Aurora (30 page)

‘Wait a minute!’
Elian interrupted.
‘You mean me, don’t you?’

‘Not just you, Elian,’
she told him.
‘We must both make the ultimate sacrifice. It is our life purpose to see the Oracle rebirthed. Dragonkind will be saved through
our gift. There is no need to fear. It is a glorious life purpose, Elian. We will live for ever in the memories of dragons and riders everywhere.’

‘But I don’t want to die!’
he told her through the bond.
‘Becoming your rider was supposed to be an adventure.’

‘And it has been,’
she said gently.
‘It has just been a little shorter than we expected. We have no choice, Elian. “Love’s life force giving, slays final
death . . .”. Without the final sacrifice, the Oracle cannot be reborn. There does not need to be any pain. Remember your fall from the Devil’s Finger? You were ready to die that day.
This is the fall you were destined to make. Don’t be afraid. We’ll dive into the Oracle’s well together. Wait there. These night dragons cannot stop us now. We are about to begin
our final adventure.’

Elian looked over the low wall at the yawning black chasm below and his stomach churned with fear. Tears welled in his eyes. He did not want to end his life this way. Memories of happy days with
his parents came thick and fast in a jumble of images. He remembered playing with friends in his village, his father telling him bedtime stories and his mother serving up special food for family
occasions. The roaring fight in the chamber faded as his dreams filled his mind, but could not be totally banished by his reverie.

Suddenly new images intruded – plumes of smoke, ragged lines of tired men marching with their weapons held ready, night dragons swooping down to attack his village, his parents’
cottage in ruins.

‘Stop it!’ he cried out, hitting his temple with the heel of his right hand. ‘That’s not real.’

‘No, but it will be if the Oracle is not reborn.’

‘You don’t know that for sure, Ra.’

‘I know enough of Segun and his followers to assure you life without the Oracle will not be pleasant.’

‘What is it, Elian?’ Kira asked. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Ra thinks we’re the final sacrifice – me and her,’ he croaked. ‘She wants us to dive into the Oracle’s well together.’

‘But that’s crazy!’ she gasped. ‘Surely the Oracle didn’t mean that to happen.’

‘I’ve had bad feelings about the quest for a while now,’ Elian said, his tears running freely down his cheeks. ‘There was something about the way the Oracle acted when
Pell and I were here last time that left me feeling very uneasy. I don’t want to die, but Ra is sure this is the right thing to do.’

‘You can’t, Elian! It’s wrong.’

‘I don’t think I have a choice. Everything we’ve been through has brought us to this moment. If I don’t go through with it, Segun will win and the world will
suffer.’

‘There’s always a choice,’ Kira insisted. ‘There must be another way.’

‘FIRESTORM! NO!’

Aurora’s cry demanded attention. She was locked in combat with a night dragon, trying to force her way through to Elian, but it was Firestorm who had made the breakthrough. The battling
blue dragon forced its way through the cluster of night dragons and ran straight towards him. He froze. What did Nolita and Fire think they were doing? Separating themselves from the rest of the
dragons was a sure way to become vulnerable. Then Elian realised. Firestorm was not battling towards
him.
He was heading for the Oracle’s well.

A night dragon lunged at Firestorm from the right as he broke through their ranks, but Firestorm ignored the wound it dealt to his hindquarter.

‘Get down Elian!’ Kira yelled, hitting him with a shoulder charge that flattened him just in time for Firestorm to leap over them and disappear into the black nothingness of the
Oracle’s well. As the blue dragon passed over them, Elian caught a glimpse of Nolita clinging to his back. She was smiling. Smiling!

‘NOLITA!’ he cried, scrabbling to get out from under Kira. He looked over the wall, but they were gone – swallowed by the darkness. ‘NOLITA!’

