by Andy Holland
Kanesh laughed, slapping his thigh and smiling broadly. "Very good, Perak. Well, my agenda was probably very similar to yours. Become supreme leader of our great nation. Now, look at us. I'm sitting here, with absolute power and a much tighter grip on the nation than Zygar ever had, and you're over there, alone and forgotten by everyone. I wasn't wasting my own time after all, was I? As for you, well I guess it's hard to admit that you were wasting your time. It's hard for someone like you to admit failure or to see how pointless your scheming has been. Time to recognise that, don't you think?"
"Great nation!" Perak laughed scornfully. "It ceased to be one the day that you usurped power and bowed down to our enemies. How could you have a tight grip on our nation when you've surrendered everything to the Reds and Golds? I'd die before doing that."
Kanesh nodded ruefully. "I suppose I could arrange for that to happen. The Golds may think that they can stop that happening, but they don't know who I am. You know how we operated in the Army of the Interior, don't you, Perak? I think you probably took inspiration for your battle strategies from our operations, although I doubt you'd admit it."
Kanesh was referring to Perak's surprise attacks on the Red Dragons, sneaking in at night and attacking settlements at daybreak before the residents could transform. It had been spectacularly successful but also very unpopular, seen as underhand and cowardly.
"I'll repeat my question, as you've clearly forgotten it," Perak snarled. "Understandable for someone your age. Was there a purpose for your visit? Solitary confinement in this cell is very dull, but still infinitely preferable to listening to you drone on."
Kanesh laughed again, sounding genuinely amused. "I'd forgotten about your complete lack of charm, Perak. It always amazed me how you managed to progress so far with your inability to get on with anyone. Indeed, Zygar often complained about that. Anyway, much as I am enjoying this, there was a purpose to this visit. As you have probably guessed, we've caught most of your followers already, not that you had that many. Some are being held by the Golds, but a number we've caught ourselves. I'd guess that maybe a third have already denounced you in return for a pardon and I expect the same again will do so, given enough time. I don't like wasting useful resources, so they will almost certainly be given a pardon, but what about the other third? At the moment it looks like I will have to execute them, which is not what I want. What I would prefer is for them to swear allegiance to me and serve as useful members of my army. All of them."
"Never going to happen," Perak stated confidently. "I know you're lying about the rest of my men as well. They'd never follow you."
"All of them will if you were to tell them to. You didn't inspire many to be loyal to you, but there are a few, and some of them are good men. Zygar over-reached, and we're paying the price now, but I will rebuild this nation, with or without your followers."
"Don't mention his name!" Perak spat. "You dishonour his memory with everything that you do. You would be nothing had it not been for him."
Kanesh shrugged. "I tried to warn him. Not directly, admittedly, but through the other generals and colonels, I tried to influence him. Other than the failure to take Newcastle the initial attack was an overwhelming success, and we would have been better off stopping there and consolidating. A ten year wait and then finish them off. I convinced Tarek to suggest the idea to him, which is almost certainly why he was passed over in favour of you. Come on, surely you've never wondered why you were chosen over Tarek?"
"Zygar prepared me to lead from when I was a child," Perak retorted. "He saw my potential."
"As he did with Tarek," Kanesh countered. "Who he promoted to general ahead of you. But enough of Zygar's failings. I am now the supreme leader, you are a failure living in a cell, but you do have the chance to do the right thing."
Perak glared at his rival. Why was he really here? Kanesh wouldn't really care about his men. No, the answer was much simpler.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" Perak said. "You're afraid that one day, my men will get you. More likely one night, when you think you're safe, they'll come for you and cut you into little pieces. Why would I want to stop that?"
Kanesh smiled condescendingly, but Perak knew that he was right. It was the only reason Kanesh could have come here. He stood up to leave. "You're in a cell guarded by the Golden Dragons, Perak, but they won't want you forever. I'd worry more about what will happen to yourself if I was you."
