War of Dragons (6 page)

Jenna shook her head, a sense of hopelessness about her. John stared at her sadly, knowing that she only had herself to blame, but still feeling sorry for her.

He's going to do whatever she tells him,
Jenna stated glumly.
He'll believe whatever she tells him, and that'll be it. He'll end it with me.
There was a bitter tone to her thoughts.

Could you blame him?
John asked.
Would you do anything differently in his place?

Jenna didn't reply, her head sinking even lower.

What about Daisy? Can you blame her for the way she's reacting? Have you treated her fairly?

Jenna raised her red eyes to meet his blue ones, but didn't respond.

Transform, Jenna. You don't want to meet them as a dragon when they come back.

Jenna shook her head.

You'll look like you're sulking and as hard as it is to believe, I know you'll make it even worse.

What about you? Are you staying as a Blue Dragon? I hate looking at you like that. Can't you transform as well?

John glanced at his wounds; the three deep gashes in his side would be even more painful after transforming, but he had little choice; the sun would set soon anyway. He transformed quickly, resolving to just get it over with and gasped as the intense pain flooded his body. He clutched his side, panting heavily and leaning on the cave wall for support. He looked back at Jenna as he caught his breath, giving her a hard look. She looked away, then began her transformation. John turned away to give her some privacy.

"You can look," Jenna told him. She was standing a little way away from him, eyes trained on the floor. Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks. "Not much to look at now, eh?"

"If you want sympathy, you may get it looking like that, but that's not what you need."

"What do I need, John?"

"Forgiveness. From Daisy mainly. If she forgives you then Arthur might let it go."

"Fat chance of that," Jenna replied bitterly. "She hates me."

"Why does she hate you?"

"You know the answer to that."

"Tell me anyway."

Jenna paused. "She thinks I'm mean to her. That I treat her badly."

John shook his head. "It's more than that. She thinks you despise her; that you look down on her."

Jenna shrugged. "Same thing really."

"Just saying sorry won't change what she thinks, because believe it or not, she can read you quite well and will need more than words. You need to change how you think, and you start by recognising that you have no reason to look down on her. She's a better flier than you, she's better at combat, she's smarter than you and does better than you in almost every subject. The only thing you were better at was being vicious and after watching her rip the head off that Blue Dragon, I think that's probably changed, hasn't it?"

Jenna nodded. "She's braver than I am. I was so scared; I froze. I'm really sorry I didn't help you. I just couldn't…." Jenna broke down into tears, but John decided against comforting her.

"I'm not the one you should be apologising to," John replied softly.

"But your wounds," Jenna stuttered, "they looked so bad."

"They'll heal," John replied with a shrug, trying to ignore the spasm of pain that it caused.

"But how quickly?" Jenna asked between sobs. "What if we're found first? Could you defend us now? I've put us all in danger!"

"Time will heal these wounds," John insisted. "There's nothing you can do to speed it up. And although you have much which you should feel bad about, that shouldn't include my injuries. You couldn't have done anything to stop that. But you can try and make things right with Daisy. And don't worry, we won't be found in these caves."

Jenna didn't reply, but just carried on sobbing.

"Can you try doing that, Jenna?" John pressed.

Jenna nodded, still crying quietly.

"Good," John replied. "Now if you don't mind, I think I'll have a little sleep."

John sunk to the floor, his knees collapsing as his strength began to fail him before he lay down and passed out from the pain.

Chapter 3 - A long rest

"I think he's waking up."

John opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the firelight, and saw Jenna staring down at him. He was lying on the floor of a cave and the others were gathered around a small fire. Jenna backed away to give Daisy some room as she hurried over to see him.

"John, John, can you hear me? Are you alright?"

He closed his eyes again for a second, gathering his thoughts and trying to remember where he was. It came back to him; he was in the cave and had had a nap. There appeared to be some bedding underneath him and there was a blanket laid over his body. He wondered how they had done this without waking him.

He opened his eyes again. "Oh, hello. I'm fine. Really, I just needed a little rest. Don't look so worried."

Daisy and Jenna exchanged glances. They clearly weren't convinced. Daisy just shook her head and wiped his brow, which he was surprised to find was damp with perspiration.

