Total pages in book: 132
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126358 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 632(@200wpm)___ 505(@250wpm)___ 421(@300wpm)
The South Third Year Wing wheeled together, coming to meet the evil creatures. But even before the dragons could start to flame, their formation started to fall apart.
“what is happening to them?” L’eesha exclaimed. “why aren’t they flaming?”
I was wondering the same thing…and then I felt it.
An overwhelming sense of terror rolled through the air and hit me like a slap. Suddenly, I was filled with dread. It sapped my courage and made me want to run away, to hide, to make myself small and pray that the nightmares coming for me would pass me by.
I had to grip my dragon’s hide tightly to keep myself from running—had to remind myself that I was safe and tell myself I wasn’t going to run, no matter what.
“Fear,” whispered a voice in my ear. “They hunt by fear.”
I frowned and looked at L’eesha—had she spoken to me?
But my dragon was busy watching the battle above and besides, the voice didn’t sound like her.
Then I remembered where I had heard it before—in my dream last night!
“Fear,” I said aloud. “They can send emotions! And they pick up on emotions, too—they can feel them all.”
“that must be why the wings are scattering,” L’eesha said. “look—they’re flying away instead of flaming!”
She was right. The Wings that had been at the front of the formation were falling apart, riders and dragons veering away from the Madlings who darkened the sky.
The Madlings were feeding the riders’ fear and the dragons were echoing and enhancing it. The terror became a loop—Madlings to rider to dragon to rider and then back again to the Madlings, who could feel the terror they inspired to hunt their prey.
How did I suddenly know all this, I wondered. It seemed that the knowledge was just there—in my brain. Maybe it had to do with the dream I’d had or the familiar voice whispering in my ear.
But knowing what was happening didn’t do me any good. I watched in horror as the Madlings fell upon rider and dragon alike—dragging the riders from their saddles and sinking their claws into the dragons’ hides to bite and gnaw their flesh with their needle-sharp teeth.
My heart fisted in my chest as I watched the awful spectacle. The air was filled with cries of horror and terror—the Wings were in complete disarray.
I looked wildly for Ryse and saw M’alex beating the air with powerful strokes as he hovered in position. Behind them, their Wing still held—ragged but unyielding. They flamed on command and a few of the Madlings fell, screaming and burning to the ground far below. But there were more of them—always more coming. The sky was black with them, and the air was charged with terror and despair.
“Ryse is telling them to hold their ground, no matter what they feel,” L’eesha told me. “M’alex says the dragons are scared because their riders are scared.”
“Of course they’re scared,” I said, my throat tight with terror. “It’s the Madlings—they’re making everyone crazy!” I still wanted to run myself, but I was holding my ground by sheer force of will. Only the need to see Ryse and be sure he was all right kept me from hiding at the back of the caverns and whimpering like a child alone at night.
And somehow I managed to do the most important thing, which was to put a barrier between my fear and my dragon. If I let L’eesha catch even a whiff of the terror I was feeling, she would feed it back to me tenfold—she might even broadcast it to the rest of the dragons. I couldn’t allow that that, so I kept a tight reign on my feelings.
“You must break the cycle,” the voice whispered in my ear. “You have the only Golden Queen—use her!”
Use her? How? My fear-addled brain refused to think for a moment. Then I remembered how L’eesha could project emotions. It was a gift no other dragon had—not even the mightiest Gold-wing could send his feelings to anyone but his rider. But my Golden Queen could.
“Dearheart,” I said to her, stroking her neck. “What they need is courage. Can you send it to them?”
I felt L’eesha quiver under my hand. She was frightened too—I could feel her fear clawing in my mind like a trapped animal.
“i don’t know,” she sent back to me. “i’m so scared, my Auri!”
“I know you are—I am too,” I told her.
And then I heard the voice in my ear again—the one only I could hear, apparently.
“Remember,” it said, “It is the dragon who echoes the rider’s emotions. You must master your own fear—do not feed it to your Queen. Give her courage that she may send it to all the others.”
“I’ll try,” I whispered. “I swear, I’ll try.”
Though I hated losing sight of Ryse, even for a moment, I closed my eyes tight. I did my best to shut out the horrible terror that was knotting my stomach and making me want to run.