Jonah and the Last Great Dragon (7 page)

The dragon-riders stared in utter disbelief at the scenes below them in Hyde Park. Jonah’s jaw dropped as he looked down on thousands of people moving in the park and the streets surrounding it. The Night Creatures obviously had not invaded this part of London yet. It was also clear that even though they could not telephone, watch television or use their computers, Londoners had found ways of passing on the amazing news that dragons weren’t just legends, after all. There were actually going to be real, live dragons in the park. A sea of faces turned up to gaze at them and there were flashes of light in the air.

‘What’s that?’ Mordiford wanted to know.

‘They are taking your photos. Pictures of you,’ Jonah said. ‘Those twinkly lights are their cameras flashing. Oh, I’ll explain later.’ He could see that the dragons had no idea what he was talking about.

As the drakes lost height, the riders could hear tremendous cheering from the crowds below. Soldiers and police were out in force, and their vehicles were drawn up at all the park entrances. Jonah turned to look at the other riders. The troopers’ mood had been sombre as they flew away from the conflagration: so far they had failed to rid London of the Underworld demons and they had caused a fire that was threatening to destroy a large part of the city. Jonah shook himself, pushed his gloomy thoughts away and got ready for landing. He gestured to Sam.
Where shall we put down?

Sam pointed ahead to a large grassy area on the bank of
the Serpentine, which had been left clear. To the south, there were people on the bridge across the lake and in the park beyond, and there were soldiers and a few Army vehicles on the drive to its right but apart from that, the area was free of people and there was plenty of room for the dragons to touch down.

As the dragon-riders slid from the backs of their drakes, stretching and wriggling after sitting in their harnesses for so long, the dragons sniffed the fresh grass and looked round enquiringly. Soldiers and police were waiting in groups near their vehicles and a large container lorry, with its back doors open, was drawn up on the edge of the lawn.

As soon as Sam dismounted from Mordiford, looking grim, Jonah went over to him. He felt as if there was a leaden weight where his heart should be. He swallowed hard. ‘Sam, I’m so sorry. I really messed up.’

Sam looked surprised. ‘No, you didn’t. You misunderstood my signals, didn’t you? I was trying to say, “Spread out.”’

Jonah shook his head dejectedly. ‘Even so, I ought to have known we could start a fire.’

They were interrupted by a straight-backed, older man in uniform who came quickly towards Mordiford. If he felt any unease as he walked up to the massive wyvern, he certainly did not show it.

‘Who’s this?’ whispered Jonah.

‘Our commanding officer,’ said Sam quietly, stepping forward to salute. ‘Colonel. Good afternoon, sir.’

‘And this must be Jonah Drake.’ The Colonel smiled, putting out his hand to shake Jonah’s. ‘You’ve had a problem.’ It was a statement, not a question.

Jonah flushed. ‘I should have realised…’ He was going to say that he should have known that the joint fire-attack might be dangerous but the Colonel cut in.

‘Don’t blame yourself. We know what happened. We’ve had men relaying news here. You, and the troopers for that matter, were in a totally new situation. I don’t want you worrying about it. You did a splendid job in getting rid of that colossal creature on the South Bank. I’m told you showed very great personal courage and initiative.’

‘Thank you.’ Jonah began to feel a bit better.

The Colonel smiled again and looked up at Mordiford with admiration. ‘And what kind of dragon is this wonderful creature?’

Jonah told him that Mordiford was a wyvern and explained the difference between him and the firedrakes, the wyrms and gargouilles.

‘They are magnificent,’ the Colonel said admiringly. ‘I have to say I envy you both. It must be quite an experience to ride one.’

Mordiford swished his tail in pleasure when Jonah passed on the Colonel’s comments. ‘A discerning man,’ he said approvingly, and lowered himself on to the grass, so that he could look straight at the soldier. He sprawled there, blinking happily.

‘He likes you, sir.’ Jonah laughed. He looked around at the troopers who were standing at ease beside their dragons. Eight horned heads, towering over the soldiers, were swinging in all directions, as they looked around expectantly. Suddenly, Wormbridge, who had been constantly turning to gaze at the Serpentine, came slithering over the grass towards them. Jonah caught Sam’s eye and exchanged a grin as they noticed all the onlookers stepping back nervously, ready to move fast if Wormbridge turned their way.

