Dragon Mountain

by Katie Tsang

  ‘Don’t be foolish, Buttons,’ said Dimitrius with a sneer. He flicked his tongue out and narrowed his eyes. ‘Although you always were the foolish one. Too soft. You would never have accomplished anything if it wasn’t for me and those around you, helping you along.’

  ‘That is enough, Dimitrius,’ spat Spark, electricity still buzzing all around her. ‘We will never join the Dragon of Death and the Noxious. She is like a black hole, feasting on the power of others and the life force of all until there is nothing left. I am surprised you are so foolish to believe whatever she has promised. Your heart has been poisoned.’

  Dimitrius shifted his gaze to Spark. ‘It appears that you are the foolish one,’ he said. ‘You may have sent her back in time, but nothing can hold the Great One for long. She will return. And she will reward those loyal to her. Even from her distant time, she has already granted the nox-wings more power than you can comprehend. You think you are so strong with your human bonds, but you are no match for me.’ In one fluid motion Dimitrius tossed the star into the air, snatched it in his mouth with his powerful jaws and swallowed. The glowing star sat in the centre of his chest and his body convulsed. Boils appeared all over his limbs, and his body distorted so that he barely looked like a dragon at all. Then Dimitrius began to grow. Everyone in the group retreated several steps as he grew taller and taller, his outstretched wings large enough to encompass the entire group. When he finally stopped growing, his body resumed its dragon shape and his eyes glowed a dark purple. ‘You are all fools,’ he said. With a roar, he stomped on the ground, shaking everything in sight and sending peaches tumbling off the trees. In the distance seven new dragons approached. Billy realized with growing horror that they must be other nox-wings.

  Dimitrius opened his mouth and shot an avalanche of purple fire at the group.

  The children screamed. Billy clutched Spark, hoping that their bond would bring him strength, but he only felt his own fear amplified.

  Buttons shot out a protective dome above them, just in time to shield the group from the blast, though it wasn’t enough to block all the flames. Great ropes of fire burst through the shield, hitting Xing. She gave an ear-piercing roar and reared sideways, almost sending Ling-Fei tumbling off.

  ‘Xing!’ Ling-Fei cried out.

  ‘I am all right,’ panted Xing. ‘Hold on!’

  ‘This is terrible!’ yelled Dylan, burying his face behind Buttons.

  More fire burst through the protective dome with every passing second.

  ‘Dylan!’ Buttons shouted. ‘I need your help to keep the shield up! Focus on the bond.’

  Dylan nodded and looked towards the shield, his face contorting with effort. Billy saw that the shield was strengthening, and holes began to close. He had never seen so much chaos. It was evident that their dragons really did need them – Dylan’s efforts were helping Buttons maintain the shield. Billy hoped he’d be able to help Spark when she needed him.

  ‘You’re doing it, Dylan! Keep it up!’ Billy shouted. He looked back towards the horizon and saw that the nox-wings were almost upon them.

  ‘What are we going to do?’ cried Billy. ‘We’re outnumbered!’

  ‘Spark!’ yelled Tank. ‘We are counting on you!’

  Spark nodded and closed her eyes.

  Billy, we do not have much time, said Spark inside his head. I need you to help me stun the nox-wings so we can make our escape. Focus on our bond.

  This was it. This was his chance. Billy closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt the inner heat that Spark was channelling, and he tried with all his might to help her.

  ‘Everyone, close your eyes!’ shouted Spark. Her wings crackled, and she released a flash so bright and powerful that even behind closed eyes Billy’s vision went white. ‘Now!’ shouted Spark. ‘Retreat!’ He felt Spark lift into the air.

  ‘Ling-Fei! Dylan! Charlotte! Are you all right?’ Billy shouted, eyes still shut.

  ‘I’m fine!’ said Ling-Fei. ‘But I can’t see.’

  ‘I can’t see anything either!’ said Dylan.

  ‘Give it a second,’ said Charlotte. ‘My vision is just coming back.’

  ‘Well, what’s happening?’ yelled Dylan.

  ‘We’re getting away, but those nox-wings are close behind,’ said Charlotte.

  ‘Not if we can help it!’ shouted Xing and, with a burst of speed, the four kids and their dragons shot through the night sky.

