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)
“You can’t cage the Queen!”
“My dragon says we’ll defend the Queen if you try to chain her!”
“How dare you speak of chaining the Queen!”
“Enough! Enough!”
To my surprise, the person shouting this time wasn’t the Head Master—it was the Head Healer. Professor Zephyr rose and came up onto the stage. She waved her hands for quiet and finally, the shouting began to die down. But outside the dragons were still roaring and I could feel L’eesha’s rage at the idea that we should be separated.
“Listen to me,” Professor Zephyr said to the crowd. “No one is going to separate the Golden Queen from her rider.”
“What?” the Head Master demanded. “I have already pronounced the sentence!”
“Then you’ll just have to take it back,” the Head Healer said, frowning sternly. “Can’t you tell what the Golden Queen means to the dragons of this Academy? She saved all their lives! You can’t punish her just because her rider is a woman!”
“But…it was her rider I meant to punish!” The Head Master pointed at me. “Aurora Lysandra is guilty of—”
“The only thing she’s guilty of is being a woman,” Professor Zephyr snapped, apparently losing her temper at last. “Rather than throwing her out, you ought to be recruiting more like her!”
“What?” The Head Master looked truly outraged now. “Are you suggesting we should let more female riders enter the Academy?”
“That is exactly what I’m saying,” Professor Zephyr said, frowning. “I have been studying the ancient manuscripts that Cadet Skoren found in the library, and it is my belief that the Madling attack we suffered was not an isolated incident.”
Her words quieted everyone. Outside, even the dragons stopped roaring, and I realized they were listening to what she had to say through their riders.
“What do you mean?” The Head Master narrowed his eyes at her.
“I have found records of the previous Madling attacks,” she told him. “They come in cycles—cycles we forgot because it’s been so long since they multiplied and came out of hiding. But once a cycle starts, it doesn’t end for years. We need more dragons like Cadet Lysandra’s Golden Queen to lead the Wings into battle. And in order to have more Golden Queens, we need more female riders because they won’t bond with males.”
“This is all ridiculous!” The Head Master blustered.
“Is it?” Professor Zephyr asked quietly. “Have you spoken to your own dragon lately, Head Master? Ask any of the riders what their dragons are saying—they understand the Madlings in a way we don’t—they were literally bred to fight them. Go on—ask your own dragon what she thinks.”
From the twisted, unhappy expression on the Head Master’s face, his dragon—a Turquoise Gold-wing, was agreeing with the Head Healer.
“But we can’t let in more female riders!” he argued and I had a feeling he was arguing with his own dragon as much as with Professor Zephyr. “It’s Academy tradition—we never allow female riders!”
“Are traditions more important than the continuation of the Academy?” Professor Zephyr demanded. “Wouldn’t you rather open our doors to new riders and dragons than see everything you’ve worked for your entire life turned to ash the next time the Madlings come calling? Because mark my words, Head Master, they will come again and next time there will be more of them.”
The Head Master looked like a man beset on every side. His jaw was clenched so hard a muscle was jumping in his temple, and his hands were fists at his sides.
“You can’t live in the past, Henry,” Professor Zephyr said softly, and I saw she was appealing to him personally. “You don’t want what happened to Chud to happen to other cadets too—or to the innocent villagers we’re charged with protecting. In order to fight the coming menace, the Academy must change and grow and adapt.”
“But everyone knows females can’t be dragon riders,” he muttered, but I could see the doubt on his face.
“That’s a lie that was spread by the Head Master from over a hundred years ago.” It was Ryse. He had come to the edge of the stage and was looking up at the Head Master and the Head Healer. “He wanted to get rid of the Golden Queens because he didn’t like the power they had over the other dragons. Before he drove the Queens and their riders away, there were plenty of female riders.”
The muscle in the side of the Head Master’s jaw clenched tight again and then he glared first at Ryse, then and Professor Zephyr, and finally at me.
“Fine,” he said at last. “Lysandra will be allowed to remain.”
Then he turned and left the stage with his brows pulled low and his hands fisted at his sides.
I blew out a breath of pure relief and Professor Zephyr turned to me.
“Well, my dear—it seems you’ve won a victory—albeit a grudging one,” she said to me.