Silver got up on Sunday morning and dressed so inattentively that it was a while before he realized he was trying to pull socks over his hands. When he'd finally got everything on, he hurried off to find Coral, locating her at the Shinobi table in the Great Hall, where she was eating breakfast with Blaze. Feeling too queasy to eat, Silver waited until Coral had swallowed her last spoonful of porridge, then dragged her out onto the grounds. There, he told her all about the dragons, and about everything Elias had said, while they took another long walk around the lake. Alarmed as she was by Elias' warnings about Benedict, Coral still thought that the dragons were the more pressing problem "Let's just try and keep you alive until Tuesday evening and then we can worry about Benedict". The two went to the library to find something that could be useful. The problem was there were very few spells that could affect a Dragon especially when it was a single wizard casting them. Silver remembered how forty wizards were needed just to knock them out. Coral suggested that maybe he could perform a spell on himself that could help him but anything useful was all seventh-year level stuff, not something Silver could learn in a few days. Coral looked through another book when "Oh no, he's back again, why can't he read on his stupid ship?". Reynard had just arrived and sat in the corner of the library "Come on, Silver, let's go back to the Common Room. His fan club will be here any moment". Sure, enough as they left a gang of girls tiptoed past them.
Silver barely slept that night. Monday morning, he was seriously considering just running away from Soleanna. His only other options were facing a Dragon or forfeiting the Task leaving him a laughingstock. He barely ate at breakfast; his throat wasn't working too well. He got up to leave with Coral when he spotted Sonic leaving the Yagyu table. It barely took a second for him to decide "Coral, I'll meet you at the greenhouse" "What? But you'll be late the bell's about to go" "I'll catch up". Silver followed Sonic up the marble staircase to Charms class. He was with a group of friends who Silver recognised as one of the many who kept quoting Breezie's article to him "Hey, Sonic!". Sonic stopped and turned looking confused "Yeah, what's up?" "Uh… can I talk to you for a second". Sonic's friends were glaring at Silver and showing off their badges. Sonic had a look of scepticism but "Uh, sure". His friends were surprised but he ignored them and walked with Silver "Tell Chuck I'll be there in a minute" he yelled back at them. Once they disappeared Silver paused trying to think of the best way to break the news "Dragons" "What?" "Dragons. That's the first task. They've got one for each of us".
Sonic looked back to ensure there wasn't anyone else "How do you know. We're not supposed to see them" "Never mind that. But I'm not the only one who knows. Windermere and Benedict saw them as well, so Reynard and Mina are bound to know by now". Sonic stared at Silver with puzzlement and even a bit of suspicion "Why are you telling me this?". Silver was surprised, why wouldn't he tell him? He wouldn't let his worst enemy face those dragons… Well, maybe Rutan or Infinite "It's just fair. Now we all know. We're all on equal footing". There was a noise behind him, Striker was standing there watching "Come with me, Silver. Sonic, off you go". Silver gulped, how much did he hear. Silver moved to follow Striker, but Sonic grabbed his arm "Hey, listen, thanks. And about the badges, I told them not to wear them. I-" "It's fine. I get it" "Silver!" Striker growled. Silver followed Striker in silence. Was he going to make him admit that Big showed him the dragons? Was he going to go to tell Locke or was he just going to turn him into a Ricky? For a moment Silver thought that might not be so bad, he could get past the dragon easier. Striker opened the door to let Silver into his office. The last time Silver was inside this room he was saying goodbye to Knuckles. This time the office was nearly unrecognisable, the walls were covered in magical objects that Silver could only assume was from Striker's Diamond Cutter days. On the desk was a Chaos Ring, a much larger one than Silver had once had and like Silver it was vibrating. Striker walked over and picked it up "Special Dark Detector. Much more sensitive than that civilian ones. Been doing that ever since I got here. Students lying to teachers and each other" "Why do you leave it on then?" "Because I'm starting to think it's picking up more than kid's stuff".
