Authors: Andy Holland
Twenty years earlier, a young Lord Lance was addressing his troops on the eve of a grand attack on the Blue Dragons. The Blue Dragons had carried out a series of raids on their towns and villages, and a big response was required, something that would make them think twice about ever attacking them again.
Ten thousand of his troops were standing to attention before him, men and women he trusted to unquestioningly obey his every command. They knew what was coming; it was just a matter of time before they would be called on to avenge their slain compatriots.
"Troops, you know why you are here. You know what needs to be done. You have been waiting for this moment, longing for the opportunity to strike back at our enemy. To leave no doubt in their minds the consequences of attacking our great nation and to send them fleeing back to the holes they came from."
The troops cheered his opening words, and he raised his hands to quieten them.
"This will be an operation on a scale this nation has not seen for a long time. It will be a defining moment in our history, and although many of you will not return, you will live on as legends, heroes who sacrificed all for their nation.
Details of the operation are with your commanding officers. The summary is this; we will attack at first light tomorrow. Every dragon I command—this entire force before me—will descend upon the town from which they have been launching these raids and snuff out their lives before they even realise what is happening. This is no village or even a small town; this is a major settlement and the largest that is within a short flight of our border. By the time we have finished, it will be the largest graveyard in their kingdom.
You may wonder what role I will play. Some of you may joke that your senior leaders eat and drink at home while you fly on to your deaths. Not I. I will be leading you into battle. I will face the same dangers as you. I will fight the same enemy as you, fighting side by side with you. And I will conquer with you!"
The troops went wild at his words, clapping and cheering. The young commander was popular anyway, but had just sealed his place in their hearts, doing what no other commander in the Red Dragon army would do. The senior offices under his command grumbled quietly, knowing that they would all have to follow his example, but were wise enough to hide their reluctance in front of the troops. He basked in their admiration for a moment before calling for order.
"The plans are finalised, and they are good plans—plans to which I trust my own life as well as your lives. Go. Report to your officers for your briefing; the next time I see you we shall be flying together into battle. Dismissed!"
The troops applauded again, and he waved as he retired, the applause continuing long after he had disappeared from sight.
Early the following morning, two young Red Dragons were making their way to their agreed meeting point. "Excited?" Pete asked his brother, Darren as they walked together in the half-light.
Darren nodded. "Nervous as well though. These attacks often don't go so well. More are left behind than come back."
Pete clapped his brother on the back encouragingly. "Not this time though; this time we go in force! Our attacks fail because they never commit. They always send just a token amount of troops. Never enough to crush the enemy."
His brother shrugged and smiled. "Only one way to find out, eh? I still can't believe the Commander, though. Actually leading us into battle."
Pete shook his head. "He is The Commander, isn't he? All the others leave the fighting to us, the fighting and the dying. He's one of a kind."
"He'll lead us into glory," his brother agreed. "Either that or death; but he'll be with us." They had reached the top of the hill, where almost five hundred others were gathering, young men and women, all ready to risk their lives, but all hopeful and excited about the prospect of a great victory.
"You two, hurry up! The sun is about to rise." Their commanding officer was barely older than them at just nineteen-years-old, and was an anxious-looking young man who did little to inspire confidence. They suspected he held his position solely due to his well-connected parents rather than having earned it. The two brothers joined their ten man squad and crouched on the ground, waiting for the order to transform.
Every Red Dragon stood silent and motionless, each squad facing east, to the direction of both the rising sun and their destiny over the border. Suddenly the sun was visible, a bright yellow spot above the low hills ahead. The young men and women fidgeted impatiently, waiting for the command that was due any second now.
The officers all called the order simultaneously, responding to an instruction their troops couldn't see or hear. The hill began to change colour from a dull green to bright red as the dragons slowly began to appear, packed closely together and completely covering the hillside. They could see the surrounding hills undergoing the same dramatic change as ten thousand Red Dragons appeared, all waiting for the commander to order them to take to the air.
After a few seconds, the order came: a loud roar that was followed by a flurry of activity. Waves of dragons took to the air, squad after squad taking off from each hill, with the whole army taking to the sky in just a few seconds. They flew directly east, rising gradually as they approached the border. Pete glanced around him, admiring how impressive the army was, with all of the dragons flying in perfect harmony. Other than the beating of their wings they were silent, not screeching wildly like the uncivilised Blues. They couldn't fail in their task!
Pete glanced up and noticed there was a group of dragons flying high above them, climbing more quickly than the rest of the army. These were the elite of the army—the dragons that flew with the commander, and he was leading from above, where he could see all.
