by Martha Carr
Leander snorted and raked the ground with a forepaw. “You’ll consider your own death soon enough if you don’t. I know that smell beneath the earth.”
Raven turned toward him and frowned. “What?”
“The same as that tiny skull you carried in that bag.” The dragon’s wings twitched outward and in the distance, a sound rose like thousands of horses and crumbling stone and the clack of hard, shimmering carapaces.
Headmaster Flynn’s eyes widened, and he turned toward Professor Gilliam with surprising calm. “Eleanor, call the gala off. Take the students to the main hall and wait for my instructions. Tell any other professor you see that those who wish to fight—for the first time or again—should join me in the barn.”
“Aiden, have you lost your mind?” Dameron shouted.
“Quickly,” Flynn told her again. She nodded and hurried toward the dance on the other side of the school.
“You plan to fight a threat that doesn’t even exist and you’re sowing panic for no reason!” The man turned on the headmaster, spittle flying from his mouth. “I’ll have no part of this. That child has a taste for being the center of attention, and I will not enable her outrageous fantasies.”
“Miss Alby is a mage,” the headmaster said coolly. “And a dragon rider. I fought beside more than one person in her family, Dameron. Both Raven and her familiar have my complete trust. Now, if you will not take a stand with us here, feel free to wait the threat out with the other young people in the main hall.” The headmaster turned away from the bald, fuming professor and nodded at Raven. “You’ve done this kingdom and this school an incredible service, Raven. Both of you. I can’t tell you to lock that dragon away knowing full well what’s knocking at our gates. But I want you to join the other students with Professor Gilliam.”
Raven shook her head and stepped forward. “Headmaster, we can help. We destroyed one of those Skifflings already—”
“It’s too dangerous. I’m not in the habit of allowing my students to endanger themselves, no matter how far-reaching their abilities are. My job is to keep you safe.”
“Leander and I can fight!”
“Now, Miss Alby!” He strode away from her and headed toward the barn. The other professors gave her grim looks before they followed the headmaster.
I can’t sit back and let them fight the Swarm when I know we can help.
“Go on.” Professor Worley nodded at her, then glanced at Leander. “We’ll handle this, Raven.”
“I can handle it.”
“You heard Headmaster Flynn. Our job is to make sure you’re safe. Go on.” He turned and followed the others into the barn and even a grumbling, sputtering Professor Dameron trailed after them. The door closed with a bang.
She stared at the structures. The noises from the other side of the grounds and the spring gala had stopped and were now replaced by the shouts of professors who ushered students into the main building of the school. Louder than that were the confused and curious voices of her peers.
Her mind made up, she turned toward Leander and shook her head. “I won’t go to the main hall.”
“I know.”
The cacophony of the Swarm’s approach grew steadily louder. Her heart pounded in her chest. “Can you make a little noise while we go past your pen? I won’t lock you in there, but—”
“They’ll never know the difference.” he turned and shambled toward his enclosure, his wings twitching out as he snorted and made a show of being led to where everyone else thought he belonged.
Maybe he can’t read my mind but he sure does come close.
Raven exhaled slowly and hurried to his side. When they reached it, he smacked his tail against the outside and snorted. He caught her gaze with yellow eyes and lowered his head. “I don’t like this.”
I never thought I’d stage a conversation with a dragon.
“I don’t either. But this is how we all stay safe, right? Headmaster Flynn knows how to fight the Swarm. And Brighton’s army should be here any minute. Just…don’t worry about breaking out of the pen if the fighting gets too close. I’ll find you.”
A soft hiss escaped her dragon, which he cut off abruptly as he stood beside her. Raven shut the gate a little harder than she had to and paused. I gotta make it sound real.
