War of Dragons (55 page)

However, it also gave him a big advantage; he was able to turn and weave through the sky with ease, finding that the previously disciplined Blues were now much easier to pick off and he was far too quick to worry about dragons attacking him from the rear. He flew straight through the battle arena, attacking every Blue Dragon that he saw that wasn't facing him. A single pass through the cluster of dragons resulted in fifteen Blue Dragons dropping from the air.

But it was still too slow for the Brown Dragons. On the ground below them John could see their bodies littering the ground, intermingled with the corpses of the Blue Dragons. John flew through the dragons again, attacking with renewed determination. The Blue Dragons were now slightly outnumbered, and they were too busy fighting the Brown Dragons to notice John sneaking up on them and attacking them from behind.

That's it, John,
Wami called.
They've lost half of their number now; it's all over.

Are you sure,
John replied, circling back to face the group.
There's still a lot of Brown Dragons dropping from the sky.

No, I'm sure,
Wami replied confidently.
The Blues will turn back any minute now. Look, our dragons are pulling out to regroup. We have almost twice as many as they do.

At first John thought Wami was exaggerating a little, but the Browns did outnumber the Blues and broke free from the chaos to form eight groups of about twenty dragons each. The Blues, far fewer and slower moving, struggled to regroup and the Browns were able to pick off individual dragons with ease. By the time the Blues had reorganised themselves into one large group, there were less than one hundred of them and the Browns were preparing to attack again, but now with a numerical advantage.

Time to go, John,
Wami urged.
There's not a lot you need to do now. This battle will be over in a few minutes.

John watched as another Brown Dragon fell motionless from the sky.
Tell that to him,
he replied.

Or her,
Wami replied.
Not many more will fall here though. That won't be the case at other battles. These fights may go on for hours, but when they're over these small settlements, they never end with Browns retreating. There's nowhere for us to retreat to and if they did, everyone in the settlement would die. One side will slowly get the upper hand and if it's us, the Blues may retreat and get away, but if it's them, it's just a matter of time before they wipe us out. That could have gone either way here, but you've just made sure it went the right way. Now, let's see where else you can make that happen.

Wami flew away from the battle site and John followed after him. He found that Wami was now keeping up with him with ease, not realising how much he slowed after a fight.

Takes a lot out of you, doesn't it?
Wami asked, noticing that he had slowed down.
It's not surprising when you consider how fast you flew through that group of Blue Dragons. I've never seen anything move as fast as that and yet you still had so much control. But you can't keep it up for long can you? I'm guessing you're more comfortable at this pace now aren't you?

Thank you, Wami. You're right, I can't keep up my top speed for long. Not after fighting like that anyway.

Don't worry; I want you to save your strength and speed for the next battle. Pace yourself. Our day has only just begun.

Wami led him on a zigzag route across the Brown Dragon territory and over the course of the day they engaged in ten separate battles, each time tipping the balance in favour of the defending Brown Dragons before flying on to the next battle. Sometimes they only fought for a couple of minutes and did little more than provide a distraction. When the sun finally began to set John was rather glad to be able to land and transform, his wings feeling strangely heavy and stiff. Wami was a little slower at transforming, and when he emerged after changing, John was surprised to see that he looked quite a few years older than John, as his voice made him sound a lot younger. He looked as if he was in his late-twenties and had a roguish, mischievous look on his face. He had a short, neat beard and a moustache and his skin was fairly dark-brown, like his hair, which was common for Brown Dragons.

"I hope you don't mind camping," Wami told him. "We're sort of between towns and we aren't going to be able to get to the next one before sunset. It's a warm evening though, so we probably don't even need to put up a tent—which is handy as I don't have one."

John wasn't sure whether this really constituted camping, but was too polite to mention it. "It suits me fine. I've become quite used to sleeping outdoors. I had to sleep in a tunnel a few nights ago when we were rescuing those prisoners."

"Ah, you were involved in that were you? I was wondering why you were here, although it seemed ungrateful to question your motives after you helped us out. It's all becoming clear now. Is that all over now? Have all of the prisoners been brought back?"

"They've all been brought back to your territory and they're moving them to our territory now, to keep them safe while the war is on. It's taking quite a long time as your leaders couldn't spare many dragons to carry them and most of the girls can't fly. I taught some of them to fly, just the basics, but there are thousands of them to move and they're going to have to walk quite a lot of the way."

"Not the welcome they were expecting to receive, I suspect. Still, better than being in those camps. I heard the stories about them—what they were being kept for. Is it true?"

John nodded. "Even if it hadn't been necessary to rescue them to bring you into this war to help the Reds, I'd have volunteered for that rescue had I known their situation."

"Yes, I've been meaning to ask you about that. Why are you so keen to help the Red Dragons? I know you Golden Dragons like to think you're always so concerned about the welfare of every nation, but few take it as seriously as you, or they'd actually get involved. Why the concern?"

John sighed. "It's quite a long story. I have some good friends there in their capital and I know the Blues are going to attack soon."

"We have plenty of time for long stories," Wami replied. "Neither of us are going anywhere. How do you have friends in the Red Capital?"

"Furnace," John replied. "That's what it is called."

"Very nice," Wami replied indifferently. "Furnace. So how have you ended up with friends in Furnace?"

"A Golden Dragon died on the border between the Blues and Reds and left behind a baby girl. The Reds took her in, thinking she was a Red Dragon and she was adopted by a prominent family. Red Dragons teach their children to transform at sixteen and I was sent to find her and watch over her and to explain to her who she was."

"She didn't know she was a Golden Dragon? Surely the hair should have been a clue."

John shook his head. "Red Dragons don't know anything about us and as she was brought up by them, she didn't know anything either. You'd be surprised; they're pretty ignorant of anywhere except the lands on the doorsteps."