He sat down by an old black trunk "So… What're you going to do about your dragon?". Silver didn't say anything which made Striker laugh "Don't worry. Cheating as traditional apart of the Tournament than anything else" "I didn't cheat. It was an accident" "I'm not accusing you, laddie. I've been telling Locke from the start, he can be as high-minded as he likes, but you can bet old Benedict and Windermere won't be. They'll have told their champions everything they can. They want to win. They want to beat Locke. They'd like to prove he's only mortal". He let out another laugh "So, again, I ask you, what are you going to do about your dragon?". Despite how impossible it seemed Silver was still ashamed to admit "No" "Well, I don't show favouritism, me. I'm just going to give you some good, general advice. And the first bit is play to your strengths" "I haven't got any" Silver said before he could stop himself. Striker scoffed "Excuse me? You've got strengths if I say you've got them. Think now. What are you best at?". Silver tried to think, it wasn't difficult "Sky Chase. I'm a good flier" "Better than good from what I've heard" "But I'm not allowed a board". Striker leaned forward "You're allowed your Talismans. My second piece of advice, the simplest spells can be the most helpful".
Silver ran into the Green house apologising to Professor Chrysan as he passed. He stood next to Coral "I need your help" "What do you think I've been trying to do" "I need to learn a Summoning Charm by tomorrow". And so, after the lesson they skipped lunch and used a free classroom to practice using various books and objects to try and summon from one end of the room to Silver at the other end. It wasn't going too well, the objects seemed to lose heart halfway through and fell to the floor "Concentrate, Silver" "I'm trying but for some reason a great big dragon keeps distracting me for some reason". Silver wanted to skip Divination to keep practicing but Coral point blank refused to skive Arithmancy and there was no point of continuing without her. So, he had to spend the next hour listening to Pyjamas talking about how the alignment of the planets meant people born in July were to suffer a sudden violent death "Well, that's good, I wouldn't want it to be drawn out!". Razor was two tables over and looked like he had to hold in a laugh, but Silver didn't notice he was too resentful to even acknowledge Razor was there. He spent most of the lesson trying to summon things under the table. He managed to make a fly land in his hand although he wasn't sure how much of that was his prowess with the summoning charm, maybe the fly was just stupid.
After a quick dinner Silver and Coral used the Emerald to sneak back up to the classroom. They were there till midnight when Charmy showed up pretending like Silver just wanted things thrown at him. They had to run out invisible so Rykor would spot them, and they made it back to Shinobi Tower which was mercifully empty at this time. It took another two hours before Silver finally got the hang of it. He managed to pull a book out of Coral's hand, and it flew into his own. Coral actually clapped "You've got it!" "Let's hope it still works tomorrow. It'll be a bit further away" "That doesn't matter. Just as long as you're concentrating really, really hard on it, it'll come. Silver, we'd better get some sleep. You're going to need it".
Silver had spent so much time practicing the Summoning Spell that his blind panic seemed to have left him, but it was right back the next morning. The atmosphere in the school was one of great tension and excitement. Lessons were to stop at midday, giving all the students time to get down to the dragons' enclosure, though of course, they didn't yet know what they would find there. Silver felt oddly separate from everyone around him, whether they were wishing him good luck or hissing "We'll have a box of tissues ready, Hedgehog" as he passed. It was a state of nervousness so advanced that he wondered whether he mightn't just lose his head when they tried to lead him out to his dragon and start trying to curse everyone in sight. Time was behaving in a more peculiar fashion than ever, rushing past in great dollops, so that one moment he seemed to be sitting down in his first lesson, History of Magic, and the next, walking into lunch and then Echo was hurrying over to him in the Great Hall. Lots of people were watching "Silver, the champions have to come down onto the grounds now… You have to get ready for your first task" "Okay" Silver said in a voice that was quite unlike him. "Good luck, Silver" Coral said as he left. As they walked across the grounds Silver noticed Echo wasn't her usual self, she looked as anxious as Coral. She led him to a tent but before he went in, she put a hand on his shoulder "Now, don't panic. Just keep a cool head. We've got wizards standing by to control the situation if it gets out of hand. The main thing is just to do your best, and nobody will think any the worse of you… Are you all right?". Silver couldn't help but feel a little better over Echo's concern "Yeah, I'm fine". Echo forced a smile "Okay, well, just go and wait in there with the other Champions. Mr Barker will be here soon to give instructions. Good luck" "Thanks". Silver took a deep breath and entered the tent. Mina was sitting in the corner not looking nearly as composed as usual, she looked very pale. Reynard was leaning against one of the pillars with his arms crossed and staring at the floor which might have been a sign of nerves. He gave Silver a slight nod as he entered. Sonic was pacing at the other side of the tent, he smiled at Silver which he tried to return but his face didn't seem capable right now.
