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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

Thom was fighting off the animal, his hands up to protect his face, but it was biting and slashing, and they rolled over 154and over as they fought. It had the thick armour of a rhino, the head of a boar, horns and huge teeth, and the sturdy muscular legs of a wolf.

Ruby launched herself towards them, but she couldn’t attack, not without risking injury to Thom too. Milla struck, sharp and swift, managing to plunge her knife between two armoured plates, into the creature’s ribs. She withdrew the blade and it dropped to the ground.

Then there was another snarling beast streaking across the grass towards them.

‘Winter!’ Joe yelled. ‘Look out!’ He pulled his dragon-handled knife out and crouched, blade up, ready to fight.

This time Iggie reached the attacker first. With his powerful hind legs, he squashed the animal entirely. He twisted down and gripped it in his powerful jaws, shaking it to and fro and finally flinging it away, right over the cliff.

Joe and Winter stood back to back, so they could see in both directions.

‘They’re senglars, I think,’ she cried. ‘I read about them in one of those library books. Dangerous predators, native to these islands.’

‘Did you also read about the best way to kill them?’ Joe shouted hopefully.

Iggie kept guard, roaring his fury at this strange animal who had dared to attack the people under his protection.

Milla was dragging Thom back towards them under Ruby’s watchful eye. His arms were slashed and bleeding, and there was a gash across his forehead, but he was conscious enough to look utterly embarrassed.155

‘Thom!’ Joe cried. ‘Are you all right?’

‘He’s an idiot,’ Milla snapped. ‘He should have waited till we’d posted a lookout. Iggie? Ruby? Guard us, while I clean him up.’

The dragons seemed to understand. Ruby took up a defensive stance next to them, while Milla laid Thom down on the cliff edge, and started rummaging through her bags for bandages and healing supplies. Meanwhile, Iggie paced closer to the trees, ready to pounce if anything else should emerge.

‘Right,’ Joe said, putting his knife away. ‘I’ll get that rope. If Thom can’t get the silverblue, I’ll do it.’

‘No!’ Winter said. ‘You have no idea what to do.’

‘It’s our best chance,’ Joe told her. ‘Listen, my dad’s a sailor too, as well as a merchant.’

‘What has that got to do with it?’ Winter looked bewildered.

‘He taught me knots and ropes. I can do this,’ he said, making himself sound more confident than he felt.

Before he could change his mind, he went and picked up the rope Thom had managed to knot around the tree before he was attacked, and he set to work.

156

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tiredness and fear rolled through Joe, and then left, leaving him calm and clear, like the sky after a storm. Either I’m going to get the silverblue, he thought, or I’m going to die trying. It seemed very simple.