The True Dragon

by Andy Holland

  "Hold him steady," Amos said as Perak squirmed in the Rock Dragon's grip. Crystal heard another crack, and this time Perak gasped in pain.

  "Careful!" Amos said angrily, hurriedly fixing the collar in place. "I want him alive. You two, come here and disarm him."

  Two of the other Golden Dragon guards ran over and removed Perak's sword and searched him for other weapons. He had an impressive array of weapons stashed all over his body: two long, thin knives that looked like tiny swords; four throwing knives; a crossbow that was in his bag and a long piece of wire. Crystal wondered if they could have missed anything. But the guards weren't taking any chances and proceeded to bind his hands and feet together so he wouldn't be able to move.

  "You must really be terrified of me," Perak mocked. "I'm surprised you haven't muzzled me in case I bit one of you."

  Amos laughed. "I'm glad you reminded us." He slipped a hood over Perak's head and tied it at the back. The Rock Dragon finally let go, and Perak dropped to the ground, groaning as he knocked his elbow on a rock.

  “How did you find me?” Perak asked. “That city isn’t on your maps.”

  “Nor is the tunnel you used to escape,” Amos replied. “We can take the form of many dragons, Perak. There’s one type of Worm Dragon that is blessed with exceptional hearing, and a number of my men know how to adopt the form. Your noisy footsteps gave you away.”

  Perak said nothing, just nodding in response. Crystal had been amazed that they had been able to hear him, but they had managed to determine where he was going to emerge with unnerving accuracy. Yet again, it was a frustrating reminder of what she was missing by not being able to transform into a Golden Dragon.

  "What will you do with him?" Natan asked. "Will you hand him over to Kanesh?"

  "That's not my decision," Amos replied. "Perak, what did you do with John? Where is he?"

  Perak laughed from inside his hood. "Oh, I didn't do anything with John. But you won't ever see him again."

  Crystal ran over, no longer afraid of him. "What do you mean? Where is he? What have you done with him?"

  Perak turned his head towards her, and she stepped back, wondering whether he could see through that hood. "Ah, Crystal, I'm so glad to be the one to tell you. I'm sorry that I can't take direct responsibility for his death, but John is most definitely dead. Killed by those monsters he used to destroy my army. There's a certain justice in that, don't you think?"

  Crystal dropped to her knees, tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't see how John would evade Perak, but she had still held out some hope that he might survive. Perak's cruel words shattered that hope.

  "How is that possible?" Amos asked. "The True Dragons wouldn’t be able to get into that underground city. Why lie to us?"

  "I have no need for lies," Perak replied haughtily. "John jumped into a hole to escape me and landed beside a True Dragon. It's sleeping inside a cave under the city. It must have another way in and out of there. Look for yourself. It's in a large building in the centre of the city, one with a dome-shaped roof. You can't miss it. Hopefully, the True Dragon won't miss you either."

  "This may be a trap," one of the other guards said to Amos. "Who knows what he's been doing in that city."

  "Trying to get out," Amos replied. "He didn't have time to set up a trap or have any reason for doing so. Besides, we should find out what happened to their friend."

  "What about him," Natan asked. "You're not going to take him back in there are you? He's just looking for a chance to escape."

  Amos frowned and stared at Perak. "No, he's not coming. He's of no further use to us." He turned to the Golden Dragon that had already transformed. "Take him. Fly back as fast as you can. You, and you," he said, nodding to two other guards, "accompany him back and keep an eye out. I wouldn't worry about his comrades trying to free him, but the True Dragons are still around. Go!"

  The two guards transformed in a blur of golden scales and the three dragons took off together, flying rapidly into the distance, leaving Amos, Natan, Crystal and the other five behind.

  Amos turned to Natan and Crystal. "Follow me. Let's see this city of yours."