Barker was quick to arrive "Ah, you're all here. Well, the audience is beginning to assemble so we can get started". He took out a small bag "In this bag are a small model of the thing you are about to face. There are different varieties you see. Now, your objective it to get past it and retrieve a golden egg the thing is guarding". He held out the bag "Ladies first". Mina reached into the bag and scooped something out. She flinched, apparently when Barker said smaller model that didn't mean it wasn't alive. She opened her hand revealing a small Sabina with a number two on its neck. By the lack of surprise on Mina's face Silver could tell Striker was right, Windermere had told her. The same held true for Reynard as he scooped out a Mist with a number three. Then it was Sonic's turn, he took out the Zan with a one on its neck. Silver's nerves got worse; he knew what was left. He reached in and scooped out a Stringer with a four. Barker looked delighted "Well, there you are. You have each pulled out the dragon you will face, and the numbers refer to the order in which you are to take on the dragons, do you see? Now, I'm going to have to leave you in a moment because I'm commentating. Mr Sonic, you're first, just go out into the enclosure when you hear a whistle, all right? Now, Silver, could I have a quick word? Outside?" "Er… Okay". Silver followed him out of the tent into a small group of trees. Barker turned and gave what seemed to be an attempt at a fatherly expression "Feeling all right, Silver? Anything I can get you?" "What? Uh, no, thanks, I'm fine" "Got a plan. Because I don't mind sharing a few pointers, if you'd like them, you know. No one would know" he winked. "No" Silver said so quickly he knew he sounded rude "I mean, no thank you. I'm fine" he wasn't. They heard a whistle making Barker gasp "Good Lord, I've got to go. Good luck, Silver!". He ran into the stadium as Silver went back into the tent. Sonic had already left and based on the roars of the crowd he was had entered the enclosure. It was worse than Silver could ever have imagined, sitting there, and listening. The crowd screamed, yelled, gasped like a single many-headed entity, as Sonic did whatever he was doing to get past the Swedish Short-Snout. Reynard was still staring at the ground. Mina had now taken to retracing Sonic's steps, around and around the tent. And Barker's commentary made everything much, much worse. Horrible pictures formed in Silver's mind as he heard: "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow" and "He's taking risks, this one!" and "Clever move, pity it didn't work!".
And then, after about fifteen minutes, Silver heard the deafening roar that could mean only one thing: Sonic had gotten past his dragon and captured the golden egg. "Very good indeed! And now the marks from the judges!" Barker yelled. But he didn't shout out the marks; Silver supposed the judges were holding them up and showing them to the crowd "One down, three to go! Miss Mina, if you please!". Mina was trembling from head to foot; Silver felt more warmly toward her than he had done so far as she left the tent with her head held high and her hand clutching her microphone. He and Reynard were left alone, at opposite sides of the tent, avoiding each other's gaze. The same process started again "Oh I'm not sure that was wise!" they could hear Barker shouting gleefully. "Oh, nearly! Careful now… good lord, I thought she'd had it then!". Ten minutes later, Silver heard the crowd erupt into applause once more. Mina must have been successful too. A pause, while Mina's marks were being shown, more clapping, then, for the third time, the whistle. "And here comes Mr. Reynard!" cried Barker, and Reynard slouched out, leaving Silver quite alone. He felt much more aware of his body than usual; very aware of the way his heart was pumping fast, and his fingers tingling with fear. Yet at the same time, he seemed to be outside himself, seeing the walls of the tent, and hearing the crowd, as though from far away "Very daring!" Barker was yelling, and Silver heard the Mist emit a horrible, roaring shriek, while the crowd drew its collective breath. "That's some nerve he's showing and… yes, he's got the egg!". Applause shattered the wintery air like breaking glass; Reynard had finished, it would be Silver's turn any moment He stood up, noticing dimly that his legs seemed to be made of jelly. He waited. And then he heard the whistle blow. He walked out through the entrance of the tent, the panic rising into a crescendo inside him. And now he was walking past the trees, through a gap in the enclosure fence. He saw everything in front of him as though it was a very highly coloured dream.
