He saw Ando, Rosa’s dragon, roaring loudly and scratch­ing at one of the bunkhouse roofs. He flew down and turned his fury on the building that contained his person.

The tide was turning: the fight was theirs again.

Ando used his enormous weight and plunged one of his forelegs right through the wooden planks of the bunkhouse. They splintered like kindling and the prisoners staggered out, finally, into the chaos of bright flame and cold moon­light and bloodshed.

Now they were free, Duke Vigo’s soldiers picked up the fight, taking weapons from the fallen guards. There was a new surge as the furious soldiers, prisoners for three days, finally gave vent to their rage.

And as Joe watched, he realised that Yannic’s tampering must have worked: the Brotherhood fought badly, slow to react, sometimes bending double in pain. Soon the ground was littered with their bodies.

When Joe spun round again, Noah had vanished.

Lanys was climbing back onto Ravenna. ‘Up!’ she told her dragon. ‘To the palace.’ The huge black dragon crouched, ready to launch.

‘Isak!’ Joe yelled, at the top of his voice, running towards 262his brother as Ravenna took flight. ‘Quick: it’s Lanys! She’s going to warn the Brotherhood in the palace!’

Could he stop her? Lanys was Isak’s former student. Would she listen to him now and change sides?

Isak and Belara reacted immediately. The huge dragon flapped her golden wings and sped after Ravenna in hot pursuit.

‘Lanys!’ Isak was shouting. ‘Stop! Turn back. Join us! Belara is your dragon’s mother. Don’t do this to them!’

Joe saw the moment that Ravenna turned in mid-air. For a moment he thought Lanys was listening. And then Ravenna kindled and let out a jet of flame.

‘Isak! Be careful!’ Joe cried uselessly from the ground.

Isak flattened himself on Belara’s back, pushing his dragon into a low evasive dive, missing the fire. Then Belara recovered smoothly, flapping hard to catch Ravenna from below.

Joe was shocked to see his gentle brother in battle. It reminded him of a hawk fighting a crow. The dragons’ wings tangled together, gold on black, black on gold, and dropped so fast it seemed they’d both crash into the earth, only pulling free at the last moment. They spat fire, in hot bursts. Now Ravenna banked hard, avoiding Belara’s flame, Lanys low against her neck.

No one had ever seen this before. Dragons didn’t fight each other. Dragons were on the same side. Till now.

263

CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

Ravenna attacked Belara with her talons, ripping into her chest.

Joe saw a gush of blood spring from Belara’s ripped golden scales. ‘No!’ he cried. His brother Isak was in terri­ble danger.

But while Ravenna was so close to Belara, the black dragon was also vulnerable.

He saw Belara kindle, her chest blushing through the yellow-gold scales. She opened her mouth and a huge torrent of flame shot out, catching Ravenna full in the face.