Authors: Andy Holland
A thought occurred to Crystal. "Wait a moment, how did John transform? I thought you couldn't do that at night."
Jenna frowned, equally puzzled. "That's what I thought as well. My parents always made out it was dangerous to even transform at dusk." She smirked mischievously before making a suggestion to Crystal. "Why don't you ask John how he did it? I'm sure he'd love to tell you all about it. He could tell you the whole history of transforming at night."
Crystal pulled a face. "You ask him. I don't care how he did it."
"Hey, look at Arthur," Jenna whispered.
Crystal looked at him. He was still next to Seth on a branch on the opposite side of the tree. "What about him?"
"Look at his face," Jenna whispered to her, giggling. Arthur was glaring intently at John. "I don't think he likes John cuddling his sister."
John still had his arm around Daisy, who had stopped crying, but still clung to him. John hadn't noticed Arthur looking at him, and was holding a rag to his face, still breathing heavily from the exertion.
"Can you blame him?" Crystal asked coolly. "It is John."
"Ah, are you jealous?" Jenna asked with a giggle.
"Please," Crystal replied. "What do you think?"
"I think you should be pleased. If they end up together he might stop bothering you."
"You are so transparent," Crystal muttered. "You just want him to get her out of your way so you can be alone with her brother."
"Everyone wins," Jenna replied. "Apart from Daisy, of course, but she's too dim to realise what a poor choice she's making. And she has pursued him so she's only got herself to blame. Now, what can we do to encourage them?"
"I can't believe you're scheming at a time this! We came so close to being eaten."
"And we didn't get eaten. Get over it, or join the baby in a little sobbing session."
"You are so horrible to her. What would Arthur say if he heard you?"
"He can't hear me," Jenna replied with a shrug. "Hey, look at him now!"
"Do I have to?" Crystal asked with a sigh.
Jenna took hold of Crystal's chin and turned her face towards Arthur. His face had gone white. They both followed his eyes towards John, and then both of them gasped at what they saw.
The rag John was holding was bright red, stemming a violent nose bleed. All over his face blood vessels had swelled up and had turned almost black in colour. This contrasted heavily with his skin, which was now very pale. Crystal looked at his hands and saw that they were the same as his face—covered in the same, black, snake-like lines. His eyes were only half open, as if he was barely conscious. She noticed that he had tied himself and Daisy to the tree and was slumped against the cords, looking barely strong enough to support himself.
"John," Arthur called quietly to him. John looked up and saw his alarmed expression. His eyes opened fully and he looked awake and alert, although very ill. He raised a finger to his lips and shook his head slightly, glancing down at Daisy.
"Tie yourselves to the branches," he told everyone, his voice weak and strained and his breathing sounding laboured. "We can't move from here till morning, and we don't want to fall off in our sleep. The cats can't climb up here to get us. There's nothing we can do till morning so we may as well sleep. Nothing we can do about
anything
."
John emphasised the last word, and Arthur took the hint and nodded, pulling up some vines and starting to secure himself. He muttered something to Seth who nodded and replied inaudibly.
"I guess you can't transform at night," Jenna whispered to Crystal. "Not safely anyway."
"Do you think that's what's happened to him? Transforming at night did this to him?"
Jenna nodded grimly. "We've always been told you shouldn't do it. You'd have thought he'd known better."
Crystal's heart sank as she realised the truth of the matter. "He would have known better! You know John, he's such a know-it-all. There's no way he wouldn't have known what was going to happen. He did it anyway to stop us getting eaten."
Jenna's eyes widened in realisation. "That would make sense. I guess he couldn't just let those cats eat us. Kind of makes you feel bad for being mean to him. Well,
you
were mean. I haven't really done anything, of course. He looks pretty bad, doesn't he?"
"Terrible. Do you think we should do anything?"
Jenna paused before answering, watching John carefully. "I don't think there is anything we can do. We're not doctors and we have no idea what treatment he should be given. Besides, we're stuck in this tree till morning, and if we could do anything now he would tell us. He tells us stuff when we don't need to know it; I doubt he'd keep this quiet."
Crystal frowned, watching John pass into unconsciousness. "I don't know, surely we can do—"
Jenna interrupted. "Let's get some sleep. It's what he told us to do. If we're going to help him in the morning we will need to be properly rested."
