65. Aurora
AURORA
Professor Zephyr was indeed in the Infirmary. Her face went pale under the hood of her gray healer’s robe when Ryse showed her the prophecy and read her his translation, but she didn’t outright call us liars like the Head Master had.
“Let me see that book,” she said to him. “I know some of the Root Tongue—many medical terms come from it.”
Ryse handed the ancient, crumbling book over carefully and she scanned the last page where the warning was. At last, she looked up at us.
“It is as you say,” she said quietly. “But if the Madlings really are coming, then we are woefully unprepared.”
“Which is why we tried to tell the Head Master before we came to you,” I said. “But he turned us away.”
Her face looked troubled.
“Ah, yes. He is grieving right now and not able to listen to reason, I fear.”
“Well, someone has to listen,” Ryse said. “We need to get ready!”
“But how?” Professor Zephyr spread her hands. “We cannot magically produce more dragons and riders—which is what are needed if we’re going to be ready.”
“No, but we can train the ones we already have,” he said grimly. “We need to train all the Wings as one and get them flying maneuvers together. We need to be able to form a wall between the Madlings and the rest of the Academy and the villages the Academy protects.”
“Then you really think they’ll come here—to the Academy?” Professor Zephyr asked.
“I’m sure they’ll cause some damage to villages along the way but yes, I would think they’d be following Larson’s trail,” Ryse replied. “The thing is, we need to be ready for them when they get here.”
She frowned.
“I’ll do my best to help you convince the other professors. Some might listen—others are almost certainly going to follow the Head Master’s lead.” She nodded at the book and Ryse’s translation. “May I keep this?”
“Yes, if you think it would help,” Ryse said. “Can you talk to the other professors tonight? Ideally, we should be drilling by tomorrow morning and getting the Academy fortified. There are too many openings—too many ways for the Madlings to get into the Old Drake if we don’t cover them.”
I thought of the huge openings on Level Five where the Dragon Caverns were. If a hoard of Madlings was to get in there and then fly down the broad staircase, they could reach almost anyone trying to hide inside!
The thought made me almost sick with worry. Was there anything we could do to get ready in time?
“I’ll go to speak to them right away,” Professor Zephyr said. “And I want the two of you to come back to see me here right at First Bell tomorrow morning.”
“All right—we’ll be there.” Ryse nodded and I did as well.
“At least someone believed us,” I said, as we left the Infirmary, where Professor Zephyr was still studying the ancient text.
“Yes, but how many others will she be able to convince?” He had a troubled look on his face. “How many will listen, and will it be enough to get the Academy set in action before the Madlings reach us?”
I didn’t know the answers to his questions but they made me shiver because I feared we would soon find out.