  He turned to the Rock Dragon and held up a torch, which the Rock Dragon lit with a gentle stream of fire, before transforming back into his human form. Amos lit another torch and handed it to Crystal before heading into the dark tunnel. She glanced back at Natan briefly, who nodded at her encouragingly, before she followed Amos into the hole. Amos was moving quickly, and she had to run to catch up with him.

  "I don’t know to transform into a Worm Dragon," he told her. "So I don't want to stay down here any longer than I need to. From what you've told me we should be able to fly inside that city, so we shouldn't have to stay there very long."

  "What happens if this tunnel collapses?" Crystal asked. "If you can't transform into a Worm Dragon, how would we get out?"

  "Even if I could transform into a Worm Dragon I couldn't dig out of this tunnel. The walls have been coated in Dragon Glass. But there's no need to worry, it's already stood the test of time."

  Crystal remembered John and Natan talking about this earlier. She ran her fingers along the walls and found that they were very smooth and as her hands removed the layer of dust the surface was shiny underneath.

  "Keep moving," Amos reminded her, noticing that she was falling behind again. "Don't hold up the line."

  She glanced back and saw that the rest of the group were following closely behind. She began a slow jog, letting the torch swing back and forth beside her. Amos was already some distance ahead of her, but the tunnel was very straight, and the light from his torch lit up the way in front. It felt as if they were jogging for ages before they reached the end of the tunnel and Crystal was gasping for breath when they finally stopped.

  "Give me your torch and go and transform," Amos told her. "Look, the ceiling of this cave is very high. We can fly across it."

  "How would we see without the torches?" Crystal asked. A Golden Dragon who had already transformed behind her blew a stream of fire into the air by way of answer.

  "Come on, Crystal," Natan chided. "That wasn't too hard to work out, was it?"

  She ignored him and tried to find somewhere to transform. They were in a large clearing, and there were no buildings to hide behind. "Look away!" she called back to them before removing her clothes and beginning her transformation. By the time she had finished the others were already in the air above. She was fast compared to her Red Dragon friend but still had a lot to learn.

  I still can't believe how long it takes you to do that, Natan told her. I think I would find it hard to do it that slowly.

  Oh, shut up, she replied as she took off, cautiously blowing a stream of fire ahead of her to light up the cave.

  Watch where you're flying, Natan called from ahead. This would be a lot easier if you were a Golden Dragon. I'm sure you're more likely to bump into something as a Red Dragon.

  Crystal ignored him. He knew that she wasn't able to transform into a Golden Dragon yet and was just trying to annoy her. The Golden Dragons were spreading out over the city, their flames lighting up buildings all over the place. They were doing so purely out of curiosity as their destination was easy to spot: a large, domed building in the centre of the city, towering over the surrounding buildings. Crystal flew directly towards it, desperate to find out what had happened to John. Amos and two of the others landed just before her.

  Crystal, transform and come inside with me. Natan and you two, come as well. The others will stay outside and keep watch.

  Two dragons continued to fly in circles above them whilst Amos and Natan transformed quickly into their human forms. The other two transformed, but into Worm Dragons rather than into humans. One of them disappeared into the building, promptly followed by the other. Natan and Amos waited while Crystal completed her transformation.

  "They can move faster as Worm Dragons," the young captain told her as he handed her a torch. "In the complete darkness they will be abl
e to see nothing, but their other senses are greatly enhanced. They'll know about any True Dragon long before it knows about them."

  Crystal didn't feel particularly reassured by this, knowing how quickly a True Dragon could move, but smiled and nodded anyway. Amos entered the building through the large doors, holding out his torch ahead of him to illuminate the passageway.

  "No talking," he whispered. "Tap me on the shoulder if you need to speak to me and just mime what you want to say."

  Crystal and Natan followed behind him, treading as carefully as possible to muffle the sounds of their footsteps. They could hear nothing from the two Golden Dragons who had transformed into Worm Dragons and moved ahead of them. Without any warning, one of them reappeared in front of Amos, having transformed back into human form.

