The Secret World of Dragons

by Sandra Harvey

  It took all of Nick’s strength to resist the urge to rip the front page off the newspaper and shred it to pieces. The police would never find the Reeves, and if they did, it would take more than a decade of explaining to figure out the mystery beyond their disappearance! Nick felt furious at what Lucas had done. He knew the whole idea would blow up in their faces. If Reeve had been smart, he would have fixed the mess in his house before going anywhere, and leaving his car out noticeably was just a complete mistake! Going during the middle of the day and leaving messages with several neighbours that he was taking a trip to visit family with his daughter would have been the ideal plan. But no … Lucas always liked to do things the careless – and very complicated – way.

  Nick should have known. He should have planned it over with Luke before he left the library. Now the police were curious. They would investigate the spot of Luke’s disappearance, where he left his car unlocked, and where the dusty, boarded up windows of the old theatre stared straight out at everyone who passed. It was like an eye-opener for anyone with a curious mind and a knack for solving Nancy Drew mysteries. The very walls of the building screamed, ‘Come inside! Mysteries await you!’ He could not imagine what the police would do if they found a portal to another world hidden within an old theatre.

  Heaving a sigh, the middle-aged librarian sat down on the outer steps of his library, pressing his fingers to his temples as he stared down at the newspaper in his lap. He had to think of a way to divert everyone’s attention away from that street. There had to be something he could do. He needed an eye-opener that would draw their interest to another part of town.

  Rising himself up off the stone steps, Nick hurried back into the comfort of his library, an idea forming in his head. It was a long shot, of course, but he had to try. Keeping the existence of Dragonis – his real homeland – a secret was very important. It was all that mattered in his mind while he fished out a pencil from a nearby desk drawer. He pulled out a blank piece of paper and starting writing in his slanted script, hoping that his plan would not fail.

  Anonymous sighting of Lucas Reeve and his daughter, Emmaline Reeve, at the end of Poplar Lane … Riding in a red truck, accompanied by another unknown person … Truck headed farther into Emburn.

  Folding the paper in half, Nick tucked it into his jacket and hurried back outside. He spotted three teenagers lurking around the corner, an old man sitting on a bench farther down the road, and a young girl walking across the street towards the library yard. Running down two steps at a time, he met the blonde, curly-haired girl before she even touched the premises.

  ‘Excuse me!’ he called, but only after a frightened look crossed her face and she turned around. ‘Can you do something for me?’

  The girl – her eyes shifting towards the crowd gathered farther down the road – slowly nodded.

  ‘Fabulous,’ breathed Nick, pulling the note from his pocket. ‘I need you to bring this to the police station. It’s very important.’

  The girl – her face all in freckles – frowned. ‘Why can’t you do that? Lazy old man,’ she added.

  Nick bit the inside of his cheek to keep from snapping. ‘I can’t bring it to them,’ he said. ‘I can’t be seen handing it in. This information concerns,’ and he brought his voice to a whisper, ‘the Reeve case.’

  The girl’s eyes widened in shock. ‘Y-you have s-something to do with that?’ she stammered.

  ‘No, I don’t,’ said Nick sharply, ‘but I have something here that might help the police find them. But if the police see me handing the paper in, they’ll most likely keep me in for question. So, I’m going to let you drop off the note at the station, and,’ he added, pulling out a twenty dollar bill, ‘I’ll even throw in this if you do it for me.’

  The girl seemed to be considering her options, and with the money in play, her choice became very obvious. ‘Okay, I’ll do it,’ she agreed, holding out her hand for the money and note.

  ‘But you must not say who you got it from, understand?’ said Nick, handing both items to her.

  ‘Right,’ she assented again. ‘I won’t tell them that the crazy librarian gave it to me. I’ll say that an old crackpot off the streets forced the note into my hands.’

  Again, Nick forced himself from snapping at the smart mouthed child. ‘All right,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Run along now and do your job.’

  Smiling gleefully, the girl skipped off down the road, curls bouncing around her shoulders. Nick gingerly made his way back into the comfort of his library, mulling the plan over in his head. It was very possible that no one would even consider the note to be true, but if the police believed it, they would be headed farther down Poplar Lane and into the other minor roads of Emburn – away from the Dragonis portal. He only hoped that Lucas returned with Emmaline before things got out of hand.

