Becoming a Dragon (13 page)

Ten Flight Leaders shuffled slowly to the front. Seven of them were trying to avoid his gaze, but three met it defiantly. Perak turned to the Squadron Commander who was responsible for the Squad that half of the Flight Leaders had come from.

"Squadron Commander, I note that half of these men are from your Squad. Join them at the front."

The officer walked casually to the front and stood at the right of the men. He was an older man, perhaps fifteen years senior to Perak, and met his gaze with a contemptuous look.

"Squadron Commander, you have failed to motivate your men to excel. Let me rephrase that: you've failed to prevent your men from performing abysmally. Explain yourself."

The officer gave him a hard look. "The men are not used to performing these tasks. These are not the tasks of a warrior. We are Blue Dragons, and we fight as Dragons. These are the activities of children, who are yet able to transform."

Perak gave him a cruel smile. "So you would rather train as a dragon?"

The Squadron Commander nodded. "Yes, sir. It's how I have trained since before you were born."

Perak nodded in return and turned to Pan's men. "Take them to the cage. Put them in there and lock the door."

Pan's men advanced forwards and seized the men, who looked startled but didn't resist, and were forced to enter the cage; the door was locked behind them.

"You have deliberately performed badly, against my command. Disobedience will be punished. Do you understand?"

The men nodded, unsure of what was coming.

"You think you can choose how you behave while under my command. You will all learn how wrong you are. You wish to train as dragons. Well, transform. Now!"

The men looked at each other in confusion, unsure of what was being asked.

"It's a simple command," Perak continued irritably. "Transform in the cage. Do it now. Show me what you can do as a dragon."

The men shrugged, and quickly transformed. The cage was large enough to hold all eleven, who sat down after transforming, looking a little confused. There wasn't a lot of room to move around.

Perak turned to the rest of the men. "When a soldier refuses a direct command in battle, what is the punishment? You!" he shouted, pointing at a Flight Leader.

"Death, sir," the man replied.

"These men have refused a direct order. We are training for battle. How should they be punished? Should it be any different from disobedience in battle? Should it be any different for the men under their command?"

No one answered, unease spreading over the men.

Perak smiled. "I am going to be lenient. Tell me, why do you think we are training in this way?"

A man raised his hand and Perak nodded at him. "So that we can fight at night."

"Exactly!" Perak replied. "Why can't we fight as dragons at night?"

The men looked at each in bewilderment. "Come on, you again. What's the answer?"

"Transforming at night isn't possible, sir," the Flight Leader replied.

"Wrong, boy. It's possible. It will just kill you. Just as not transforming back is a death sentence. Oh, it's getting a little dark. I hope you can all see the dragons in the cage. Now, next question. Who can tell me what Dragonweed is?"

The sun had almost set, and the light was fading quickly. A hand was raised at the front. "It's a rare plant, sir, which can stop you from transforming back to human."

"Exactly! It is rather rare. But do you know we have some kept in the camp here? Can you guess where I've had this plant put?"

Suddenly one of the Blue Dragons in the cage shrieked loudly in fear. He attacked the cage bars violently, throwing his weight at the door. Seconds later the others joined in, with chaos breaking out. Fire spurted from the cage as they tried in vain to weaken the metal.

The sunlight faded completely, and the only light was that from the dragon's fire, none of them transforming back to their human form. Perak ordered lamps to be lit all around the cage, where the dragons continued to desperately attack the bars.

"Come on, come on, no one answered my question. Where do you think I've had the plant placed?"

The men watched in horror, as one by one, the dragons stopped attacking the cage bars and started to shriek in agony. They writhed in the cage, muscle spasms causing them to jerk violently and without any control. Bursts of fire erupted from their nostrils, but they clearly had no control over their bodies any more. The sound was soul wrenching, and the screams lasted for several minutes before they started to fade, and the dragons' movements started to slow down till there were only a few twitches, and then they were all still and silent, each one clearly dead.

