Chapter 22
Noah Turner had never expected to end up in a prison cell. Not in his entire life. No one in his family had ever skirted even close to breaking the law. And now here he was, deep underground, in a miserably damp cell, in leg irons.
His father would be so disappointed. His brother would be astounded.
His grandfather… well, his grandfather would probably have a rather good belly laugh about it and then work out an argument to free him, or charm those who had power over him.
Not through magic of course, unless you counted that of his wits and quicksilver mind, the arguments that he would spin into convincing reasons that this was all a terrible misunderstanding.
His grandfather had never actually broken the law to Noah’s knowledge, but…
But maybe his grandfather had skirted closer than most.
Noah knew how the law worked in Shinael and especially in Tesh itself.
If you were nobility or had riches, if you had people to argue on your behalf or stand to represent you, things like this could no doubt be sorted out very quickly.
But he had none of those things. He was the son of a blacksmith from Alincourt and he’d tried to take on royal guards to let a poisoner escape.
An ambassador had been assaulted. He stood accused by a member of the royal court, a confidante of the queen herself.
He had never been in quite as much trouble as this.
But if that woman had got hold of Jade, or indeed of Portia…
he would never have been able to forgive himself.
It didn’t help that there were fifteen minutes or more of his memory completely missing, or that Portia had accused Lady Moorland of bespelling him.
What did that mean? What had she done to him and why?
He had no way of getting answers. There was no one coming to help him. All he could do was hope that Portia had escaped and that she was now far, far away in hiding somewhere.
He had no idea how much time had passed. He had definitely been here overnight, ruminating on his bleak future. He’d be ruined in his profession. That was the least of it. Moorland was vindictive and would obviously push for the maximum sentence.
He’d attacked the royal guards. There was no denying that. Several of them. Helped a wanted woman escape, taking with her a valuable dragon that Moorland claimed to own, so he had abetted in a major theft. There was a whole auditorium full of witnesses.
What had he been thinking?
Portia, that was what. He’d been thinking of Portia. And Jade, of course.
But mainly Portia.
He was a such fool.
The sound of voices approaching brought him up out of his misery. He couldn’t see anything. The door to the cell was solid wood with only a small flap which could be opened from the far side. He heard the keys jangling as they were fitted to the lock.
Was this where they came to drag him off for sentencing? Or worse.
The door opened, flooding the cell with light, blinding him. He blinked, trying to look at the new arrivals, and not to appear to cower away. He was far too stubborn to do something like that, to show such weakness.
Lee would shake his head in despair. Why can’t you ever take the easy road, Noah? Just for once?
Because… because he hadn’t done anything wrong. And neither had Portia. She wouldn’t. The very idea that she would have so dangerous a poison on her, that she planned to hurt any living thing, let alone helpless teacup dragons…
‘Well, here he is,’ said the prison guard, his tone wary.
‘Why is he shackled?’ Iris Starling exclaimed. ‘Dear heavens, this is barbaric. He shouldn’t have been brought here at all, let alone chained up like some kind of beast. What are you people playing at?’
‘We were told he was dangerous, ma’am. Took on five royal guards and—’
Iris’s glare could have frozen an inferno. ‘It was all a foolish misunderstanding. Let him loose, my good man. Immediately.’
She had that bark of nobility down to a tee, Noah thought grimly, but for the first time in hours a spark of hope flared up in him again.
‘Iris? What happened?’
‘Oh, far too much nonsense,’ she tutted, and then turned her ire on the guard again. ‘Come along. I don’t have all day. He’s coming with me.’
‘Ma’am, I can’t just—’
Someone else cleared their throat out in the corridor and it was the kind of unspoken threat that usually got results.
Ambassador Gilden appeared behind Iris, glowering at the prison guard.
‘Must the lady repeat herself? Or shall I fetch a royal representative to reiterate their command? Who would you prefer to explain yourself to? The king? The queen? Perhaps a duke would do? What rank would suit you best?’
