01 Wing Warrior (20 page)

‘But there haven’t been Wing Warriors for hundreds of years,’ Sky said.

Cloud looked out of the window. The street was busy with people, gossiping and crying, or rummaging through the rubble of the houses in search of their most prized possessions. ‘There haven’t been dragons for hundreds of years either,’ he said. ‘And I had always hoped I had done enough to make sure there would never be a time when they returned. It seems I have failed.’

‘But you’re just a miller, aren’t you?’ Sky asked.

Cloud glanced knowingly at Strata. ‘You can disguise what you are, but you can’t change it. I realise that now.’

‘Now may be too late,’ Strata muttered.

‘I don’t understand,’ Sky said. ‘Are you a miller or not?’

Cloud turned back to the window, his hard features concealed from everyone in the room. ‘What I am, Sky, is very old. Very old and very foolish.’

‘I’m going to get the doctor,’ Strata said. Her words were perfectly calculated, not showing a single drop of the crippling emotions surging like crushing waves inside her.

‘It won’t do any good,’ Cloud said.

Strata made fists with her hands. ‘I’m going to do whatever I can to help my son. One of us has to.’ At the doorway she stopped. ‘You know, if you had told him...’

Cloud tensed. Strata walked out, her sentence unfinished. Glass watched her mother leaving, and then turned to her father, clearly expecting him to run out after her.

He didn’t.

Sky touched Nimbus’s cheek. His skin was ice cold.

‘She’s right,’ Cloud said, gruffly. ‘I always thought to protect him from all this. I told him the dragons weren’t real, that there were no Wing Warriors. I had seen so many things, so many terrible wars, and I never wanted him to be a part of that. I thought, perhaps, he could live his life as a normal person. I was wrong. The Wing Warrior is in his blood, and it called to him just the same.’

‘I don’t understand any of this,’ Sky said. ‘Nimbus is a Wing Warrior? A dragon rider?’

Cloud bowed his head. ‘Yes. He is a dragon rider, just like his father before him.’

‘You? But that can’t be possible. That would make you hundreds of years old.’

‘I told you. I am very, very old.’

Sky stared at Cloud in disbelief for a long time. Glass stared too, battling with mixed up emotions that she couldn’t even name. Her dad was a Wing Warrior. He was a hero, and her brother was too. That was exciting. That was incredible.

It was also terrifying.

The room was quiet.

‘Must be something of a shock for you,’ Cloud said, eventually. ‘But all of the Wing Warriors were blessed with the same gift. The finest honour the dragons could bestow on us. The power to live forever.’

Sky pushed the hair back from Nimbus’s face. ‘Does this mean..?’

‘No. Strata is a mortal, and that means Nimbus is mortal too. If he could spend years in the presence of dragons, like I did, then it would be different. But there are no good dragons left in the world. There is only Sorrow.’

‘So Nimbus, Glass, Strata... They will grow old. But you won’t.’

‘That’s right.’

‘And Nimbus doesn’t know about this?’

‘Nimbus believes I am a miller, and nothing more. As does everybody else in this village. I thought it was for the best. Now I cannot believe that anything I have done since Sorrow was defeated has been for the best. The keep I built has fallen, and now my son...’

‘He is still very strong,’ Glass interrupted. ‘I think he wants to open his eyes. That’s a good thing, right? Wanting to open your eyes? And his breathing is better. I’m sure he’s going to be okay.’

‘I’m sure he is too,’ Cloud said.

Glass climbed down from the bed, and took her father’s hand. ‘I don’t think we can help Nim any more,’ she said. ‘We should go to find the dragon now.’

‘No,’ Cloud said, dismissively. ‘That’s not a good idea. We aren’t ready to face Sorrow. I need more time.’

‘No. Not her. The other dragon.’

Cloud crouched beside her. ‘What other dragon?’

‘Nim’s dragon.’

‘Nimbus has a dragon?’

‘He found it in the woods.’

Cloud grabbed Glass’s shoulders and gripped her in the same way that excitement now gripped him. ‘You mean the dragon has hatched? It’s grown?’

‘I guess so.’

‘Have you seen it?’

‘No, but Nim told me about it. We were going to see it when we were arrested by soldiers.’

‘You were arrested?’

‘I think a lot has happened you need to catch up on,’ Sky said.