Kira’s hand grasped his shoulder. ‘She’s gone,’ she said, her voice filled with a terrible sadness. ‘And so will we be if we don’t get away from here!’
she added more urgently. ‘Fang tells me Firestorm sent us a message as he and Nolita fought to reach the well. Nolita wanted us to know that she had no fear of death. Her fears were of
physical things and Firestorm was proud to help her with her brave plan.’

Aurora, Shimmer and the day dragons were forcing the night dragons back by weight of numbers, but their fight had turned very ugly. Most of the dragons had already sustained wounds. Fang
suddenly attacked out of the darkness, taking one of the flanking night dragons by surprise. But, finding themselves unexpectedly outnumbered, the night dragons were putting up a ferocious fight
and the conflict was edging ever closer to the Oracle’s well.

Elian allowed Kira to drag him around the well to the far side, but he could not stop staring into the pitch darkness below. He half expected to see Firestorm and Nolita fly back up out of the
hole at any moment, but he knew in his heart it would not happen.

The first distant rumble sounded almost like a part of the mêlée that raged at the base of the main ramp. There was no mistaking the second, though. The floor of the chamber shook
with the force of it. At the back of the cavern an enormous stalactite broke free from the roof and shattered on impact. All around the cavern, the battling dragons paused and looked as one towards
the Oracle’s well.

With a suddenness that took Elian totally by surprise, the light level in the chamber brightened as it had when the Oracle had arrived in the past. This time, however, it brightened until it
felt as if they could be sitting in the afternoon sun. There was no breathy sighing sound, or misty rising smoke. One heartbeat there was nothing. The next a roaring blue column of fire erupted
from the well.

‘HOLD!’

The voice was like thunder. It rolled around the chamber with a force that neither man, nor dragon would dare disobey. The air was alive with the smell of power.

‘THERE WILL BE NO FURTHER FIGHTING. NIGHT DRAGONS, RETURN TO YOUR ENCLAVE.’

The blue column of fire twisted and expanded, racing out through the exit tunnel and, as Elian and Kira were later to discover, up into the sky high above the mountains of Orupee where it gave a
similar order to the dragons still fighting in skies. In that moment all conflict ceased. No dragon could deny the Oracle in the fullness of its power.

The column of flame retracted again until it hung above the well. A face resolved in the fire – a face that was both Firestorm and Nolita at the same time.

‘Nolita? Are you . . .’ Elian began.

‘Dead?’
the Oracle completed in his mind.
‘No, Elian, Nolita is very much alive. Her human body died. That was a necessary part of her transformation, but she is very
much alive in the fusion that makes me who I am. She thought she would never understand Firestorm, but now we are one. The decision to sacrifice themselves was made by both rider and dragon
together – finally Nolita found peace with her destiny.’

Tears formed in Elian’s eyes and began to trickle down his cheeks.

‘But you are . . . I am . . . I’m supposed to be you,’ he stammered.

‘Do not feel you have failed, Elian,’
the Oracle said kindly.
‘You have not failed. Feel rather that Nolita and Firestorm exceeded their life purpose. I did not
foresee this fusion, but it has worked out well. The Great Quest was successful. I have been reborn. And I vow to you that I shall do my best to see dragonkind flourish in Areth. Aurora will
inevitably feel unfulfilled, as her purpose was overtaken by the actions of your companions. Be ready. I will call on you again in time with a challenge that will satisfy both of your
needs.’

‘It is over, then?’

‘Yes, Elian. It is over, for now,’
the Oracle confirmed.
‘Go in peace and enjoy some time with your dragon.’

Chapter Twenty-Seven

‘You killed Segun, didn’t you?’

‘No,’ Pell replied, his voice emotionless as he regarded the speaker. ‘I would have done it, but another man beat me to the killing blow and I vow I shall never forgive him for
it. Shadow finished Widewing, though. She’s resting in the trees over there, but beware. She is ready to fight again if you make it necessary.’

