I looked up. Electra had said just before Liam saved us that these were citizens of The Dragon King, not Quunamg. Mr Allegro was prattling on about how they cannot be killed by anything other than fire or a stab to the underbelly and how the stings were fatal.
"Sir" I asked. "Are the stings always fatal?"
Mr Allegro hesitated. "No" he said finally. "Only the warrior class' stings are fatal. The scouts will throb for a few minutes before easing off,".
"Whose scouts?" I asked, a lump forming in my throat.
Mr Allegro looked at me oddly. "Why, Quunamg of course. Who else?"
"But the Sarsians were allied to the Dragon King. Who are we actually fighting, sir?"
He paused and looked at the faces of my Anchemi. His eyes dropped to the floor. Stephen swallowed nervously before asking:
"Well sir? Who are we actually fighting?"
Mr Allegro sagged. We waited for an eternity for him to say "I think you know the answer,".
Everyone jumped as the bell rang before hurrying out. Adam grabbed my arm and we all hurried to our common room, disregarding our next lesson.
We all stood together. Stephen asked:
"What are we going to do? We have been lied to by all the teachers and the headmaster,". Our dragons poked their heads around the door post by the stables. Furnace spoke:
"We heard everything. Whatever you do, we trust you but if you want to leave, we need to leave now - the Headmaster will be at your room in 3 minutes!".
We all ran to our rooms and frantically started shoving things into rucksacks and satchels.
I grabbed clothes and stuffed them into our bags, whilst Cherry scanned the bookshelf for books on dark creatures and the Dragon King. She returned with a stack of books. Despite the situation I laughed.
"Cherry we can't take all those!"
She blushed. "I know, but they could all be useful!"
To be fair, scanning the titles they did look useful. I added Liam's book onto the top and shoved them in a bag.
"2 minutes" Furnace warned. Lastly, I checked my armour was secure and strapped my shield onto my back, in such a way that if i were to deliberately bend over, the shield would slide down until it was in front of me.
"1 minute!" Furnace roared. Cherry and I grabbed our bags and ran down. The boys had gathered blankets which were strapped onto their dragons and Cherry and I strapped the bags onto ours. We all mounted and Electra and I made to jump off the ledge.
"No Amy!" Adam shouted. "Let Striker and Furnace go first, then we can cover the rest of you"
I nodded my assent and Striker pushed off, quickly followed by Furnace and Adam. They hovered as I signalled for Cedar and Cherry to go next, then Atlas and Stephen.
Arctic ran to the edge and took off, joining the other dragons in the air. Electra was bunching up her forelegs, about to take off just as;
The door to our common room burst open as the Headmaster ran into the stables, followed by his subordinates.
"Go Electra, Go!" I shouted and she pushed off, her wings straining as she flew to the height of the other dragons. None of our dragons were fully grown yet, and therefore not quite as powerful. The Headmaster paled and yelled: "Strike team, Go!".
Cherry circled Cedar towards me: "Amy! The strike team are the fastest dragons in the academy. We need to go, now,".
I filled my lungs before bellowing, "Anchemi, form a V . . . Follow me!"
Electra and I raced across the forest with the Anchemi close behind. If I looked to my left, I could see Adam, with Furnace pumping his wings, and to my right, Arctic, with Barney.
After a few hours of frantically flying over the forest, I mindlinked with Electra:
Electra, we need to find somewhere to rest
Like a cave
It would have to be a big cave
How about behind a waterfall
Oh, come on. What are the chances of finding a perfectly hidden cave behind a waterfall.
Look to your right
I looked to my right to see a breathtaking waterfall.
How do you know there is a cave behind it?
Electra mysteriously replied:
Dragony senses
I glanced behind us to see a dark clump of dragons in the distance.
Electra dive to your left!
But the waterfall is to our right?
Yes but the Strike Team are behind us
I mentally relayed the order to the other dragons and as a group, we all dove down until we were skimming on the treetops before gliding through the waterfall. Behind the waterfall was a passage, a black avenue of shadows. We flew nervously, the dragons skimming the ground in an effort to keep their rider's heads from bashing into the ceiling. After about five minutes, we could see light at the end of the tunnel and the dragons increased their pace.
We emerged through the waterfall into paradise. There was no other word for it. We had flown into a huge valley, with multiple hills and welcoming caves, with lush green grass and vibrant trees. Flowers dotted the hills in the valley, spreading a sense of life and colour across the landscape.
We all landed and, lulled by the sun's warmth, curled up and went to sleep along with our dragons.
YOU ARE READING
The Dragon King
FantasíaBook two of the Alactria Trilogy! Amy has learnt all about her family and has forged strong bonds with her Anchemi. But with Liam on a scouting mission which could take months, and her and her Anchemi to potentially be sent to the front lines of the...
