Page 58 of The Teacup Dragon Sanctuary

‘I’m sure they did. She’s been throwing far too many orders around it seems.’

‘The king seemed less than pleased to hear it,’ said the ambassador. ‘Even less so regarding her treatment of the dragons.’

‘And her treatment of yourself,’ Iris continued. She reached out to brush some dust off the shoulder of his frock coat. ‘The woman is an absolute liability. I wonder why the queen has indulged her so much. That will end now, and she probably knows it. Which could make her desperate.’

Gilden gave a thin smile. ‘First, we must stop her. There’s no telling what else she may do to cause harm and we cannot have that. Diplomatic relations are strained already and this situation only compounds that.’

Diplomatic relations? What were they talking about?

‘Then we should go,’ Iris agreed. ‘Are you ready, Noah? Do you need anything?’

Need? He needed a change of clothes, a bath and an actual night’s sleep, because he’d spent the whole time he was locked up here wide awake and fretting. He was in yesterday’s clothes, all stained from a night in a prison cell, with a congealed beef sandwich leaking through his pocket.

But he needed to find Portia first. She had come to his rescue when he needed her most. He couldn’t fail her now.

He stripped off the jacket and let it fall to the ground. It was ruined anyway.

‘No, Iris,’ he told her. ‘I’m fine. Do you know where Portia is?’

‘I believe so, but then so does Virginia so we must make haste.’

‘What happened? After they took me prisoner, I mean. They wouldn’t tell me anything.’ He followed the odd pair through the corridors of the prison and out into the morning sunlight. If felt like a blessing on his face after the darkness of his night in the cell, like he could finally breathe again.

‘They got away in the chaos, and were seen heading for the Academy, I believe. Virginia and her pack of pet guards set off in pursuit, but Portia gave them the slip. I dread to think what might have happened had you not aided her and Jade in their escape. That woman had murder on her mind, I believe. The porters at the Academy had to stop her accosting students. Honestly!’

‘Portia said she… Lady Virginia wanted to make me poison the dragons.’

‘Oh, Noah,’ Iris gasped, and her hand pressed his arm in reassurance. ‘You’d never do that. We all know that. The nerve of the woman⁠—’

‘That’s the problem,’ he said. ‘I don’t know. She bespelled me. I might have done anything she told me to. I can’t remember. There was… there was a powder and she… she made me forget. If it hadn’t been for Portia… that’s why she had the poison, Iris. She was trying to denounce Virginia but I – I let her down.’

‘No, my dear boy, not at all. Spells like that are nasty pieces of work. Like Virginia Moorland. Portia is safe for now. She escaped using some kind of new enchantment one of the students had perfected apparently. They came to me late last night, the Montague girl and her friend, after they had been questioned by Moorland. Terrorised more like. Anyway, Portia is on Starling Island. Virginia has commandeered a naval ship from Tesh port, apparently, and taken that pack of guards with her. Long before Gilden could secure an audience with the king to stop them, and insist on your release. They’re heading for the island. If she reaches Portia first⁠—’

‘Yes,’ Gilden interrupted. ‘We must make haste. Moorland wants that little dragon more than anything now.’

‘But why?’ Noah asked. ‘She’s just a teacup dragon.’

Gilden pursed his lips together, studying him for a long uncomfortable moment. ‘She is something rare and precious. Even I am not entirely sure what. A teacup dragon, yes, but the bond she has forged with Portia is the strongest I have ever seen. Her connection with magic is unique. She linked with my energy effortlessly back in the arena. You heard her speak and no teacup has mastered that ability in years. They sing old songs, and the eldest of them manage a word or two of the oldest tongue sometimes. But that was something else entirely. She spoke to me, Dr Turner, as an ancient might, despite her youth. And she knew me.’

He glanced at Iris who studied him carefully. ‘Could it be Portia’s elixir? She based it on Art’s work, but her magic is so much more focused than his.’

But Gilden shook his head. ‘I have never seen anything like it. And Art had that recipe from myself and dear old May. It’s not the source of this. It could be something to do with Starling Island itself, or your great-niece perhaps. But I believe that the teacup dragons themselves have wrought this. It must be investigated, Iris, and not by the likes of Virginia Moorland and her ilk. She’ll take little Jade apart in her ignorance and Elanholm would never forgive such a thing. We sit on a knife-edge already thanks to the obsessions of people like her. All my work here will be undone if she takes that dragon. However, first, it is best to make sure Dr Turner is not in any way still affected by her spells. I can remove the last traces of any enchantments, if you will allow it.’

Allow it? He’d beg for it. ‘Please.’

Iris beamed up at the ambassador as if he was the sun. ‘There is no one like Gilden when it comes to breaking enchantments. You are in the best hands.’

Noah nodded, standing there in the courtyard outside the prison, praying that it would work.

Gilden turned his hawkish eyes on him. ‘Hold still then. We must be quick. There is not much time. Don’t struggle. This may sting a little.’

Sting?

A wave of magic spilled over him. Noah had never felt anything like it. He was not immobilised as he had been with Virginia, but rather it was as if he was swept up in a wave, rolled in its power and helpless before its strength. It wasn’t like Portia’s magic, or anything else he had ever experienced. Rather it was like…

He heard music. No, singing. He heard dragonsong.

His eyes widened as he recognised the glow in Gilden’s eyes. He recalled the way Jade had shimmered with power as she addressed the ambassador, the way she had addressed him. Teacup dragons didn’t speak, but Jade had. Even Gilden had been surprised by that. He had admitted as much. Because she had filled herself with a source of magic that was natural to her, part of her.