The Last of the Firedrakes Read online

  “Yes,” he said, “but what fun would there be if we were actually permitted to go?”

  I thought about it for a moment. I could go. That would show him that I wanted to be friends. But I was apprehensive, and I was breaking school rules. If Professor Dekela found out, I would be thrown out of school in my first week. Uncle Gabriel would not be too pleased about that.

  Why did the Blackwaters want to leave the academy at night? Where were they going and what were they up to? My curiosity got the better of me, and I had to find out.

  “Sure,” I said finally. “Why not?”

  17

  The Lion's Den

  “You can’t leave the academy after dark,” whispered Vivienne, looking at me wide-eyed. “If the night patrol catches you, you will be expelled from school.”

  “Don’t worry so much,” I said to Vivienne, who was sitting cross-legged on her bed, and had already changed into her nightclothes.

  “You can’t trust Damien,” she said in a whisper.

  “I know,” I answered, pulling on my supple leather boots. “I don’t trust him, but I want to find out what he’s up to.”

  “Why do you care what he’s up to?” said Vivienne, watching me carefully. “Damien’s a troublemaker and can be very dangerous if you get on his bad side. I really think you should be careful. Just stay away from him.”

  I knew Vivienne must be suspicious, and I wanted to tell her the truth, but it was too risky. I didn’t know her well enough and wasn’t quite sure where her family’s allegiance laid.

  I hugged Vivienne. “I will. Thank you. It’s so sweet of you to worry about me, but I’ll be fine. Don’t wait up for me. I may be late,” I said as I gathered my cloak and ran downstairs.

  Damien came to get me from my dormitory after dark. He was waiting near the entrance, leaning against an old spruce and wearing a black cloak over a black robe, like the professors. I wondered where he had gotten it. Although most girls would find him handsome, I thought Damien looked more sinister than good-looking in the moonlight. He flashed me a wide grin, showing all his pristine white teeth. I shivered slightly and pulled my own brown cloak tightly over my shoulders.

  “I thought you were going to back out,” Damien said, a cutting edge to his voice.

  “Wouldn’t miss it,” I murmured.

  Calisto and Zorek were standing a little further away in the shadows.

  “Come on,” Calisto urged quietly. “We haven’t got all night.”

  She glared at Damien and completely ignored me, as though I didn’t exist. Zorek led the way. We followed him down shadowy paths, past the alchemy building, and round the back, until we came to the far walls of the university. How were we going to get out? There were guards at all the gates. Zorek then moved slowly along the wall, to a shadowy little grove surrounded by apple trees. He went towards a particular spot on the wall and moved his hand over it. As if by magic, which was exactly what it was, a little door appeared in the wall.

  Calisto pushed past me and walked toward the door.

  “But how?” I said.

  Damien shushed me. I glared at him.

  “Be quiet,” he murmured under his breath. “We could still get caught.”

  Zorek chuckled; he didn’t think much of it and seemed very confident. He was the eldest and had been here at the school for a while, and he had probably used this secret door many times before. Zorek had the door open before I knew it, and we all followed him through, out of the academy and into the city of Neris.

  Lanterns lined the still-crowded streets, and busy people were going about their daily business. Some were walking down the broad avenues, whereas others were hastily hurrying home from work or simply strolling on the pavements. Shopkeepers were shutting down their shops, and street vendors had already packed up their wares and were heading out of the upper town.

  I followed Calisto and Zorek through the broad streets, Damien walking behind me. We kept mainly to the shadows, and I noticed that we had turned out of the broad avenues of the upper town into a dark alleyway leading into the poorer sections of the city.

  Across the bridge, on the other side of the sprawling city, the houses were massive, whitewashed stone structures of the nobility and merchants. But on this side of the river were housed the smaller lodgings of the workers, shopkeepers, and artisans. We were going still further into a maze of shadowy alleyways and dark streets.

  A few drunk men were laughing loudly at the end of the alley, and a man and two women, with their cloaks wound tightly around them and their hoods up, brushed past us as they hurried to some unknown destination.

