Page 26 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

It took a week before it all went horribly wrong. He was woken by someone banging at the door of his bedroom, far too early. It was still dark outside. Noah dragged himself from his sleep, pulled a shirt on over his bare chest, and jerked open the door to reveal Portia in her nightgown, a robe pulled hastily around her, her hair long and wild down her back. A ball of witchlight hung beside her, illuminating the hallway outside. But the light was wavering and as panicked as she was. Portia thrust the limp body of a small green dragon towards him, her hands shaking and her eyes wide. It was Jade.

‘Noah, do something. Please. You have to do something!’

He gathered Jade in his own hands, examining her with a rising feeling of dread. ‘What happened?’

‘I don’t know. I heard a thud and woke up and… I don’t know!’

The dragon was breathing fitfully, and her heart was a wild flutter. Something was wrong. He knew that. He gently forced her eyes open to see that they were cloudy and dull. Her scales still gleamed healthily, but that was the only thing.

He stepped back into his room and glanced up at the witchlight which bobbed after Portia as she followed him inside. ‘Can you make that brighter?’

The light increased at once and Noah put the dragon down carefully on the writing desk. As Portia leaned in, the light came closer too and he could see the shivers running through Jade’s body. There were ripples of light as well and something… something in the air around her. Like static. Even he could feel that.

‘Magic?’ he said. ‘Is that… is that magic?’

‘No, it’s… I mean, yes, it is magic, but it’s wrong… like…’ Portia closed her eyes concentrating hard. ‘It’s like it’s bleeding out of her.’

A dragon’s connection to magic, even a teacup dragon, was integral to them. Great dragons were beings of magic entirely, shapeshifters and enchanters right to their core, and their tiny cousins, while being creatures of the physical rather than the metaphysical, still had that vital link to the flows of enchantment that ran through the world. They used it all the time; it was as natural to them as breathing. Portia had said Jade’s link was stronger than most.

But now Jade’s connections were torn and ragged. The air chilled around her and it felt like there was ice gathering on the back of Noah’s neck. If he could feel that, it was bad indeed.

‘Can you move the witchlight closer?’ he asked, a thought occurring.

‘Why? Do you need more light?’

‘Just do it… please.’

She cast him a confused glance but did as he said, the light, like a small sun, hovering over the desk now and slowly dropping down to no more than a foot above Jade’s fragile body.

The dragon fell still, the shivering stopped, and she uncurled a little as she basked in the touch of magic in the air. She stretched out further, her wings fluttering and she drew in a shaky breath. So did Portia.

‘It’s helping. How did you know it would help?’

‘It’s keeping her stable, restoring some of her natural magic. But something has broken the connection and she can’t access it by herself. I think something is making it slide out of her grip. If even I can feel it…’

‘Oh no,’ Portia gasped. ‘Oh Wenn, no. The others. We have to check the other dragons. This… this is all my fault.’

10

It was worse than Portia had imagined. It wasn’t just the control group. The disconnection from magic had spread through the whole flight, the little dragons in the snuggery all showing a variety of signs. In most it was little more than a sluggishness in their flight, or a lack of coordination. But Jade, Ripple, Rusty and Glitter were the worst affected. It had to be the balm. But she had no idea why. She had followed the instructions to the letter.

Iris instantly launched into a plan of action as soon as she heard the nature of the problem. Portia didn’t want to admit how reassuring that was. Her great-aunt didn’t question her, or accuse her of anything. She just got to work. Anyone with magical ability on the island was summoned to the castle. They came too, even August and Seb, each of them taking charge of a teacup dragon and doing whatever they could to keep the magical field around them primed. For someone like Esme with only a little innate magic, that simply meant taking the hatchlings and sitting with them in a corner of the orangery, where the dappled sunlight fell through the leaves. Saffron arrived with an array of cakes and pastries, all specially augmented to feed them, and anyone else who needed fortifying. Seb, on the other hand, planted himself on the floor in the middle of the snuggery and filled the air with magic, sending everything in the room whirling around him as if at the heart of a hurricane. The healthier dragons swooped around him in delight, relishing this. Iris and her friend Margery Melville sat with Ripple and Glitter, feeding them by hand and petting them, weaving magic around them as if creating those intricate patterns in lace for which Margery was famous. Even Ophelia, who had no magic of her own at all, was up at the castle, overseeing everyone, making tea, and ensuring everyone had anything they needed.

August appeared with a ridiculously handsome bard in tow, a delicately featured man called Weir with dark skin and eyes, and long black hair threaded with shining beads, who played the lute with his long, dexterous fingers, calling up magic from the strings. His gaze followed August around, leaving her in no doubt that this was his newest conquest. Portia wondered bleakly how long this one would last. But clearly it was early days yet. Rusty manoeuvred himself to drape around Weir’s neck, purring gently in time to the music and the bard smiled softly to himself at the contact. Meanwhile August gathered Jade in his arms, cradling her, murmuring to her in that deep, soft voice of his when she fussed at being taken away from Portia. He didn’t do anything that Portia could see, nothing showy or overt, but August had always exuded such an all-encompassing calm that it had to be magic. He might not want to talk about it, but he was possibly the most powerful of them all. He chose not to use magic, but she knew it was there. So did the dragons.

‘It’s my fault,’ Portia said again, tears stinging her eyes, and her brother looked up at her, as solemn as ever. If she expected to be blamed or castigated, it didn’t happen. That had never been his way.

‘Better go and fix it then, hadn’t you?’ August said. He stroked Jade again, his touch so gentle. ‘I’ve got her, Portia, and I won’t let anything happen to her. You get to work.’

Noah was waiting for her outside the room she had turned into her lab, pacing back and forth.

‘What can I do?’ he asked, as soon as he saw her.

He hadn’t slept any more than she had. She could see the signs of it all over his handsome face. His hair was dishevelled and the shirt was the same one he had hurriedly pulled on last night.

Portia floundered at the sight of him. If she had expected August to tell her off, this was going to be so much worse. Noah had warned her to be careful. He’d told her not to experiment on Jade. He had been the one urging caution and she’d accused him…

And now look what had happened.