‘Apart from me, you useless idiot!’ interjected Charlie. Terrified that she might fall and equally petrified that Stones would actually harpoon her, she did the only thing she could. Removing the necklace, she held it over the roof’s edge. ‘Back off or I drop the pendant! I mean it, you chumps, just you believe it! I’ve had a rotten day and I’m really, really stressed, so don’t push me!’
‘I don’t care, girlie,’ growled Stones, his yellow eyes flashing dangerously. ‘Drop your trinket for all I care. It, unlike you, can survive the fall. All we have to do is send the Watchmen out to find it – job done, end of story. So pucker up and say hello to my arrow!’
Stones released his bowstring.
Time seemed to slow. Moonlight glinted off the Watchmen’s armour, small clouds of dust hung suspended around Stones’s feet and the sound of the Shades’ screams sounded long and drawn out.
Charlie blinked at the phenomenon. The rooftop had taken on the quality of a film in slow motion. Everyone appeared to be moving ever so slowly through thick jelly. She could feel the soft pendulum beating of her heart, the brush of the cool night air on her flushed skin and the gentle drip of sweat down her neck. And beneath it all the volcanic pulse of her anger, drumming slowly within the confines of her chest.
She blinked and everything speeded up.
The shrieks and cries from the Shades spat across the rooftop. Stones roared triumphantly and the arrow hurtled towards her.
Roaring and crackling loudly, a jet of white flame erupted from out of the dark night sky to shoot across the rooftop. It burned the arrow to a cinder in mid-flight. So intense was the heat that the wood instantly turned to ash and was blown across the roof and out into the night.
Everything and everyone on the tower’s roof froze.
From above something growled menacingly. Looks of complete terror and small grunts of dread rippled through the Watchmen as they pointed with trembling fingers to the thing that flew above. The Shades hissed loudly and compressed themselves into tight coils as they too withdrew in fright. Even Stones, powerful and cruel, seemed momentarily taken aback by what he saw.
Again a deep menacing growl erupted from out of the dark sky to cascade across everyone’s heads. Charlie slowly, so very, very slowly, turned to look.
32
A New Companion
Charlie inhaled sharply, partly in shock, partly in wonder.
She had always dreamed about seeing one of these creatures, always known within her heart that they were real no matter how many people had laughed and sneered at her at school. And to see one right in front of her, right here, right now, was like a wish come true. Awed and delighted, Charlie forgot all about the Shades, the Watchmen and Stones. Her eyes were fixed like glue on the magnificent beast that flew just in front of her.
A dragon!
Nothing could have spoilt this moment for her. Well, perhaps nothing apart from the small, niggling thought that blundered its way across her mind … Surely dragons were supposed to be bigger than this? The creature before her spanned a mere two metres from head to tail, and most of that was its long neck and longer tail. But in Charlie’s opinion this was only a minor hitch and couldn’t spoil the sheer delight of the image.
The beast was without doubt the most majestic thing she had ever seen. It was covered from head to toe in spectacular emerald-green scales that glinted in the soft moonlight. Its long, muscled neck supported a powerful and handsome head and its sinuous tail writhed and lashed behind it, allowing it to maintain perfect balance in the rough winds. Its beautifully proportioned wings stretched proudly outward, flapping and beating at the air. But to Charlie’s mind the most amazing aspect of the whole creature had to be its fiercely glowing blue eyes, which blazed in awesome fury as it glared at the Shades.
‘Wow!’ Charlie whispered to herself. And without being able to explain how she knew – she just did – she was very much aware that the dragon was here for her. No matter how fierce it appeared or how dangerous it was to Stones and the others on the rooftop, she knew it meant her no harm.
A ferocious shout from Stones snapped Charlie’s attention back to the present. She was still in trouble. Dangerous, perilous trouble. She quickly slipped her pendant back round her neck and tucked it out of sight.
‘You idiots, stop standing there gawking!’ roared Stones. ‘Grab her, quick!’
