‘Not yet,’ Ralph replies.
His hand rises to settle on the back of my neck. He squeezes. ‘No more negotiating,’ he says softly. ‘Here’s how this is going to go. I will tell the Prime Minister that I arrested you trying to break into this tent. She’ll hold you prisoner, to use as a bargaining chip for the rebels’ immediate surrender, because she’s still too oblivious to realise that the Bulgarians will have disposed of her in a few days’ time. I’ll come to you tonight and take you to Goranov and his brother. I want to know what they are saying to each other – and if what he has promised me is true.’
I breathe through my tears, staring at the wooden platform up by Chumana’s head. It’s suspended by more chains and accessed by a portable stairlift.
‘Why aren’t you with Goranov now?’ I say shakily.
‘He prefers to fly without me,’ Ralph replies, a hint of bitterness in his voice. ‘When we reach him, you’re to stay hidden with the machine. If you can find out what I want to know, I’ll make sure he sees your value when Britannia falls to the Bolgoriths. Understand?’
I nod. ‘What happened on Eigg?’
‘The Prime Minister attacked, but the rebels defended it well. Most escaped on dragonback. She’s furious.’
Thank goodness.
‘Not as furious as she was when she found out the Chancellor is an undercover rebel.’ He looks at me. ‘Of course, she’s guessed that’s who you were working for.’
‘Did a rebel betray her? I mean Hollingsworth.’
‘A dragon,’ Ralph nods. ‘In exchange for her dragonlings’ lives.’
I close my eyes, thinking of the newspaper report Atlas found. When I open them, I see a tiny pulse in Chumana’s throat. Atlas won’t be able to free her from those chains and if I set one foot out of line, Wyvernmire will have her killed. My only way out of this is to give Ralph what he wants. I feel the barrel of his gun between my shoulder blades.
‘On your knees, Featherswallow.’
I sink to the ground.
Shouts sound from outside. Ralph swears and we both gostill, listening. Then I hear the unmistakeable whoosh of flame.
‘Fuck!’ Ralph cries.
He seizes the collar of my coat and pulls me to my feet, then presses his nose to mine.
‘Stay here,’ he snarls, a fleck of saliva landing on my face. ‘Don’t try to escape – you’ll only be burned alive.’
He dips out of the tent and I wipe my cheek with my sleeve, listening as someone starts to scream. My feet carry me to the stairlift as gunshots sound outside. It creaks as I climb, until the sound is drowned out by the sudden boom of a cannon. The Speerspitzes.
My breath catches in my throat as I reach Chumana’s head. It hangs down on to her chest, blood dripping from a deep gash below her eye. I see the white glint of bone. I reach out, my arms wide, and gently cradle her hot, spiked face in my arms.
‘Chumana,’ I whisper. ‘It’s me. It’s Viv.’
She lets out a long, slow breath.
‘How long have you been here?’
‘Three days,’ she replies, her voice weak. ‘You must leave.’
A Speerspitze fires again.
‘I’m not going anywhere without you,’ I reply.
‘Then you are a fool.’
A laugh bursts from my throat, turning into more sobs.
Chumana’s head moves slightly so that one of her amber eyes is looking into mine.
‘Wyvernmire still wants you and that loquisonus machine,’ she growls. ‘She hasn’t been able to get your location out of me, so now she leaves me here in the hope you willbe drawn to the bait. And you have walked straight into her trap, you stupid, stupid child.’