Perak let him have the last word. He gave Kanesh a scornful look, letting him know how little he frightened him. Kanesh turned and left the cell without another word, followed by his guards. Unfortunately, they also left him in chains, but that didn't matter, as the Golden Dragons would return soon and release him. They would be very cautious and professional, and he knew that they wouldn't give him any chance to escape. But as much as he didn't want to admit it to Kanesh, he knew that he was right. At some point, if he didn't escape, they would find a way to kill him. And that he couldn't let happen.
Chapter 19: The Bronze True Dragon
Crystal decided to spend a couple of days with her relatives in Black Rock, rather than going back to Furnace immediately. Natan had just stayed for the night before heading to the south-east, having decided that someone should tell Mark what had happened to John and that someone may as well be him. She knew that it was the right thing to do, but would have rather had him accompany her to Furnace to tell the others. Now that it was just her who would be delivering the message, she decided that she couldn't face them straight away and had looked for an excuse to delay leaving for a couple of days.
But she could only delay for so long, so after the third night with her relatives, she set off early in the morning to travel back to Furnace. She had never been a morning person before meeting John, but she had become accustomed to flying at this time of day and found that she preferred it. It was a pleasant day, and the air was very still and calm, perfect flying conditions with no distractions, giving her an opportunity to think about what she was going to say, but all she could think about was Daisy and how badly she would take the news. Why couldn’t Natan have stayed with her?
She completed the journey very quickly, and before she knew it, she was approaching the volcanoes that surrounded the capital. Usually she would have been proud that she was able to fly so quickly, but instead, she wished she had more time to build up the courage to face them. It was now lunchtime and circling high above the school she spotted her friends eating their food outside in the school gardens. She could delay no longer, so dived straight towards them and transformed just in front of them.
"Hey, very impressive," Seth commented. "You're getting pretty quick."
"Hi, Crystal," Daisy said brightly. "I didn't know you were back. Where's John? Did he find a cure?"
"Was he cross that you sneaked along?" Jenna asked. "I still can't believe you were stupid enough to do that. You're lucky to be alive."
"I must admit, I still can't believe you voluntarily went back to that place," Seth said with a laugh. "Come on, sit down and tell us all about it."
Crystal froze, staring at them in horror. She tried to speak, but the words just wouldn't come out. Arthur was the first to notice something was wrong.
"What is it, Crystal? What happened? Did something go wrong?"
She could do nothing more than nod her head. Daisy's hands rose to her face, and her jaw dropped in horror.
"John?" she asked, her eyes wide and desperate, searching for any sign of hope in Crystal's face. But Crystal just shook her head, feeling the tears welling up already. Daisy gasped, then got up and ran from the table sobbing. Arthur stood up but went to Crystal instead of going after his sister. He took her arm and led her to a seat.
"Take your time," he said gently. "Tell us what happened."
Crystal blurted out the story of how Perak had surprised them, how he had been caught and what he had told them and what they had seen. No one interrupted or said anything until she finished.
"So yo
u didn't actually see his body," Seth said.
Crystal shook her head. "But there was a True Dragon where he would have landed."
"But if no one saw him die…"
"Leave it, Seth," Jenna snapped. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be." She brushed a tear from her eye, her face hard and cold. Crystal squeezed her arm and smiled weakly at her.
"All I'm saying is that this is John," Seth said stubbornly. "He should have died many times over already, but didn't. I won't believe it without proof."
"It's a True Dragon," Arthur said quietly.
"Exactly," Jenna said, glaring at Seth. "This is going to be very hard for everyone, especially Daisy. Don't mess her around giving her false hope."
"No," Arthur replied, standing up. His face had gone white, and he was staring into the sky. "It's a True Dragon!"
The three of them turned to look where he was pointing, and Crystal almost fell off her seat in shock. The school gardens fell dark for a second as the vast shadow passed by. Just a few hundred metres above them an immense dragon was circling, looking down intently as if searching for something. Its scales were a bronze colour and shiny rather than matte. This wasn't the black True Dragon that had been terrorising the south east but was just as huge and terrifying.