Perak turned to face them, his face determined and furious. "I will be lenient. I will not condemn their men to join their fate. Not today. But ever disobey me again, and we will have another sunset display. Now, zero pointers. Approach the front."

The sixty men all moved to the front, each looking terrified and shocked.

"I'll have six volunteers. Ah, yes, you six at the back. Come to the front." Perak nodded to one of Pan's men, who was holding a large sack. He ran over to the men and opened the sack, and gave each of them a wooden stick before giving the last one to Perak.

"Armed combat," Perak began. "Pointless during the day. After all, what can a stick do against fire, teeth and claws? During the night? A different story. Our enemy do not train with these weapons. Like you, they think them a waste of time. How do you think an untrained man would fare against one skilled in the use of these weapons?"

The men didn't answer, still frozen silent by the shock of watching their leaders die in such a horrific manner.

Perak nodded. "As I thought, you still don't understand. A demonstration is required. You." He pointed to the nearest man. "You've been training during the week. You should be able to do something with that stick. Attack me."

The man shook his head, looking scared.

Perak frowned. "Disobeying an order? After watching what happens to those who disobey? Do you think that is wise?"

The man shook his head, and staggered forwards, pushed by his comrades.

"Excellent. Now, I'm sure you want to avenge your leader. You have your chance. Go on; attack me with all that you have."

The man looked around hesitantly, receiving encouraging nods from his comrades before advancing slowly till he was about five metres from Perak.

"What are you waiting for?" Perak asked. "Make your attack."

The man suddenly looked more determined, and raised his stick before rushing at Perak and swinging at his head. Perak's movements appeared casual, almost lazy, stepping out of the way and letting him run past.

"Where are you going? I'm over here. Stop wasting time and attack!"

The man spun around, red faced, and beginning to look angry. He rushed at Perak, but controlled his run better, and swung at Perak again. Perak stepped towards him and swung his stick at the man's arm, causing him to yelp in pain and drop the stick. He lunged with his stick and struck him in the stomach, and the man collapsed to the ground, the wind knocked out of him.

"A little disappointing," Perak observed derisively. "I see how he achieved zero points. Next. Perhaps two of you. You two will do."

Two men advanced towards him, approaching cautiously as they neared. Perak nodded at them, and they both rushed him at once. Perak's movement was so quick that he appeared to blur in the dim light, striking at one man's leg and the other man's ankle. Both dropped to the ground screaming.

"I would have thought two of you would do better than one, but if anything it was worse. Take them away."

Two of Pan's men rushed over and dragged the screaming men away from the front. Perak looked to the last three. "Let's see if three of you can achieve what two failed to do. Attack!"

The three men spread out, trying to outflank Perak.  They circled him to attack from three different directions. Just as they moved to attack, Perak sprung towards one of them, closing the gap very quickly. He struck him twice, once on the arm and once on the leg. The man dropped immediately, clutching his leg in pain. Perak turned and moved quickly to the second attacker, keeping the third away from him. Perak ducked under his attack and swung his stick hard, hitting the man with a backhand strike to the head, dropping him like a stone. He then approached the final man, disarming him with ease before hurling him to the ground, finishing the fight by stamping on the man's groin. Perak turned to face the rest of the Wing, who were watching in horror. Two of the fallen men were screaming in pain, but the other was silent, sprawled motionless on the ground. Perak nodded at Pan's men, who scurried over to move their fallen comrades. One started to lift the silent man, and after checking his neck for a pulse, turned towards Perak and shook his head.

Perak shrugged indifferently. "It appears that untrained men do not fare well against trained men. You can die just as easily from a blow to the head as you can from fire, claw and tooth. Imagine how many of the six would be joining him if we had been using these."

Perak drew his sword, slowly showing it to all the men.