‘Master,’ said the dragon, in a voice that sounded like a bubbling kettle, ‘we wyrms would dearly like to take to the water.’

‘Oh, yes, that’s a good idea. I’m sure you can.’ Jonah had a thought and grinned. ‘It’s a very appropriate place for you three. Men call it The Serpentine.’

‘Hrmmph.’ Wormbridge pretended to be disgusted. He indicated that he was no wingless, floundering
serpent;
wyrms were very superior creatures.

‘Sorry. Do you want to have some meat first?’

Wormbridge shook his head. ‘It’s better to swim before we eat anything.’

The Colonel’s mouth was twitching as he listened. He shook his head in amusement and turned to Sam.

‘Jonah’s using dragon-speak, sir,’ said Sam

‘It’s the oddest thing I’ve ever heard! What were they talking about?’

Sam laughed. ‘I wish I could tell you, sir.’

Jonah explained that the wyrms wanted to swim in the lake. The Colonel could see no objection to that, so Sam went over to tell Oscar, Ollie and Brinsop’s rider, Henry. Wormbridge summoned the other wyrms and the three of them slid gratefully through the trees to the northern part of the Serpentine, known as the Long Water, and sank most of their length beneath the surface. Immediately a great cloud of water birds rose into the air, squawking and honking in fright. Parts of the wyrms’ snakelike coils showed above the water and they held their heads upright as they swam, so that they could inspect the people watching them. There were crowds of onlookers on the bridge and in the parkland around the southern part of the Serpentine. Excited squeals from the crowds made Jonah guess, as he walked back to the Colonel, that the drakes were having fun and playing up to their wary audience.

‘You will want to start feeding the others now, I expect,’ said the Colonel. ‘The meat is over there, in the lorry.’

‘Yes, please. I think they are quite hungry.’

‘There’s also food for you and the soldiers, Jonah. Come over when you’re ready,’ said the Colonel, and he walked over to give orders to distribute the meat.

When he was on his own with the Great Dragon, Jonah leaned against Ffyrnig’s warm shoulder, despondently staring at the grass. He was only dimly aware of the other firedrakes and gargouilles ambling towards the trees by the Carriage Drive, where men were laying out large haunches of beef and pork.
What a mess
, he thought.
How will the angels cope now that they have to fight the demons one by one?
Ffyrnig swung his head round to look at him.

‘Jonah? It wasn’t certain we could rid London of the Night Swarm, you know. Try not to be so sad.’

‘Can’t help it. What if the fire engines can’t get through because of the Night Creatures?’ Jonah kicked gloomily at a tuft of grass. ‘It was my fault that the fire started. I ought to have known!’

‘Now, come on. How could you…?’

Jonah scowled and broke in. ‘Ffyrnig, the SAS weren’t on Hereford Cathedral. But I was! I saw how you scorched the roof-leads.’

The Great Dragon narrowed his eyes. ‘So it’s really my fault, you mean.’

‘Oh, no! No. I didn’t mean that at all!’ He felt guilty instantly and began to stroke Ffyrnig’s neck to show he was sorry. ‘I just meant that I should have realised how intense the heat would be, when all nine of you breathed fire out at the same time. If I’d thought it through, I’d have asked you to spread out, well away from each other, and do different streets. I’m such an idiot!’

He leaned against the Great Dragon’s red scaly hide, looking miserably at his feet without seeing them. In his mind’s eye he was flying over the burning streets again and hearing the crackling hiss of the flames as they licked from
building to building. Gently, Ffyrnig swung his head round and nuzzled Jonah’s shoulder comfortingly.

Jonah looked up at him. ‘You should go and eat.’

‘I will in a minute.’

They were standing quietly, Jonah sunk in thought, and Ffyrnig looking down at him, when they heard a familiar voice. There was an excited shout and a slight figure came dashing across the grass, curls flying.

‘Hey, Jonah!’

Jonah straightened up. ‘Erin! I can’t believe it!’ Instantly Jonah’s mood lightened. Erin’s excitement was infectious and, laughing delightedly, they did a ‘high five’.

‘How did you get here?’