Without delay, she stormed from the pen and toward the school’s main buildings. Leander uttered another wailing screech behind her. She turned to glance over her shoulder and fought a smile as he snorted and thumped the outer wall with his tail again. As soon as she saw him tuck his wings and stalk around the other side of the pen in complete silence, she broke into a run. Now, I have to be as quiet as a dragon to pull this off.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Raven stopped less than halfway across the field, doubled back, and followed the tree line of the forest to avoid being seen or heard by the professors gathered in the barn. A bright, steady light spilled onto the grass between the wooden slats, and the professors’ voices were muted but still audible in the quiet.
“If the army’s really on their way, we have to face this.”
“Without war mages? Without dragon riders? It’s impossible.”
“We have to try. And we’re not alone.”
Progress was a little slower than she wanted as she had to take care to stay out of the light, but she finally darted past the last few trees and reached the other side of the stables. Leander crouched in front of her, perfectly still as he listened intently.
“They’re almost here,” he whispered and nudged his snout against her ear.
“I know. Flynn will forget about us disobeying him when they see what you can do. I hope.”
“What he forgets means nothing.”
“Shh. Who’s that?”
Two dark forms stalked toward the barn and muttered in low voices. She couldn’t see the professors’ faces in the darkness between the narrow slats, and the barn door was on the other side. A shout and the sound of horses’ hooves from the road distracted her for a moment.
The barn door banged open, and Headmaster Flynn strode toward the general and his army of Brighton’s finest where they marched across the grounds. “The Swarm,” the general shouted. “Be ready to fight, Headmaster. I’m sorry either of us has to live through this a second time.”
“So am I, General Merson. So am I.”
Horses, soldiers, and weapons flashing under the moonlight spread across the field beside the front gates of Fowler Academy. “This is where we’ll take a stand! Be ready, soldiers. This is your duty.”
The rumbling of the Swarm grew louder and made the horses whinny and snort in unease. A screech split the air, echoed by a second. Leander crouched lower beside her and they both looked up at two dragons that wheeled across the sky.
He growled. “Those dragons have no idea what they’re doing.”
“That’s all they brought,” Raven whispered. “Two dragons and Brighton’s army. And a group of mages with more practice teaching than fighting.”
The air filled with the scuttling rumble of too many sharp, insectoid legs on a destructive path toward the school. The ground moved in the distance and flashed here and then under the moonlight. Raven’s mouth dropped open. Not the ground. It’s the Razorbacks.
Headmaster Flynn clapped his hands together and dragged them apart to create a shimmering wall of bright light between his palms. “Hold, mages!”
The other professors beside him readied their spells as the massive black beetles scurried toward them and the earth trembled. One of the dragons swooped over the first line of beetles and unleashed a column of fire. Most of it missed completely, but a few giant beetles screeched shrilly and flailed as they were consumed quickly by the flames.
“And dragons that can’t aim.” Raven clenched her fists and stood from her crouch behind the end of the stables. “They need us—”
“Stop.”
She was jerked back when a hand clutched the back of her dress. “What—” She spun furiously.
“Bella! What are you doing here?”
Bella Chase offered her a small, determined smile and shrugged. Behind her, the firedrake darted through the air. “I couldn’t let you have all the fun in a fight neither of us was invited to.”
The soldiers beside the mages bellowed a resounding battle cry in hundreds of voices and in a moment, the Swarm had reached them. The massive black creatures with spikes along their shells scuttled blindly into swords, shields, and spells. The dragons overhead shrieked and unleashed more flames. Soldiers shouted and yelled while Headmaster Flynn called commands to anyone who would listen.
Raven shook her head and stood. “Leander, let’s go.”
“Raven, you can’t go out there.”
“Yes, I can. They need all the help they can get and there’s hardly anyone here to fight.”
Both girls flinched and crouched when the ground erupted somewhere in the battle and sprayed earth and stones everywhere. A handful of soldiers screamed before the cries were cut off. “We’re wasting time!”
“I came to help you, Raven. Look!” Bella fumbled with a drawstring bag tied at her hip and her fingers working feverishly to get it open.
