The Dragon's Gold

by Alex English

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Soon the Thunder Sharks’ voices faded as Echo and Horace clambered further down the canyon side. The sun was setting below the high canyon wall and the evening chill made Echo shiver. At least Obsidian was out of action and Anaconda had disappeared for the moment.

  ‘We need to find somewhere to hide while we figure out what to do,’ said Echo, as they made their way back down to the riverbank, where a series of rocks formed stepping stones to the other side. ‘There must be a cave or something we can spend the night in.’

  She took out her spyglass and scanned the soaring cliffs, with their stripey layers of reddish rock. A few hundred metres away, a waterfall tumbled its way down the side of the ravine and, partway down, Echo saw the darkness of a hidden cave.

  ‘There!’ she said, pointing and handing the spyglass to Horace.

  * * *

  Soon they were hidden safely inside the cave, its only inhabitants being a colony of large, furry bats, who eyed them sleepily from their upside-down perches on the ceiling. Echo gathered some dry sticks from the bushes outside and Horace made a small fire in an alcove where it wouldn’t be spotted by the Thunder Sharks from across the canyon. Opening her knapsack, Echo found the marshmallows she’d picked outside Amaranth Point and passed a handful to Horace.

  ‘Thanks,’ he said, spiking one with a stick and holding it over the flames. ‘I haven’t had anything except boiled gulls’ eggs and sky biscuits for weeks.’

  ‘Sky biscuits?’ Echo frowned, remembering seeing them once at the Mech Market in Port Tourbillon. ‘Do they taste nice?’

  ‘Not at all,’ said Horace, with a grimace. ‘They’re full of weevils.’

  Echo pulled a face of her own and bit into a hot, molten marshmallow.

  ‘What happened to you?’ asked Horace. ‘I know you found the map.’

  Echo explained her adventures as they munched on the rest of the sticky treats. ‘Miranda’s dying to get her hands on the Cutlass of Calinthe,’ she said. ‘It’s not as if she needs any more treasure. She’s just desperate to be the leader of the seven skies.’

  ‘They all want it,’ said Horace. ‘Old Gus too. He said all the other clans would have to bow down to him and follow his orders. He gets a horrible look in his eye when he talks about it.’

  Bow down to him? Echo swallowed. Miranda had said something about uniting the seven skies. But she hadn’t been talking about bringing them together – she wanted to rule over all of them! Echo shuddered. Would the Black Sky Wolves have to bow down to her too? And what terrible things would Miranda do with all seven pirate clans in her command and nobody to stop her?

  ‘Echo, what is it? You’ve gone awfully pale.’ Horace looked around nervously. ‘It’s not a dragon, is it?’

  ‘No, no dragons.’ She shook herself. They couldn’t sit here worrying. She had to do something, but what? Lil would know.

  ‘We need to get a message to Lil and the rest of the Black Sky Wolves,’ Echo said.

  If only I’d been able to see where Miranda kept her postal pigeons, she thought in dismay. But then an idea occurred to her. ‘Were there any postal parrots aboard Obsidian?’

  Horace puffed out his cheeks. ‘There was a store of them in the navigation room—’

  ‘Perfect!’

  Horace shook his head. ‘You didn’t let me finish. They all got destroyed by one of Miranda’s missiles.’

  ‘All of them?’

  Horace nodded glumly. ‘I saw it myself. Blown to bits. They’re quite flammable, you know, with that self-destruct function.’

  Echo sighed. She was all out of ideas. ‘Oh, what are we going to do?’ she said. ‘We have to stop them somehow.’

  ‘We can’t, Echo. We’re just kids and they’re sky pirates.’

  ‘I’m a sky pirate too.’ Echo scowled.

  There was the faint buzz of an airship engine and Horace jerked his head up anxiously.

  In the distance, Echo saw Anaconda pull in and land at the far end of the canyon, near the smoke-scorched crater of Mount Enoc. Echo shrank back, praying Miranda hadn’t seen them sneak into the cave.

  A metallic, fluttering sound made her jump and suddenly her postal pigeon burst through the waterfall.

  Echo gasped and jumped up to catch the little mechanical bird in both hands. ‘You weren’t lost after all!’ She turned to Horace. ‘It must be a message from my mother!’