‘In an armoured car from Credenhill, with your aunt and uncle. Claire – she says I’m to call her Claire now – asked if I could go too. Wasn’t that totally great of her? Oh, and I have to call Bryn “Bryn” now. And Rhodri. They are so cool, Jonah, your relations. And travelling with the SAS was awesome.’ The torrent of words poured out. Erin began to stroke Ffyrnig’s side.

‘He won’t mind if I stroke him, will he? It’s just so gorgeous to see him again! And you, too.’

Jonah found that the Great Dragon was perfectly content to be stroked by “the beautiful Welsh maiden”, as Ffyrnig put it, but he felt shy of passing on that particular message word for word.

With her cheek pressed against Ffyrnig’s warm leathery leg, Erin looked at Jonah. In a much quieter voice she said, ‘I couldn’t believe what happened with the sea serpent. You were
so
brave. I thought I would burst with tension until you all drove it into the river.’

Jonah screwed up his eyes in bewilderment. ‘Burst with tension…’ he repeated slowly.

‘Yes, we were
there
. Your aunt and uncle, me and Rhodri.
The soldiers brought us to the South Bank just as you were driving that
ginormous
serpent away from The Globe. We watched you.’

Jonah’s jaw dropped. ‘You saw it all?’

She nodded, eyes shining. ‘Yeah, we were behind the barricades along the South Bank. Near that big bridge. Southwark, is it? The soldiers had binoculars, so we could see quite a lot. We couldn’t see very well when you were on the ground but it was absolutely mind-blowing to watch the dragons dropping down on that thing, particularly when those two SAS chaps rescued the man who was hurt.’

Jonah stared as Erin went on. ‘And although we didn’t actually see what you did, Jonah, we were told all about it.’ She giggled. ‘I swear Claire grew about two feet! She’s so
proud
of you. Everyone is!’

She beamed at Jonah but then, as he looked down at the ground with burning cheeks, she straightened up and studied him with concern. Ffyrnig was looking sadly at him, too.

‘What’s wrong?’ Erin asked.

‘Haven’t you heard about the fire?’

She shook her head, mystified. ‘What fire?’

‘The one that’s burning all the streets around Victoria Station. All the dragons breathing fire out together was just too much. It was all my fault.’ He told her the whole story and found that just talking about it with Erin made him feel better.

‘So, not so much for Claire to feel proud about, is there?’ he finished.

Erin shook her head at him. ‘Don’t beat yourself up so much. Nobody’s an expert on dragons – not yet, at least – and don’t forget, you
are
still only twelve!’

She began to grin and, despite still feeling worried, Jonah found himself laughing too.

‘Come on, Ffyrnig,’ he said at last, straightening up. ‘Your meat’s here.

As Jonah spoke, two mounted policemen came cantering down the carriage drive towards the bridge. He heard Ffyrnig suddenly draw in his breath and, as he looked up to see what had made the dragon give such a deep sigh, Ffyrnig stretched his neck to its full height, rumbled with pleasure and began to pace swiftly across the grass towards the two horses. The terrified animals reared, whinnying with fear, while their riders fought to gain control but, as the Great Dragon came nearer, the horses galloped faster towards the lake, with Ffyrnig in hot pursuit. Jonah sprinted after him, yelling for him to stop.

As they saw the animals coming towards them, everyone began to pour away from the bridge and the horses found their path blocked with scared, jostling people. One horse veered off through the trees, with Ffyrnig lumbering after it and Jonah racing behind, but the other galloped frantically towards the bridge, while screaming people dashed out of its path. There were a few people who did not have time to get off the bridge before the horse thundered on to it. They scrambled over the railings and dropped into the water, much to the interest of Deerhurst, Brinsop and Wormbridge.

The terrified horse, finding people running in front of it, sheered off to its right along the bank of the Long Water. As its rider fought to pull it to a halt, it reared up, hooves flailing, appeared to lose its balance on the soft bank and floundered into the lake. The police rider was thrown headfirst into the water and bobbed to the surface, gasping
and looking wildly around for his horse, which was struggling to swim away from the three excited wyrms.

While this was happening, Ffyrnig had, at last, heard Jonah’s frantic shouts and reluctantly stopped chasing the other horse into the trees. He turned to look back at his young master with a puzzled expression. Jonah came panting up and glared at him.

‘What on earth were you
doing?’
he stormed. ‘You’ve frightened everybody to death.’

