Chapter Two

The Dragon Temple

The Dragon Temple lay near the end of the Silver River, a long, gurgling stream of water that wound through the Dragon Realms like a ribbon of spun silver. The rest of the day was spent in flight, following the Silver River from Warfang to the temple. Ignitus' wings screamed in protest: after two weeks of physically demanding trials to be chosen as an apprentice, and a long flight from the Burned Lands to Warfang for the ceremony, the last thing he wanted to do was be on the move again. But fear that his new peers would find him weak – Cyril especially - spurred him on.

They arrived at the Dragon Temple just as the dying circle of the sun was disappearing behind the horizon. Half-hidden between moss-covered mushrooms as tall as trees, the temple seemed almost modest compared to the magnificent buildings of Warfang. The brown stone of the temple glowed golden in the light of the setting sun, and its colourful, stained glass roof glittered like a clutch of jewels.

Ishlandur landed on a wide bridge that led to the temple entrance; Ignitus landed a short distance behind him, relieved to finally rest his aching wings. Ishlandur led Ignitus and the rest of the dragons across the bridge until they came to a tall arched door with mysterious runes inscribed around its borders. To Ignitus' confusion, the door appeared to have no handle. How are we supposed to get in? he wondered.

Ishlandur raised his wings, indicating that the rest of the dragons should stay back. He stepped forward. Then he opened his maw - and out shot a plume of fire hotter and brighter than anything Ignitus had seen before.

As soon as the dragonfire hit the door the runes began to glow with a bright red light, as if they had drunk the fire itself. A loud creaking noise filled the swamp as the doors of the Dragon Temple slowly opened.

"Welcome," Ishlandur said, "to the Dragon Temple."

Joy and wonder filled Ignitus' heart. Finally, the reality began to sink in: he was an apprentice at the Dragon Temple. It took all Ignitus' strength not to bound down the hall through which Ishlandur was now leading them. The other apprentices, too, seemed to feel the same; there were many gasps of wonder as they walked through the ancient birthplace of the Guardians, and some of the apprentices whispered excitedly amongst themselves.

Ishlandur took them to a large, circular room with a stained glass ceiling. Immediately Ignitus was hit with the mouth-watering smell of… Food! He looked around for the source, and noticed that plates of food seemed to be hovering in mid-air around the room – fish and chicken and roasted goat legs. Upon closer inspection, the plates were not hovering in mid-air, but were being carried by small moles who seemed to be struggling under the weight of all the meat. Ignitus remembered how moles had presented everyone with cloaks, back at the Choosing. Maybe they're servants here.

"We have had an exciting day, and a long flight," Ishlandur spoke. "There will be time for speeches afterwards, but for now, please eat and meet your fellow apprentices!"

Ignitus didn't hesitate. He immediately sunk his teeth into a leg of goat. There was barely enough prey in the Burned Lands as it was, and he hadn't eaten since he left for Warfang. Succulent and flavoursome, it was the best thing Ignitus had ever tasted.

Only once he'd eaten his fill did he look around the room at the other dragons. By now, the sun had fully set and the chamber was lit by firelight. Ignitus soon recognised the unmistakeably pretentious tones of Cyril, the Ice Dragon, and spotted him a short distance away talking to a Fire Dragon with ash-grey scales and a green Earth Dragon who looked more snake than drake.

"Of course, I don't think I'll have any problem settling in here," he was boasting. "Merely three days after I hatched from my egg I took on one of the woolly mammoths that frequent the land my ancestors own, and won…"

Ignitus pulled his attention away from the conversation and gazed around at the other dragons. He recognised the pretty copper Fire Dragon Ishlandur had presented with a cloak at the ceremony. Like him, she was standing by herself, though she didn't look at all shy or uncomfortable. Ignitus was just working up the courage to go and talk to her when a yellow Electricity Dragon with lightning bolt-shaped stripes across his hide appeared in front of him.

"Hi, I'm Volteer!" he said.

Ignitus blinked, feeling slightly disappointed that he'd been interrupted on his way to speak to the dragoness. He pushed the feeling away. "Hi, I'm Ignitus-"

"Of the Burned Lands, yes," the yellow dragon gabbled, "I remember from the ceremony. I'm from Warfang, myself. My father owns a bookshop there, you see. He's even written a few tomes himself! Words, my father says, are a dragon's most devastating breath attack. I suppose he was hoping I would help him run the bookshop, but if our great Guardians have decreed that I am to become an apprentice, then who am I to argue! That said, I am one of a very large clutch of eggs so I'm sure my many brothers and sisters will give my father the help he needs. Do you have any siblings?"

Ignitus felt slightly dizzy from how many subjects the Electricity Dragon had just barrelled through.

"No," he said faintly, "no, it's just me-"

"Is that so?" Volteer nattered. "Well, then, how lucky you are! With so many siblings it does get rather chaotic in my household - one can hardly get a word in edgeways…"

You don't say, Ignitus thought flatly.

