Dragon Blood 3: Surety (10 page)

Amber paced the lounge room floor, ignoring the looks her mother kept sending her. It had taken hours to convince her last week that keeping Crystal’s secret was better than having her leave home at sixteen. She mentally searched the skies again. Couldn’t Flinn and his warriors fly any faster? If he’d been less stubborn about not relying on others, Ronan would have sent Golds to take him through the Void. She’d waited all week to see Crystal and if they’d only have tonight before the rest of the weekend was given over to the next test, she didn’t want them to waste a single moment. Enough time had been wasted at school today. Maybe Crystal was right and school was a waste of time for Dragon Mages. No, she couldn’t think like that. She wasn’t about to give up all her plans for her life. This year finish year twelve, next year uni.

Out the front, four dragons popped out of the Void, two disappearing back into it. Amber ran for the front door, flinging it open with a smile. “Maira. What are you doing here?”

Maira hurried forward, throwing her arms around Amber, chunky silver and black bracelets glinting in the afternoon light. “I’m back for good, Rian temporarily.” She drew away from Amber, looking past her.

Amber let her go when she sensed Brann behind her. She turned to Rian. “How temporarily?”

“I leave Monday. I need to keep an eye on the new dragons for a while to make sure they know what they are doing,” Rian said.

Before Amber could say anything else, Flinn and his warriors landed in dragon form and she watched as Crystal clambered out of the dragon saddle and ran towards her. “I thought you’d never get here.”

Crystal hugged Amber tightly. “We had to go in a million different directions. I couldn’t see a single Gold hiding in the Void, but would he listen?” She sent a glare in Flinn’s direction. “Of course not. He said it pays not to be complacent. I think he just wanted to drive me crazy.”

“That wouldn’t surprise me.” Amber drew back, grabbing Crystal’s hand. “Come on. It’s your turn to get a lecture from my mum.”

Crystal rolled her eyes. “I seriously can’t believe you told her about me.”

“She wasn’t going to let you stay here otherwise. Reckoned it was too dangerous.”

Crystal laughed as Amber opened the front door.
“Better not tell her about any of our battles then.”

“I’m not crazy.” She paused as she saw her mother’s expression. “Well, not yet.”

“Crystal. Have you got a moment?” Donna asked.

“Sure.” Crystal exchanged a look with Amber.
“It’s not like I really have a choice, now is it?”

“Not at all.”
Amber let go of Crystal’s hand.

“In the kitchen, please.” Donna led the way.

“Can you come and rescue me if it goes on for too long?” Crystal asked.

“I’ll send Rian. He’s probably the most diplomatic out of all of us,” Amber said.

Crystal giggled. “Yeah, with you and Flinn being the least.” She strode towards the doorway, throwing over her shoulder. “Fifteen minutes, right?”

“Sure.” Amber watched Crystal leave the room, annoyed that even more of their time was about to be wasted. But she guessed she couldn’t complain too much. Her mother had gotten Crystal here and that was good. Or she hoped it was.

In the end, Amber didn’t need to send Rian to rescue Crystal. She returned to the lounge room thirteen minutes later and the two of them threw on a movie and ignored it as they spent the rest of the night catching up on news.

When they both headed to bed, Crystal to Flinn’s room and Amber to Kade’s, Donna corned Amber in the hallway. “What do I tell Crystal’s mum if something happens to her while she’s here?”

“You won’t have to tell her anything. That will be someone else’s job.”

“Someone who’ll cover up what really happens?”

Amber nodded.

“And what if something happens to you? Will I hear the truth about that?”

“Yeah. They won’t have to hide the truth from you since you already know.”

“Don’t go, Amber.”

“I have to. And anyway, it’s not that big a deal. We’ll be back by Sunday afternoon at the latest.”

“I’m not an idiot. I’ve heard bits and pieces all week. You’re planning to fight. And not in some stupid schoolyard scrape. A full on life or death battle.”

“Mum, I’ll be okay.”

“Like my father was? Like my brother? Neither of them came home and they weren’t even facing battle.”

Guilt hit her at the worry in her mother’s eyes. “It’s not my first battle.”

“Is that meant to make me feel any better?”

“Uhm, maybe?”

“It doesn’t. You’re a child. Barely seventeen. This wasn’t what I wanted for you. For either of you. How could you let your brother be caught up in this?”