‘No, sir, my… my apologies.’
The man hurried forward and knelt down so he could unlock the shackles from Noah’s legs.
‘What were they thinking?’ Iris muttered. ‘Leg irons. Such drama.’
‘The orders came from Lady Moorland herself,’ the guard protested, working on the second cuff.
‘I’m sure they did. She’s been throwing far too many orders around it seems.’
‘The king seemed less than pleased to hear it,’ said the ambassador. ‘Even less so regarding her treatment of the dragons.’
‘And her treatment of yourself,’ Iris continued. She reached out to brush some dust off the shoulder of his frock coat. ‘The woman is an absolute liability. I wonder why the queen has indulged her so much. That will end now, and she probably knows it. Which could make her desperate.’
Gilden gave a thin smile. ‘First, we must stop her. There’s no telling what else she may do to cause harm and we cannot have that. Diplomatic relations are strained already and this situation only compounds that.’
Diplomatic relations? What were they talking about?
‘Then we should go,’ Iris agreed. ‘Are you ready, Noah? Do you need anything?’
Need? He needed a change of clothes, a bath and an actual night’s sleep, because he’d spent the whole time he was locked up here wide awake and fretting. He was in yesterday’s clothes, all stained from a night in a prison cell, with a congealed beef sandwich leaking through his pocket.
But he needed to find Portia first. She had come to his rescue when he needed her most. He couldn’t fail her now.
He stripped off the jacket and let it fall to the ground. It was ruined anyway.
‘No, Iris,’ he told her. ‘I’m fine. Do you know where Portia is?’
‘I believe so, but then so does Virginia so we must make haste.’
‘What happened? After they took me prisoner, I mean. They wouldn’t tell me anything.’ He followed the odd pair through the corridors of the prison and out into the morning sunlight. If felt like a blessing on his face after the darkness of his night in the cell, like he could finally breathe again.
‘They got away in the chaos, and were seen heading for the Academy, I believe. Virginia and her pack of pet guards set off in pursuit, but Portia gave them the slip. I dread to think what might have happened had you not aided her and Jade in their escape. That woman had murder on her mind, I believe. The porters at the Academy had to stop her accosting students. Honestly!’
‘Portia said she… Lady Virginia wanted to make me poison the dragons.’
‘Oh, Noah,’ Iris gasped, and her hand pressed his arm in reassurance. ‘You’d never do that. We all know that. The nerve of the woman—’
‘That’s the problem,’ he said. ‘I don’t know.
She bespelled me. I might have done anything she told me to.
I can’t remember. There was… there was a powder and she…
she made me forget. If it hadn’t been for Portia…
that’s why she had the poison, Iris. She was trying to denounce Virginia but I – I let her down. ’
‘No, my dear boy, not at all. Spells like that are nasty pieces of work. Like Virginia Moorland. Portia is safe for now. She escaped using some kind of new enchantment one of the students had perfected apparently. They came to me late last night, the Montague girl and her friend, after they had been questioned by Moorland. Terrorised more like. Anyway, Portia is on Starling Island. Virginia has commandeered a naval ship from Tesh port, apparently, and taken that pack of guards with her. Long before Gilden could secure an audience with the king to stop them, and insist on your release. They’re heading for the island. If she reaches Portia first—’
‘Yes,’ Gilden interrupted. ‘We must make haste. Moorland wants that little dragon more than anything now.’
‘But why?’ Noah asked. ‘She’s just a teacup dragon.’
Gilden pursed his lips together, studying him for a long uncomfortable moment.
‘She is something rare and precious. Even I am not entirely sure what. A teacup dragon, yes, but the bond she has forged with Portia is the strongest I have ever seen. Her connection with magic is unique. She linked with my energy effortlessly back in the arena. You heard her speak and no teacup has mastered that ability in years. They sing old songs, and the eldest of them manage a word or two of the oldest tongue sometimes. But that was something else entirely. She spoke to me, Dr Turner, as an ancient might, despite her youth. And she knew me.’
