Dragon Mountain

by Katie Tsang

  ‘The combination of four hearts coming together that match our own is rare. We have been waiting a long time,’ said the red dragon.

  ‘I mean, this mountain is kind of in the middle of nowhere. No wonder you’ve been waiting so long,’ said Dylan.

  ‘Don’t be insolent,’ hissed the silver dragon. ‘The curse cannot be fooled. It has to be you four. Even you, despite your constant mewling.’

  Dylan took a small step back, eyes wide behind his glasses. ‘Understood.’

  ‘It is your choice now,’ said the green dragon.

  ‘I want to help you,’ said Ling-Fei, her eyes shining.

  ‘Me too,’ said Charlotte.

  Billy turned to his friends. ‘Aren’t you guys scared? This sounds huge. Huger than huge.’ He wanted to say yes, wanted to go and do this world-changing, world-saving thing. But that didn’t mean the idea of it didn’t terrify him.

  ‘Of course,’ said Charlotte. ‘But just because something scares you isn’t a reason not to do it.’

  Billy nodded. He knew what she meant. He got a little scared every time he took on a wave bigger than he had before. Every time he entered a surf competition. But he was always glad he did it. And this… this was so much more epic than anything he’d ever done or even imagined he’d ever do.

  ‘Nothing is certain,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘But at least we’ll be together.’

  And that was when it clicked inside Billy, like a jigsaw piece being snapped into place. He remembered when they’d faced the tiger outside the mountain. How it was something about their very togetherness that seemed to save them.

  ‘I’m in,’ said Billy. A mix of fear and excitement shot from his fingertips all the way to his toes, sending a warmth buzzing through him.

  ‘All right, all right,’ said Dylan. ‘I can’t be the one who says no and dooms all of humankind and dragonkind. I’m in too.’

  Billy grinned at his friend. ‘We couldn’t do it without you, Dylan.’ Then he looked up at the dragons. ‘Is that it? Are we bonded now?’

  ‘Not quite,’ said the blue dragon with a smile. ‘But I am heartened you want to accept the bond and all that comes with it.’

  ‘Your willingness to accept shows you four do indeed have the kind of bravery and loyalty that we will need for the battle ahead,’ said the red dragon. ‘But there are steps to creating and cementing the bond.’

  ‘Is there some kind of official dragon–human bonding ceremony?’ said Charlotte. ‘I love a ceremony.’

  The green dragon grinned, its teeth sharp and glinting. ‘First things first. As you have now committed to accepting the bond, we should show you our hoards.’

  ‘Your hoards?’ said Dylan. ‘Like treasure?’

  ‘Exactly like treasure! All dragons hoard,’ the green dragon went on. ‘And if we are going to be working together you should get to know us better. A dragon’s hoard is their most precious possession, and gives excellent insight into their personality and their heart.’

  ‘Which is why my hoard is the most impressive, and your hoard is… well… not,’ said the silver dragon.

  ‘We do not have time to argue about the merits of our hoards,’ said the red dragon. ‘But I agree, it is important for the children to see them.’

  ‘Follow me,’ sang the silver dragon, floating by in the air.

  Billy and his friends looked at each other. ‘You guys sure about this?’ said Billy.

  ‘Please,’ said Charlotte, tossing her hair. ‘It’s just seeing some treasure. This isn’t the bit we should be scared about. This is the fun bit. Come on.’ She strode after the silver dragon.

  ‘She’s got a point,’ said Ling-Fei, hurrying after Charlotte.

  ‘Wait up! We should stay together!’ Billy called after them.

  ‘You are all definitely, one hundred per cent going to get me killed,’ said Dylan.

  ‘You don’t sound too upset by that,’ said Billy, nudging him.

  ‘If you’ve got to go, death by dragons seems a pretty good way to go,’ said Dylan with a wry grin.

  Billy laughed and shook his head. ‘This… it is all a bit unbelievable, isn’t it?’

  ‘I figure as long as you three are seeing the same stuff as I am, at least I’m not going completely bonkers,’ said Dylan cheerfully.

  ‘Hurry up!’ Charlotte yelled from up ahead. ‘You guys will want to see this!’

  Billy and Dylan raced after the others, going down a long corridor. Shimmering crystals overhead lit their way.

