by Andy Holland
So how far are we taking these girls?
Not as far as I would like, John replied. No more than an hours' flight, probably less. Somewhere near some water, but far enough away that the Blue Dragons won't go there immediately. I don't want to leave the others behind for too long in case any Blue Dragons come back today.
So when will we get back? Natan asked.
No idea, John replied. Depends how far we can take these girls today. I'm guessing that we have about another five hours of light at most. We will get back there in two hours, pick up the remaining girls, then fly till it gets dark. I'm not sure how long the journey will be carrying these girls, but I'm guessing about five or six hours, so tomorrow, we will have a lot more flying to do. I was thinking of coming back for this group at first light, taking them all the way back, then coming back for the second group.
Would that work? Natan asked. I mean, there's not enough time in the day. It'll take an hour to get back to these girls, then five hours to get back home, then eight hours to get the second group and back. That's fourteen hours of flying. We won't get home the same day.
John remained silent for a minute, trying to think of any other way of doing this. Do you have a better plan?
Natan paused. No. But, John, two nights in this forest? We have hardly any food and these girls have none. They all missed lunch, as did we. We will all starve.
You can’t starve after not eating for just one day. As I asked before, do you have a better plan?
Natan didn't reply.
There is no alternative, John stated. This damn camp is just too far from the border. Just live with it. I'm going to find one of their captains and let them know the plan. I don't want to waste time having to explain on the ground.
John drifted through the Browns till he found one of the captains. The news spread through the troops, who grumbled a little but not too much, having already worked out that something was wrong.
After flying for about an hour, John spotted what he was looking for: a river where he could leave the girls. It would give them water to drink and make them easier to find in the morning.
Descend! John instructed the Browns. Aim for that river.
Is there anywhere to land? Natan asked dubiously. The forest looks pretty thick down there.
Perfect, John replied. Easier for them to hide. There will places to land on the river bank. Other than you, Reuben and I, no one else will be transforming, they'll be just dropping off their passengers and flying back.
John led them down, the dragons slowing down and spreading out as they descended. John and Natan flew ahead, gliding low over the river before landing on a wide bank, quickly depositing their passengers and then transforming to address them.
"Quick now, move back from the edge," John told the two girls. "Give the others room."
"Why are we stopping here?" one of them asked. The Browns had started to land behind them, stopping only briefly to drop off their passengers before taking off again.
"We're still in Blue territory," the other commented. "What's happening?"
John looked straight at them. "Help me. I'll explain as soon I can, just get everyone away from the edge of the river. Go on, back off and call the other girls to follow you. I promise I'll explain as soon as everyone has landed safely."
The girls reluctantly moved further into the forest and more and more girls were dropped off. Within a few minutes, all nine hundred and nine girls had landed. John and the other two felt rather outnumbered.
"So, boy," one of Brown Dragon girls said to him, regarding him disdainfully. "Somehow you seem to be in charge. Are you going to tell us why we're here?"
John nodded. "There are too many of you for us to carry in one go. We can't leave anyone in the camp—not overnight—so we're going to shuttle back and forth. We've brought you this far, now we're going back for the rest. You'll have to stay here overnight and then in the morning we'll take you all the way home."
There were shouts of objection and dismay. John stood silent, letting them vent without responding. He raised his hands, indicating that he wanted them to calm down.
"I'm sorry," he told them. "Half of the troops didn't arrive and a number died in the fighting. We can't carry you all at once. This was the only option—either that or let some of you die. What would you have preferred?"
"What happens if Blues fly over here while you're away? Who will protect us?" Shouts of agreement and anger followed. Again, John waited for them to quieten down.
"If the Blues return, it will be in force. We wouldn't be able to protect you anyway. Your only hope is to hide and that would have been impossible near the camp. At night, they won't come anyway. While it is still light... well, stay still, stay very quiet and stay under cover. We will return as soon as we can. The quicker we go the quicker we will return. Now, do you really want to continue shouting at me, bearing in mind there are just three of us here? If the Blues do come past, we can't offer a lot of protection. This would be a good time to be very quiet."
The girls all fell silent, looking around uneasily.
"Huddle together for warmth and stay hidden. We will see you all soon."
John somersaulted backwards, taking to the air as he transformed, with the other two just behind him.
We have to catch up with the others, John told Natan. The sooner we get everyone off that prison site the better. Those girls are right to be anxious.
They flew high, able to now they had no passengers and took advantage of the strong winds that helped them along. John found that he struggled to keep up, more tired than the others after his lengthy aerial combat earlier in the day.
They made up the lost time and overtook the Brown Dragons, reaching the prison site first, where an eerie calm greeted them. The remaining prisoners were all sat down on the grass, looking forlorn and dejected, silently waiting their fate. No guard had been left with them; if any Blues had turned up they would all have been either recaptured or slaughtered and they would have been all too aware of this.
John, Reuben and Natan dived quickly to the ground, landing in front of them and the girls all immediately jumped to their feet, rushing towards them.
"Pick me! Please pick me!" was the frantic cry from the girls.