The border was looming up ahead; their crossing point was a pass between the lofty peaks. They flew silently and swiftly, not a sound or a thought exchanged between the highly disciplined troops.
As they neared the border, a sudden movement above them caught Pete's attention. A single squad was breaking off from the elite unit, flying ahead rapidly. He heard the familiar piercing scream of a Blue Dragon. A border patrol had spotted them. Pete couldn't see them yet, but from the sound of the screech, he could tell that they were slightly to the south of their position. The army maintained the same course, heading straight for the pass.
The Blue Dragons shrieked again, louder and nearer. Up ahead he could just make out two Blue Dragons heading towards them. He could barely see them from this distance, so presumably they would have similar poor visibility, and may not have realised the numbers heading towards them yet. Pete glanced up, looking for the squad that had flown ahead, but they were nowhere to be seen. The two Blue Dragons were still heading towards them, now crossing over into Red Dragon territory. The troops continued their journey forwards, not deviating from their path.
The Blue Dragons were clearly visible now, and must have been able to see them clearly. They weren't turning back yet, which surprised him, but then on reflection, the troops weren't flying towards the two Blue Dragons and they may not have felt threatened yet, knowing that they were faster than the Reds and were far enough away to turn and flee if they chose to. They both shrieked again, the sound both a challenge and a deliberate attempt to draw attention to themselves. The troops continued their progress, ignoring the two guards shrieking at them. They flew closer—close enough to see the full force that was heading towards the border. If they hadn't been sure of the Red Dragon's intent they were now. After shrieking once more, they turned back towards their own land, intent on raising the alarm. Suddenly, Pete could see the breakaway squad high in the air above the two Blue Dragons and diving rapidly towards them. They had flown hard to gain altitude, and managed to approach the two Blue Dragons unobserved. The ten Red Dragons were closing the distance between them and the two Blue Dragons at an impressive rate, but the Blue Dragons had still not seen the threat, focussed on flying as quickly as they could back towards the border. Pete held his breath, waiting for the imminent collision. Just before the Red Dragons struck, one of the Blue Dragons spotted them, shrieking a warning to his comrade, but it was too late. The impact was audible even as far away as where Pete was flying, a sickening thud that echoed about them. The ten Red Dragons pulled out of their dive, and the two Blue Dragons dropped silently away from them, spinning limply towards the ground, their shredded wings flapping uselessly. They fell for several hundred metres before crashing into the rocky terrain below with a dull thud, one of the two dragons bouncing down the slope before coming to rest.
Pete was elated. What could have been a bad start had turned into the first victory of the day. He was now sure that this was going to be the great victory Lord Lance had promised and crossed the border into the Blue Dragon's territory with confidence, having no idea that this would be the last time he would ever see the Red Dragon Kingdom.
"Let's go camping!" Jenna said to Crystal, excitedly grabbing her arm. "We can get Arthur and Seth to go with us!"
"And Daisy, don't forget," Crystal pointed out. "If Arthur goes she'll come with him."
"Of course," Jenna replied with a groan, sitting back in her chair. "I hadn't forgotten her. I just didn't want to think about it. She might not come if we're lucky. She's never been camping, or anywhere without a maid to look after her. I wouldn't be surprised if she can't even dress herself on her own."
Crystal snorted with laughter, knowing this to be jealousy-driven nonsense from her cousin, as they'd seen her dress every week after their flying lesson. "But do you even like camping?" she asked dubiously, wondering if she was that keen on going herself. "You've never been either."
"I might do," she replied. "I've never been, so I should try it. More importantly, Arthur loves it, and Seth is really into it too. I'm sure Marcus will come as well if we ask him." Marcus was a friend of Seth's from Ash class that Jenna had been unsuccessfully trying to pair off with Crystal. "We have to do something exciting. It's the only long weekend of the term."
They had been trying to think of something to do for the long weekend while they ate their lunch in their classroom. It was the Queen's birthday, which meant they had a day off school, which just so happened to be a Friday. Jenna knew that Crystal wouldn't want a party, but they had to do something.
"I don't know," Crystal replied, still not sure about the idea. "I might see if Jerome wants to do something."
Jenna groaned. "He's moved on; get over it. You went out twice, and he's hardly spoken to you since. He never stays with one girl for long. You're the third this year. Did you know that?"
"No! You didn't mention this when I said he'd invited me out for dinner."
Jenna shrugged. "Didn't see the point. I thought he'd prefer you; you're prettier than the first two, and you have a good family name."
"Aaargh! That's not everything, Jenna. Maybe he wants to find a girl he likes for who they are, not just their face or their family."
"Well, did he? Did he seem to be interested in you as a person?"
