Flapping desperately, my one true friend fought his way backwards while the giant leaned over us, his bearded face scrunching up into a scowl. ‘We know you. Traitor kobold!’
‘I’m not a traitor,’ Fedolia yelled back. ‘Not any more! See?’ She pointed at me as I clung to Jasper’s back and he shot a stream of useless flame against the giant’s impenetrable skin. ‘This is the other princess of Drachenheim! You missed her when you rounded up the royals. She wanted to set your prisoners free. She would have done it too, if I hadn’t come along – she’s so stubborn, she never would have given up! But I made sure to bring her to you. I protected your territory! So –’ she put one hand to the silver chain of her necklace and clenched it between her fingers as she finished in a suddenly fragile, uncertain tone – ‘can I please finally come home now?’
‘You?’
I had thought there could be no sound in the world worse than an ice giant’s bellow of rage.
I’d been wrong. His deep, echoing laughter felt like the end of the world breaking loose around me. The other giants joined in, and Jasper roared at all of them, but his roar was drowned out by that endless, wicked laughter.
All that kept my eyes open through it was the sight of Fedolia’s small, white face above me.
I would never understand that kobold. She had betrayed me and Jasper after all our time together. I could never, ever forgive her for it.
And yet, somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to look away from the unshielded agony in her face as she doubled over, wrapping her thin arms around her body and huddling into herself under the giants’ waves of mocking laughter.
‘After what you did,’ our giant finally thundered, ‘what home did you imagine you’d have left?’
‘My family.’ Fedolia’s words came out in a broken whisper.
But the ice giant still heard them. ‘Your family?’ The force of his shaking head sent gusts of snow billowing around us. ‘You have no family now, foolish girl. The ice of our land will not support you. Every kobold mine closed against you long ago. None of your people will look you in the eye again. No, little traitor.’
His last, terrible chuckle sent shivers rippling through my body.
‘You may have saved your life with your final theft from us, but you lost everything you loved forever – and you will never be forgiven for it.’
Fedolia’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly as she stared up at him. Her hand fell limply away from the chain around her neck …
And I finally put the pieces together.
How could I not have seen it before?
‘Fedolia!’ I pushed myself up until I was sitting on Jasper’s back, under the weight of the ice giant’s chilly gaze. It took all of my willpower, but I kept my own gaze fixed on Fedolia’s suddenly hollow-looking face. ‘Jasper can’t hurt any of these creatures with his flame, can he? Because they don’t keep their hearts behind their skin?’
Her eyes looked glassy with shock. She didn’t speak.
‘Fedolia!’ This time I used the tone I’d heard from every Villennese lecturer who’d interrogated a student caught sleeping. ‘What is your answer?’
‘No!’ Her head jerked up. She blinked rapidly, touching her chest as if for reassurance. ‘He can’t. Only their hearts are vulnerable.’
‘In that case …’ Wobbling, I scooted forward.
Jasper vibrated with rage beneath me. Smoke panted from his nostrils as he curved his long neck around and fixed his clever golden gaze on me.
‘Fedolia,’ I said quietly, beckoning her to lean down and listen, ‘do you remember what Talvikki told me when we first met in that lecture hall on Scholars’ Island?’
‘What?’ She blinked down at me.
More and more ice giants were gathering around us now in a towering, tight circle, blocking out nearly all of the pale sunlight from above.
Fedolia gave them a dread-filled glance before she turned back to me. ‘Why –?’
‘Talvikki was the one who warned me …’ I lowered my voice to a whisper. She leaned even closer and I continued, ‘Students always sneak the most dangerous things beneath their robes. So I should have known –’ I braced myself – ‘that you were doing it too!’
I lunged forward and yanked the silver chain around her neck as hard as I could. It snapped, leaving the dangling pieces in my fingers. She gasped and jerked away, landing on Jasper’s long neck.