Ffyrnig looked hurt. ‘I just went to get my dinner. You said the meat had come.’

‘Oh, hell’s teeth!’ Jonah clapped his hand to his head. ‘Not live meat, you dummy.’ He rubbed Ffyrnig’s leg to show he was not really mad with him. ‘When we say meat, we mean animals that are dead already. Farm animals. You know, reared especially. I’m sorry, Ffyrnig, but you can’t go helping yourself to live animals any more. Not in this century.’

He became aware that people were shouting and the sound of running feet made him turn round. Erin came tearing across the lawn towards them.

‘Ooh,’ she gasped, bending forward to clutch her side. ‘I’ve got a stitch. Quick, you’ve got to get to the lake. They’re going to shoot the wyrms.’

Jonah stared at her and then at the armed police and soldiers who were running towards the lake.

‘Wha-a…’ he began.

She grabbed his shoulders, turning him towards the lake and pushed. ‘Run!’ she yelled. ‘They are going to try to kill them! Go
on
, Jonah! You can’t take the risk!’

He tore across the grass towards the Long Water. Armed police and soldiers, in helmets and protective vests, were hurrying to surround the lake, shouldering sub-machine guns. Jonah dived between two policemen but a heavy
hand on his shoulder pulled him back. He tried to twist away but his arm was caught in an iron grip.

‘Careful, young man. You need to keep back. They’re going to be firing.’ The policeman spoke quite kindly but did not loosen his hold on Jonah.

‘Let me go! Please!’ Jonah was frantic. He could just see that Deerhurst had coiled himself round the policeman in the water and seemed to be holding him up, but Brinsop and Wormbridge were driving the terrified horse down the length of the Long Water. Jonah guessed they were going to try to herd it towards a thicket of trees on the left bank, where they could kill it and feed in peace. The crowds were screaming.

‘I have to get to the lake!’ He renewed his struggle to free himself.

The policeman put a heavy arm round his shoulders and with his other hand gripped Jonah’s wrist firmly.

‘Stop this now, sonny. You can’t go any further. It’s dangerous.’

‘I’ve got to get to the Colonel.’ He struggled harder as the policeman pulled him back. ‘They mustn’t shoot at the dragons. They can’t! He has to stop them.’

‘I don’t know about that.’

Jonah was frantic. ‘But if they start shooting, the dragons will attack! They can’t be killed with guns but they
will
turn nasty. I have to get the Colonel!’

‘We take our orders from the Chief Superintendent. He’s in charge.’

‘No, he isn’t!’ There was an angry shout from behind them and Erin rushed up. Her eyes were blazing. She was pointing at Jonah while she gasped for breath.
‘He’s
the person who’s in charge. He’s the person who can sort out the dragons. He’s more important than anyone else. Let him go!’ She shook back her curly hair and glared at the
two policemen, who looked at each other with amusement. The other policeman, a big man with laughter lines at the corners of his eyes, smiled at Jonah.

‘You’re in charge, are you? And why is that?’

‘Because he’s the Dragon-master!’ Erin’s eyes blazed. ‘He’s the only person who can stop them from eating the horse. You’ve got to let him go!’

Sam came running across the grass. A quick explanation, a brief apology from the policemen and Jonah was haring along the Long Water. The wyrms had forced the panic-stricken horse against the opposite bank.

He cupped his hands round his mouth. ‘Brinsop! Wormbridge!’

The dragons did not seem to hear.
Oh, please
. He tried again. ‘Brinso-o-op! Wormbridge!’ This time it worked. The wyrms’ heads turned towards his call. ‘Don’t kill it! Don’t kill the horse! It’s not for eating. Understand?’

He was not sure they did understand. They exchanged glances and then looked at him with puzzled expressions in their reptilian eyes. But then they stopped swimming and Jonah watched with enormous relief as the horse struggled out of the water and galloped away into the trees.

He ran all the way round the northern end of the lake and down the path beside the Long Water until he reached the place where the wyrms were floating. Deerhurst, who seemed to have put the policeman on the bank – at least, Jonah hoped fervently that was what he
had
done with the man – was swimming quickly to join them.

He stood on the bank, beckoning to the wyrms to come closer. ‘I’m sorry,’ he called. ‘I’m afraid we don’t usually eat horses in Britain nowadays. They are really off-limits.’