  The first signs of forest life rekindled new hope in Emma, as she was sick of the hot desert now. She was not the only one, of course, who felt the burn of the sun exceptionally excruciating on their back, or the heaviness in the air thick in their lungs. Everyone – even the desert thieves – was ready for a change of scenery. It started with the ground becoming more firm, and blades of grass appearing through the cracks in the earth. The trees came next, first a single one or two out of place, and then building up into larger clusters until the riders were upon the edge of the forest. The foliage was a deep green and the undergrowth was so thick that the dragons were forced to slow to a walk. As they entered under the covering of the treetops, the light grew faint.

  ‘I bet it’ll be impossible to see when night falls,’ muttered Simon, gazing grimly into the mess of trees.

  Redfyre walked behind Shartaug, while Flynn and his dragon had taken the lead, followed by Titus on his icy blue dragon. The girl with the knives at her side rode behind Emma, Simon and Mystic.

  ‘It’s like they don’t trust us,’ Simon had whispered to Emma when Flynn had constructed the order of travelling, ‘placing themselves on either side of us like that. It’s not like we want to change direction or anything. We have to go this way.’

  Mystic had murmured his agreement and then lost himself in his own thoughts, keeping silent ever since. At first Emma believed him to be asleep, but every now and then he would open his enchanting violet eyes and glance around, checking their location.

  ‘Is the Black Fortress close, Mystic?’ asked Emma, keeping her voice low so Lanai would not hear.

  The cat’s ears perked. ‘It’s possibly another day away,’ he replied. ‘It depends on how quickly we move through this forest. Beyond the trees is the smoking grounds of Vashgal, and there isn’t much safe cover there.’

  It did not sound like a very nice destination to Emma so far. Cursed place. Dragon graveyard. Smoking grounds. Not the type of words to describe anywhere good. Then there were the drayskuls, the Dark Riders, and Vanyir himself. No wonder people were so afraid of Vashgal. The place reeked of evil.

  Not many creatures lived in the dark forest. Emma noticed a pair of squirrels on a tree branch, their beady eyes curiously taking in the travellers, and a group of birds that scattered when they saw the ferocious dragons tramping through their forest. A large head similar to a lizard with feathers popped out of the undergrowth once, and Emma nearly jumped out of her saddle in fright, stirring Mystic to his senses and startling Simon. Other than those creatures, there wasn’t anything else to see. She expected gigantic snakes, or something as sinister as that, to live in the forest, but nothing else came.

  The hanging branches were pesky, though, as Simon had to beat away at several that swooped down towards the two riders, clawing at their hair like thin fingers. Emma disliked the darkness between the trees as well, and tried to stray her gaze away from it, keeping her eyes locked on Simon’s back for most of the trip. When she became hungry, Flynn denied her the simple pleasure of stopping, and told them all to eat while they rode, which angered Matt so much that the thief threatened to set his dragon – Copper – upon
him if he did not behave. Shartaug grew moody, unused to long walks without breaks, and looked up at Matt with hopeful eyes at least three times.

  Soon, the darkness in the forest grew so much that Emma found it difficult even to see Flynn and his dragon. This time, the leader of the Dragon Marauders could not argue about stopping. They found a suitable clearing not too far ahead and all five dragons halted there, eager to rest. Matt tossed a knapsack over to Simon – kept his own – and the two of them unpacked their sleeping gear. Flynn was contented to rest on the solid ground without any comfort, and so were his companions. According to him, they were real travellers of the wilderness.

  Matt had only smirked at that comment, while he started up a warm fire and laid out his sleeping bag not far from it. Simon set up his camp next to Red-Fang and Emma sat down near him, wrapping up in the warmness of her sleeping bag. Mystic took his place at Emma’s feet, curling up in a comfortable position. The three from Gunclove slept beside their dragons, but Emma was sure that Flynn’s eyes were not closed. He probably still suspected that they would run off on him and his group.

