2. Alfie

My large room doubled as a schoolroom during the day. My door was propped open and I was made to sit at my desk, working at my books. I'd never minded before, but that was because I'd always been tutored with my brother. Now Morgan was gone and I was alone.

I hadn't realised how much I relied on him until he wasn't there.

Considering we spent large numbers of our hours together sitting in silence, I hadn't realised that his absence would leave a yawning hole in my day. Still, it had been some comfort, to sit there with someone. To know that he was nearby, that we were both waiting to be released from our duty, to be able to roll our eyes at each other if we were sure nobody was looking…

I missed feeling him there, with the little thread of bond we shared strung tightly between us, stronger than any other bond I had. Morgan might be two years older than me, but we were more like twins than brothers. We looked so alike that our previous tutor had often called me by his name, and I'd answered.

When Morgan had left two weeks ago, I'd been devastated. I'd felt something twitch inside me, like my stomach was cramping and I was about to be sick, even though I wasn't. Or like my stomach had suddenly become independent from me and had decided it didn't want to be separated from Morgan and was lurching after him.

I'd worried for a while that my insides would break out of me and spill all over the floor, just because I didn't want Morgan to go.

In fact, I'd been so worried about the way my stomach behaved that I'd risked telling my mother about it, even though I didn't want her to worry. She'd said something about growing pains, and that the feeling would subside. I wasn't sure what to think about that, since I'd never got those kind of growing pains before.

I wished I could talk to Morgan about it, but I didn't want to bother him all the time and I really didn't want him to worry about me. He had enough to do, learning to fight among the curaidh.

I sighed, turning the page of my book, and then turning it back when I realised I hadn't taken in any of the previous page and I'd have to re-read it anyway.

I was half-way down that page for the second time when I felt one of my bonds. They never hurt but there was always a part of me that was aware of them. One of them rose in my awareness, which usually meant that someone was near me. I focused on the bond, identifying which it was. There were many, one for each of my clan.

This one belonged to Glimmer. It shone with a particular vigour, some metallic brightness that glinted like a sword. Glimmer was the Guardian, and he protected us all. He wasn't usually in the castle, though.

I turned to the doorway to see if he would walk past, but I didn't see him.

Disappointed, I turned back to my book.

The afternoon dragged on. I expected my mother to come into the room to release me from my school work, as usual, but it was my father who swept in instead. The bond between us rose in my consciousness as he drew nearer and I used the time to sit up straighter. Father never liked to see me slouching.

"You'll stay inside the castle tonight, Alphonse."

It was so weird to hear him call me that. He was the only one who used my full name. Even Mother didn't do that.

I knew better than to say anything about it. Lord Somerville would not call me Alfie.

Instead, I nodded.

When he turned to leave the room, as though that were all he'd come to say, I blurted out, "Why?"

He looked at me and I felt the bond between us stretch tight. It didn't hurt but it was uncomfortable. There was something about it that twisted inside me, and I always felt better when I was way out of Father's sight and the bond was sitting low inside me.

As he looked at me, it pulled tighter. It was a strong bond, one of the strongest, but it was pale silver, almost white, like my father's eyes.

Those eyes fixed on me and I felt uncomfortable, wanting to squirm on the spot. His voice was cold and full of authority. "Because I command it."

"Yes, sir."

I really should have let it go. Anyone else would have. Morgan certainly would have had the sense not to ask any more questions when Father was in this kind of mood. However, I was not my brother and whereas he went tight-lipped and silent in the presence of our father, my tongue loosened and the more nervous I got the more I talked.

It was a huge failing on my part and I hated that I did it, but I also simply couldn't help it.

"Has something happened? Has the Guardian seen something dangerous? I can help you to defend the territory if you need me to. I know I haven't worked any magic before but I'm sure I could, if it was to keep everyone safe. Morgan has a little bit of magic so maybe I've—"

Father cut me off. It was for the best. I even managed to snap my mouth shut when he spoke.

"The Guardian has reported a break-in. Someone has attempted to get into the territory. Until we are certain that they were unsuccessful, you are to stay inside where you can be protected."

Something twitched inside me again. Maybe I was getting sick.

"Yes, sir."

"You will not leave the castle unchaperoned until I say so."

"Yes, sir." And, seriously, because I was an idiot, I asked, "Are we in danger?"

"Not inside the castle, you're not."

"But on the outside? But Morgan's on the outside!"

"Morgan is inside the curaidh's territory and is protected."

I wasn't so sure about that. Sure, he said there were protections around them and any dragon clan would have spells and protections layered up around their territory, but they were only curaidh and they wouldn't have the same sort of power that we did.

"Perhaps Glimmer could go and help make their protections stronger?" I suggested. It just went to show how worried I was about Morgan because I'd never dared to say something like that to Father before. It came far too close to telling the elder what to do.

As I expected, Lord Somerville's eyes flashed with anger and I was sure I saw his dragon in them. It was pale silver and strong, which is why he was our elder. Nobody else looked him in the eyes and I'd grown up with the assumption that it was rude, so I kept my head lowered and peeped up at him to check what he was doing.

