Werewolf versus Dragon

by David Sinden

  “Look at his hand,” Tiana said. The boy’s little finger was missing.

  Druce sucked on his finger, making a popping sound. “I bited him,” he said, grinning.

  “You bit his finger off?” Ulf asked. “You bit Marackai?”

  Druce giggled. “Nasty Marackai. Went away, he did. Good riddance.”

  “He’s back,” Ulf said to Tiana. “Marackai Farraway’s got the dragon.”

  “Ssshhh,” Druce said. The gargoyle’s ears pricked up. He scuttled onto the observatory roof and stared up the driveway. He stuck out his tongue, then turned to stone.

  Ulf heard an engine. He rushed to the north window. Inspector Black was driving down the driveway in his black truck.

  Ulf grabbed the walkie-talkie from the table. He turned it on.

  “Dr. Fielding!” he said. “Dr. Fielding! They’re back!”

  The sun was starting to go down behind Sunset Mountain. Dr. Fielding was driving the Jeep through the yard to the courtyard.

  Ulf watched as she pulled up and stepped out to let the Inspector through the front gates. She reached into her white coat and took out her walkie-talkie. Ulf heard a hiss and then a crackle, and then Dr. Fielding’s voice: “Hello, Ulf. Good news. Inspector Black has captured the criminal. Orson has saved the dragon.”

  Chapter 19

  ULF GAVE TIANA THE WALKIE-TALKIE AND another sugar cube. She wasn’t strong enough to fly yet. She waited by the window as Ulf bounded down the spiral stairs.

  He ran to the courtyard. Dr. Fielding and Inspector Black were standing by the RSPCB helicopter.

  “We should take the beast cradle, in case we have to bring the dragon back here,” Dr. Fielding said. She had her medical bag in one hand and her pilot’s goggles in the other.

  “What’s happening?” Ulf asked.

  “Good news,” Inspector Black said. He stood with his hands on his hips looking very pleased with himself. “At this very moment, Orson has the criminal tied up in Furnace Woods.”

  “I know who he is! It’s Marackai Farraway,” Ulf said.

  The Inspector’s eye twitched. “What are you talking about?” he asked.

  Ulf looked at Dr. Fielding. “Marackai Farraway is the beast hunter! He’s Professor Farraway’s son.”

  The Inspector took hold of Dr. Fielding’s arm. “Dr. Fielding, we should hurry. We need to go before it gets dark.”

  “But—” Ulf tried to stop her.

  “I won’t be long, Ulf,” Dr. Fielding said. “I’ve just got to check that the dragon’s okay. I’ll be back in time for your transformation.”

  Dr. Fielding opened the door of the helicopter and put her medical bag inside. “Ulf, please would you be helpful and fetch the beast cradle for me? It’s in the kit room.”

  “Come on, werewolf, I’ll help you,” Inspector Black said. The Inspector took Ulf by the hand and walked him toward the yard.

  “It’s all right. I can do it myself,” Ulf said.

  The Inspector gripped Ulf’s hand tightly. He smiled and looked around. “Marvelous place you have here, isn’t it?” he said. “Fresh air. Lovely views.”

  Inspector Black’s leather glove felt cold against Ulf’s hairy palm.

  “You must love growing up here. Mountains, lake, sea—you really have it all.”

  They walked past the kit room.

  “Where are we going?” Ulf asked. “The beast cradle’s in there.”

  “You even have your own little den,” Inspector Black said.

  He dragged Ulf out of the yard, walking him along the paddock fence. The door to Ulf’s den was open.

  “Ah, look, Dr. Fielding’s given you lovely fresh straw.”

  Ulf tried to pull his hand away.

  “In you go!” the Inspector said, pushing Ulf inside. Inspector Black slammed the door and turned the key in the lock. “Werewolves shouldn’t be allowed out on the night of a full moon,” he said.

  He pulled the key out and threw it into the paddock.

  Ulf rattled the bars.

  “Dr. Fielding!” he called. “Dr. Fielding!”

  “Dr. Fielding can’t hear you,” Inspector Black said.

  Ulf heard the sound of the helicopter’s engine starting up in the courtyard.

  “She and I are going on a little…expedition,” the Inspector said.

  He put his hand through the bars of the cage and stroked Ulf’s head.

  Ulf tried to step back but the Inspector gripped his hair.

