Becoming a Dragon (26 page)

John nodded. "I've been to this valley many times, remember, Arthur. Building that model took a lot of work. I know how to keep safe—from them and the many other dangers you face if you stay overnight here. This valley is completely cut off from the land surrounding it, and there are many strange creatures living here that are found nowhere else in the Kingdom.  Look at the walls around us. Unless you can fly, you can't get in and you can't get out. That keeps the cats in along with the other inhabitants of this place. Superstitions have kept dragons out; otherwise they'd probably have all been killed, as they have been elsewhere as they're too dangerous to exist alongside us."

John eased himself from the rock onto the ground. "Time for you to go. See you in a few days. Or not. Just don't come back looking for me, or send anyone after me. Go now."

Arthur shrugged in resignation, realising that there was nothing that he could do or say to change anything. John was clearly waiting for him to go before he transformed, which was unusual for him, but then again, in his current state he probably couldn't perform his usual lightning fast transformation and wanted some privacy. Arthur transformed at his more sedate pace before flying back to the others.

Arthur decided that telling the others the truth probably wouldn't persuade them to leave, especially not his sister, so he embellished the story a little. He told them that John wanted to stay on his own to rest, which was true enough, but added that he had transformed and disappeared into the valley, and that he had told Arthur that he would be hiding and that they wouldn't be able to find him. Daisy was not happy about leaving without John, and Arthur felt bad about having to mislead her, but he managed to persuade her to leave without too much arguing. He was pleased to see that Crystal was clearly feeling pretty bad about what she had said, and she asked if he was going to send someone back for John, a question that he answered with a shrug.

As they flew over the valley, Arthur scanned the ground for the spot where he had left John, intending to make a mental note of how to find him, but just as John had told him, he couldn't see him at all. The surrounding land was thick forest, and if John had decided to hide, it would be very hard to find him in there, but he looked too ill to have wandered off. Where on earth had he gone?

The rest of the camping trip passed without incident, but no one really enjoyed it. The valley that John had directed them to really was very pretty, and would have been the perfect spot for camping were they not all dwelling on what had happened. Daisy commented rather bitterly that if they had invited John in the first place they would have spent two nights in this valley, rather than having come close to being eaten by two killer cats. She had a big fight with Arthur, accusing him of not really wanting her to be there anyway, and pointing out that at least John talked to her willingly, unlike the rest of them. Arthur didn't really defend himself with any enthusiasm, and when she ran off he just sat down and stared at the grass, feeling wretched. No one could really disagree with her, and Jenna and Crystal were feeling particularly guilty about John. Arthur's weak attempts to reassure them that John was fine had fooled no one.

Eventually, Daisy returned to their campsite and humbly apologised to Arthur and everyone else for her outburst. Daisy was still uncharacteristically unfriendly to him though for the rest of the day, and Arthur realised it was more due to concern for John than the shock from their close encounter.

The next day, when they finally headed home, Crystal was very relieved to be able to say goodbye to the twins. Daisy said nothing for the whole of the return journey, but every time Crystal looked at Daisy the only thing that she could think about was the hurt look John gave her before he left, and whether that would be the last time she would see him.

Pete's wing was torn from the middle down to the trailing edge. He knew it was going to happen; there were two Blue Dragons coming straight at him and as he tried to strike one of them with his claws he saw the other one move into the perfect position to catch his own wing. This had been his first fight with the Blues, and he hadn't been prepared for how quick they were, or how ferocious. A lesson learned a little too late. He hardly felt a thing as his wing tore, the injury surprisingly painless, but the panic set in straight away as he started to spin uncontrollably, dropping away from his unit and struggling in vain to control his fall. The first impact was with a tree rather than the ground, which was the only reason he survived, crashing through the branches with alarming pace before hitting the ground hard and having the wind knocked from him.  As he lay dazed on the floor, he realised that if it were not for the trees slowing his fall he would almost certainly have died upon impact. One glance at his wing told him that it was ruined; even if he made it out of here alive, he would probably not fly again. However, with only one wing, getting out of here alive wasn't likely.

He looked up and surveyed the scene. The attack was over. It had been a roaring success, just as predicted. Their losses had been minimal; the blue town had been utterly destroyed and the population completely wiped out. Thousands had been killed, the defenders outnumbered and unprepared, and the Reds easily eliminated the few Blue Dragons that managed to take to the air within the first few minutes. Pete was glad he wasn't one of those assigned to finish off those on the ground. There wasn't a town that didn't have children in and Blue Dragons or not he couldn't stomach the idea of having to slaughter children. He had been patrolling the perimeter of the town, helping finish off the last few stragglers while the rest of the army massacred those on the ground. He had been very unfortunate to have had to face two at once. They wouldn't have lived very much longer, and their bodies were probably among the corpses surrounding him.