"Learn these lessons. Learn them well. The skills I will teach you will allow you to kill our enemies far more effectively than anything anyone else has taught you. When the great battle begins, it will be won not by the great horde that charge in from the air, but before they have even arrived. It will be won by the troops I have trained, that I will lead, which will eliminate all the Red Dragons in the settlements that surround the cities. The ones that are always overlooked and flank our troops during the attack, condemning so many attacks to failure and soldiers to fall forgotten and uncelebrated. I know many of you idolise leaders like Kessick. Well, leaders like him have come and gone and have led thousands like you to their deaths with nothing to show for it, and there have been no statues to commemorate their sacrifices. Fighting for me, with me and having been trained by me, you'll be remembered as the ones who won this war.

However, disobey me again, and join these men. I am cruel. I am unforgiving. And I know how to kill you in more ways than you can imagine, as both a man and a dragon. Either learn from me by obeying me, and letting me teach you, or learn from me as these men have. Dismissed!"

Crystal was the last to join the table, apologising quietly to the guests that were gathered in her house and had already started dining. She could feel her mother glaring at her, so she avoided catching her eye. There were sixteen of them dining at their home tonight; each of the members of the national security council, and their wives, children or other companions. The quarterly council meeting was to be held straight after the meal, an event that was to be hosted by them each time from now on, now that they had moved to the capital. Before they had relocated, her father always had to fly away for a few days for the meeting, but now, the meeting meant that he would be flying to see them. As well as looking forward to seeing her father, Crystal had been looking forward to the meal until her mother let her know that unless one of the council members spoke to her she should remain silent. What made it even worse was that
he
was here. That stupid boy brought along by the Keeper of Records. At least she hadn't been forced to speak to him yet.

Not everyone from the military council was present, but apparently that wasn't unusual. Only five members were able to vote
—
the commanders of each of the armies of the four principalities and the centre, which included her father, Lord Robert, commander of the Southern Army. The other members were consulted, and their support was important, but not necessarily required, so they would often miss meetings if there wasn't anything urgent to be discussed. This was especially true of the nine representatives of the most powerful of the noble houses, who rarely attended these meetings, and indeed none were present this evening. From time to time the princes appointed temporary advisors, but at the moment the only other members were the two permanent advisors, who were the head of military intelligence and the Keeper of Records, and one temporary member, the chief advisor to the King.

Crystal had listened patiently as her mother explained all of this a few hours earlier, so she had an idea of who to expect at the table. Her father, as host, sat at the head of the table, three places to her right, and he smiled at her warmly when she glanced at him. Her father was rarely angry with her and wouldn't mind her being late, especially as he hadn't seen her since her birthday. She was seated beside another friendly face, Lord Lance, who was the commander of the Northern Army. A gruff-looking man, but a close friend of Lord Robert, related to him through two marriages (Lance's brother Prince Cornelius, the ruler of the Northern principality was married to Lauren, Robert's cousin, and Robert's niece was married to Lance's nephew on his wife's side) and someone who had always had a soft spot for Crystal. To her right sat the commander of the Eastern Army, Lord Daniel, a young commander who had inherited the role early in life after the untimely death of his father. She had met him just once and had hardly spoken to him, but he seemed pleasant enough. Opposite him sat Lord Jeremy, commander of the Western Army. Unlike the other commanders, he didn't wear his uniform, but was dressed in rather outlandish clothes better suited to a different sort of party. He appeared to be a bit bored, although that may just have been how he always looked. She had met him a few times, and although he was rather handsome and charming, she didn't take to him at all, although she couldn't quite say why. He just made her a little uncomfortable.

The Commander of the national army
—
as the army of the capital was referred to
—
was the King's eldest son and heir, Prince Henry. He sat two places to the left of Lord Robert, between Lord Robert and Lord Jeremy. This was the first time that Crystal had met him, although she had heard quite a bit about him from her father. The prince had a self-important, smug look about him, but he was rather good-looking, and was the heir, Crystal reminded herself, resolving to make as good an impression on him as she could.

