Becoming a Dragon (8 page)

John looked back at her. "No. I don't. I just want to talk to you."

"Well, I don't want to talk to you, so please just go away. I thought I'd made that clear."

John walked with her for a few seconds longer, not responding, before nodding and turning away. He looked quite sad, and she would have felt guilty were it not for the knowledge that had she not done this, she would end up just as unpopular as him. This was his mess, not hers, and she didn't care why he wanted to speak to her; she was going to have nothing to do with him.

Perak crouched at the top of the hill, staring intently at the little village in the distance. It was early in the morning, still dark, and no lights were visible in the small settlement. He had viewed this place from four different vantage points now, and had a reasonable knowledge of the layout of the buildings. He wasn't sure, but he thought there were about twenty adults in the village and about ten children, which was an unusual ratio for these remote Red Dragon communities, but was perfect for his purposes.

He glanced back at his men, who were waiting patiently in their makeshift campsite. They had already cleared away all evidence that they had stayed there overnight, and were all wide awake and ready to do his bidding. The morning light would reach them a few minutes before it reached the village, giving them an invaluable advantage; so much so that Perak found it hard to believe that anyone would willingly choose this location as a place to live. Still, being so deep into Red Dragon territory probably made them feel safe. He smiled and shook his head at their folly. Nowhere would be safe from his forces when he ascended up the ranks, which he felt certain he would do.

Down below in the village he saw that a lamp had just been lit in one of the buildings. People had already started to wake up. Unfortunate, but not unexpected. These small communities so far away from the big cities tended to live their lives according to the daylight hours, and some would always wake up a few moments before sunrise. He could see some movement, but could not make out how many people were up and about. He glanced towards the dim glow that heralded the sunrise, and the time when he and his men would be able to transform. As a dragon, his vision would be much more powerful, and he would be able to see the villagers perfectly. Still in darkness, they wouldn't be able to transform. Just as was the case with Blue Dragons and all others, transforming at night was fatal for a Red Dragon. This meant that they wouldn't see him coming and would be totally unprepared to defend themselves.

"Get ready," Perak told his men. "The time is nearly here. You know the plan; now is the time to put it into action. Remember, stay low in your approach, and remain silent! Scream a battle cry, and I'll rip your throat out myself."

Perak shouldn't have had to remind them of this, but surprise was a weapon rarely used effectively by his comrades. Fear was their favourite weapon, and nothing was more effective at striking at the nerves of their enemies than their piercing, blood-curdling shrieks. Now, however, was not the time to use this weapon. He didn't want to fight frightened foes; he wanted to silently butcher sleeping ones. The glory of a big dramatic battle didn't particularly interest him. All he cared about was killing as many Red Dragons as he could.

The first ray of light appeared from the rising sun, and Perak found it hard to hide his excitement and anticipation. He transformed as quickly as he could, knowing his men would follow his lead, and within five seconds, six Blue Dragons were crouched hidden in the tall trees at the top of the hill. Perak took one final glance at his dragons before launching into the air. He flapped his wings just once before settling into a low, silent glide; in his peripheral vision he could see Eric to his left and one of the novices to his right, knowing that Ivan and the other dragons would be flying some way behind them.

Now airborne, Perak could see perfectly, and spotted three adults moving in the village. His chances of landing unobserved were very small, but still possible. Although flying in the shadows was not dangerous as flying at night would be, it did weaken them and made them all very uncomfortable, but Perak insisted they all did so, knowing that surprise was their greatest weapon in this attack. The Blue Dragons bore down silently on the villagers, approaching very quickly now. The three Reds were not looking towards them, and might not even notice them. He trembled in anticipation; would they have a perfect attack?

Perak quickly barked orders to the two beside him. He selected the villager in the middle for himself, and directed Eric to the one on the left and the novice to the one on the right. This should be easy. If his men attacked as he had taught them, they should be able to silently decapitate these three villagers with one blow each. Five seconds to impact, four, three, two, one…  Perak struck the unsuspecting villager with an outstretched claw, decapitating him instantly, and the man died without making a sound. He glanced to his left, and saw that Eric had silenced his target in exactly the same way. A half scream to his right alerted him to the fact that their luck had ended. The novice was a fraction of a second behind them, and killed the villager with a vicious slash across his torso, but not before he had let forth a scream at the sight of Perak and Eric attacking his companions.