  “Such lovely thick hair. You’d make a good rug.”

  Ulf bit the Inspector’s hand.

  “Ow!”

  The Inspector’s glove came off.

  Ulf stared.

  The Inspector’s little finger was missing.

  “You’re not an inspector at all!” Ulf yelled. “You’re Marackai Farraway!”

  “That’s Baron Marackai to you.” He smiled. A wide grin stretched across his face to his ears.

  He threw his head back and started laughing. “Ha ha haaaa ha haa ha haaaa ha ha haaaa!”

  As he laughed, his grin didn’t move. Even when he stopped laughing, it was still stretched wide across his face.

  It was stuck.

  He pressed his fingers to his cheeks, pushing the corners of his mouth back into place. Then he took his hat off and dug his fingers into the skin on his neck. It was rubber, like a mask.

  He pulled it up, and underneath, Ulf saw a face that was old and twisted with hatred like a rotten apple core.

  He leaned toward Ulf. “I’ve been away. But now I’m back.”

  He was scowling. It was the same scowl Ulf had seen on the boy in the photograph. His eye twitched. “My father was crazy to leave this place to beasts. It should have been mine.”

  Ulf leaped at him, bouncing off the bars. “You shot the baby dragon! You’ve kidnapped Aziza!”

  Marackai smiled, rolling his rubber mask back down, and slipped his glove back on.

  “Where’s Orson? What have you done with Orson?”

  “I’d love to stop and chat,” he said. “But I have to go to Furnace Woods. I have a Ring of Horrors to attend. Dr. Fielding’s in for quite a surprise.”

  He hurried off toward the courtyard. “I’ll be back for you later,” he called.

  Ulf furiously rattled the bars. “Dr. Fielding! Tiana! Druce!”

  He could hear the helicopter blades starting to turn.

  “Help! Somebody help!”

  Ulf looked up at the house. Druce was on the rooftop, as still as stone.

  “Tiana!” Ulf called.

  A sparkle came flying from the observatory window. It sputtered through the air, dipping and weaving.

  “I’m coming,” her tiny voice called. Her sparkle was fizzing weakly. She fell down at Ulf’s door.

  “Let me out, Tiana!” Ulf said. “Inspector Black is Marackai Farraway. He’s tricked us!”

  “Where’s the key?” Tiana asked.

  “He threw it into the paddock.”

  Tiana flew off to find it. “I can’t see it,” she said, flying low over the grass.

  From the courtyard, Ulf could hear the thwock thwock thwock of the helicopter blades.

  “Hurry up!” he called. “They’re about to take off. He’s got Dr. Fielding!”

  “Found it!” Tiana called, dragging the key across the grass to Ulf’s den.

  Ulf picked it up and unlocked the door. “We have to stop them!” he said.

  Ulf leaped out of his den and raced toward the front of the house.

  “Stop, Dr. Fielding!” he shouted.

  But he was too late. The helicopter was rising above Farraway Hall. Ulf stood in the yard and watched as it banked, heading northward. He saw it getting smaller and smaller as it flew into the distance.

  Tiana hovered beside him.

  “Dr. Fielding’s in danger!” Ulf said.

  “Then you have to go after her.”

  “But how?” Ulf asked.

  “You’ll have to fly,” Tiana told
him. “Meet me by the Roc!”

  Chapter 20

  TIANA SHOT OFF ACROSS THE PADDOCK TO the Dark Forest, a trail of sparkles sputtering behind her.

  Ulf ran along the track to the aviary. He sprinted through the mesh tunnel, past the griffin and the vampire owls, and out the other end.

  The Roc was lying on the ground. It looked up at Ulf with big sad eyes.

  “Don’t worry,” Ulf said to it. “Tiana’s got a surprise for you.”

  The Roc screeched.

  Tiana came flying from the Dark Forest. “Look what I’ve got,” she called. In her arms, she was carrying a flower with white petals. “It’s an orchid,” she said.

  Tiana laid the flower on the ground in front of the Roc. “It’s time to go home,” she said.

  The Roc leaned forward and sniffed the flower, then started cooing happily.

  “It’s working!” Ulf said. The Roc’s big yellow eyes blinked.

  “It likes it,” Tiana said.

  Ulf stroked the Roc’s head with his hairy hand. The Roc looked up at the sky. It stood up and shook its feathers.