Lord Lance's wife sat to the right of Lord Daniel. She was very well dressed but was showing her age and Crystal could tell that her hair had lost its colour, and the red was just dye. If only she could do the same. She had rarely met her, as she didn't really enjoy travelling and wouldn't fly as far as Black Rock. Furnace was quite a lot nearer to her home in Newcastle, so she had agreed to accompany her husband. The other reason for coming was to visit her two children who were at school in Furnace, Rosie and Henry. Henry wasn't a guest tonight, but his older sister, Rosie, sat between Lord Robert and Lord Lance. She was a year older than Crystal, and was, naturally, in the same school, being the place where all the elite sent their children to finish their education, although Crystal hadn't met her before tonight. She was a plain-looking girl, quite tall, and with broad shoulders, but had a pleasant way about her. Crystal wondered if she minded having to stay silent during the meal. She hoped to talk to her about it afterwards.

Between Lord Robert and Prince Henry sat John, seated in a position far too elevated in importance for Crystal's liking. He was clearly a late replacement for a more distinguished guest, or they wouldn't have placed him such a favourable position. He sat silently, his face unreadable, as ever. He tried to make eye contact with Crystal, but she deliberately ignored his unsmiling, serious face.

To the prince's left, and between him and Lord Jeremy, sat the Keeper of Records, John's guardian and master. He looked out of place among the commanders in his faded civilian clothes and with his unkempt grey hair and untidy beard. He was talking to Lord Jeremy, oblivious to the fact Lord Jeremy looked thoroughly bored with the conversation. Crystal had met him quite a few times and could understand why Lord Jeremy would be bored. The Keeper was harmless and a pleasant enough man, but rather too fond of droning on about the dullest of topics. She could see how he might take to John; the two of them were as bad as each other. She tried to recall his actual name, and found she couldn't. Hopefully someone would call him by his name rather than his title during the meal and remind her.

Lord Daniel's pretty young wife, Lady Sapphire, sat next to Lord Jeremy, to his left. She was dressed demurely, but that didn't dissuade Lord Jeremy from flirting with her, when he could break away from his conversation with the Keeper, much to Lord Daniel's obvious irritation. She didn't look much older than Crystal.

To Lady Sapphire's left sat Lord Rupert, chief military advisor to the King, and by extension, to Prince Henry. His wife sat almost opposite him, next to Lord Daniel. These two were unfamiliar to Crystal, and knowing how frequently this role changed, she had little interest in them. He was probably a relative of the King.

Next to Lord Rupert's wife sat Lord Karl, the head of army intelligence. He was a severe-looking man, with dark red hair and an even darker red beard. Crystal hadn't met a more serious person in her life with his permanent frown and penetrating stares. Crystal always felt as if he was giving her disapproving looks whenever they met. If she could avoid speaking to him that wouldn't be a bad thing.

Between Lord Karl and Lord Rupert and at the opposite end of the table to her husband sat Crystal's mother, looking very elegant, all dressed up for the occasion. Crystal suspected that her mother's angry glare was probably also due to the lack of effort that she had made with her own appearance, something she now regretted.

"So, are you related to Crystal?" Prince Henry asked John. Crystal coloured immediately, the prince both unintentionally alluring to her non-biological relationship with her parents and drawing attention to the similarity of their hair. It was something inevitable over the course of the evening, but the fact that it was the heir to the throne who did so just made it even worse.

Lord Robert noticed her obvious irritation and answered quickly for John. "No relation, your majesty; John is here on a scholarship working in the library as an assistant to the Keeper of Records."

"Oh, I see, is he working you hard, boy?"

Crystal smiled at the boy comment, but John seemed not to notice.

"I don't have to with this one, Prince Henry," the Keeper replied cheerfully. "His work ethic is unbelievable. He does everything I ask and still manages to conduct his own research. I expect that half of my reports this year will be initiated by his work, if not written by his own hand."

"Be careful, you might talk yourself out of your job. So boy, what research have you worked on so far? Do you have a tongue or not?"

Crystal was amazed and disappointed to see that John remained composed and was not even slightly intimidated by the prince.

