The True Dragon

by Andy Holland

  "I believe that is everyone," Gabriel said, "So we may begin. I'd like to thank our guests for attending, it is an honour to have you here."

  "We do not have the luxury of time for such civilities," Xanet objected. "We are not here to slow you down. Proceed with your planning."

  Gabriel looked a little surprised by the harsh tone and appeared to be struggling to find a response. Perak took the opportunity to speak up.

  "If you are not here to slow us down, remain silent and do not interrupt. Our planning is complete and we are here to explain it to the captains. Captain Gabriel, let us start with the map of the Circle."

  "Yes, the map," Gabriel replied, looking more in control again. "We have no idea where we will find the creatures within the Circle but we are certain that they will be there somewhere. Our first challenge will be to find them. We will be using all of the volunteers in this engagement, with teams to be stationed overnight here, here, here, here and here as well as this central command location. These are the larger of the tunnel complexes and have multiple exits, from which we can begin our search for the creatures."

  "Is it really wise to use all of the volunteers?" Captain Jory asked. "We haven't done enough training with them yet."

  Gabriel dismissed his concern with a wave of his hand. "We'll assign tasks based on ability. Many dragons will be used simply to distract the True Dragons while others attack."

  "Distract and get killed," Jude pointed out.

  "Which is what we all accepted when we volunteered," Gabriel retorted, glaring at Jude. "Everyone knew the risks."

  "Yes, but that doesn't excuse throwing their lives away needlessly," Jude argued.

  "Captains," Perak interrupted testily. "I fail to see how this helps us. That decision has already been made and we do not have time for this. Let us get back to our map.

  This location, marked with number one, will be where the central command will be based. Captain Gabriel and I will be there, naturally, along with Captain Jude who will command the scouts, Captain Hershel who is Gabriel's second-in-command and Captain Arion, who will coordinate the units at the central command.”

  If Gabriel objected to Perak taking over the briefing, he didn’t show it, merely nodding his agreement as Perak went through his points.

  “As Captain Gabriel pointed out,” Perak continued, “there are six locations that we will use as bases of operations. Each base has been assigned eight units and if you look on your name tag, you will see two numbers." He picked up Mark's name tag casually and pointed to the numbers. "One point six. The first number indicates your base, the second the unit you will command. So Captain Mark will command unit one point six of the central command centre.

  Six of you have name tags with single digits on. This signifies that you are in charge of one of the six bases and will be responsible for commanding the eight captains assigned to that bases.

  Captain Arion, you will be commander of base number one, the central base. Captain Miriam, you will be in charge of base number two, the north east base. Captain Jory, base number three, the east base. Captain Dara, base number four, south base. Captain Magda, base number five, west base and Captain Ariel, you will be in charge of the last base in the north west.

  As I said, you will be responsible for eight units per base. These eight units will consist of one unit dedicated to communications with the central base, two scout units, one unit assigned to attack with the lances, and four regular units.

  It shouldn't have escaped your notice that we have also divided up the Circle into six numbered sectors. Each of you will be responsible for the Search and Track operations within the sector that corresponds to your base number. Until each True Dragon has been located, those are the only operations that will be permitted, and you will not engage them until commanded by the central command. Until then, the only dragons that you will permit to leave your sector are dragons from the communications unit, who will be flying to and from the command centre, and the two scout units, if, and only if, a True Dragon that you have located and are tracking crosses over the boundaries of one sector and into the next. Do not, under any other circumstances, leave the sector before ordered to do so by central command, and do not, however much you are tempted, personally leave the security of your base until instructed. You are responsible for commanding your units, and you are not expendable.

  At sunrise, all of your units except your communications unit must be in position to take off and begin searching. You will receive further instructions regarding where each team is to be stationed at the start of the day. Begin your searches silently, in case they are asleep but be cautious, in case one or more are awake.

  When your units find a True Dragon, they must report it to you immediately, and you are to do two things. Firstly, send two messengers to the central command. We will notify each of the other sectors. Secondly, assign three units to track the creature's movements, your two scout units and one additional unit of your choosing. If it is asleep, have one scout team circle above and the other two teams further away, but ready to begin tracking if the creature wakes up.

  Once all three have been found, we will issue your next orders, but you must not leave your base or do anything other than tracking the True Dragons until then. Captain Gabriel, would you like to explain what happens next?"

  Perak was merely pretending to defer to Gabriel and everyone could see it. Not that it mattered, the Blue Dragon had thoroughly convinced Gabriel of his brilliance, and Gabriel was happy to follow his lead. Mark wouldn't have been surprised if he had addressed him as General Perak.

  "Thank you, Perak. We in the Command Centre will determine which one to target first and leaving enough dragons to track the other two, gather the rest of our forces to attack the first True Dragon. The method of selection is not important to you all, only those in the command centre need to know. Moving on—"

  "I am in the command centre," Mark pointed out. "How will it be selected?"

  "You're there to lead a unit," Gabriel replied with a sneer, "not as part of the central command and you will report to Captain Arion. You don't need to know."

