The Secret World of Dragons

by Sandra Harvey

  On the ground, Mystic gave a loud tuh sound. ‘And you expect to live more than five minutes in Vashgal like that?’

  ‘Don’t you have a heart at all?’ snapped Simon, as he marched past the cat to his brother. ‘You could at least pretend to care.’

  Mystic snorted and ambled away from the brothers. ‘Come with me,’ he said quietly to Emma.

  She followed him away from the others, who were too caught up in Titus’s story of the Sabres to notice them sneak off. They walked out of the section of lifeless trees, following the dead river up the sloping bank. For the first time, Emma noticed something other than dark clouds in the sky.

  ‘Is that … smoke?’ she asked, seeing the tail of grey snaking up from beyond the hill.

  ‘Quickly now,’ said Mystic softly, his feet quiet on the bitter earth. ‘You once asked what Vashgal looked like and now I am going to show you.’

  Emma held her breath. At the top of the slope they both now stood, and Emma realized – too late – that she no longer desired to look upon Vashgal. It was what Mystic had said – a dragon graveyard.

  Beyond the hill that slanted downwards to join a flat and barren wasteland was the start of Vashgal. The shadow that lingered overhead darkened the land, plunging it into such obscurity that lights glimmered in the far distance upon high poles. Stone dragons covered the wilderness; there were so many that Emma dared not to count them. Agony covered their proud faces, along with an unnamed fear. Past the dragons and barren land was something more horrid – the beginning of a black city. Houses of dark steel stood up from the earth, with barred windows and slanted roofs. The shady roads were worn and deserted, only a looming emptiness present. From the hollows dug into the earth came the smoke that Emma had seen. Stairs and pulleys led into the darkness below, along with wide pipes and cogs. It instantly reminded her of the old Dragon City.

  Far past this dark city was an even more sinister sight. Emma finally set her eyes upon the monstrosity referred to as the Black Fortress. A massive tower, higher than anything she had ever seen, leading far into the sky and as black as Vanyir’s cold heart. She did not know if there were windows or not, for it was impossible to tell from where she stood. The top of the fortress seemed flat, but with spikes like the sharp horns of a dragon penetrating the air. The same shaped spikes grew out of the tower sides at random places too, giving it the utmost look of an evil villain’s headquarters.

  ‘We … we have to go … to go there,’ stammered Emma, her voice weak.

  ‘Quite a sight, isn’t it?’ said Mystic quietly.

  ‘I never thought … I never knew … that Vashgal was going to be like this,’ said Emma. ‘This place … it’s huge! How are we supposed to get through here unnoticed?’

  ‘Well, that’s why I had to ask Matt to tag along,’ replied Mystic. ‘He has in his possession Dark Rider suits.’ The cat looked over his shoulder. ‘Though, I didn’t intend for three others to follow,’ he added grimly.

  ‘How did Matt –’

  ‘Not important,’ interjected Mystic. He turned his eyes away from the wasteland, as though the sight hurt his eyes. In a soft voice, he said, ‘I like this place far less than you ever will. What happened here … even the dragons chose not to remember. It was a dark time in history, a time I’d like to forget.’

  ‘You’ve never told me that story, I don’t think,’ whispered Emma, watching the smoke rise continuously up into the black sky.

  ‘Stories …’ muttered the cat. ‘What are stories, really? To me they are just memories of a past life. Then again, if the stories died, we wouldn’t have a reason to be standing here, now would we?’ He gave a weary sigh. ‘The story behind Vashgal would take a long time to tell and time is something we don’t have. One thing I can say: this is where the war began.’

  ‘And ended,’ added Emma, glimpsing at the stone dragons again.

  ‘Not ended, no,’ said Mystic. ‘We are still fighting, aren’t we?’

  Emma drew in her breath and nodded. ‘When are we heading to the Black Fortress?’

  ‘Whenever Matt regains his strength,’ said Mystic sourly, glancing over his shoulder. ‘Stupid human boy should have been more careful. … Sabres … ridiculous.’

  Emma gave a small smile. ‘You were worried about him,’ she said.

  ‘That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard,’ snapped the cat, and he kept his gaze turned away from her.

  Emma then asked, ‘How do you know Matt and Simon anyway?’

