Jonah and the Last Great Dragon (3 page)

All of the dragons had accepted Jonah as their Dragoneer. Even the bad-tempered green dragon, with one eye on Ffyrnig, had grudgingly called him Master. Ffyrnig had apparently forced him into a meadow near the River Wye and threatened him with the anger of all the other dragons, if he ever hurt Jonah again.

The dragons were standing quietly on the heliport field, while soldiers finished fastening webbing safety cages over their backs and under their wings. Almost as soon as the Deerhurst Wyrm had brought Jonah safely back to the barracks, the SAS trucks began to return with pork, beef and mutton for them. Sam had wisely delayed the unloading until Jonah had spoken to each dragon in turn, extracting promises not to harm people or other animals.

‘You can see that everything’s different now from when you were last awake,’ he had told them, while Ffyrnig watched intently to make sure none of the beasts turned nasty. ‘I’ll do my best to stop people annoying you and I will try to make sure you get good meals. We really need your help. We can’t fight off the Night Creatures without you.’

Now, the green one looked Jonah up and down.

‘You are a bit young, to my mind, but if the old
Ddraig Goch
says you are a Dragoneer, I suppose you must be,’ he mumbled gruffly, cocking an eye at Ffyrnig, who glared at him through narrowed eyes.

‘Who is he? That crabby green one?’ Jonah had asked Ffyrnig while the soldiers trundled out huge pieces of meat
to pile in front of each animal.

‘That’s the Mordiford Dragon – or Wyvern, to use his correct title. Yes, he’s a miserable old thing. They used to say that he never got over being attacked by a man who lived in that village. Hated human beings after that.’

‘What happened?’

‘It’s a long story but basically, when he was a dragonet, a little girl named Maud made a pet of him. Fed him and cuddled him. Wouldn’t give him up, even when he grew older and started eating the local cattle. Naturally, he got quite the wrong idea about living with human beings. He thought that because Maud loved him, everyone else would.’ Ffyrnig chuckled. ‘When he grew too large to live in Maud’s garden, he should have gone off to a deep forest or a mountain crag, like any dragon with sense. But oh no, he had to go and live just outside Mordiford village, in the woods near the River Lugg. Of course, he was forever making off with the villagers’ livestock and even one or two children – or so people said.’

‘He ate the village
children?’

‘Well, that was the story that got about. Obviously he’d deny it. Anyway, after Maud died – she was an old lady by then – the people of Mordiford were terrified of him. Of course, they tried all sorts of ways to kill him and a man named Garson nearly succeeded. Oh, dear, wasn’t old Mordiford surprised and hurt! He’s been a bit of a curmudgeon ever since.’

‘Poor old thing,’ said Jonah.

‘Poor old thing! I wouldn’t put it past him to eat your baby brother, if you had one. And he nearly got you killed. Be very firm with him, Jonah, and make sure that the soldier who rides him shows not a trace of fear. Mordiford will play up, if he thinks his rider is scared.’

Jonah took a deep breath. ‘Thank goodness all the riders
are SAS chaps, then,’ he said.

Sam Hereford came on to the field with the Parrys and Jonah ran over to them. He looked apprehensively at Claire. ‘Are you feeling better about it, now you’ve seen me with them?’ he asked. ‘Even the one that went for me – the green one – has accepted me now. It’ll be all right.’ He scanned her face anxiously.

Claire gave a huge sigh. ‘When I saw you come off…!’ She shook her fair hair. ‘I don’t know. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t even scream.’ She squeezed his hand and gave a little laugh. ‘Try not to do it again, eh?’

‘Well, not when we’re watching, at any rate,’ Rhodri quipped.

Sam, who had gone off to talk to another officer, came striding back. ‘They’ve nearly finished eating, I think,’ he said. ‘Air Troop is standing by. I shall be one of the eight flying with you and the other troops will come by helicopter. We don’t need ground-to-air control for them, luckily. We have already sent men on ahead to liaise with regiments in the London area.’

‘What are they going to do?’ Jonah wanted to know.

