‘Aie!’ Milla screamed, ducking down and plunging her fingers into a bowl of spring water. She’d burned herself, touching Ravenna’s throat. She’d burned herself saving Joe’s life.

The other dragons crowded close, circling Milla, while Iggie sprang to her defence. Iggie growled and bared his teeth, furious with Ravenna for hurting Milla. They faced off: blue dragon and black dragon, wings spread, jaws open.

Ravenna flamed again.

Iggie ducked his huge head, just in time, and the flag behind him caught fire.

The sacred ceremony fell into chaos. Children started crying. People turned to flee, screaming, bunching up so tightly that some got crushed in the stampede.

Isak was gathering all the newly bonded and their hatch­lings to him, and his dragon, Belara, joined him now to protect them, golden wings spread wide. 38

Duke Vigo was bellowing for calm, but the smoke made him cough and his words were lost.

Tarya and Rosa both had their swords drawn. They were shouting orders to their troops, marching in from the sides of the square, but the dragons blocked their way. They couldn’t reach those who needed them most.

‘Help!’ a desperate voice cried. ‘My son! He’s getting trampled! Get back. Oh, help us!’

But no one listened as the crowd surged away, trying to escape the dragons and the fire.

And suddenly the Brotherhood were there, black-clad men at the back of the marketplace. Some were hauling people up to safety, while others shouted insults at Duke Vigo and Joe’s sister.

‘Some duke you are!’ one called. ‘Letting this happen? You’re not fit to rule.’

‘A general who can’t calm her kid brother?’ yelled another. ‘She can’t lead an army, not in her state, not ever!’

One of them stood apart, watching Joe, watching the chaos.

Joe had done this. Shame filled him and fuelled his escape. He pushed through the panicking crowd, moving against the tide, away from the city. People turned from him. Their faces told him he was a monster. Horrified, he shouldered his way through, faster and faster, his breath coming in gasps, his whole body surging with fiery anger and remorse.

His new white jacket ripped. He was glad. These ridiculous clothes marked him out for what he was now: a failure. A waddler. He was leaving. He couldn’t go home, 39not now, not after seeing his parents’ horror-stricken faces. He couldn’t ever follow his friends to the dragonhall, not without a dragon of his own.

Joe rushed away from the ceremony he’d ruined, knowing that what he had done was something he could never take back.

40

CHAPTER SIX

Joe didn’t know where he was going. Driven by anger and guilt, he ran on, on, on, through the deserted docks of Arcosi baking in the hot sun. He’d never seen the city so quiet. The only noise was his clattering footsteps, echoing round the narrow, twisting streets.

He reached the edge of the city, where the houses and shops gave way to warehouses overlooking the harbour. His father still owned some of these. He couldn’t think about him now. He pushed on, further west, to where the buildings ended. He crossed the shallow beach where he’d learned to swim, his tired feet slowed by the soft golden sand. He had only good memories of this place – playing in the surf; chasing shoals of little silver fish through clear blue sea; swimming right out to the ancient weathered rocks that edged the beach, their worn arches like a sea serpent’s coils turned to stone. But today the beauty of the place only taunted him. It belonged to his past life, and that was gone. 41