War of Dragons (29 page)

As they approached the camp, Theo shrieked at a blond-haired young man who was sitting near a campfire. He turned around at the sound and transformed immediately, taking to the air and rising to join them as they flew over the camp. Theo continued forwards, not deviating from his flight-path, and flew straight over the campsite and the grassy area behind, after which they reached two smaller campsites where the other two groups of dragons were gathered. Between the two sites there were a handful of tents, which was where Theo led them to land. He transformed as soon as he landed and as he did, a group of young men and women emerged from the darkness; the volunteers who were to join them in the rescue. John, Dinah and Reuben weren't sure what to do, so they stayed as dragons.

"Welcome all," Theo said curtly. "We're a little short on time, so we can't dwell on introductions, but this is John, Dinah and Reuben, who have been involved since the start. Now, there's been a slight change in the plan that I explained to you yesterday evening, which I'm afraid I don't have time to explain personally." He paused, assessing the group. "You, you, you two, and you," he said, pointing at five of the men. "All of you come with me. Reuben will explain to the rest of you what's happening. Farewell; we will see you later today."

Theo transformed again and shrieked again as he took off. John and the others rose to join him, and they headed to begin their mission.

No need for stealth this far away,
Theo told them as they flew over the border.
Gul will leave very soon and he will be moving quickly, so we don't have the luxury of time. For those who've just joined us, our task is to go ahead, sneak into the camp and try and prevent the Blues from murdering their prisoners when they realise that they're hopelessly outnumbered. John, Dinah, you both saw the camp as well. Any ideas on how we tackle this?

We don't know where the prisoners are going to be,
Dinah replied.
We have to locate them first. We need to gather them together. With so few there's only one way of defending them.

Size and strength rather than speed,
Theo replied in agreement.
Gul had the same thought. John, have you ever transformed into the Teradon?

Twice in anger,
John replied.
I had to defend Crystal and some others from a Blue Dragon raiding party earlier this year, and I had to do so again on the way home.

Well that's twice more than most of us,
Theo observed.
I've taken the form of course, in training, but never in real combat. Up to today, I've been able to say that I've never taken a life—something I was rather happy about. I guess that will change rather soon. Anyway, Dinah, I think you're right. If we can gather them together, we can form a defensive circle. The hard part is going to be gathering up all those terrified girls into a circle before the Blue Dragons manage to work out what we're doing and try and stop us.

So what's the plan?
one of the new dragons asked.
Are we just going to dive in and transform straight away? Drive all the prisoners into a tight ball? A bit of fire would probably get them moving.

No, Gideon, I don't think that would be a good idea. We're not rounding up sheep here; I think we're going to have to persuade them first. Although perhaps this isn't the role for you.

Sounds a bit risky,
Gideon replied stubbornly.
My way may be quicker.

Why not just attack straight away?
Another of the new dragons suggested.
Send all those Blue Dragons straight into the air. We could finish this battle before the others even get here.

Eight against several thousand and you think we can finish this battle?
Theo asked scornfully.
You do know how the Teradon were wiped out, don't you? Besides, you know our laws prevent us from attacking the Blues until they've attacked us first. Our role is to protect the prisoners, not to defeat the Blues.

Yes, Theo,
Dinah replied.
But as soon as any of us have been attacked, we can all fight back. That'll happen as soon as they see us, so that law is really not going to be an issue.

John said nothing, knowing that he had broken that law more than once already and having no intention of following it today. He knew what Reuben would think of this law.

They won't see us coming,
a third dragon added.
Land, transform and just stomp through all their tents. Kill all those on the ground straight away. The others will just run in terror at the sight of us.

Stomp through the tents!
Theo sounded incredulous.
Have you forgotten why we're here? We don't know which tents the prisoners are in. We could crush hundreds of them to death!

Alright, just a suggestion,
the dragon replied, sounding a little hurt.
I thought you were looking for ideas.

Let’s try to restrict that to good ideas rather than whatever comes into your mind. How old are you anyway?

Seventeen, sir, same as Gideon and Natan,
the dragon replied.
We volunteered together.

Theo sighed.
John, Dinah, in case you were wondering, all of the more experienced dragons are in the other group. That was intentional. Our job may seem difficult, but keeping those three groups from killing each other might be harder still.

Understood,
John replied.
Look, we will be able to see this place long before we arrive, so we can try to work out where to start in those last couple of minutes. I think we have to get straight into the prisoners’ quarters and talk to a few prisoners, which means going on two legs, even at the risk of being spotted. Some of these girls won't even know what a Golden Dragon is, let alone a Teradon, so if they see a huge unfamiliar dragon in their camp they're more likely to run away from us as run to us, unless we talk to a few first, who can try to lead the rest.

Good idea, John,
Theo replied,
that makes sense. Dinah, you've spent the most time with the girls we rescued. How do you think they'll respond? There's no chance they will have formed emotional attachments to the Blues, is there? Could they give us away?

No chance whatsoever,
Dinah replied.
According to that prisoner who escaped, they're treated pretty cruelly and the Blues are forbidden from showing them any kindness to avoid that happening. Their leaders are presumably worried that they might help a girl escape. Girls disappear regularly once they get too old and no one is under illusions about what happens to them.

Understood,
Theo replied.
I suspected that would be the case. We don't know how many prisoners there are here, but if the ones we rescued are to believed there are about ten thousand. I expect that means they're scattered over a wide area, so when we land we will split into four groups of two. Are any of you five older than seventeen?

I am, sir,
one replied.
I'm twenty-seven and I've flown over this area before.