There were hundreds and hundreds of faces staring down at him from stands that had been magicked there since he'd last stood on this spot. And there was the Stringer, at the other end of the enclosure, crouched low over her clutch of eggs, her wings half-furled, her evil, black eyes upon him, a monstrous, scaly, red lizard, thrashing her spiked tail, leaving yard-long gouge marks in the hard ground. The crowd was making a great deal of noise, but whether friendly or not, Silver didn't know or care. It was time to do what he had to do to focus his mind, entirely and absolutely, upon the thing that was his only chance. He raised his hand "Accio Psychic Wave!" he shouted. Silver waited, every fibre of him hoping, praying. If it hadn't worked, if it wasn't coming… He seemed to be looking at everything around him through some sort of shimmering, transparent barrier, like a heat haze, which made the enclosure and the hundreds of faces around him swim strangely. And then he heard it, speeding through the air behind him; he turned and saw his Psychic Wave in a cyan glow hurtling toward him around the edge of the woods, soaring into the enclosure, and stopping dead in midair beside him, waiting for him to mount. The crowd was making even more noise. Barker was shouting something, but Silver's ears were not working properly anymore, listening wasn't important. He jumped onto the board and took off. And a second later, something miraculous happened. As he soared upward, as the wind rushed through his hair, as the crowd's faces became mere flesh-coloured pinpricks below, and the Stringer shrank to the size of a dog, he realized that he had left not only the ground behind, but also his fear. He was back where he belonged. This was just another Sky Chase match, that was all, just another Sky Chase match, and that Stringer was just another ugly opposing team. He looked down at the clutch of eggs and spotted the gold one, gleaming against its cement-coloured fellows, residing safely between the dragon's front legs. "Okay" Silver told himself thinking about diversionary tactics. He dived.
The Stringer's head followed him; he knew what it was going to do and pulled out of the dive just in time; a jet of fire had been released exactly where he would have been had he not swerved away but Silver didn't care that was no more than dodging a Thunderball. "Great Scott, he can fly!" yelled Barker as the crowd shrieked and gasped "Are you watching this, Mr. Reynard?". Silver soared higher in a circle; the Stringer was still following his progress; its head revolving on its long neck. If he kept this up, it would be nicely dizzy but better not push it too long, or it would be breathing fire again. Silver plummeted just as the Stringer opened its mouth, but this time he was less lucky he missed the flames, but the tail came whipping up to meet him instead, and as he swerved to the left, one of the long spikes grazed his shoulder, tearing his skin open. He could feel it stinging, he could hear screaming and groans from the crowd, but the cut didn't seem to be deep. Now he zoomed around the back of the Stringer, and a possibility occurred to him. The Stringer didn't seem to want to take off, she was too protective of her eggs. Though she writhed and twisted, furling, and unfurling her wings and keeping those fearsome yellow eyes on Silver, she was afraid to move too far from them, but he had to persuade her to do it, or he'd never get near them. The trick was to do it carefully, gradually. He began to fly, first this way, then the other, not near enough to make her breathe fire to stave him off, but still posing a sufficient threat to ensure she kept her eyes on him. Her head swayed this way and that, watching him out of those vertical pupils, her fangs bared. He flew higher. The Stringer's head rose with him, her neck now stretched to its fullest extent, still swaying, like a snake before its charmer. Silver rose a few more feet, and she let out a roar of exasperation. He was like a fly to her, a fly she was longing to swat, her tail thrashed again, but he was too high to reach now. She shot fire into the air, which he dodged. Her jaws opened wide "Come on," Silver hissed, swerving tantalizingly above her, "Come on, come, and get me. Up you get now".
And then she reared, spreading her great, leathery wings at last, as wide as those of a small airplane and Silver dived. Before the dragon knew what he had done, or where he had disappeared to, he was speeding toward the ground as fast as he could go, toward the eggs now unprotected by her clawed front legs he extended his hand and seized the golden egg. And with a huge spurt of speed, he was off, he was soaring out over the stands, the heavy egg safely under his uninjured arm, and it was as though somebody had just turned the volume back up for the first time, he became properly aware of the noise of the crowd, which was screaming and applauding as loudly as the Starfall supporters at the World Cup. Barker was practically bouncing "Look at that! Will you look at that! Our youngest champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds-on Mr Silver. Silver flew over the crowds, his heart lighter than it had been in weeks, he had done it, he made through the First Task. As Rotor and the other Dragon handlers went to subdue the Stringer Silver spotted Echo, Striker, and Big running into the enclosure to meet him. Silver landed and saw Echo shaking "That was excellent, Silver!", from her that was extravagant praise. She then had a look at his injured arm "You'll have to go see Madam Vanilla before you get your score. Over there" she pointed at one of the nearby tents. As Silver made his way to the tent Big patted his back "Yeh did it, Silver! Yeh did it! An' agains' the Stringer an' all, an' yeh know Rotor said that was the wors-" "Thanks, Big!" Silver yelled trying to stop Big from revealing too much about seeing the dragons. Striker also looked pleased "Nice and easy does the trick, Silver". Silver nodded gratefully to him before entering the tent. Vanilla came over and led him to the nearest bed "Dragons. Last year Prelates this year Dragons. What next!?". She examined his shoulder, applied a dab of purple liquid, and waited a few seconds "That should be clean now". She tapped the wound with her finger, and it closed. The pain was gone immediately, and Silver could move it like there was never any injury.
