17. Alfie

Iwas just thinking that I might get to sneak out again that night and maybe I could spend all night tucked up with Blaze under a blanket in that chair, when a siren blared throughout the castle.

Whatever sickness I'd caught, it got worse at the sound of that siren. Something about it made my body twist and shiver, and I was swamped by the fear of what it meant.

Some instinct inside me seemed to carry me towards the grand hall. It was a huge room in the heart of the castle, filled with marble and gold gilt. It looked really pretty in candlelight, but it was ruined a bit now by the deep marks on the floor that we'd had to have repaired. Nobody would tell me how those marks had got there but they were deep gouges, almost like a supernatural power had sliced into our castle and torn at its very heart.

I didn't like to look at them.

I scanned the room and my eyes caught on the large portrait of Lord Somerville which hung at the far end of the hall, in pride of place. He looked powerful and austere, and his silver-white eyes gazed back at me with disapproval.

I tore my eyes away and focused on the people around me. All of the clan seemed to be arriving at the same place. I don't know why we all gathered in the grand hall but it seemed they'd all had the same instinct I did.

Maybe there was something in the sound of that siren that made them twist up and squirm the way I did and they were coming to find Glenwise.

I spotted Great Aunt Evangeline walking in through the large double doors. Normally, she walked very upright and proud. She was the oldest dragon I knew, and probably one of the oldest in existence in any clan in the world. I didn't know how old, exactly, because I thought it was rude to ask someone their age. Even if I hadn't thought that, I'd never have dared to ask Great Aunt Evangeline. She looked so regal and refined that I felt scruffy and small beside her, even though I was taller than she was now.

Although, as I watched her enter the grand hall, I saw that she was paler than usual. Whatever colour her hair had once been, it was pure white now. Her pale skin made her look like a ghost, insubstantial and frail.

Before I could go over to ask if she needed anything, Uncle George appeared. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he'd been running but I'd never seen him run before and I couldn't picture it.

As soon as he appeared, he swooped over to Great Aunt Evangeline and offered her his arm. She took it, though she did it slowly, as though she didn't really need it but she was deigning to give him the great honour of escorting her inside.

I could see their bond. Uncle George had a bond with most of us but his were weak and pale. He kept to himself and the only people he seemed to interact with at all were his son, Glenwise, and the woman on his arm.

His bond with Glenwise was strange. More iron-grey than silver. It was clear that he was incredibly proud of his son but he didn't really understand him.

His bond with Great Aunt Evangeline, though, was almost like my own bond with my mother. I didn't know what had happened to Uncle George's mother but she wasn't around any longer. I never liked to ask that, either.

All I knew was that he expressed his fondness for the woman through pride and dignity and small acts of service.

He stood with her now, slightly apart from the rest. I could barely tell whether she was leaning on him or not but I'd bet she was. She didn't stand up for long these days without struggling not to curl up, not that she'd ever let anyone see that.

I deliberately didn't look at her bonds because they made my head ache. There were so many of them that they looked like a firework sparking constantly in every direction. I suppose she was so old that she'd met a lot of people. A lot of them were small and thin, only a few were rich and solid. I let my eyes slide away from her and the mess of bonds.

All around me, the clan's bonds shone bright. Brighter than usual.

Every dragon there had a link to Glimmer, though he was nowhere to be seen. He must be outside, patrolling or some such.

Suddenly, I was nearly blinded by a bond. It flared so white and bright, like a shaft of morning sunlight through the clouds, that I actually blinked, squinting until I was used to it.

No, it wasn't a bond, it was two bonds.

And they had surrounded me, enclosing me in their pure, protective sphere.

My mother stood on one side of me and Aunt Silvia stood on the other. The bond that strung between them seemed to wrap around me, circling me rather than cutting straight through.

"Are you alright, Mother?"

"Yes, Alfie. Are you hurt?"

"My tummy feels funny."

It was continuing its wriggling and writhing inside me and I didn't like it one bit. The sound of the siren was cutting through my ears, making it difficult to hear anyone speaking properly.

Mother reached out and stroked a hand along my forehead, brushing my hair back from my face.

"I know it does, but it will be over soon."

"What will be over?"

"The siren will stop."

I looked around. Aunt Silvia was scanning the small crowd. It looked like almost everyone was in here.

"Why did we all come here?" I asked.

"Because this is where we are most protected," said Mother.

My stomach lurched. Or tried to claw its way out of me. I wasn't sure which. It hurt, I knew that. Something seemed to rise up my throat and choked me.