  At the end of the corridor, Billy had to shield his eyes.

  Diamonds, some as big as baseballs, shone next to glistening emeralds. Red rubies winked in the light. A whole stack of jade bracelets towered so tall it almost touched the ceiling of the cavern. There were necklaces and earrings, pendants and rings. The silver dragon flew round her hoard with pride, and then dived head first into it, sending jewels and gems flying.

  The children stared, open-mouthed.

  ‘Well,’ said the silver dragon, popping her head out from her sparkling pile of jewels. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘It’s incredible,’ said Ling-Fei, her dark eyes reflecting the shine of the jewels.

  ‘It’s like something out of a dream,’ said Billy. ‘Where did you get it all?’

  ‘Oh, I’ve been growing it for years and years, little hatchling.’

  ‘Can we go to my hoard now?’ asked the green dragon, bouncing up and down.

  ‘I don’t know why he’s in such a hurry to embarrass himself,’ sniffed the silver one.

  ‘I will leave it to the humans to judge,’ said the green dragon.

  ‘I’d very much like to see your hoard,’ said Dylan. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. ‘I’ll admit, I’m not sure how it could be more impressive than this one.’

  ‘You wait,’ said the green dragon with a wink. ‘It’s just this way.’ He walked round the silver dragon’s pile of jewels and down another corridor. The cavern crystals flickered to life above them as they moved deeper into the lair.

  ‘This,’ said the green dragon, waving his small arms out grandly, ‘is my hoard.’

  Billy instantly understood why the silver dragon had mocked the green dragon.

  There was not a shining jewel in sight. The green dragon’s hoard appeared to be a heap of… junk.

  ‘I only collect human-made items,’ said the green dragon proudly. ‘Buttons, especially. So easily confused with coins, don’t you think? I often wonder how humans tell them apart!’

  ‘Tell buttons apart from money?’ asked Billy, stepping forward to take a closer look at the green dragon’s hoard.

  Everywhere he looked, there were hundreds – no, thousands – of multicoloured buttons, of all sizes and materials. Where had the dragon found all of these?

  ‘Yes! I think my buttons are worth far more. They are all so different! Why would anyone want, say, a stack of identical gold coins –’ he shot a sly look in the direction of the red dragon – ‘when they could have a stack of unique buttons?’ He bit his lip and looked anxiously around. ‘You do agree, don’t you?’

  Billy blinked, unsure what to say. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was a bad idea to lie to a dragon, but he also didn’t want to offend him…

  ‘I love your buttons!’ said a voice from behind him. It was Dylan. ‘I’m a fan of buttons myself.’

  ‘Oh thank you!’ said the green dragon, beaming.

  ‘Enough about buttons,’ said the red dragon. ‘Do you want to see some real treasure? Come, follow me to my hoard.’ The dragon turned and lumbered down another corridor, leaving smoky air in its wake.

  Billy wondered what the red dragon considered ‘real treasure’ to be. Part of him worried that it might be human skeletons or something equally terrifying.

  Charlotte seemed to have no such worries. ‘Come on!’ she said. ‘I bet this one really does have the best hoard.’

  As they turned down the corridor to where the red dragon waited, Bil
ly stopped in his tracks, amazed. Floating orange balls of flame lit up the cavern. And there were piles and piles of gold coins, all spilling over each other and tinkling as they did. Towers of gold bars reached the roof of the cavern. Gold crowns and necklaces and rings. Candelabras and gold shoes, and even a gold throne. All glowing yellow-gold.

  ‘Wow!’ said Charlotte, her eyes huge. ‘Can I try on that crown?’

  ‘Maybe another time,’ said the red dragon.

  Billy looked up at the blue dragon. ‘Where’s your hoard?’

  The blue dragon looked bashful. ‘Mine doesn’t compare to these hoards. It is… different.’

  ‘Her hoard is very special,’ said the green dragon. ‘Unique. Not quite my taste, but special.’

  ‘I’d like to see it,’ said Billy, intrigued.

  ‘We have to go deeper into the cavern. Stay close,’ said the blue dragon.

  As they wound deeper into the mountain, the air around them grew damp and cool.

  Finally, something glinted up ahead.

  ‘It’s a waterfall!’ said Ling-Fei, squinting in the darkness. ‘A glowing waterfall!’