She stared at the shrunken Skiffling skull inside. “How did you get that?”
“I snuck into Flynn’s office and took it.” Bella scoffed. “It seems fairly obvious to me.”
“How is that supposed to help us, huh? Throw it at the Swarm and hope it hurts?”
“No. Just listen.” Bella set the skull on the ground and muttered, “Invorto adtenuum.” It grew instantly to its natural size and a gurgling, hissing wail that could only belong to one of the Swarm issued from somewhere far beyond the first line of combat.
Leander snorted and stepped away from the skull. “They feel it.”
“What?”
More screams rose from the fighting soldiers.
“Oh, wait!” Raven stared at the girl. “History of Magic.”
The other girl nodded grimly and pointed at the skull. “Magical lineage, right?”
“The Swarm…they came to the school because of this skull?” She shook her head. “That doesn’t make sense. They’re only a mindless…swarm.”
“But everything’s connected. It’s the only thing that makes sense, Raven. I overheard Gilliam telling Bixby what you saw. If the Swarm ignored everything else in the kingdom to get here, it means those giant bugs are looking for something—intentionally. What else is here?”
“Bixby didn’t freak out because I brought the skull.” Her eyes widened and she stepped back to stare at the eyeless Swarm relic on the ground. “She didn’t want me to cast a spell that would draw that skull’s history up in her class.”
Bella gave her another determined smile. “It’s worth a try, right?”
“Yeah, at least.”
The clash of Swarm Razorbacks against the soldiers and mages on the other side of the barn continued. The defenders shouted warnings and commands at one another and horses reared and whinnied. Another spray of earth erupted and pelted the stables.
Fire can kill them. This skull had better burn.
Raven looked at Leander and nodded. He’d obviously waited for her go-ahead, and the red dragon drew his head back like a snake coiling to strike and unleashed a massive column of fire at the skull.
The two girls stepped hastily away from the blaze. Another bellow wailed from beyond the fighting beetles, and it was much closer.
“What the hell was that?” a soldier shouted.
“Hold, men! Hold!”
When the flames faded, her stomach sank. “It’s not working.”
“Try again.”
Leander didn’t need another prompting and responded with another fiery exhalation. Bella’s firedrake swooped to land at the girl’s feet before he added his round of flames to the blaze. When they finished, she clenched her fists.
“I don’t get it! That would have melted the whole dragon pen. Why is this skull still here?” She kicked it in frustration, but it barely moved. A trace of smoke curled from the toe of her boot. “How are we supposed to destroy this?”
“The same way the war mages and dragon riders destroyed it the first time,” Bella said and gazed at the unharmed skull. “No one could do it on their own.”
Raven sucked in a sharp breath. “The Magic Meld.”
The girls looked at each other with wide eyes. “I know you rememorized it,” Bella said.
“Yeah. But many mages didn’t make it after casting that spell, Bella.”
“Well, we’re only two mages casting it on a skull. What’s the worst that could happen?”
She gestured in vague surrender and fixed her companion with a resigned look. “Famous last words.” If this doesn’t work, I guess it won’t matter how angry anyone is at me. “Okay, let’s do it.”
Leander snorted and stepped closer to her. “A familiar strengthens your magic, Raven.”
“Well, get ready for a massive power-up, then.” She reached for Bella’s hand and gritted her teeth. “I’m ready when you are.”
The girl slapped her hand into hers without a second’s hesitation, and they tightened their grasp. Together, they raised their other hands toward the skull and recited the lengthy, complicated spell Connor Alby never wanted his granddaughter to learn.
A jolt of warm energy pulsed from their clasped hands. The buzz tingled up Raven’s arms toward her shoulder, through her chest, and down into her other hand. Leander reared and filled his belly with fire before he unleashed it on the skull. The column of flames was ten times hotter, which made both young mages take a few steps back. Neither of them faltered in the spell.
