Chapter 19
WE LAND ON SANDAY. IT’S PEACEFUL in the morning light, the tidal island empty except for a huge dragon skin that lies on the grass in front of us.
‘Yours?’ I croak, my throat sore from crying.
‘It was time to be rid of what the Wyvernmire boy did to me in that tent,’ Chumana growls.
I nod, goosebumps rising on my arms. I don’t want to know. I crawl down off her back and stand in the wet grass, my back to Ruth’s tunnel system, staring out to sea.
‘I can’t be a translator any more,’ I say.
‘Please don’t contaminate my air with your nonsense,’ she replies.
Chumana’s spiked tail curls around me, its heat a balm on my skin. I watch the waves roll like they did when they tossed me against the rocks.
‘Atlas betrayed me, Chumana,’ I whisper.
A low growl comes from her throat as her head swings down to my level.
The white rings around her eyes are made of tiny tufts of fur and the scales along her jaw are tinged with blood.
We watch the sea in silence until voices sound.
I peer down on to the beach. Marquis, Serena and Gideon are clambering off Daria’s back.
‘Why did she save you?’ I ask as they begin climbing up towards us. ‘Do you know her?’
‘Chummie!’ Marquis calls. ‘Nice to see you again.’
‘You will not call me that a second time,’ Chumana snaps as he reaches us.
Marquis’s grins widens until he notices my tearstained faced. ‘What’s wrong? Where’s Atlas?’
‘He’s . . .’ How do I even say it? ‘Atlas has been in contact with Hollingsworth since before we got to Canna,’ I whisper, my heart sinking as I remember the events of last night.
‘She’s here, in Canna House. She gave him a mission to lead me to realise what she didn’t tell me back in London – that the way to win the war is to ask the wyverns to echolocate a kill call, which is so strong thanks to their bond. ’
‘What?’ Serena says as Chumana snarls.
Marquis’s jaw tightens. ‘So Atlas was right? And he knew it the whole time?’
I nod, blinking tears from my eyes.
‘But why didn’t Hollingsworth tell you from the start?’ Serena says.
‘Because she knew I’d refuse to ask it of the wyverns,’ I say. ‘Chumana told me what the Koinamens is to dragons, why it can never be exploited, but Hollingsworth thought that with time, and with Atlas, I would agree.’
‘This cannot be true!’ Chumana explodes. ‘Rita Hollingsworth has defended the Koinamens since she first discovered its existence.’
‘She says it’s the only way,’ I reply. ‘She thinks she can protect the wyverns, can make sure that the world doesn’t find out what role they played, so that echolocation will stay hidden.’
‘Impossible,’ Daria breathes. ‘Every nation will want to know how the British defeated Bulgaria’s dragons.’
I stare up at the dragon I met on the beach on the Isle of Skye. She’s smaller than Chumana, slighter in stature, but even fiercer, somehow, with an angular face and sharp, glinting scales.
‘Who are you?’ I ask her. ‘Why are you here?’
‘I told you the first time we met,’ she purrs. ‘I came to Britannia looking for a friend.’
‘And did you find them?’
Daria looks at Chumana with bright eyes.
‘Oh.’
I stare between the two dragons.
‘We know each other from my time in Bulgaria,’ Chumana growls.
‘I see.’
Chumana only lived in Bulgaria briefly, when she was sent there by the British government to help the Bulgarian Bolgoriths massacre their countryhumans.
It’s the reason she was about to kill herself back in the library at the University of London on the day I appeared to set her free. So is Daria guilty of the same horrors?
‘When Chumana returned to Britannia, circumstance prevented me from going with her,’ Daria says. ‘I haven’t seen her in fifty-nine years. But when I was conscripted to your country at the beginning of this war, I knew it was the perfect excuse to find her.’
I look at Chumana. ‘But isn’t she the enemy?’
‘No, human girl,’ Chumana says. ‘Daria is no supporter of Goranov or Wyvernmire. She is one of us.’
I nod, feeling sick at the irony of finding an ally in a Bulgarian invader when the rebel I trusted most has betrayed me.
‘Krasimir, Goranov and I were fathered by the same dragon, many years apart,’ Daria says quietly. ‘But that is where our family ties end.’
‘You’re the third dragon in the Bulgarian trio?’ I say, unable to keep the accusatory tone out of my voice.
But Daria just grins.
‘I thought Bulgarian dragons didn’t speak other languages?’ Gideon says, eyeing Daria warily.
‘They do when they learn them in secret,’ Daria quips.
I turn to my cousin. ‘What happened to you after you left Wyvernmire’s camp?’
‘We didn’t find Chumana, obviously,’ Marquis says, rolling his eyes. ‘But we came across Jasper, on his way back to his camp to salvage any supplies before he holes up in there.’ He points to the caves that house Ruth’s tunnel system. ‘He said he saw Ralph giving Goranov his blood.’
‘Again?’
‘Goranov was drinking Ralph Wyvernmire’s blood?’ Chumana says sharply.
Marquis nods and I see the two dragons exchange looks.