All over the town, fires were raging, the smoke beginning to fill the skies above—something that would surely be noticed by any Blue Dragons passing by for miles around. Pete knew that he would need to act quickly if he wanted any chance of escape. He pulled himself off the ground and onto his feet. He stretched out his injured wing; it was shredded badly, but not nearly as painful as he expected. He examined the rest of his body, and was surprised to find that miraculously he was uninjured other than his shredded wing.

The sky was emptying of dragons. The attack was over, and his comrades were leaving, unaware of his fate. They were already too far away for him to call to, and would be bent on departing quickly before reinforcements arrived.

His only chance was to head for the border, and quickly. He could hide better as a human, but move much more quickly as a dragon. There were no Blues in the air yet so he decided to risk it and delay transforming in order to cover more ground and get away from the town.

Unfortunately, he was on the wrong side of the town, just outside the outskirts to the east. He didn't know how wide the town was or whether there was any cover all around the town, but he knew that there was thick forest on the west side of the town. There was nothing for it, he just had to move as quickly as possible through the town and hope that he wasn't seen. He ran as fast as he could, bursting into the open from the woods surrounding the town and charging down the main street.

He was not at all surprised to see that the place was littered with dead Blue Dragons, their corpses torn to pieces. The battle in the air had been brutal, and he could see that it was a similar situation on the ground; a one sided one due to the Red Dragon's greater size and numbers. What shocked him were the human bodies, almost all of which were come rely blackened, having being burned alive. He knew their mission was to kill as many as possible, it just didn't occur to him that it included so many young people as well. As he continued running through the town, he saw a sight that sickened him to the stomach: a very small corpse, still smoking, that must have been a young child, perhaps no older than three. Was this really carried out under orders? Or did his fellow soldiers get carried away in the moment and stoop to such a terrible act? He slowed for a second but couldn't stop, turning his attention back to escaping, but he just couldn't get that disturbing image out of his mind.

He also saw a few Red Dragons amongst the dead; like him, with serious wing injuries, having fallen from even higher up and without anything to break their fall. Their badly broken bodies were dotted throughout the town—far fewer than the Blues, but still more than he had hoped. Wait; was that one moving? He paused, prodding it with his foot to see if it would respond.

Hey, that hurts!
It was a female Red Dragon, who rolled over and got to her feet, shaking her head groggily.

That'll be nothing compared to what will happen if we're caught,
Pete told her.
We have to get out of here, and fast!

I must have been knocked out when I fell,
she replied, still a little unsteady on her feet.
Which way do we go?

This way; follow me. Run as fast as you can.

Pete started running again, his new companion following him. He glanced back a couple of times to make sure she was keeping up, and saw she was matching his pace. They moved swiftly through the town, running past the many dead bodies but seeing no more survivors.

Almost out of the town,
Pete told her, seeing trees up ahead.
Just a little further.

They sped up, desperately trying to get out of the open spaces of the town into the trees. Just as they reached the edge of the town they saw three Red Dragons running in parallel to them.

Hey,
Pete called.
Over here!

The three dragons glanced over to look at them briefly, but did not slow or change direction, continuing their run towards the forest. It wasn't until they had reached the cover of the trees that they turned towards Pete and his new companion.

Made it,
the female Red Dragon said, slowing as they moved through the trees.

I wouldn't go that far,
one of the three Red Dragons said, emerging from the path beside them.
We have a long way to go yet.

Neither would I
, Pete agreed.
We need to put as much distance between this place and ourselves as quickly as possible. We don't know how long we have before more Blues arrive.

My guess is not very long,
said the new dragon,
I'm Hill, squadron leader, under Captain Black of the second unit. You?

Pete Farmer,
he replied.
Private Farmer of the seventh unit.

Private Anna West of the fifth unit,
his companion informed them.

Right, Privates. Fall in behind Privates Forest and Butcher. We can't afford to stop, not even for a minute.

Hill started heading west again, and the others all followed him in single file with Pete and Anna at the back. Hill set a tough pace, which Forest and Butcher seemed to be handling well but Anna was starting to lag behind the group. They were on a gentle incline, and Pete found that he was starting to tire as well.