Come on…
Above them, one of the wheeling dragons uttered a piercing shriek. It cut off abruptly and was followed moments later by a wet crunch. The other dragon rider cried out in horror.
The flames rushed from Leander’s mouth and were joined by Wesley’s, who now hovered beside Bella. The girls’ clasped hands felt like they were on fire too, but they tightened their hold on one another. The colors of the red and orange dragon fire shifted and the blazing glow melted into a deep, dark-blue and grew steadily lighter and brighter, now streaked with white.
Raven could no longer feel Bella’s hand or the heat of the flames.
When the dragon’s fire faded and petered into a burst of thick smoke from her dragon’s mouth, she thought for a second that she’d lost her hearing, too.
The field was entirely silent. The sounds of scuttling beetle legs and large Swarm monstrosities thrusting from the ground were gone. She released a shaky sigh and turned to look at Bella. The other girl’s face was completely white, but a tiny smile lifted the corner of her mouth. “It worked.”
The skull was gone, reduced to a pile of black, smoking ash.
Her fingers slipped out of her companion’s hand, and she couldn’t hold herself up any longer. Why is it so quiet out there? Were we too late?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
The stunned soldiers and mages still standing on the school grounds gazed around in amazement. The field was covered in massive Swarm carcasses as if they’d dropped from the sky. The last one near the front toppled onto its side like the others and didn’t even twitch.
“Are they…” A soldier stepped forward bravely and hacked at the closest beetle with his sword with no alarming response.
“They dropped. Just like that.” Professor Worley’s eyebrows lifted and disappeared under the shaggy hair that fell over his eyes. He ran his hand over his hair and turned toward Headmaster Flynn.
The man running Fowler Academy swept his gaze over the horde of dead and fallen Swarm monsters he’d hoped never to see again in his life. His eyes twitched as he searched for movement among the unnatural bodies. They’re not smart enough to play dead. Nothing stops them like this.
“Headmaster?”
A startling bellow rose from the other side of the stables. The surviving army that had hastily joined Fowler Academy’s professor
s turned quickly toward the sound. Leander bellowed again and barreled around the side of his pen. “Help her!”
Flynn launched into action and sprinted toward the distressed dragon, followed quickly by Worley and Fellows. Brighton’s soldiers erupted in cheers. They laughed at their unexpected victory by default and raised swords, bows, and shields toward the night sky. The remaining dragon landed in front of the dead horde of the Swarm and snorted smoke as she and her rider mourned their fallen companion.
When the headmaster reached Leander, the dragon growled but stepped aside. “Over there.”
“Raven!” Aiden Flynn rushed toward the young mage who sprawled in the grass. Her red braid caught enough starlight to be recognizable. “And Bella Chase. You…” He turned to look at Leander. “What happened?”
“They saved your lives,” he rumbled.
Startled, the headmaster looked around and his gaze settled on the smoking pile of ash, the empty drawstring bag in the grass beside Bella, and the girls’ hands outstretched toward each other as if they’d been clasped together. “In all my days… They did it.” He turned to Worley and Fellows and gestured them forward. “Get these young mages out of here and into the infirmary. Quickly.”
When Professor Worley stooped to pick Bella up in his arms, her firedrake familiar jumped onto his mage’s chest and curled in her lap. The man nodded and turned away as Professor Fellows scooped Raven up and hurried after the others.
Headmaster Flynn stood and turned to face the great red dragon who stared after Raven. The army across the field still celebrated their victory and none of them paid any attention to the two professors who carried unconscious teenage girls to the main buildings of Fowler Academy.
“Leander.” He inclined his head toward the dragon, who looked away from the open field to meet his gaze. “She deliberately disobeyed my instruction.”
“Yes.”
“You helped her.”
“Always.” The massive wings twitched out but settled quickly against his back. He stretched his neck to look around the headmaster again, then gave up and fixed Flynn with his wide, cautious yellow eyes.