The Princess Who Flew with Dragons by Stephanie Burgis

Author:Stephanie Burgis
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781526604323
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2019-06-18T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

‘Which way?’ Jasper’s voice sounded deeper and harsher in dragon form, filled with the rumbling echoes of a growl. As he tilted his long neck to peer back at me, though, his bright golden eyes shone, warm and familiar, in the midst of his ferocious, scaly face.

Terror was a cold clamp around my spine, but for once, it had nothing to do with flying a dragon. I’d read every one of Jasper’s letters again and again. I knew he wouldn’t let me fall.

‘We have to find my friends,’ I told him, locking my legs firmly into place around his back. ‘They were on their way out of the city. Do you think you can pick them out from the air? Or would that be too difficult?’

‘Pfft.’ Twin balls of smoke shot out of Jasper’s long snout as he snorted. ‘I could spy a mouse from two miles away! I can certainly hunt down a whole pack of goblins.’

It took less than ten minutes of circling the islands of Villenne before he snarled, ‘Got them!’

Tucking his wings around my legs, he veered downwards in a tightly aimed dive towards one of the furthest islands … where a group of tiny dots revealed themselves to be a group of green goblins hurrying along a wide, barely paved road towards the final bridge to the mainland.

‘Talvikki! Berrit! Hannalena! Fedolia!’ I shouted as we shot towards the ground, goblins shrieking and scattering out of our way. ‘It’s me! Sofia! I’m –’

‘Sofi?’ Berrit popped into view below, staring up in amazement. ‘What in the world –?’

‘Well, that explains why he didn’t smell like a human!’ Talvikki appeared on the street beside her, shaking her head as we landed with a thud that sent abandoned shop carts flying in every direction. ‘Sofi,’ she said, ‘you are full of surprises.’

Berrit edged backwards, her eyes fixed on Jasper’s open mouth. ‘He’s not going to eat us, is he?’

‘Of course not!’ I gave Jasper a reassuring pat as he huffed in disgust. ‘He’s a philosopher. Just like us.’

‘“Us?”’ Hannalena repeated as she and Fedolia appeared behind the others. Her thoughtful gaze fixed on the flag that pooled on the ground beside me, where I’d dropped it as we landed. ‘I think our Sofi may have been keeping secrets from us, girls.’

Something dangerous glittered in Fedolia’s blue eyes. ‘Ooh, now that is interesting. And here we all thought we’d finally found a human who might be trustworthy!’

A low growl rumbled up Jasper’s long throat.

Berrit stepped away hastily, her eyes widening.

‘It’s all right,’ I told them both. ‘Just let me explain.’

Luckily, every one of my friends loved gossip. All the goblin girls gathered close around me as I lowered my voice, while Fedolia listened from one pointed step away, the other goblins disappeared into the distance and the local humans peered suspiciously at us all through their closed windows.

Street guards would have come to investigate us on any of Villenne’s wealthier islands – but here, with ancient paint peeling off

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