Becoming a Dragon (48 page)

"Shouldn't we warn someone?" Daisy asked. "Tell them what's happening?"

"Of course," Arthur replied irritably. "We just have to get home first."

"Shouldn't we go now?" Seth asked. "The sooner the better, surely." Crystal could hear the anxiety in his voice.

"No," John replied. "There isn't time to get back today, so there's no point rushing off. We can't do anything until the morning. When we are ready to move, just do exactly what I tell you. I know it's a lot to ask, but just do as I say, question nothing, don't use your imagination and I promise you that I will get you all safely out of here. Agreed?"

"That's a big promise, John," Arthur replied. "Any idea how you'll keep it?"

"Yes," John replied. "But I'm afraid I can't tell you how. Just as I couldn't tell you how I survived in the valley, or how I took care of those Blue Dragons when we went away for the weekend."

"So you do know what happened!" Seth said emphatically. "I told everyone you were holding back. Why did no one believe me?"

"Of course we believed you, Seth," Crystal replied. "We just didn't want to try to push John about it. Alright, John. We'll do it your way."

Arthur shook his head. "I don't know, John. Last time we were just hiding in a hole. This time we'll be flying in Blue Dragon territory."

John shrugged. "I haven't let you down before though, have I?"

"We all trust you, John," Daisy said firmly. "Just tell us what we need to do."

"For now, nothing. Just rest. I know it's still light, but we need to be ready to transform and fly at first light. I suggest we all just try and sleep. Try and stay close to each other, as it's going to get cold."

"That may be easier said than done, John," Seth replied. "It's hard to forget about a million Blue Dragons on your doorstep.

John lay down on the rocks. "Try. You'll get used to it eventually."

Daisy rested next to John, ignoring her brother's frown. Seth sighed and tried to find a comfortable spot among the rocks, which wasn't easy, and Arthur and Crystal did the same, getting ready for a long, cold and nervous night's sleep.

So, Tarek, what have brought us all here to see?
Perak asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

The three Colonels in charge of the army's special projects, Moric, Perak and Tarek, were waiting together on a hill near their camp, as dragons, on a high vantage spot that allowed them to view the whole plain and the myriad activities that were unfolding in front of them. Tarek's wing commanders were busy organising the troops into position, although Perak couldn't tell for what purpose. Tarek had positioned large metallic cone shaped objects in rows along the plain, each surrounded by long metal chains. There were forty of the cones laid out in five rows of eight, each about two hundred metres apart from the next. All the activity was around the first row, with troops lining up around the cones. Perak had been summoned a day ago, by Zygar himself to witness this demonstration, but the command had not specified what the demonstration was. So far, he had managed to refrain from interrogating Tarek as to the purpose of this demonstration, but could wait no longer.

Tarek actually managed a smug smile, something almost impossible as a dragon.
I think you can wait a few minutes more, Perak. I don't want to spoil the surprise. The others will join us in a moment, then we can begin. Ah, look, here come the Generals.

Perak and Moric looked up, and sure enough, a large group of dragons were flying towards them from the south. Perak recognised the distinctive features of General Zygar, leading the group and followed by his personal guard. He landed beside them and the three Colonels bowed deferentially.

You have a distinguished audience,
Zygar commented casually, glancing at the crowd of Blue Dragons lined up behind them.
All of our Generals and about half of our Colonels. This would be a bad time for a mistake, Tarek.

I don't ever see a good time for a mistake, General Zygar,
Tarek replied.
My men have not reached perfection yet, but they will acquit themselves satisfactorily. They'll be completely ready when they are needed to perform this task in battle.

Well, we will see for ourselves,
General Zygar replied.
Begin in your own time.

Tarek shot a fireball into the air, and immediately a loud bell rang out, clearly audible all over the plain, and heard by the five youngsters watching high in the surrounding mountains. Immediately, the troops burst into life. Like a flock of gulls startled by a loud noise, thousands of little dots took to the air all over the plain. At first it was hard to make sense of the frenetic activity, but then it became clear that the dragons were organised into eight separate groups, each circling above the first row of cones, with another eight groups of dragons still on the ground, each surrounding a cone. Perak had never seen so many dragons in the air at once, and marvelled at how well Tarek's Wing Commanders coordinated the movements of the squadrons. This must have been practiced many times.