An ice giant in the distance let out a sudden, outraged bellow …
And I pulled those broken silver strands with me as I fell backwards on to Jasper’s scales with Fedolia’s big blue pendant clutched safely to my chest. It was a massive, cold, blue crystalline chunk that looked like priceless topaz but felt surprisingly soft and yielding as it beat a steady pulse against my fingers …
Because, of course, it was actually an ice giant’s heart: the only thing Fedolia could ever have stolen that would ensure her own safety from them forever.
‘Guess what?’ I shouted to the ice giants as I scrambled upright on Jasper’s back, clutching my stolen treasure to my chest. ‘I’ve been studying philosophy on Scholars’ Island!’
Fedolia darted towards me, her blue eyes blazing, but for once, I felt no fear. Dragons always protected their territory … and I knew that was how they defined their friends. As I held the beating heart high for the giants’ viewing, Jasper swung his long neck in a sudden, sharp jerk that sent the little kobold sailing off her feet into the air.
She screamed, but he caught her as she fell. His teeth closed around her long, white hair and held her safely in the air, her bare white feet kicking uselessly.
‘You idiots!’ she shouted up at both of us. ‘If you had any idea what you were playing with … !’
‘I know the definition of true power.’ I directed my words at the enraged giants above us, who were all roaring in a wordless jumble of fury. ‘And I’m holding it in my hand right now!’
I had never been any good at playing the part of a charming princess. I should have known better than to think I could do it today. But Fedolia had been right about one thing: I was stubborn. And I wasn’t too afraid to fight after all.
CHAPTER 22
‘Give that back!’ The order echoed from every ice giant at once with the force of a thousand avalanches.
It was deafening. Overwhelming. More than anyone could possibly hope to bear.
But I’d been inside a dragon’s mouth, committed a terrifying crime and flown across the world without a chamber pot. I wasn’t hiding from anything any more.
‘Give my sister back!’ I shouted at them. ‘Let all of your prisoners go!’
‘Never!’
‘It’s useless,’ Fedolia called as she dangled by her hair from Jasper’s teeth. ‘They’d sooner let one of their people die than risk losing an inch of territory.’
Argh. So much for that idea. Still …
‘Step back!’ I yelled, holding up the beating heart. ‘Or I’ll get my friend to set fire to this heart right now. I mean it!’
Their roars were even louder this time … but the snow-covered earth shook beneath the ice giants as they each took a heavy, reluctant step backwards.
There. There was just enough space for Jasper to fly through. But if they watched us fly away, they’d surely follow until we were off their territory – and that wouldn’t work for me at all.
I only had one strategy left – and it relied on the one person I knew I couldn’t trust. She’d played more than one trick on me already.
‘Fedolia,’ I said, ‘unless you want Jasper to drop you to your death, you’ll cast your invisibility spell over all of us. Now.’
She narrowed her eyes up at me. ‘You’ll want to let me back up to where you can touch me then, won’t you?’
‘No!’ I snapped. ‘You’re not fooling me again.’ My tutors had taught me to memorise even the smallest details. I should have had more faith in my memory of this one. ‘Ever since we first took flight together, you’ve been pretendi
ng we need to touch for you to cast that spell, but I remember my first day in Villenne. As long as we all form a chain, you’ll be fine. I think it’s more work for you to do it that way – and apparently you don’t think we’re worth the effort –’ I bit out the words with an icy snap – ‘but I’m touching Jasper, and he’s touching you. So we’re ready, and I am finished with your games. I like you exactly where you are!’
‘Stupid, sharp princess. I told Talvikki not to trust you.’ Angry blue sparks puffed out from Fedolia’s lips as she glared up at me … but the invisibility spell snapped into place a moment later.
I might have been a useless princess, but I wasn’t such a useless person as I had once thought after all.
The ice giants started forward.
‘Stop!’ I yelled. ‘And move away, or you’ll kill your friend by stomping on his heart with your big, clumsy feet!’
Grumbling with displeasure, they moved slowly backwards, with more space opening up between their looming bodies.
Jasper shot through the closest crack with Fedolia swinging below his mouth.
Phew!
Fedolia crossed her arms as she sailed through the air and scowled up at me … but she didn’t utter a single word. Whether we were friends or enemies, not one of our trio wanted the giants to see us now.