Guilt was instantly replaced by anger. “In case you haven’t noticed, Jay is older than me. He makes his own choices and lives his own life. It wasn’t like I held a knife at his throat and forced him to become a mage.”

“I could lose both of you tomorrow.”

Amber didn’t know what to say. Her anger faded a little.

“And I haven’t even had a chance to say goodbye to Jasper.”

“He’ll be here in the morning.”

“For a handful of minutes.”

“What do you want me to say? That I’m sorry? I’ll be the one out there fighting for my life, not you. I-” she broke off, not wanting to get into an argument. “I need to get some sleep.” She started towards Kade’s door.

“Amber?”

She stopped, staring straight ahead. The door handle was shiny, far newer than the timber door. “What?”

“Take care tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Wake me before you go?”

Amber looked over her shoulder. The silence stretched between them until she answered. “Okay.” She continued to Kade’s room, letting herself inside to lean against the door.

Kade came forward to take her hand, drawing her to the bed. “Are you okay?”

She thought about his question. “I wouldn’t have a clue.” Dropping onto the bed, she sighed heavily. “What was I meant to have said to her?”

“I don’t know. Humans are far different from dragons. Kiani would have told me to remember all I’ve been taught and not to shame the clan by failing.”

She wasn’t sure which mother she preferred. Maybe one somewhere in between. “And if you died?”

Kade shifted Amber to her side of the bed so he could lie down. “She would be thankful that she’d chosen to have more than one child.”

“Would she be sad?”

“Disappointment would be the greater emotion. She’d be disappointed that I’d failed the clan and hadn’t proven to be the fittest.”

Amber fell silent, not knowing what she could say to that. And yet Kade didn’t sound at all bothered by his mother’s attitude. Sometimes she couldn’t understand dragons. She fell asleep thinking of all the things about dragons that didn’t make sense, waking to the beep of the alarm on her phone. Turning it off, she lay there for a moment mentally checking where everyone was in the house.

Flinn and Crystal were still in his room, along with his warriors who were near his door since Donna and Gary had taken over their room. Gary was in his room, alone. She searched more of the house until she found her mother in the kitchen, Jasper with her.

Amber climbed out of bed, grabbing her jacket from the floor. “Jay’s here.” She stopped at the door. “And he’s talking to Mum in the kitchen.”

Kade, who’d been in the process of rising from the bed, sat back on the edge. “I’ll let you have some time with your family before we leave.”

“Coward.”

Kade grinned. “I don’t see you rushing out there.”

Amber sighed. “I’m going.” Her tone sounded as enthusiastic as she felt. It took her a few more seconds before she could bring herself to open the door and step into the hallway.

When she reached the kitchen, Jasper stood with an arm around Donna who was seated at the table, her head in her hands, crying. Amber nearly turned and headed back to the bedroom, but Jasper looked in her direction.

“Don’t even think of bailing,”
he thought directly to her. “Mum, Amber’s here. Why don’t I make something for all of us to eat?”

Rian came into the kitchen. “I will make breakfast. The lounge room is empty.”

“Come on, Mum.” Jasper sent Amber a daggered look.
“Maybe you better teach you warrior when not to interfere.”

Amber grinned.
“He was looking out for me, not you.”
She followed Jasper and Donna to the lounge room. “Mum, we’ll be back Sunday.”

“You can’t guarantee that,” Donna said.

Jasper started to speak, but Amber interrupted. “There are no guarantees.” She met her mother’s gaze. “Ever.”

“I don’t expect guarantees. I just don’t want the two of you to go running headlong into danger,” Donna said. “Being part of this dragon world doesn’t mean you have to chase danger.”

Ronan stepped out of the Void. “They will return. Keeping my mages alive is my current priority.”

“You don’t own us,” Amber said.

“Are you saying you’re not mine?”

Amber started to agree, then stopped. What was Ronan up to now? “No one owns us, but you are responsible for keeping us alive.” She could have sworn that for a split second a look of approval crossed his face.

Ronan nodded. “You may learn yet.” His gaze travelled around the lounge room. “In the kitchen. We’ll do the last of our planning over breakfast.”

Amber started to follow Ronan and Jasper, but her mother put a hand on her shoulder. “What?” She was unsuccessful at keeping the impatience from her voice.

“Will he keep you safe? My mother told me all sorts of stories about dragons. They all boiled down to not being able to trust them.”

