34. Alfie

This was the moment when my dragon should have come out again. I stood there, waiting.

Blaze began to tug at my clothes. "To stop you ripping them," he said, and I wanted to kiss him for making this moment less awkward. He helped me undress and it gave me an extra minute to shift before anyone realised that I was struggling to do it. Now that I was supposed to be some special golden dragon, I really, really didn't want to disappoint them.

My father glared at me. "If the hag gets in, Alphonse, she will take the whole clan."

My dragon shivered inside me. It didn't like that.

"How could she get in? Why are our defences so weak?"

"The Guardian has let us down."

My dragon twisted. It didn't like that answer. It didn't believe it.

But what we knew was that this was our clan and we needed to protect them.

Blaze whispered, "I'll be right here with you, my darling. You're not going anywhere without me. Not now."

It reminded me of the claiming bite on his neck and the flame that was burned into my chest. I pressed my hand to it and yanked off my shirt, dropping it on the pile of clothes Blaze had made.

I looked him in the eye and made him a promise. "I'll protect you. You're safe with us. You're a Somerville now."

With that, I shifted.

Somehow, looking at Blaze, it was easy. I filled my skin and then my scales burst out of me, rippling across me and becoming hard, like armour. My body changed shape, my neck grew, my body grew, and my teeth grew.

I barely felt Blaze climb onto my back but I knew he was there. He felt so small and light and fragile against my huge form, but he was warm and comforting. I set off, about to run and take to the air with a powerful beat of my wings, but I wasn't used to having so many feet and I tripped and landed on my belly.

I couldn't talk in this form, but I glanced around me, hoping nobody had noticed.

Unfortunately, they had. Mother's face was white with worry and tension, but she began her shift straight after me, about to follow me to the border. Father turned away, as though he wanted to pretend I hadn't done that.

It took me two tries, but I took to the air and followed Lord Somerville. Even though I was in dragon form, I didn't feel very dragon-like. I felt like my dragon was keeping something from me, reserving something. It was like being inside a huge mechanical suit and having to operate it. Feet here, tail there, wings somewhere else.

When we got to the border, I could see a group of half a dozen people there. Even from a distance, I could see the long, matted hair of the hag and the slimy green tendrils that dripped over her shoulders.

Blaze said, "She's laid more spells all along that section. She's had to lay them from the outside this time, though. They can't break the protections as easily."

I flew down and landed in front of the protections, sure that they wouldn't let any spells or weapons through them. Glimmer had told me he'd stopped anything like that being able to get through, and I believed him.

As I landed, I saw the expression on a man's face. His mouth opened and he gawped.

"A golden dragon."

Madame Trevellian rounded on him.

"Of course he's a golden dragon, what do you think we're here for?"

"I thought—"

He didn't get a chance to say what he thought. Maybe he just hadn't believed her. She flung out a spear of magic and silenced him forever.

Around him, the other five people began to attack the border harder.

"Alphonse, use your magic."

I tried to do that.

And nothing happened.

I tried again.

And again.

I shuffled from huge foot to huge foot, swinging my tail awkwardly, and tried again.

Still nothing happened.

"Alphonse! Do it now."

The hag cackled.

"You should have taught him magic. He's defenceless."

My father drew himself up and looked out through the protections to the hag. "He is not."

Around me, I felt a chill and then I realised that my father was using magic again. Our bond grew icy cold as he coaxed my power from me, and every one of our small clan. He was even taking from Mother, who was standing beside me in her silver dragon form, watching the attackers with sharp eyes.

Madame Trevellian pointed at the border and snapped, "Break it down. We'll harvest them all."

I didn't do anything.

I wasn't sure what I could do. I was still trying to find a way of using magic.

Was it like moving? I twitched my new muscles, trying to find the one that controlled magic, but couldn't locate it.

On my shoulders, Blaze was small and quiet. I could feel him there, soft and warm and scared.

Maybe I needed to ask for power from my dragon.

Except, I was a dragon. I was in my dragon form and if it was going to grant me magic, now would be the time. I cocked my head to the side, as though I could ask myself for magic. I didn't give myself any, which was frustrating.

My father was still drawing power to him, building it up, and Madame Trevellian was hacking through the protection spells. It was taking her a while. She didn't seem to be any nearer than she had been.

A little part of me puffed up with pride that my clan had done such a good job of protecting our territory. Glimmer's spells were strong.

On the other side of them, the hag leered. I remembered the feeling of her acrid breath on me and shuddered.

"A few little dragons in a nest. I'll have fun harvesting from you."

Lord Somerville gave a roar of anger, raised his hands and blasted a spell through the protections. The spell came out in a hurricane of ice and wind. The protection spells disintegrated where the spell shot through them and the half-dozen people on the other side disintegrated along with them.

I'd never seen anyone use that much magic before.

I hadn't known anyone was that powerful.

My instinct was to step forward, towards the gap in our protections, but my mother shoved in front of me, keeping me back and placing her body between me and the gap. It meant I missed the moment when the hag ran.

Somehow, she had survived that blast. She must also have been more powerful than I'd realised, but she gave a shriek and sped off into the distance and none of us could follow, not without leaving the protection of the territory.

I found myself shrinking back into my human form. Blaze slipped from my shoulders and I wrapped my arm around him, pulling him close to my side as I became human again. I was looking at the hole in our territory.