  The Battle

  Wind chafed at Billy’s knuckles and stung his eyes as they raced through the night. Far below, he could make out a sparkling lake filled with giant limestone pillars that poked through the water’s surface like fingers. Balls of fire and ice shot past them, but Billy could sense the attacks before they reached him, and he helped Spark dodge any harm.

  Looking over his shoulder, Billy saw Xing was falling behind.

  ‘Faster, Xing!’ cried Buttons. ‘The nox-wings are catching up!’ Buttons flew with surprising speed and dexterity.

  ‘I am flying as fast as I can!’ yelled Xing. A loud crack filled the air, followed by a roar from Xing and a scream from Ling-Fei.

  Billy looked back. An ice boulder had struck them, but the pair managed to stay together in the air. The group slowed down, so they could catch up.

  ‘Ling-Fei!’ screamed Charlotte. ‘Are you all right?’

  ‘I think my arm is broken,’ Ling-Fei said through gritted teeth.

  ‘I too am injured,’ said Xing, clearly in pain. Gold blood dripped from a gash in her midsection. ‘We cannot outrun them for long.’

  ‘What are we going to do?’ asked Charlotte.

  ‘I have an idea,’ said Xing, wincing as she spoke. ‘Follow me.’

  Xing and Ling-Fei turned downwards and dived towards the lake. The others followed.

  ‘Ling-Fei, I need your help!’ yelled Xing, beams shooting from her eyes down to the lake. ‘Focus on our bond! I am not strong enough on my own.’

  As they cut through the air, Billy saw the entire lake rise from the ground like an untethered balloon. It was as if the lake was falling upwards – slowly at first, then faster with every metre it climbed.

  ‘Hold your breath, children!’ cried Xing as the water’s surface approached. ‘And keep diving!’

  Billy braced himself for impact as they shot into the lake like bullets. The water was cold and he fought the urge to gasp. Then, without warning, they punched out of the water, suddenly suspended between the floating lake above and the empty lake bed below.

  Billy stared, wide-eyed, at the suspended lake above them. Even after everything he’d seen since arriving at camp, he couldn’t quite believe the sight of a lake floating in mid-air. Would it be enough? Or could Dimitrius and the nox-wings defeat anything with dark magic on their side? No, he couldn’t think like that. He had to believe that he, his friends and their dragons were strong enough to win. But, even as he tried to rally his courage, he saw Dimitrius and the nox-wings were already swimming into the floating lake above them, their expressions fierce through the distorted water.

  ‘Quick, Spark, now is our chance,’ shouted Xing. Spark looked at Xing, confusion on her face. Dimitrius and the nox-wings were going to catch up any moment now and, even though their bonds made them stronger, Billy was worried how well he would do in close combat. He knew he needed to use his wits to stay one step ahead of the enemy dragons. He looked up at the pursuing nox-wings cutting through the cold water, and wondered how they could be stopped. He remembered Spark using her powers to trap them behind an ice wall when they first met. And then the thought came to him. Spark, Xing wants us to freeze the nox-wings in ice!

  Brilliant, Billy! Suddenly, Billy felt an electric cool run through his veins. Bright blue beams of light shot out from Spark’s eyes and into the lake above. He could feel Spark’s ice powers. He focused on their task and helped Spark channel the blast at the nox-wings until they had captured them in a single sphere of ice, like a snow globe. The nox-wings crashed against the insides of
the sphere, trying to break free.

  ‘Well done,’ yelled Ling-Fei from astride Xing. As she spoke, the floating lake crashed down, plunging the children and their dragons momentarily in water before it returned to the dry earth beneath them. Dimitrius and the nox-wings remained frozen above.

  ‘Spark, Billy! Hold them for as long as you can,’ said Tank.

  Spark nodded, beams still shooting from her eyes.

  ‘We don’t have much time,’ Billy said, his voice unsteady. He could feel how strong Dimitrius and the nox-wings were, and that his and Spark’s power was starting to falter in the face of it. It felt as though he’d been running for a very long time and each step was harder than the last. ‘I don’t think we can hold them off for much longer.’