  Mystic snorted. ‘Now that is a story you’ll never hear,’ he replied bluntly.

  ‘Why not?’ asked Emma, slightly disappointed. ‘It’s one of the easiest stories to tell!’

  ‘Not really,’ said an amused Mystic. ‘Come on, sightseeing is over. Whatever happens after this will be entirely based upon luck … or fate.’

  Not wanting to stand on the hill any longer, the cat ran down to join the others. Emma, however, continued to stare into the gloom of Vashgal, an eerie feeling working its way up over her. Even the air smelt different here … like ash and fumes. From within the dark city she detected faint movement along the streets and she quickly hurried down the slope and out of sight. There now came a new horror, and it waited just out of sight.

  ~ Chapter Nineteen ~

  Into the Black City

  Almost an hour later, Matt was back onto his feet. He had a few scrapes here and there, but overall he seemed fine. The worst visible mark was on his arm, which – with the help of Simon – he bandaged up soon after he came to his senses. Emma wanted to ask him what Sabres were, but she decided against it when Matt began talking of their plan – or the closest thing to a plan.

  ‘I only have three suits,’ he said, taking a knapsack off Shartaug’s back. The bag was ripped in some places. He pulled out the Dark Rider uniforms – black costumes similar to the race clothes he and Simon wore. ‘Vanyir liked the style of the Dwenin Racers, so I guess he stuck with the idea throughout the years. I bet he even dresses the same.’ He tossed a suit to Simon and Emma, while keeping the other in his hands. ‘This is the only way we’ll ever get past the main gates.’

  ‘What about us?’ asked Flynn, gesturing to his team and crossing his arms. ‘How are we supposed to get inside?’

  ‘It won’t be simple, but you’ll have to steal uniforms,’ answered Matt. He looked Flynn over. ‘If someone sees you dressed like that, and with your red hair, you’ll be instantly singled out. I’m sure Vanyir knows all about the Marr ancestors.’

  Flynn gritted his teeth together. ‘Do I get the impression that I’m the only one on this earth with red hair?’ Beside him, Titus hung his head, hiding the smile on his face.

  Matt, however, had quite the opposite expression. ‘No … no, I’m sorry,’ he apologized, disordered suddenly. He gave an odd laugh. ‘Lots of people have red hair,’ he murmured.

  ‘Matt,’ said Mystic slowly, pointing to the uniform in his hand, ‘the plan?’

  ‘Right,’ said Matt quickly. ‘We’ll get dressed at once, and then we’ll figure out how to snag three other uniforms, too. We’ll have to leave the dragons behind, of course. Some of the Dark Riders will recognize them and, as you already know, they only ride drayskuls here.’

  ‘I noticed,’ retorted Flynn. ‘But you haven’t said where you’re headed. My group and I are going to search the city dungeons. My sister should be imprisoned in one of those.’

  ‘Then our group will head straight for the tower,’ said Matt, motioning towards Simon, Emma and Mystic.

  ‘No,’ spoke up Titus. ‘We can’t separate.’ He glanced at both Lanai and Emma. ‘Our only chance to survive is to stay together.’

  ‘Is that a prediction or just good advice?’ questioned Flynn sourly.

  ‘Both,’ replied Titus, hinting a smile. ‘Our best chance to make this work is to stay to the one group. We should search the city first and then proceed to the Black Fortress.’

  ‘What if Sheena’s not in the fortress?’ said Flyn
n. ‘Why should we keep going on if we’ve already found her?’

  ‘To avoid unnecessary deaths,’ said Titus quietly.

  Matt suddenly asked rather bluntly, ‘If you can see what’s going to happen to us, then why can’t you just figure out where this Sheena is being held captive?’

  ‘It doesn’t work that way,’ answered Titus. ‘I see only what I’m given to see, and even then it’s unclear. For instance, I can only tell you what will happen to the seven of us, but no others. But what I see is limited. I can’t tell you if you’ll become rich in ten years, or if you’ll marry your true love. Things such as those are impossible to see.’

  ‘A piece of your past lying on the surface of your memory,’ replied the seer, but he said no more about it, so Matt dropped the subject altogether.

  ‘One group it is,’ said Mystic. ‘We’re just going to have to be more careful than planned.’