Perak landed immediately, before quickly running towards one of the buildings, preparing to attack it. Eric and the novice landed just beside him and followed his lead. Above, he could see Ivan and the other two dragons circling the village. They had to act quickly, to take advantage of the villager's inability to transform until the sunlight reached them. They selected a building each and smashed through the doors with powerful kicks, before flooding the rooms with their blue flames. Tortured screams let them know that they had been successful, but unfortunately also alerted the rest of the village to their presence
—
if the first scream hadn't done that already. Doors sprung open around the village and people peered out into the half-light. Eric ran towards the nearest of the buildings and snatched a middle-aged man from the open doorway. The man's scream died abruptly as Eric crushed him in his jaws. The other Blue Dragon approached another building and found the door slammed shut. He smashed it open and blew flames into the building, but no screams were heard. The inhabitants had almost certainly taken shelter already. He was too large to enter as a dragon, but couldn't risk changing back to human to enter. He ripped at the doorway, pulling chunks out of the building to enlarge the entrance. Perak shook his head in frustration, but knew it was necessary and turned to the nearest building to follow suit. All the doors were slammed shut now; the Red Dragons were trying to buy time, stalling the attack from the Blue Dragons until they had enough light to transform and fight.

Torch the buildings!
Perak cried out to his troops.
Flush them out.
His dragons immediately started torching the wooden roofs of the houses, sending a stream of fireballs into the few remaining buildings, setting them all ablaze. Perak turned his attention back to the building he was beside, and threw his weight at the door, sending it flying across the room, colliding with one of the terrified residents. Perak stuck his head in cautiously, looking for other Reds, and narrowly dodged a pitchfork. He replied with two fireballs, and his assailant screamed in agony, his clothes and hair having burst into flames. The other inhabitant was an elderly woman, who was cowering on the floor not far from him. Perak reached in with one long clawed leg and swung at her, ripping her open and killing her instantly. The other inhabitant had fallen silent, having succumbed to the flames, so Perak withdrew from the building and assessed how his dragons were progressing. Eric had moved on top of the roof of one building and had collapsed the wooden beams with his weight. Perak could see him shaking a man in his jaws like a dog with a rat. The sunlight had just reached the village, and two reds were in the process of transforming, but this had not escaped Ivan's attention. He and his two companions swooped past and struck the two of them down before they could even form wings. After that the only sound was the crying of children; all the adults were dead. The whole attack had lasted less than two minutes. Perak cursed himself for ordering the torching of the buildings; it had been totally unnecessary and drew unwanted attention to the village. His dragons scurried around, double checking each building and rounding up the children.

All dead, sir
, Eric reported once they were finished.
Just the children left.

Perak nodded. Eric was an excellent soldier and would go far, he would see to that.
How many children?

Ten, sir. Two of which perished in the flames, but they were boys, so no loss.

Perak nodded.
How many of the survivors are female?

Six of them, sir. A good haul, all things considered.

Perak nodded in agreement.
Dispose of the boys, and then we'll depart. Carry one girl each. Excellent work, men. You will all receive commendations. Now, move!

Friday had finally arrived. The day they had all been waiting for. It was not that their first week of school had been dull, or even that they had great plans for the weekend; no, it was that their first proper flying lesson was going to be today.  Concentrating on the work during their morning lessons was very hard, as it was their final lesson of the week that they were all looking forward to, and Crystal could think of nothing else.

As soon as they arrived at their classroom after lunch, their flying master, Captain Stone
—
or Professor Stone, as he told them they should call him while he was their teacher
—
instructed them to leave their things in the class and to follow him. Their class were joined by the four other classes for this lesson, and they all followed Professor Stone in single file from the school building in the direction of the edge of the inner city, towards the amphitheatre, which was originally used for public performances, but had been temporarily set aside for their lessons while the school developed their own facility. The amphitheatre was a large grassy bowl, several hundred metres in diameter, and was only a short walk from the school. The path led to the nearest edge of the amphitheatre, where there was a wooden platform that projected into space like a giant diving board with a long drop from the far end. There were two large wooden huts to the left and right of the path, which had a temporary look about them, as if they had been erected in a hurry.

"Right, students," Professor Stone began, raising his voice so all one hundred and twenty students could hear. He looked quite young, maybe not even thirty years old, and looked as excited as the students were. "This is what you have been waiting for all week. We like to save the best till last. By the end of today, all of you have will have learnt the basics of a simple, straight glide." There were a few groans from the more adventurous students, which he ignored. "Some of you may be a little nervous, but I assure you that you will all master this with ease. Before we begin, I would like to ask how many of you have been taught anything about how to fly by your parents."