  ‘I have never felt such strength,’ Spark ground out. ‘I thought only a human–dragon bond could bring that kind of power.’

  ‘Spark is right,’ said Tank. ‘The nox-wings are much stronger than we expected – from the dark magic. We will need all our strength and we must work together to defeat them.’

  ‘I cannot fly much longer,’ said Xing. Her voice was weak. Suddenly, her body slumped in the air and she fell from the sky. Ling-Fei screamed, still on Xing’s back. Billy cried out too, his heart plunging as his friend plummeted through the air. He wanted to go to them, but he knew he had to stay focused on holding the nox-wings in the ice.

  Tank and Buttons lunged forward in a flash of red, green and gold, catching Xing and Ling-Fei and flying them down to a limestone pillar.

  Spark and Billy followed slowly. ‘Billy,’ said Spark quietly, ‘I know you are overwhelmed, but I need you. I cannot do this on my own.’ The beams from her eyes flickered.

  ‘Ling-Fei and Xing are gravely injured,’ said Buttons. ‘It will take all my focus to heal them.’

  Tank nodded at Buttons. ‘Restore their strength, friend. As quickly as you can.’

  Buttons closed his eyes and went very still.

  Billy felt the sound before he heard it. The pillar started to vibrate beneath them, rippling the water in the lake below and rattling his bones. A deep growl came from Buttons, almost like a purr, and it gave Billy renewed strength, which he channelled into his bond with Spark to keep the nox-wings imprisoned.

  Buttons began to rock back and forth – first his head, then his arms and then his entire body. The purr shifted into a flowing melody. He thumped his belly with his paws in time to the beat of the tune he was singing.

  And then great clouds of golden smoke were flowing from Buttons’s body towards Xing and Ling-Fei. As the golden smoke enveloped them, their wounds began to heal. With a crack, Ling-Fei’s arm snapped from a crooked angle back to its original form. Xing’s silver scales closed over the gaping gash in her side, as if it had never been there at all.

  Billy was filled with an exhausted sense of relief. They could do this. They could win. When Buttons had restored Xing and Ling-Fei, their group would be at full strength. Together, they would defeat Dimitrius and the nox-wings.

  Billy looked back towards the ice sphere and felt his stomach drop. Dimitrius was grinning and flapping his wings faster and faster. As he did, a huge ball of swirling purple fire formed in the water in front of him. His wings came together in a thunderous clap, hurling the fireball forward. The ball exploded against the inner wall of the ice sphere. Billy staggered as he felt the impact, trying with all his might to help Spark contain the nox-wings.

  Until he couldn’t any more.

  Because Dimitrius and the nox-wings had burst out of the ice and were coming straight at them.

  Separated

  ‘Everyone, fire!’ roared Tank. ‘Use the bond!’

  Billy felt a surge of determination in Spark as she lowered her head and aimed a river of electric ice at Dimitrius. Xing fired ice too, while Buttons and Tank blew massive columns of fire. Billy put all his effort into Spark’s blast and hoped that it would be enough.

  Dimitrius let out a laugh and began to furiously beat his wings again, creating another massive purple fireball. It streamed towards the children and their dragons like a shooting star, consuming their blasts as if they were nothing.

  Billy felt Spark’s pure terror, and he grew cold all over. The fireball struck all four dragons, throwing the children off their backs. Billy crashed on top of a limestone pillar, the impact knocking the wind out of him. Charlotte rolled next to him, cradling her elbow. Ling-Fei looked close to tears. Dylan’s face was covered in scratches and his glasses were crooked.

  All four dragons struggled to get back up from the blast.

  Even with the bonds, Billy realized, they were not strong enough. Dimitrius knew it too.

  ‘You cannot win,’ boomed Dimitrius. ‘Following the Great One has given us powers this realm has never seen before.’ A sneer crossed his face. ‘But fortune is on your side. You are worth more to me alive than dead, and you will be spared for now.’ He bared his teeth in a wicked grin. ‘I thought we would need the life force of at least ten more dragons to bring back the Dragon of Death, but you four are more powerful than most dragons. How fitting that the four who sent the Dragon of Death away will be the ones used to bring her back.’

  He fired another ball of electricity that opened into an enormous net as it flew towards them.