Vanilla watched him "Okay, just give yourself a few minutes then you can go out to get your score" she left to check on the others. Silver didn't want to sit still; he was still so full of adrenaline. Just then Coral ran into the tent followed closely by Razor. Coral had fingernail marks on her face from where she was clutching it in fear "Silver, you were amazing!" she said squeakily. But Silver was staring at Razor who was very white. He took a breath and said in a very serious voice "Silver… whoever put your name in that Flame I-I reckon they're trying to do you in" "Caught on, have you?" Silver said coldly. After a few moments Razor opened his mouth to apologize but strangely Silver suddenly found he didn't need to hear it "It's okay. Forget it" "No, I shouldn't have-" "Forget it". Razor nervously grinned which Silver returned. Coral suddenly burst into tears surprising Silver "What's wrong?" "You're both so stupid!". She pulled them both into a hug and then dashed out of the tent as her cries turned into howls. Razor chuckled "Barking mad. Come on, Silver, they'll be giving out your score". Silver got up taking his Psychic Wave and the egg. As they left the tent Razor talked fast "You were the best, you know, no competition. Sonic did this weird thing where he Transfigured a rock on the ground, turned it into a giant frog. He was trying to make the dragon go for the frog instead of him. Well, it was a pretty cool bit of Transfiguration, and it sort of worked, because he did get the egg, but he got burned as well. The dragon changed its mind halfway through and decided it would rather have him than the frog; he only just got away. And that Mina girl tried this sort of charm, she sang this song with her microphone. I think she was trying to put it into a trance. Well, that kind of worked too, it went all sleepy, but then it snored, and this great jet of flame shot out, and her skirt caught fire. And Reynard, you won't believe this, but he didn't even think of flying! He was probably the best after you, though. Hit it with some sort of spell right in the eye. Only thing is, it went trampling around in agony and squashed half the real eggs, they took marks off for that, he wasn't supposed to do any damage to them".
Razor drew breath as he and Silver reached the edge of the enclosure. Now that the Stringer had been taken away, Silver could see where the five judges were sitting, right at the other end, in raised seats draped in gold. Windemere was first, she raised her hand. Her earrings and crown glowed, and a golden ribbon shot out of her hand. It twisted into an eight "Not bad, suppose she took marks off for your shoulder" Razor said. Puff was next, a nine shot out of his hand. Razor hit Silver's back "Not bad!". Silver was happy to see most of the crowd were cheering at his scores. Locke gave him a nine as well and then Barker raised his cane and gave him a ten "Ten?" Silver said confused "I got hurt. What's he playing at?" "Don't complain" Razor said who was shaking with excitement. Finally, Benedict who gave him a four "Four!?" Razor bellowed "Four!? You biased scumbag, you gave Reynard a ten!". But Silver didn't care if Benedict gave him a zero, Razor indignation on his behalf was worth a hundred points. And it wasn't just Razor, not just the Shinobis, most of Soleanna after watching him against the dragon were no just as behind him as they were to Sonic.
As the audience started to leave to head back up to the school. Rotor met with Silver and Razor after containing the dragons "Silver, that was brilliant. I checked the scores you're tied with Reynard for first place. Listen, I've got to go send a letter to Mum, I swore I'd tell her what happened. That was unbelievable" "Silver!". It was Barker "I need to have a word with the Champion before you go back up" "We'll wait for you" Razor told Silver. Barker led him into the tent where the others were waiting. Mina and Reynard looked drained by uninjured while Sonic had an orange paste on half his face, presumably he got burned. None the less he grinned when he saw Silver "Good job out there" "You too". Barker was ecstatic "Well done, all of you. Now, just a quick few words. You've got a nice long break before the second task, which will take place at half past nine on the morning of February the twenty-fourth but we're giving you something to think about in the meantime! If you look down at those golden eggs, you're all holding, you will see that they open. See the hinges there? You need to solve the clue inside the egg because it will tell you what the second task is and enable you to prepare for it! All clear? Sure? Well, off you go, then!".