You have? Why weren't you on the original mission? What's your name?

Barnabas, sir, and I was out of town at the time, sir.

Never mind, you're here now. Right, John, you take Natan, I'll take Gideon, Dinah, you go with—um, that one, and you two go together. As John said, we will choose our landing spots when we get there. We've seen the camp but it was only partially constructed so it may look quite different now.

The long journey was quite uneventful, flying high over the forest without seeing anyone. They remained as Golden Dragons till the forest ended and the plains appeared, indicating the camp was not far.

Time to go in disguise,
Theo advised, transforming into a Blue Dragon after he spoke. The others all copied him.

There! There's the camp!
Gideon said.

Everyone slow down!
Theo commanded.
They don't normally fly this fast and we want time to be able to examine the camp.

John slowly scanned his eyes along the camp. It was a lot bigger than when there were last here and it was surrounded by a high outer fence, which was presumably to keep the prisoners in. Inside the outer fence he saw some areas that were partitioned, surrounded by additional high fences. Inside them were rows of tents.

The fenced-off areas,
John said.
Straight ahead. Those must be the prisoners’ quarters.

I think you're right,
Theo replied.
There are quite a few of them. I think I can see ten separate enclosures.
There were ten of the square enclosures, arranged in a two-by-five arrangement, with many other tents dotted around the campsite outside of the enclosures.

I make it ten as well,
Dinah confirmed.
There are loads of tents inside them as well. Must be a couple of hundred in each one.

At least,
John agreed.
There aren't a lot of Blue Dragons in those areas. Do you think we will be allowed in? I'm guessing they don't just let any dragons enter where the prisoners are.

What choice do we have?
Dinah asked.
We have to get into those enclosures.

We could burrow in from outside?
John suggested.
Pop up in one of those tents.

No time,
John, Theo replied.
We don't know how long we have till the others arrive. Besides which, you could easily completely miss the tent. Right, John and Natan, take the two on the left, Barnabas, take the two on the right. Dinah, you take the second two in from the left and I'll take the second two in from the right. Just get them ready to run towards the middle of the camp when the time comes. And remember, stick together! And don't transform till you hear the alarm!

What about the two in middle?
Dinah asked.
We could really do with a couple more people.

Tell me about it,
Theo agreed.
You and I will have to try three each. I'll take the far one, you take the near one. Right, time to descend; see you all soon.

As John began his descent towards the camp with Natan, he reflected that Theo's parting words didn't really fit the occasion and sounded far too relaxed. They headed for the nearest of the two fenced off enclosures Theo had assigned them, studying the arrangement as they approached. The tents were arranged in ten rows of twenty with a gap between the fifth and sixth row with four larger tents between them. They could see some prisoners milling around the central tents.

The centre tent?
Natan asked.

No, there will probably be Blues in there. It's probably where they have lunch, or just congregate during the day. Look, that tent, over there. Just follow me; I'll show you.

A brown-haired girl had just entered one of the smaller tents which John was heading for.
When we land, transform as fast as you can and then get inside the tent straight away,
John told Natan.
Those tents are too small to get in otherwise; we'd destroy it if we entered like this. Do it very quickly.

John transformed as he landed, praying no one would notice his blond hair. He opened the tent entrance flaps and ran inside, finding himself face to face with a tiny, brown-haired girl. A look of horror fell on her face and she lifted her hands to her face and began to scream—a scream that John cut short by grabbing her and covering her mouth.

"Quiet!" he hissed, lifting her from the ground and muffling her terrified yells.

She stopped screaming immediately, going limp in his arms and offering no resistance at all. She really was tiny, barely coming up to John's armpit. John lowered her to the ground and carefully took his hand away from her mouth.

"Please, please just leave me alone;" she babbled. "I'm reserved by one of the commanders. No one else is allowed to touch me. You know you'll get in trouble for just being seen in this tent—"

"Oh, come on," Natan objected. "Do we even look like Blues?"

Her eyes widened. "You—you have yellow hair." She looked at them curiously, her fear diminishing. "What are you? What do you want with me?"

John released his grip a little.

"We're Golden Dragons," he told her softly, trying to reassure her. "We've come here to get you out of here and bring you home. Now, if I let go of you will you run or scream, or do anything stupid?"

She shook her head and John released her.

"How old are you anyway?" Natan asked. "Do they really, you know… with girls as young as you?"

She glared at him. "I'm eighteen. I'm just a little short." She looked down at the ground sadly, shaking her head. "But no, they don't care too much about your age." She turned back to John. "Are you really here to rescue me? How are you going to get me past all those Blue Dragons without them catching us? You know, if you get us caught they'd kill me as well as you."

John shook his head. "Listen, we don't have a lot of time to explain everything. But yes, we are here to rescue you and not just you; we're here to get everyone out. There's a huge number of dragons on their way here—mainly yours—and we think that when the Blues see them coming, they might kill you all before we get here rather than let you get away."

The girl put her hand to her mouth in dismay, her eyes wide and wild. "They would do that! They killed twenty this morning in front of us all because of the escape as a warning. It was horrible."

"Shhh!" John whispered. "Calm yourself; you're going to be alright. That's why we're here ahead of the others—to stop that happening. We can protect you, but only if you all do exactly what we tell you. To make this work we need your help. We need everyone to know what they need to do when the alarm sounds so they won't get killed. You're going to need help with that and I don't want to have to repeat myself. Quickly, go outside and bring us at least ten girls who you can trust. I will explain to all of you as soon as you get back. Go on, go now!"