Drake the Dragonboy (7 page)

“I don't know,” said Juniper. Wide-eyed, Drake stood silently next to her. He was busy staring at the girl. She had light-coloured tiny spots under the surface of her golden skin and large emerald green eyes. Her hair was so fair it was almost white. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

“They feed it amphetamines.”

“Ampheta-what?” asked Juniper. “Do you know what she's talking about, Drake?” Drake shook his head shyly and felt his face get hot.

“They are drugs that keep you awake. You know, the ones that drug addicts use.” Drake and Juniper looked at her blankly. This was all a foreign language to them.

“Okay,” said Juniper. “If you say so, we won't go over there. Why are they doing that to the dragon?”

“To attract tourists, of course, and then get their money when they go into the nightclub.”

“Tourists?” asked Juniper.

“Night club?” asked Drake, wondering if that was somewhere they'd be able to sleep tonight, and what they'd need to do to join the club.

“Tourists are people who come from other countries,” said the girl, looking at them both strangely. “Are you guys all right? You look really tired and very sunburnt,” she pointed to the red, crispy skin peeling off Juniper's arm.

“Sunburnt?” asked Juniper, rubbing her arm. “My skin is really sore. Burning from the sun, you say. We've never been burned by the sun before,” she said turning to Drake.

“Maybe it's different here … different from …” he paused, “… where we come from. We're kind of tourists here,” he said.

“You look exhausted and you sound as if you're from another planet. Do you need somewhere to stay?” asked the girl.

“Yes,” said Juniper, decisively. Drake was too tired to care but he still wondered what a ‘planet' was. “I know we don't know anything about you but we really have nowhere to go. I'm Juniper and this is Drake. Please help us.”

“I'm Daisy. Follow me,” she said and took them winding through narrow dusty alleyways until they arrived at a tin shed. She pulled open the shed door and beckoned them in after her. Inside, the little house was very clean. The floor was dirt but swept clean and there was a little stove at one end of the room and a pile of mattresses at the other.

“This is where we sleep,” she said pointing to the mattresses. “And this is where we cook,” she said pointing to the other side of the room. “My mum and dad will be back much later tonight … but that's all … my brother and sister are both older than me and have moved out. So, there's plenty of room.” Juniper looked at the three old mattresses dubiously. Her definition of plenty of room must be very different but all the same it was very generous of her to share her house with them. Drake looked around and thought about how his mother would kill him if he brought someone home at the last minute for dinner, let alone to stay the night. She'd fuss that the house wasn't clean enough, that the bed in the spare room didn't have clean sheets … He'd never see the world in the same way again and he knew that was a good thing.

“You both look awful. I'll get you a bucket of water to wash and then I'll make some dinner. After that, you can go to sleep.” She walked out the door with a bucket.

“No running water?” Juniper said. “This place is so different from Dragonland.”

“I know … it's like …”

“Like … awful,” finished Juniper. “How can they live like this? No hot shower? No room to themselves for all their things.”

“No things,” added Drake. They stopped talking as they heard Daisy open the door. She was holding a bucket of water in one hand and had a little pile of eggs cradled in her shirt, supported with her other hand.

“Great news! The girls have laid!” Daisy exclaimed enthusiastically. “Take the bucket of water out the front and have a wash and I'll get dinner.” Daisy threw a piece of colourful material at each of them.

Drake and Juniper stood out the front of the house, holding the sheets of material, and looking at the bucket wondering what they were expected to do. People were walking past on the street, so they were hardly going to strip down and wash. Juniper looked around and saw a woman down the street tie the material around her body just beneath her arms and slip her clothes out from under her. She clumsily did the same thing, standing right up against the building with her back turned to hide her wings. It wasn't as hard for Drake. He tied the material around his waist and whipped off his shirt and trousers, also standing against the building so no-one would see his wings. He washed his face and rinsed his hair and took a little of the water for the rest of his body, making sure to leave plenty for Juniper. Then he got dressed in his clothes again. By this time, Juniper had only managed to get undressed and have the material tied securely around her.

“What I'd give for a bit of soap,” she said rubbing water on her arms to wash the thick grime off. Daisy had appeared at the door, with her hands on her hips. She'd changed out of her jeans and into a loose floral dress. She'd taken her hair out of the pigtails and brushed it and now it floated around her head like a halo.

“Sorry, I don‘t believe in using soap,” she said. “Soap messes up the environment further down in the valleys and stuffs the vegetables. Totally messes with the ph of the soil.”

“Okay, sorry,” said Juniper very quickly and meekly. She didn't mean to be overheard.

“No worries,” Daisy said cheerily. “Just wear your sarong inside and I'll run some cream on your burnt skin.” Juniper and Drake quickly pulled their capes on to cover their wings as they walked inside.

Daisy had prepared a very simple but delicious meal for them of rice, fried eggs and some fried green leaves that neither of them had ever seen before. Drake thought nothing had ever tasted this good. He guessed he'd never been this hungry before. They talked as they ate, with Daisy asking them question after question. They had both decided to be completely honest. Daisy had taken them into her home and if they couldn't trust her, who could they trust?