A second bell sounded, and straight away the eight groups of Blue Dragons still on the ground took to the air. As they rose, it became apparent that each dragon was attached to one of the long metal chains, which were in turn attached to one of the cones. Each group of dragons started to fly in a circle around their cone, and slowly all of the lines went taut as the dragons rose higher and higher. They flew in perfect harmony, gracefully circling as if performing an aerial dance. Another bell sounded. Each dragon started flapping harder, and the eight cones all simultaneously lifted off the ground. Perak estimated that each cone-shaped object was about a metre and a half across and maybe two metres high. Sticking out of the flat end of the cone was a long pole—maybe three metres long—with four blades at right angles to the pole, rather like feathers on an arrow.

What are they?
Perak asked, still confused as to the purpose of the demonstration.

See if you can work it out,
Tarek replied evasively.

The eight teams of dragons slowly climbed, working hard to gain altitude. It was apparent that whatever they were carrying must have been very heavy, and was probably rock or even solid metal. They had stopped circling, and were all now flying in the same direction, travelling in a line a couple of hundred metres above the plain, level with the top of the hill where their audience watched. The bell sounded again, and the groups of dragons that were in the air first started to merge with the dragons supporting the heavy objects. It looked like they were attempting an in-flight handover, and at first it appeared as if all eight teams were going to be successful. Then one of the objects lurched downward as one of the dragons missed their chain, and although at least three quarters of the dragons in that team were still holding on, they were unable to support the cone-shaped object, and quickly let go. The object fell away from them, plummeting towards the ground quickly. When it hit the ground, the impact kicked up a huge cloud of earth and a second later a loud boom rang throughout the plain. When the dust settled, the object was almost completely buried in the earth with just the pole sticking out.

Was that planned, Tarek?
Moric asked mockingly.

It wasn't unexpected,
Tarek replied casually.
It took them many attempts before they managed to do it even once. Now they manage an in-flight handover about nine out of ten times. In another two weeks I expect them to make that ninety nine times out of a hundred.

Good progress,
Zygar replied encouragingly.
In your last report it was seven out of ten. But this next bit is what I have been waiting to see.

"Of course, General,
Tarek replied.
I don't think you'll be disappointed.

The other seven teams were still in the air, unperturbed by their comrades' failure to manage the handover, and the teams that had first carried the object upwards into the air had now begun to descend back down towards the camp. The new teams were flying in a straight line, maintaining their altitude as they carried the objects across the plain. They were headed towards a point in the plain where eight large rings were drawn on the ground. Each ring was dissected by two lines, which formed a target in the centre. The first group flew till they were almost directly above the first of the rings, before all but four dragons released the chains holding their object. Immediately, the object fell and the four dragons left attached to a chain dropped into a dive, flying in a tight pack around the object. They appeared to be guiding the object as it fell, conducting minor course adjustments, and only released the cone and pulled out of the dive a couple of hundred metres above the ground, by which time the object was moving very fast. It crashed into the ground with an almighty thud which rang out through the plain, and yet again a large cloud of dust was thrown up by the impact. Before the dust settled, the second team began their attempt to hit the second target, following exactly the same approach with four dragons left to guide the missile after the other dragons released it. The impact sounded even louder than the previous two and the dust cloud was just as enormous. Each of the other groups followed in turn, with the dust from the first not having settled before the last dropped their missile.

So, how well have they done?
Zygar asked.
Looks like the first hit the target, but not near the centre. But your fourth and fifth have hit directly in the centre.

And the third and seventh missed completely,
Moric pointed out sourly. Perak shook his head disapprovingly. This was clearly a pet project of Zygar's, and this was not a time to be speaking out against it.