"I'll be fine," John assured her. "It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm sure my wounds will heal quickly."

"You worried the nurses a bit there," Seth said, sauntering over casually and sitting down in front of him. "All of us, truth be told."

"Why?" John asked, trying to sit up before clutching his side in pain.

"Don't!" Daisy cried in alarm. "Your side looks terrible! You need to stay still."

John pulled back the blankets and lifted up his top. His whole left side was a mess of reds, blues and blacks.

"It all looks internal," Daisy explained. "You have no external cuts or wounds, but it looks really bad."

John sighed. "I know, I can see it." He had wondered what would happen to his wounds when he transformed, and now he knew.

"It doesn't look any better," Jenna told him. "Shouldn't it be getting better?"

"After a couple of hours? It wouldn't heal that quickly. Not even as a dragon."

Daisy's eyes widened. "A couple of
hours
? You've been unconscious for over a day."

"A day!" John exclaimed in horror. "No wonder it looks bad. It won't heal properly while I'm human."

"Then why did you change so quickly?" Daisy asked incredulously. "You could have spent more time healing before the sun went down."

Jenna blushed immediately, but John ignored her. "It was getting late anyway; I would have had to change soon anyway. Besides, I wasn't too sure it wouldn't heal. It's just what I'd read. Oh, and what my father had told me."

"John!" Daisy hit his arm in frustration. "What were you thinking?"

"I don't know," he confessed. "It's a bit of a blur to be honest. What time is it now? I can't tell if it's night or day in here."

"It'll be morning soon," Arthur told him. "It's pitch-black out there and pretty cold too. We've moved you further into the caves, as the temperature seems to stay the same all the time here. You can't see the light from this fire outside; we checked."

"So two nights here. Wow, that must have been fun."

"It improved when these two signed a truce," Seth said, gesturing to Daisy and Jenna. "Although it has been boring. If I ever see a cave again—"

"There is nothing out there, John," Crystal said, interrupting him. "Just sand and rocks. We managed to find some very dry wood, hence the fire, but there's nothing to see for miles."

"The only thing keeping us from complete boredom has been betting on whether you'd wake up or not," Seth told him straight-faced, dodging Daisy's subsequent blow. "Hey, calm down! She's become feistier since her mortal combat, John. I'm starting to agree with Arthur. Perhaps you're not such a good influence on her—"

Daisy glared at him and tried to swipe at him again.

"Cut it out, you two," Arthur snapped. "John, seriously, what's the plan? We're running out of water and you're still looking pretty ill. Will you be able to fly soon?"

John nodded. "Transforming will be very painful, but as a Golden Dragon my wounds will heal faster. We can fly today."

"Today!" Daisy cried. "But you're not well enough! You should wait."

"What if we meet any other dragons?" Jenna asked. "Can you still transform mid-air? You collapsed after transforming yesterday."

"I'll have to stay as a Golden Dragon all day. But don't worry, we shouldn't meet anyone."

"Hmm, shouldn't… that doesn't inspire a lot of confidence, John," Seth told him. "Can't you give us something more than that?"

John shrugged. "We're two hours' flight from the Blue Dragons' territory and will get further away as we fly as their border veers northward. No one else lives close to here. They'll patrol here, but never first thing in the morning. The alternative is dying of thirst. Take your pick."

Arthur sighed loudly. "Alright, John, but can we discuss the plan first? The whole plan, not just the next day. I mean, we've been blindly following your lead so far and twenty minutes ago that didn't look like such a great approach, since we weren't sure if you were even going to wake up."

John nodded. "Sure, why not? I'm not going anywhere. Gather around."

He turned to his side so he could face them and he others sat around him on the cave floor, waiting for him to begin.

"Now, I'd like a map to be able to show you, but I don't have one. The only maps I had were in a book I gave you, Crystal, and those are still at your house. But I know the maps very well, so it isn't a problem. I’ll try and draw the outline of the borders in the dust." He used his finger to draw a crude map on the floor. "This isn't great but it should give you a rough idea. Anyway, we started at the intersection of the Red, Blue and Rhino borders, here. From there we flew directly south till we reached this desert and then we turned east towards these caves. From here, I plan to continue taking us to the east—well, more to the south-east—flying over this uninhabited desert until we meet a mountain range which marks the edge of the border of a race of dragon that you haven't met, or probably even heard of."

