‘The wyverns could be there, then.’
He nods.
‘That’s a lot of dragon knowledge for a boy who’s terrified of the things,’ Serena says.
‘Are you saying you’re not?’ I mutter at Serena. I stuff the journal into Marquis’s pack and take the loquisonus machine from Atlas.
‘Put your poison pouches on,’ Serena snaps. ‘If you sensemovement above, don’t look up, just run.’
‘She doesn’t know what she’s talking about,’ Gideon says. ‘If you sense movement above, then you’re already dead.’
Transcript – BLIGHTY AGAINST BOLGORITHS
Sandy:Today we’re live with fellow rebel Drogo, somewhat of an expert in linguistics. What do you say, Drogo, to Wyvernmire’s statement that the dragons of Britannia must abandon their tongues in favour of Slavidraneishá?’
Drogo:It is language assimilation. A group is forced to abandon its mother tongue, thereby severing its cultural roots. Britannia is both a victim and a perpetrator of such a practice. Scotland once banned its own Gaelic, and the nation has imposed both English and Dragonese on the African continent. I saw it first-claw in Italy in the nineteenth century, when the Savoy government replaced Sardinian with Italian and Sardu-descended dragon tongues with what is now the country’s national Draconic language, Retillese.
Drake:And to what end would you say our dear old Prime Minister is working, Drogo?
Drogo:She would have us adopt a new language and with it a new identity, a new government, a new way of life. That of the Bulgarian Bolgoriths. It is a one-way process. Members of British society, dragon and human, will acquire Slavidraneishá and abandon all dragon tongues, and eventually English itself, with the endpoint being Slavidraneishan monolingualism. The Bolgoriths only speak their own tongue, and how will we obey them if we cannot understand them?
Sandy:Now, be reasonable, good sir. Why would Wyvernmire advocate for such a thing?
Drake:Did you really just tell a dragon to be reasonable, Sandy?
Drogo:In her mind, Britannia would be all powerful. No human army would dare come against her Bulgarian alliance. The British Empire would be one on which the sun never sets. But it would also be one that the Bolgoriths control. And it is not only the humans they will force into submission. If the Bolgoriths win this war, they will not allow Britannia’s dragons to stay.
Drake:You don’t believe the British dragons are a match for the dragons of Bulgaria?
Drogo:Such a battle would require every pair of British wings and every British soldier. Only courage will bridge the gap between us and a victory. And where we lack courage, the Bolgoriths will reap it.
Sandy:Is that a quip directed at Ignacia, Drogo? Best not answer that. Instead, tell us what happened in Sardinia all those years ago.
Drogo:Sardu, its dialects and Sardinia’s dragon tongues were repressed for centuries, by Savoy rule and the Spanish before that. When Italian was made the country’s official language, some Sardu dialects changed, shaping themselves around the predominant language. But Sardu, like Scottish Gaelic, had the heart of a dragon.
Drake:It went down fighting, then?
Drogo:On the contrary. It refused to die.
WE EXIT THE FOREST IN THE direction Gideon gives us, continuing our walk across Canna’s sloping fields to reach the other side of the island.
‘The Swallow is on the move, armed with the best of the Coalition’s arsenal and the spirit of rebellion.’
My cheeks burn as I stare at Serena, who grins into her transmitter.
‘The battlefield is ever-changing – a war-torn capital one day and a sheet of ciphers the next. This is a war of languages and what are languages if not a secret code? Rest assured, people of Britannia, that every cipher has a weakness. And to the Swallow and the Bletchley Park recruits, Wyvernmire’s war is simply another code to be cracked.’ She turns the microphone off and winks. ‘Spirits need uplifting, Featherswallow, and I’m hardly going to give youallthe credit.’
She stalks off towards the others.
‘I bet she was thrilled when Hollingsworth gave her that radio,’ I mutter.
Atlas glances at me. ‘Be gentle with her, Viv. She’s doing her best, despite everything.’
I frown. ‘Despite what?’
‘Her parents,’ Atlas says quietly. ‘Wyvernmire had them killed.’
I stop walking.
