of their arrival spread through the crowd. As all eyes turned to face them, Logan felt dizzy with fear. He wished the ground would open up and swallow him, but it didn’t. Instead, he felt Alyxa’s hand on his arm, dragging him forward, through the crowd of immense dragons.
Logan tried his best to ignore the huge beasts, but he could smell their hot, smoke-tainted breath as he kept his eyes on the ground before him. It seemed to take forever to reach the pavilion, but finally Logan felt himself being pushed up a ladder which had been propped up against the pavilion roof.
A light dusting of snow had settled on the platform and then been scuffed by the newly placed chairs. Erik followed Djana to the far end of the platform and sat behind the small table where he waited silently. He looked calm and happy, not at all bothered to be facing the raucous fire-breathing clan of red dragons. Logan didn’t feel as calm as he nervously headed for the chair furthest from Erik. Some of the dragons were still tall enough to look down on the platform and they watched with an unblinking stare that made all three travellers uncomfortable. Djana stood proudly behind Erik’s chair, and it wasn’t until Logan was sitting down that he noticed the huge red dragon standing next to the platform.
This dragon wasn’t as red as the rest of the noisy clan. Instead, it was a rusty brown colour and its scales seemed to sag as if it were wearing a coat that was too big. The dragon’s eyes were half-closed and it looked barely awake. At the sound of scraping chairs, it looked up, seemed confused to see more than the expected number of humans on the dais, and then sank back into its half-slumber.
‘Longtooth!’ Djana bellowed loudly over the tail drumming, stepping forward to the edge of the dais. Immediately the drumming ceased and a hushed silence settled on the dragons and humans alike. ‘Esteemed members of the Council, dragons of the Red Clan, fellow servants of the great Red Dragons. I present to you the candidate brought to us by Wind-Dancer—’
At that a loud roar broke out among the dragons. Snouts raised to the sky and flames belched forth in a burst of fire that would have destroyed a small forest in seconds. A group of dragons was slapping one of the taller red dragons on the back with their tails, and Logan assumed this dragon must be Wind-Dancer. Djana waited patiently for the crowd to settle down again. Longtooth barely even stirred at the noise.
‘I know we have not had much luck in the past—’
A grumbling ran through the crowd and several tails thumped the ground angrily.
‘—but Wind-Dancer has found The One.’
Longtooth blinked and then rose up to a height that showed it was almost twice the size of most of the dragons present. Djana
stepped back and demurely let the huge dragon take the floor.
We must be sure this time, the old dragon said slowly and its rheumy eyes turned to look up the hill at the city above. He will not be lenient if we send him the wrong child again.
Longtooth turned so that its snout was only inches from Erik’s face, but the prince didn’t even flinch.
Human, are you the one we seek?
Erik did not answer, but instead he stood up and stepped towards the table. A brass bowl had been placed on it and half-filled with water. Two long, low handles ran around half of the rim, and Erik placed one open palm on each then began to rub his hands back and forth along the handles.
All the dragons leaned in closer, staring at the water in the brass bowl. The water began to ripple from the vibration of the prince’s rubbing, then Logan saw small peaks form and tiny eruptions of water leapt from the surface, spraying Erik in the face.
He is The One! a dragon from the crowd yelled, breaking the stunned silence that had fallen in the park.
Longtooth’s rheumy eyes snapped open and the old dragon shoved its snout so close to the bowl it got covered in spray as Erik continued to rub the brass handles.
‘You can stop now, Erik,’ Djana said, smiling broadly and pulling Erik’s hands away from the bowl.
He is The One! Longtooth bellowed in a rumbling voice that belied his obvious age. We will deliver him to the Golden One at once. Glory to the red dragons!
The old dragon flapped tatty, paper-thin wings and rose slowly into the air, flying in an arc around the village. Dragons took flight by the dozen, and soon the entire clan of red dragons was following Longtooth in a victory lap around the village.