"No, but that's not the point; he might have. It's strange; I didn't really think about it at the time, as he was so charming, but all he really wanted to talk about was my father's job, which of course, I know nothing about as it's completely dull."
"Your father's job, by which we can assume he meant your father's position in society. Maybe he's just decided he can do better. He is incredibly rich, after all. Daisy is still available—surprise, surprise—and she's reasonably attractive, and you can't get a better name than royalty."
"Do better? What a horrible thing to say to your cousin. And reasonably attractive? She's stunning and you know it. You're just jealous of her."
Jenna shrugged indifferently. "Maybe she is. That's just a matter of opinion. Either way, it just goes to show that people just can't stand her as she's so incredibly dull, or they'd be clambering over each other to get to her. If I looked like that and was a princess, I'd be swarmed by admirers. Still, I have done rather well anyway, I'd like to think. Which brings us back to camping with my prince and his friends. What do you say?"
Crystal frowned. "Is he really that keen on camping? It doesn't seem like the sort of thing a prince would want to do. Especially not one from the West. Aren't they all meant to be into wild parties and extravagance? I'd have thought he'd prefer to stay in luxury rather than in a miserable tent."
Jenna sighed irritably. "Yes, he is that keen. He's already been camping twice since the beginning of term, so if he's going to continue to do this I'll need to try it out or it'll look like I'm not trying. If you're still not keen on Marcus I thought you might be interested in Seth. He's obviously very interested in you."
Crystal rolled her eyes, uninterested in Jenna's attempts at matchmaking. "Do we really have time to organise it?" she asked, still doubtful that camping was something that either her or her cousin would enjoy.
"Of course we have. It'll be easy. I know where I can get find a tent you and I can use, and the boys obviously have their own tents. There isn't a lot more that we need."
"Maybe some blankets," Crystal replied, pointing out the obvious. "Food, things to cook with, clothes, towels…"
"Yes, yes, all of that too. You make a list of things to bring. I'll speak to Arthur."
"Wait, where are we even going? Surely we need a destination."
Jenna glanced around the classroom and saw a map on the wall. It was based on the model of the valley that John had brought to show the class. After the model had been smashed, their geography teacher had asked John to bring in the map he had used to build the model, so they could have that instead. "John's valley!" she said. "We can plan everything using his map!"
"But we're not inviting him, are we?" Crystal asked anxiously. Although she was grateful to John for rescuing her father, she didn't want to spend any more time with him than necessary. Despite her complete lack of interest, John still insisted on trying to discuss a number of dull academic subjects with her. She was doing her best to be polite, but he made it very difficult, so it was easier to just avoid him.
"Of course not!" Jenna replied scornfully. "We don't need him. His map tells us all we need to know."
"Wait a minute. Coming back to Jerome. Who were these other two girls?"
"Oh, I can't remember; neither lasted long. Well, no longer than you anyway. Why does it even matter? Go on, get writing." With that, Jenna skipped across the room to where Arthur was talking to Seth and bent over to flirt with him. Moments later, the three of them approached the map on the wall and started to discuss where they would go. Crystal sighed in defeat and started her list, realising that Jenna would get her way, as always.
On Friday morning, Seth, Crystal and Jenna all met at Daisy and Arthur's house. Daisy had just finished packing when they arrived, and she came out of their apartment with her maid carrying her bag.
"Isn't John coming?" Daisy asked brightly. She was looking far more enthusiastic about this camping trip than Crystal had expected her to.
"No, he won't be," Jenna replied irritably, giving her a withering look.
"Oh, that's a shame. He'd be able to be our guide if he came. Has he got to work?"
Jenna sighed, rolling her eyes. "I don't know what he's doing. You'll have to ask him when we get back. It's of no interest to me."
"But you have invited him, haven't you?"
Crystal replied for her. "No, Daisy, we haven't invited him. We wanted to keep the group small, so there will just be five of us." Marcus was unable to come along, or unwilling; Jenna hadn't been that specific about the reason and Crystal didn't really care.
"Oh, I see. But we're his only friends. It seems mean to not invite him. And he knows the valley so well. He could show us around."
"Well, his lack of friends isn't my concern, and I don't really consider him one of my friends anyway," Jenna stated. "And I doubt Crystal does either. Besides, it's too late now anyway. We're all packed and ready to go, and we don't want to waste any more time. We don't need him to guide us before you start; he's produced a very detailed map, and we've copied all of the information we need."
"Wait, didn't John say that the valley wasn't somewhere you should stay in overnight?" Daisy asked, looking a little uncertain. "Shouldn't we check with him first?"
"You don't have to come if you don't want to," Jenna replied flatly. "I don't remember him saying anything like that. All I remember is his stupid face when that thing shattered on the floor."