  ‘Indeed it is. And my hoard is behind it,’ said the blue dragon. She flew forward on her silent wings, and then lifted one wing under the waterfall, like an umbrella. ‘This way.’

  Billy went first and found himself in a tiny grotto lit by glowing blue icicles hanging from the ceiling. In the centre was a small pool. It was full of beautiful shells and shining rocks and brightly coloured coral.

  ‘I have more of a… living hoard,’ said the blue dragon. She ran a wing through the water and the pool lit up. ‘There’s some stardust in there too.’

  ‘It’s like a tide pool,’ said Billy, crouching down to watch glowing green seagrass waving just below the surface of the water. Then he straightened, reaching into his pocket to wrap his hand round his lucky seashell. Pearly white and shaped like a clamshell, its edges had softened with time. He held it out. ‘Would you like to add this to your hoard?’ he asked. ‘It looks like you already have a lot of shells, but this one is from California, which is pretty far from here.’

  ‘It is very kind of you to give me something from your home,’ said the blue dragon. ‘Thank you.’ She gently took the shell from Billy’s outstretched hand with her teeth and dropped it in the glowing pool. As the shell struck the water, it took on its own shimmering light.

  Billy looked at the blue dragon. ‘I’m… your match, aren’t I?’ he said, feeling a bit dizzy with the hugeness of it all. He was filled with a thrumming electric pulse.

  The blue dragon dipped her head. ‘I’m glad you can feel it too.’

  ‘What happens now?’ asked Billy.

  ‘Hold on a second,’ said Charlotte. ‘What about us? We need to match with our dragons!’

  ‘So impatient,’ said the silver dragon, and Billy could have sworn she rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you will match with your dragon. That is the entire point of you being here.’

  ‘Let us go back up to our main cavern,’ said the red dragon. ‘It is far too cold down here. And it is time to initiate the dragon bond.’

  The Power Of A Name

  Billy’s heart hammered as he stood with his friends across from the dragons.

  Not from fear. From excitement.

  ‘Before we go forward, we want to make sure you know what you are committing to,’ said the red dragon. ‘By accepting the dragon bond, you will be forever tied to us – even across the realms. You will feel our pain and our joy, and, when we are separated, you will feel as if something is missing.’

  ‘He is right,’ said the blue dragon. ‘But also, when we are near, you will feel a sense of wholeness you have never known before.’

  ‘When a dragon has a matching heart with a human, that human names the dragon,’ the red dragon went on. ‘It is the first step in cementing the dragon and human bond. I have had several names in my time. When our humans die, so does the name. It is wiped from my memory and all who have ever spoken it.’

  ‘We always remember the humans we bond with though,’ said the green dragon, sounding a bit wistful.

  ‘Such short lifespans,’ said the silver dragon, shaking her head. ‘So easily killed. It is a shame that we cannot bond with stronger creatures.’

  ‘Ignore her,’ said the green dragon. ‘She’s never appreciated humans.’

  ‘So who is bonding with who?’ asked Ling-Fei. ‘We have to know that before we can name you, right?’

  ‘Can’t you feel which of us has a heart to match your own?’ said the blue dragon. ‘I know Billy has.’ Billy stood a little taller, proud he’d already recognized which dragon was his.

  Charlotte stepped forward. ‘You,’ she said, pointing at the big red dragon. ‘You’re my dragon.’

  The red dragon chuckled. ‘Only a human of extraordinary bravery would dare to claim me.’

  ‘Well, that sounds like me,’ said Charlotte, standing her ground. She looked the red dragon directly in the eye.

  Billy suddenly remembered just how vulnerable he and the others were. These were dragons. With teeth and claws that could strike them down in a second. Billy moved closer to Charlotte, so she would know that he had her back. Even against dragons.

  ‘I’ll prove my bravery,’ said Charlotte. Her whole body was thrumming with energy, as if she was gearing up for something. ‘I name you Tank,’ she said. Then she took a deep breath and leaped onto his nose, scrambling up until she was sitting on his head. ‘And you are my dragon!’

  The red dragon roared and rose to his full height, taking Charlotte with him.

  ‘Hold on, Charlotte!’ Billy shouted. He felt helpless down on the ground and, even though he wasn’t the one up in the air, his stomach had dropped into his shoes.

