71. Aurora
AURORA
The closer we got to the Madlings, the worse the dark emotions got. I felt them tearing at my mental defenses, trying to find a chink in my armor to drown me with their evil.
No, think of Ryse, I told myself. He needs you now—all of them do. L’eesha can’t send good feelings unless you help her.
I tried to ignore the fact that the Madlings were getting closer and closer. I was all too aware that I wasn’t even in a saddle with stirrups that might hold me in place. If one of those living nightmares decided to snatch me off L’eesha’s back…
But no. I couldn’t give in to that kind of thinking.
Fixing my eyes on Ryse, I concentrated again on how much I loved him. How brave and honest and kind he was. How good he made me feel when he held me tight and how I loved it when he kissed my forehead.
I pushed all of those good emotions into my dragon and then waited for L’eesha to echo them back and send them out to the other riders and their dragons.
I didn’t have to wait long.
“LISTEN TO ME, ALL OF YOU!” I heard her shout. “FEEL WHAT I AM SENDING YOU! DON’T BE AFRAID! YOU ARE STRONG! YOU ARE brAVE!”
Suddenly, I sensed a change in the air. Some of the terror was being replaced by hope, it seemed.
And the dragons and riders who had been fleeing in terror suddenly paused and turned.
I saw several of them starting to flame.
More and more Madlings began falling from the sky, burning and screaming as they shriveled in the cleansing dragon fire.
But they were all over the place—all the Wings were scattered. Even Ryse had only a few riders left in his Wing still in formation. Off to the side, I saw Professor Humbolt wildly waving his signaling flags, but no one was watching him.
“Keep giving them courage, dearheart,” I told L’eesha. “But give them direction, too. Now is the time to use your voice—tell them what to do and how to fight!”
I felt a surge of confidence and excitement from her and then she surged forward. A Madling reached for me—its long claws set to tear me from her back, but my Golden Queen wasn’t having it.
Whipping her head towards the Madling, she took a breath and blew out a jet of flame longer and hotter than any I’d ever seen or felt before. The Madling that was reaching for me—including five others around it—instantly disintegrated.
I felt L’eesha’s surge of victory and then she was shouting again, sending messages to every dragon in the air to listen to her and obey her orders.
Before my eyes, I saw almost four hundred dragons and their riders fall in line. As the Wings grouped into formation, it was clear they were perfectly spaced and aligned. It was a result that no Battle-flag signal could ever achieve.
I felt a surge of confidence from the assembled dragons and knew they were projecting the feelings of their riders. The tide of battle was turning—the confusion and terror was over, replaced with confidence and courage.
The Madlings were now literally flying blind. Their burning red eyes, blind in the sunlight, were useless to them. And the terror they were hunting for was gone, leaving them to fly aimlessly, searching for prey that was now essentially invisible.
L’eesha took full advantage of their blindness.
“FLAME!” I heard her shouting. “THEY CAN’T SEE YOU WHEN YOU’RE NOT AFRAID! FLAME THEM!”
As one, the dragons obeyed her. Almost four hundred jets of white-hot dragon fire shot out at the same time. Madlings shrieked and sizzled, dropping from the sky in burning clumps.
I felt a surge of triumph and sent it to L’eesha, who fed it to all the others. They flamed again and again, wheeling through the sky in brightly colored patterns as she directed them effortlessly. There wasn’t a single collision or a single break in the pattern.
But she wasn’t controlling them—she was directing them, I thought.
The Wing Leaders took their cues from her and their Wings followed their lead.
And all the time, L’eesha kept sending confidence and love and courage and bravery until I couldn’t feel a bit of the terror and dread which had filled the air only a few minutes before.
But as many Madlings as the dragons flamed from the sky, there always seemed to be more. The battle went on and on. The Wings worked tirelessly, slowly clearing the evil threat and my hands grew tired from gripping onto L’eesha’s long dorsal spine.