  “Can I have a ride?” Ulf asked it.

  The beast lowered its head to the ground. Ulf took hold of the golden feathers on the Roc’s neck and pulled himself up. He sat on its back, gripping its feathers with both hands. “Let’s go,” he said.

  The Roc beat its wings and lunged into the air. It took off, flying upward into the evening sky.

  Ulf looked down.

  “Wait for me!” Tiana called. She frantically fluttered her wings and, in a burst of sparkles, shot up and tumbled onto the Roc’s back, landing in its feathers.

  The Roc flew high above the biodomes, soaring over Sunset Mountain. Ulf looked out over the land and sea, the wind blowing through his hair. The air tasted clean and cold. The sun was setting, and the clouds glowed red.

  “Which way’s Furnace Woods?” Ulf asked.

  “North,” Tiana said, whispering into the Roc’s ear.

  The Roc banked in a wide circle.

  “Full speed ahead!” Ulf said.

  The Roc swooped down over the Great Grazing Grounds and the Dark Forest, clipping the treetops. The bulltoxic bellowed from the paddock.

  As the Roc soared over Farraway Hall, Ulf looked down on the chimneys and the rooftop. Druce the gargoyle was dancing and waving. “Go, Fur Face,” he called.

  The Roc flew over the perimeter fence, and Ulf looked at the fields in the far distance. He had never seen them before.

  “Keep an eye out for the helicopter,” Tiana said.

  Ulf sat up to look over the top of the Roc’s head, and the cold wind hit him full in the face. The light was fading, and there was no sign of the helicopter in the sky ahead. “They’ll be miles away by now,” he said.

  The Roc beat its wings, gathering speed. Ulf wobbled. He leaned forward, flattening himself against the Roc’s neck.

  “Try to relax,” Tiana said. “It won’t let you fall.”

  The Roc screeched, and Ulf slowly let his grip loosen on its feathers. They sped over moorland and fields of sheep. Looking westward, Ulf could see the blood-red sun sinking below the horizon. The sky was growing darker. He could feel the hairs tingling on his hands.

  “Look, Ulf!” Tiana said, pointing down. “Houses.” Ahead on the ground, tiny yellow lights dotted a valley.

  Ulf looked to the East. The clouds were parting. From behind them the full moon appeared.

  Ulf saw it, and his eyes flashed silver.

  He felt the bones in his chest cracking.

  His transformation had begun.

  Chapter 21

  A STRONG, SHARP PAIN BURST IN THE BACK OF Ulf’s neck. He drew his knees up under him, trying not to let go of the Roc’s feathers.

  He could feel his backbone bending and his chest cracking. In the moonlight, his skeleton was realigning. His skin stretched. He could feel his muscles tightening and growing, ripping his T-shirt and tearing his jeans.

  He gripped tightly. The hair on the back of his hands started spreading. His nails lengthened, turning into claws. His tail was emerging and thick dark hair was growing over his whole body.

  Fangs split through his gums, pushing his lips open. He felt his tongue lengthening, dripping with saliva. His lower jaw thrust forward and his whole face twisted into that of a wolf.

  Ulf looked up at the full moon. He threw his head back and howled.

  With wolf eyes he could see further. He could hear every sound. Smells were filling his nostrils.

  In the distance, the landscape darkened. He could see a vast blanket of trees.

  “That’s Furnace Woods,” Tiana said.

  As the Roc thundered onward, Ulf sniffed the air. He could smell the scent of humans. He glanced down as the Roc shot over the tops of tall pine trees. They flashed below in a blur.

  Up ahead, Ulf saw a circle of bright lights. His ears pricked up. He could hear humans cheering.

  A man was speaking through a megaphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Ring of Horrors!”

  In the shadows, Ulf could make out a crowd of humans.

  They were gathered beside a huge round pit dug into the ground. They were waving money and shaking their fists.

  On either side of the pit, the tall arms of two cranes were poking from the treetops. As the Roc swooped lower, Ulf looked down.

  He saw Dr. Fielding, gagged and tied to a post. Next to her, standing on a mound of earth, was a man dressed in a fur coat. His face was twisted and rotten.

  Tiana gasped. “Who’s that?” she asked.

  Ulf bared his fangs and snarled: “That’s Marackai!”

