The True Dragon

by Andy Holland

  Daisy shook her head and broke down in tears, covering her face with her hands again. Arthur put his arm around her and pulled her close. He nodded to Crystal. "Go back to the others, she'll be alright. We're safe now."

  Crystal was about to go, but a thought occurred to her. “Hey, Arthur, what did she mean, new one? That was the brown one, wasn’t it?”

  Arthur shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. I didn’t see the brown one, but I understood that it was a darker brown rather than bronze, and no one mentioned anything about it having shiny scales. I think this one is new.”

  Crystal’s heart sank. How many more of these creatures were there, and how safe were they here in Furnace? Above them the air was filled with Red Dragons, the city guard that had finally dared to take off, but what could they do against creatures that had been able to destroy the largest army ever put together?

  Naturally, the school was cancelled for the rest of the day. Even if they hadn't done so, few students would have stayed willingly, and within a few minutes of the attack every student departed. Crystal would have flown home, but Jenna insisted that it was far too dangerous and that they must walk. Normally, Jenna would have gone back with Arthur, but she had wisely chosen to give him time to comfort Daisy and walked back with Crystal instead. Crystal welcomed her company, thinking that her idle chatter would distract her from her own thoughts, but her cousin was uncharacteristically quiet.

  "So much for things getting back to normal," Crystal said, trying to break the ice.

  Jenna fixed her with a hard stare. "Do you think that will ever happen, now?"

  Crystal was taken back by her harsh tone. "I don't know, but come on, these things won't harass us for ever. They'll go home eventually."

  "You don't know that," Jenna snapped. "Besides, it will be too late, whenever they do go back. They'll close the school, just you watch. We’ll never go back there."

  "No, they wouldn't do that," Crystal objected. "Would they?"

  "That thing was far too interested in us," Jenna replied. "I reckon half of the school won't turn up tomorrow and they'll close it by the end of the week. Parents will be terrified. Actually, forget the parents, I'm terrified. I thought that was it back then. I thought it was going to kill us. All of that time worrying about Blue Dragons and the war only to end up getting eaten by some stupid beast."

  Tears ran down her face, and Crystal realised how upset she really was. She reached out and put her arm around her. "It didn't though. We survived, yet again. We always do. Just think about the number of times we could have died but didn't."

  "Because of John," Jenna sobbed. "But now he isn't here to save us. What will we do now?"

  A tear ran down Crystal's face. The traumatic events of the day had allowed her to put John out of her mind, up until now. "I don't know," she replied quietly. "I didn't think we'd need to answer that question. I thought he'd always be there."

  "Well, he won't be," Jenna replied, but her words weren't harsh. "I thought he would be, but he won't. When you were blown over the border, there was never a doubt in my mind who I needed to go to. I knew John would save you all. I didn't know how, but I knew he would. Even if it meant dying in the process, he wouldn't hesitate. And I don't think he'd have just done it for you or Daisy. He'd have done it for any of us."

  Her cousin had stopped sobbing, but tears continued to stream down her cheeks. "You're going to miss him, aren't you?"

  Jenna nodded. "He still annoyed me. Both him and Daisy. Maybe that wasn't fair, but he could be so dull at times. I worried that he was making us dull at the same time. But yes, I will miss him, I'll miss him a lot and not just because he kept us safe. Although that does bother me. We do get into trouble far too often, and our luck isn't going to last forever."

  "Well let's not put ourselves in danger again," Crystal said, wiping the tears from her eyes. "We can do that, can't we?"

  Jenna nodded. "I hope so. But I think there's only one way for us to do that."

  "What's that?" Crystal asked.

  "To leave," Jenna replied, staring at her intently. "Go to the West until this is all over. Far, far away from the Circle. Even if it takes twenty years before we can return. Would you do that, Crystal? I know I could manipulate Arthur into going and will do so if his parents don't make him anyway, but you’ll only do what you want to do. So I’m asking you to come with me. Because if you don’t and you stay here or worse, go somewhere even nearer to the Circle like the new cities, then you might die. And I can’t have anyone else to die. Not any of my friends or family anyway. Please, say you'll do it."

  Crystal stared back at Jenna in surprise. Her cousin could be quite manipulative but rarely displayed that much emotion and Crystal was convinced she was being sincere. She found herself nodding in agreement. "Alright. We'll go. If that's what you want."

  Jenna hugged her, a gesture even more out of character. "Thank you. We'll wait until the school evacuates us to the West, but make sure you're ready to go. You need to persuade your mother to come as well. She can't stay here."

  "Suppose the school doesn't evacuate us," Crystal replied. "Then what?"

  Jenna raised her eyebrows scornfully. "Please. My father is the Lord Commander, and my boyfriend is brother to the heir of the Western Principality. I will make it happen."