He glanced at Iris who studied him carefully. ‘Could it be Portia’s elixir? She based it on Art’s work, but her magic is so much more focused than his.’
But Gilden shook his head. ‘I have never seen anything like it. And Art had that recipe from myself and dear old May. It’s not the source of this.
It could be something to do with Starling Island itself, or your great-niece perhaps.
But I believe that the teacup dragons themselves have wrought this.
It must be investigated, Iris, and not by the likes of Virginia Moorland and her ilk.
She’ll take little Jade apart in her ignorance and Elanholm would never forgive such a thing.
We sit on a knife-edge already thanks to the obsessions of people like her.
All my work here will be undone if she takes that dragon.
However, first, it is best to make sure Dr Turner is not in any way still affected by her spells.
I can remove the last traces of any enchantments, if you will allow it. ’
Allow it? He’d beg for it. ‘Please.’
Iris beamed up at the ambassador as if he was the sun. ‘There is no one like Gilden when it comes to breaking enchantments. You are in the best hands.’
Noah nodded, standing there in the courtyard outside the prison, praying that it would work.
Gilden turned his hawkish eyes on him. ‘Hold still then. We must be quick. There is not much time. Don’t struggle. This may sting a little.’
Sting?
A wave of magic spilled over him. Noah had never felt anything like it.
He was not immobilised as he had been with Virginia, but rather it was as if he was swept up in a wave, rolled in its power and helpless before its strength.
It wasn’t like Portia’s magic, or anything else he had ever experienced. Rather it was like…
He heard music. No, singing. He heard dragonsong.
His eyes widened as he recognised the glow in Gilden’s eyes.
He recalled the way Jade had shimmered with power as she addressed the ambassador, the way she had addressed him.
Teacup dragons didn’t speak, but Jade had.
Even Gilden had been surprised by that. He had admitted as much.
Because she had filled herself with a source of magic that was natural to her, part of her.
‘You’re a…’ His words failed and Gilden’s smile broadened. His teeth showed and there was a glimmer of something on his skin, a hint of scales.
Noah closed his eyes as the magic redoubled its efforts, sweeping through him, and heard the sound of great wings, as he had so many years ago, when he was just a boy, standing on a barren heath, looking up at the dragons of Elanholm flying home overhead.
‘There,’ Gilden whispered, and the wave of magic was replaced by a wave of relief. ‘It’s gone. Not a trace remains.’
Noah’s memories flooded back. Virginia making him tell only the truth and his desperate search for ways to answer that wouldn’t give anything away.
Virginia telling him to take the vial of Dewsalt, ordering him to poison the dragons from Starling Island.
To betray these people who had taken him in and made him part of their family.
Of Portia coming to his rescue.
He drew in a ragged breath, a shudder running through his body, and felt Gilden withdraw.
‘I see it all,’ said the ambassador. ‘Yes, that is evidence enough. I will bear witness as well. But now we must fly. We cannot allow this woman to harm those we love. Iris, Noah? If you will, I can carry you there.’
Carry them? How…?
Oh, he realised. Carry them. Of course.
The world twisted around them, or rather around Gilden, and they were swept up in it.
Iris didn’t seem to mind. She laughed like a girl, even as the great wings unfurled and spread wide, even as the huge clawed hands closed around her waist and lifted her.
Noah had the impression she’d done all this before.
But that shouldn’t surprise him. Not from Iris Starling.
Noah was not quite as calm. He struggled in spite of himself, his instincts screaming at him to pull free.
‘Fear not,’ the voice boomed from overhead. Not a human voice. Not any longer. It was deep and reverberated through his whole body. It was music, it was thunder and he knew he could trust it. ‘I shall not drop thee.’
The great dragon spread his golden wings and took flight.