“So, you're saying that your dad was kidnapped and you've come to save him?” asked Daisy.

“Yes, that's right,” said Drake. “We think he must know something about some dangerous people and they've taken him and locked him away.”

“Okay, that bit makes sense but you're telling me you come from somewhere called Dragonland … is it called that because there are lots of dragons there? Is that why you were so interested in that baby dragon?” Juniper and Drake looked at each other.

“It's called that because we're descended from dragons, I guess,” said Juniper.

“But we're all descended from dragons, Juniper, so that doesn't make any sense,” quipped Drake.

“Ah, no,” said Daisy. “We're all descended from apes. You are joking right?”

“From apes?” asked Juniper. “That's crazy. You think your people used to be monkeys? Eeek.”

“Ummmm… dragons are not that great either … big stupid things stomping around on four legs breathing fire everywhere.”

They all started laughing.

“Do you have wings?” Drake asked Daisy.

“What? Wings? Are you serious? Are you making fun of me?”

“We're serious,” said Juniper. She pulled the cape off and turned around, flicking out her fluffy brown wings and fluttering them gently. Daisy would have fallen over if she'd been standing up.

“You are serious. And you,” she said gesturing to Drake. He took his cape off and flexed his muscly wings. “So you are dragon people. That is so cool.”

“Do you have a tail or something?” asked Drake, wanting some evidence of this crazy ape idea.

“No, apes didn't have tails,” snorted Daisy, thinking that the very idea was ridiculous. “Hey,” she said suddenly, turning to them in excitement, “does this mean that you know the fallen angel? That boy who has giant wings and fell out of the sky all burned and injured?”

“Ronan!” they said in unison. “Is he okay?” asked Juniper.

“He seems fine. He's down at the mission hall with a group of his followers. They're looking after him well. We can go and see him in the morning.” Juniper grabbed Drake's hand as they both grinned with relief. Drake quickly pulled his hand away as he saw Daisy looking at them.

When they walked in, Ronan was sitting on a big lounge chair on the front stage in the large hall. His large dark wings were spread out behind him and he was dressed all in white. Ronan had always had a presence. He was strong and tall and held himself as if he were special. This had all been multiplied by a thousand. There were about three hundred people gathered in the hall listening to him talk and if Drake hadn't known him, he would have thought he was ‘the special one' too.

“In my land, there is no prison. We give everyone enough to eat so they don't need to break the law.” He paused and everyone cheered loudly. What he was saying was true. In Dragonland there was no prison. Sometimes people were sent to therapy at the hospital if they did something strange or out of place. They generally came back cured and were looked after by a supportive community.

“Daisy,” said Drake, pulling her to the side. “Please don't tell anyone we're dragon people. We're here to find my dad and if they find out, I think it will be a distraction.”

“Of course,” she replied. Ronan looked over and saw them and jumped up with delight. “But you'd better tell him that!” she added.

“Friends,” bellowed out Ronan, dramatically, “come and join me on my throne.” Juniper ran up first and whispered something in his ear. He nodded seriously.

“My lovely friends, who are also descended from apes like all you normal people,” said Ronan. “Meet my followers. They think I'm great!” Drake and Daisy now joined him on the stage. The followers made way for them and the four sat in a small circle around Ronan.

“Are you okay, Ronan? We were so worried. We thought you might have died,” said Juniper.

“I'm okay. Badly burned, but these kind people have been putting cream on my wings and have bandaged them up. They think I'm some kind of angel sent by someone called God. I'm just going along with it.”

“How did you get away? Last I saw, you were heading right into the belly of a fire-breathing Quinta,” asked Drake, always keen for the details.

“Well, as I headed out of control upwards, instinct kind of took over. I grabbed the bomb out of my bag but lost the bag and the matches … so when he breathed fire the first time, I thought, that's it! I'll throw the bomb into his fire breath and then fly away as fast as I can. So when he blew for the second time, I chucked the bomb right into his mouth. I didn't count on the force of the fire and the bomb being so strong and it blasted me, burning my wings so badly that I pretty much floated to the ground. I don't really remember that bit. Next thing I knew, I was here in the hall being tended to by these lovely people. They said they found me on the edge of the desert. I would have died if they hadn't found me. They are my saviours as I am their saviour.”

“Hallelujah,” said one follower. The other 299 followers repeated this loudly.

“So, how are you going with the search for your dad?” asked Ronan. “That is, after all our mission here.”

“Not good,” said Drake. “We don't have any leads.”

“Oh, Drake,” said Ronan, putting his arm around his shoulders. “We'll find him. We've got all these people to help us,” he said, sweeping his arm around the room. “We should start by eating a baked potato.”

“What?” Drake asked, looking at Ronan and thinking about the shrivelled-up baked potatoes his mum put on his plate for dinner. “Okay, but I'm not sure how a potato is going to help things.”

Ronan, Daisy, Drake and Juniper went out onto the street and Daisy ordered them all baked potatoes from a tiny little caravan. Drake ordered a Mexican bean potato with extra chilli. He wasn't sure what Mexican meant but Daisy assured him that he'd like it. He'd told her about how much dragonfolk loved hot food. They loved the feeling of fire in their mouths.