  Emma and Simon then changed into the suits Matt gave them. The clothes smelled strange to Emma, like the awful stench of Vashgal. She discarded her sweater in the woods, along with the riding pants Simon had lent her. She kept the blue shirt, hiding it underneath the black jacket she now wore. The coat had short sleeves, unlike the long-sleeved coats the riders of Dwenin wore.

  After making sure the Sapphire Stone was tucked out of sight underneath her jacket, Emma emerged from the forest to join the others. Simon and Matt were already dressed, the youngest brother in a similar uniform, while the eldest wore a trench coat over his riding suit. Both had a swordstick at their side.

  ‘Wow,’ commented Emma, ‘you both look like real Dark Riders.’

  ‘That’s the point,’ said Simon brightly, and then jerked his thumb over his shoulder at his brother. ‘I’d like to wear one of those coats, to be honest. Looks more … sinister.’

  ‘I’d have to agree with you,’ said Emma, looking over Matt’s new getup. All he needed to add to his look now was a nasty expression. ‘Do you think we can pull this off?’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ said Simon. ‘Get in, get out, right?’

  Emma raised her eyebrows. ‘And … that’s it? What happens in between?’

  Simon shrugged. ‘We’ll see when we get there, I guess.’ He brought his voice to a whisper. ‘All I know is that we have to somehow get the Crimson Stone. Let’s hope Vanyir doesn’t carry it around with him.’

  ‘And then we fix it?’

  ‘Yeah, I guess.’ Simon placed a hand on Redfyre’s head. ‘My only concern’s for Red. Who know what can happen while we’re inside that place …’ He saw Emma’s apprehensive look and added quickly, ‘I mean, what’s going to happen out here, not in the fortress.’

  ‘Sure,’ said Emma uneasily.

  While the riders led their dragons into the forest, hiding them from view, Mystic headed up the hill with Emma and Lanai. The cat seemed more troubled now than he ever did before. With a curse upon his head and travelling into a land he wished would vanish, Emma could not blame him. She wondered what upset him so. She had a feeling it was not just because of the dragons. Something haunted his past, something worse than his curse.

  ‘This is dark magic …’ whispered Lanai, looking up at the sky again.

  ‘How many times do I have to say it?’ growled Mystic. ‘Dark magic doesn’t exist!’

  ‘The dragons did not do this,’ said Lanai brusquely.

  Mystic flinched, opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it quickly again, speechless. He shook his head, as if to clear his thoughts, and then said, ‘You’re a human. You don’t know what you’re saying.’

  Lanai frowned down at him. ‘Do not insult me,’ she said sternly, her words spoken low, yet very clear.

  The others rejoined them shortly, Matt’s trench coat sweeping over the dead bushes as he hiked up the hill. He now had a black cloth wrapped around his nose and mouth, concealing his features. He reminded Emma of one of the Gunclove thieves.

  ‘What’s that for?’ Simon laughed and reached up to tug on the mask of cloth, but Matt pushed his hand away.

  ‘Don’t be stupid, Simon,’ snapped his brother. ‘They’ve seen my face already. If I go in there without hiding myself they’ll know that I’m not one of them. They’re not that stupid, and we aren’t going to prove it, either.’

  ‘Should I hide my face too, then?’ asked Simon.

  ‘What for?’ demanded Matt. ‘Did they see you?’

  ‘Oh, well, no, but …’

  ‘If they haven’t seen you before, then what is the use of concealing your face?’ said Mystic. ‘Maybe you should try using your head sometimes.’

  ‘You do know that I’m ten times bigger than you are!’ growled Simon.

  ‘Well, that’s an exaggeration,’ retorted Mystic, and then ducked behind Emma when Simon stepped towards him.

  ‘Knock it off,’ said Flynn, brushing past Simon towards the head of the group. ‘If you all keep acting like children we’ll never get anything done, and the Dark Riders won’t have any trouble capturing us. You need to learn how to pay attention at a time like this.’

  ‘Who put you in charge?’ said Simon angrily.

  Flynn draped his overly long white scarf over his shoulder and drew his sword. ‘If I do remember, I took over this expedition a short while back, and if you were actually looking towards Vashgal instead of bickering just now, you would have seen the riders on patrol.’

  Simon flashed the thief a nasty look as he turned his back.

  ‘Lanai, Titus,’ said Flynn, gesturing with his hand, ‘it’s time we acquired our own costumes.’