Wami nodded. "Ignorant and vicious. I'm glad we don't share a border with them as well. So, if you were sent to find her, what are you doing here?"

"We learnt of the invasion and came back to warn our people and to seek an alliance on behalf of the Reds. I was one of those that volunteered to rescue the prisoners and while I was away, she went back to Furnace."

Wami shook his head. "Something is missing in your story; it doesn't make sense. I heard that it was two Red Dragons who met with our leaders, not two Golden Dragons and why would she go back without you, on her own?"

John nodded. "We didn't make the journey here alone. Four of our friends came with us; four Red Dragons. They all went back when they heard that the invasion had started."

"And this girl, is she, well... are you two, you know..."

"No, she's just a friend. To be honest, she hated me at first."

"But you like her, right?"

"As a friend, nothing more."

Wami didn't seem convinced by this. "You seem very anxious about getting back. There's definitely something you're not telling me."

John chuckled. "Alright, I'll tell you. One of the Reds is special to me. But honestly, I'd have been just as diligent if she wasn't amongst them."

Wami laughed. "A likely story. I knew this had something to do with a girl. So what's her name?"

"Daisy," John replied.

Wami frowned. "Wasn't that the name of the Princess that met our leaders?"

John nodded. "Yes, that's her. Princess Daisy. Most people at school just call her Daisy."

Wami laughed even louder than before. "A Princess! And they didn’t know that you're a Golden Dragon? I bet that went down well with her parents when they found out."

John looked downcast. "Only her twin brother knows what I am. In fact, her parents don't even know that we're together. I don't think her mother likes me very much."

"She'll like you even less when she finds out what you are." Wami shook his head. "Ah, why would you want to go for a Red Dragon anyway? You know how brutal they are, don't you? The only reason we're helping in this war is so that the Blues don't become too strong. The Reds would be twice as bad if they had the chance. Why would you want to marry a monster like that?"

John glared at him. "How are Brown Dragons any different to the Reds? You've wiped out whole races just as the Blues and Reds have. You've attacked your neighbours to take their land, just as the Reds have and there are plenty of horror stories about the terrible things you've done in your wars. The Blues and Reds are just better at it than you are, that's the only difference. I've read all about your history."

Wami shrugged. "And the Golden Dragons are always so pure, eh? Is that what you think?"

"We fight in self-defence or to protect others. Not to steal land."

Wami smiled before shaking his head. "Have you ever heard of the Grey Dragons, John? Do they teach you about that? I know you are taught all about our wars, but what about yours?"

John was confused. This was a race he had never even heard of.

"Your face tells me all I need to know. They were your neighbours, once. A pale grey flightless dragon. Nothing special, all truth be told and not much of a threat to anyone, you would have thought. However, rather strangely they decided to attack your country; doing so at night, when things were a little more even and they probably had more success against you than any other race of dragon. They had some initial success, but of course, then day came and you crushed them, killing all of their attackers. To be fair, you didn't kill any that weren't in your territory, which I suppose was commendable, if a little foolish, but you made them sign a truce which meant that they had to let you keep some of your men near each of their cities. Little Golden Dragon villages to watch over them and make sure that they didn't gather troops to attack you."

"So?" John asked. "Sounds perfectly reasonable."

Wami nodded. "Very reasonable. And it worked; they didn't attack you again while you were watching their every move. Then your people started to make friends with the people in their cities. The Grey Dragons only had two cities, as this was a long time ago when all of the countries were smaller. Really good friends. Your men married their women and their men married yours. The children all had your lovely blonde hair, but no one thought to mention that they would also be Golden Dragons. And you kept it a tight secret as well. They didn't realise what was happening. Slowly everyone in their cities ended up with blonde hair and then one day they realised that there were no more Grey Dragons. No, you didn't attack your neighbours to steal their land—you're far too honourable for that. You just took their land in a more sneaky way."

John was stunned. "I never heard that story."

"You don't surprise me. No one teaches their children their dirty little secrets. And this is why we can never fully trust you. Because you're sneaky."

"But it has changed now. Everyone knows what happens with our children. And we have very strict rules about who we can marry."

Wami smiled sympathetically. "Yes, which gives you a big problem, doesn't it, John?"

John winced, clutching at his chest for a moment, the familiar pain returning, before nodding. "Unless her parents agree, I can't marry her."

"What's up with your chest? You look a little uncomfortable."

John looked down. "That's my other problem. A few months ago I transformed at night. I had to in order to save my friends."

"You what? How are you still alive?"

John shrugged. "We Golden Dragons aren't affected as badly as other dragons. At least, that's what I thought. It was pretty bad, but I recovered and I thought that was the end of it. But it isn't. I saw a doctor when I came back and she told me that I've damaged my heart and that these pains I'm getting will get worse and worse. I'm fine as a dragon, but not as a man."

"Too bad, John. What does that mean? Will you live a shorter life?"

John shrugged. "She told me that in all the cases she had heard of, none survived past a year. She said that being younger, I might make it to two, but no more."

"Wow! Two years! That's not long at all. I sort of feel bad for lecturing you about your past now, when you haven't much of a future. Seriously, just two years? Is there nothing that can be done?"

John shook his head. "I'll live longer if I spend more time as a dragon, but two years is as long as I can hope for. I guess that may make my other problem not such a big deal."

"I guess not. Have you told your Princess about this?"

"No, not yet. I thought I'd wait till after the war. I might die during the war, so there's no point telling her yet."

"That's the spirit! An optimistic way of looking at things! Look, John, you won't die during this war—I can tell. You're like me, a natural survivor. But you should get some rest; sounds like you're going to need it. And don't worry about your Princess. She'll be fine; you'll get to her in time."