Aurora (23 page)

‘No, not yet,’
she answered.
‘Jack has promised to tell you both together when they reach you. They are on their way to you now.’

Elian was out of his seat, through the door and outside in no more than a handful of heartbeats. He could see them coming across the field. Kira was some distance ahead of Jack. Both had their
heads down. He could understand Kira’s posture, but why did Jack look so depressed? Surely he should be jubilant. He had done what no other flyer had managed. He had shot down his deadliest
enemy.

The two figures came closer. When Kira turned from the lane into the courtyard, he ran forwards and drew her into a hug.

‘Aurora told me,’ he whispered in her ear. ‘It’s not your fault, Kira.’

Kira did not reply, but she leaned her head into his shoulder and he could feel her weeping gently. Elian was shocked. This was not like the Kira he knew. He never thought he’d see the
tough huntress shed a tear, let alone weep. Jack entered the courtyard behind her. His eyes were sad as he met Elian’s gaze.

‘I’m sorry, Elian,’ he apologised. ‘I meant no harm to Kira, I swear. I hope she will forgive me eventually. Come. Let’s go inside. The Boss needs to wire the news
to HQ as soon as possible. I’ll give my report, then show you the answer to your riddle poem.’

Jack led the way into the mess building. He left Elian and Kira and went to make his report. From the moment the door closed, Elian began pacing back and forth like a caged cat. Kira sat on a
stool and stared blankly out of the window, listening to the sputtering of aircraft engines starting up – the launch of another patrol.

To Elian every second Jack was gone felt like an age. The longer he waited, the more his suspicion of the pilot increased. What was he really doing? Did he actually have an answer to the
Oracle’s riddle, or had he fooled them into helping him with false promises?

The door opened and Elian turned instantly. Kira remained staring out of the window. Jack entered, carrying a folded map. Why a map? Was the final orb in this world after all? Did he know the
orb’s location?

‘The Boss sends his thanks for your help,’ Jack began. ‘Apparently there are generals at Headquarters who want us to use all means possible to convince you to help with another
problem . . .’

‘But you promised . . .’ Elian objected fiercely.

Jack held up his hand, his stern expression halting Elian’s outburst. ‘If you’ll let me finish, Elian,’ he continued. ‘The Boss’s words were, “The
Generals can go and take a running jump!”. He has authorised me to release the answer to your riddle, but I didn’t need his permission. I would have done it anyway. Here.
Look.’

Jack moved to the table in the centre of the room and unfolded his map. There were lines of symbols on the back, which Elian knew to be the strange writing of this world. There were five groups
of four lines. It had to be the Oracle’s riddle rhyme.

‘Before I tell you outright what the answer is, would you mind writing out the riddle verses in your own language?’ Jack asked. ‘I wonder if this works in both of our
languages.’

‘I’m not too good at writing,’ Elian admitted. ‘What about you, Kira?’

Kira was still staring out of the window. She did not look round, but she shook her head.

‘OK, I’ll try,’ Elian said.

Jack handed him a writing instrument unlike anything he had seen before. Placing the pointed end against the paper, he was amazed to see ink flow in a neat line as he brushed it against the
white surface. Elian wrote the lines out in his own language, doing his best to make sure they lined up with Jack’s verses.

When Elian had finished, Jack thanked him and then carefully underlined the fifth line, the tenth line and the seventeenth line:

‘Do you see anything unusual about the verses now?’ he asked.

Elian looked, but he could see nothing. He shook his head.

‘The riddles in each verse are clever,’ Jack explained. ‘If I had been clever enough, then I might have worked them out the way you were trying to do. But, to be honest, I
wasn’t sharp enough to see the answers. There is an easier solution. In my language the Oracle’s poem is what we call an acrostic. You can read words downwards using the first letter of
each line. I didn’t notice it until I wrote it out on the map. Even then I didn’t notice it straight away. Of course, once you see it, the solution is obvious. Try taking the first
letter of each line and writing them out across the page like this’

Jack wrote the letters:

Then he added diagonal slashes after the fifth, tenth and seventeenth letters, just as he had underlined those relative lines in the poem.

Elian tried it, but the string of letters were meaningless.

‘It doesn’t mean anything,’ Elian said, confused. ‘It’s just a string of nonsense.’

‘Interesting!’ Jack mused. ‘It appears the only way the solution becomes obvious is when the poem is written in English. Your Oracle is beginning to scare me. In my language
the words read: blood, heart, eyeball, egg.’

Elian went pale.

‘“Life after death from death before life”!’
he gasped. ‘An egg! We’ve got to get a dragon’s egg to the Oracle before it hatches! The hatching!
But how did the Oracle know about the eggs? That’s impossible!’

‘There is little that is impossible for the Oracle,’
Aurora told him, her voice irritatingly pompous.

‘Can we get back before the last egg hatches?’

‘Of course!’
Aurora answered without hesitation.
‘The Oracle would not have given us a task that was impossible. Don’t worry. I’ll get us back before the
last of the eggs hatch. The question is more whether we can transport the egg to the Oracle’s cave in time. Once we get back to the enclave I will have to wait a full day until we can form
another gateway and it’s much too great a distance to fly it direct.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

‘No, Elian! NO!’ Tarl snapped. ‘You’re not taking one of the eggs. I would
never
ask Blaze such a thing. The very idea is monstrous. It’s
unthinkable!’

‘What if I got Aurora to . . .’

‘NO!’ Tarl’s eyes were narrowed, and his face tight with fury. ‘Don’t you
dare
start Aurora upsetting Blaze over this. If Blaze were human, would you ask her
to sacrifice a baby for you? That’s what you’re asking, Elian. The answer is no, and it will remain no.’

Elian nodded, bowed and withdrew down the corridor with Kira at his side. Neema followed them, her face troubled. They walked in silence until they reached the common room. The oddly shaped
chamber was filled with natural light that poured in from the opening to the wide mountain ledge at the far end. Hangings adorned the wall and comfortable chairs, piled with soft cushions,
beckoned. Elian threw himself into a chair and slumped forwards with his chin in his hands.

‘Well!’ he sighed. ‘What now?’