Page 132 of Avalon Tower
“Then where is everyone?” Raphael asks.
“Safe. Perfectly safe. We had an alert of a dragon flying a few miles southeast, so we told everyone to get in the shelters, just in case. And we have anti-dragon guns ready if the monster swoops near.”
“Anti-dragon guns?” I ask.
He rolls his eyes. “Look, love, don’t worry about it. The military has been preparing for this. These anti-dragon guns shoot a volley of iron-cased ammunition with deadly precision. We can handle a dragon, even two if they show up. Which I don’t think they will.”
“These dragons are immune to iron.” I grit my teeth. “And there’ll be more than two. You need to evacuate the city.”
“Absolutely not! That’s what the shelters are for. An evacuation would be utter chaos. Utter chaos,” he repeats for emphasis. “And for what reason? The threat is in France.”
“Captain!” one of his men calls.
Atkinson’s face has gone red. “Look, I’ve dealt with some of you ‘intelligence people’ before, and if you ask me, it’s a misnomer. Intelligence for you lot.” He wags his finger at our small group. “Always thinking you know best, don’t you, spooks? You hate that the army is in charge here, that we’ve got things under control. We’re wiping the Fey clean off the map in southern France, and even if a few stragglers get here—”
“Captain!”
“—we can handle them. This is Dover. We’ve been thirty miles from the border with Fey for the past fifteen years. You think we’ve been sitting on our arses? We’ve been preparing for this. There’s so much iron in this city, we can take down every Fey soldier on earth, and there’ll still be enough for—”
“CAPTAIN!”
Atkinson whirls around. “What?”
“We just got word from command. There are dragons and ships incoming.”
The captain’s fingers curl into fists. “How many?”
“They’re not sure, exactly, but it’s a very large force.”
I point to the horizon. “Why don’t you count them yourself, Captain?”
They appear in the distance amid the clouds, at least a dozen red, green, and black dots. Dragons. And below them, a glinting mass of clipper ships with billowing sails that are roseate in the morning light. Mist whispers along their keels, and dragons swoop above them, washed in gold.
My breath catches.
“Fuck.” Atkinson stares at the enormous Fey force, then mutters, “Let the little fairy boys come. We’ll blow them back to fairy hell.”
“Captain, listen to me,” I say, feeling my patience coming to an end. “This Fey army can’t be stopped with iron. They outnumber you at least ten to one, and they’ll be here in less than an hour. You have to evacuate Dover, or they will massacre everyone here. Remember what happened in Brittany?”
“Love, I don’t think you know as much as I do about Fey and iron. Our castle is well stocked with cannons. And I’m not evacuating anything unless the Chief of the General Staff or the Prime Minister orders me to.”
“Then get them on the phone,” Raphael snarls.
Atkinson glares at Raphael. The men stare at each other for a few seconds, but then Atkinson looks away. “Get off the streets, agents,” he says gruffly. “It’s going to get messy here, and you lot are not cut out for what’s about to happen. I’m going to the castle, and you can fuck off.”
He walks away, barking orders at his men.
“What an arsehole,” Serana says from behind me.
I turn around to face the others. “We’ll have to get as many people out as we can.”
A line forms between Raphael’s brows. “Tana, do you think you can figure out where the shelters are that he mentioned?”
“Definitely,” she says.
He nods. “Good. Take Serana and find them. Nivene and Freya, we’ll need to figure out the fastest route to get all the civilians out. There will be chaos, and we’ve got to make sure that the way is clear and open.”
“On it,” she says.