"Run!" Arthur shouted, snapping Crystal from her trance. Jenna grabbed her arm and propelled her forwards, running after Arthur into the tower where John had had his office.
"Now what?" Jenna half-screamed. "Do you think we're actually safe in here?"
"It could flatten this whole school if it wanted to," Seth pointed out. "Or just incinerate the place."
"I know!" Arthur shouted in reply. "But do you think we're better off out there?"
"No," Jenna replied, slightly more calmly this time. "But we can't stay here either. What are we going to do?"
"Where did Daisy go?" Crystal asked, frantically looking around. Arthur's face went white.
"She's probably still in the school gardens," he replied. "She often goes there when she wants to be alone."
"Surely not," Jenna replied. "Everyone else ran, didn't they?”
Crystal didn't wait for anyone to reply and ran outside. She knew where Daisy would go. She headed into the well-maintained gardens and sprinted along the paths, hoping that the trees would hide her.
"Are you crazy?" Arthur asked, overtaking her. "What are you doing?"
"Same thing you are," she replied, trying to keep up with him. The gardens fell dark as the enormous shadow passed by again and Crystal and Arthur skidded to a halt and looked up.
"What's it doing?" Arthur asked. "I thought they just torched everything that they saw."
"It still might," Crystal replied. "Let's find Daisy before it does."
Alarm bells started going off all over the city, and the creature roared in response, the sound shaking the ground. Arthur responded by starting running again. "Come on, she'll be in the centre."
They split up as they reached the centre of the gardens and started searching in the nooks and crannies, checking Daisy's favourite spots. Crystal was the first to find her. She was huddled on a bench, her legs pulled up to her body and her hands covering her face.
"Daisy," Crystal hissed. "What are you doing here? Can't you see that thing?"
The creature roared again and Crystal ducked down, terrified. Daisy just stared back at her, her face full of sorrow.
"What happened to him?" she asked. "How did he die?"
Crystal grabbed her hand and tried to pull her to her feet. "Same way we will unless we get going."
Daisy resisted her and looked up at the sky. "That thing killed him?" she asked, still sounding as if she was in a dream.
"Yes, well, one of them. Come on, please stand up!"
Daisy reluctantly got to her feet. "Why isn't it attacking us?" She had stood up but was still reluctant to move. She stared up into the air at the huge creature which was circling above them. Crystal glanced up at it and saw that it was looking straight at them.
"Oh no, it's seen us! We have to run!"
She started to run but stopped when she realised that Daisy was still rooted to the spot, staring up at the creature.
"Why run?" she asked. "We couldn't escape it. What difference would it make?"
The creature was circling above the school, its eyes fixed on Daisy and Crystal. Daisy was right, if it wanted to, it could incinerate the whole school in a matter of seconds, but staying here felt like giving up. "Daisy, please," she begged.
A series of screeches sounded in the air as about ten Golden Dragons appeared above the True Dragon. They looked tiny in comparison to it. Some of them were carrying long steel lances: they were actually planning on attacking it!
"It'll kill them!" Crystal gasped as the creature diverted its attention to the new arrivals. But instead of attacking, it started bobbing its head up and down in an almost rhythmic fashion, before beginning to gently breathe fire. The fire flowed all over its body until it appeared that its whole body was alight.
"It's so beautiful," Daisy marvelled, clearly having lost her mind. Crystal tried once more to drag her, but again she resisted. At last, help arrived in the form of her twin brother.
"Daisy!" he said, sounding relieved. "You're alright! I was worried."
"You should be," Crystal replied. "She won't move! I think she’s in shock."
Arthur grabbed her arm, crouched down and flipped her onto her shoulders. Daisy squealed in surprise, but Arthur ignored her and began running. Crystal ran after him.
"What's it doing?" Arthur asked, unable to look up.
Crystal looked up into the sky. The True Dragon was still covered in flames, and the Golden Dragons were forced to keep their distance. If they were waiting for it to stop it appeared that they might have a long wait. At least it wasn't attacking them.