  ‘Mystic,’ whispered Emma, seeing the tiny cat shivering at the foot of her sleeping bag, ‘do you want to sleep with me? It’s warmer.’

  Near the fire, Emma heard Matt snigger.

  ‘S-sleep with y-you?’ spluttered Mystic. For the first time ever, Emma heard the slightest bit of awkwardness in his proud voice. ‘No … no, I don’t think so.’

  ‘Okay,’ replied Emma uneasily. As she lay down, she could not help but think that she had made a mistake by asking that. He was just a cat, though. She did not see the harm in it. She was only trying to be nice. Her father had once looked after the neighbour’s cat, and Emma had slept with it.

  Then again, she thought, Mystic isn’t your ordinary cat, if he’s a cat at all.

  She then reconsidered Mystic being anything like a house pet. He did look normal though, but she realized for the first time that he never acted the way a cat should act.

  As the night progressed, Emma found it increasingly harder to sleep. She kept having diluted nightmares about her father disappearing into the thin air, dragons turning into drayskuls, and a pair of golden eyes that were as large as dinner plates. She awoke each time to the loneliness of the dark woods, hearing the light breathing of the others and seeing the faint red embers of the dying fire. The last time she stirred, she could feel the deep night sink in around her, and she figured it must have been early in the morning. The fire was completely out now, swallowed by the shadows of the trees.

  Emma considered trying to fall asleep again, but she did not want to fall into another nightmare, so she sat up and listened to the sounds within the forest. At first, there was only the soft wind echoing through the leaves, but then she heard a rustling noise somewhere nearby, and her eyes instantly flickered towards the sound.

  ‘Mystic!’ she hissed, looking to the foot of her sleeping bag, but the cat had vanished.

  Edging her way out of the blanket, she crawled over to where Simon was sleeping and shook him awake. His hand flew to his swordstick, which he had placed beside him before he laid down to rest that night.

  ‘What - what!’ he cried, springing up and glancing feverishly around.

  ‘Mystic is gone!’ whispered Emma urgently.

  Simon blinked, and then dropped his weapon again, climbing back into his sleeping bag with a weary sigh. ‘He’s probably having a cat moment in the forest,’ he muttered. ‘Don’t do that again. I thought we were under attack.’

  ‘Simon!’ said Emma irritably, shaking his shoulder again. ‘I heard noises out there too!’

  That had gotten his full attention. ‘Noises? What kind of noises?’ he questioned rapidly.

  ‘I - I don’t know,’ stammered Emma, glancing back into the forest. ‘I just heard something moving, and Mystic is gone,’ she added, trying to link the two problems together.

  ‘Forget the cat,’ growled Simon, trying to get to his feet. ‘Come on, let’s go have a look.’

  ‘What?’ breathed Emma, her russet eyes widening. ‘You want to go –’ she pointed towards the dark gap between the trees ‘– in there?’

  ‘Of course,’ said Simon, straightening himself to his full height. He grinned. ‘You aren’t afraid of the dark, are you?’

  ‘No,’ answered Emma a little too quickly. She felt her cheeks heat momentarily. ‘I just don’t like what’s waiting in the dark.’

  ‘Probably just a herder dragon,’ said Simon reassuringly, ‘but just to be sure …’

  Emma did not want to make sure. One of the horrifying creatures that she imagined to inhabit the forest might be waiting for them. But Simon was convinced to take a look, so she followed close behind, a cold shiver trailing down over her back. She hoped that it was just a herder Dragon, and she hoped that it was friendly. She did not know what wild dragons were like, but as long as it was not –

  A black figure jumped suddenly out from the trees and Emma screamed, startling all the other sleepers awake. Mystic stood there, thorny leaves matted in his fur.

  ‘Good job,’ he breathed, ‘you woke them all up.’

  At first Emma thought he was making fun of her, but when she heard the deep roars from inside the darkness of the woods, her skin prickled with goose bumps.

  ‘What’s that?’ demanded Flynn, drawing out his sword.

  ‘Drayskuls,’ answered Mystic, trying to pick the leaves off his back with difficulty, ‘and they aren’t here for a friendly visit, either.’