‘You will have to meet Longtooth later,’ Djana said, pulling them all to their feet. ‘They will not want to be disturbed until after they have taken Erik up to the city. I must take Erik down to see the people now.’
Logan breathed a sigh of relief as he clambered down the ladder to the waiting throng of villagers. All of them wanted to touch Erik and every one of them looked at him as if they wished it had been them. Logan had no intention of still being around to meet Longtooth or letting the dragons take the prince to the city.
‘We’ll grab Erik before the dragons come back. If we get separated we’ll meet at the secret passage by the royal house,’ Myles muttered in Logan’s ear, who passed the message on to Alyxa.
The crowd was thronging around them all, and even Djana had been swept away from them as she held tightly to Erik and tried to steer him back towards the platform. Djana didn’t appear to be taking any notice of the three strangers at all and they slipped deeper into the crowd.
Logan spotted the blue of Erik’s tunic and started working his way towards him. Alyxa and Myles were heading that way too. The crowd suddenly lifted Erik into the air and the cheering rose to a deafening pitch. Logan spotted his chance and swept away the legs of one of the men hoisting Erik up.
The man toppled, dragging the others with him, and Erik tumbled into the crowd.
‘Got him,’ Logan heard Myles mutter, and they started pushing through the sea of people.
The crowd seemed to go on forever, and they were at the corner of the town hall at the edge of the marketplace when they finally broke free. Logan had the prince’s legs and Alyxa was clearing the way through the crowd.
‘Keep moving. We’ve got to be out of sight before those red dragons land,’ Alyxa said, turning back to look at the dragons. Logan looked back as well and saw that the dragons were gliding in to land. His heart was beating faster than the tails of the dragons had been a few minutes ago, and he adjusted his grip on the prince and hurried around the corner out of sight.
‘Put me down!’ a muffled voice demanded.
Logan froze and so did the others. In an instant he knew that it wasn’t Erik’s voice. With sickening dread he looked down and saw they were carrying a young village boy, not Erik. They dropped him. Literally. He got up, glared at them and hurried back to the festivities.
The trio looked blankly at each other and then followed. As they rounded the corner to the park, they stopped again and they watched, horrified, as the large old dragon was flying off with two small humans on its back. One of them was Djana and the other was undoubtedly Erik.
‘What now?’ Logan said, watching the dragons flying laps around the park. He looked up to the glittering city above. ‘They’ll be going up to the city next. How do we get up there?’
‘Silverhorn will have gone back to the waterfall if Zared has finished what he went up there for. Perhaps he is waiting there for us,’ Alyxa suggested. ‘He can take us.’
‘My blue will take us if the white one is not there,’ Myles stated firmly, already striding across the marketplace.
Logan and Alyxa exchanged a doubtful look but followed anyway. The streets were still empty and not even a red dragon was to be seen in the sky. No doubt they were all still celebrating in the park. It took only a few minutes to run back to the royal house, and they pushed their way through the bushes without even pausing to check if anyone was around.
Alyxa paused by one of the bushes and Myles glared at her. ‘Hurry up, we don’t have time to mess around.’
‘The blue is hungry and I promised I’d bring something back,’ Alyxa explained, carefully breaking a branch off the bush. ‘He’ll like these berries.’
Myles didn’t look in the slightest bit interested and carried on through the garden. Logan stopped to help Alyxa, and then they both hurried to catch up with the prince and ran straight through the waterfall rather than picking their way along the rocks behind it.
‘Zared and Silverhorn aren’t here,’ Logan said in a voice laced with disappointment.
The blue dragon was sleeping, curled up like a cat, next to the egg net.
‘Blue!’ Myles snapped, hurrying over to the blue and nudging it with his foot. ‘Get up. We need to go up to the city above.’
The blue slowly opened one eye, glanced at Myles with a blank expression, and then noticed the berry branches that Logan and Alyxa were carrying. It rose slowly, pushed past Myles and began to suck the berries right off the branches.