The Alavisian Watchmen inched forward beneath the baleful eye of the flying dragon. Arms out, they reached for the young Keeper. The dragon snarled. Opening its fanged mouth, it spat out another wave of flame that scorched and stung the guards. Crying in pain and beating at their burning armour, they leaped back.
‘Blast you all!’ cursed Stones. He slapped and kicked the Watchmen out of the way. ‘Same as it ever was: if a job needs doing, do it yourself!’
Growling to himself and casting furious looks at the Watchmen, he swiftly began to thread another length of wire on to one of his wickedly sharp arrows. He was determined to let neither the dragon nor the young Keeper get the better of him.
Again the dragon snarled. Banking its wings sharply and whipping its tail from side to side, it dived towards the rooftop. Immediately all the Alavisians and the Shades cowered backwards, fearful of its fiery breath, but they weren’t its target. Talons outstretched, the dragon snatched Charlie by the shoulders and pulled her off the roof.
Stones gasped in astonishment, the arrow dangling uselessly from his hand, as he stared at the empty space that Charlie had previously filled.
‘The pendant!’ hissed the lead Shade, shocked and angered.
Stones and the Shade rushed to the edge of the rooftop and anxiously peered over. All they could see before the darkness swallowed them up was a brief flapping of wings and a quick flash of Charlie’s ridiculously messy hair rapidly dwindling into the distance. Her taunting whoop of laughter echoed up towards them.
Charlie wasn’t the least bit scared. In fact, quite the opposite – she was loving every moment of her descent. While the dragon wasn’t big enough to lift her any higher, it was strong enough and had large enough wings to act as a huge parachute. Together, the two of them slowly wafted down through Sylvaris’s sleeping landscape. Graceful towers waltzed past them, beautifully arched bridges, boulevards and streets swept by and the trees of Deepforest, still far below, swayed slowly beneath her feet. The sensation of flight mixed with the odd feeling of falling was a heady mix and Charlie soon felt giddy with excitement.
The two of them floated further and further away from Narcissa’s tower. Gliding gently downward, they sank lower and lower until at last they landed lightly on a narrow walkway. The dragon released its firm grip from her shoulders and with a final beat of its wings hopped down to stand on all four legs by Charlie’s feet.
33
Nibbler
Charlie was astonished to realize that, with its wings folded by its side and its tail coiled around its body, the dragon was no bigger than a German Shepherd or a large Mastiff.
‘Gosh, you’re tiny, aren’t you?’ she exclaimed.
‘Well, of course I’m tiny, I’m only seven!’ stated the dragon in an indignant tone. ‘I’ve got a lot more growing to do yet.’
‘Uh … you can talk?’ stuttered Charlie.
‘Of course I can talk!’ said the creature.
Its voice was young and quite childish, but it had commanding qualities to it that suggested hidden strengths. Charlie got the firm impression that it was a boy.
‘Have you ever come across a Winged One that couldn’t speak?’ it asked.
Charlie’s eyes widened. ‘You’re a Winged One?’
‘Duh!’ it said, and fluttered its wings to prove its point.
Charlie didn’t quite know how to take this. To see a dragon was one thing; for him to turn around and talk to her was quite another. She decided that honesty and politeness were the best way forward. ‘Er … I’m sorry, you’ll have to forgive my ignorance in these matters. I’m not from Bellania,
you see, I’m from Earth, so my knowledge is – how can I say this? – er … lacking in certain fields,’ she stammered, still not quite sure if she was dreaming. ‘So if I do say something that sounds a little silly I apologize in advance.
Um … my name is Charlie Keeper, what’s yours?’
‘Name? I don’t have one yet.’
‘You’re seven and you don’t have a name?’ she exclaimed.
‘Well, I shouldn’t have left my chrysalis so early. I wasn’t due to hatch for another month, but I had to, didn’t I?’ said the dragon defensively. ‘But of course if I had stayed in I would have been named by the adults on my first awakening.’
‘Chrysalis?’ mused Charlie. ‘I think Lady Dridif mentioned something about that. But wait just a minute, I still don’t get it. Why did you have to leave early and what’s an awakening? Aren’t you awake now?’