"It's still doing that trick with the fire," Crystal replied. "Our dragons can't get close to it. They're falling away."
"They'll use the towers now," Arthur replied. "That was the plan."
"There's a plan?" Crystal asked. "They knew that this thing was coming?"
"They knew one could come. Your lot argued that our best chance was trying to lure it away, just as John did. Prince Henry wanted to just shoot it down, but your lot thought it would do little more than infuriate it. They think its scales are too thick. I guess we'll find out who was right. Daisy, if I put you down, will you run?"
She didn't respond, but Arthur lowered her anyway, exhausted. Daisy didn't say anything or move, but just stood looking up at the sky again.
"Take her hand," Crystal urged Arthur. "Just pull her along."
"Why doesn't it attack?" Daisy asked, staring at the flame-covered True Dragon. It really did look spectacular. But as soon as she finished her sentence, the creature stopped blowing fire and looked down at them, and Crystal was certain that it was looking directly at them. It was still circling the school but doing little else.
"That might change at any moment," Arthur replied. "Please, Daisy, just run."
A whistling noise sounded above them, and the True Dragon roared angrily in response. Hundreds of giant bolts flew through the air, narrowly passing over the creature.
"How could they all miss it?" Arthur asked in disgust. He pulled his sister along, and the three of them headed towards the relative safety of the tower where they had left Seth and Jenna. Suddenly the creature dived towards them, and a cacophony of screams rose from the students in the school buildings. Crystal glanced up to see it bearing down on them and screamed as she tripped, tumbling on the ground. At the last moment, another volley of bolts flew through the air and this time they hit their target, a number embedding themselves in the creature's left flank. Others crashed into the upper floors of the school towers, punching holes in the brickwork and smashing windows.
"Take cover!" Arthur shouted, dropping to the ground and pulling his sister down with him. He hadn't noticed that Crystal was already on the floor in a crumpled h
eap. "What are they doing? There could have been students in those towers. Slightly lower and they would have hit us."
"Maybe they want to save it the trouble of killing us," Crystal offered, crawling forward to join them.
"It's going," Daisy mumbled. "Look."
Sure enough, the creature had ascended and was starting to fly away towards the volcano to the south of the school.
"Do you think they hurt it?" Crystal asked. "Is it injured?"
Arthur shrugged. "It's very quiet for an injured animal. It didn't make a sound when those things hit it."
"Maybe it's too badly hurt," Crystal suggested. "Maybe it can't roar."
As if to prove her wrong, the creature let forth the most deafening, earth-shaking sound that she had ever heard. Even so far beneath the True Dragon, she had to cover her ears to protect them from the noise. As soon as it finished it released a great torrent of fire, filling the sky with red and yellow flames.
"Maybe not," Arthur replied. "But it is still leaving." He rose to his feet and helped his sister up. "That was very strange. It didn't actually do anything. It could have destroyed the city if it had wanted to."
"Maybe it isn't hungry," Crystal replied. "Or didn't think we were worth the effort. They say it prefers to eat dragons."
"It ignored your lot as well," Arthur pointed out. "I guess it just wasn't hungry."
"Maybe it isn't dangerous," Daisy suggested. "Maybe it is just curious."
"Daisy, they're dangerous," Arthur replied slowly, speaking as if to a young child. "Next time we see one, run. We could have been killed. What were you thinking?"
"If it had wanted to do that, we couldn't have stopped it," Daisy insisted. "We didn't threaten it, so it didn't attack us."
"Daisy, it has been attacking settlements all the south-east," Crystal pointed out. "None of them did anything to threaten it, but they were still destroyed."
"That was the black one," Daisy replied. "Maybe this new one is different."
"Or maybe it isn't," Arthur replied. "Maybe next time we see it, it will decide to level the school while we're all inside. Who knows? I know you want to think well of everyone, as that's what John did, but this isn't a person, it's just an animal and a very dangerous one at that. John wouldn't have wanted you to throw your life away for no reason, would he?"