  Crystal laughed, taking her cousin by the arm and continuing on their walk home. She was pleased to see the old Jenna again and she would do what Jenna asked and would go to the West. But that also made her sad, knowing that leaving Furnace would spell the end of an era of her life, an era that more than anything was defined by John and everything he had meant to her. At first, she saw him as an enemy, not through anything he did but because of what he had represented, being different. Then he had been her saviour, coming to her rescue even though it could have killed him and very nearly did. Finally, he had become her teacher, gently introducing her to painful truths about her adopted home and slowly preparing her for the truth about who she was. He was a patient teacher, never giving up on her and she would miss his lessons. But more than anything, she just missed her friend and leaving Furnace felt like saying goodbye to his memory. And that made her sad.

  Chapter 20: Training to kill

  It had been only one week since Mark had spoken at the Assembly, proposing the formation of a team to wipe out the True Dragons, but the group that they had approved was already fully established and planned to be ready for operation in just a few days. Mark had taken an instant dislike to the captain nominated to lead the group, Captain Gabriel, but he had proved to be an effective organiser and had mobilised the different teams surprisingly smoothly. He had also demonstrated an encouraging level of pragmatism in appointing Jude, whom he did not like, to run the revamped scouting team. The team’s remit was now to determine the best place to engage and kill the True Dragons, rather than just providing their ineffective warnings to the creature's victims. Of course, this did mean that both of them would be spared each other's company, which may have influenced Gabriel's decision.

  Mark, however, was not as fortunate as Jude, and had to work closely with Gabriel, in a role that he suspected was chosen in order to punish him for having forced Gabriel to work with other races. Mark's primary duties were to oversee the training of these races and to coordinate their activities, and Mark had realised that Gabriel had appointed him in the belief that he would fail. Gabriel had dictated that teams shouldn't be mixed, pointing out that any group would fly at the pace of the slowest dragon and mixing teams would negate any of the natural advantages that individual races would bring. It was true, and Mark didn’t disagree with the approach, but it was painfully obvious that Gabriel was convinced that the other races would prove to be a disastrous failure and had decided that Mark should be the only one who could be blamed when it happened. Gabriel seemed to positively delight in any reports of difficulties in training Mark’s units and their daily meetings were toxic affairs. The only thing that they could agree on was the po
tential value of the experience of the captured rebel general, Perak. He could be invaluable in training both the Golden Dragons and all of the other dragons, but alas, he was still refusing to cooperate.

  Despite Gabriel’s misgivings, Mark was pleased with his teams’ progress and was quietly confident that the dragons he was training would play an essential role. The Browns, who had sent a large group of enthusiastic and experienced warriors, were particularly promising. They had a lot of knowledge and indeed, the Captain in charge of the overall training program, a Golden Dragon called Hershel, had chosen to spend a lot of time with them over the last week in order to learn from them. Browns were very fast anyway, and although slower than Golden Dragons they were highly manoeuvrable, a skill that was probably even more important when fighting the True Dragons as none could outfly them and survival would hang on a dragon's ability to continuously dodge their attacks. The Blues, however, were obviously much slower and at first, Mark wondered if maybe Gabriel was right after all and he was just sending them to their deaths. But they were wonderfully disciplined, and they could fly as a single unit with such ease that it was plain to see that they could be very useful. Bigger and stronger than the Golden or Brown Dragons, carrying the lances was easy for them and when practising hitting moving targets, they were consistently more accurate than the other teams. They were also a large group, with four teams of eight dragons, and they were all progressing nicely. The Reds were Mark's biggest headache. They could carry the lances with ease and weren't slowed down at all by doing so, ending up being just marginally slower than the Blues. But they were very difficult to work with, unwilling to defer to Mark for anything and reluctant to work with the Blues or Browns who they clearly despised and mistrusted. Unfortunately, in all likelihood they were going to prove Gabriel right and die very quickly, but Mark refused to give up and persisted with them regardless. Mark was glad that he only had two teams of eight to work with. The Rhinos had, fortunately, readily agreed that they had no real business being here. The True Dragons had never troubled their territory but if they did, they would have no difficulties despatching the heavily-armoured but slow-moving dragons. The numbers of the other dragons didn't warrant forming separate teams and Mark wasn't really sure how to use them. All of them were too small to carry the lances and were as difficult to work with as the Reds. If he could send them all home he would.

  But it wasn't just Mark's teams that were giving the leadership headaches. None of the dragons who had volunteered had been in the army sent to fight the Blues and subsequently had never seen a True Dragon and were seriously underestimating them. Gabriel was keen on keeping morale high and was therefore reluctant to say or do anything to disillusion them regarding how easy this task was going to be, much to Mark's disgust, but there was little that he could do other than work with his own troops.

  The day usually started with a short meeting with Hershel and the four other captains who were assisting with the training, before beginning the drills with the lances. They took it in turn to carry a wooden target, dangling it on a long rope below them as they flew, with the others doing their best to hit it with the lance. They would then spend hours going through a series of high speed manoeuvres, carefully choreographed by Hershel after extensive consultation with the Browns and Blues. They were all getting slowly better, but Mark couldn't help feeling that nothing they could do would really prepare them to fight the True Dragons.

  Today, however, their meeting was interrupted by a surprise visit from Jude.

  "Captains," Jude said in greeting as he arrived, nodding curtly at those gathered. Everyone present knew him well and no introductions were required.

  "Captain Jude," Hershel said in reply. "I wasn't aware you were joining us today. I thought you were all in the Circle."