"Morgan is well protected. You are my concern right now. You will stay inside."

"Yes, sir."

That ruined my plans for the evening. I didn't know what I was going to do now. I'd always spent my evenings with Morgan and now he was gone, they stretched out ahead of me in long, long, isolated hours. There were only so many books I could read, after all.

It looked like I was going to spend a long evening worrying about somebody breaking into the curaidh's territory and murdering my brother.

My stomach cramped again. Maybe I really was getting sick.

Just before he left, Father added, "And you will say nothing of this to anybody. This is family business. Nobody outside the house needs to know."

I stayed where I was, waiting for my father to leave. I didn't want him to hear what I was about to do.

Peeking out of my room, I glanced each way in the corridor to check nobody was there and then I got my phone out of my pocket.

And my big brother absolutely refused to take my call.

Panic jumped inside me and I began to pace my room. What could stop him answering his phone? What if he were too injured to reach it? How would I know?

I walked in circles, faster and faster, and kept ringing Morgan again and again.

When he finally answered, I nearly burst into tears with relief.

The trouble was, I hadn't planned what I was going to say. It meant I splurged words in any old order and poor Morgan, on the other end of the phone, had to calm me down and get me to talk through it rationally.

I started out about to tell him that we'd had a possible break-in and that he should be wary in case whoever-it-was decided to attack other dragons' territories as well, but half-way through I realised that Lord Somerville had forbidden me from telling anybody.

Morgan tried to reassure me that I wasn't disobeying our elder. "You can tell me."

"Are you sure? Because Lord Somerville said we weren't to tell anyone. Do you count as someone?"

There was a pause on the other end, and to anyone who didn't know Morgan, it wouldn't seem significant at all but I did know him. He was trying to think of a way to make me feel better but he couldn't come up with anything.

"I'm family," he said at last.

That was true. And it was the most comforting thing he could say, but it didn't exactly answer my question.

"Ye-es."

Morgan heard my uncertainty.

"Alfie, did you just ring me and tell me something had happened and now you're refusing to tell me what it is?"

"Um…. Yes? I'm sorry, Morgan, I didn't think. I just got worried that nobody had told you and then you'd be all alone and you could be vulnerable. I mean, what do we know about those curaidh anyway? Are they going to protect you? Lord Somerville should have sent somebody else with you to keep you safe."

I gasped and slapped my hand over my mouth, glancing around me and hoping nobody had overheard me say something so disrespectful about our father. He did not like being questioned and I'd be in a whole load of trouble if he ever found out I'd said that.

I peeped into the corridor again. Nobody was there, thank goodness.

Luckily, Morgan was pretty clever and he stayed calm and collected. He always looked so unruffled and I wished I could be just like him. He'd learned to hold himself tightly and control his mouth, and I admired him for it.

He asked me about it indirectly, and if I said, "Maybe someone breaking in," that wasn't actually telling him, was it?

Morgan was starting to hurry me, which meant he wanted to get off the phone. He reassured me, "You haven't told me anything," which was nearly true, and then added, "You just rang to see if I was ok, and I am. And I'll be watchful, because I always am."

My brother was a genius and I sighed with relief. He'd got exactly what I was trying to tell him. That I couldn't tell him what had happened but he still needed to be careful.

"Thanks, Morgan."

"Thanks for ringing. Look, I have to go now. Can I ring you tomorrow?"

"Yes. Yes, that would be good."

"Ok, bye Alfie. Take care."

"Bye, Morgan."

When he hung up, the silence in my room almost seemed to ring in my ears.

I'd been so worried about Morgan that I'd almost forgotten to be afraid for anyone here. But I knew we had Glimmer, who kept us all safe. Morgan didn't have that.

As though my legs were carrying me along on autopilot, I wandered the corridors. Maybe I could go and ask Glimmer what had happened?

That perked me up. I'd have to go down to the vault to see him, and I'd never been allowed in there before. I was desperate to see where Glimmer lived and all the things he surrounded himself with. I conjured up pictures in my mind of what his vault would look like, and half the time I imagined it lined with weapons that he could use to defend us, and half the time I pictured it filled to the brim with gold coins in a huge pile that Glimmer could sit on. Although I never really thought it looked like that. Glimmer was quite practical, for a start, and I wasn't sure that sitting on a mound of coins would be very comfortable.

With that thought, I walked down towards the ground floor, intending to go and search for Glimmer. I was half-way along a corridor leading to the back door when I stopped.

I couldn't go and look for Glimmer because the vault was about half a mile from the house.

I wasn't allowed out.

Sighing with disappointment, I turned away from the back door and began to trudge back towards my room.

Before I'd got very far, I felt something rise inside me. It was a bond. Only, I'd never felt it before.

I looked down, waiting to see it but there was nothing there.

No bond.

But I was sure it was there. I felt the same tugging inside me when I was close to one of my clan, telling me that they were near.

It didn't make sense because I only had bonds with my clan. Who else would I bond with? I'd never met anyone else. I'd never left the territory.

Just as I was about to trudge on and maybe try to find a book I hadn't already read, I realised what that maybe-bond could mean.

There was someone inside the territory who wasn't part of my clan.