  ‘Brilliant!’ Horace’s face filled with relief.

  Echo unrolled the little tube of parchment clasped in the bird’s claw, trying to stop her hands from shaking. She held it up to the firelight and read the message.

  Echo, where are you and Horace? Frantic with worry. Please respond. Lil

  Echo’s heart clenched with relief.

  ‘What’re you going to say?’ asked Horace after she’d shown him the note.

  She blinked back tears and cleared her throat. They were lost in the Dragonlands, on the run, and trapped between rival pirate clans all desperate for the Cutlass of Calinthe. How could she say everything she wanted to on such a small scrap of paper? In the end, she scrawled a brief message to Lil.

  Stranded at Tarakona Canyon in the Dragonlands. Beware – Thunder Sharks and Scurvy Sea Snakes here, maybe others too. Echo. PS Sorry!

  She would just have to explain everything properly when Lil and the others arrived.

  Echo rolled up the paper and tucked the message into the postal pigeon’s claw, then wound its clockwork and turned the dials to set it to fly to the Scarlet Margaret’s navigation point. She threw the little bird up into the air and it whirred away. She kept watching until it disappeared into the darkness.

  Horace looked at her. ‘How long do you think it’ll take them to get here?’

  Echo shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I guess it depends where they are now. It took us a couple of days from the Aqualiber Vaults.’

  ‘You’re right. I suppose we just wait here until then.’ Horace sat down beside her.

  ‘Do you think Miranda will find the cutlass?’ asked Echo. ‘She doesn’t know the way into the dragon cave.’

  ‘Neither do the Thunder Sharks,’ said Horace. ‘But we saw claw marks and scorching round the rim of Mount Enoc when we were flying over. I think the dragon lives inside the cone. There must be all kinds of caverns and lava tubes inside.’

  Echo nodded. ‘I wonder if there’s another way in.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, it’s kind of obvious going in the dragon’s front door.’

  ‘You wouldn’t catch me going in any door belonging to a dragon.’ Horace shivered. ‘Have you got anything else to eat?’ he asked. ‘These marshmallows are nice, but I’m starving.’

  Echo emptied out her knapsack on to the rocks. ‘Just these jelly beans,’ she said. ‘But I think we should ration them in case we get desperate.’ She picked up the compass. ‘I found this old compass with the map in the Aqualiber Vaults,’ she said. ‘It doesn’t seem to work though. It points somewhere, but it doesn’t seem to be north.’

  ‘Maybe you can fix it when we get back to the Scarlet Margaret,’ said Horace. ‘You’re good at that sort of stuff.’

  Echo shrugged and frowned at the silver compass. What was wrong with it? She took the pin from her hair and carefully prised the back loose. She eased the casing open and, to her surprise, saw that the insides were exactly like the mechanism of her postal pigeon. It was a navigation device!

  ‘Horace, look!’ She waved the compass at him.

  ‘What is it?’ Horace peered at the mechanism by the light of the fire. ‘It’s very… er, nice and shiny?’

  ‘No, that’s not what I’m showing you. This isn’t an ordinary compass!’

  Horace frowned. ‘So what is it?’

  Echo hugged herself, barely able to stop the excitement from fizzing out of her. ‘It’s a clue! It doesn’t point north. It points to the dragon’s cave!’ Echo said, a huge grin spreading across her face. ‘It was wrapped up
in the map that Old Gus has, but none of them know about this part!’

  ‘So that means…’

  ‘It means that Old Gus and Miranda won’t be able to find the way into the dragon’s lair.’

  ‘Phew!’ Horace slumped down with a sigh. ‘So we don’t have to stop them then. That’s a relief!’

  ‘Yes,’ said Echo. ‘I think the Cutlass of Calinthe is safe. Unless they do manage to get through the dragon’s front door, that is.’

  ‘I don’t think that’s likely,’ said Horace, with a snort. ‘A mountain dragon’s breath is as powerful as a volcano!’

  Echo nodded.

  ‘So we’ll just hide out here until the Scarlet Margaret arrives,’ said Horace.

  ‘Yes,’ said Echo. But thoughts of treasure and adventures had made something else start to bubble up inside her. Neither Old Gus nor Miranda knew where to find the entrance to the dragon’s lair, but she and Horace did. And… did she even dare think it? Maybe they would be able to get the Cutlass of Calinthe before the others. That way they would know it was safe from Miranda and Old Gus. And, when Lil got there, Echo could prove herself as a real sky pirate at last!