Do we transform? Natan asked. Or just take one and go?
We can't go straight away, John replied. Someone needs to organise this lot. I can't believe they left them all on their own.
It was their only chance, John, Reuben told him. If the Blues come back, either way they'd have been captured. If they're unguarded and not trying to escape they might have been spared. Otherwise, they may have just killed them all. It seems cruel leaving them to their fate, but it was the only way.
I disagree, Natan replied. It's a short distance to the forest; why not hide them in there?
Because if the Blues can't find them, then we couldn't either, Reuben replied.
It doesn't matter now, John told them. We can wait with them till the others arrive. It'll be just a few minutes. You two stay as you are; I'll tell the prisoners what's happening.
John transformed, facing the hundreds of girls alone. They crowded around him, their faces desperate as they pleaded with him.
"Help is on the way!" he shouted. "The others are just behind us. We will leave none behind!"
There were a few cheers, but the anxious faces remained and the girls continued to press John, begging him to take them now.
John transformed back, tired of being pushed and jostled by the crowd. The girls continued to press against him as a dragon, but they may as well have tried to push a statue, their strength feeble compared to his. He looked about the plain, now cleared of most of the prisoners and dragons, and he could see the devastation caused by the battle; the ground was covered in scorch marks, tents were blackened and still smoking, but the worst were the corpses lying strewn about the grass. The bulk were the Blue Dragons, many without obvious injuries, killed by the impact of falling after losing the
use of a wing. Others bore more obvious wounds; ugly deep slashes in their heads, necks and bodies, with the ones killed by the Teradons the most terribly mangled, to the point they were unrecognisable. There were also many Brown Dragons; a small proportion of the total but still many dead. Their comrades had made no attempt to bury their dead. Along the path they had taken from the tents to the centre of the camp, rather than flung about the plain, were the dead bodies of the many prisoners who hadn't made it. Many had died from their burns, with a few dead from terrible slash and bite wounds. John realised that the remaining prisoners had probably been staring at these corpses since they were left alone, wondering if they would join them.
Have you seen it? Natan asked soberly.
Seen what? John asked.
Natan gestured with his left claw. Over there, on the ground. We don't know who it is.
John followed where he was pointing and saw a golden form lying motionless on the ground. He didn't realise any of his comrades had fallen, although there was no reason to assume they'd all survive.
Are we sure they're dead? John asked. Should we check?
They're dead, Reuben replied. They wouldn't leave them here if they weren't. I wouldn't look if I were you. There's no good to come from looking.
The girls all started pointing to the sky, so John turned to see what the source of the commotion was, and saw the Browns arriving.
At last! Natan exclaimed. Can we now get out of here?
Reuben, you go, John replied. Lead the others and stay with them. Natan and I will wait till everyone has gone.
Natan began to grumble, but John transformed so he couldn't hear him and began shouting at the girls, telling them to spread out to make it easier to pick them up. There was a lot of running around and screaming and he couldn't tell whether they had listened or followed his instructions or not.
The dragons landed in a wide circle around the prisoners, not pausing on the ground long before taking off again as they were no more comfortable being here than the girls were. Natan and John waited until all of the dragons had picked up their passengers, till there was just one prisoner left, a girl with long red hair, maybe the same age as John. She approached them cautiously, her eyes wide and fear written all over her face.
"Are you going to take me, please?"
"Just you?" John asked. "We must have miscounted."
"You didn't," she replied. She looked down at the ground sadly. "One of the girls died after you left. She'd been very badly burnt."
"I'm sorry," John replied, feeling terrible. "Was she a friend of yours?"
The girl met his eyes. "I didn't really know her. She was a Brown, but that seems to matter less in here. At least to us. Not to those men though. I don't think many of them wanted to carry Reds."
"It doesn’t matter to me," John replied reassuringly. "And I'm glad it doesn't matter to you girls. If anything good can come out of this terrible place, well, at least all this death will have been for something."
The girl smiled nervously. "Our freedom would be enough for me."
"Assuming we get back," Natan added, having transformed beside them. "Shouldn't we be going, John? The others are a long way ahead now. Shall I carry her or do you want to?"
"I'll carry her. You fly on and catch up with the others. We can take it in turns." John transformed and snatched the girl from the ground before taking off, hearing a little yelp of surprise from his passenger. He flew quickly towards the other dragons, who were pacing themselves quite slowly. He flew past them, leaving them behind.
Hey, John, Natan called. Where are you going? You'll tire yourself out if you fly like that.
Fly with me, John replied. We can go back to the other group and you can pick up one of the girls from there.
John flew hard, keeping up with Natan and ignoring the dull ache in his muscles and leaving the main body of dragons behind him. Carrying the girls slowed them more than he had expected. Brown Dragons were fast, but were much smaller than Red or Blue Dragons and just weren't designed to carry passengers. Any encounter with the Blue Dragons now would be disastrous, as they wouldn't be able to outfly them and even if they had enough time to land and drop off their passengers, they would still be too tired to mount an effective defence.
