The True Dragon

by Andy Holland

  Jude kept flying higher and higher, much higher than any of the others had gone, so Mark decided to follow his lead. It was a considerable effort to do so, carrying the heavy rock, but Mark guessed it was better to hit it with one hard blow rather than two weak ones.

  How high are you going to go? Mark asked eventually. He doubted he could go much further without dropping the rock.

  That'll do, Jude replied. Now comes the hard part. He began his dive, pulling his wings in close and dropping like a stone. Mark didn't hesitate to follow him, his energy almost spent. Below them the True Dragons looked tiny, running across the hilly terrain. Jude continuously fine-tuned his flight path, trying to anticipate where the black True Dragon would be. Mark did nothing more than follow him.

  Aim for the neck, Jude told him. If it speeds up, you'll still get it in the back. We just need to slow it down.

  Slow it? Mark asked. Don't we want to kill it?

  If that's possible, Jude replied. I'd settle for giving the other one a chance to get away. But if we slow it, it will be easier to hit, and we might have a chance of beating it.

  They passed some of the other dragons in the air, both Golden and Brown Dragons, who squawked in alarm as Jude and Mark flashed past. The ground was approaching very quickly now, and they couldn't wait much longer before pulling out.

  Just a little longer... Jude urged. Now!

  Both of them released their rocks and spread their wings, slowing their descent. This was going to be close! But two loud thuds and a terrible roar let Mark know that they had been successful. Stopping just metres from the ground, he flew up again to see the damage.

  Left shoulder, Jude said, flying beside him. Left shoulder and its back, on the right side. Good hits.

  Surely he couldn't have actually seen the impact, Mark thought to himself. Didn't kill it though.

  Never thought it would, Jude replied. But it now has a slight limp. Look, the bronze one is getting ahead of it.

  Great, Mark replied flatly. Look, the point was to kill these things, not save them.

  We won't, Jude replied. I worked that out after Perak failed. Our best chance is to hurt it so it loses interest in leaving the Circle. It could easily take shelter so we couldn't bombard it and then what we do? Hopefully it will take years before that wing heals and hopefully when it does that little bronze one is still around to stop it.

  The bronze one needs to die, Mark insisted. I wish you hadn't persuaded me to go for the black one. We had no chance of killing it. But if we'd slowed the bronze one instead, they would be fighting now. The black one would have killed the bronze one, but it wouldn't have done so without taking injuries. We could have then finished the black one.

  In your dreams, Jude replied. Even when it surprises the black one it can hardly do anything to it. The bronze one would last just a few seconds on the ground. Look, they're both slowing now. This should make hitting them easier.

  Jude was right, they had both slowed down and Mark wasn't sure if the black one was even pursuing the bronze one any more. They were very near to the centre of the Circle, and the bronze one had stopped by the side of a lake to drink water. The black one climbed to the top of a hill and roared, a defiant challenge to the dragons circling above. Very easy to hit, Mark commented. Two sitting targets. Shall we get more rocks?

  Wait, Jude replied, look at its wing. Do you see anything strange?

  Mark looked down at the black True Dragon which was glaring up at them angrily. Its wing was badly torn and unlikely to mend for a very long time, if ever. It stretched out the shredded wing, holding it very still so the tattered edges dangled down. Then Mark saw what Jude was referring to. Little by little, the fragments of wing were joining back together, reforming before their eyes. It can't be…

  It is, Jude replied. It's healing. Much longer and that thing will be ready to fly.

  How can it do that? Mark asked. What chance have we against something that can do that?

  What chance did we ever have? Jude asked. Look, the best chance we have is now. One last attack. Get the largest rock you can find and hit it. If we get the neck or head, we might have a chance of killing it. Otherwise, in about five minutes it'll be back in the air and we'll be dead.

  How is it healing so fast? Mark asked. Do you think it's something to do with the Circle?