Daisy didn't reply, but just pouted sadly, a defence that was effective with her family but utterly useless with Jenna, who turned away to ignore her. Her older brother came out of their apartment to wave them off. Crystal hadn't met Prince Gerald before, and was surprised how alike Arthur and Gerald were. Gerald looked more relaxed and more confident than his younger brother; he smiled at them as he approached. Jenna pulled a face as he gave Daisy a big hug to say goodbye. Just before they transformed, Daisy ran back in to get something from her room.
"She's really going to try my nerves," Jenna whispered to Crystal. "I'm not sure how long I can put up with her. Arthur told me she wanted to bring her bodyguards with her, but fortunately he put his foot down. She's such a baby."
Crystal giggled and put her finger to her mouth, noticing Arthur frowning at the pair of them. Daisy ran back out of their apartment, smiling warmly at them all. She followed Crystal and Jenna into a court yard, and removed her clothes and transformed slowly. Hers was the most startling of transformations; it was hard to believe that the shy, nervous girl and the dragon were one and the same. As a dragon she was indistinguishable from any other Red Dragon, and her lack of confidence seemed to vanish along with her human form. Above their heads, they could see Seth and Arthur circling, and the three of them took off and rose up to join them before starting the long journey south.
It didn't take long to leave the capital behind them. Arthur led the way, having carefully studied and memorised the route, a task that no one else could be bothered to do. This was the farthest that any of them had flown on their own before, and they were all both nervous and excited by the journey.
None of the five of them were particularly experienced fliers, although Crystal realised that she was the slowest of the group, but it didn't seem to bother anyone, as they were enjoying the trip. It was late in the year, and although it was a sunny day it was a little cold, even more so outside of the warmth of Furnace, but the temperature didn't bother them as dragons.
They flew for hours, not stopping for lunch, eager to get to their destination. Eventually they could see the valley in the distance, Arthur being the first to spot the familiar shape. It wasn't really a valley, more of a canyon—a great hole in the ground with steep cliffs surrounding the lush vegetation at the bottom. It was much bigger than Crystal expected, and as they descended she realised that the cliffs were hundreds of feet high and impossible to climb, which explained why no one lived there. Arthur guided them over the valley, gliding above the dense vegetation at the north of the valley and following a slow moving river that ran from north to south. The vegetation began to thin, and grassy clearings appeared along with sparkling blue lakes. Arthur touched down in a clearing near one of the lakes.
This will be perfect
, he told them.
There's a stream just over there so we can get fresh water, and we're near the lake for swimming. We'll set up camp just by these trees; they'll give us some shade.
Won't it be too cold for swimming?
Crystal asked.
It's nearly winter.
It's warmer down here in this valley,
Arthur replied.
Much warmer. You can't feel it as well as a dragon, but once you transform you'll see how warm it is. I think you'll be desperate for a swim after a couple of hours in this sun.
Crystal put her bag down and slipped behind the trees to transform. When she emerged, she found that the others had done the same.
"It is warm," she agreed. "I wonder how hot this place is in summer."
"Very hot, I'd imagine," Arthur replied. "But enough about that. I'm starving. Time for lunch!"
***
Back in Furnace, at about the same time that they landed, John came into the library and met the Keeper of Records at his desk.
"Hi, John. How are you?" the Keeper said warmly, putting down his work. "Where have you been all day?"
"I've been shopping, mainly. Don't you remember, you gave me a list of things you needed?" John put down the heavy sack that he had been carrying. "I think I have everything you asked for."
"Oh, that's right. But you didn't have to do that today. You have a long weekend; you should be enjoying it with your friends."
John nodded mechanically, not wishing to invite pity by pointing out his complete lack of friends.
"One of your friends left a note actually. Well, he said he was the brother of two of your friends. Tall fellow, had a military look to him?"
"Prince Gerald?" John asked, a little surprised.
"Ah, Gerald, that was his name. Didn't realise he was a prince. I probably should have known that. Although you would have thought that he would have introduced himself as Prince Gerald rather than just Gerald."
"Daisy and Arthur's brother," John replied cheerfully, remembering the tall, charming older brother of his classmates. Daisy had introduced him once when he had met her after school. Unlike Arthur, he had been genuinely friendly to him. "Heir to the Western Principality. What was the message?"
"Here it is," the Keeper replied, pulling a folded piece of paper from his pocket. "I haven't read it, of course."
John took the folded note and opened and read the hastily scribbled message:
We're going camping. To your valley, with Crystal, Jenna and Seth. It would be nice if you could come, if you can find a tent. I think we're going to the south of the valley. I'm sure you can find us. Hope I see you there.