  "I'm part of the command centre," Jude retorted. "My scouts will be coordinating all of the communications. How will you choose which one to attack? Surely you must prioritise the black one? It's the one causing all of the chaos."

  "Don't forget the new True Dragon," Lord Oscar piped up, his whiny voice causing Mark to grimace. "That one attacked Furnace! It must be killed first!"

  He banged his hand on the table for emphasis, but Xanet merely gave him a withering look.

  "Please, you didn't lose a single dragon. That wasn't an attack. But the Green and Black True Dragons, they have killed hundreds of thousands of our dragons. Killing the bronze one can wait."

  "Enough!" Perak snarled. "We are not here to debate our approach but to dictate it to you. We will select the first True Dragon to engage based on the likelihood of success. My preference would be to kill one while it slept. That would be too great an opportunity to miss and we will not pass it up in order to comply with any of your flawed views on the relative importance of the three True Dragons. They are all threats."

  There was little that could be said to disagree with this statement. Killing one while it slept would be much safer than any other approach and would be possibly the only approach that might work. Lord Oscar, however, couldn't resist making a snide comment.

  "Yes, I've heard that is your preferred approach, to attack while your enemy sleeps. Not very honourable, or brave, for that matter. I can see why you were called in for this task."

  Perak rolled his eyes, looking bored. "I killed the first one while it was awake. First attempt and without the weeks of training with these lances that all of you have had. I didn't hesitate to attack. Tell me, Red Dragon commander, what did you do when you first laid your eyes on the True Dragons? Your whole army was in striking distance and those creatures could have killed them all. Were you tempted to risk your life to
try and stop them? Or did you turn your tail and flee, doing your best to keep your army between yourself and the scary monsters? Perhaps you shouldn't speak of honour and bravery."

  Oscar reddened, but Perak turned away and moved on before he could respond. "When we do engage the True Dragons, regardless of whether they are awake or asleep, I will be leading the unit of Blue Dragons that will deliver the fatal blow. I am the only living dragon that has done this before, that is why I shall lead the attack.” He paused for effect before moving on. “We cannot predict what the True Dragons will be doing at sunrise, so we have prepared for every eventuality. Please, refer to the papers in front of you. We will start with scenario one."

  Perak lectured the room for three hours, covering every possible scenario in detail without once needing to look at the detailed notes that he had issued. The scenarios seemed to go on for ever: all dragons asleep, just one awake, two awake, all awake, dragons flying separately, two dragons flying together, a dragon asleep but woken up by a failed attempt, an aerial attack on one dragon interrupted by a second dragon appearing. He finished abruptly, handing back the meeting to Gabriel, who looked bewildered by the deluge of information.

  "Thank you, Perak. That was most detailed. Captains, time is short and we must reach the Circle by sunset. Your units have already been sent on to their respective bases, now we must follow them. All three True Dragons are active in the Circle so take great care when approaching your base, we cannot afford to lose anyone before we begin. Good luck and make us all proud. I will see you all in the Circle tomorrow."

  Everyone rose, many of the attendees stretching after having sat still for so long. Mark approached Jude before leaving the room. "Ready to fly back to the Circle?"

  "I am. I'm not sure about the dragons we're leading, but that doesn't matter now. We're going anyway."

  Mark nodded. "Will you be able to remember all of that?"

  Jude waved the stack of papers. "This will help. Some light reading for this evening."

  Mark nodded. "How he managed to pull all that together so quickly I'll never know. It was so detailed."

  "He's thorough, I'll give him that," Jude admitted. "But will it be enough, that's the question. Not that we can complain. We're the ones who pushed for this to happen in the first place."

  "True," Mark replied, "although not with Gabriel in charge. Do you think it will be enough?"

  Jude hesitated before answering. "Possibly. If we go for the black one first. But make no mistake, no one should expect to come back from this. You and I only survived our last two encounters because we were lucky. I can't see that run of luck continuing for ever. If either of us survives, I would be amazed. See you in the Circle, Mark."

  And with that grim message, Jude turned and left the room.

  Chapter 30: Return to the Circle

  Seth's cousin woke them all very early as requested and gave them a hearty breakfast, with far more food than any of them could eat. As a farm owner, he claimed that getting up at this time was perfectly normal for him, although Crystal doubted that he actually did that much heavy lifting himself. But it would have been ungracious to say anything other than to thank him for his hospitality. Aware of the seriousness of their mission he left them alone to discuss their plans.

  "So, we'll fly directly to Obud after breakfast," Arthur began, as always assuming the role as leader of their group. "It shouldn't be too long a flight. Two hours at most."

  "We should split up when we get there," Seth suggested. "It'll make it easier to find a Golden Dragon that way."

  Crystal drew a deep breath, knowing that what she was going to tell them wouldn't go down well. "We will split up earlier than that. I will go directly to the Circle and look for someone there. If there are no Golden Dragons in Obud, you would have to continue flying to the east and you might not find anyone today. This is the only way we can make sure that the message gets through."

  "It's too dangerous," Arthur said firmly. "You can't outfly a True Dragon, not even Golden Dragons can do that. If you are seen, you’ll die."

  "All of those dragons will die if I don't do this," Crystal countered. "They'll be in the air as soon as it is light. I might be too late as it is. It's worth the risk."