‘Well, you’re right, I am awake, but I shouldn’t be. I’m still supposed to be growing and learning back with the others.’
‘So how come you’re not?’
‘Because you called me, that’s why!’
‘I did?’ said Charlie. She was finding this all very surreal.
‘Sure, with your pendant. It told me you were in danger. None of the adults woke up, so it was up to me, wasn’t it? Can’t leave family in danger, it’s not right.’
‘My pendant?’ asked Charlie. She stared down at her necklace for perhaps the thousandth time since arriving in Bellania. Was it honestly responsible for everything that had happened? Her head felt a little dizzy. This was all so strange. ‘Family? I’m family, with you?’
‘Yes, that’s right. You’re a Keeper, which means we’re family. We share the same blood.’
‘So I’m part dragon, you mean?’ asked Charlie, getting slightly excited by the idea of that.
‘Yes. Well, no … sort of. I can’t really explain it. You’ll have to ask an adult, but they’re all still in the Chrysalis Period.’
Charlie looked dumbly at the dragon.
The dragon sighed and shook his head from side to side in a rather sorrowful manner. ‘The Chrysalis Period is seven years long. It’s what happens when the adults need to shed their old skins and grow new ones so that they can carry on living in this world. They leave Bellania through the Flawed Gate and don’t come back until the full seven years are up.’
‘So how come you’re here, then? If you can come here why can’t an adult?’
‘Because they just can’t, that’s why! And I could only come because I’m still a Hatchling, which means that, unlike the adults, I’ve never left Bellania.’
‘Oh … OK.’
‘So you understand now?’
‘No, not really,’ admitted Charlie. ‘But I’ll take your word for it. For now anyway. But I really think we should get going before Stones and that lot come after us.’
‘Where do you want to go?’
‘To see Jensen and … Wait, maybe that’s not such a good idea right now.’ Charlie sighed as she shamefully remembered their last meeting on Narcissa’s drawbridge. ‘Azariah! Azariah Keeper will sort things out. I think we should go and see him.’
‘OK, then, so where does he live?’
‘Er … I’m not sure,’ said Charlie. ‘But if we go to the Jade Tower, which shouldn’t be too difficult to find, I’m sure there’ll be someone there who can tell us the way. And, er … thanks for saving me back there. I, uh … really appreciate it.’
The young dragon grinned up at her, his liquid eyes twinkling merrily. ‘My pleasure, Charlie.’
‘What am I going to call you?’ she asked. ‘It doesn’t feel right, you calling me by my name when I can’t return the favour. Are you sure you don’t have a name?’
The Winged One rolled his eyes. ‘I think I would remember if I’d been given one! It’s not the sort of thing I’d be too likely to forget now, is it?’
‘OK. Well, in that case, how about I give you a name?’
‘You can’t.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because you don’t have wings and, besides, I’m not supposed to have one until I’m hatched.’
‘But you’re “hatched” now, aren’t you?’
‘Well, yes, but not really. I’m supposed to wait until one of the adult Winged Ones recognizes me as awake. Only then can I be given a name.’
‘OK. Well, how about a nickname?’
‘A nickname, what’s that?’
‘It’s like an informal name used between friends.’
The young dragon seemed to think for a moment. ‘But it’s not a real name, though, is it?’ he asked dubiously.
‘No, it’s not a proper name.’
‘OK … I suppose.’
‘Great! How about … Green Dragon!’ Charlie suggested, throwing her arms out dramatically.
‘What’s a dragon?’
Charlie stared at the creature. He was joking, wasn’t he? ‘You’re a dragon!’
‘Me? No, I’m not. I’m a Winged One.’
‘Sure, you might be a Winged One, but you’re a dragon as well. You’ve got wings, a long tail, lots of scales and you can breathe fire,’ said Charlie as she pointed to each in turn. ‘So obviously you’re a dragon.’
‘Nope,’ insisted the stubborn young dragon. ‘I’m a Winged One.’