‘Oh, keep an eye on where the Night Creatures are. Try to stop them spreading out into the streets –
if
they can! Crowd control, so that people don’t get hurt. That sort of thing.’

‘Talking of people getting hurt – I’ve been thinking that people might get badly burnt, if they get in the dragons’ way.’

‘Well, we must just work at roof level and only in streets that have been cleared. Our Colonel is on his way to London right now. He will be working with the Army and the police to keep people away from dangerous areas.’

Jonah nodded. A sudden thought struck him. ‘There’s something important I ought to ask Ffyrnig. Good thing I
remembered. Could you just hang on a sec? You’ll need to know this.’

Sam looked at him enquiringly but Jonah just dashed off towards Ffyrnig, who was looking around happily as he swallowed the last piece of a very large side of pork.

‘Now that’s what I call a real meal,’ he said, licking his lips and sighing with enjoyment.

‘Talking about meals,’ Jonah said, ‘how often do you all need to eat? Will you need more food when we get to London or will you wait until we get back here? Because if you want meat when we are up in London, I’ll have to ask the captain to make arrangements.’

Ffyrnig nodded. ‘Oh, I’m glad you asked, Jonah! I hadn’t thought about that.’

Jonah raised an eyebrow. ‘You hadn’t thought about food? That’s a first!’

Ffyrnig chuckled. ‘I’ve had other things on my mind. Mordiford, mainly. And, of course, I haven’t had to worry about getting my own meals since I woke up this time. Thanks to you, Jonah,’ he added silkily, inclining his great head.

Jonah grinned. ‘You can cut out the flannel, Ffyrnig. You know very well that we’d rather feed you than have you all flying about, doing it your way.’

‘Well, the meals so far have been excellent, I must say. Of course, when we are hibernating, we hardly feed at all. On the odd occasions that anything tasty strayed into my cavern, I would usually rouse and then I’d eat. But we can go for years and years without food.’

‘Really? Why don’t you die?’

Ffyrnig shrugged. ‘It’s a dragon thing.’

‘But will you all need to feed in London?’

‘Yes, I think we should. It takes a lot of energy to produce the sort of firepower that we are going to need up
there. And then there are the flights to London and back. You won’t want us to just flap gently along. We’ll really have to push ourselves and fly at speed.’

‘Right. I’ll let Sam know.’

Sam said he would pass on the message to the troops who were going to London by helicopter.

‘They will make all the arrangements for bringing in enough meat, as soon as they get there.’

‘Where will they feed them all?’ Jonah asked, and indicated the beasts filling up the helicopter field. ‘Will the soldiers in London realise what a lot of room they take up?’

Sam rubbed his chin. ‘Probably not. I’d better suggest somewhere to them. Erm – Green Park? No, Hyde Park would be better, I think. There’s a good open space near the Serpentine that would do nicely.’

‘Oh, that’s cool. The wyrms’ll feel at home by a lake. Especially when it’s called after them!’

‘Now, we worked out a plan of attack with the Archangel,’ Sam went on. ‘So far, St Paul’s Cathedral is under the greatest threat. There are hundreds of demons around it, apparently. Saint Michael suggested that, instead of splitting up, all nine dragons fly directly to the cathedral. That way, there will be a massive surge of firepower and we shall have a much better chance of clearing the Night Creatures out with just a couple of sweeps.’

‘How will we know when to go on to the next target?’

‘Oh, Saint Michael will be with us all the time after we reach St Paul’s, though the other angels will be over at Westminster. We had better decide on the hand signals we’ll use, when we’re in the air. Go forward, circle round, spread out – that sort of thing.’

The dragon riders gathered round, while Sam demonstrated
the signals to use when they were airborne.

He turned to Jonah. ‘Now, is there anything else we should know before we decide which men should ride with you?’

Jonah scuffed the grass as he thought about it. ‘There is something, yes. Ffyrnig says the Mordiford Wyvern – that’s him, over there. The green one who was fighting – Ffyrnig says his rider must let him know who is boss or the wyvern could get difficult.’

‘Right.’

The members of Air Troop who were going to fly with the dragons, were waiting at the edge of the field. Sam beckoned to them and told them to put on their safety gear and prepare to mount.