John pushed these thoughts to the back of his mind. The forest beneath them went on and on and for a moment he wondered if he might miss the river. Then he saw it, a line running through the centre of the forest, the only break in the continuous sea of trees. He swooped down and followed the river till he reached the bank, where he landed and transformed. Natan landed beside him but didn't bother transforming.
"Why have we landed?" his passenger asked. "It's not nearly dark yet."
"Why are you here?" a brown-haired girl asked, emerging cautiously from the trees. "I thought you wouldn't be back till morning. Is something wrong?"
John shook his head. "We had one less girl to carry than we thought, so we can take one more. Any volunteers?"
"Me!" said the girl who had approached him. "Will we go all the way back?"
John shook his head. "A night in the forest for all of us I'm afraid, but further away from that prison. Is that alright with you?"
Her eyes twinkled as she smiled at him. "Of course. By the way, I'm Sofia."
"John," he replied, extending his hand. "Pleased to meet you."
Sofia laughed as she shook his hand, shaking her head at him. "You're very formal, John. It's Daphne, isn't it?"
The Red girl nodded shyly, hardly looking up.
"You're quite new to the camp, aren't you? I don't think I've seen you around much."
Daphne nodded. "About three months. They took me just before my sixteenth birthday. Too long already." She looked away bitterly.
John nodded. "Time to go; are you both ready?"
"Whenever you are, John," Sofia replied.
John somersaulted backwards, landing as a Golden Dragon and reached for the Red girl called Daphne. Natan picked up Sofia.
"This one likes to show off, Daphne," Sofia commented as they took off. "Do you think that was for your benefit or mine? Or perhaps both of us? He has us for the whole night after all."
John glanced over at Sofia, who was laughing mischievously and noticed that Daphne was blushing. He decided that he was rather glad he couldn't participate in this conversation.
The other dragons were approaching overhead and John and Natan rose up to join them. The group flew low to avoid the cooler air and John hoped that the good weather would hold. Flying in cold wet weather wouldn't bother the dragons, but might prove fatal to some of their passengers. But it was a fine evening and they had an hour of light left, which John planned to use. He sent Reuben and Natan ahead of the group as the sun lowered in the sky in order to look for a place to stop that had some water. Reuben came back first and directed them to follow him to a stream that he had found.
Nice spot, John commented as they landed. This will do for the night.
"What do we do now?" Natan asked after transforming. "Is there a plan?"
John nodded. "Rest. Get a good night's sleep, drink plenty of water and try not to get too cold, but don't build a fire. What more do you want?"
Natan groaned. "That's it? We have no blankets, no tents, and just these light flying jackets. Can't we risk a fire?"
John’s eyes blazed angrily. "No, you fool, of course not. Damn it, Natan, I was hoping you'd help me with this."
Natan shook his head. "It's nearly night and there are no Blue Dragons anywhere near here. There will be no chance of them spotting a fire."
"Spotting a fire? They can smell a fire. Tomorrow, when we leave to go back for the other girls, we will be leaving these girls on their own. That burnt smell will linger on and they'll be found."
"We could always fly on with these girls," Natan replied. "Come back for the others afterwards."
John shook his head. "The others are much nearer to the Blue Dragon populations and more likely to be found. T
hey should be moved first."
"But, John, we could just move these girls a bit, just away from where we had the fires and then—"
"Enough!" John snapped. "No fire and we don't change the plan. It's risky enough as it is. I'm not going to discuss it with you or anyone."
John turned and stormed off, his patience finally exhausted. He walked to the stream and bent down to have a drink. When he finished he found Daphne crouching beside him.
"Hi, Daphne. What are you doing here?"
She shrugged. "I thought I'd stay with you. You did bring me here."
John wasn't sure what to say. "Umm, alright, but don't you have friends you want to be with?"
She shook her head. "All my friends were taken in the main group. I don't know that many girls here."
John frowned. "Alright, but I have some things to do. I have a responsibility for everyone here, not just one person."
She smiled. "But what do you need to do? You've already told everyone the plan, haven't you?"
John nodded. "Of course, but they may have questions; want to know what to do…."
Daphne looked up at him with her big, dark eyes. "Look around, John; they don't seem to need any help. It's not a complicated plan really, is it?"
John looked around and saw that all of the dragons had transformed and were either lying, sitting or leaning against trees, talking quietly amongst themselves or with the girls.
"How old are you anyway?" Daphne asked. "You don't look older than me."
John turned back to her. "Sixteen, almost seventeen," he replied. "Why do you ask?"
Daphne looked about, before looking back at him. "Well, the others all look quite a bit older than that, so they shouldn't need to ask you for anything. You look exhausted, just like them, but they're all resting, while you're worrying and running around. Shouldn't you be resting as well?"
John took a deep breath and closed his eyes as he exhaled. She was right; he was exhausted, and he knew he would have a lot of flying tomorrow. Many things could go wrong tomorrow and although he had refused to discuss anything with Natan, he wasn't completely sure his was the right plan. They could be seen taking off from this spot and return later to find all of the girls gone, or slaughtered, or—