  She glanced at the compass again. Its needles jittered. Echo frowned. ‘Look.’ She pointed to the face. The needles wobbled and spun again. ‘Why would they do that?’ she said.

  ‘It’s obviously broken,’ said Horace, yawning. ‘Maybe it got magnetized accidentally somehow.’

  ‘No.’ Echo frowned. ‘This is no accident.’

  ‘Whatever you say,’ said Horace, settling down to sleep by the fire.

  Echo stood up and walked in the direction the needles were pointing. As she walked, they jittered and wobbled beneath the glass.

  She turned the little compass over and over, peering into its clockwork. A shard of jelly bean was jammed between one of the navigation wheels and the ratchet. She used her little finger to work it loose. There was a whirring noise and the compass sprang open like a music box, but, instead of a ballerina, a tiny golden dragon popped up, a miniature cutlass between its teeth.

  ‘Look!’ breathed Echo.

  There was no answer.

  Echo glanced up to find Horace had fallen asleep and was breathing softly.

  She turned back to the gleaming golden dragon, its scales shimmering in the light of the fire.

  ‘A dragon holding the Cutlass of Calinthe!’ she whispered in wonder. ‘And I think it’s showing us the way.’

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  The next morning, Echo woke to find that the fire had burned down to glowing coals and the early-morning sun was slanting through the waterfall, casting little rainbows on the cave walls. Horace was still fast asleep and snoring softly. Gilbert had taken inspiration from the bats and was hanging upside down from the cave roof as he stalked a juicy-looking fly.

  Echo wandered to the mouth of the cave and looked out beyond the rushing water and across the canyon. On the other side, the Thunder Sharks were still working diligently on Obsidian. Overnight, its tail had been reattached and she could see a group of pirates patching up the deflated balloon envelope. Soon they’d be on their way to the dragon’s lair… and the cutlass.

  Echo suddenly remembered last night’s discovery and pulled the compass from her pocket. She flicked open the case and held it out in front of her. As she did so, the tiny golden dragon spun round so its nose was pointing southwards down the canyon, towards Mount Enoc. The way to the Cutlass of Calinthe.

  Echo stole a guilty glance at Horace. She knew in her heart that he would never agree to them going after the cutlass by themselves. But they simply had to. If it got into Miranda’s hands, or Old Gus’s, or any of them, the Black Sky Wolves would be under their command. Echo shuddered. With someone like Miranda in charge of seven sky-pirate clans, the whole world would be in danger. No, there was nothing for it. She had to try and get it herself, and, if that meant telling a white lie to her best friend in the world, that was what she must do. She scanned the canyon again. At least there were only two clans of sky pirates they needed to avoid, and the Thunder Sharks weren’t on the move quite yet.

  ‘Morning,’ said Horace, appearing beside her and stretching.

  ‘Morning.’ Echo shoved the compass back in her pocket.

  They splashed their faces with icy water from the waterfall and drank from cupped hands. As the water hit Echo’s stomach, it growled with hunger. ‘We really need to find some food,’ she said.

  Horace took the spyglass and scanned the canyon. After a few moments, he grinned. ‘Look,’ he said, pointing and passing the spyglass to Echo. ‘I’m sure pitaya are edible. The professor had some pickled ones in his pantry!’

  ‘Pitaya?’ asked Echo.

  ‘Also known as dragon fruit.’

  Echo took a look through the spyglass and saw bright pink fruits growing on a cactus down on the canyon floor. Her mouth watered. This could be the perfect breakfast.

  And the perfect reason to get Horace out of hiding and closer to Mount Enoc, Echo thought guiltily. ‘Let’s go!’ she said.

  * * *

  After scrambling over boulders and down slopes of loose rust-coloured shale, Echo and Horace soon found the dragon-fruit cactus and collected a haul of the juicy pink-skinned fruit.

