“I’m very sorry for your loss, Head Master,” he said in a low voice. “But the fact is, Chud died a hero—he was trying to warn us of the Madling threat. We would be fools to ignore his final words to us.”
“Why won’t you listen to me?” The Head Master shouted. “There are no Madlings! They’ve all been eradicated—they’re a fairy tale. A nightmare—nothing more.”
“But, Sir,” I said, forcing myself to speak up. “My father also claimed to have been bitten by a Madling before he died. And he was on Wide Patrol in the Western Mountains as well.”
But it was clear the Head Master wasn’t willing to believe us.
“Lies,” he said, glaring at me and Ryse. “Just more lies to hurt me. Stop spreading your falsehoods and leave me be!” He made an exaggerated shooing gesture at both of us. “Go on—go!” he shouted.
Ryse and I hurried out the door, which he banged shut behind us. After that, we heard hoarse, agonized weeping coming from the other side.
We exchanged a look and Ryse said,
“Come on.”
“Where are we going?” I asked, as he took my hand and led me away from the Head Master’s rooms.
“To find someone who will believe us,” he said grimly.
“I bet Professor Zephyr would,” I told him. “She was the one who said Chud was bitten by a Madling in the first place.”
Ryse nodded.
“Let’s go. She should still be in the Infirmary.”
65
AURORA
Professor Zephyr was indeed in the Infirmary. Her face went pale under the hood of her gray healer’s robe when Ryse showed her the prophecy and read her his translation, but she didn’t outright call us liars like the Head Master had.
“Let me see that book,” she said to him. “I know some of the Root Tongue—many medical terms come from it.”
Ryse handed the ancient, crumbling book over carefully and she scanned the last page where the warning was. At last, she looked up at us.
“It is as you say,” she said quietly. “But if the Madlings really are coming, then we are woefully unprepared.”
“Which is why we tried to tell the Head Master before we came to you,” I said. “But he turned us away.”
Her face looked troubled.
“Ah, yes. He is grieving right now and not able to listen to reason, I fear.”
“Well, someone has to listen,” Ryse said. “We need to get ready!”
“But how?” Professor Zephyr spread her hands. “We cannot magically produce more dragons and riders—which is what are needed if we’re going to be ready.”
“No, but we can train the ones we already have,” he said grimly. “We need to train all the Wings as one and get them flying maneuvers together. We need to be able to form a wall between the Madlings and the rest of the Academy and the villages the Academy protects.”
“Then you really think they’ll come here—to the Academy?” Professor Zephyr asked.
“I’m sure they’ll cause some damage to villages along the way but yes, I would think they’d be following Larson’s trail,” Ryse replied. “The thing is, we need to be ready for them when they get here.”
She frowned.
“I’ll do my best to help you convince the other professors. Some might listen—others are almost certainly going to follow the Head Master’s lead.” She nodded at the book and Ryse’s translation. “May I keep this?”
“Yes, if you think it would help,” Ryse said. “Can you talk to the other professors tonight? Ideally, we should be drilling by tomorrow morning and getting the Academy fortified. There are too many openings—too many ways for the Madlings to get into the Old Drake if we don’t cover them.”