  Probably, Jude replied, landing and using his claws to dig a large rock from the ground. They both headed towards the centre of this circle as soon as they were injured, so it stands to reason that they’d know that they’d heal here. They're probably faster and stronger here as well.

  How could this day get any worse? Mark asked, landing beside Jude. One last attack, then if that fails, we get out of here.

  A distant scream drew their attention, and Mark turned in the air to view the new threat. Flying quickly towards them from the north was the green True Dragon. It roared once again, and the black True Dragon roared in reply. I had to ask…

  Chapter 34: The other hidden city

  Crystal's escape from the green True Dragon had not been without any cost. In addition to her cuts on her feet and leg, she had now picked up a number of scrapes on her back and chest, and her body was now covered in blood. Every footstep was excruciatingly painful and damp with sweat from her exertion she was now starting to feel very cold and began to shiver. She would have made for a very pitiful sight indeed.

  Crystal, however, didn’t feel disheartened or sorry for herself in any way. Although the tunnel may have been too narrow for the True Dragon, a Golden Dragon would have plenty of room to move around. She had put enough distance between herself and the monster to allow her to transform safely, so she wasted no more time in doing so. It was a wonderful feeling, the shiny scales sliding over her skin, shutting out the cold and the pain from her cuts fading away instantaneously. This felt more like her real form, as a dragon, rather than as a skinny, weak human. Her eyesight adjusted quickly to the poor light, and she could see that the tunnel was long and straight, far too straight to have occurred naturally. This great passageway had been dug by the Worm Dragons and was wide enough to march an army through it. It was also wide enough for the green True Dragon, and seeing that the pile of rocks separating them was not particularly thick, and it wouldn't take much for the True Dragon to burst through and catch her, Crystal moved very cautiously, placing each clawed foot very deliberately to avoid making any noise. It was slow going, but it was worth it. Once she had travelled a hundred metres or so, she decided that she should be fairly safe and decided that it was time to fly. It was almost pitch black of course, with the only light coming from the distant flames from the True Dragon, but just as Amos had done in the hidden city, she could light her way by firing a steady stream of fireballs.

  The tunnel continued for a few kilometres without any turns or changes in its width or height. Even for Worm Dragons, this was impressive, and it made it easy for Crystal to illuminate her way with her fire. She saw no side turnings or indications where the tunnel might be going, but she knew that a passageway of this size had to go somewhere. Then, after she had been flying for about ten minutes the tunnel turned to the left slightly before opening up into an enormous huge chamber, perhaps ten times as high as the tunnel had been and many times wider and longer. Crystal abruptly stopped flying and landed near to the end of the tunnel, unsure where to go to next. As the tunnel had been so straight she had assumed that she was still near to the surface, but now that she thought about it, the entrance was near to the start of a series of hills, and she could easily be a long way beneath the ground now. Her last fireball died, leaving her in pitch darkness and for a moment, she refrained from sending another, looking for any faint light that might indicate another way in or out or even better, signs of life down here, as life could only be Golden or Brown Dragons.

  But she was to be disappointed. The chamber was silent and dark, and there was no indication of any life. Going back was an unattractive option, so she lit up the way ahead wi
th two fireballs before taking to the air again. That tunnel surely couldn't be the only way in or out - there had to be another way out of there.

  As she flew through the chamber, she realised that beneath her were the ruined remains of buildings, mainly just rubble, but here and there she saw signs that indicated that once a city had stood beneath her. This must have been one of the other abandoned Worm Dragon cities that Pam had told her about. This surprised her a little, as she thought that she was quite close to the centre of the Circle and therefore, almost on top of the other city. She flew over this new hidden city, casting her eyes along the walls to look for a way out. There were no obvious exits, but at the far side of the chamber, there were clear signs that a tunnel had once been there, but had been deliberately sealed up. She scraped the molten rock futilely, realising that some effort had gone into plugging this hole. Perhaps that tunnel was the only way in or out.

