by Andy Holland
Watch, John told him. Feel free to start slowly if you prefer. He pulled his wings close to his body and dropped away from Wami, making tiny corrections as he rapidly descended towards the fight. He watched the two groups circling each other as he approached, still unnoticed by both groups. John noticed a gap on one side, large enough for him to slot through the pack. He was approaching quickly now and would have little time to adjust if one of them moved unexpectedly, just as Wami had pointed out, but John was supremely confident in his reactions and didn't slow his descent at all. Just as approached the dragons he fired a short volley of fireballs at them; the small balls of flame travelling only slightly faster than he did, before bursting apart as they hit the heads of two of the Blue Dragons. He passed through the gap very quickly, a gold blur flashing past their eyes, slashing at the trailing edge of the wings of three of the Dragons as he passed through. As soon as he was clear of the pack of Blue Dragons he threw his wings wide open, pulling out of the dive abruptly. A chorus of shrill shrieks sounded above him; several hundred pairs of angry eyes glared down at him as he circled low below them. They must have been sorely tempted to break away from their positions and dive after him, their murderous gazes focused on him, but they were disciplined enough to stay in formation. The three dragons he had targeted were plunging to the ground beneath him, the sound of their fatal landings barely audible from this height. John looked up in time to see Wami dive past the group on the other side. He had been more cautious than John, beginning his dive from a lower height, but still passed the Blue Dragons at great speed and yet he managed to control his flight enough to clip one of their number and John saw a single Blue Dragon dropping slowly away from the group, its left wing damaged. Whether the injured Blue Dragon had enough use of the wing to survive the fall they would never know, as Wami flew after it to finish it off, striking at its unprotected neck from above as it struggled to control its descent.
Now what? Wami called as he drew near to John, blood still dripping from the claws on his right foreleg. They know we're here now so we can't do that again.
Attack again of course, John replied before flying straight up towards the group. The Blue Dragons were watching him, tracking his movements through the air, and although he was faster than them they flew in a tight, highly organised pack and made it hard for him to find an approach. He flew in a circle around them, briefly passing between them and the Brown Dragons before dropping behind the group of Blue Dragons and approaching their rear. They could turn their heads around fully to watch him, but couldn't turn to face him without breaking away from the rest of the group. John began making a series of feints, flying daringly close to them. Even flying away from him they were far from defenceless, and he was greeted by a storm of fireballs. But his actions unnerved them and a small group of about twenty dragons at the back split off from the main group to pursue him. They flew at him aggressively, allowing him to lure them away from the main group. Wami, who had drawn level with the combatants again, followed quickly behind them, getting dangerously close and narrowly avoiding a vicious swipe from one of the dragons at the rear of the group. John took advantage of the distraction and changed direction suddenly, attacking instead of fleeing. He shot a series of fireballs at their heads to temporarily blind them as he neared, then slashed at them with outstretched claws as he flew past. It was a dangerous move and the Blue Dragons swiped at him with their own claws as he flew close by, but John was too agile for them and dodged the attack, and as he passed two dragons dropped away from the group, one stunned by a knock to the head and the other bleeding profusely from a neck wound.
Two down, Wami called. Nice work, John. You're not just fast, are you? You can really change direction pretty quickly as well.
I guess so, John replied. I need to with these Blues. They're too used to fighting your lot to be beaten by speed alone. Hey, it looks like help is on the way.
A group of about thirty Browns had broken from their main group to attack the smaller group of Blues. The disciplined, cautious approach the two sides were taking was slowly breaking down.
Try to keep their attention on us, John instructed Wami. He needn't have bothered, as just as the Blues heard the warnings from their comrades and turned to face the charging Browns, Wami took advantage of the distraction and flew at the group. He drew close to the group of Blue Dragons and slashed at the wings of one of them at the back of the group. It turned and tried to strike back at him with its claws, but found that it couldn't control its flight any more and spun away from the group. Wami was playing a dangerous game and only narrowly evaded the retaliatory strike of his victim's neighbour in the pack, but he had successfully distracted the group, allowing John to attack them from the other side just before the group of Brown Dragons met them mid-air. The two groups briefly merged in a cloud of snapping teeth and flailing claws, but the Blue Dragons had been distracted at just the wrong moment, and uncoordinated and confused were easy prey for the larger group of Browns. The fight was swift and bloody, lasting just a few seconds; and after the two groups separated there were only eight of the Blues remaining, flying desperately hard to rejoin their main group. They had all fallen some way while fighting, and were at least a hundred metres below the two main groups of dragons.
The rest of the Blues had been watching from above and screamed in rage at their comrade's demise. The group split into two large groups, with one flying towards the small group of Brown Dragons that had just slaughtered their comrades and the other staying to engage the remaining Browns, which they were blocking and preventing from reaching the rest of their number. The battle was becoming more and more chaotic.
Go for this group coming towards us, John, Wami urged, flying towards them himself. You'll need to distract them. They outnumber these Brown Dragons five to one. They won't stand a chance.