Charlie sighed to herself. She got the impression this wasn’t going to be easy. Come to think of it, nothing seemed to be that easy in Bellania.
‘OK. How about Emerald?’
‘Why would you want to call me after a precious stone?’
‘Because in a certain light your scales look like emeralds.’
The dragon cocked his head to one side and gave it some thought.
‘No, try something else. That sounds too girlie.’
‘Talon.’
‘No, too sharp.’
‘Blaze.’
‘Oh, please! How about something with a bit of dignity to it?’
‘Um … Flame?’
‘Nope.’
Charlie folded her arms. ‘Well, if you’re going to be so difficult why don’t you suggest something?’
The dragon screwed his eyes shut and wriggled his claws so that they click-clacked on the ground.
‘Nibbler. I’d like to be known as Nibbler.’
‘Nibbler? Why Nibbler? That’s not very dragony!’
‘For the last time, I’m not a dragon! I’m a Winged One!’ harrumphed the dragon. ‘And I think you should call me Nibbler because whenever I dream it’s always about eating and chewing and munching and scrunching. I always have this same dream, see? It’s about big fat juicy haunches of meat that just float and dance right in front of my nose, teasing me with their beautiful, yummy smell. My mouth begins to water, my nose goes all quivery and then I pounce! Next thing I know my mouth is full of juicy, runny, gorgeous meat. And for the rest of the dream I’m quite happily nibbling and feasting on prime steak, spare ribs and sirloin fillet.’
Charlie looked at the young creature: he obviously had a big thing for food. ‘OK. So Nibbler it is!’ she said in relief. ‘I’m glad we got that sorted.’
‘Well, if it makes you happier.’ The small dragon shrugged. ‘But could you please settle my curiosity? Is it customary for young girls from your realm to dress in such a messy and bedraggled style?’
Charlie looked down at herself. Her jeans were torn and dirty, her sneakers scuffed and her T-shirt was ripped, shredded and cut in about seven different places. Her nails were filthy and a thick line of dirt caked the back of her elbows. She dreaded to think how her face and hair looked.
‘Well, what do you expect?’ she grumped. ‘Since I’ve come to Bellania I’ve been chased by Bane and by packs of feral Shades, thrown off a mountain waterfall by an overenthusiastic mutt of a dog and almost crushed by a giant tree. I’ve had to flee down the outside of my friend Jensen’s tower and, to add to all of that, I’ve been repeatedly pinched and slapped inside that stinking tower you just saved me from. And
to really upset me, two chumps threw me into insect-ridden and spider-infested cattle pens! So if I do look a little rough and just the slightest bit scruffy you’ll have to forgive me. OK?’
‘So this isn’t your normal attire?’ Nibbler asked flatly.
‘If you mean is this the look I spend hours trying to achieve each morning, then the answer is no!’
‘OK, just thought I’d ask.’
Nibbler stared nervously at her from the corner of one eye, just in case she decided to jump on him. He got the distinct impression she was the sort of girl who would do such a thing when annoyed. Sensing now was a good time to change the subject, he hurriedly asked, ‘So are you going to tell me why the Shades and just about everyone else in that tower were chasing you?’
Charlie sighed, releasing some of the tension that had built up. ‘Sure, but it’s a long story and I really think we should get going before anyone or anything starts to chase us. Let’s go and I’ll tell you on the way.’
34
Bad Debts
The Shade was not pleased. It had delivered its side of the bargain yet the pitiful Human woman and her two useless sons had far from completed their part of the deal. Both the young Keeper and the pendant that the Stoman Lord wanted were now out of its reach. And what was more it would appear that a Winged One had now entered into the equation. This would not do. Pulsing with a thick venomous anger, it stalked back into the depths of the tower.
‘You! You had a deal to complete and yet you failed miserably! The master will not be pleased. You must come with me to the Western Mountains.’
‘Why would I want to do a thing like that?’ scorned Lady Narcissa. ‘I admit that the exchange didn’t go quite as planned, but the girl is still in Sylvaris. I can get her for you.’
Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) Page 17