‘We saw him do it after Wyvernmire gassed the wyvern tunnels, too,’ I tell them.
‘It’s not making him stronger, though,’ Marquis says. ‘Jasper said Goranov was having trouble flying.’
‘Then it is strengthening him,’ Daria growls. ‘Goranov is gravely ill. So if what you say is true, the Wyvernmire nephew’s blood may be the only thing keeping him alive.’
‘Ill?’ I say.
Daria nods.
‘The Bulgarian tradition of blood-perfuming was once a practice reserved for regals,’ she says. ‘But with so few humans left in Bulgaria, the Regal Vasil, head of the council of regals, claims the privilege for himself. No other dragon is permitted to partake in it.’
‘What’s a regal?’ says Serena.
‘Bulgarian dragon royalty,’ I mutter, my eyes still on Daria.
‘The practice involves taking on a human protégé, one that will willingly mutilate their own body to allow a dragon to drink their blood,’ she says.
‘The cells in the human blood create a chemical reaction in the dragon’s body, causing its own cells to regenerate.
If drunk every day by a healthy dragon, it can extend their lifetime by a century.
Drunk by a dying dragon, it can tether him to this world for several more years. ’
‘So human blood heals dragons?’ Marquis says.
‘Yes,’ Chumana hisses.
My skin crawls as I remember how Ralph described a Britannia in which humans are herded like cattle by the Bulgarian dragons. How hard would it be to convince a person to offer up their blood to keep their family alive?
‘Next time I see Ralph, I’m shooting him,’ Marquis growls. ‘We need Goranov weakened, not high on Wyvernmire hemoglobins.’
‘Ruth’s coming,’ Serena says.
Ruth is walking out of the caves towards us, flanked by Jasper and Freddie. They hesitate when the dragons turn to look at them, but I lift up a hand and they don’t stop.
‘Back so soon?’ Ruth says to me with a raised eyebrow. She doesn’t mention Atlas.
‘Fucking Bulgarian dragons?’ Freddie murmurs to Jasper. ‘I thought—’
‘You thought they were the enemy,’ I say, my eyes landing on him. ‘These two are different, although I can’t promise Chumana won’t eat someone if Ruth asks her to, so make sure your lot behave.’
Ruth gives me a sly smile and hands me a pair of binoculars. ‘Over there, above the hill.’
I level the binoculars in the direction she’s pointing. Flying in the sky towards Compass Hill are the lithe blue bodies of the Hebridean Wyverns.
‘That’s Cindra,’ I say as I focus on one. ‘And Aberdine.’
‘Can you see Aodahn?’ Serena says hopefully.
I shake my head.
‘Looks like they’ve decided to fight,’ Marquis says. ‘I wonder what Abelio thinks of that.’
‘Hollingsworth wants me to ask them to use their echolocation to defeat the Bolgoriths,’ I say, turning to look at everyone. ‘But if they do, they’ll have to live in hiding for the rest of their lives.’
‘What’s an echolocation?’ Jasper says.
‘Ultrasonic dragon language,’ Marquis replies cheerfully. ‘Don’t tell anyone.’
Chumana growls.
‘So I’m not going to ask them to,’ I finish.
I look around at them, waiting for an objection, but none comes.
‘So, we ’ent going to win this war?’ Ruth asks.
I shake my head.
‘We will fight anyway,’ Chumana says, ‘No dragon chooses surrender when they could die in flight.’
‘And you need to hide,’ I tell Ruth, Jasper and Freddie. ‘As deep into the tunnels as you can go. You’ll survive a few months down there if you pool your supplies.’
I think of Ursa, who will have escaped Eigg on dragonback with Dr Seymour. She’ll have the sense to hide my little sister and her own baby. Perhaps they’ll go underground, too.
Ruth is shaking her head. ‘We changed our minds.’ She glances at Chumana and Daria. ‘He’s got some dragon-killing guns –’ she points to Freddie – ‘and I want to try ’em.’
Freddie grins.
‘No,’ I almost shout. ‘I can’t ask that of you. You’ll be killed!’
‘We’re not doing it for you,’ Jasper scoffs. ‘We want to fight.’
‘You think this is your battle?’ Ruth says to me, her eyes flashing. ‘We were the ones abandoned on this island. Fed to the dragons as part of Wyvernmire’s Peace Agreement. And I’m going to make her pay for it. This is as much our war as it is the rebels’.’
‘But—’
‘Lay off, Viv,’ Gideon says. He casts another nervous glance in Daria’s direction. ‘I can’t be eaten by a Bolgorith, all right? The teeth, that awful clicking sound . . .’ He pales. ‘I think we should try those Speerspitzes.’
Freddie slaps him on the back. ‘That’s the spirit, Giddy.’
‘We’ll leave the littl’uns in the tunnels with the supplies,’ Ruth says, turning to Freddie and Jasper. ‘If we don’t come back, they’ll have enough food to survive down there until next spring, and I’ll tell my girls to up the doses in their poison pouches.’
I turn away, my heart hammering as they all casually discuss their potential deaths.