  She was ready to give up when an intriguing ruin caught her eye. There wasn't a lot left, but it had clearly been a large building, and presumably a prominent one. She flew over to take a look, and after circling twice, she realised what was so familiar about the building. It was an exact replica of the domed building in the other hidden city, the one that housed the black Dragonstone! She landed and probed about in the ruins. Most of the buildings were in a bad state, but the damage to this one was particularly impressive. Half of the building was missing, replaced by a huge gaping hole, as if an underground explosion had blown away the structure above. To the credit of the original builders, half of the dome was still intact, despite having very little support. Crystal would not have dared venture into the unstable-looking building, but fortunately, she did not have to. From the edge of the hole she could see into the chamber which would have held the Dragonstone, and sure enough, she could make out the fragments of what was once another giant black Dragonstone, scattered on the floor of the chamber. The Worm Dragons had not told her about any other Dragonstones. But then, perhaps she should have realised that there would be more. She remembered John's lectures on the subject: Dragonstones were never found alone, and Red Dragons always had at least four, if not five and Blue and Green Dragons had three or four. This one had been destroyed, but in all likelihood the Worm Dragons had started with at least three, meaning that, as well as the one that John had found there was at least one more. Destroying just that one might make no difference, she would have to get rid of them all. Her task had just become twice as hard!

  She wasted no more time in the ruin and took to the air again, now searching for not just signs of life, but also any signs that there was a second Dragonstone in the city. Normally, they would be kept far apart to keep them safe in an attack, but being Worm Dragons, they might do things differently. After all, the stones weren't used for defence, but to extend their life and attacking these underground cities would be next to impossible anyway. Either way, it was worth keeping a look out for one as she searched for dragons.

  To her delight, she did not have to wait long before she found one. She had flown around the city three times without seeing anything of interest and was about to give up and look for a way out before she spotted the next ruined Stonehouse. It was not surprising that she failed to recognise it for what it was as the building itself was completely destroyed, and the only thing that remained was the hole leading to the lower chamber where the stone would be kept. She landed beside the hole and blew a fireball in, lighting up the cave. To her surprise, her flames lit up a huge Dragonstone, perhaps even larger than the one in the other city. The building had been destroyed, but the stone remained.

  Suddenly it all made sense. The black True Dragon had originally been a Worm Dragon and would have been able to dig that over-sized tunnel out of here. They had assumed that it had touched the first Dragonstone they had found, but it had probably been the one that had been destroyed, destroyed by the creature as it transformed. Then, in its rage, it had devastated this whole city and then tunnelled to the surface. If she was going to stop this creature, she was going to have to start by destroying this stone in front of her.

  Fire was the obvious place to start. She began by aiming a series of fireballs at the black Dragonstone, each hitting the target exactly where she wanted to and bursting on the shiny black surface. She continued until she couldn't send any more and paused to see what damage she had done. To her disappointment, the stone appeared to be completely unharmed. Red Dragon Dragonstones could be destroyed by fire, but clearly, this stone was made of stronger stuff.

  Next, she tried brute force. Flying down and actually touching the stone was out of the question, but dropping rubble on it seemed likely to be safe enough. She picked up a reasonable size rock with her claws and gently threw it towards the Dragonstone. The first rock she threw narrowly missed the Dragonstone, but the second hit it directly in the centre, producing a loud thud that echoed throughout the city. She lit it up again with a fireball and thought she might see a crack, but realised that it was probably no more than wishful thinking. The Dragonstone was still intact.

  Crystal decided that the idea wasn't a bad one, but she needed more force and more practice. She found a much large piece of rubble, one that she could only just pick up, and decided that she would try flying with it. It was very hard at first, and she dropped it twice, but after a little practice, she found that she could fly with it without too much difficulty. She flew in a straight line and tried hurling it at a small building near the Stonehouse. The hit wasn’t perfect, but the piece of rubble punched straight through the wall on one side, collapsing the structure seconds afterwards. It was time to have a go at the real thing.