Sir,
Pete called,
we're losing Anna at the back.

That's too bad
, Hill replied unsympathetically.
But we can't afford to slow. Tell her to just keep heading west if she loses us.

Pete was a little shocked at first, but realised that there was nothing any of them could do if they were spotted. Their only chance was to get out of there and quickly. He looked back and saw that Anna had fallen quite a way behind already. He slowed to let her catch up.

You have to keep going,
he told her.
They won't wait.

They shouldn't,
Anna told him.
Neither should you. You can't help me. All we can do is run.
She was trying to hide it, but her voice conveyed her fear.

True
, Pete replied.
But I won't leave you behind.

Anna said nothing for a moment.
Thanks
, she replied eventually, running along with him.

They continued to run for some time, their clawed feet becoming sore as they were not used to running for this long. All five of them were tiring, but knew they had to keep moving. Finally they slowed to jog, not even Hill having the energy to maintain the pace any longer, and Pete and Anna caught up with them.

Transform, sir?
Pete asked
. Are we far enough yet?

Just before he could answer, a loud screech above them caught their attention. They all looked up. Two Blue Dragons were circling above them.

Now what?
Pete asked Hill.
What's your plan?

Hill was still staring at the sky.
I'm not sure if it makes much difference what we do now. We've been seen.

What! You can't be giving up?

What I do is irrelevant. None of us can fly. Those two are going to fly above us until they are joined by reinforcements. They have no need to attack us yet so they'll wait until they have the numbers to finish us easily. We can keep moving, but we won't achieve anything. They can keep up easily.

Let them keep up. We might find a cave or something.

Hill shook his head.
It's hopeless. They're being too cautious. If the two of them landed or tried to attack from the air, we might have a chance of killing them, but they're going to wait.

Pete shook his head.
This is crazy. We keep moving. Maybe it achieves nothing but we're no worse off than here. We just need to survive till nightfall; then we can escape on foot.

Do you not remember how far we flew?
Hill asked him.
It may not have seemed far to you at the time but to walk that far would take at least two days.

Pete clawed at the ground irritably.
I don't see what choice we have. If I'm going to die today, I at least want to do so while trying to escape, not sitting here having given up.

We're in the trees here,
Hill replied flatly.
They have to attack us on the ground. With the five of us together, we will be able to take some of them with us. If we move we expose ourselves to attacks from the air; they could finish us off much more easily and probably without any chance of us taking some of them out.

Pete glared at him, angry wisps of flame appearing in his nostrils.
I'm not going to give up just because you have. We still could make it.

Hill shook his head.
No, we can't. This was our mission; to kill as many of them as we can. If I'm going to die it's going to be doing my duty.

Anna intervened.
This forest looked pretty large; we could move for some time before we lose the protection of the trees. We don't know how long it will take before reinforcements arrive. Why not keep moving till we get to the other side of this forest. We may find a better place to make a stand.

Hill glanced at the other dragons, who looked at him blankly.
I guess it makes no difference. But we'll slow down; I want to conserve my energy for the fight.

Pete didn't argue; the pace was too much for Anna anyway. Hill set off at a reasonable pace. Perhaps he still wanted to live after all.

The two Blue Dragons circled as they ran, ignoring opportunities to attack when they materialised. They were clearly waiting for reinforcements, who were slow in coming.

Stop!
Pete called to the others.
I have an idea.

Hill stopped and turned to face him.
Go on, tell us. What's your idea?

There are two of them, and five of us. Following us is easy like this. If we split up into five, they could only follow two of us.

Hill hesitated.
I don't know. They wouldn't need to wait for reinforcements. They could pick us off one by one.

They'd have to find us first. But I don't think they would. They're being very cautious; they could have attacked when we went across that field a few minutes ago but they let us get back into cover.

Hill mulled it over for a few seconds before responding.
Alright, we can try it. Our current plan isn't going to work so this can't be worse. How did you want to do this?

We're all heading west at the moment. One of us, preferably the slowest, continues west. The fastest two of us goes north and south. Then the other two head north west and south west.

Why would we head north or south? We will just be running in parallel to the border.

We don't do it for long. Just count to five hundred slowly while running. Once you've reached five hundred, look to see if you're being tracked. If you're not, turn west and run that way. Wait for a while and then turn back to the centre, so if you went south or south west, head north west.

What about the two who are being tracked?

They also turn west, but they walk at first. Count to a thousand, and then start running again. Their chances won't be any worse than they are now, but the other three might escape.