“Dragons always keep their word. He wasn’t lying when he said keeping us alive is his current priority. He needs what we can do.”

“And what happens when he no longer needs you?”

“We won’t be his priority.” Annoyance hit Amber at the expression that filled her mother’s face. “You told me to stop lying to you.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“No, you just looked like you were about to faint or something.” Amber glanced towards the doorway leading to the hallway. “I need to join the planning discussion. Otherwise I won’t know what’s going on.” Without waiting for an answer, she strode to the kitchen, leaving her mother behind.

Joining the crowd at the table, she squeezed in beside Kade. Over a cooked breakfast, Ronan explained the plan. Once they’d eaten, and Rian cleared the table, he rolled out a map so they could see where all the local allies were for the clan they were attacking. She began to wonder if the most difficult clan had been chosen to attack. What if they called on their allies to help? They certainly had enough of them nearby.

Rising to his feet and rolling up the map, Ronan said, “Even though this is a test, raiding an enemy of your clan isn’t the main objective. If you need to drop the spoils to get the enemy off your tail when the other mages attack, you drop them. We need to capture one of those mages and take out their dragons. Aim for the wings.” Ronan met Amber’s eyes. “They won’t have any qualms about aiming for ours.”

When everyone rose from the table, Donna hurried forward, grabbing first Amber’s hand and then Jasper’s, pulling them to the side. “You make sure you look out for each other.” She pulled them in close, hugging both of them.

Amber tried to draw away. “Mum. We have to go.”

Donna released her. “Let me know when you’re safe. As soon as the battle is over.”

“Our phones work in their lands,” Jasper said. “You could ring us tomorrow if you want.”

“I still expect you to call me the moment it’s over.”

“It’s more than just the battle. We’ll call as soon as we get the chance,” Amber said.

Donna dragged them in for another hug. “Be careful.”

“Okay.” Amber pulled away again. “Gee, why not tell us to wear clean underwear too.”

Ronan, and his gold dragon joined them. “Jasper, you’ll ride Turi. He hasn’t passed all his tests yet so he seemed the logical choice.”

Jasper nodded before he turned back to Donna. “See you, Mum.” She dragged him in for another hug before he unwrapped her arms from around him and, with a grin and a wave, clasped Turi’s forearm and nodded to the dragon. They disappeared into the Void.

“Is that safe?” Donna asked.

“Safer than crossing the road. Look, Mum, I have to go. I’ll call you, right?”

Donna nodded and Amber stepped back when it looked like her mother would hug her again. Feeling Kade behind her, she turned to head towards him.
“Get me out of here now.”
Kade wrapped his arms around her and took her through the Void to the gathering point.

Rian came forward with a dragon saddle and put it on Kade as soon as he changed forms. During the next few minutes everyone prepared, taking to the air once they were ready.

“You all know your directions,”
Ronan told everyone.
“Move out.”

Amber watched as Flinn flew towards the left, Crystal on his back, his warriors on each side of him. Turi, Jasper on his back with Ronan and Brann flanking him, headed for the right. Kade gave them some time before he flew straight ahead, Maira and Rian flying with him. Amber mentally searched ahead, looking for trouble. Unlike Crystal she wouldn’t be able to find trouble if it was hiding in the Void.

When they were within sight of the castle, Amber released herself from the saddle, turning into a goshawk as she let go. Fear and uncertainty evaporated as animal instinct kicked in and her first thought was to chase the birds in the distance. She forced that urge away and flew towards the castle, coming at it from a different angle to the dragons.

Ahead she could sense Crystal and Jasper, also in goshawk form. So far everything was going according to plan, even to the dragons pouring out of the castle and headed for Kade, Maira and Rian. Mentally searching she found the other two teams already in battle. The one thing she didn’t find were any humans. She had no idea what they’d do if they failed to lure out the Dragon Mages. She guessed Ronan would make them organise yet another test to complete.

Drawing her wings in close, Amber flew in through one of the upper windows, landing on the floor and turning human when she found the bedroom empty. Now to locate the treasure she was after. She opened the door slightly, listening and mentally searching. The corridor was empty. Racing along it, she continued searching her surroundings, hoping no one was hiding in the Void. Reaching the end of the corridor, she headed up the stairs, following the directions Ronan had given her earlier. It was taking her longer than she’d expected. The castle was much bigger than it had looked on paper.