Before I quite knew what was happening, the whole audience had taken up the chant.
“Let him speak…let him speak…let him speak!”
“All right! All right!” The Head Master banged on the podium for silence again. “Cadet Skoren will be allowed to speak!” He shouted. “Briefly.”
Finally the cadets stopped chanting, and all eyes were on Ryse.
“Thank you.”
There was color high on his cheekbones, right where the dragon scales began, but he lifted his head and spoke with quiet authority.
“Many of you may not like the idea of a female cadet,” he began. “But what would you say if I told you, they used to be common?”
There were murmurs from the crowd and some looks of disbelief.
“It’s true!” Ryse continued. “There were female cadets here at the Academy over a hundred years ago and they weren’t just tolerated—they were welcomed. Because only a female rider can bond with a Golden Queen. And only a Golden Queen can command all the Wings at once during a battle. Just as Auri’s dragon commanded our Wings and led us to victory!”
He leaned forward and looked at the crowd.
“Do any of you remember the terror the Madlings sent us? The near irresistible need to run away? The feeling of despair, like we were all going to die and there was nothing we could do to save ourselves?” he demanded.
Again, I saw heads nodding and there were murmurs of agreement.
“But then we felt it—all of us together—hope!” Ryse exclaimed. “Courage—bravery! Auri sent those feelings to us through her Golden Queen. No other dragon can send emotions like that to every other dragon in the Academy! No other dragon and rider could have saved us! We were lucky that Auri came here in her brother’s place and Impressed a golden egg. An egg none of us thought could hatch—because a Golden Queen cannot bond with a male rider and years ago, the leadership of the Academy made sure all riders were male.”
“That is quite enough, Cadet Skoren!” The Head Master shouted. “You’ve had your say and now it’s time for you to step down.”
“I won’t step down until you admit that there has been a grave miscarriage of justice here!” Ryse exclaimed. “We should be thanking Aurora Lysandra—not putting her on trial! She saved us. If she hadn’t broken the Academy’s rules and traditions, none of us would be sitting here today—myself included!”
“Enough! Guards, take him off the stage!” the Head Master demanded.
But as two burly guards came and grabbed Ryse by the arms, he shook them off and gave the Head Master a scathing look.
“I’ll go,” he said. “But I won’t let you hurt Auri. I don’t care if you kick me out of the Academy—she’s worth two of any male here and we’re lucky to have her.”
He threw me a look that made my heart melt and break at the same time and then stalked off the stage to sit in the very front row.
“Very well, enough—order! Order!” the Head Master shouted, banging his podium for silence since all the cadets were talking again. “I am ready to pronounce my sentence!” he exclaimed.
I leaned forward to look at him. What was he going to do to me? Clearly, he didn’t care about the facts—he just wanted to punish me. What would my sentence be? Would I be stuck in the brig for the rest of my life, unable to see anyone I loved? Would I be banished? Would?—
“my Auri, i am feeling very strange,” L’eesha sent to me, interrupting my frantic thoughts.
“Not now, sweetheart,” I sent back distractedly.
“For the crimes of High Treason, tampering with Academy battle formations, and imposing herself on the Academy as a female where, by tradition and law, only males are allowed, in addition to Impressing a dragon egg and bonding with a dragon even though she knew that female dragon riders are strictly disallowed,” the Head Master went on.
“my Auri, i mean it—i feel all wrong inside!” L’eesha sent me plaintively. “i feel hot all over—like i am burning up with needing.”
“Burning up? How?” I asked distractedly. Could dragons run a fever? But they were already molten inside. How was that possible?
“I hereby sentence the defendant, Aurora Lysandra of the Great House of Lysandra to permanent banishment,” the Head master went on relentlessly. “Her dragon will be kept here, for breeding purposes, but the two of them will never be together again.”
The cadets erupted and no one looked happy. Everyone knew that being banished from your dragon was the harshest punishment possible—after the soul-bond was formed, such estrangement was pure torture. In fact, many riders considered death a lighter sentence.
I was on my feet, ready to protest when suddenly I heard a horn, blowing in the distance, followed by the sound of dragons bellowing.
“my Auri, I am going—I am flying!” L’eesha sent to me.