  It was a dark and dingy area. The houses here were crammed close together, creating an unplanned maze of streets and alleyways, which you could easily get lost in. The stench was unbearable, and I had to literally hold my nose as we walked past the sewers and heaps of garbage that had piled up on the streets.

  Calisto and Zorek came to a stop outside a shabby wooden door of an equally shabby looking inn with a sign overhead that read, “The Lion’s Den.”

  The name didn’t help my growing fear that something was wrong, and I grudgingly followed them inside. It was not like I had never been in an inn before. I had stayed in one in Greystone with Aunt Serena and Erien. But we had been traveling with Rafe, and with him I was always safe. If Rafe knew I had come here, he would be so angry, not to mention what Uncle Gabriel would do if he found out.

  This place was nothing like the little inn we had stayed at. While “The Dancing Daisy Inn” was quaint and cozy, “The Lion’s Den” was just the opposite. One long, rickety staircase wound underground, opening up into a very large square room with a high-beamed ceiling. The atmosphere here was loud and boisterous. Shabbily dressed men and women were drinking, dancing, and frolicking everywhere. Wafts of stale ale and equally stale and unwashed bodies enveloped me in humid folds. It was even more overpowering than the smell of the sewers. I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

  We had to push past some big burly men, who didn’t look like they wanted us to pass, but reluctantly stood aside. I wondered what business the Blackwaters were mixed up in to be friendly with these sorts of people. They all looked like they were ready to start a brawl at any moment.

  One table had a few suspicious looking men huddled in a group, and Zorek and Calisto were headed right for them. Damien gestured for me to follow him.

  “Keep up,” he said in his irritated voice, as if I had done something wrong again.

  I was going to protest at his rudeness, but thought I’d better wait till we were safely out of this place.

  Damien and Zorek sat down on the bench opposite one of the hooded men while the others moved slightly to give them some privacy, I supposed. Calisto stood right behind Damien, and I tried to stand as close to Calisto as she would let me.

  “Keep your hood on at all times,” she whispered. “Mages are not exactly welcome in the ghettos of the underworld.”

  I froze, and Calisto smirked at the obvious reaction it was having on me. My eyes darted around the room. Talk about walking into the lion’s den, literally. But why had they brought me here with them? I was not getting a good feeling about this. My palms had started sweating, and my heart rate had accelerated. I really wanted to get out of this place, and fast.

  Zorek and the hooded man had finished their transaction, and the man gave Zorek a small leather pouch. I wondered what was so precious that we had all come down into this horrible place to get it. Even the Blackwaters, untouchable as they were, didn’t seem to be at ease around these people.

  Professor Ruthbridge had dedicated a whole lesson to the Eldorean underworld. And this was it, or at least part of it, that I was sure. The man in the hood looked like one of their leaders, because everybody seemed to defer to him or simply stayed out of his way.

  Zorek slipped the pouch into his pocket and got up, Calisto and Damien right behind him.

  Damien brushed past Calisto, and I heard him say in a barely audible
whisper, “Leave her.”

  I was still confused, but my fears were realized soon enough, when Calisto grinned at me evilly, turned on her heel, and followed Damien and Zorek out of the inn in a flash. I turned to go after them, but they were already gone. They had left me there at the mercy of those vile men.

  Dirty, dreadful faces moved in front of me, touching my hair, staring at me. I brushed a few hands off me and tried to move towards the door. But it was so far away, all the way at the other end of the huge room. My heart started hammering in my chest, and my hands started shaking. I didn’t even want to think about the nasty things that these men must have in store for me. How could Damien have just left me here to die or worse? Were the Blackwaters really that evil?

  My eyes darted back and forth. I felt like a trapped deer, and the lions were converging on me. What was I supposed to do now? I tried to remember my lessons, but all that seemed like a faint memory just now. A magical shield would not protect me from those filthy hands. I tried to think, but I was so scared that I could barely breathe. I felt like I was going to faint. The room started spinning, and I stumbled backwards.