  After the three thieves ran down into the barren graveyard of dragons, Emma spotted the riders Flynn had seen. There were four of them heading south on foot. They all had stalfels, but they proved to be of little threat to the Dragon Marauders. Emma and her group rejoined with them within ten minutes, dodging stone dragons as they ran, and finding the Dark Riders unconscious and tied up with silver wire-like thread.

  ‘You didn’t kill them,’ pointed out Matt.

  ‘We’re thieves, not murderers, even if they are Black Fortress scum,’ murmured Flynn, holding up a black jacket and examining its size. ‘Besides, even if wanted to kill them, Titus wouldn’t let me. He says that my killings will give me an unfortunate visitor. Since I don’t like visitors, I figured I’d listen.’

  They then waited for the three thieves to change into their suits. All six of them were in uniform now with weapons from the new defeated riders. Flynn covered his hair with the black hood of his jacket, which – according to Mystic – was only found on an elite Dark Rider suit. Of the six, Lanai’s clothes looked the most out of place. Her suit was too large for her and she had to double up the sleeves. Emma gave a meek suggestion to trade with the other girl, but felt humiliated afterwards, as Lanai was indeed taller and more long-limbed than she was.

  The passage across the graveyard was an easy route to take, but Emma felt her heart pounding wildly nevertheless. They passed two Dark Riders on drayskuls along the way and neither gave them a second glance. She noticed that they seemed to be in an awful hurry to be somewhere. If their rush was the reason why they overlooked the visitors in disguise, then Emma hoped that everyone in Vashgal was in the same mood today – or tonight. She really could not tell what time of day it was anymore. The skies were so dark and gloomy. … She did not want to stay here for long.

  A stone dragon with long teeth stood in front of them as they neared the black, wrought-iron gate of Vashgal. A sword fastened the dragon’s front foot to the ground. It – unlike the beast it pierced – was not made out of stone, and Flynn eyed it cravingly until Matt stepped into his view of the blade.

  As they steered around the dead dragon, they saw the full view of the entrance of Vashgal. A tall, black fence with heavy spikes fastened to the rim ran the entire width around the city – or so Emma believed. She could not see all the way around. The gate stood directly in front of them, guarded by two Dark Riders with black rods. Electricity crackled between t
he two points at the top of the staffs.

  ‘What are those?’ breathed Emma to Simon, horrified that such weapons existed.

  ‘Shock rods,’ said Simon grimly, eyeing his own weapon with little regard. ‘They were popular back in Lucian’s time, though I doubt he ever used one. They were banned after the dragons bonded with the humans. I guess laws don’t bind Vanyir, though,’ he added glumly.

  ‘Guess not,’ murmured Emma, swallowing uneasy.

  ‘Let me do the talking,’ said Matt to the others. He glanced down at Mystic. ‘Keep out of sight, all right?’

  ‘You don’t need to tell me that,’ said Mystic coolly, and then slipped away.

  Matt turned to Emma. ‘Keep to Simon’s right and behind me. Flynn – you and Lanai right after Emma. Titus, I want you at the very back. Anyone who knows anything about … well, about your kind will instantly recognize your eyes. So keep them down.’

  Titus bowed his head in reply.

  ‘All right,’ said Matt tensely, inhaling a deep breath. ‘This is it.’

  When they were in formation – doing so as they walked – Matt stopped at the gate entrance and requested permission to pass through. After a brief exchange of words, the guard on the left nodded and the six of them strolled calmly past.

  ‘We’re in!’ exclaimed Simon.

  ‘Shh!’ hissed Emma, her hands shaking now. Simon closed his mouth and flashed an apologetic look towards his brother, who was frowning deeply at him.

  ‘Sorry,’ he murmured to Emma, and then grinned. ‘Did you see that, though? We walked straight past those Dark Riders!’

  ‘And we’re going to walk straight past another hundred more on our way,’ whispered Matt angrily to his brother. ‘So keep quiet and watch what you’re –’ He fell silent as a woman with a broad sword over her shoulder marched by. Matt continued in a hushed voice. ‘You see how dangerous this place is, Simon? Don’t step out of line.’

  ‘Wasn’t going to,’ muttered Simon, shoving his hands into his pockets.