So Jasper arced above them with only the tiniest flicks of his scaled wings, and I kept my own mouth firmly closed as we glided across the vast blue palace. The slabs of ice beyond grew clearer and clearer with every moment.
There were so many small figures trapped within them, wearing gorgeous, rich colours that showed through their transparent prisons. There – I saw as Jasper curved around another lumbering ice giant who had blocked my view – was Jasper’s own mother, terribly still, her blue-and-gold jaw outstretched in endless rage within her icy cage.
Jasper didn’t roar when he saw her; his long jaw clamped shut. But a trail of trembling white smoke escaped his nostrils, and his golden eyes looked wild.
In the slab just beyond … I sucked in a harsh breath, my pulse suddenly hammering against my wrists.
Katrin had never looked small to me before. Whenever she moved or spoke, my older sister took command of every space.
But she wasn’t moving any more. Dwarfed beyond Jasper’s mother with one hand held out in endless, unmoving supplication …
She looked helpless. She looked fragile.
She looked agonisingly like our mother.
Jasper swung his head around to face me. He didn’t need to speak for me to know exactly what he wanted. I remembered his words back in Villenne. ‘What kind of dragon lets his mother be captured without a fight?’
‘No!’ I hissed. My fists clenched so tightly that pain shot through my body. ‘Keep on flying!’
Dragons never left their families behind, and I truly loved their fiery loyalty. But I’d learned from my own, colder family that sometimes hard decisions have to be made. Acting on impulse wouldn’t help anyone right now, not with the ice giants on alert and awaiting our attack. First, we had to find a safe hiding place and gather information for our next attempt …
And I knew exactly who to ask.
Fedolia’s gaze was deliberately averted from us both as she stared pointedly into the distance, her expression pinched. But I was aware of her silent presence at every moment as we flew past the ice that trapped our families and kept on flying, leaving them to fade, smaller and smaller, behind us.
It was unbearable. It was wrong.
By the time Jasper finally landed in a snow-covered valley within a tall mountain range many miles away, I was so far past my breaking point, I couldn’t hold myself back any longer.
‘Aaaaaarrrgh!’ The desolate scream ripped from my mouth.
Dropping Fedolia to the snowy ground, Jasper tipped his neck back and roared out his own rage and fury. Hot orange flames shot high into the snowy air.
‘Hmmph!’ Dusting herself off, Fedolia picked herself up and shook her head at both of us. ‘If you two want to let them know exactly where we are …’
‘We are finished with your directions!’ I dropped off Jasper’s back in one long jump, tossing him the ice giant’s heart and landing hard on the thick snow. It crunched around my legs as I stomped forward, pointing at the kobold accusingly. ‘And you said humans were untrustworthy. Traitor!’
‘I haven’t betrayed anybody. Not this time!’ She crossed her arms. ‘I fulfilled our bargain exactly as we agreed it. Is it my fault you didn’t think it through?’
I clenched my jaw as Jasper’s long tail lashed beside me, sending snow flying through the air.
‘I wasn’t thinking clearly at the time,’ I snarled, ‘because my kingdom had just lost its crown princess.’
‘And I lost my whole family! Wouldn’t you do anything to get your family back?’ She pointed accusingly at me. ‘Isn’t that what you’re ready to do right now?’
‘No!’ I said tightly. ‘I’d do almost anything. But I wouldn’t betray my own friends for it.’
‘Don’t make me laugh! You were never my friend, and you know it, Princess Sofia of Drachenheim.’ Fedolia shook back her long, white hair and glared at me, balancing her light body on top of the packed snow with ease. ‘You didn’t care about me or anyone else in Villenne. You didn’t even tell us your real name!’
I winced as the blow struck home. ‘I didn’t lie about it, though. My name is Sofia, just as I told you. I just … didn’t mention all of the other details.’
‘Hmm.’ A growl still rumbled deep in Jasper’s throat, but as usual, philosophy functioned as a distraction. ‘Gert van Heidecker says that a lie of omission, intended to deceive, is as unethical as a statement of mistruth.’