  Knowing that the ruin she had destroyed was probably on the verge of falling down and the Dragonstone might be a lot tougher, she decided that she would need to fly a bit faster in order to hit the stone harder. She flew in a wide circle, slowly building up speed, and getting ready to throw. After circling twice, she released the rubble towards the hole in the building, peeling away quickly in case anything unexpected happened. She heard the rock hit the Dragonstone with a loud thwack, but when she landed again to inspect it, the egg-shaped black stone was still intact. She sighed with disappointment, blowing wisps of flames towards the Dragonstone and wondering what else to try, before noticing that there was now a long crack running from the top to about halfway down the Dragonstone. One more hit might be enough! She grabbed another piece of rubble, even larger than the first and began to climb back into the air. It was heavy, much heavier than she thought, and she wasn't sure how long she could carry it, but she began her circular flight anyway. Despite her doubts, she managed to keep her grip as she circled faster and faster, and then just as she thought she might have to drop it anyway, she dived towards the hole and released the rubble.

  She had hardly passed the hole when fire erupted behind her, a loud explosion ringing through the chamber, deafening her for a few seconds. She had to land, disorientated by the powerful shock wave. When she regained her senses, she returned to the hole, which was still smoking, but the flames had subsided. She poked her head inside to see what had happened. Beneath her was a beautiful sight, with pieces of Dragonstone scattered all over the floor of the chamber, glowing brightly like little stars. She had destroyed the Dragonstone!

  Before she could think of celebrating, a loud roar came from the other side of the city. At first, she thought it was the green True Dragon, but the sound didn't come from the tunnel, but from somewhere near to the other ruin. The molten rock sealing the other exit briefly glowed bright orange, before shattering into thousands of pieces as an immense torrent of flames burst through. An angry head appeared from the tunnel, glaring over to where she was standing, peering guiltily into the hole. It was the brown True Dragon!

  Chapter 35: An impossible fight

  John hadn't consciously headed towards the centre of the Circle and didn't realise where he was until he was standing in front of the lake. He was back where it had all started. Suddenly, it was
all so clear to him. That black Dragonstone, that was the source of their strength. It was what had transformed him, and now, it was healing him faster than should be possible. The pain in his shoulder seemed to melt away, and he could actually see the wound closing up. It was incredible. Standing just a few hundred metres away from the Dragonstone he could feel the power surge through him. It was intoxicating and the idea of destroying it never even occurred to him.

  Of course, the other True Dragons were also feeling the same power. The black True Dragon roared in triumph as its wing closed up, getting ready to take off. The green True Dragon roared back in response, circling the remaining Golds, Blues and Browns above them. They had struggled with just one opponent; they wouldn't have a chance with two. John flapped his wing, testing out his shoulder. It wasn't just healed, it was strong! The black True Dragon glared at him, getting ready to take off and join the green True Dragon in the air. Together, they would quickly finish off the invaders. Time to even things up, John thought to himself, taking off himself and flying towards his opponent, knowing that his own chances of survival had also plummeted.

  ***

  Contrary to what everyone believed, the brown True Dragon wasn't dead or fatally injured, but was alive and in rude good health. Despite thousands of dragons having passed through the Circle since its apparent demise, it had successfully hidden its massive body deep underground where it had slowly recovered. Crystal was unable to dwell on this remarkable fact, as right at this moment the aforementioned True Dragon was enthusiastically pursuing her around an abandoned underground city. This was possibly the worst situation she could find herself in, with not a lot of room to move, and the only way out probably blocked by another huge, murderous dragon, assuming it was still there. Crystal flew close to the ground and near the wall of the chamber, desperately searching for an escape tunnel. Any hope that the smaller dragon would be slower than the green or black was quickly abandoned, and as well as being as fast it was just as belligerent.