  "We were," Jude replied. "Most of us anyway. A number have still been assigned to track the black True Dragon. The rest of us have been in the Circle though, planning where to attack the creatures but we've had some worrying news from Furnace. I've come straight here to tell you."

  "What news?" one of the other captains asked, an experienced veteran called Miriam. "The black one hasn't attacked them, has it? I didn't think it had ventured anywhere near that far yet."

  "No, the news is worse,” Jude replied. “Another True Dragon has been sighted, a new one. It flew over the Red Dragon capital and was repelled by their city defences. There are now at least three that we know about."

  "Another one?" Mark asked incredulously. "How is that possible? We’ve had dragons in the Circle for months and hadn’t seen any new ones."

  "We don't know," Jude admitted. "Some of our people suspect that they may spend years in deep sleep. It could have been there for a very long time."

  "Did it kill many?" Hershel asked.

  "None," Jude replied. "They got lucky. It flew over your brother's school, Mark, but didn't attack. It got pretty close, though."

  Mark was surprised that John hadn't flown out to engage it, with his precious friends put at risk, although of course that could have only ended one way. They really did have a knack for getting in harm's way.

  "So what does this mean?" Hershel asked. "For us? Will it change our plans?"

  "Yes," Jude replied. "We are to start operating immediately. The Assembly wants us to use approximately half of the dragons we have, so select the most able volunteers and give their names to Gabriel. Hershel, you will remain here to continue the training program but the rest of you will lead units."

  "I'm meant to train everyone on my own?" Hershel asked. "That doesn't sound like a great idea."

  "Neither does starting operations with volunteers who aren't fully trained,” Jude replied. “But at least you will get extra help. A new batch of volunteers is going to be brought in along with more experienced Captains. I would expect more volunteers every couple of weeks."

  "That says a lot about what they think of our chances of success," Mark said gloomily. "If they are that convinced that we will fail, why are we rushing ahead?"

  "Ask Captain Gabriel," Jude replied, scowling disapprovingly. "He suggested the plan at the emergency Assembly meeting. My guess is that they assume that the first attempt is doomed to failure but that they'll learn from it. May as well start now. The Reds were threatening to pull out of the Assembly if nothing was done."

  "They could always do more themselves," pointed out one of the other captains, a young man named Jory. "They've hardly sent many volunteers."

  "They've had to commit a lot more resources to build the new cities to get their way on this one," Jude replied. "Once the True Dragons are either dead or permanently back in the Circle."

  "So that was the price for our lives," Jory commented. "Nice to know."

  "We're being sacrificed to keep the peace treaty alive," Miriam pointed out. "I'm alright with that. I never had any illusions about our chances. I believe that these creatures can be killed but they'll take a lot of us with them. If we do nothing they'll kill thousands more and even worse, this treaty will fail and before you know it, the next war will start. I'm willing to give my life to prevent that happening. Anyone who isn't shouldn't have volunteered."

  "Well said," Mark echoed. "It's time our nation showed some leadership. Stopped sitting quietly while people died needlessly. What happens now, Jude? When will we leave?"

  "Tomorrow. We are still working out where to go, but we will let you know later today. It will almost certainly be somewhere in the Red Dragon kingdom. And before you leave, settle your affairs, if you haven't done so already. In all likelihood this will be a one-way trip."

  Chapter 21: Evacuation

  "We're leaving. Tomorrow. Pack your bags now."

  Crystal looked up at her cousin from her school desk, a little surprised. It had been three days since the True Dragon had appeared over Furnace and despite her cousin's insistence that they would go, nothing more had been said about the subject. Indeed, although there had been a marked increase in school absences, life h
ad proceeded pretty much as normal.

  "Tomorrow! I never agreed to this," Crystal objected. "You said we would wait till the school evacuated us."

  "The school is going to evacuate," Jenna replied, sitting down next to her and speaking quietly, so none of the other students would hear. "The whole school is relocating to the Summer Palace. It'll be announced at school tomorrow, but we won't be there. My parents want me to go ahead with you and the twins."

  "And Seth? What about him?"

  Jenna shrugged. "I expect he'll come. That's not really my parents' concern."

  Crystal doubted his own parents were that concerned either, they'd never taken a lot of interest in him. "But why go ahead of the other students? Wouldn't it be safer to travel in a big group?"

  "Absolutely not. The True Dragons are drawn to large groups, remember? The other students won't be flying in one big group either, but my father suspects they'll still be flying in groups that are too big for his liking. We may be accompanied by the twins' guards and servants, but that will be all. Hopefully, we'll be too few to bother with."

  Crystal had to agree that this made sense and despite her reluctance to leave, Furnace was definitely no longer safe. "What about our parents? Do you know what they're doing? I have spoken to my mother, but she wouldn't listen to me. She was convinced that we would be staying here."

  "She might have ignored you, but she listened to my father. He is the Commander now, after all. He told me that he spoke to her last night and she'll be coming shortly after us along with my mother. Your father is still in the New Cities and it's not safe to fly back so he will stay there. They've been under threat for some time, so they're better prepared than we are."