  There was suddenly a mad rush, where Emma found herself dragged by the arm towards Redfyre, and her instincts told her to mount the dragon – and quickly. The others had found their saddles too, and Flynn’s voice rang out across the forest clearing.

  ‘Separate! Confuse them!’ he instructed before bolting out into the trees. The shout seemed to arouse the dragons and they were all running now.

  A cry of denial and something that sounded like, ‘Come back!’ came from Mystic, who was half clinging to the edge of Emma’s saddle, trying to hang onto the sprinting Redfyre. Emma reached down to haul him up, but a sharp bump on the forest floor caused all three riders to sway, and Mystic fell from the saddle, his sharp claws ticking against the dragon’s hard scales. He tumbled onto the ground, rolling until he collided with a large, lifted tree root.

  ‘Simon!’ shouted Emma, turning in her saddle. ‘We have to go back! Mystic fell off!’

  With an angry sigh, Simon relayed the message to Redfyre, and the crimson dragon dug his feet firmly into the ground, turned on an angle, and dashed back to where the cat had landed. Before they even arrived, however, a frightening pair of red eyes emerged from the darkness, followed by the massive black shadow of a drayskul’s body.

  ‘AHH!’ Simon tugged against Redfyre’s long horns, which caused the dragon to shake his head (shaking Simon along with him) and turn around once again.

  The drayskul’s feet sounded like thunder against the forest floor in the silence of the night. The running steps pounded in rhythm with Emma’s heart, which was soon going to explode in her chest. Redfyre was now dashing away from the monster behind him – away from the fallen Mystic. The drayskul was determined to catch them though, and when the creature opened its horrible jaws, Emma had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. A bright burst of flame spewed from the drayskul’s mouth, tearing up across the ground like a fuse, lighting up every inch of the forest ground with a reddish glow. Emma saw Mystic struggling to his feet within the light and watched – in horror – as the flame engulfed him.

  There was a moment when she did not notice the flames receding, or the sudden disappearance of the drayskul, because something else had caught her eye. Up through the flames burst the cat, wings as thin as paper and as black as the night rapidly growing out from between his shoulder blades. They were no longer than Emma’s arms and no wider than two hands. Mystic was flying and he quickly caught up with Redfyre, landing upon Emma’s shoulder, his ri
ght wing hovering above her head.

  ‘We need to get out of the forest!’ he barked at Simon, his eyes darker than ever.

  The racer was staring at the cat as though he had never seen the strange creature before, as was Emma, which only made Mystic snarl in anger.

  ‘Are you deaf, Wheeler!’ he snapped. ‘I said –’

  Before he could finish, the trees to their left began to crumble, and all heads turned to see the drayskul reappear, charging straight towards Redfyre. Simon readied his swordstick, but the monster came too fast. Emma felt a sharp tug on her sweater, and she was pulled off Redfyre, plummeting to the ground as Mystic had done only moments ago. She felt her arm and side slide over several rough rocks and tree roots, and then watched as the dragon rode on without her. The Dark Rider – confused that only one rider now remained on the dragon – whipped his monstrous beast around. Emma clawed her way into the undergrowth before either could see her, but she could feel their evil eyes searching the area. With a vicious roar followed by a harsh snarl, the drayskul pursued its chase of Simon and Redfyre.

  Emma closed her eyes and held her shaking hands up to her face, trying hard not to cry. She had lost Simon and she did not know where Matt was. He was probably battling another Dark Rider in a different part of the woods. She didn’t even know which way Redfyre had ran when they all had separated. She could possibly be stranded in the middle of the forest, farther away from Vashgal than she was while at the clearing.

  And Mystic …

  A furious feeling flooded through Emma. He had pulled her off Redfyre. It was his fault. If he had just left her where she was …

  Emma got to her feet, brushed off her riding pants and looked around. It was easier to see when most of the trees and plants were still blazing with the drayskul’s fire. She decided to continue the same way Simon had gone, hoping to find him sometime or later. He would have noticed her missing before now, but with the drayskul behind him, his best choice was to lead the creature away. When it was safe, he would come back to get her.