The wyrms looked bewildered.

‘Why?’ asked Brinsop, swishing his tail in agitation.

‘We-ell,’ Jonah began, wondering how to explain how
the British felt about horses to three huge carnivores, ‘horses work for us. And we ride them and have fun with them. People get very fond of their horses, so we don’t usually eat them. The Army and the police were all set to shoot at you, you know. I don’t think they could have killed you but you might have been hurt.’

The three wyrms looked at him enquiringly with their heads cocked on one side.

‘Have we done wrong, Master?’ asked Wormbridge plaintively.

‘Well, it wasn’t your fault. But remember, when we say we’re going to give you meat, we mean animals that have already been slaughtered. By a butcher. Okay?’

The wyrms exchanged disappointed glances but they all nodded their heads above the surface of the lake.

‘Yes, Master.’ Brinsop spoke for the three of them. ‘We shall wait to be given dead meat from now on.’

‘When there are people around,’ added Wormbridge sweetly.

Jonah grinned. ‘Oi! Even if there aren’t people around, the farm animals all belong to someone. I’ll be in all sorts of trouble, if you take any.’ He thought for a moment. ‘Maybe there are places where you
could
go hunting, though. I’ll have to find out about that. But now, come on up and get some food. Look, the lorry is parked over there on the drive. Behind the trees.’

The three wyrms slid out of the water, hauled themselves up the bank and came to slither along beside Jonah. As he led the way across the grass. he saw with relief that two soldiers had helped the mounted policeman out of the lake and he was sitting down, draped in a blanket. The noise level rose as they drew nearer the excited crowd, who were watching from behind a ring of soldiers. As he looked towards the meat lorry and the
Army vehicles drawn up on the Carriageway, he caught sight of Erin, just walking back to the line of people by the drive. And there was Claire, with Bryn and Rhodri. She was laughing and waving with all her might. Jonah smiled to himself, as he strode along between Brinsop and Deerhurst, who were quite excited to be the focus of attention. Drops of water flew from their wet heads and shoulders as they swivelled this way and that to stare at all the people. Jonah began to giggle as they sprayed water over his head.

‘Hey, I had a shower this morning!’

Max came striding across the lawn to meet them, grinning broadly and shaking his cropped head at the wyrms.

‘Bad boys!’ Then he turned to Jonah, smiling. ‘Well done. I thought we were going to have a nasty incident there.’

‘So did I,’ sighed Jonah. ‘I don’t
think
guns can hurt them badly but—’

‘But it’s not something we want to put to the test.’

‘Hell, no! I just want to get all the drakes fed now and get something to eat myself. And then I can start really worrying about how we haven’t got rid of the Night Creatures.’ He grinned ruefully at the trooper. ‘Total failure. What a mess, Max!’

‘Look, son, you had eight chaps from the Regiment with you. We’re trained soldiers and we’re all more than twice your age, and yet we didn’t estimate how strong dragon-fire could be. So how were you supposed to know?’

Jonah looked up at Max’s kindly face. ‘Thanks. Really.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘Phew, I’m getting hungry now.’

‘Sorry, old man. No supper for you just yet. You’re wanted.’

‘Who by?’

A very important message had arrived for the Colonel, Max said. ‘And it concerns you. Come quick, will you?’

Jonah’s heart dropped into his boots. If someone had sent an important message to the Colonel, the person who sent it must be pretty important too, and as the message was about him, it could only mean that he was in somebody’s bad books. Reluctantly he hurried towards the vehicles with Max, while the dragons ambled behind. As they came up to him, the Colonel turned away from a police motorcycle rider he had been talking to.

‘Nice work, Jonah,’ he said warmly. ‘The dragons certainly obey you, don’t they? It’s most impressive.’

Jonah flushed. ‘Saint Michael told me they would cooperate, and they do. I just need to explain things to them. Like, how life is in modern times.’

The Colonel nodded. ‘Watching you with them is quite a sight.’ He smiled at Jonah and then indicated the motorcycle rider. ‘This policeman has just brought me a message. Someone very much wants talk to you.’

Jonah bit his lip. ‘About the fire?’

The Colonel wrinkled his forehead. ‘I don’t honestly know. But you’re to go straight away to Downing Street. You
and
the Great Dragon, apparently. The Prime Minister wants a word.’