“That’s Uncle Fergus’s signal!” Ellie cried happily.
“They’re still tracking us!” Lucas let out a relieved breath.
“Perfect!
Quick—if you’ve still got the strength, fire one back!”
“I was just about to,” Ellie said.
She reached for the wand at her waist but came up empty.
Her face went even paler.
“Damn… I must have dropped it when I blacked out.”
Lucas looked down.
Below them stretched endless rolling mountains and empty wilderness.
“It’s okay,” he tried to reassure her.
“They’ll catch up.
The dragon’s huge—they can’t miss her—”
But the sky suddenly went dark.
Thunder cracked overhead!
A massive wall of storm clouds rolled in from the horizon.
With a harsh roar, Skye the black dragon plunged straight into the thick, ink-black thunderheads.
She was using the storm to shake off her pursuers.
In an instant the world turned into chaotic darkness.
Fierce winds and freezing rain lashed at them like whips.
Heavy raindrops stung their faces.
A silver lightning bolt exploded nearby, lighting up the dragon’s savage outline and their pale faces.
Then rolling thunder boomed like the chariot of the gods, vibrating through their skulls.
Lucas didn’t hesitate.
He wrapped his left arm tight around Ellie, gripping the dragon’s spinal ridge with his right, trying to shield the exhausted, dislocated-arm girl beneath him.
“Get under the cloak!” Ellie shouted.
“It’ll protect us!”
She flung open the heavy dragon-hide cloak with her left hand.
Lucas ducked inside with her.
The two of them huddled together on the bucking dragon’s back like survivors on a storm-tossed boat.
The wind howled outside while rain drummed steadily against the tough hide.
In the tight, dark space under the cloak their bodies pressed close.
They could feel each other trembling.
“You’re shaking,” Ellie said, her face inches from his.
Water dripped from her long hair.
Lucas could just make out those vivid violet eyes.
“Are you scared?”
Her voice was soft but rock-steady.
“I promise I’ll get you back alive.
A MacFusty never breaks her word!”
Lucas paused, then laughed.
It wasn’t forced.
Deep, unstoppable laughter bubbled up from his chest.
“Scared?
No way!
I’m great!”
“I never thought I’d get to do something this insane!
Riding a black dragon through a thunderstorm?
I’m the luckiest guy alive!
This world… this world is incredible!”
His laughter grew louder, almost drowning out the thunder outside the cloak.
Ellie’s eyes widened.
She leaned closer, warm breath brushing his cheek.
“Hey, Lucas… did you hit your head?”
…
The pounding rain and roaring thunder finally eased as the black dragon burst out of the storm clouds.
They pushed the cloak open.
The low sun painted the sky brilliant gold.
Below stretched an endless sea of deep-green forest like a vast emerald carpet.
Ellie looked around, completely lost.
Lucas scanned the horizon and his eyes suddenly widened.
Far ahead, a magnificent castle complex stood silhouetted against the sunlight—tall spires, towering walls, and rows of gleaming glass windows.
The entire place perched on a cliff beside a sparkling wide lake.
It looked like something out of a dream.
“Ellie, look over there!” Lucas pointed.
“What is that place?
Do you recognize it?”
Ellie squinted and shook her head.
“Never seen it.
We should still be in the Highlands, right?”
Lucas had serious doubts.
He had grown up in the Scottish Highlands and had never heard of any castle this grand.
If it existed, it would have been world-famous.
Where the hell has this dragon taken us?
Are we even still in the country?
By now the black dragon beneath them was exhausted.
She flew lower and lower, blood still seeping from the wound on her wing.
Her belly began brushing the treetops, scraping with a teeth-grinding sound.
Broken branches and leaves exploded everywhere.
“We have to jump now!” Ellie forced herself upright and made the call.
“Skye isn’t paying attention to us right now, but once she lands she’ll see us as dinner!”
“Don’t you MacFustys have any dragon-taming spells or tools?” Lucas asked.
“She’s weak right now—couldn’t we try to tame her while we have the chance?”
“Tame her?” Ellie stared at him in disbelief.
“No one tames dragons.
My family has looked after the Hebridean Blacks for generations, but it’s about protection, guardianship, and emergency care.
Over time we can earn their trust.
Skye wouldn’t normally act like this… her mind isn’t right at the moment.”
The treetops were getting dangerously close.
Ellie cut herself off.
“Get ready!”
She tried to crouch but her body was still shaking.
She was clearly still weak.
“Hold on to me,” Lucas said immediately.
“I’ll grab the branches, but you need to hold on tight, Ellie.”
Without hesitation, Ellie wrapped her left arm around his waist and climbed onto his back, her golden-brown hair brushing his nose.
“Tie the cloak around us,” she panted.
“I… I don’t have enough strength…”
She blinked in confusion, unsure why she felt so drained.
It was worse than after a full day of hard labor.
Her last clear memory was firing that Levitation Charm at Lucas, then blacking out—until he pulled her up and she woke on the dragon’s back.
Strangely, she had only just learned the Levitation Charm and could usually only move small objects.
But this time it had somehow lifted Lucas directly.
Was that some kind of burst of power?
Lucas didn’t waste any time.
He grabbed her dragon-hide cloak, wrapped it securely around her, then tied the wide edges around his own chest—both binding her to him and adding a layer of protection.
Her lithe body pressed firmly against his back.
A few stray strands of her hair slipped out of the cloak and tickled his neck.
He shook his head hard.
For some reason Lucas realized that this girl, Ellie, felt completely different from any girl he had met in either of his lives.
But there was no time to think about that now.
He stared down at the treetops rushing past, waiting for the right moment.
When the dragon skimmed over a massive oak tree with a huge, umbrella-like canopy, Lucas shouted, “Hold on tight!”
With Ellie on his back, he leaped off the dragon.