"Are they the Sandy Dragons?" Daisy asked.

"Yes, that's right," John replied. "Well remembered."

"Who are they?" Seth asked. "Friends or enemies?"

"Let's come back to that. This side of the mountain range is still very dry, marking the edge of this desert, but there are a couple of streams where we will be able to find water, even in the driest months of the year. There are a couple of places we can choose from where we will be safe to stop for the night. The other side of the mountain has a very different climate, with lush green forests and countless rivers flowing through the land, but we won't be able to see them. Then on the following day we will fly south, along the mountain range, just staying out of their territory, following the mountains all the way as they eventually curve to the south-east. They meet a second mountain range there and they join to form a higher range that continues east. This is a spectacular mountain range, with some very high peaks, and although we're quite a way south, you'll see snow on top of many of these mountains. Sadly, we won't be able to fly up high enough to see them in all of their glory, as we'll need to remain concealed."

"Staying concealed is fine with me," Jenna commented, shuddering visibly.

"It's for the best. Anyway, again, this marks a border, with the dragons to the south, who are my neighbours. Peaceful neighbours, but they won't take kindly to your presence, so we'll have to follow their border until it reaches the Golden Dragon border, to my land."

"How long, John?" Arthur asked, studying the map carefully. "From the first stop to your border; how long will it take?"

"One day. A long day, but we can do it, and it should be safe. We will be leaving the border with the Blues behind us and the borders we will be following are more stable, if not completely friendly."

"Can you tell us about the two races who live in these places?" Arthur asked. "You said that one of them were the Sandy Dragons?"

John nodded. "That's right. They're both races of small dragons, about the same size as each other and a bit smaller than a Golden Dragon. All the dragons you'll meet further south are smaller than you; the larger dragons tended to live further north, where it is cooler and the smaller races further south. Not always true of course, and some have moved, but it's a good guide to work with. The first race we will encounter are the Sandy Dragons, as Daisy said. Like their name suggests, they're a sandy colour, a sort of dirty yellow, although as humans their hair is more like a light brown and their skin is similar to ours. As dragons, they're quite light, with a relatively frail-looking build, but that makes them fast and agile and they have a long tail with a sharp end; not just a point, but a section about a foot long with a sharp, cutting edge. Don’t be fooled by their size and build; they can whip that tail through the air very quickly and slice straight through your wing. They're quite lethal."

"Nasty," Daisy commented.

"If it wasn't for that tail, Daisy, we'd be meeting either the Blue or Dark Browns at that border. Their neighbours are very aggressive and have swallowed up the land of all of the other races that used to be their northern neighbours."

"But if we met them, you could turn into one of them, couldn't you?" Seth asked. "Trick them, like you did the Rhino Dragons?"

"No, not Sandy Dragons," John replied. "I can't transform into one of them."

"Wait a minute. I thought you said you Golden Dragons can change into any dragon," Jenna recalled. "Were you exaggerating?"

John shook his head. "No, but we have to learn each form first. No one learns every dragon—there's just too many. Many just learn three or four. Due to my assignment I had to learn more than that, but I didn't learn the forms of all of our neighbours."

"And the race to the south, who are they?" Crystal asked.

John smiled. "If our idiotic history teacher was to be believed, they are just Brown Dragons in war paint. But no, these are the Wasp Dragons, the southern nation. They're about the same size as the Light Brown Dragons, but a little smaller than the Dark Brown Dragons, who are the roughly the same size as Golden Dragons. However, these dragons are quite striking to look at, with their black and yellow scales and you wouldn't mistake them for anyone else. Their people are quite striking as well, so I'm told. Their kingdom used to be a long thin country, but was cut in two by the Green Dragons a long time ago and the southern group all migrated south to here. For a long time two groups existed, and they became independent from each other, with separate leaders and cultures which started to diverge. However, eventually the northern half was wiped out by your ancestors. Wiped out; every man, woman, child and even babies were killed. Not a trace was left behind."