‘I sent out some ranging calls,’ I lie. I might as well make use of the fact that Ralph knows nothing about echolocation. ‘If you let me put the headphones on, when the calls bounce back, I’ll be able to measure how far away the dragons are.’
I want to laugh at the insanity of what I’m saying and the fact that Ralph clearly believes it.
‘Forget about the dragons.’ He pushes the logbook towards me. ‘Give me the code.’
‘You don’t get it,’ I say, shaking my head. ‘This language is complicated. It’s not something that can be learned in a night—’
‘For your sister’s sake, it better be,’ Ralph snarls. He slams a fist down on to the logbook. ‘Look at this – why is nothing clear?’ He points at my entry for Croon-246 and the hurried notes beneath it. ‘It says here that this call has six variants! And they all meantoburn! Are you deliberately trying to confuse us?’
It’s simple really, I want to say to him.The sound of the Croon-246 varies depending on the dragon emitting it. In Muirgen’s dialect, the call has a slight inflection that doesn’t appear in Soresten’s version. And when Yndrir emits the call to Muirgen the tone is different, much deeper than it is when he uses it to talk to—
‘Answer me!’ Ralph shouts.
I meet his eyes as he towers over me, his lips shining with spittle.
‘What are you hiding?’
Atlas’s voice rings in my head.
Don’t do it, Viv!
Ralph’s hand slips round my neck. ‘Answer me, or I’ll cut that sister of yours into tiny pieces.’
Did Chumana hear my calls? Didanyonehear?
‘I already told you,’ I say calmly. ‘If you give me the headphones, I can—’
Ralph pushes me and I fall backwards over the chair,hitting my head on the corner of the table. I stumble to my feet, wincing, as he comes towards me again.
‘You’ve been lying to me.’ There’s a dangerous edge to his voice, one I haven’t yet heard – not even when he broke my arm. ‘I told the Prime Minister you weren’t doing your job, but she wouldn’t listen. What did you send out through that machine? Who are you communicating with?’
Blood trickles down my forehead and I wipe it out of my eye.
‘No one,’ I say. ‘I just did what you asked—’
‘Liar!’ Ralph screams.
He pulls the knife from his belt. I back away until I’m behind the sofa, looking desperately among Dr Seymour’s empty coffee cups for something to defend myself with. All I can see is the dented speaker from the smashed loquisonus machine. I stumble towards it, but Ralph catches me by the back of my hair and I scream as he pulls a handful away. I dig my nails into his arm as he wrestles me on to the sofa.
‘Let go of me, you bastard,’ I spit, bringing my knee up between his legs.
He lets out a pained cry, but thrusts me backwards and straddles me, grabbing both my wrists in one hand and releasing the knife from its sheath with the other.
‘In Germany, we used to slice the scales off dragons one by one.’ Ralph says with a smirk, the badges on his uniform glinting in the light. ‘They don’t grow back, you see, so it was something we could take from them. And they’re worth a fortune on the black market.’
I struggle beneath him, but his grip is too strong. His eyeslinger on my face, then slowly down the rest of my body.
‘Now, I wonder what I could take from you?’
I gather up all the saliva in my mouth and spit in his face.
He laughs. ‘Bitch,’ he says, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. He places the tip of the knife at the corner of my mouth. ‘This will teach you to smile when I tell you to.’
I scream as Ralph draws the knife across my skin.
‘Where are the dragons you’re communicating with?’ he grunts.
‘There aren’t any—’