‘Dragon, did you hear me!’ Myles was furious at being ignored.
The blue munched another mouthful before slowly turning just its huge head towards the prince. When it spoke it was with a hint of anger. I heard.
‘You can’t order him around now,’ Logan reminded the prince as the blue returned to its long-awaited meal. ‘He doesn’t have to do anything for us.’
‘So Alyxa can re-charm it,’ Myles said, turning to Alyxa and looking expectantly at her.
‘I wouldn’t have any luck — even if I wanted to,’ Alyxa told him. ‘The vibrations up here are far too strong and my charm would work for only a few minutes at best. Besides, I’m not sure charming other beings is really a good thing.’
Logan nodded in agreement. Seeing all the villagers devoted to the red dragons and the effect the dragons’ charm had had on Erik after only a short time had convinced him it was wrong.
‘I have to go up and rescue Erik — whether he wants rescuing or not,’ Myles insisted. He looked as if he would like to stamp his foot in frustration. ‘This dragon is the only way to get up there and it will take us!’
The blue finished off the last of the berries, spent a few seconds licking its lips with its huge forked tongue, then walked over and leaned down so that its snout was an inch away from the prince’s face. Myles flinched but glared at the dragon as if his anger alone would make the blue obey him.
I will fly up to the city, but I will only take the two who brought me food. The dragon’s breath was edged with the tiniest of flames and Myles was forced to take a step back to avoid having his hair singed.
‘If you’re going to fly up there you can take me as well,’ Myles ordered with a frown.
No. The blue sat down on its haunches and proceeded to pick berry skins from its teeth with large sharp claws.
‘You will not go without me!’ Myles snapped. His eyes seemed more black than green as they flashed angrily at Logan.
‘We will if you can’t make peace with the blue,’ Alyxa assured him with a note of finality in her voice. ‘I can see why he won’t take you. You’re rude and arrogant and not at all nice.’
Myles stared at both Logan and Alyxa for several seconds, looking truly confused and shocked. Clearly nobody had ever spoken to him in that way before. He opened his mouth to argue, but nothing came out so he closed it again. With a glare at them all, he stormed from the tunnel and out through the waterfall.
‘Do you think he’ll come back?’ Logan asked, peering out through the veil of water. He could see the prince striding quickly through the grounds without even a backwards look.
‘He’ll be back,’ Alyxa said with a laugh. ‘I bet that’s the first time anyone’s ever told him what to do.’
‘He’d better hurry then, or we’ll be too late to stop them doing whatever it is they plan to do.’ Logan watched through the water, but stepped back when he saw the prince returning.
The prince strode into the passage, carrying a branch laden with berries. He looked to be about to throw it to the dragon, then reconsidered and stepped forward and placed it right in front of the blue.
‘Please carry me up to the city,’ Myles said quietly, keeping his eyes lowered. The blue silently reached down and nibbled a few juicy berries and pushed the branch away with its snout.
If I eat too much I won’t be able to carry three, the blue said, crouching low to allow them to climb up.
The prince looked surprised that his small offering had had such an effect and he quickly leapt up to join the others.
‘Should we go back down the pass and then up to the city?’ Alyxa asked. ‘Or straight up, the way Silverhorn did?’
‘I don’t think we’ve got time to go all the way back down the pass,’ Logan replied. ‘They didn’t notice Silverhorn before.’
‘He can change colour and blend in, and the reds were all heading for the park,’ Alyxa reminded him. ‘But you’re right, we’ll have to take our chances.’
Myles yanked back on the riding straps to get the dragon moving forward, but it simply turned and glared at him.
Don’t do that. Just ask me to go.
‘We need to go up the mountain just on the other side of the water,’ Myles asked hesitantly, and when the dragon still didn’t move he added ‘please’.
The blue strode out through the waterfall and leapt into the sky, heading straight for the city.