"She's gone," I said. I didn't know what else to say.

My father rounded on me. For some reason, he seemed angry.

"She will be back. This was a test, and one which we have failed."

"But- but you beat her and her friends."

"They were expendable. She was using them to test how powerful you are. She wanted to see if you had the power to protect us, and you did not."

I stammered, and hated that I did it. "I-I'm sorry. I tried to use magic. Maybe you can teach me quickly?"

"You are weak, Alphonse. Madame Trevellian knows that, and she will be back with an army to take us."

"When?"

"Soon."

"What can we do?" I looked around at the assembled people, my little clan. Someone had to know.

My father snapped, "Silvia, get to the south border now. Defend our territory with your life. Isabella, patrol the north east. George, take the north west."

The three of them began to turn away, but I shouted, "No!"

They stopped. Turned to look at me.

My father went white with rage and I shook a little but stood firm. My dragon absolutely did not want them to leave, and I was willing to annoy my father to get them to stay.

"Go," he said, and the three of them turned again.

"Wait, wait. Father, you said I was powerful. If I'm meant to be strong enough to defeat the hag, can't everyone stay here where I can keep them safe?"

"They need to defend the rest of the borders."

As he said it, he glared at them and they looked afraid, and confused. They looked back and forth between us as we argued.

"But if the hag attacks somewhere else, they'll be on their own. I don't want that."

"What you want is irrelevant. Silvia, get to the south now."

She flinched, and I frowned. "No, don't go. Stay here. We're stronger together."

My father began pulling power to him and I felt the chill of it against my skin, the draining of my fire and warmth.

"How dare you disobey me?"

Our bond became whiter, more brittle. It was like ice and I didn't want to touch it. It was the only one of my bonds that I wanted to avoid with my hands. The others all looked different, sure, but they all looked nice. Some were pretty. Others were beautiful. My bond with Blaze was spectacular.

Instinct had me pushing Blaze behind me from where he'd been cuddled against my chest. My father's eyes scanned me, and then stopped and locked on my chest.

"What is that?"

My fingertips brushed against my chest, right over my heart, and I almost felt the warmth of Blaze's mark on me.

"It's my claiming mark."

I could hear the pride in my own voice as I said it. I didn't think I'd ever felt proud in front of my father before. Normally, I did something wrong.

"You- you have not been claimed."

I frowned. Of course I had. The mark was right there.

"Blaze claimed me last night. We're mates."

There was a gasp from all around me and my father's voice rang out like a shot.

"Mate? That creature is not your mate!"

My dragon pressed up inside me. There was the slightest rumble to my voice as I said, "Don't call him that!"

"This creature cannot be your mate! You'll mate a pure uasal, son, and preserve our lineage."

"But I don't want to mate a uasal! I didn't even know I needed to mate anyone. You've never said anything about that before."

"We cannot taint our blood, not after all this time."

"But—"

Lord Somerville drew himself up to his full height. He was tall and imposing, and his icy eyes flashed with power.

"You have a hundred generations of pure blood in your veins!"

"I don't care about my blood," I cried.

My father suddenly lost his composure. He roared, "You are the golden dragon! The purity of our uasal blood has given you this gift and it is your duty to use your power for the clan."

"What use is my pure blood if I can't be with my mate?"

"That creature is not your mate!"

"He is!"

This time, my words burst out of me with the same flaming anger they had when I'd roared at the hag. I felt the fire simmering in my belly and then it scorched up my throat and into my mouth. I spat out flames with the words, and felt the intense heat on my face.

I was so surprised by it that I forgot to shout at my father again. I looked round at Blaze quickly, hoping he would say something. I didn't even know what I wanted him to say.

He was standing next to my mother, looking small and delicate, and he had a little smile on his face. He didn't look worried at all.

When he saw me looking, he said, "You're incredible, Alfie. Your fire is so pretty."

"I- I didn't know dragons could breathe fire in their human form. I thought we had to shift first."

Uncle George spoke quietly, as though he hadn't decided that he really wanted to be heard.

"Only the golden dragon has the power to breathe flame in human form. You are special."

My father turned his blue-white eyes upon Uncle George and I spoke. I just didn't like the way he was looking at my clan. He was dangerous, and angry, and I spoke before I could think it through.

It worked, though. I drew my father's attention again and he left Uncle George alone.

"I didn't realise I was special. Why did nobody tell me?"

My father said, "Until you shifted, we could not be sure you were special."

I couldn't pinpoint why, but that felt offensive, somehow. I thought parents were meant to think their children were special no matter what.

I didn't get the chance to point that out, though, not that I probably would. I didn't generally talk to my father for longer than I had to.

"Your brother, Alexander, was a golden dragon. We had high hopes for the disowned dragon, but he was weak and treacherous."

I clamped my mouth shut. Morgan had done nothing more than fall in love with his trainer, as far as I could see. My father didn't like his clan doing anything like that without his permission.

"Morgan tried his best. It's not his fault he isn't golden. I didn't ask to be golden, either. I just want to be with Blaze, that's all. And maybe I could learn how to build the defences up again. My dragon doesn't like them being weak."

Lord Somerville actually pulled his lip back as he spoke to me, more snarl than anything else.

"You will learn your place, Alphonse. And that creature has no place in my clan."