"I've worked on a few things, your majesty. There's one piece of research I haven't yet shared with the Keeper of Records yet, but I think would be of particular interest to you and the Lord Commanders."

"Well don't stand on ceremony, boy, spit it out. What have you found?"

John nodded, pausing carefully before beginning. "I conducted an in depth assessment of all of the encounters with our neighbours over the last fifty years, and noticed a number of patterns, one of which was particularly interesting."

"Us, constantly taking out more of them than they get of ours, eh, boy?" The prince laughed at his comment, but no one else did.

"If the reported kills are to be believed, that is the most obvious insight of course, your Majesty. But no, that wasn't what I found interesting."

Crystal could hardly believe what she had just heard. Had John intentionally patronised the prince?

"What I noticed, your majesty, was that all encounters with Green Dragons stopped over twenty years ago. This was a complete stop, not just a lull in the sightings. Encounters with Blue Dragons dropped a lot around that time as well, and increased only slowly afterwards. Again, this is common knowledge and the recorded theory is that the Blues and Greens fought a highly damaging war, and both were more concerned with fighting each other instead of us. However, that doesn't really explain why we haven't seen a single Green Dragon since though, since they should have recovered by now.

What I also noticed is that the Blues shifted their attacks northward. The southern principality has suffered very few attacks from the Blue Dragons since, and none from Green Dragons. Any attacks on the south came from further north than any previous attacks. The whole of the south has become unusually peaceful."

"The Blues must have been weakened in the south by the greens. Only explanation for it. Or lost territory to them," Prince Henry pointed out.

"That's unlikely. If they had lost territory to the Greens that would suggest that the Greens came out of that war better off than the Blues. Yet there hasn't been a single attack from the Greens since, and attacks from the Blues have reached a record high, suggesting the opposite. None of the attacks are ever very large, but they are more frequent than ever."

"And answered in kind," Lord Lance bellowed. "They've lost more than we have."

"That's the way to teach them," Lord Rupert agreed. "They'll soon learn the price of attacking us." There were murmurs of agreement around the table.

"Perhaps they already have, sir," John replied.

"How do you mean, boy?" Prince Henry asked.

Crystal smiled. It was obvious that John wasn't impressing them.

"The fact that they are losing more than us is very clear. For every four they kill, we kill five, and this ratio is one that has remained constant for a long time. It would be as obvious to them as it is to us, yet they maintain the same tactics. Thinking that we're doing better than they are is reassuring but this thinking has two major flaws."

"What flaws, John?" Lord Robert asked politely. "How could it be anything but a good thing?"

"Firstly, it only looks at military losses. Any adult is counted as a reserve, so their deaths are counted, but children are not."

"Of course not," Lord Karl replied. "It would skew the figures. We have no idea of how many children we kill when we counter attack and raze their villages, just the ones we kill in the air. Ignoring children allows for a like for like comparison."

"A valid argument," John agreed, "when all children killed were incidental, as it would balance out for both sides. But for a few years, children were targeted and a large number of girls were kidnapped and boys were slaughtered."

"That was a long time ago," Prince Henry countered. "It stopped about fifteen years ago."

"Sixteen, your majesty, to be precise. But I believe it restarted on a small scale just over a year ago. Attacks had been increasing for the previous couple of years, so it went unnoticed, but the reported deaths include a large proportion of young boys, but no young girls. Girls are almost certainly being kidnapped again."

There was a short pause. All were aware that there were a few attacks where this was possibly true, including a recent one where a small village had been completely wiped out.

"It's still the minority of attacks though," Lord Lance commented. "I still don't see where you are taking us."

"And what about the second flaw?" Lord Daniel asked, speaking for the first time.

"Eh, what are you talking about?" Lord Lance asked.

"He said that there were two flaws to the argument, the first one was about the children. What's the second one?"

John nodded. "So to summarise the first one, it's that our losses are probably understated. The second is more scary, for want of a better word."