  Someone grabbed my shoulders from behind. I struggled, but it was impossible to escape. The steel grip that held me did not falter. My mind suddenly went into overdrive as I covered the possibilities quickly. I had to do something, and I had to get out of here. I hadn’t even learned stun strikes so far, and even if I did manage a powerful enough stun, I couldn’t stun all of them, and the rest of them would be upon me like a pride of lions.

  My legs trembled, and I caught the edge of a table to steady myself. I took a deep breath and concentrated on my power source. Nothing! I was too scared, and I couldn’t concentrate enough. I opened my eyes and stared back into the face of the hooded man.

  The leader removed his hood and came to stand in front of me. Underneath his cowl was a sinister worn face, more wrinkled due to his expression than age. Dark, shaggy black hair surrounded him like a mane, and I instinctively knew now where the name of the inn had come from. His eyes were black and angular, with bushy eyebrows as their ghastly frame.

  I stopped struggling. It was useless; this man was not going to let me go. It was better I played along until I could find out what he wanted.

  “So,” said the lion-haired man, stroking his shaggy black beard. “A Silverthorne! Well, that’s a first. I guess the Blackwaters are getting better at this.” He chuckled, but it sounded more like a cackle.

  “Why?” I asked, trying to sound brave and defiant, but it came out like a squeak. “What do you want?”

  “Let me introduce myself, my lady,” he said, trying to sound gallant, but failing. “My name is Fagren. The Blackwaters and I have a deal. Every few months they like to play a little game with the novices at the academy.” He cackled again, rubbing his hands together. He gestured to the man behind me and his grip loosened, but it was still firm enough that I couldn’t run.

  I felt a wave of nausea wash over me as he said that. What did he want from me? How was I going to get away this time? No one even knew I was here; I would vanish into thin air and never be found again.

  “Why, why would they do that?” I asked, trying very hard not to let my fear show in my voice. “And what did you give them? I saw you give Zorek a pouch.”

  At least I could try and find out something since I was here. And talking was a good way of stalling until I figured out what to do.

  Fagren shook his wild head. “Aren’t you more concerned about what we want?” he said, looking a little amused.

  I shook my head. “No, not really,” I said, trying to make my voice seem casual, and hoped nobody noticed my legs trembling. I couldn’t show them that I was scared; that was what they wanted.

  To my surprise, Fagren laughed. “Well, that’s a first,” he cackled. “Usually those who are brought here, especially the women, are in hysterics by now.” He paused and came closer as if to examine me. “You are quite entertaining. It has been a while since I met someone as intriguing as you. If you weren’t one of those filthy scum mages, I would ask you to join my people.” He grinned.

  The way he said that sent chills up my spine. As if I would join him. Fagren laughed again. He gestured to his men, and the one holding me let me go.

  That was unexpected. I didn’t know whether I should make a dash for it. But I knew I would barely make it halfway across the room before they easily grabbed me again. There were too many there. I decided it would be better to try and talk my way out of it.

  Maybe he wouldn’t hurt me. I tried to convince myself of that, but my knees were still shaking, and my heart was hammering like a set of drums inside my chest. My hands were clammy as Fagren gestured for me to sit opposite him where Zorek had sat just minutes ago. At least he was being civilized, in a way.

  I walked slowly over to the bench and sat down at the long table opposite Fagren.

  “What I would like to know,” said Fagren, “before I answer your questions, is how did they manage to get one of you Silverthornes? You people are usually one step ahead of the Blackwaters.”

  Now I felt really stupid. I had been made a fool of, lured and trapped inside a lion’s den. Of course the rest of my family would never fall for a trick like that. I tried to shrug it off.

  “Maybe no one cares what happens to me. I am just a ward of the Silverthornes, not really family.” I thought that maybe if they thought I was not important enough they would let me go.