Several hundred Blue Dragons took off from the camp and flew towards the objects, where they started to dig out the earth to free them. Each cone was buried deep in the ground.

How does that compare to previous attempts?
Zygar asked.

It's the first of the day,
Tarek replied.
Their performance tends to improve throughout the day. Overall, it is slightly better than yesterday. Generally, every day I see a small improvement.
He turned to Perak.
Worked out what they're for?
he asked casually.

Perak nodded approvingly.
I have to congratulate you, Tarek. This is quite exceptional. Worth waiting for.

Is it?
Moric asked.
Can't quite see the point myself. What do you hope to achieve with these things anyway? Can't see how they'll kill many dragons. They might land on one or two, but it's a lot of effort to go to.

Zygar gazed at him, pausing before replying.
Yes, Moric. It doesn't surprise me that you don't understand why we're doing this,
he replied witheringly.
Perhaps you would be best not commenting on that though. Tarek, when will they be ready to go again?

Immediately, sir,
he replied.
I just need to give the order. Would you like them to see them hit the replica?

Of course. Order away,
Zygar commanded.

Again, Tarek sent a fire ball into the air, and the proceedings started once more.

What's the replica?
Perak asked Tarek.

Tarek smiled and pointed to a single building standing alone further along the plain, looking very out of place.
We have you to thank for that,
Tarek replied.
Very detailed design documents.

Perak smiled with delight as he recognised the familiar building.
They really won't stand a chance.

The five of them were watching the demonstration from their mountain top view point, transfixed by the display of power and precision. It was now over an hour since sunrise, their departure having being delayed by the number of Blue Dragons in the air. After the dust from the second attempt settled, John signalled to the others to crawl back to the overhang.

"Keep your voices low," John instructed them. "I think we should be safe to talk in here, especially with all the noise that they are making, but talk as quietly as you can."

"What were they doing, John?" Crystal asked. "What were those things and what were they doing?"

"Isn't it clear?" John replied. "Didn't you feel the impact? Imagine if that was a building. Even a well-fortified building such as those holding the Dragonstones. Those objects are probably solid metal. It would be like hitting an egg with a hammer."

"Come on, John," Arthur objected. "Didn't you see how thick the walls are on that building we visited? Are you sure they wouldn't just bounce off?"

John shook his head. "I'm sure. Those things wouldn't bounce off anything. But I don't think we need to debate the matter. Do you recognise that building over there?"

The others followed John's gaze and spotted the lone building standing in the middle of the plain.

"That can't be…" Arthur said in disbelief. "It's identical to the one we visited in Furnace!"

"They're all the same," John replied. "Every Stonehouse in every one of our cities is identical. They've built themselves a replica. And now they're going to drop one of those things on it."

"But how could they know how to build it?" Seth asked. "No Blue Dragon has ever stepped foot in—"

He broke off in mid-sentence, the incident with the spy coming back to him. "That's why the spy was in Furnace! To steal the designs for the Stonehouses. They must be planning a big attack. But on Furnace? Could they really attack the Capital in force?"

John shook his head. "Not necessarily. They could be planning on attacking any or all of our cities. Besides which, as I said, all of those Stonehouses are identical."

"They're going to try to destroy it," Crystal whispered. "Look, they're flying towards it."

They all watched in horror as a single group of Blue Dragons advanced on the replica building, maintaining a very steady course. They hadn't noticed before but other Blue Dragons flew above them, helping them maintain a steady course.

Suddenly the group dropped their bomb, four of them falling with it to help guide it to the target, as they'd seen previous groups do. The drop seemed so slow at first, starting from so high up, but they picked up pace as they plunged towards their target. The Blue Dragons all peeled away from the bomb as they neared the ground, and then a second later it hit the target. Just as before, the impact threw up a large cloud of debris and dust, but the sound, when it arrived a moment later, was a terrible crash instead of the dull boom they had heard before. When the dust finally settled they saw that the building had been badly damaged, but not completely destroyed.