  But Charlotte had her own plan. ‘I trust you, Tank!’ she said. With a wild yell, she jumped off the top of the red dragon’s head and plummeted towards the cavern floor.

  Before any of them could move, the red dragon shot his arm out and caught Charlotte in the pad of his paw. Her long blonde hair dangled between his claws.

  ‘That was incredibly irresponsible,’ huffed the red dragon, gently tipping Charlotte out on the floor. Then he grinned a little. ‘You have good instincts,’ he said gruffly.

  ‘I know,’ said Charlotte.

  ‘Tank,’ mused the red dragon. ‘I suppose that is an acceptable name.’ Beneath his scales, his heart began to glow, and he grew even bigger, until his head brushed the top of the cavern. His scales thickened like armoured plates and his claws and horns lengthened. He closed his eyes and, when they opened, they had turned from red to gold.

  ‘It’s because you look like a tank,’ said Charlotte. ‘Nothing could stop you.’ She stared up at him. ‘Especially now! What… what just happened?’

  ‘It’s the bond,’ said Tank. ‘We grow stronger in ability, but also physically. Naming me would have been enough, but I appreciate your show of bravery and trust in me.’

  ‘It was foolhardy,’ said the silver dragon. ‘My human would never do such a thing.’ She turned to Ling-Fei. ‘You are far too wise for something like that. I can sense it.’

  Ling-Fei blushed.

  Billy looked back and forth between the silver dragon and Ling-Fei. Ling-Fei had such a kind heart – even after knowing her for only a few days, he could tell that. Was the silver dragon hiding a kind heart beneath her spiky exterior?

  ‘I’ve been thinking about your name,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘I bet, when you fly in the night sky, not just in a cave, you shine like a star.’

  ‘It has been a long time since any of us have flown in a sky,’ said the silver dragon.

  ‘I’d like to see it one day,’ said Ling-Fei.

  ‘You have a poet’s heart,’ said the silver dragon approvingly. ‘Poets of old have written about us. When we used to show ourselves to the worthy. Perhaps you will be the poet of your time.’

  Ling-Fei’s face lit up. ‘I love poetry,’ she admitt
ed. ‘May I give you your name now?’

  ‘It would be an honour.’

  ‘Xing,’ said Ling-Fei, pronouncing it like ‘shing’. ‘It’s—’

  ‘The Mandarin word for star,’ said the silver dragon.

  ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘I do.’

  And, as Ling-Fei and Xing gazed at each other, a golden light enveloped them. Xing’s scales began to shine like the jewels in her hoard, and her jaw extended. She grinned, showing newly sharpened teeth made of diamonds. Like Tank, her eyes changed to glowing gold.

  Xing writhed with pleasure. ‘Oh, to be strong again,’ she said. ‘It feels delicious.’

  ‘Do stop showing off,’ said the green dragon. ‘It is making me frightfully jealous.’

  Dylan stepped forward. ‘No need to be jealous, my friend. You must be my dragon,’ he said.

  The green dragon howled with delight. ‘Yes! Yes, I am! I knew as soon as you came into the mountain that you were my human.’ He opened his eyes wide. ‘Do you have a name for me?’

  ‘What about…’ Dylan grinned, tugged a button off his shirt and held it out as an offering. ‘Buttons?’

  Before Billy realized what was happening, the green dragon had reached out with his short arms, clutched Dylan against his big belly and spun round in a circle.

  ‘Buttons!’ howled the green dragon. ‘It’s perfect!’ A fat tear of happiness rolled out of the corner of his eye. He put Dylan down, who looked shocked and rumpled, but more or less all right with what had just happened, and turned to the other dragons. ‘Hello, I’m Buttons,’ he said with a deep bow. As he straightened, his heart glowed gold beneath his scales, and huge spikes erupted from his back. His chest and belly extended, and his tail grew thick behind him. He blinked, and his eyes too had turned to gold.

  ‘You were right,’ he said to Xing. ‘It is delicious.’

  Everyone turned expectantly to Billy and the blue dragon. Even though Billy was the last to name his dragon, he was pleased he had been the first to recognize their bond.

  ‘Are you ready to give me a name?’ asked the blue dragon hopefully.