  Baron Marackai waved, then held a megaphone to his lips. “I, Baron Marackai, welcome you to an historic night.”

  The crowd cheered.

  The Roc swooped lower, circling.

  “I would like to thank our special guest, Dr. Helen Fielding, for helping me gather you all together.”

  Ulf saw Franco Ravioli the chef, Lucretia Da Silva the boutique manager, and Billy Buck the factory owner. Baron Marackai had invited all the criminals from Dr. Fielding’s files!

  “For too long, the RSPCB has meddled in our world,” Baron Marackai said. “Now it’s their turn to suffer. The RSPCB is over! The beasts shall soon be ours!”

  The Baron removed his gloves and raised his right hand. “Death to the RSPCB!”

  All the humans in the crowd folded down their little fingers and held up their right hands.

  “Death to the RSPCB!” they cheered. They began chanting: “Ba-ron, Ba-ron, Ba-ron, Ba-ron.”

  “And so to the main event,” Baron Marackai said. “For your entertainment I give you a fight between two heavyweights. The first, a fire breather!”

  From out of the trees a crane trundled to the edge of the pit. Swinging from the crane’s arm on a steel wire was a huge metal cage draped in a tarpaulin. It was rocking and clattering.

  A big man with a thick beard and long greasy hair stepped out of the crane’s cabin and climbed down a ladder into the pit. Hanging from the bars of the cage was a chain. The big man attached the chain to a metal ring at the bottom of the pit and climbed back out.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” the Baron announced. “I give you Aziza, the firebelly dragon!” The doors of the cage burst open, and Aziza the dragon tumbled out screeching into the Ring of Horrors.

  The dragon stood in the pit beating her wings. She tried to take off but she couldn’t. She was tied to the ground, the chain attached to a metal collar on her neck. Her back legs were tied together with another chain so she couldn’t run.

  The dragon roared, and a jet of flames shot out of the pit.

  “Facing Aziza, we have a beast with the strength of a hundred men.”

  The crowd parted as a second crane trundled to the edge of the pit.

  “Here for the first and possibly last time, our challenger—the RSPCB’s very own giant!”

  Hanging upside down from the crane’s steel wir
e was Orson. The crane jerked, and the wire slackened.

  Orson fell crashing into the pit.

  Chapter 22

  FROM THE BACK OF THE ROC, ULF COULD SEE Orson standing in the Ring of Horrors. The giant’s clothes were torn and dirty. His face was covered in mud. His feet were tied with chains.

  The crowd booed and hissed.

  Aziza the dragon lurched forward, roaring at the giant.

  “Fight!” Baron Marackai shouted.

  “Fight! Fight! Fight!” the crowd chanted.

  “We have to save Orson!” Ulf growled, looking down. “How do you land this beast?”

  Tiana whispered into the Roc’s ear, then leaped off.

  “Tiana!” Ulf roared. “Wait for me!”

  Tiana flew down toward the pit as the Roc carried Ulf away.

  At the bottom of the pit, Orson faced the dragon.

  “Whoa there,” he said, holding his hands out. “There’s a good dragon. Easy girl.”

  The dragon clawed the ground. Steam was pouring from her nostrils. She looked up and let out a series of short, high-pitched screeches, calling for her baby.

  “Your baby’s gone,” Orson said to her. “It’s dead.”

  Baron Marackai reached into the pit with a long, sharp pole and jabbed the dragon in the eye. Aziza the dragon roared, baring teeth as sharp as knives. She thrashed her tail, snapping the pole into pieces.

  As her tail whipped around, Orson tried to jump out of the way. The chains around his ankles tightened, and he stumbled and fell.

  The dragon saw him and beat her wings. A jet of fire erupted from her mouth.

  Orson crouched in the dirt, burying his head in his arms. The dragon’s fire engulfed him. The crowd cheered.

  “Stop it!” Tiana yelled. Her tiny voice was drowned out by the cheering. She flew into the pit, and the dragon spewed another jet of fire, forcing her back.

  Orson rolled out of the way, crashing against the dirt wall. He jumped up and threw himself at the dragon, wrapping his arms around her neck. Aziza was raging, shaking her head, trying to bite Orson. The giant pressed his shoulder into her side, holding on with his massive arms. Aziza’s legs started to buckle. Orson heaved, trying to pull her to the ground.