  ‘Children,’ Spark said with great effort, ‘get under my wing! Quickly!’ Billy, Charlotte, Ling-Fei and Dylan managed to shuffle under Spark’s wing just before the electric net landed. Billy felt Spark’s pain as it seared into her flesh and paralysed her muscles. She let out an ear-piercing roar.

  Billy, we cannot escape, Spark said. The star has given Dimitrius too much power. You and the others can still get away. She shot out a flat shard of ice that hovered next to Billy and the other children like a flying carpet. Get on. The net is loose enough for you to slip out. Hurry, we do not have much time.

  We won’t leave you! Billy replied.

  You must. You are our only hope. Trust your instincts. You must find a way to stop Dimitrius from bringing back the Dragon of Death.

  Billy knew Spark was right. He nodded at her, trying to hold back tears. This isn’t the end.

  He turned to his friends. ‘Everyone, get on the ice!’

  ‘What? Why?’ Charlotte asked.

  ‘Just trust me,’ Billy said.

  The children jumped up and, as soon as they were on, Spark’s eyes flashed a bright blue and ropes of ice locked each of them to the floating plate.

  Charlotte grasped at the ice around her waist. ‘What is this—?’ Before she could finish, the ice lurched forward, slipped through the electric net and shot off at great speed away from their dragons.

  ‘Dimitrius!’ shouted one of the nox-wings. ‘The children are getting away!’

  ‘Do not fall for their distraction! The children won’t get far on their own, if they even survive the night. And, if they do, we’ll kill them tomorrow. We can easily hunt them down.’

  That was the last thing Billy heard as he and his friends hurtled further and further and further away from the dragons.

  He felt the separation from Spark in his bones. He felt as if he was being torn, like something had been ripped out from inside him and was stretching further than it ever should. It hurt his heart. But he trusted Spark, and Spark had sent them away for a good reason. To protect them. And now everything was up to them – only they could save their dragons from Dimitrius and the Noxious.

  ‘What did you do, Billy?’ yelled Charlotte, the wind whipping her hair in every direction. ‘We have to get back! We can’t leave our dragons! We made a promise!’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ said Billy, his heart heavy. ‘This is the only way we can escape and still help our dragons. At least now we have a chance of stopping the Dragon of Death.’

  ‘Billy’s right,’ said Dylan. ‘Our dragons wouldn’t have wanted us to be captured with them.’

  ‘But how are we going to find them?’ asked Charlotte, glaring at Billy. ‘And who put y
ou in charge? You can’t make decisions for all of us!’

  ‘Part of my bond with Spark is that when we’re close I can hear her thoughts,’ said Billy. ‘She told me to do this. We had to.’ But, even as he said the words, he felt a sliver of doubt. Everything had happened so fast, and now he worried that maybe they should have stayed with their dragons. And he knew that Charlotte was hurting the way he was from being separated. But he still didn’t like it that she was angry at him.

  ‘We will find them, Charlotte,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘We’ll find them and we’ll save them. The bond will be our guide.’

  ‘Where is this thing even taking us?’ said Charlotte, glaring at Billy. ‘Did Spark share that piece of information with you?’

  ‘There wasn’t time!’ yelled Billy. ‘Would you rather we’d been captured in that electric net? Got blasted, if we were lucky? But most likely have our life force sucked out and used for dark magic?’

  Charlotte turned away with a huff.

  Billy looked back at the dark, glimmering lake behind them, his teeth chattering from the cold, and hoped he’d made the right decision.

  Watch Out

  The children could still hear the distant roar of dragons as the plate of ice landed on the far side of the lake shore and turned to water, setting them free.

  ‘We have to find a way to get to them!’ said Charlotte, running back to the edge of the lake. ‘What direction were they going in?’

  ‘I don’t know, but they are in pain,’ said Ling-Fei, wincing. ‘I can feel it.’

  ‘Me too,’ said Billy. He reached out through the bond to Spark. He could feel the tether between them stretching more with every passing second. And, while that meant that he felt less of her fear and pain, now he was feeling the emptiness that came from being separated.

  ‘We have to go to the red dome! That must be where Dimitrius is taking them,’ said Charlotte.