‘I’ve explained that modern weapons won’t have any effect on the demons or, for that matter, dragons,’ he said to Jonah. He laughed. ‘We shan’t feel completely dressed for action without our firearms. Now, would it help if I chose experienced horsemen?’

‘I don’t think that would make much difference. I think you actually feel safer on a dragon.’

Sam raised his eyebrows. ‘Unless another one gets nasty and knocks you off, I suppose.’

Jonah laughed. ‘I just meant that you tuck in to the space at the base of their wings quite comfortably. It’s like having a safety guard each side of you. Nice and warm, too. You’ll see.’

Sam rubbed his hands enthusiastically. ‘I can’t wait. I think, as I’m the CO, I had better ride the bad-tempered one. The wyvern, right?’ He raised his arms and called out. ‘Troopers who’ll be riding a dragon over here, please.’ He grinned. ‘Jonah will tell you what to do,’ he added.

Jonah had not been expecting that and looked up in surprise. All the soldiers had been chatting as they pulled
on flame-resistant coveralls, but they stopped talking and gathered round him expectantly. He was glad that he had already been thinking of the best flight formation for the team. He wanted the Great Dragon to keep an eye on Mordiford, so he felt that the wyvern should fly beside Ffyrnig. And that meant Sam would be close enough to tell Jonah what to do next, when they were attacking the Night Creatures.

He liked the Deerhurst Wyrm and felt that he could trust it. Although it had reacted ferociously when the green dragon attacked, it had saved Jonah and seemed kindly. He cleared his throat and looked round at the soldiers rather self-consciously.

‘Thank you all very much for helping us. When we are in the air, the Great Dragon will lead the way and Captain Hereford will fly at his left wing on the green dragon – the Mordiford Wyvern. The Deerhurst Wyrm – the one that caught me, when the wyvern knocked me off – seems reliable. I think we can trust it, so I should like that one to bring up the rear and, then, if any of the others start playing up, it will help Ffyrnig and me take control again.’ He grinned at the SAS troopers. ‘OK then. Who’d like to ride the Deerhurst Wyrm?’

The soldiers all turned to the slim, brown-haired man who had come to the farm with Sam, before the battle for Hereford. ‘Go on, Ollie!’

Ollie smiled at Jonah. ‘I’m a keen horseman,’ he said, ‘though I’ve never ridden anything quite like these.’

Jonah asked him to fly with the Wyrm. ‘Everyone else, choose your own dragon.’

Sam cleared his throat and Jonah looked up. ‘Maybe it would work better the other way round,’ Sam suggested quietly. ‘Perhaps the dragons would be happier if
they
got to choose.’

‘Oh. Erm – cool. Yes, perhaps that would work better,’ Jonah replied. He stepped forward. ‘I’ll get Ffyrnig – he’s the huge one, the Great Dragon of Wales – to tell me a bit about the others, so we can get the best matches,’ he told the soldiers. He turned to the captain. ‘Is that OK?’

‘Yes. Splendid.’

‘All right then.’ Jonah looked up at Ffyrnig. ‘Can you introduce me to the others, please?’

He was aware of a suppressed chuckling breaking out behind him and swung round, grinning. ‘Yeah, I know I sound mad. But they’ —indicating the dragons—‘do know what I’m saying.’

He began to relax and looked up at Ffyrnig, who was surveying the troopers through narrowed eyes. ‘It’s all right,’ Jonah told him. ‘They had never heard anyone talking to a dragon before, that’s all.’

‘Hrrumph,’ snorted Ffyrnig.

‘OK.’ Jonah surveyed the dragons who were still worrying at the last shreds of meat on the joints they had been given. ‘Could you tell me who’s who?’

Ffyrnig ambled out to the front of the group and indicated the smallest of the drakes, a mottled grey dragon with very bright eyes, who had been standing on his hind legs most of the time. ‘This is the Gargouille of Llandeilo Graban, Jonah. Call him Llandeilo, for short.’

‘So that’s what Saint Michael was talking about. I hadn’t heard of gargouilles before.’