  "Then I'm going too," Daisy said. "Two of us have a better chance of getting through."

  Crystal replied before Arthur had a chance to object. "No, that's not how it works, Daisy. Two of us would be more likely to be spotted. Besides, you would slow me down. I'm faster than any of you now. The only thing that matters now is getting the message to them as quickly as possible and I won’t wait for anyone."

  Seth began to object. "Now, just a moment, Crystal, I wouldn't be so sure of that---"

  "It's true," Daisy cut in. "I thought I noticed it when we flying together a few days ago and I was certain about it yesterday. You were getting frustrated that we couldn't go any faster. You could have left us behind if you wanted to."

  Seth and Arthur hesitated before replying so Crystal took advantage of the pause and stood up. "Fly to Obud. If you find no one, fly further. Go on to the new cities if you have to. I'm leaving now."

  "You can't leave now," Jenna pointed out. "It's still dark."

  "I'll climb that hill next to the farm," Crystal replied. "Sunlight will reach the top before it does here. It will give me a couple more minutes. That might make all of the difference. Wish me luck."

  Daisy stood up and embraced her. "Be careful. I wish I could go with you. I would if I thought I could keep up."

  "There's no point," Crystal replied. "I'll be safer on my own and you need to get to Obud. You still might get the message through to them before I do."

  "I know you think you need to do this," Jenna said, "but remember, John wouldn't want you to get hurt. Are you sure there isn't another way?"

  "I'm sure," Crystal replied gently. "But it's not just about John. There are many other lives at stake here. He wouldn't hesitate to do what I'm doing. But don't worry, I'll be fine. I'll come back to Obud as soon as I've delivered my message and meet you there."

  "Don't take any unnecessary chances," Arthur said. "Always think about where you would hide if you see a True Dragon. You won't have time to work it out once you do see one. You need to be ready to dive for cover."

  Crystal knew this only too well. She picked up her bag and opened the door to leave. "You all take care as well. Remember there's no guarantee that the black one is still in the Circle. It could be anywhere. See you all in Obud."

  Crystal had the skies to herself that morning. Few Red Dragons were brave enough to take to the air unless absolutely necessary, especially this near to the Circle, but for Crystal, it wasn't near enough. She flew swiftly, driven by the knowledge that even if the Extermination Group hadn't found the True Dragons yet they were almost certainly out looking for them. She had a long way to go and knew that in all likelihood, they would find the True Dragon before she found them, which meant the killing would start. She had no choice: she had to find a way to fly even faster.

  Her first attempt was to fly higher. This was an approach that John had always encouraged, taking advantage of the powerful winds that could be found. Of course, it wasn't that simple. Crystal knew nothing of these winds and could easily find herself flying into the wind rather than benefitting from a tailwind. Not that she could get high enough anyway. It was just too hard to get that high as a Red Dragon. It was easy for Golden Dragons, who were much lighter, or for John, who flew exceptionally well even as a Red Dragon, but it wasn’t realistic for Crystal, not like this. However, despite the challenges, she was now flying very high for a Red Dragon but was doing so for a very different reason. She had been ascending for about ten minutes and had reached her limit, which she hoped would be high enough for what she was going to do. If it wasn't this could end quite badly. She glided for a little, building up courage and getting ready to do something that she would have thought to be completely crazy just days ago. But the more she thought about i
t, the more it seemed to make sense to her. It was the only way to get to the Circle fast enough and was the one thing she hadn't tried.

  She looked down at the ground, thousands of metres below her. A fall from this height would be unforgiving and as anything other than a dragon it would be intolerably cold. The thought of spending even a few seconds without adequate clothing horrified her, but that was exactly what she planned to do.

  She closed her eyes and started her transformation, her first mid-air transformation. As her limbs and wings rapidly shrank she began to fall, not properly feeling the freezing cold air until the scales vanished to be replaced by naked skin. She would have screamed was it not for the wind stopping her from doing so. She forced her eyes open, looking at the ground below her, still a very long way off but getting closer very quickly. Her bag with all of her clothes and belongings was plummeting beneath her, but it was too late to worry about that as she needed complete concentration. This was it, her last chance, an extreme measure to try to overcome her mental block. If this didn't work nothing would. Ignoring the painful numbing sensation as she froze she focussed as hard as she could before beginning her next transformation. It was bitterly cold and with the wind and thin air making it hard to breathe, she couldn’t wait too long or risk freezing to death, but she knew she had to get this right. She opened her eyes, feeling the scales begin to spread across her face. Immediately she knew something was different and she didn't even need to look at her body to confirm that. Warm scales slid over her skin, shutting out the cold instantly as they always had done, but the scales felt different, lighter and more flexible. Her wings re-emerged smoothly, but they were smaller and thinner and she could beat them so much faster than ever before. She tucked her short legs into her sleek body, her transformation now complete and as she pulled out of her dive, she was propelled forwards at a speed she had only previously dreamed of achieving. She squawked in triumph, a very different sound to any she had made before, as now she had realised her dream, becoming what she really was. She was a Golden Dragon!