Occasionally the Madlings threatened us, but L’eesha was flaming them without a second thought now. Her fire was so hot and reached so far, she was able to keep the air around me clear almost effortlessly.
And then, just when it looked like most of the Madlings were gone, I saw it happen—a single Madling got past M’alex’s fire and fell like a stone, landing on Ryse’s back.
“Ryse—no!” I shouted and L’eesha felt my terror for him.
She managed not to project it—which was more than I could say for myself—but she bugled for M’alex, and I heard her shouting for him to come in quickly.
The huge Midnight Gold-wing turned at once, beating his way through the chaos. Diving and weaving through the formation and the fighting, he headed for the Flight Terraces.
L’eesha sped back to the Terraces too and the moment she landed, I was already sliding off her back, waiting anxiously for M’alex to land.
“HURRY! HURRY!” I could hear L’eesha shouting. “HURRY UP AND LAND!”
The Midnight Gold-wing came in fast and barely managed to stop in time. The Terrace workers scattered as he slid to a halt and then I was running to his side.
The Madling was clinging to Ryse’s back, and it had its long, needle teeth sunk into his shoulder. He fell out of the saddle and rolled down M’alex’s foreleg with the thing still on him.
“HELP HIM! OH HELP HIM!” L’eesha was begging, but none of the Terrace workers were coming anywhere near. They all knew that a Madling bite meant death and they weren’t willing to risk their lives for a rider who was already as good as dead.
M’alex was keening with distress and pawing at the thing on Ryse’s back. I could feel L’eesha wanted to flame it, but I knew if she did, she would kill them both.
“No, no!” I shouted to her and M’alex both, in case he had the same idea she did. “No, don’t flame them—you’ll kill Ryse too!”
“At least fire is a clean death.”
I whipped my head around and saw Professor Zephyr standing there with a sorrowful look in her eyes. Beside her were several other Healers as well as the Head Master, who wasn’t part of any of the Wings and so hadn’t flown out with the rest of the Academy.
“She’s right, lad,” he said to me now. “Let the dragons flame them. I know how you feel about Skoren, but he’s gone now. You don’t want him to end like…like…”
But he couldn’t go on and I knew he was thinking of his lost son.
I wasn’t about to lose Ryse, though.
“Give me your dagger!” I demanded, glaring up at the Head Master. He was dressed in his battle uniform, and I could see the jeweled hilt of his ceremonial dagger at his side.
“What?” He frowned at me in confusion.
I had no time to ask again. Darting forward, I grabbed the hilt and pulled the dagger free. Then I ran to where Ryse was still grappling with the abomination on his back.
The Madling had him in a death grip—its long skinny arms and legs wrapped around his body as it gnawed on his shoulder. Ryse’s golden eyes were slitted in pain as he tried unsuccessfully to throw it off.
When he saw me coming, his eyes went wide, and he tried to shake his head.
“No, Auri! Don’t!” he cried hoarsely.
I didn’t bother replying. Dodging around the grappling pair, I waited until I saw my chance. Then, using all the strength I’d gained from the hours working out with him each morning, I drove the sharp silver blade of the dagger deep into the Madling’s back.
It let go of him at once. Screeching and flailing, it twisted and writhed, desperately trying to get the dagger out of its back. Its black teeth were red with Ryse’s blood, which only made me angrier. I kicked it as hard as I could and it rounded on me, screeching in fury.
“GET BACK!” I heard L’eesha shout in my head. “GET BACK, MY AURI! IT’S FAR ENOUGH FROM RYSE NOW. I AM GOING TO FLAME IT!”
I jumped to the side as the Madling rolled away, getting closer to the edge of the Flight Terrace. It seemed to think that it could still fly away, but L’eesha wasn’t having that.
“DIE YOU EVIL THING!” I heard her yell and then a swath of white-hot dragon fire shot from her mouth and the Madling was disintegrated.
Almost before it died, I was on the ground, turning Ryse over.
But it was already too late.