"Ha!" Seth said defiantly. "So much for their plans! The building is still standing. It's too strong for them!"

Arthur shook his head gloomily. "Just. It's very badly damaged. They'll just start from higher up next time. Or use more dragons and a heavier object. If they hit it a second time they'll probably destroy it completely anyway. John is right. When the time comes they'll be ready to destroy our Stonehouses."

The others fell silent, absorbing this terrible revelation. "Could we move the Dragonstones?" Crystal asked. "Store them deeper underground?"

"Of course not," Seth replied scornfully. "They wouldn't work properly any more. We'd be as badly off as if they had destroyed them. Right, John?"

"That is correct. They have a limited range Crystal, and storing them underground would reduce that considerably, to the point where they would be nearly worthless."

"So what do we do?" Crystal asked.

"Live, get home, and tell the military council about this," Arthur replied. "They'll need to start defensive preparations straight away."

John shook his head. "I think it might take more than that this time. I think the Blue Dragons have become far too strong."

"What else is there?" Arthur asked. "What are you saying, John? That our time has come and we should just give up? Get ready to die like the Greens?"

"I think it's time to consider an alliance with the Browns," John replied.

Even Daisy laughed at this suggestion.

"You can't be serious," Seth said. "Please, tell me that's a joke."

"John, little that I know about the Browns, don't they hate us as much as the Blues?" Crystal asked. "Doesn't every other race?"

"Surely you're joking. Aren't you, John?" Daisy asked.

But Arthur just frowned at John, meeting his gaze. "No, you're not joking, are you, John? I don't think I've ever heard you joke about anything. But how could that be even possible? Why would they want to join us?"

The others stopped laughing and looked at John in amazement. Could he be serious?

"It's not possible. Is it, John?" Crystal asked. "How would the King even pose the question?"

John looked around at them all, waiting for silence before replying. "Firstly, think about the question of whether they would join us. Try to put yourselves in their position and imagine if our positions were reversed. If the Blues were poised to wipe out a very big rival and gain masses of land with valuable resources, what would you want to do about it? If ignored, and they were successful, how strong would they be in twenty years' time when they've had time to expand into their new territory? Who would be next? What would you have done had you known the Blues were attacking the Greens and were going to win? At that point, the Red Dragon kingdom was the largest nation. Now it's the Blues."

"They'd join us out of fear?" Arthur asked. "But don't they hate and fear us even more than the Blues?"

"Not really. We hate them, of course, but for no real reason. There's not a lot of history between the two nations, and we've never even fought each other. Part of the problem is ignorance. Even calling them Browns is using the wrong term, although they might call themselves that. There are actually both Light Browns and Dark Browns. One race we almost wiped out, the Light Browns, and it's the history with this nation that makes us think that the Dark Browns hate us, but the truth is that they know little about us and care even less. They may agree to join us in an alliance quite willingly, or at least agree to attack the Blues when and if they attack us, even if they don't particularly trust us."

"But how would we even ask them?" Arthur questioned. "We don't share a border, and even if we did, if we ventured into their territory they would attack us."

"Hmmm, well it's true," John agreed. "That is what would happen if any other dragons ventured into Red Dragon territory. But the other way around? Hard to say really. If we don't try, they may not even know about the war till it is over. And by over I mean with the Red Dragons completely wiped out, just as the Green Dragons were. I doubt it would take the Dark Browns twenty years to realise what had happened, but you never know."

"Us, John," Seth corrected.

"Sorry?" John asked, a little confused.

"Us. Not the Red Dragons. Us. Why do you refer to Red Dragons in the third person so often?" Seth asked.

John shrugged. "A figure of speech. I like to try to step back and look at situations from a neutral point of view, to try to work out how other races might react."

Seth frowned. "It's a strange figure of speech. You make it sound like you're not really one of us."

A loud boom made them all jump. The Blue Dragons were conducting another training exercise. Seven equally loud impacts were heard shortly afterwards.

"Sounds like they're training in earnest," Arthur commented. "I wonder how long before they plan to attack."

