‘Wait!’ Tab said. ‘Let me try something.’

She wanted to show Melprin the moment when Aventurine hatched. She closed her eyes and created the pictures in her mind, the way Tattoo had shown her – paying attention to every detail.

›››Can you see it?

›››I can see

‘Now!’ said Tab through gritted teeth.

Verris and Vrod pulled, and the shaft slid through Melprin's flesh and out the other side.

When Tab opened her eyes again, a tear slid down Melprin's face and then disappeared in a waft of steam.

Vrod and Verris fell back in the sand, panting.

‘We did it!’ Tab said.

Verris shook his head. ‘We're only halfway there. Melprin has a lot of healing to do.’ He crouched down to inspect Tab's burns. ‘We need to get something cold on that, and quickly.’ He shook his head. ‘It's not good, Tab.’

‘Look,’ growled Vrod, pointing to the horizon.

Tab saw shimmering shapes heading towards them. ‘What is it?’

‘Peoples,’ the troll answered. He sniffed. ‘Lots of peoples looking for a fight.’

Tab looked at the dragon with her sharp talons and leathery wings. One of the skills her gift was giving her was the opportunity to see things through other people's eyes. Even without melding she could guess what an equen might see. ‘Scavenjaw,’ she muttered. Melprin would look a lot like a scavenjaw from a distance. Maybe the scavenjaws were dragons?

‘What did you say?’ Verris asked.

Tab turned and looked towards the scout vessel at her friends – child-sized, and the equens still on board. ‘It's the herdsfolk,’ she answered. ‘They think we're the sky-traders. They think we've come to kidnap more equens.’

Alyssa Brugman

The Equen Queen

Alyssa Brugman

The Equen Queen

Mysterious Herdsfolk Magic

The silhouettes shimmered as the herdsfolk came forward over the sand. Tab guessed there were twenty, maybe more. They wore the long capes that she had seen in her vision and when the capes fluttered in the breeze she could make out the tattoos on their legs. They looked angry.

‘How many can you take?’ Verris asked Vrod, as he flexed his fingers, readjusting his grip on his sword.

The troll shrugged. ‘Ten?’

‘We can solve this without fighting,’ Tab said.

Verris ignored her. ‘That leaves ten for me. Maybe more. And Fontagu is next to useless.’ He helped Tab to her feet and herded her towards the craft. ‘Philmon can fly that scout vessel. Take your friends back to the cloud layer. You can come back down again when it's over.’

Tab shook her head. ‘I'm not leaving.’ The first stone from a sling whistled past her ear. She put her hands over her head, trying to protect herself. The burns on her arms stung so much she found it hard to think about anything else.

‘Agh!’ Verris hopped up and down on one leg. He'd been hit in the shin. He let go of Tab and her knees buckled.

Another stone whistled by and caught Vrod on the chin. The troll growled, and then looked around for something to throw. He picked up one of the bloody arrows, testing its weight in his hands.

‘No!’ Tab shouted. Her legs wouldn't hold her up, and she fell awkwardly, holding her burned arms out of the way.

The air was thick with whistling stones. Verris and Vrod turned their backs trying to protect their faces.

Philmon and Fontagu retreated into the scouting vessel, out of harm's way.

Amelia was standing halfway between Tab and the craft muttering something, and gesturing with her hands. In front of her the stones slowed and then fell to the ground, but there were more than her powers of levitation could handle. A stone hit her in the shoulder and she lost her concentration. She crouched and crossed her forearms in front of her face as she was peppered with tiny rocks.

Torby closed his eyes and held his arms outstretched. Suddenly a whirlwind of sand rose out of the dune between the herdsfolk and the Quentarans. It spun faster and faster, reaching twice the height of Tab and then four times.

The herdsfolk lowered their slings and backed away slowly.

The whirlwind kept growing and soon Tab could feel her hair and clothing fluttering towards the sandstorm. It roared louder and louder.

Tab turned to her small friend. His feet were buried in the sand, and as she watched his ankles disappeared into the dune, and then his calves. He was sinking!

‘Torby!’ she shouted, but her voice was carried away by the wind.

He had his eyes closed, and a frown of concentration furrowed his brow. He was buried up to his knees.

Tab crawled towards the scout vessel. The sand scratched against her burns and she winced with pain.

‘Philmon!’ she screamed.

Her friend saw what was happening and ran towards the smaller boy – now up to his thighs in sand.

Philmon grabbed him by the arms and shook him, but he too started sinking. Philmon shouted into Torby's face as the sand reached his waist.

Torby's eyes opened and he looked down. A look of fright crossed his face. Suddenly the whirling sand stopped in midair and fell to the ground all at once with a giant whomp.

The herdsfolk stared at the Quentarans across the barren expanse, slack-jawed with astonishment.

Amelia joined Philmon, trying to pull Torby out of the sand. Verris and Vrod ran over and began to dig. Between them they were able to drag the small boy out of the sand.

‘Nice trick, boy,’ Verris noted, ruffling Torby's hair.

Tab clambered to her feet and stumbled the rest of the way to the scout vessel. Once there she unloaded the equens, who were trembling and sweating with fear.

›››Calm

She took their lead ropes and led the equens across the sand towards the herdsfolk. It took all her concentration to stay upright. She held her forearms up and blew on them gently.

‘What are you doing?’ Verris shouted after her.

She ignored him.

The herdsfolk raised their slings as she approached, but they didn't fire. A boy came forward, shading his eyes with his hands. He turned to his people and said something that Tab couldn't hear, and then he jogged towards her over the sand.

As he got closer Tab recognised him as the boy from her dream – the one she had seen jumping from the Drop-off with Tattoo. His face was twisted. He was horrified. When he reached them he scrabbled at the halter the first equen was wearing, as though he couldn't bear it being on the equen's skin.

‘My name is Tab,’ she said. ‘We rescued these equens from the sky-traders. We brought them back to you.’

He threw the first halter on the ground in disgust. ‘Rescued? Then why have you bound them? I have been to your streets and seen your equen slaves with…’ His eyes blazed. ‘With metal in their mouths and on their feet…’ His eyes filled with tears of rage, and his fingers fumbled with the second halter. ‘… And bound all over with straps made from the hides of their brothers and sisters!’

‘They're not equens, they're horses,’ Tab explained.

He glared at her. ‘You consort with scavenjaws, and you are wicked! Leave here or we will slay you all.’

‘With those?’ she said, pointing to the sling tucked into his belt.

The boy lifted his chin defiantly.

‘She's not a scavenjaw, she's a dragon,’ Tab continued. ‘She's my friend the way Tattoo is your friend.’

‘Meat eater!’ the boy spat, and he stalked away. The two equens followed him.

‘We need your help. My friends are sick. Tattoo said that she can heal them.’

‘We will not help you,’ the boy said, furiously stomping across the sand.

‘I don't see that you have much choice,’ Tab called after him. ‘Even if you did manage to slay us with your pebbles, others will come looking for us. Then more will come looking for them, and more, and more, until there is a whole army here. You have seen how many people are in our city. Wouldn't it be easier just to help two of us? And then we will be gone.’