‘Exactly!’ Fedolia gave me a triumphant look. ‘And you knew just what you were doing when you introduced yourself to us the way you did, wearing clothes that couldn’t have belonged to you.’
‘Yes, but I was only –’
‘Putting your own needs first,’ Fedolia finished with satisfaction. ‘Just like me!’
‘Argh!’ I scooped up a cold ball of snow and threw it hard into the distance. ‘It is not the same. None of my secrets could hurt you!’
‘You don’t think you already hurt me?’ She glared at me. ‘What about the others? Talvikki always sang your praises. She said you showed that humans could be honest and trustworthy after all. You were supposed to be the final proof that we could make a real home for ourselves down south. But you were lying to us all along!’
‘That is not how it was,’ I said through gritted teeth. ‘I wasn’t trying to deceive you. It was just too dangerous to let anyone know –’
‘It was only dangerous if you didn’t trust us! We thought you liked us. The other girls all said you were our friend. I was even starting to believe it! But it was only a game to you – an adventure to entertain a bored princess on holiday. Our group never meant anything to you!’
‘It meant everything to me.’ I was panting with the force of my frustration. ‘How can you not see that?’
‘The moment you told us who you really were,’ she snapped, ‘I could see exactly how pointless it had all been – every lie I’d ever told myself from the moment I was thrown out of my home until the moment you made me realise no human would ever treat me with real respect. There’s no use in trying to fit in anywhere except the place I was born, no matter how much I hate the ice giants’ orders. So –’ she jerked her pointed chin high in the air – ‘if you don’t like the way I handled things, Princess, you only have yourself to blame!’
I stared at her.
She stared back.
Then Jasper gave a low, growling hrrumph, turning the ice giant’s blue heart round and round in his claws. ‘Actually,’ he said thoughtfully, ‘it’s not all her fault, you know. It all comes down to the princess problem.’
‘Oh, for –!’ I threw my arms up in despair. ‘We’re back to this nonsense again? Really?’
Neither of
them paid the slightest attention.
‘She thinks she’s responsible for her entire kingdom,’ Jasper told Fedolia.
‘Because I am!’ I bellowed. ‘How is that not obvious?’
‘She thinks if she ever lets herself make a mistake or trust the wrong person, everyone else will suffer for it.’
‘Because it’s true.’ How could he not see it?
‘And she thinks she’s not allowed to truly care about anyone else because it might betray her kingdom.’
‘Wrong!’ I said. ‘Ha! Princesses are supposed to care about their people.’
‘Oh, really?’ He snorted out a cloud of smoke as he finally turned to me. ‘Then why won’t you even admit that you love your own sister?’
My whole body flushed hot then cold at his question. Tremors swept through me.
Katrin’s vulnerable, fragile figure, so like our mother’s, trapped in the ice we left behind …
‘We’re not like other families,’ I bit out. ‘That’s not how we think about things.’
‘No?’ Jasper cocked his head like a professor encouraging a slow-thinking student. ‘So you never even loved your own parents? Really?’
It was too much.
‘Of course I loved my parents!’ I shouted. ‘But they left me! Mother died and Father stopped caring – and that’s what happens whenever I let anyone close!’
Fedolia’s mouth dropped open.
They both stared at me.
Suddenly, I felt overwhelmingly exposed, despite all my layers of stolen clothing.
Jasper’s big head tilted to look down at Fedolia.
Fedolia looked back up at him.
‘Huh,’ she said. ‘You were right, dragon-boy. She may be a princess, but she definitely has problems.’
CHAPTER 23
Unlike Fedolia, I couldn’t turn myself invisible. I could only turn my back on the others and stomp ten pointed feet away to stand alone in the snow, my fists clenching and unclenching as waves of shame and fury rocked through me.
Jasper and Fedolia murmured to each other behind me, voices pitched too low for me to make out their words. Maybe they were comparing notes on how quickly I’d lost my temper – again. Or maybe they were discussing what a failure I was at friendship, or bringing up other flaws that I hadn’t even noticed.
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