My voice came out thick as I asked, "What do we need protecting from?"

"From whatever caused the siren to sound."

"You don't know?"

"The Guardian has sounded the siren. That's all I know. Don't worry, though, Alfie. We are well protected here, with the Guardian outside and your father beside us.

I scanned the crowd for Father but couldn't see him.

Perhaps because their bonds were so bright and open, surrounding me and protecting me, I thought they'd want to answer. I thought they'd be truthful.

Or perhaps because my mother looked so wary and alert, and Aunt Silvia was still peering into the crowd, her eyes constantly roving.

Whatever the reason, I decided to ask, "Why do my insides feel like this?"

"It's the sound of the siren. It's unsettling."

"No, I've felt squirmy for weeks. I don't know what it is."

Silvia barely glanced at me, searching for someone else in the room, but she answered. She sounded distracted. "It's because you are a dragon."

I took a moment to be glad of that. I still hadn't got any proof that I actually was a dragon, since I hadn't been able to shift yet.

"I can't shift, though," I reminded her.

This time, it was my mother who answered and her voice was far more soothing than Aunt Silvia's. "You're safe, Alfie."

"Shouldn't I be learning to shift, though?"

Aunt Silvia might have answered but Mother got there first. She said, "You're still young. You'll learn when you're ready. You can't rush it."

That answer bothered me. I'd got used to doing things with Blaze, things like taking charge and making decisions, even if they were just small things. It was a shock to suddenly be back to feeling small and useless and a baby.

Glenwise pushed up to us. He looked as close to dishevelled as I'd ever seen him. His bonds were flaring up, almost in the same way Glimmer's did, only Glenwise wasn't looking to protect us, he was looking to heal us.

"Where is he?" he asked Silvia.

Her voice was tight as she spoke. "I don't know."

"I'll find him," said Glenwise, and turned away.

Finally, I saw Father. He strode through the room, looking alert and tall. He stopped to speak to Glenwise and then I heard his next words. We all heard them.

"The Guardian has reported ridire attempting to breach our borders."

The fear was tangible.

I'd never thought for a second that ridire would get into our territory. Who thought that? Even the ridire wouldn't dare to attack the Somervilles. We might be a small clan, compared to some, but we were great. I'd been told over and over again that we were powerful.

Then again, I'd heard that we had treasure that nobody else had. Treasure I couldn't imagine.

I had tried to imagine it, but all I came up with was piles of gold, crowns studded with emeralds and rubies, and ancient texts in languages nobody could read any more. I couldn't imagine anything else. I assumed it was probably something like that, then.

Perhaps the ridire had heard about our treasure.

At the word ‘ridire', the bonds surrounding me flared up again and I blinked in their bright light. Whatever illness I was suffering from, it became suddenly worse. I thought I heard a rumbling in my ears and shook my head to the side to try and dislodge the sound.

Nothing I did stopped it, and the sound frightened me.

It was a growl unlike anything I'd ever heard before. Deep and possessive and fierce. I felt sure that, whatever was making that sound, it was a cold-blooded killer, and I wanted to press against Mother and let her protective bonds encircle me forever.

The twisting inside me reminded me that I couldn't do that. If the ridire got in, I'd have to fight.

Me. With no dragon.

To calm myself, and to reassure myself that he was alive, I focused on my bond with Blaze. He was content and safe and I reminded myself that the ridire wouldn't harm him. They killed dragons, not fire spirits. Even if they got inside – which they wouldn't because, hello, we had Glimmer – they wouldn't harm Blaze.

The weird twisting and twitching inside me calmed down a bit and I didn't feel like I was going to drop whole clumps of my own flesh on the floor.

Lord Somerville spoke to the whole room. He sounded calm, clear and authoritative, and he did it somehow without raising his voice.

"My Guardian is doing his duty and dealing with the intruders. The rest of you will stay here and guard our treasure."

Our treasure. They really were obsessed with it.

I didn't really care about treasure. I cared about my family. I cared about Blaze.

Even though I knew it was logical to stay inside, a part of me wanted to go out and check on him. Even though I knew he was okay, I wanted to set eyes on him. Just to be sure.

I had to be content with watching our bond and checking on the bonds I had with the rest of the clan. Glimmer's were as sharp as steel, thin blades that could cut open any ridire, and although all of the bonds went tight with fear and anxiety, they all stayed there. All my family stayed safe. They were alive and they were well.