I splash more water on his eyes as Cindra drags a lifeless wyvernling out of the pool and bites its tail until it takes a tiny, raspy breath
She looks up and her eyes meet mine. Gunshots sound over the crashing of the waterfall.
‘Guardians,’ Atlas says. ‘We have to move.’
There’s a roar as more shots sound. In the distance, I see the wyverns who have been ambushed at the other exits fill the sky with flame.
‘Your Prime Minister did this?’ Cindra snarls at me. ‘She will go to such lengths to find you?’
‘They’re looking for us, Viv,’ Atlas says, climbing out of the water.
I stare around at the wyverns. ‘Where are the others? There are barely fifty wyverns here.’
Another slick body bursts from the water.
Aodahn.
He thrashes in the pool, his tail lashing as he struggles to see through swollen eyes. Atlas staggers back into the water, narrowly avoiding the spiked tail.
‘Aodahn!’ he shouts. ‘Calm yourself.’
Slowly, Atlas and Aberdine guide Aodahn from the water. He lies on the bank next to Marquis, breathing heavily, as Serena wipes his eyes clean with her handkerchief. As he turns to his side, I see the bulging pouch of his underbelly and something dark beneath the skin. It rolls out on to the grass,a black, cracked oval. I recoil. Aodahn opens his eyes and lets out a strangled sound.
‘My egg,’ he rasps.
I drop to my knees beside the egg, but Cindra is already there. She nudges it with her nose and part of the outer shell falls away. For a moment she rests her face on it, listening. Then she gives a small, trembling nod.
‘It’s dead,’ Aodahn says. ‘My child is dead.’
An agonised howl comes from his chest.
Around us the other wyverns begin to echo it, and the forest fills with one simultaneous wail.
Goosebumps erupt on my skin as Serena’s eyes fill with tears. The egg, so beautiful and pearly just a few hours ago, when Aodahn was echolocating with the wyvernling inside, is turning a chemical green colour. I swallow the sob in my throat, unable to bring myself to offer Aodahn any comfort. His loss is too great for words.
‘We can’t stay,’ Marquis hisses from behind me.
He glances at Abelio, who is perched on a rock with his wings outstretched, staring at the wyverns in the sky across the hills. They are still raining fire down on to the Guardians shooting at them, and I think of the wyvernlings that went the wrong way, and the ones that never made it out of the tunnels.
I nod. We brought the Guardians here. It only took them a few days to find us.
And Abelio isn’t going to forget that.
My failed translation of Cindra’s writings is inside, as are Clawtail’s journal and the loquisonus machine. The only traceof the wyverns’ Cannair, lost to the tunnels. I’ll never see them again. Anger fills me. I couldn’t translate the wyvern tongue fast enough, and now here we are, under attack with countless wyverns dead. For the first time in my life, my languages have failed me.
‘We need Chumana’s protection,’ Atlas whispers. ‘If the Bulgarians and Guardians are on this side of the island, we won’t survive long.’
I nod. Gideon and Marquis are already standing, holding our packs and backing away into the trees. I see Serena deposit a tearful kiss on Aodahn’s wing as she leaves him. But Cindra has seen us. Her eyes dart to Abelio, who seems frozen in shock, then back to me.
‘I wish you dead,’ she croaks slowly. ‘I wish you devoured.’
I feel my legs shake as her threat takes my breath away. The same talons used to waulk the tweed snap ominously. Cindra’s tail flicks from side to side, quick as a whip.
‘We will embark towards the Northern tunnels, near the coast,’ Abelio calls out.
‘Can you not see what these years of concealment have done to us, Abelio?’ Cindra snarls. ‘We thought we were safe underground, when in truth an unknown enemy lurked just above. Concealment has made us weak, ill-prepared.’
‘How dare you insult—’
