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)
Courage, I told myself. Be brave—have faith. Think of Ryse, up there fighting those things. He isn’t backing down—he and M’alex need you and L’eesha!
I dug deep, remembering the few short months I’d had with Ryse. I remembered the way he’d caught me when I fell off the Flight Simulator…the first time we went flying together when he wrapped his arms around my waist and said he didn’t trust anyone else with me. I thought back to when I’d showed him who I really was, how he hadn’t gotten angry or told on me. Instead, he brought me tea and helped me clean up and washed out the sheets that were stained with my blood…
“He loves you,” whispered the voice in my ear. “You can use that. Love will brave anything—love will dare to do what should be impossible.”
Slowly, I began to feel it—my love for Ryse and his love for me. I put both my hands on L’eesha’s neck, and I poured it into her.
“Courage, sweetheart,” I said to her. “Courage and love. Can you feel it?”
L’eesha’s head went up and her eyes—which had been sunken in fear—were suddenly bright.
“i feel it, my Auri!” She told me excitedly. “i feel it now!”
“Good—and can you send it out to the others?” I asked her.
“not from here—we need to get closer. hurry—get on my back.”
There was no time for a saddle. I knew how dangerous it was, but the battle was going horribly now. The sky was black with Madlings and almost none of the Wings were holding. Ryse and his wing were still flaming in formation, but they were the only ones. Everywhere I heard screams of terror and defeat.
I closed my ears to all of them and climbed on my dragon’s back.
“No fancy flying today,” I warned her. “I’m only holding on to your dorsal spine!”
“i will be careful, my Auri,” she promised.
And, beating her huge wings, she rose into the air with me clinging to her back.
71
AURORA
The closer we got to the Madlings, the worse the dark emotions got. I felt them tearing at my mental defenses, trying to find a chink in my armor to drown me with their evil.
No, think of Ryse, I told myself. He needs you now—all of them do. L’eesha can’t send good feelings unless you help her.
I tried to ignore the fact that the Madlings were getting closer and closer. I was all too aware that I wasn’t even in a saddle with stirrups that might hold me in place. If one of those living nightmares decided to snatch me off L’eesha’s back…
But no. I couldn’t give in to that kind of thinking.
Fixing my eyes on Ryse, I concentrated again on how much I loved him. How brave and honest and kind he was. How good he made me feel when he held me tight and how I loved it when he kissed my forehead.
I pushed all of those good emotions into my dragon and then waited for L’eesha to echo them back and send them out to the other riders and their dragons.
I didn’t have to wait long.
“LISTEN TO ME, ALL OF YOU!” I heard her shout. “FEEL WHAT I AM SENDING YOU! DON’T BE AFRAID! YOU ARE STRONG! YOU ARE BRAVE!”
Suddenly, I sensed a change in the air. Some of the terror was being replaced by hope, it seemed. And the dragons and riders who had been fleeing in terror suddenly paused and turned. I saw several of them starting to flame. More and more Madlings began falling from the sky, burning and screaming as they shriveled in the cleansing dragon fire.
But they were all over the place—all the Wings were scattered. Even Ryse had only a few riders left in his Wing still in formation. Off to the side, I saw Professor Humbolt wildly waving his signaling flags, but no one was watching him.
“Keep giving them courage, dearheart,” I told L’eesha. “But give them direction, too. Now is the time to use your voice—tell them what to do and how to fight!”
I felt a surge of confidence and excitement from her and then she surged forward. A Madling reached for me—its long claws set to tear me from her back, but my Golden Queen wasn’t having it.
Whipping her head towards the Madling, she took a breath and blew out a jet of flame longer and hotter than any I’d ever seen or felt before. The Madling that was reaching for me—including five others around it—instantly disintegrated.
I felt L’eesha’s surge of victory and then she was shouting again, sending messages to every dragon in the air to listen to her and obey her orders.
Before my eyes, I saw almost four hundred dragons and their riders fall in line. As the Wings grouped into formation, it was clear they were perfectly spaced and aligned. It was a result that no Battle-flag signal could ever achieve.