‘I think you’re right.’ Cloud looked at the sword lying by Nimbus’s side. ‘Would you kids go find Tidal, and bring him back here for me? I need a few minutes alone.’

The children filed out of the room, leaving Cloud with the motionless body of his son.

The blade of the Wing Warrior sword began to glow faintly.

It had been many years since Cloud had last used the power of infinite vision. The last time, he had seen a vision of the future. A terrible vision of dungeons and misery that he had no wish to see again.

But he had no other choice.

He took the sword, and immediately the world faded away to darkness. Then slowly, piece by piece, fragments of that which had happened, and that which would happen, or might happen, began to build around him like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

He could see valleys and woods, plains and mountains, castles and caves. Nations at war, cities crumbling, people crying, black shadows filling the skies.

And dungeons.

His stomach knotted. No, not this. He didn’t want to see this.

Not dungeons.

He tried to turn away, but he knew better than anyone that it was impossible not to see what the sword wished to show; and he could only watch as he drifted down endless corridors of prison cells.

Finally he stopped in front of a barred prison entrance.

He looked through the bars into the dungeon beyond. It was dank, cold, and almost completely filled by the massive bulk of a sleeping dragon.

Cloud’s breath caught in his throat.

The dragon stirred and opened one lazy eye. ‘Who are you?’ he said.

‘I am Cloud. Who are you?’

‘I am Cumulo.’

‘That’s a fine name.’

The dragon blinked and yawned. ‘You’re a Wing Warrior,’ he said, stretching as much as the cramped dungeon cell would allow.

‘And you’re a dragon.’

‘I guess that means we have things to discuss.’

‘I guess you’re right.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Tidal was sitting on the front porch, watching the people across the street as they picked through the remains of their house. Occasionally they would pull out a blanket or pot from the wreckage, and the simple delight of finding something that had not been completely ruined turned their tears of grief to tears of joy.

‘What are you doing?’ Sky asked, sitting beside him with Glass.

‘Look at those people,’ Tidal said. ‘Just look at them. Their home has been destroyed, knocked down like a house of cards. The dragon did that without even realising. How can there be a creature in the world so evil it can ruin something without even noticing? Without even caring?’

‘Are you okay?’ Sky asked.

Tidal shook his head. ‘I just didn’t want to be in there any more. It was all a bit too much for me.’

‘Then how do you think Nim feels? You should be there for him.’

‘Why?’

‘He’s your friend.’

‘He’s a jerk.’

‘Hey, that’s my brother,’ Glass said.

Tidal paused thoughtfully. They were right. Nimbus was his friend, and Nimbus was Glass’s brother. Nimbus was part of their group. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t mean that.’

But he did mean it. Nimbus was part of their group, but he had done this alone. He had snuck into the cave in the woods and found the armour and the sword. He had lied to them all when he said there was nothing down there.

He had wanted to do this by himself. Not as part of the group. He had wanted to pretend to be some kind of hero.

And that meant Nimbus was a jerk.

‘What’s wrong?’ Sky pressed, putting her arm around him. ‘Why so angry?’

Tidal shrugged. ‘Nimbus turning up like that, dressed as a knight with a magic sword. He put his life on the line for us. He stood up to that monster.’ He pressed his hands together to stop them shaking. ‘He did that, and I didn’t.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Sky said.

He smiled wistfully and shook his head. He couldn’t explain to Sky how he was feeling. Not really. ‘I’m older than he is,’ he said, hopelessly.

‘What’s that got to do with it?’

‘Nothing... Everything. I don’t know.’ He rested his chin on his hands. He had never felt like this before. He was bigger than Nim was; he was stronger and braver and faster. He was the one who was supposed to do all the impressive things. Nimbus was the stupid kid who got scared and needed to be rescued. It had always been that way.

It was always supposed to be that way.

‘Nobody thinks anything less of you, Tide,’ Sky said.

‘Did I say I thought they did?’ Tidal snapped.

‘No. Of course. I just mean, if that’s what you’re mad about. You don’t need to worry. You were really brave. You did what you could, and you threw stones the same as we did.’

‘I don’t care about that. What I care about is Nim lying to us. He went into the Forbidden Woods and found that armour, and he told us there was nothing there.’

‘He must have had his reasons.’

‘He’s always known that he’s weak and stupid, and he wanted to keep this all to himself.’