  "It's safe ahead," he told the young captain. "A True Dragon was definitely in the chamber ahead, but it has gone now. Its tracks lead out of the caves to a small lake."

  "So Perak was telling the truth," Amos mused. "What about John? Any sign of him?"

  "Nothing," the Golden Dragon replied. "But there were two sets of footprints leading through these corridors and only one coming out. There are no other tracks leading out of the other chamber other than those of the True Dragon."

  Crystal's heart sank. After everything that John had been through and survived, it was too much to believe that he could have died like this.

  "Could he have hidden?" Natan asked. "How thoroughly did you search?"

  "It's possible," the guard admitted. "But unlikely. We will continue to search."

  "Come," Amos said to Crystal and Natan. "We've come this far. We may as well leave the caves through this exit." He turned back to the guard. "Go and get the others outside. We'll all leave together."

  The guard nodded and squeezed past Crystal, Nathan and Amos, heading into the dark passageway behind them. Crystal caught a glimpse of him transforming as he faded into the darkness.

  The three of them moved more quickly now, no longer worried about trying to move quietly. It didn't take long to reach the central room with the circular hole in the middle. Amos stopped and examined the ground in front of them.

  "Look, there are many footprints here," he told them. "It looks like Perak and John ran around this room many times, going in both directions."

  Crystal saw nothing more than a confusing jumble of footprints but took his word for it. She trod carefully to the guardrail that surrounded the hole in the ground and held out her torch to illuminate the chamber beneath.

  "That's quite a long way down," Natan commented. "I wonder how John got down there safely."

  "I'm guessing he didn't," Amos replied. "Even if there hadn't been a True Dragon at the bottom the fall would have killed him anyway. I'm sorry, Crystal."

  She didn't reply. It was hard to argue with his logic, but she didn't want to admit he was right.

  "Transform," he instructed them. "You can fly out from here. Don't worry, it is safe, my dragons have made sure the True Dragons aren't around outside the cave."

  Natan began to ask how sure he was that it had gone, but Crystal ignored him and transformed before going ahead on her own. She wanted to see if there really was no way John could have survived the drop. She landed at the bottom of the cave and looked around. It was quite a long way down, and she couldn’t see anything that could have broken his fall unless he landed on the True Dragon and it was hard to see how that could have worked out well. Then she noticed a huge, shiny, black rock opposite her and wondered how she not seen it before. It stood on a marble platform, elevated above the cave floor by a couple of metres. If he had jumped from the other side of the balcony, he could have landed on that. It wouldn't have been particularly forgiving, but it might have saved him. But there was something ominous and repellent about the rock, and despite wanting to look around it for signs that John could have landed there, she found herself unable to approach it.

  Looks like a giant Dragonstone, Amos commented, landing next to her. I wouldn't touch it if I was you. I've heard that touching Dragonstones from other races can make you sick.

  Crystal doubted that having come very close to the Red Dragon stones without any problems, but she still backed away from the giant black stone.

  What are we waiting for? Natan asked, landing next to her. Are you hoping that the True Dragon will return so we can question it? Come on, let's go.

  There were no footprints other than their own and those the True Dragon had left, no sign that John had ever even been here. The walls of the cave were smooth and round, with nowhere that could conceal secret side passages. There was only one conclusion that could be reached: John had not left this cave alive.

  Crystal was not to be given any time to let this realisation sink in. Natan squawked loudly at her from above, circling nervously in the confines of the cave and clearly impatient to leave. Amos and the other dragons were nowhere to be seen and were presumably waiting outside. Crystal took one last look at the cave before taking off and flying after the others.

  Stay low, Amos commanded as she flew outside into the dazzling sunlight. And follow me. We never stray too far from an escape tunnel, just in case one of those things makes an appearance. You'd think they'd struggle to sneak up on you, being so large, but they're crafty. Just do as I tell you and you should be fine.

