Dragon Gold
Authors: Kate Forsyth
Kate Forsyth is the bestselling fantasy novelist of The Witches of Eileanan series, which has been published in the US, Germany and Australia, and
The Starthorn Tree.
She is descended from a fine line of women writers including Charlotte Barton â the author of the first book for children every published in Australia,
A Mother's Offering to her Children
, which was published in Sydney in 1841 â and the first Australian-born woman novelist and one of the country's earliest women journalists, Louisa Atkinson, Australia's Brontë.
Kate lives with a black cat called Shadow, her husband Greg and her three beautiful children in a seaside suburb of Sydney.
Mitch Vane grew up in an artistic household in Melbourne. She studied graphic art and has been working as a freelance illustrator for the last 20 years, five of those based in London. Her partner is a writer, and sometimes they work on books together. They have a twelve-year-old daughter who's read all Mitch's books, and an eight-year-old son who's ripped the pages of most of them. Humour plays a big part in Mitch's work, and she much prefers to draw funny, crazy pictures â the crazier the better. All of her work is wonky and messy: she can't draw a straight line, even with a ruler.
ALSO BY KATE FORSYTH
The Starthorn Tree
ALSO BY MITCH VANE
Little Lunch
(series)
Fairy Bread
Wednesday Was Even Worse
The Amazing Adventures of Dr Harry and Scarlet: The Possum Thief
The Amazing Adventures of Dr Harry and Scarlet: The Pig Circus
For my boys â KF
For Jordie. May your wishes come true â MV
First published 2005 in Pan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney
Text copyright © Kate Forsyth 2005
Illustrations copyright © Mitch Vane 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
National Library of Australia
Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Forsyth, Kate, 1966â.
Dragon gold.
For children aged 6-11 years.
ISBN 0 330 42193 X.
I. Vane, Mitch. II. Title.
A823.3
Typeset in 12/15 Janson Text by Liz Seymour, Seymour Designs Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group
Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.
This electronic edition published 2013 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney
Text copyright © Kate Forsyth 2005
Illustrations copyright © Mitch Vane 2005
The moral rights of the creators have been asserted.
All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.
This ebook may not include illustrations and/or photographs that may have been in the print edition.
EPUB format: 9781743346266
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CHAPTER ONE
There once was a boy called Ben who really badly wanted a dog of his own. Every night he wished for one on the first star, and every month he wished for one on the new moon. He asked his mum for roast chicken every week so he could break the wishbone with his little brother, Tim. He even wished on fallen eyelashes. But his wish never came true.
One night he asked his mum if he was ever going to get the dog he wanted so badly. His mum sighed. âI wish we could have a dog too,' she said. âBut we don't have a very big garden. It wouldn't really be fair to keep a dog here. One day we'll have a great big house with a great big garden and you can have a dog, and a cubbyhouse, and lots of trees to climb. Wouldn't that be great?'
âWe'll have to stop spending so much money then,' said Ben's dad.
But somehow there were always lots of things to spend money on. Some were necessary, like ice-cream and new books and going to the movies, but some, like gas bills and haircuts and brussel sprouts, seemed most unnecessary. It became clear to Ben that he was going to have to find some other way of getting money.
âI need to find some pirate treasure,' Ben said to his friend James one afternoon. âYou want to help?'
âMe too?' asked Tim.
âPirates don't exist anymore,' James said. He was a boy who liked to stick to the facts.
âBut they might have buried their treasure somewhere, years ago, and never gone to dig it up,' Ben said.
James thought about this. âMaybe,' he said. âBut how are we supposed to find it?'
âThe pirates would have made a treasure map,' Ben said, getting excited. âThat would show us where to go.'
âBut how are we meant to find the map?' James asked.
âI don't know,' Ben admitted. There was a long silence. âDragons have treasure too,' he said then, hopefully.
âDragons don't really exist,' James said.
âYes, they do! I've seen pictures,' Ben said.
âThey're just made up,' James said.
âNo, they're not!'
âYes, they are.'
âNo, they're not!'
âYes, they are.'
âWhat about St George?' Ben asked. âYou can't have St George without the dragon.'
âThat's just a story,' James said.
âHow do you know?' Ben asked. âIf dragons don't exist, how come there are so many stories about them, and so many pictures?'
âWell, maybe they existed once,' James admitted. âBut they don't nowadays. Not here anyway.'
There was another long, depressed silence.
âWe need a magic lamp with a genie in it. Or a magic carpet, to take us to the pirates' treasure. We need
something
magical,' Ben said. âI wish I was a wizard.'
âMe too,' said Tim.