‘Stop talking like that,’ Glass said, angrily. ‘You can’t talk about my brother like that.’

‘Your brother is a liar.’

‘Shut up.’

‘I won’t shut up.’ Tidal jumped to his feet. ‘And I won’t stay around here pampering him just because he’s gone and got himself hurt. He’s only got himself to blame.’

‘Tidal?’ Sky said. There was a pained look in her eyes. ‘Why are you being like this?’

Inside, he was seething with anger and embarrassment. He had gone to the cave with Nim. He could have found the armour. He could have been the Wing Warrior and fought the dragon. Maybe that would have meant that he was the one lying in that bed with a serious injury, but even that would be better than standing here as a useless coward.

‘Tidal?’

‘I just...’ Words failed him, and he choked back a sob before trying again. ‘I just wanted to save you, Sky. That’s all.’

For a second longer he stood there, wide–eyed and awkward, then he turned and ran off down the street, heading towards the beach and the crushed remains of the pier.

‘I don’t understand boys,’ Glass said.

Sky shook her head helplessly. ‘I don’t understand boys either, but I’m beginning to think I understand Tidal a little better. Better than I understand your brother, anyway.’

‘Nim isn’t as complicated as you think he is.’

‘After all this, I don’t agree.’ She watched Tidal until he disappeared from view at the end of the street.

‘Are you going to go after him?’ Glass asked.

‘No. I’ll let him cool off for a bit.’

‘I didn’t mean Tidal.’ A strange look, like a black storm cloud, passed momentarily across Glass’s features. Then it was gone, and she smiled her widest smile. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘Let’s go and tell my daddy Tidal has run off.’

***

Cloud was sitting on the bed, staring at his reflection in the Wing Warrior sword. He did not look up when the girls came back in, and though he tried to mask them, his gloomy thoughts were clearly evident.

‘Where’s Tidal?’ he asked.

‘He’s gone,’ Sky said, walking over to the bed and touching Nimbus’s hand. ‘He’s pretty mad.’

‘People react to these things in different ways. He’ll come around in time. I’m sure of it.’

‘It’s difficult for all of us,’ Sky said, stroking Nimbus’s stone–cold fingers. ‘Everything changed too quickly. I can’t keep up. And there were so many things I wanted to say.’

‘You and me both,’ Cloud said.

‘Stop that,’ Glass shouted, stamping her foot. ‘Stop talking like he’s not there any more.’

‘It’s okay, Glass,’ Cloud said.

‘No. It’s not okay. He’s not... gone. Not yet.’

‘No, of course. You’re right. And we don’t have time for this sort of talk. What we need to do is make sure we’re ready for the next time Sorrow attacks.’

‘She’s coming back?’ Sky said.

‘Without a doubt, and we don’t have much time to make preparations. Nimbus has a dragon. A very powerful one. I’ve seen him, spoken with him. He is being held captive in the dungeons of Crystal Shine and we need to free him.’

‘We? Meaning us?’

‘You have to come too. You’ve taunted Sorrow, thrown stones at her. She won’t forget that in a hurry. I can’t protect you if you aren’t with me.’

‘But, I can’t. I mean, my dad. Things are all messed up, and he needs me.’

‘He’ll understand.’

‘No, he won’t. He...’ Sky’s breath was quickening, and there was a look in her eyes that reminded Cloud of the look in a rabbit’s eyes just as the hunter’s trap springs shut.

‘Do you need me to talk to him?’

‘No! No. Definitely not. This is all so crazy. He needs me. Since Mum went, he needs me. I can’t just leave.’

‘It’s not forever.’

‘Then why does it feel that way?’

‘Your father will be fine. Believe me. He’s got friends here.’

Sky looked at Nimbus. He was totally still, more like a statue than a boy. ‘I want to help Nimbus,’ she said. ‘But I can’t go without seeing my dad first.’

‘Then run on and do that now while I make the preparations for our journey.’

‘What about Tide?’

‘If Tidal has run off, then he will have to fend for himself.’ Cloud stood. It was a decisive action, indicating the time for talking was well and truly over. ‘I need to go to the garrison and get a new sword. I lost mine fighting goblins.’

‘Aren’t you going to take the Wing Warrior sword?’

‘No. This sword stays with Nimbus.’

‘But he doesn’t need it.’

Cloud smiled proudly. ‘A hero always needs his sword.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE