Dragon Mountain

by Katie Tsang

  Dylan breathed out a long, loud, shuddering breath.

  ‘Breathe quieter,’ Charlotte whispered.

  The tiger started making its way down the steps of the pavilion, its eyes on them. Billy felt Dylan tense, and could sense he was about to take off.

  ‘Stay still. It’ll think you’re prey if you run,’ Billy whispered as loudly as he dared.

  ‘We are prey!’ said Dylan. But he didn’t move.

  Billy wondered if they should try to scare the tiger off, the way he had heard you could do with a bear. Maybe they should get together and try to make themselves as big as possible. He didn’t have time to make that decision though.

  By now, the tiger was so close that Billy could have taken two steps forward and touched its pink nose. Then, right as the tiger almost reached them, it veered left, its thick tail swaying as it circled behind them.

  ‘Wh-what’s it d-doing?’ Dylan stammered.

  ‘I think it’s going away,’ said Ling-Fei.

  None of them dared to look over their shoulders, but Billy could feel the tiger’s yellow eyes boring into their backs.

  There was a rustle, followed by a low growl.

  ‘It’s going to eat us!’ Dylan shouted, and he sprinted towards the pavilion.

  ‘Dylan! Wait!’ called Ling-Fei.

  With a mighty roar, the tiger leaped over Billy, Ling-Fei and Charlotte, and chased after Dylan into the trees beyond.

  The other three looked at each other in a panic. ‘We have to go after him,’ said Billy. ‘Come on!’

  He ran as fast as he could, without really knowing what he was going to do once he caught up. He just knew he couldn’t abandon Dylan.

  He could see flashes of orange ahead and, just a bit further, the back of Dylan’s head.

  ‘Do you have a plan?’ shouted Charlotte, catching up to Billy as he dodged a low-hanging branch.

  ‘I was hoping one of you did,’ Billy shouted back.

  ‘With four of us together, we might be able to hold the tiger off!’ said Ling-Fei, coming up on his other side.

  They raced through the trees, monkeys howling and shouting in the branches above, and burst into another clearing. They found Dylan backed against a sheer limestone wall, holding his hands over his face.

  There was no sign of the tiger.

  ‘Dylan! Come on, let’s get out of here!’ yelled Billy, running towards him.

  Dylan looked up in a panic. ‘Stop!’ he cried. ‘The tiger is right there!’

  But it was too late. When Billy turned towards where Dylan was pointing, he saw the tiger standing above them on a massive boulder. It stared at them for a long moment, before letting out a fierce roar.

  Instinctively, the four moved closer together. Billy reached out to grab Charlotte’s hand on his right and Dylan’s on his left, just as Ling-Fei took Dylan’s other hand.

  As they stood there, linked, Billy felt as if time had stopped. A jolt ran through their intertwined hands. It was like the same strange adrenaline rush he felt when he took a huge wave while surfing.

  The tiger jumped off the boulder, landing a few paces away from them. There was nowhere for them to go. No way for them to stop whatever happened next.

  It was odd then, Billy thought, that he didn’t feel as afraid any more. His earlier sense of dread and fear had gone. Instead, he felt a kind of calm strength. Like he could face anything. Even a tiger. He gripped his friends’ hands tighter.

  And then the strangest thing happened.

  The tiger seemed to inhale deeply, its whiskers twitching. It took a few steps back and let out another roar.

  ‘Do you think it’s calling for its friends?’ Dylan whispered.

  The tiger looked at them again with its piercing yellow eyes and, with a roar, it leaped into the air straight at them. Someone, maybe Charlotte, screamed.

  Billy shut his eyes, waiting for the worst…

  Knocked Off Course

  ‘DID YOU SEE THAT?’ Dylan shouted.

  Billy’s eyes flew open.

  The tiger was gone.

  Billy blinked. ‘My eyes were closed,’ he admitted. ‘What happened?’

  ‘It’s gone,’ breathed Ling-Fei. ‘It’s really gone.’

  ‘I mean, it just disappeared into the mountain!’ said Dylan. He looked over his shoulder. ‘Where could it have gone?’

  ‘I don’t care where it has gone, as long as it has gone,’ said Charlotte, sagging against the rock. Billy and the others followed suit. They were still holding hands, he realized, even though there was no real reason to now. In a funny way Billy felt like his grip on Charlotte and Dylan was his grip on reality. If he let go, would he disappear the way the tiger had?

  ‘There has to be a rational explanation,’ said Dylan. ‘Tigers don’t just disappear.’ He cleared his throat. ‘Also. Thank you. For coming after me.’ He paused. ‘Although, if I’d known it was just going to disappear, I wouldn’t have run off, but who could have known that?’

  ‘Yeah, well, next time maybe don’t run when we tell you to stay still,’ said Ling-Fei with a smile.

  ‘I sincerely hope there will never be a next time. I have no desire to encounter a tiger, or any other wild animal, ever again,’ Dylan said.

  An unexpected laugh escaped Billy, and soon the others were laughing too. Big belly laughs tinged with relief.

  They were still laughing when the ground began to shake.

  At first, Billy thought it was their laughter making them shake. Then he heard the crack behind them.

  ‘You guys…’ he said, stepping away from the mountain. Billy knew from growing up in California that, when an earthquake struck, you didn’t want to be anywhere near something that could fall on you.

  Rocks started tumbling down the mountain, and one landed directly where the tiger had been.

  ‘It’s an earthquake!’ shouted Billy, pulling the others away. ‘Let’s get out of here!’ He knew they had to find somewhere to wait out the tremors.

  There was another loud crack and, to Billy’s horror, he saw a cleft open in the mountain face. ‘We have to get away!’ he cried. ‘Back to the clearing!’

  They tried to run through the forest, but the ground was rolling beneath them. It threw them with every step they took.

  ‘Slow down!’ cried Ling-Fei.

  ‘I’m worried about the trees!’ Billy gestured above them. ‘I don’t want one to fall on us.’

  ‘THERE!’ yelled Charlotte, pointing ahead of them. ‘There’s the clearing.’

  In between tremors they made it to the clearing and collapsed as the ground continued to rumble beneath them.

  Billy lost all sense of time.

  Finally, the shaking subsided. Billy wasn’t sure if the earthquake had lasted minutes or hours.

  The four lay still for a few minutes, not speaking, just breathing heavily.

  The ground had stopped shaking, but Billy’s hands still trembled. He’d been in earthquakes before, but never anything like this. It had felt like the ground was going to open up and swallow them. He thought maybe it still might. Or that the mountain behind them would crash down on them at any moment. He felt far from home, far from anything familiar or safe.

  He glanced over at Charlotte, Dylan and Ling-Fei, all still staring up at the sky in a dazed way. At least they were together.

  ‘Well,’ said Charlotte, sitting up and dusting some dirt off her dress. ‘We’re having quite a day, aren’t we?’

  Billy snorted. ‘That’s one way of putting it.’ He felt surprisingly reassured by how unbothered Charlotte seemed to be. Maybe she hadn’t realized how much danger they had really been in. Maybe she was far more fearless than Billy. Or maybe she was putting on a brave face. Whatever it was, he was glad she was there.

  Dylan rolled over. ‘I’m alive! We’re all alive!’

  ‘I’ve been in earthquakes in California, but I’ve never felt one like that before,’ said Billy. His hands had stopped trembling, but he still felt shaken. ‘
I’ve never seen the ground jump like that.’

  ‘We should get back to camp,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘I want to make sure Old Gold is okay!’

  ‘But do you think it’s safe for us to head back?’ asked Dylan. He turned to Billy. ‘You are our resident earthquake expert. What do you think?’

  ‘I’m definitely not an expert, but I do know there are usually aftershocks.’

  ‘We don’t know for sure it was an earthquake,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘It might have been a landslide.’

  ‘What do you mean, we aren’t sure?’ sputtered Dylan. ‘Didn’t you see the actual ground moving?’

  Ling-Fei rubbed her eyes. ‘Yes, but I also saw a tiger disappear.’

  ‘Either way, I agree with Ling-Fei,’ said Billy. ‘We should get back to camp.’

  ‘But we don’t have the dragon fruit!’ said Charlotte. ‘We can’t go back empty-handed!’

  Billy raised his eyebrows in disbelief. ‘Forget the dragon fruit – we’re lucky we’re all going back in one piece.’ It had been a strange and terrifying morning, but they’d survived. Together.

  Charlotte sighed. ‘Fine. Hopefully we won’t be the only ones the earthquake knocked off course.’ She paused and looked at them expectantly. ‘Get it? Knocked off course? Because it almost knocked us over?’

  ‘Too soon, Charlotte, too soon,’ said Dylan.

  A Rational Explanation

  Billy was expecting pandemonium when they got back to camp. But everything seemed… normal.

  Not only were all the cabins still standing, but all the other groups were back, waiting expectantly around the tree stump. Expectantly. Not worriedly. Relaxed, and not at all like they might just have narrowly escaped being crushed by a falling boulder or tree.

  No, all the others had returned, completely unharmed, and each group had their respective item.

  Charlotte pulled up short when she saw that they were the only group to have failed the challenge.

  ‘This is my worst nightmare,’ she said, the blood draining from her face. ‘I can’t go out there. I never lose.’

  ‘We were just chased by a tiger and survived an earthquake, and this is your worst nightmare?’ asked Dylan.

  ‘We’re alive. And, if I’m not dead, I’m coming in first,’ said Charlotte. ‘The earthquake apparently didn’t slow down the others at all. We’re the only ones who let it impact us. I’ve never been so embarrassed.’ She covered her face with her hands.

  ‘I can think of at least twenty-three times that I’ve been more embarrassed,’ said Dylan. ‘This doesn’t even come close.’

  ‘You must do very embarrassing things all the time then,’ Charlotte retorted.

  ‘I think we should just be glad that everyone else looks like they’re okay,’ said Billy, feeling slightly wary. Something was off. How come everyone else seemed completely fine? If he hadn’t been with his friends, he might have thought he’d imagined everything that had happened in the forest.

  ‘Is Jeremy holding a bit of bamboo? Bamboo? That isn’t hard to find at all!’ Charlotte huffed.

  ‘I want to let them know we’re okay,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘They must be worried!’

  ‘They don’t… look very worried,’ said Dylan.

  The four emerged from the forest, covered in dirt and with torn clothes, and empty-handed.

  ‘Aha! Our final group has returned,’ said Old Gold with a wide grin. Then his forehead creased in concern. ‘Why are you all so dirty? Are you all right? What happened?’

  ‘There was an earthquake,’ Billy said. ‘Didn’t you feel it?’

  Everyone stared at him.

  ‘Are you losers pretending you were in an earthquake to explain why you came in last?’ scoffed JJ. ‘Pathetic.’

  Ling-Fei looked at Old Gold. ‘We really did feel an earthquake – the trees were jumping and everything!’

  Old Gold’s mouth flattened into a stern line. ‘Ling-Fei,’ he said, ‘don’t make up stories. Especially not about something so dangerous!’

  ‘But…’ Ling-Fei started. Old Gold hushed her with a quick shake of his head.

  ‘That’s enough,’ he said. ‘I was hoping you would be able to help your team, Ling-Fei, not hinder them.’

  ‘She was an excellent help,’ said Charlotte. ‘We solved the riddle! Dragon fruit. And we were on our way to find it through Monkey Pavilion when we saw a tiger!’

  There was a pause before JJ started laughing. Loud and mean. ‘If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable. There are no tigers in this forest.’

  The other kids began to giggle.

  Charlotte turned red. Billy wasn’t sure if it was from anger or embarrassment or both.

  ‘And Monkey Pavilion?’ said Old Gold, his frown getting deeper. ‘Ling-Fei, you know that is off limits. You broke the rules and didn’t even complete the task?’

  ‘Typical Ling-Fei,’ sneered JJ.

  Ling-Fei looked as if she was about to cry. Billy stepped forward.

  ‘I know what we felt,’ he said, trying to make his voice as confident as he could, as if he was someone to be taken seriously. ‘Something happened in that forest.’

  ‘Yeah, you got lost,’ said JJ, snickering.

  ‘Billy,’ said Old Gold more gently, ‘I am sure you are all disappointed. But, if you are going to lose, lose with dignity. Lying doesn’t help anyone.’

  Billy looked at his team and shrugged. It was obvious nobody was going to believe them.

  ‘We’re sorry, Old Gold,’ Dylan blurted. ‘We got carried away. It’s my fault. I thought I saw something in the trees and we followed it and got lost. That’s what happened.’

  ‘I see,’ said Old Gold. ‘Well, I must say, I’m disappointed. Especially in you, Ling-Fei.’

  Ling-Fei hung her head.

  ‘You’ve not only come in last, but you’ve ruined the celebration for the team that came in first,’ he said, pointing at the group with the bamboo. ‘Instead of celebrating their win, we are focusing on your loss.’

  ‘Well done,’ said Billy half-heartedly, giving the other team a thumbs up. It felt ridiculous to be chastised for being poor sports when they were still reeling from surviving both the earthquake and the tiger. Charlotte may have been upset that they had lost, but Billy felt more frustrated that nobody believed what had happened.

  ‘Congratulations,’ said Charlotte through clenched teeth. Dylan managed a smile, but he could see Ling-Fei was still too distraught to say anything.

  ‘Now, where were we?’ said Old Gold. ‘Ah, yes, congratulations to our winners! You have won our Great Race.’

  * * *

  Later, the friends sat huddled round a small table in the back corner of the canteen and spoke in hushed voices.

  ‘I don’t get it. How did nobody else feel the earthquake?’ said Billy, taking a bite of stir-fried noodles. The other campers kept glancing at them and whispering, and he was glad to have the other three with him. They really felt like a team now.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ said Dylan, shaking his head. ‘It’s… well, not impossible, but highly implausible.’

  ‘And how do you explain the disappearing tiger?’ said Charlotte. ‘And you know what? For as much as JJ is an absolute jerk, I don’t think he was lying when he said there aren’t tigers around here. Something weird is going on.’

  They ate in silence, trying to make sense of it all.

  ‘To be honest, I wouldn’t believe it if the three of you hadn’t seen the same thing,’ said Dylan.

  ‘Me neither,’ said Billy. He paused and looked down at his noodles, feeling too awkward to look his new friends in the eye, considering what he was about to say. ‘I’m glad we were all together for it.’ Even though he had only met Dylan, Charlotte and Ling-Fei the day before yesterday, after what they had been through, he felt like he’d known them much longer.

  ‘Same,’ said Charlotte.

  ‘Me too,’ said Ling-Fei.

  ‘How are you feeling, Ling-Fei?’ said Billy. ‘Ol
d Gold was hard on you.’

  Ling-Fei shrugged. ‘He’s right to be disappointed,’ she said. ‘I shouldn’t have taken you out of bounds.’ She raised her hand to her neck, and suddenly started looking around frantically. ‘My necklace!’ she said with a gasp. ‘It’s gone! It must have fallen off when we were chasing the tiger.’ Billy could see she was blinking back tears. ‘My grandmother gave it to me. It’s been in my family for generations. It’s my most treasured possession.’

  ‘Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?’ said Charlotte.

  They all stared at her.

  ‘What is?’ said Billy.

  ‘We have to go back,’ said Charlotte.

  ‘What?’ sputtered Dylan.

  ‘We have to help Ling-Fei find her necklace,’ said Charlotte. ‘And it isn’t just that.’ She lowered her voice. ‘Didn’t you all feel… whatever that was? By the mountain?’

  ‘I felt the earthquake,’ said Dylan. ‘And it made me want to stay as far away from the mountain as possible. And that tiger.’

  ‘But the tiger disappeared,’ said Billy. ‘Like it was…’ He paused. None of them had said the word out loud.

  ‘Magic,’ said Charlotte. ‘Like it was magic.’

  Dylan rolled his eyes. ‘Oh, please. It wasn’t magic! There’s no such thing as magic. Just like there is no such thing as a river of dragon blood. Trust me, I’m from Ireland, the supposed home of fairies and leprechauns and all kinds of magic. I would know if magic was real.’

  ‘So how do you explain the disappearing tiger?’ said Charlotte.

  ‘Maybe it just jumped into its hidey-hole in the mountain,’ said Dylan. ‘Maybe it was a group hallucination. That can happen, you know.’

  ‘The only way to figure out what it was is to go back,’ said Billy. And, as he said it, he realized that he was glad they had a reason to return to the forest. Glad to go back to where something extraordinary had happened to him and his friends. Part of him was scared, but another part of him was drawn to the mystery of it. He wanted to know what had happened. Even if it had been terrifying, it had also been exciting.