  “I doubt that,” Fagren said, his forehead creased as if he was trying to think and it was proving to be a massive pressure on his brain. “But it doesn’t matter. We have you now, and what a prize you are.” He grinned; black, rotting teeth flashed before my eyes.

  I looked away.

  “So what was it you wanted to know?” he said. “What the Blackwaters were doing here? It is all a game to them. I detain their, um . . .” he tried to find the right word, “ . . . victims for a night, and they pay me well to do it. A sneaky bunch, all of them, the Blackwaters.”

  It started to dawn on me. “You’re saying that they lure unsuspecting new kids out here and give them to you to keep for a night?”

  “That’s about the bones of it, yes,” said Fagren, his eyes lighting up.

  I was now worried. This guy was not going to let me go. It may be a game to the Blackwaters, but I was scared, and that was exactly what they wanted. Would these men really hurt me?

  “But you gave them something too,” I said. “I saw the pouch.”

  Fagren grinned again. “Perceptive little one, isn’t she?” he said to no one in particular. Now his face was covered in an almost maniacal grin.

  Suddenly strong arms gripped me again, but this time it was very rough, and whoever it was yanked me up from the bench and threw me onto the floor at Fagren’s feet. My knees were bruised and my hands were cut from fallen shards of splintered wood.

  “Now that’s more like it,” he said, his black, dirty teeth looking like fangs in the dim light of the flickering lanterns.

  “Respect, that’s what I want from you stinking people, if your kind could even be called that. And I will get to all of you, if it takes me a lifetime to do it, one by one,” said Fagren.

  “Why? Why do you hate mages so much?” I asked. This was not going well at all. I stated to panic again. How could I have been so stupid?

  “Ask that bitch Morgana,” he spat. “She murdered my whole family; she didn’t even spare my infant son,” he said, standing up. “You mages think you rule the world, but I will prove you wrong. Torturing a Silverthorne is going to give me more pleasure than I could have ever hoped for.”

  I winced at the word torture and tried to push myself up, managing to stand on unsteady feet.

  “Take her to the cellar,” Fagren said angrily. “I will deal with her personally.”

  I felt sick. So much for trying to talk my way out of it. It had backfired. Rough hands dragged me across the crowded room towards a back door. I struggled, bu
t it was no use; Fagren’s men were all around me.

  Suddenly I was dragged to a stop. The crowd tensed, everyone turning towards the entrance to the inn. I couldn’t see what they were looking at.

  “Let the girl go,” said someone in the crowd.

  I didn’t have to look up to see who it was. Even in this situation and as scared as I was, I would know that voice anywhere. A wave of calm washed over me, and I felt safe. Even the hands that held me roughly seemed to waver slightly.

  The man holding me turned me around roughly to face the newcomer.

  “I said, let the girl go, or you will have to answer to me,” said Rafe, as he walked purposefully through the crowd of Fagren’s men towards me.

  They moved to let him pass, and no one tried to stop him.

  What was he doing here? I didn’t really care; I was just so relieved to see him. I knew he would get me out of here. His walk was like a panther: slow but sure. His obsidian-black cloak rippled about him like water as he moved. He was wearing his mask, and in a few strides he was standing beside me.

  The other man let go of my arm as if I had burned him.

  Rafe’s grey eyes were fierce, and he looked straight at me as he spoke. “You do have a way of getting into trouble wherever you go, my lady,” he said, an amused tone to his voice, despite the circumstances.

  I felt my heartbeat quicken, and it wasn’t from fright this time. He looked at me as if he could see right into my head. His face was hard and set in a mocking smile, but I could see the anger behind the façade.

  “Are you all right?” Rafe asked softly, his voice more serious.

  I nodded quickly.

  “Good,” he said and turned towards Fagren and his men.

  He put his arm around my waist gently, as if I would fall down at any moment, and I was grateful. Even though my legs had stopped shaking, I was still feeling uneasy. I could feel myself blushing despite the circumstances. Rafe was here now, and nothing could touch me.

  “Fagren,” said Rafe, inclining his head in a sort of greeting.