66. Aurora
AURORA
We found out the next morning that the answer to Ryse’s troubled question—“how many will she be able to convince?”—was almost none.
When we got to the Infirmary the next day, right after First Bell, we saw Professor Zephyr had just two other professors with her. One, to my surprise, was Professor Griven. The Mathematics Professor had a grim look on his face as he nodded to Ryse and me.
The other was Professor Valis, who taught the History of the Madling wars. His thin frame seemed almost to float inside his long robes and his face, which was usually so dreamy and peaceful, looked alert and worried this morning.
“Good morning, Ryse, Auren,” the Head Healer said to us as we came into the Infirmary. “I’ve been speaking to all the professors about the problem you brought to me last night.”
“And these are the only two who believed you?” Ryse asked, raising his eyebrows.
“We’re the only ones who dare to go against the Head Master. A little matter you two ought to know something about,” Professor Griven said, frowning at us.
“I fear that no one wants to believe that the Madlings have returned,” Professor Zephyr said sadly. “None of the other professors saw what I saw—the way Chud Larson died.” She shook her head. “All his symptoms were classic for an end-stage Madling bite.”
I thought of the awful way Chud had died and had to suppress a shiver.
“The question is, what can we do to get the Academy fortified before they reach us?” Professor Griven said.
“And how can we fight them when we don’t have nearly enough dragons?” Professor Zephyr added.
“As for fortifications, we have barriers to block the entrances on the Fifth Level,” Professor Valis spoke up for the first time.
“I know where they’re stored. Enormous, wooden boards cut to fit all the Cavern doors—we’ll need the dragons to help us place them.
They’re too heavy for humans alone,” he added.
“Well, that’s one good thing.” Ryse nodded. “But we also need to be drilling the Wings. We need to be ready for this attack.”
“Good luck getting the Head Master to allow such a thing,” Professor Griven said grimly. “I tried to speak to him before I came here—he wants nothing to do with any of it.”
“Then he’s putting the whole Academy at risk!” Ryse said, looking frustrated. “Not to mention the villages we ought to be protecting! The Academy’s mission is to serve and protect the people of this kingdom. If we don’t do that, what good are we?”
“Easy, Skoren,” Professor Griven said, frowning at him. “We’ll be drilling soon enough. If the Madlings really are coming—and I believe they are—we should be getting word from the villages they’re probably flying over very soon. Maybe even later on today.”
“There’s not a minute to lose, though!” Ryse exclaimed. “We’re so unprepared!”
“Then let’s start getting prepared,” Professor Zephyr said.
“I’ll talk to the Cavern Master and get him to have some dragons help Professor Valis get the closers for Level Five ready to go.
” She looked at Professor Griven. “You talk to Professor Humbolt again—he’s the one who would coordinate the Wings as one.
He wouldn’t listen to me, but you know how he is. ”
Professor Griven nodded.
“Humbolt won’t hear anything from a woman,” he said grimly. “But I might be able to make him hear wisdom.”
“Thank you.” The Head Healer nodded graciously. “As for you two…” She looked at me and Ryse. “Don’t say anything yet. Gossip can spread like wildfire and we don’t want to cause a panic. The minute we get cadets spreading rumors the whole Academy will be in an uproar.”
“What if the news came to the riders through their dragons?” I asked, speaking up at last. “That way the message wouldn’t get distorted or twisted, the way it does when rumors pass by word-of-mouth.”
Professor Zephyr nodded thoughtfully.
“Yes, that’s a possibility. But we don’t want the dragons upset either. We need to find one of them the rest will all listen to.” She looked at Ryse. “Don’t you ride a Midnight Gold-wing? The other dragons should be willing to hear from him.”
“Actually, Lysandra’s dragon might be the one to ask,” he said, nodding at me. “He rides a Golden Queen who can bespeak all the other dragons at once.”
“Really? You ride a Golden Queen?” Professor Valis’s dreamy eyes sharpened as he looked at me.
My heart started pounding but I did my best to keep my face neutral.
“Yes, Sir, I do. She’s the first one hatched in over a century,” I said.
“Indeed. There were many Golden Queens during the Madling Wars,” he said, frowning. “No one seems to know why they stopped being hatched.”
Ryse and I exchanged a look but neither of us said anything.
“Anyway, Lysandra’s dragon seems to have the unique ability to talk to all the dragons at once,” Ryse said, moving smoothly to another topic.
“She has a stronger mental voice even than my M’alex.
So if we want to spread the word among the dragons to be ready for battle, she might be the one to ask. ”
“All right, then have her tell the dragons to tell their riders to get ready,” Professor Zephyr said. “But be sure she lets them know that this is a warning only. We hope we are wrong about the Madlings having a resurgence, but we want to be ready in case we’re not.”
“I’ll tell her,” I said. “L’eesha—”
“already done,” I heard her pipe up in my head. Despite her great size, her mental voice was still light and quick. “i have told them all to be on alert, my Auri. they will tell their riders to be ready to fly if we need to.”
“Were you listening in on my conversation?” I asked her. I knew that in times of distress she could see what I was seeing and hear what I was hearing—which was something other dragons couldn’t do—but I hadn’t expected her to be up this early.
“you seemed worried,” she sent back. “i wanted to be sure you were all right.”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “Just make sure you don’t alarm the dragons and riders. We want them to be ready to fight—not panicked out of their minds.”
“the dragons are telling their riders now,” she informed me. “they are being careful not to alarm anyone.”
“Oh—my B’ormoth just bespoke me!” Professor Griven said, frowning.
“And my K’ellen,” Professor Valis said. He looked at me. “It seems your Golden Queen is quite a quick communicator, Cadet Lysandra.”
“She’s one of a kind,” I said, nodding with pride.
“Very well—we need to get moving.” Professor Zephyr clapped her hands together. “We’ll meet her in the Infirmary again tonight after dinner. By then, hopefully we’ll have made some progress.”
But as it turned out, we didn’t have to wait to meet again. Because well before dinner, things had changed drastically for the worse.