Page 55 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

Cages, and experiments, tortures forever, to the end of her days…

Those images, that terror, spread from dragon to dragon. Portia could hear their fear, feel it as her own, as their connection to the magical world flared and flailed in panic.

‘No,’ Portia tried to say but the word was lodged in her throat, ready to choke her.

Beside her, Noah moved, grabbing a sword from the nearest guardsman. The men floundered back, taken by surprise, releasing Portia. She staggered forward, head spinning with the backlash of the magic, and grabbed his free arm. Whether that was to hold herself up or attempt to stop him, she didn’t know.

‘Portia, run!’

‘What are you doing? Stop. This is… you’ll get arrested!’

‘You have to go. Get Jade out of here. Now!’

She didn’t think. There wasn’t time. He was holding them back from her and Jade was flying at her and around her as if she agreed with him. They had to get out of here before everything went from bad to worse. This was a stupid idea, but she couldn’t think any more. She felt the magical connection with her dragon, and through Jade with all the others. They were terrified, and more than that, they were angry. They didn’t know what to do and neither did she. Panic overwhelmed them all.

So, she ran.

A dozen or more dragons flew around Portia in an arrow formation as she sprinted away and people dived aside, the crowd and the guards parting before her. The shouts and screams followed her right through the auditorium and out the nearest door. She found herself in the open air, where the various carriages and horses had been left to wait for their owners. Servants and drivers stared at her as she scrambled past them, teacup dragons still whirling around her in a dizzying kaleidoscope. Portia wasn’t sure where she was going or what she was going to do but she needed to get away from here.

More importantly, she needed to get Jade away from here. They would put her down. Portia might be able to persuade someone of her own innocence eventually, once everything was sorted out and saner heads prevailed, but now… right now… Jade had attacked the ambassador, and Noah had pulled a sword on royal guards and…

‘Professor Starling?’ The voice came from a nearby carriage, a small light thing, drawn by a single regal looking horse, a contraption made for speed. Portia looked up, bewildered, to find Felicity looking down at her. ‘Do you need help? What’s happening?’

‘Felicity,’ she gasped, more relieved than she could say. ‘How fast can this thing go?’

* * *

It was a desperate flight through the city. Portia tried to explain to Felicity what had happened, and the girl looked suitably outraged, even though she kept her attention entirely fixed on the road ahead and handled the horse and carriage with an expertise that couldn’t be denied. And she was indeed fast.

‘Where did you learn to drive like this?’ Portia asked, still breathless.

‘Academy racing team, top seed, three years running. Before that at Lady Cecilia’s School for Young Ladies. I won the under-sixteen’s gold cup twice.’

Of course she had.

Teacup dragons perched along the edge of the carriage, with a couple having found their way forward to the horse’s mane. They were loving every minute of it. All but Jade, who had curled up into a ball in Portia’s lap and wasn’t moving.

‘You’re likely going to get into trouble for this,’ Portia warned her student. Her hand strayed to Jade, now curled into a quivering ball. Felicity glanced down at the teacup dragon just for a moment, then resolutely turned her attention back to navigating the city streets at speed.

‘I never could abide cruelty to animals,’ she said. ‘And my mother always says that sometimes you have to get into trouble to do what’s right. Especially when it comes to people like that ghastly Virginia Moorland. No one likes her, you know? No one who’s any good anyway.’

Portia shook her head and tried to calm her breathing. ‘I don’t know what to do. I should… I should go back, try to explain. Maybe I can get them to listen to reason.’

‘I wouldn’t,’ her student said. ‘She’ll be whipping up a mob at this stage. She’s good at that. You need somewhere safe. I have an idea.’

No, she couldn’t involve Felicity any further in this. ‘You’re my student, Felicity. I can’t in good conscience⁠—’

But the girl ignored her. Felicity Montague was the daughter of an earl, and that tended to give people a sense of invulnerability. So did being barely twenty years old and gifted at everything you did. ‘Your island would be best. Let’s get you there first. Then once everyone has calmed down maybe we can sort things out. I’ll speak to my parents. Wait until my father hears about her threatening your dragon!’

‘The island’s too far away. It’ll take a day at least to get there, and that’s only if the weather is cooperative. They’ll catch us long before that.’

‘Oh, dear me, you don’t know what we’ve been working on in the Special Thaumaturgical Mechanics department, do you? Wait until you see. It’s marvellous. We’re calling it Maxim’s Portal. Have you met Maxim? He’s a genius.’

* * *

Maxim looked like he was only fifteen years old, even though he had to be at least eighteen to be in the Academy to begin with, and older still to be accorded the workshop and to work independently. He was a skinny thing with the largest brown eyes Portia had ever seen, long brown hair which needed a good brush, and his clothes appeared to be almost completely covered in chalk. He had that aura of chaos magic about him that she knew all too well from Seb, but rather than the pandemonium that followed her brother everywhere, he had a strange kind of focused clarity, like a sword point.

‘Professor Starling!’ he exclaimed when he saw her. ‘This is… this is quite the honour. I’ve read all your father’s work, and your own of course.’