  Crystal didn't reply, letting Natan prattle away in response. She knew how dangerous these things were, having seen one ambush a Golden Dragon once before. And now, one had killed John. John, who had always been so reliable, a constant source of reassurance when things were going badly. She knew he was dying, but never believed that he would actually die. He couldn't, he was John. How wrong could she be?

  Amos didn't ask where they wanted to go, assuming that they would want to leave the Circle as quickly as possible. That was fine with Crystal. After all, she no longer had any reason to be there. They zigzagged across the Circle in a similar fashion to the way John had brought them in. Natan grilled Amos about what would happen to Perak, but Crystal paid little attention and didn't really care. Of course, the punishment he would receive wouldn’t come close to what he deserved. The Golden Dragons shied away from harsh punishments and frowned on others carrying them out, so he was unlikely to be handed over to either Kanesh or the Reds, both of who would almost certainly execute him without even bothering with a trial. Without a trial! She laughed to herself at the thought. Before she met John that notion wouldn't have bothered her at all. But after knowing him for a little over a year, he had instilled an instinct for justice and fairness, even for her enemies. He wouldn't have hated Perak, so how could she? Killing him wouldn't bring John back.

  They reached the edge of the Circle by midday, and it was here that Amos and the others left them, believing that they should be safe from here on. Crystal and Natan opted to fly to Black Rock rather than straight back to Furnace. Natan could have reached the capital before sunset with ease, but Crystal wasn't sure if she could and was even less sure if she wanted to. No, they could stay a night with her father's cousin in Black Rock, he'd be happy to see her, and he wouldn't press her to tell him anything about what she was doing in the Circle. Then tomorrow would come the hardest task. Telling Daisy about John.

  Chapter 18: Interrogation

  Perak had quickly settled into a routine in his quiet little cell. Every morning one of the Golden Dragon guards would come to wake him and give him his breakfast, but would always find that Perak was awake before he arrived, sitting on his bed watching the guard's every move. They changed the guard every day, and they never spoke to him, neither to ask him any questions nor answer any of his own. Insults, threats, appeals to reason, everything that Perak tried had the same result: just blank expressions as if he was using another language. They showed no indication of fear or interest in him. He had to respect them for that. They would have known who he was, what he had done and what he was capable of and they were bound to be curious, yet they never let it show. Their disci
pline was exemplary.

  Perak's breakfast was relatively generous, but he never ate it straight away. He waited till he heard the muffled sounds of the guard's footsteps fade away and then began his exercises. He had no idea how long he was going to have to stay in this prison, so he needed to maintain his fitness. The small size of his cell limited what he could do, but Perak was resourceful and used the metal bars to hang from and strengthen his muscles. He trained for at least an hour every morning while his breakfast grew cold, but that never bothered him. He was determined not to become too comfortable in this place.

  He ate while he cooled down from his breakfast, using the wooden cutlery they had provided him with. They were taking no chances with him, and even the wood they had used was soft and weak, barely usable as cutlery let alone as a weapon or a tool to break free from the cell. He had tried many times to pick the lock using the wooden knife, but it snapped too easily.

  But try to escape he did. After breakfast, Perak continued his futile attempt to scrape his way through the wall of his cell. He had only just begun to scratch the wall when two burly Blue Dragons burst into the cell, seizing him before he could react and pinning his arms behind his back. They said nothing as they chained his hands and feet together, then lifted him up and deposited him in a chair another Blue Dragon had brought into the cell. He looked up and saw that a fourth Blue Dragon was sat opposite him.

  "So, Perak, how are you enjoying life in this dungeon?" Kanesh asked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his legs, looking very relaxed. Perak wondered how relaxed Kanesh would be if Perak weren't chained up like this. "Looks very comfortable."

  "Was there a purpose to your visit?" Perak asked. "I seem to recall you were fond of making unexpected and seemingly pointless calls when you were an ageing colonel, but I had hoped that there was at least some hidden agenda and you weren't just wasting everyone's time."