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Contents ( 50)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  42. CHAPTER FORTY
  43. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  47. EPILOGUE
  48. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  49. Also by Liz Flanagan:
  50. COPYRIGHT

143

CHAPTER TWENTY

Joe and Winter got barely any sleep after running around the city all night. They managed a brief visit to the eggs after they’d left Tiago at the healing house, making him promise never to say who had helped him. It seemed to Joe that he had only just closed his eyes when Thom was there, shaking him awake in the dim warmth of the old dragonhall.

‘Come on, today’s the day.’ Thom sounded painfully cheerful.

Joe struggled into his warmest clothes, clumsy with fatigue, yawning constantly. Milla had found the fur-lined hat and long leather gloves his mother had given him on his birthday, which he had left behind that awful day, and he pulled them on gratefully now. He was going to ride on a dragon!

Milla lent Winter a set of her dragonrider blues, insist­ing she needed to be well wrapped up for the heights they’d 144reach on their flight. ‘The winds go right through you up there,’ she said, making her put on a hat, scarf and gloves. ‘And, Joe? I’ve got something else that belongs to you. Come here.’

She stood on her tiptoes and reached up to fasten some­thing round Joe’s neck. He felt the cool metal disc settle into place at his throat, where it belonged, and he knew it was the medal she’d given him on his birthday. ‘I haven’t earned it yet,’ he whispered.

‘You never had to. We are family, Joe. Nothing will change that.’

‘Thank you,’ he mumbled, praying that he would be worthy of it one day soon.

‘What’s wrong with you two today?’ Milla asked next, peering at them more closely.

Joe met Winter’s glance. Milla was right: she looked awful, with purple shadows under her eyes. Winter shook her head slightly. They’d agreed not to talk about the attack last night. Tiago was safe and cared for. If they told Milla now, she would want to investigate, the trip would be delayed, and their eggs might miss their chance at hatching. They didn’t know how long the cave stream would run warm.

Time was running out.

‘Didn’t sleep much,’ Joe said, ‘from excitement.’ That part was almost true.

While the dragons ate huge quantities of roast goat, Joe forced himself to eat a bread roll, even though it seemed tasteless and claggy in his throat.

The dragons took themselves for a short warm-up flight 145before their long journey, and Joe, Winter, Milla and Thom walked in a strange procession, laden with supplies, to meet them on the highest point of the island. The hill behind the palace was the easiest place to launch from, Milla told them.

‘You all right, Joe?’ Thom called as he led the way. ‘Ready?’

Joe let out a strange laugh. No. He wasn’t all right. He was something else entirely. ‘Fine,’ he managed to say. He was shivering hard, and he had no idea if it was from cold, nerves or excitement. One thing was clear: he felt as though his real life had begun. At last. It had begun the day he met the purple egg. Here he was, setting out to achieve something, finally.