"…Still, I truly am a firm believer in the monarchy. I suppose you just live with your mother and father, then?"

Ignitus blinked. How in the realms has this dragon got me talking about my parents within the first minute of meeting me?

"Well, actually it's just me," Ignitus said awkwardly. "My mother - died when I was young. I've never met my father. Which is not really that uncommon in the Burned Lands," he added quickly, reluctant for Volteer to pity him. "Life is pretty dangerous with so many volcanoes around, and it's hard enough to find food for yourself, let alone for someone else."

To Ignitus' surprise, Volteer was not gazing with him with pity, but with wonder.

"Fascinating!" he exclaimed. "I must say, as much as I like to boast about living in the Dragon City and meeting lots of different kinds of dragons – you do get all sorts coming into the bookshop, as you can imagine – the great downside of Warfang is that, with everyone mixing so closely together, every element's native culture is somewhat lost in the crowd. It does make life so terribly dull! Still, I'm hoping to find out more about every element of dragon by living here. It will be a truly intriguing time."

Volteer's words jogged something in Ignitus' brain.

"Hey, Volteer," he said. "You said you've met lots of different dragons, right?" Ignitus peered around the room, searching for a glimpse of deep purple. "Have you ever met a dragon with purple scales before?"

"Purple?" Volteer exclaimed. "Alas! I cannot say I have. I suppose you, too, are thinking of that glorious purple dragon who greeted us yesterday?"

"Yes," Ignitus admitted. "I couldn't work out which element he was. I thought he might be an Electricity Dragon, or something."

"An Electricity Dragon! By the Ancestors, no," Volteer said. "My great-great grandfather had a sort of purple underbelly, but it was nowhere near the deep, rich magenta of that dragon's scales. No, upon thinking about it his belly was really more indigo - the same colour as a thundercloud about to belch lightning – and the rest of him was pale yellow like me, to be sure. And I have seen other elements of dragon with purple wings or underbellies – Ice Dragons and Earth Dragons and such like. But never have I seen a dragon with purple scales."

The answer displeased Ignitus. But before he could dwell on it for long, and before Volteer could open his maw to say something else, his thoughts were interrupted by the voice of Ishlandur.

"Welcome, young dragons," Ishlandur said. Almost at once, the noise of the new apprentices died away. "Tonight marks your first night as an apprentice at the Dragon Temple. You are well-fed, and soon I hope you will be well-rested, for your training begins at dawn tomorrow."

A wave of excitement seemed to pass over the apprentices, even though no dragon spoke.

An Ice Dragon, who Ignitus had heard was called Perisher, then spoke. He had a cold, stern face that looked as if it had been sculpted from ice. "Some of you will foolishly believe that you will be doing nothing more than learning to fight. Yet there is much more to being a Guardian than that. You must learn to read and write, to fly and glide, if you do not know already. You must learn the history of the dragon race, so that mistakes which have happened in the past do not repeat themselves. And you must learn all about the world around you and the creatures that live within it, so that you might better protect them."

"Above all," came the deep, earth-shaking voice of the Earth Guardian, Kytheron, "You must learn to see each other as your brothers and sisters. A few of you may have come from Warfang, where many different dragons live together in peace. Most of you will have grown up knowing no dragon except those who are of the same element as you. Wherever you come from, there is no space for divisions between us here. The four Guardians may each control a different element, but we work together as one, and we protect all dragons equally."

The Electricity Guardian, Angtor, stepped forwards to say a few words, but Ignitus did not hear them. Until now, the four Guardians had been perched on a balcony. But just as Kytheron had started to speak about elements, a fifth dragon moved into view.

Malefor.

The same feeling of awe he had felt earlier crept down Ignitus' spine as he looked at the purple dragon. Ignitus wasn't sure whether he wanted to fear this dragon or worship him. At once, Ignitus felt sure that this was no ordinary dragon. He wasn't an Electricity Dragon, like he'd initially considered, nor an Ice Dragon or an Earth Dragon or even a Fire Dragon. He was none of those things, and yet he was all of them at once.

He was the stars. He was everything.

Suddenly Malefor looked sharply at Ignitus. It was so quick, so intense, that Ignitus felt like he'd been physically struck. His eyes were like two smouldering suns, burning away at Ignitus' exterior like a flame slowly burns away the page of a book, trying to get at the thoughts inside.

A wave of dizziness crashed over Ignitus. He stumbled, slumping awkwardly into Volteer.

"Kytheron says we're going to be in classes together!" Volteer whispered, not noticing anything was wrong. "Isn't that great?"

Ignitus felt lightheaded. Volteer finally noticed that something was wrong, and so did everyone else, it seemed. All eyes turned to him. Voices seemed to shout his name, but they seemed far away. All Ignitus could focus on were the golden eyes boring into him from above.

"Ignitus?" Volteer said. It was the shortest sentence he'd uttered all evening. "Ignitus, are you OK?"

Ignitus pulled his gaze away from Malefor to look at Volteer.

Then he collapsed.