Pell’s muscles were tense as he watched the man pause on the other side of the grave he had made. He remembered this man. He was one of Segun’s lieutenants. The senior night
dragonrider looked at the small cairn that Pell had built over Segun’s body at the base of the scree slope. He seemed thoughtful. Pell stood poised, his right hand resting on the hilt of the
knife he had taken from the night dragonleader.

Despite having his entire enclave set against him, he and his three fellow questors had succeeded. The Great Quest was complete and the Oracle restored to power, but the personal cost for this
achievement had been huge. He was surprised the man had not attacked him on sight. As an outlaw to the night dragon enclave, that was what Pell expected when the black dragon swept down towards
him.

‘You are honest,’ the rider said thoughtfully. ‘Young and a bit naïve, but strong and honest. With experience and maturity you’ll make a fine leader of men. Your
ambition was obvious when you approached Segun with news of the Great Quest. We all saw it. Segun hated you from the moment he set eyes on you. I think he saw in you a future rival. The enclave has
lost a lot of good men and dragons today. The day dragons took us by surprise with their unorthodox fighting tactics, leaving the night dragon enclave significantly weakened. Worse, the Oracle is
rejuvenated and knows full well that virtually our entire enclave tried to prevent that from happening.’

‘What’s your point?’ Pell asked ‘I don’t see why you’re telling me all this. By rights you should have killed me the moment you set eyes on me.’

‘True,’ the man admitted, his eyebrows drawing together in a deep frown. ‘But, given the change in circumstances the enclave now faces, I think your outlaw status should be set
aside. You are the only night dragonrider in Areth whom the Oracle is likely to trust. We need you at the enclave, Pell. The Oracle will, no doubt, punish the night dragons for many years to come
unless we show a change of heart. Having you with us will speed up that process.’

‘You’re inviting me back?’ Pell exclaimed. ‘In what capacity? Surely you’re not expecting me to replace Segun? That would be a mockery and you know it. If
you’re looking for a puppet to manipulate, I’m not interested.’

‘No,’ the man said firmly. ‘You would not be credible as leader of the night dragon enclave. Not yet. One day maybe, but that will depend on how you and your dragon develop.
You will need to build a reputation for leadership and strength if you want to lead us. The night dragon enclave has always respected those qualities. It has fallen to me to take on the role for
now. I am Korath, rider of Midnight Warrior. And, in my capacity as the new leader of the enclave, I hereby reinstate you. Will you come with me?’

Pell’s stomach tightened and the burn of adrenalin swept through his core. Was this a trick? No. He could see Korath was serious. He could return to the enclave. He would be needed and
respected. It was more than he could have hoped for.

‘Yes,’ he said, working hard to keep his voice steady. ‘Yes, I’ll come. But do we have to leave straight away? The otherworlder, Jack Miller, stole my chance to kill
Segun. I want to pay him back for his interference in my affairs.’

‘Your revenge will have to wait,’ Korath replied. ‘The enclave needs you now. Come. The remaining senior riders are waiting for us.’

Pell nodded. ‘Very well,’ he agreed solemnly.
‘We’re going back to the enclave,’
he informed Shadow silently.
‘Are you ready to fly
again?’

‘I am.’

‘Good. We want to put on a show of strength for the new leader of the night dragon enclave.’

‘Do not worry, Pell. I will not let you down.’

‘I know you won’t,’
he replied, his heart warming at his dragon’s bravery. ‘As for Jack Miller . . .’ he added under his breath, ‘. . . if I ever
chance across him again, he’ll wish he’d never met me at all.’

‘Ah
.
! Jack Miller. Welcome.’

The Oracle’s voice was unlike anything Jack had ever experienced. He could hear it with his ears, yet somehow it reverberated inside his mind as well. The shape of the great dragon’s
head in the burning column of flame reminded him of something . . . someone he had met. Although he had not had many meetings with dragons until these past few days, there was something hauntingly
familiar about the creature.

Jack walked alongside Barnabas until they were about ten paces from the Oracle’s pit. Barnabas stopped and bowed. Jack followed suit.