‘I want Speerspitzes set up in a circle,’ Ruth says, climbing up on to a rock.
Every rebel, every Guardian is watching her. She looks to Cormac.
‘When Krasimir flies over, you fire together. Understood?’
‘You heard the lass,’ Cormac growls as he turns to the rebels. ‘What’s the ammunition count?’
‘Your poison pouches are your final weapon,’ she says to her girls. ‘If you’re about to die, you can at least put a Bolgorith out of action for the rest of the battle!’
Marquis is nodding, his eyes alight. I meet his gaze and know, with a sudden certainty, that he would have followed Ruth in her plan to kill both the Prime Minister and the leader of the Human-Dragon Coalition.
Better that than lose me.
‘Something to consider,’ I say, taking an awkward step forward, ‘is that the Bolgoriths have poor eyesight. They hunt in packs because they can communicate, er –’ I glance at Hollingsworth – ‘telepathically.’
Everyone stops to look at me and my voice rings clumsily throughout the cave. I promised the Koinamens would remain a secret, but I can’t keep this crucial information from the rebels. Not if it could save their lives. ‘Some of you already know this and some of you don’t, but I’m afraid there’s no time for questions. What one of them can see, albeit poorly, the others can see. A Bolgorith could be preying on you here on this beach, watching your every movement while simultaneously seeing you from his brother’s vantage point. It makes them almost impossibleto escape. Except for the fact that their weakness lies in their telepathy, too.’
Atlas meets my gaze and smiles. He gestures to a group of Guardians holding rifles. ‘You can’t kill a dragon with those guns, but youcanaim for the eyes. If they lose the ability to see in two places at once, they lose their advantage. Right?’
One of them, a man almost as young as Atlas, nods.
‘We’ve really got to go back out there?’ George asks.
His face is ashen and full of terror.
‘No one’s going to make you,’ Marquis says. ‘The whole point of rebellion is freedom. But if you want to protect that freedom for Britannia, not just for its Third Class but for all its humans and dragons, we have to kill that Bolgorith. Krasimirmustfall.’
‘Speerspitzes and any guns or arrows that will take out their eyes,’ says Ruth. ‘Leave your knives behind.’
The man who complained about the planes is nodding as the cave rings with the clatter of weapons. Atlas points at two of Freddie’s kids, his eyes darkening. ‘You keep one of the Speerspitzes on Goranov, understand?’ He glances at me. ‘You don’t let him near her. You shoot on sight.’
They nod. The rebels surge towards the entrance and Ruth lifts her crossbow.
‘For Canna!’ she bellows as children spring out on to the sand.
I feel Hollingsworth watching me. I turn to her slowly, then point to Ruth, to Jasper and Freddie and Marquis and all the other kids.
‘I was never your Swallow,’ I say. ‘They are.’
But if this doesn’t work, I know what I’ll do. I’ll slip away from the battle and find Goranov. It’s not a death sentence. I’ll just be some Bolgorith’s pet. I force myself to imagine a burning Britannia, Marquis and Sophie cowering like prey, Ursa lying still and cold.
These are far worse fates.
‘We have thirty Speerspitzes,’ Cormac tells Ruth outside. ‘Twenty on the shoreline and another ten on the hillside.’
‘And we have ten,’ Freddie says, walking across the beach.
‘Serena?’ I say as she follows him. ‘You can’t shoot with that arm.’
‘Don’t patronise me, Featherswallow,’ she says, tightening her sling. ‘I can still load.’
I step out on to the sand and Atlas grabs me by the sleeve. ‘Stay close to me.’
Cindra and a group of wyverns swoop above us towards Compass Hill. I stare at the sky. I count a few dozen Bulgarian dragons between here and the sea, all airborne. And half their number of ours.
‘Wait for the dragons!’ Atlas calls out to the rebels. ‘Wait until it’s safe to cross the beach.’
The rebel dragons rise up to meet the wyverns and together they fly towards the Bolgoriths, forming a defence line in the sky. I see the glint of jewels in the twilight. Krasimir joins his Bulgarian battalion, although his neck is half severed.