  Echo perched next to Horace on a boulder, warmed by the morning sun, and peeled off the prickly skin of a dragon fruit. She bit into the juicy white flesh. The fruit was sweet and studded with tiny black seeds that crunched between her teeth. They both ate greedily and looked out across the canyon. The air was calm, with just the rush of the river and the wind whistling over the reddish stone walls to break the silence. Occasionally, a bird of prey would circle high above them, its cry ringing out across the stillness of the valley below. Echo licked her sticky fingers and watched Gilbert as he stalked an unsuspecting grasshopper. Suddenly he looked up and froze, his scales turning danger red.

  ‘What is it?’ Echo looked up too. She couldn’t see anything, but, as she stood perfectly still, she could just make out the faint buzz of airship engines in the distance. Her heart soared. Could it be the Scarlet Margaret?

  ‘There,’ said Horace, pointing, his forehead creased with worry. At the far end of the canyon, the dark shape of an airship was getting larger. But it wasn’t the Scarlet Margaret, Echo saw, as the ship sailed closer. As it flew overhead, bathing them in shadow, she took in its billowing ochre sails emblazoned with a black scorpion. Echo thought back to the meeting of the Seven Skies Alliance, and Steel-eyed Seth in his yellow jerkin. It had to be the Stormshakers’ ship!

  Yet another band of sky pirates on the hunt for the Cutlass of Calinthe, she realized in despair.

  Once the ship was gone, Echo took out the compass and held it in front of her. The little dragon was still pointing south to the extinct volcano.

  ‘You don’t still think that thing’s a clue, do you?’

  Echo shrugged. ‘I don’t know. But what I do know is we should head for Mount Enoc.’

  ‘But that’s where all the other pirates are,’ said Horace, his mouth falling open in horror. ‘That’s the last place I’d want to go!’

  ‘But that’s where Lil will go,’ said Echo, quickly thinking up a reason that Horace might like. She gestured at the volcano cone, where Anaconda was moored and the yellow-sailed ship was fast approaching. ‘It’s the most obvious place to wait.’

  ‘It’s the most dangerous place to wait,’ said Horace.

  ‘We’ll keep hidden,’ said Echo. ‘Trust me.’

  ‘I always do, Echo. And we always get into trouble.’

  ‘But we always get out again too.’ Echo softened her voice. ‘Please, Horace. I know how Lil thinks,’ she said. ‘The closer we get, the better. Anyway, the other pirates will all be going inside the volcano.’ She braced herself for the lie. ‘We’ll stay outside, where we’re safe.’

  Horace thought for a moment. ‘I suppose you’re right,’ he said.

  Echo smiled in relief. ‘Let’s stic
k to the riverbank – there are more rocks to hide behind there.’

  She pocketed the compass and strode off towards the sound of the river, before Horace could see the guilt that was etched all over her face.

  * * *

  They followed the riverbank as it wove across the canyon floor, pushing through patches of thorny shrubs that pulled on their clothes, climbing over reddish-brown boulders and tripping on animal bones. By the time they reached the foot of Mount Enoc, the sun was beating down on them from high overhead, and two more airships were circling close to the volcano’s slopes.

  Echo squinted up at them. The first was a neat copper ship with a lozenge-shaped orange balloon, and the second was a dark-wood galleon with blood-red sails and a huge chimney that belched out black smoke. That only left the Scarlet Margaret and the Purple People Eater to arrive, Echo thought. Then all seven clans would be here to fight it out for the cutlass.

  ‘Well, this is it,’ said Horace, gazing up at the slope of Mount Enoc with a shudder. He glanced around. ‘We’d better find somewhere to hide until we spot the Scarlet Margaret.’

  He ducked down in the shade of an overhanging ledge, out of sight of the gathering airships. Nearby, the river had widened into a circular pool, which swirled as the current entered it, and narrowed to a thin ribbon again before curving away round the base of the volcano. Echo settled down next to him and took out the compass.

  ‘That’s strange.’ Echo frowned at the golden dragon. Before it had been clearly pointing at Mount Enoc, but now it was spinning in lazy circles, never settling on one direction.

  ‘What is?’ said Horace, his eyes closed.

  ‘Look.’ Echo showed him the compass. ‘It’s spinning.’

  ‘Compasses do that when they get close to magnetic north,’ said Horace.

  A thought occurred to Echo. If a compass spun round when it got close to magnetic north, then this device might spin when it got close to where it wanted them to go. She took a few experimental steps. As she got closer to the pool, the little dragon spun faster.