A few hands were raised gingerly, most of them in Crystal's class. "Well, technically, all of you have broken the law, or at least your parents have," Professor Stone noted with amusement. The hands all vanished, and he laughed. "This isn't a law that we punish in the courts though. The punishment is issued when you crash and die if your parents fail to teach you the basics properly." There were a few gasps from the girls, with Daisy looking particularly worried.

"But that's not something that will happen in my class," the Professor assured them. "So, hands up again, let me count you." Five hands slowly raised in the air. "Excellent. Please step forwards, each of you. I would like your assistance." Four boys and one girl moved hesitantly to the front. John was one of them. Crystal couldn't tell if he was nervous or bored; as usual, his face failed to register any emotion.

"Now, I will be demonstrating the glide myself of course, before I get the rest of you to have a go, but I thought I would see if any of you would like the opportunity to shine in front of your peers before we begin. Who would like to show the class what they have already learnt?"

Two of the boys looked pretty confident and nodded eagerly as they stepped forwards. John, the other boy, Jerome, and the girl, all stayed where they were.

"We have our first two volunteers. Go and transform in the hut, if you would be so kind. Young lady, what's your name?"

"Mia," she replied. She was one of the girls from Furnace, who sat in front of John in their classroom. Crystal had never spoken to her, but her distinctive curly hair gave away her origin.

"Well, Mia, we can't let the boys have all the fun. Would you mind transforming as well? Use the other hut, the one marked ladies. Thank you; off you go. Now, while they transform, I'll explain what they'll be doing." While they waited for the others to return, the Professor talked them through the basics of gliding, which were just as simple as they expected.

"Ah, volunteer number one," the Professor announced. The first dragon emerged from the boys' hut, shortly followed by the other. The third dragon emerged from the girls' hut a moment later. The crowd parted as the dragons approached, towering over their fellow students. Each dragon was so alike
—bright red scales from nose to tail and even redder, fierce-looking eyes, long legs, about as long as Crystal was tall, and a long neck, about half as long again as their legs. They had the same pattern of spines on their heads, and a single crest down their long necks.
Crystal marvelled at how hard the students were to identify as dragons, the girl indistinguishable from the boys.

The professor, however, appeared to have a sharper eye. "Right, now our first volunteer, Ben
—
if I remember the name correctly
—
please glide from the platform on this side to the other platform on the far side, the lower one over there."

Ben stepped cautiously towards the edge of the platform, his confidence appearing to vanish. He stretched out his long neck to peer over the edge before spreading his wings, and then after a long pause, leapt forwards. He wobbled slightly while he glided, but landed competently on the platform on the far side of the amphitheatre. The class clapped politely and Ben started to walk back.

"Very good, Ben. Your parents have taught you admirably. Now, Alex, I believe, your turn."

Alex was more confident, and spread his wings and charged towards the edge. Sadly, his confidence was not matched by his skill, and he veered from right to left as he flew, struggling to hold a straight line and almost missed the platform, flailing with his legs as he landed to avoid slipping off the edge. There were a few laughs, but the Professor shouted loudly "well done," and the class clapped along with him.

Mia proved to be the best of the three in the air, gliding smoothly towards the platform, although her landing was a little awkward and she slid gently into the grassy bank of the amphitheatre, her claws cutting deep marks in the turf.

"Now, Jerome, I see you have transformed for us already," the Professor noted. Jerome was sat patiently behind the class, his head resting on the ground. "Would you like to show us what you can do?"

Jerome tipped his head to the side, and then nodded. Without running towards the platform, he merely flapped his wings to take off and then glided in a circle around the amphitheatre, passing over the class once, before circling again to land on the other platform. He bowed his head before taking off again and flying back to land behind the class, where he performed another bow to enthusiastic applause from the class.

"Well done, Jerome," the Professor shouted enthusiastically, which appeared to be his favourite method of communication. "I see your parents have been breaking the law for some time." The class laughed at this. "No, don't go back to the huts to transform. Stay and watch our final volunteer. Our blond-haired friend. Do you think you can do any better than that, John?"

Crystal cringed at the reference to his hair. Why was it so important? And why did John have to stand out yet again? Hadn't he learnt anything from the geography lesson?

"Yes, sir." John replied earnestly, standing to attention as he addressed the professor. "I can do more than that."

"Well, well, another son of criminals, and a confident one at that. Let's see what you can do, John."

"Alright, sir. Of course." He started walking towards the platform.

"Err, John. Aren't you forgetting something?" Professor Stone asked politely.

"Sir?"

"Transforming, John? The huts are over that way." He pointed towards the boys' hut, and there were a number of mocking laughs from the class.