John had already seen the risk and was ascending quickly to get above the Blue Dragons. No dragon was comfortable entering a battle from below and this was particularly true of the Blue Dragons. They were flying on the level to stay above the Browns, ready to dive at them when they were near enough, so by rising above them and charging at them John would throw them off their attack. They saw him fly above him and screamed at him hatefully, but maintained their advance on the Brown Dragons, reluctant to let their quarry escape. The Browns might be able to outfly them if they fled, but the Blues had a considerable height advantage and would pick up speed when they began diving so it was far from certain. Wami seemed determined to demonstrate his reckless nature and was flying straight at the Blues, actually looking like he was going to attack them from below.
Wami, what are you doing? You'll get yourself killed!
Giving you an opportunity, Wami replied calmly. They'll find this hard to resist.
He turned just short of the group and flew parallel to their group, a body's length distance from them and flying in the opposite direction to them. A quick dive from one of the dragons was all that it would take to reach him. Four of them took the bait and broke from the group and dived after Wami, who turned to dive himself, just staying out of their reach. John dived after them himself, dropping past the group and slashing at a dragon who was too distracted by Wami's antics. John may have been slower than average for a Golden Dragon on the straight, but his diving was unsurpassed. Wami was barely managing to stay ahead of the four pursuing dragons, but John closed the gap with ease and slashed at the wings of each of the four from behind as he passed them, each blow sending the victim careering off course.
Thanks, John, much appreciated, Wami said gratefully as he pulled out of the dive. Another four down, eh?
More than that, John replied grimly. Look above us.
The battle was now raging fiercely. All of the groups of dragons had thrown their caution to the wind and were fighting much more recklessly. Dragons were dropping out of the sky above them at an alarming pace. John flew back up towards the conflict, which had descended into utter chaos with the death toll moun
ting rapidly. The fighters had broken down into many small groups fighting, with the result that no one was able to watch their backs. He had to act quickly, or just as many of the Browns would perish as the Blues, if not more; this style of fighting played more to their strengths than to the Browns, unable to make use of their greater speed.
However, it also gave him a big advantage; he was able to turn and weave through the sky with ease, finding that the previously disciplined Blues were now much easier to pick off and he was far too quick to worry about dragons attacking him from the rear. He flew straight through the battle arena, attacking every Blue Dragon that he saw that wasn't facing him. A single pass through the cluster of dragons resulted in fifteen Blue Dragons dropping from the air.
But it was still too slow for the Brown Dragons. On the ground below them John could see their bodies littering the ground, intermingled with the corpses of the Blue Dragons. John flew through the dragons again, attacking with renewed determination. The Blue Dragons were now slightly outnumbered, and they were too busy fighting the Brown Dragons to notice John sneaking up on them and attacking them from behind.
That's it, John, Wami called. They've lost half of their number now; it's all over.
Are you sure, John replied, circling back to face the group. There's still a lot of Brown Dragons dropping from the sky.
No, I'm sure, Wami replied confidently. The Blues will turn back any minute now. Look, our dragons are pulling out to regroup. We have almost twice as many as they do.
At first John thought Wami was exaggerating a little, but the Browns did outnumber the Blues and broke free from the chaos to form eight groups of about twenty dragons each. The Blues, far fewer and slower moving, struggled to regroup and the Browns were able to pick off individual dragons with ease. By the time the Blues had reorganised themselves into one large group, there were less than one hundred of them and the Browns were preparing to attack again, but now with a numerical advantage.
Time to go, John, Wami urged. There's not a lot you need to do now. This battle will be over in a few minutes.
John watched as another Brown Dragon fell motionless from the sky. Tell that to him, he replied.
Or her, Wami replied. Not many more will fall here though. That won't be the case at other battles. These fights may go on for hours, but when they're over these small settlements, they never end with Browns retreating. There's nowhere for us to retreat to and if they did, everyone in the settlement would die. One side will slowly get the upper hand and if it's us, the Blues may retreat and get away, but if it's them, it's just a matter of time before they wipe us out. That could have gone either way here, but you've just made sure it went the right way. Now, let's see where else you can make that happen.
Wami flew away from the battle site and John followed after him. He found that Wami was now keeping up with him with ease, not realising how much he slowed after a fight.
Takes a lot out of you, doesn't it? Wami asked, noticing that he had slowed down. It's not surprising when you consider how fast you flew through that group of Blue Dragons. I've never seen anything move as fast as that and yet you still had so much control. But you can't keep it up for long can you? I'm guessing you're more comfortable at this pace now aren't you?
Thank you, Wami. You're right, I can't keep up my top speed for long. Not after fighting like that anyway.
Don't worry; I want you to save your strength and speed for the next battle. Pace yourself. Our day has only just begun.
Wami led him on a zigzag route across the Brown Dragon territory and over the course of the day they engaged in ten separate battles, each time tipping the balance in favour of the defending Brown Dragons before flying on to the next battle. Sometimes they only fought for a couple of minutes and did little more than provide a distraction. When the sun finally began to set John was rather glad to be able to land and transform, his wings feeling strangely heavy and stiff. Wami was a little slower at transforming, and when he emerged after changing, John was surprised to see that he looked quite a few years older than John, as his voice made him sound a lot younger. He looked as if he was in his late-twenties and had a roguish, mischievous look on his face. He had a short, neat beard and a moustache and his skin was fairly dark-brown, like his hair, which was common for Brown Dragons.