Ffyrnig nodded. ‘He and his kind are the smallest of all the dragons of Europe. The Bromfield dragon is one, also, though he’s a bit bigger than Llandeilo. They were from France originally. Long ago, they lived on buildings, particularly church towers, so they’re very good at manoeuvring in small spaces. Aren’t you?’ he said to the dragon, who wagged his head briskly. ‘He would be the best of us at
skimming through pinnacles and chasing the Night Swarm around rooftops.’

‘Mm, that’ll be useful,’ said Jonah. ‘Is there any rider you would particularly like, Llandeilo?’

The gargouille looked pleased and gazed at the little group of soldiers, who were trying to keep their faces straight. Jonah knew that all the hissing and whistling sounds meant nothing to them.

‘This is Llandeilo,’ he told them. ‘He is just going to tell me who he’d like on his back.’

‘That one.’ Llandeilo nodded his head at a man with dark eyes, standing quietly to one side. ‘I have been watching him. He doesn’t say much but he seems to take everything in.’ Llandeilo turned towards Jonah. ‘I should like a rider who stays alert.’

Jonah beckoned to the soldier, who strode forward. ‘The dragon says he likes how you take notice of everything.’

The man chuckled and seemed pleased. ‘Let’s hope I’m observant enough for him when we are on the operation,’ he said. ‘I’m Jack, by the way.’

The five remaining dragons did not mind which of the soldiers rode them. Jonah told Mordiford that he would like him to fly beside Ffyrnig.

‘I think you would be the best mount for Captain Hereford,’ he said, hoping to flatter the wyvern and get it to cooperate. Mordiford stared at him with narrowed eyes.

Well, I’m not sure that worked
, thought Jonah.

A tall man with close-cropped hair, who introduced himself as Max, asked to ride the Newland dragon. ‘I should be really chuffed to ride him,’ he said, ‘because I’m from the Forest of Dean. Coleford, actually. That’s very near Newland. My Gran used to tell me stories about this chap and the treasure he guarded!’

When the remaining dragons were paired with riders –
the Stinchcombe firedrake with Isaac, the Bromfield gargouille with a tall soldier named Toby, the Wormbridge and Brinsop wyrms with Oscar and Henry – Jonah went over to Sam, who was checking a pile of gear with Henry, the third soldier who had come to the farm, before he and Erin flew to Hereford.

‘I think we’re just about ready,’ he said.

‘Sure, but you need a fireproof coverall first,’ Sam said. ‘Is that the one for Jonah, Henry?’

Henry nodded and smiled, holding out a dark coverall and a helmet with a visor. ‘Hello, again. I’m afraid this is going to be rather roomy on you, but it’s the smallest we have.’

He helped Jonah climb into the suit and turn up the hems of the sleeves and legs.

‘How does that feel? Can you manage?’

‘Yes, it’s a bit baggy but it will be OK.’

‘It’s a good thing you’re tall for your age,’ Henry said, helping him to adjust the coverall.

When everyone was dressed and helmeted, Sam turned to Jonah. ‘Your aunt and uncle are going to travel in one of the Army helicopters. We thought Mrs Parry would feel happier if she came up to London as well. Right, then. We’ll make for the Thames. The dragons will know the direction for the river, won’t they? And then we’ll fly straight up the river to St Paul’s.’

Jonah frowned. ‘I hope I’ll recognise it from the air. I don’t know London very well and even if any of the dragons have flown over it in the past, it’s changed an awful lot since they’ve been asleep.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ Sam said cheerfully. ‘The Great Dragon will know the way towards London and then you fly east above the Thames. All we need to do is look out for the Millennium Bridge. You’ll know it because it will look
much narrower than the road bridges. When we’re above it, we shall turn left and you’ll see the dome of St Paul’s straight ahead of you.’

‘Right,’ said Jonah, ‘and then we make a circle round the cathedral, yes? And when we are all in place, you give the word and all the dragons will start shooting flame at the demons.’

‘Right, except that
you
will give the word. You’re the one in control,’ laughed Sam.

‘Oh, help!’ exclaimed Jonah. ‘That’s scary.’