John smiled back at him. "I haven't forgotten anything, sir," he replied, and broke into a run towards the platform. It was a fifty foot drop from the platform, easily enough to kill someone if they fell, and there were gasps of shock as John leapt from the edge without having transformed. Crystal's stomach turned as she watched him suspended in the air with the huge drop beneath him. He curled into a ball as he leapt, executing a neat somersault in the air, and in a flash, John transformed, faster than Crystal thought was even possible, his clothes vanishing to be replaced with shiny red scales and wings bursting from his back and catching the wind and stopping his descent. With his wings spread wide, he circled the amphitheatre before beginning to flap his wings hard, moving faster and faster through the air. He caught a thermal and rose quickly, ascending high above the class before changing direction suddenly and moving into a dive. He pulled out of the dive just above the opposite platform and flapped his wings several times to break his fall, landing vertically onto the platform with complete control. A number of the students watching broke into cheers, although mainly those from the other classes.

"Well done, John!" the Professor shouted excitedly. "Fantastic flying. Really first class. Come on back."

John nodded his head in accord, and flew directly to them, flapping his wings quickly as he returned in a straight line towards them. Just before he landed on the platform, he performed another mid-air transformation back into his human form, his clothes wrapping around him smoothly to retain his modesty and landing gently on two feet.

"That was perfectly executed, John," Professor Stone enthused. "Literally perfect! I've rarely seen anyone fly as well as that, and if I'm honest, I didn't think transforming that fast was even possible. Students, what John just showed you is about as much as you need to learn over the two years, and quite a bit more. We don't teach mid-air transformation, of course, or even practice it, and although I'm impressed John, please don't encourage your classmates to attempt the same, unless you want them to plummet to their deaths. Where did you say you learnt to do all that John?"

"I didn't say, but it was my father who taught me, sir. He is an excellent flyer."

"I would say so, John. He must have been an excellent teacher as well. He should be instructing our troops. I'd be keen to know how you managed those two mid-air transformations myself, and wouldn't mind him showing me. Still, we have you here, and he should be proud of what he's produced in you."

"Thank you, sir. I do try and make him proud."

Crystal shook her head in disgust. Did John want the class to hate him? Why couldn't he just talk like a normal boy? He sounded like a servant. To her even greater disgust, he moved back into the group to stand next to her. She glared at him and moved to the other side of Jenna, placing her cousin between them. He had not bothered her for the last two days, and she had hoped that it was going to stop. It seems that this was a vain hope.

Professor Stone instructed the rest of them to transform in the huts, and they filed into the large wooden structures in two groups, taking it in turns to transform. Crystal always felt a little self-conscious undressing in groups like this. Just because they were the same sex didn't remove the need for privacy, she thought to herself, and it was outrageous that the school made people like her change in this fashion. Being able to change instantly like John had was suddenly very appealing. He did fly unusually well
—
spectacularly well when she came to think of it. Not that she would tell him, of course. That would require talking to him, which she planned to avoid.

She watched Daisy changing up ahead. She guessed that Daisy rarely had to suffer the indignity of having to disrobe in front of anyone else. Well, other than in front of maids who were there to dress her. Daisy had a figure that most of her classmates would be envious of, and with long, slim legs, she was actually one of the taller girls in the class, so it seemed strange that people referred to her as little Daisy. Still, there was something childlike about her. She looked just as uncomfortable as Crystal did changing in front of her classmates, despite her stunning physique. Jenna on the other hand didn't seem to care at all. The more people looked at her, the better it seemed. She transformed quite quickly, and seemed to relish the experience. It was strange seeing her as a dragon for the first time. She looked just like any other Red Dragon, but the way that her red eyes darted around, seeing who was looking at her, and the way that she tilted her head as if posing, made her easy to recognise. If it was possible for a dragon to pout, Crystal was sure that her cousin would be doing so.

Crystal knew that she would be slower than everyone else, so decided to hurry up and start. She had practiced all week now, and was in control of her transformation, but needed to concentrate before beginning. She quickly removed the last of her clothes and moved into a clear space in the hut to begin transforming. The sensation was more enjoyable now, and it felt more like she was changing back into the correct form rather than an alien one. She flapped her wings as they formed, and heard a couple of girls nearby squawk in protest. She ignored them and hopped forwards, eager to join the class.

That's you, isn't it?
Jenna stated tentatively, her voice inside her head.
I was half expecting you to have blond scales.

And I was expecting you to have painted claws and lips,
Crystal quipped in return.

Very funny. I see you have control of your thoughts already
, Jenna retorted.
I was expecting you to embarrass yourself today by broadcasting your every day dream.