"I hope you don't mind camping," Wami told him. "We're sort of between towns and we aren't going to be able to get to the next one before sunset. It's a warm evening though, so we probably don't even need to put up a tent—which is handy as I don't have one."
John wasn't sure whether this really constituted camping, but was too polite to mention it. "It suits me fine. I've become quite used to sleeping outdoors. I had to sleep in a tunnel a few nights ago when we were rescuing those prisoners."
"Ah, you were involved in that were you? I was wondering why you were here, although it seemed ungrateful to question your motives after you helped us out. It's all becoming clear now. Is that all over now? Have all of the prisoners been brought back?"
"They've all been brought back to your territory and they're moving them to our territory now, to keep them safe while the war is on. It's taking quite a long time as your leaders couldn't spare many dragons to carry them and most of the girls can't fly. I taught some of them to fly, just the basics, but there are thousands of them to move and they're going to have to walk quite a lot of the way."
"Not the welcome they were expecting to receive, I suspect. Still, better than being in those camps. I heard the stories about them—what they were being kept for. Is it true?"
John nodded. "Even if it hadn't been necessary to rescue them to bring you into this war to help the Reds, I'd have volunteered for that rescue had I known their situation."
"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why are you so keen to help the Red Dragons? I know you Golden Dragons like to think you're always so concerned about the welfare of every nation, but few take it as seriously as you, or they'd actually get involved. Why the concern?"
John sighed. "It's quite a long story. I have some good friends there in their capital and I know the Blues are going to attack soon."
"We have plenty of time for long stories," Wami replied. "Neither of us are going anywhere. How do you have friends in the Red Capital?"
"Furnace," John replied. "That's what it is called."
"Very nice," Wami replied indifferently. "Furnace. So how have you ended up with friends in Furnace?"
"A Golden Dragon died on the border between the Blues and Reds and left behind a baby girl. The Reds took her in, thinking she was a Red Dragon and she was adopted by a prominent family. Red Dragons teach their children to transform at sixteen and I was sent to find her and watch over her and to explain to her who she was."
"She didn't know she was a Golden Dragon? Surely the hair should have been a clue."
John shook his head. "Red Dragons don't know anything about us and as she was brought up by them, she didn't know anything either. You'd be surprised; they're pretty ignorant of anywhere except the lands on the doorsteps."
Wami nodded. "Ignorant and vicious. I'm glad we don't share a border with them as well. So, if you were sent to find her, what are you doing here?"
"We learnt of the invasion and came back to warn our people and to seek an alliance on behalf of the Reds. I was one of those that volunteered to rescue the prisoners and while I was away, she went back to Furnace."
Wami shook his head. "Something is missing in your story; it doesn't make sense. I heard that it was two Red Dragons who met with our leaders, not two Golden Dragons and why would she go back without you, on her own?"
John nodded. "We didn't make the journey here alone. Four of our friends came with us; four Red Dragons. They all went back when they heard that the invasion had started."
"And this girl, is she, well... are you two, you know..."
"No, she's just a friend. To be honest, she hated me at first."
"But you like her, right?"
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br /> "As a friend, nothing more."
Wami didn't seem convinced by this. "You seem very anxious about getting back. There's definitely something you're not telling me."
John chuckled. "Alright, I'll tell you. One of the Reds is special to me. But honestly, I'd have been just as diligent if she wasn't amongst them."
Wami laughed. "A likely story. I knew this had something to do with a girl. So what's her name?"
"Daisy," John replied.
Wami frowned. "Wasn't that the name of the Princess that met our leaders?"
John nodded. "Yes, that's her. Princess Daisy. Most people at school just call her Daisy."
Wami laughed even louder than before. "A Princess! And they didn’t know that you're a Golden Dragon? I bet that went down well with her parents when they found out."
John looked downcast. "Only her twin brother knows what I am. In fact, her parents don't even know that we're together. I don't think her mother likes me very much."
"She'll like you even less when she finds out what you are." Wami shook his head. "Ah, why would you want to go for a Red Dragon anyway? You know how brutal they are, don't you? The only reason we're helping in this war is so that the Blues don't become too strong. The Reds would be twice as bad if they had the chance. Why would you want to marry a monster like that?"
John glared at him. "How are Brown Dragons any different to the Reds? You've wiped out whole races just as the Blues and Reds have. You've attacked your neighbours to take their land, just as the Reds have and there are plenty of horror stories about the terrible things you've done in your wars. The Blues and Reds are just better at it than you are, that's the only difference. I've read all about your history."
Wami shrugged. "And the Golden Dragons are always so pure, eh? Is that what you think?"
"We fight in self-defence or to protect others. Not to steal land."
Wami smiled before shaking his head. "Have you ever heard of the Grey Dragons, John? Do they teach you about that? I know you are taught all about our wars, but what about yours?"