"Not very soon," John replied. "They have to fly a long way with those things, so may need a couple of handovers, or maybe even three or four. They're going to need lots of practice at getting it right, as they dropped one on their first attempt. Their accuracy was pretty poor as well, except for that one group, and that's with no one trying to stop them. They'll have to contend with thousands of defenders in the air. They'd want to be able to consistently complete those handovers without dropping those weights, and to be able to hit their target every time. We should have at least a few weeks."

"A few weeks!" Daisy said in horror. "That's not long at all!"

"Look at how many troops are here, Daisy," John replied calmly. "My initial impression was that they were gathered to invade in the next few days. Fortunately, it looks like they are far from ready."

"So what do we do?" Seth asked.

"As Arthur said. We fly back to raise the alarm," John replied. "And we do so now. They have five rows of those things, so they could be doing this all day. When the third group starts their bombing, the sound and excitement will hopefully distract them all from our departure."

"
Hopefully
?" Seth asked nervously. "You don't sound too confident."

John shrugged. "I can't help how I sound, but I assure you that I'm completely confident I can get you out of here when the time comes. Just remember, do exactly what I say." The bell sounded again, and another wave of Blue Dragons took to the air.

"No more discussion," John said firmly. "Transform now!" The others spread out along the ledge to give themselves space to begin their transformations. John walked to the edge of the mountain before transforming, waiting and facing away from them while they transformed. After a minute, he turned his head and looked over his shoulder to see the four of them waiting for his command. He waited for the thud of the first missile crashing into the ground.

Follow me,
he commanded, his thoughts loud and clear in their heads.
Just glide at first until we're further away from their camp. Our wings will reflect the light when we flap them, so we want to minimise that as much as possible. And minimise communication as much as you can. Blue Dragons communicate in the same was as us, so if you shout out your thoughts, they may hear.

He spread his wings and launched into a gentle glide, heading towards the west. The others all followed him, gliding slowly downward. John continued the glide for ages, slowly losing altitude until they were only a hundred metres from the ground. The others seemed to be doing the same as him, but strangely they struggled to stay as high in the air, and had to flap their wings every now and then to keep level with him.

Alright, that's far enough
, John called from up ahead.
Time to climb. Stay close to me.

It was now mid-morning so the sun was quite high in the sky and the air was still and clear, giving them an excellent view of the high mountains ahead that formed the border. John led them in a relentless climb, gradually restoring the altitude they had lost as they approached the high mountains.

I think we've got away with it
, Arthur said triumphantly.
They didn't see us!

We're not safe yet,
John warned them.
There is a pass up ahead. You can't see it from here but it will be visible as we get closer. We're high enough to cross, but we want to get higher in case we're pursued.

Incredibly, they had covered over half of the distance without being seen, or having seen a single Blue Dragon in the air. The mountains were getting closer, and Crystal thought she could see the pass ahead. We're going to make it, she thought to herself.

A second later, a shriek told her that she had thought too soon. Five heads all turned to the south in unison. No dragon was to be seen, but they knew they'd been spotted.

Don't stop!
John urged them.
We're high enough to cross the mountains now. Just fly fast, and keep at this height. Don't descend at all.

A series of shrill shrieks cut through the air, and they could make out seven shapes approaching them from the south. It was a border patrol—a single squad—and they were bearing down on them quickly.

What do we do, John?
Seth asked anxiously.
Should we bear to the north? To head away from them?

Stay on this course,
John replied.
We'll pass the border long before they reach us.

Won't they follow us?
Arthur asked.

I don't know,
John replied.
We have our own border patrols. With any luck, we will meet one and they can deal with the Blues for us.

Although the Blue Dragons flew quickly, the five reached the border before the squad had caught up with them, but they were not far behind and didn't stop at the border.

John, they're not stopping,
Seth pointed out.
And they're gaining on us. I don't see a patrol; do you?

John paused to look around.
No, I don't. I think we're on our own.

Well, what's the plan?
Seth asked.
They're going to catch us at this rate.