Crystal nodded her agreement and used some vines to tie herself to the branch. She wasn't too sure about her knots but didn't think she'd sleep that much anyway. She glanced back at the unconscious John and shuddered before closing her eyes and trying to forget what she saw, hoping that Daisy didn't wake up in the morning to find that she had been sleeping next to a corpse.
Crystal woke with the sun, the morning light warming her skin. She looked around and realised she was the first to wake. She had slept more than she thought she would and found she was sore from where the vines had been too tight. She suddenly remembered John and looked over to where he and Daisy were still sleeping. He was still in shadow; at first she thought he might have died—he lay so still—but she saw him stir in his sleep and breathed a sigh of relief.
She started to untie the vines that were securing her to the branch, and in doing so woke Jenna, who rubbed her eyes and turned to face Crystal.
"Is it safe to go down, you think?" Jenna asked, looking down anxiously at the ground.
"It's light now," Crystal replied. "It will be safe as a dragon. If they try to come back I'll turn them to ash." She lowered the rope and climbed down to the ground before transforming. She wandered around the area near the clearing, checking everywhere for the tailless cats, but they had both vanished. She transformed back and returned to the tree, finding the others already on the ground and looking for her.
"Where did you go?" Arthur asked. "We were worried."
"To make sure those things had gone," Crystal replied. "I transformed, so I was safe. I looked everywhere but there's no sign of them."
"John told us that they're nocturnal," Jenna told her. "We shouldn't see them in the day. They're called Valley Cats. They're trapped in here by the high walls surrounding the valley."
Crystal stared past her to look at John, who was facing away from her, talking to Daisy. "So you didn't die during the night then, John?" she asked him rather coldly, assuming that he had fully recovered.
John turned to face her and she gasped at what she saw. If anything, he looked worse than last night; his skin had taken on a pale purple hue, and his blood vessels were as swollen and discoloured as in the night. He was leaning on Daisy, who was watching him with a very worried look. For the first time since she had met him, he looked hurt at what she said. Crystal looked away, embarrassed by her words. She hadn't meant to sound so callous.
"Arthur, come with me. We need to talk," John told him, glancing coldly at Crystal.
"Shall I come too?" Daisy asked.
"Thank you, but no," John replied. "Arthur, come. Let us walk."
John walked unaided towards Arthur, albeit very slowly. Arthur shrugged and walked with him into the trees, disappearing from view.
As soon as they were out of sight John leaned on the prince, exhausted.
"What do you want, John?" he asked. "Why do you want to talk to me?"
"You can't stay here," John replied. "There is another valley to the east of here that offers good camping spots and is very safe. You should leave this morning."
Arthur shrugged. "Sure, why not? We may as well stay for another day. But why couldn't you tell the others this?"
John paused. "I will stay here. I can't fly."
Arthur sighed. "That doesn't sound like a good idea, John. Not with those Valley Cats around. You need to get back, and to see a doctor."
"I have no choice. None of you can carry me—not safely—and I can't fly, not like this. I know of a safe place to rest. You can help me get there and then leave. There's nothing you can do for me by staying."
Arthur nodded. They wouldn't be able to carry him, it was true; they just weren't good enough at flying yet and the cliffs surrounding the valley were too high. "Fair enough. We'll send someone back to get you. I'll pay for a doctor to come and get you."
"No," John replied flatly. "You will not. They wouldn't be able to find me, and I'd have no use for them. There isn't any treatment for this. I just need to rest."
Arthur wasn't convinced. "Well, they could move you to somewhere more comfortable. Look, don't worry about the money. I'll pay for it."
John shook his head. "I'm not worried about the money. I'm too tired to argue, so please just do as I ask."
Arthur shrugged, undecided as to whether to ignore him and send someone anyway. "How long will you stay here?"
"I don't know, but I probably won't make it to school for a few days. Can you cover for me?"
Arthur shrugged. "I can do that." He paused before adding coldly, "I'm surprised you didn't ask Daisy to do that instead of me."
John looked at him for a few uncomfortable seconds before replying. "I have another favour to ask. I may not return at all. If that happens, I need you to pass this message to Crystal." He handed Arthur a folded note. "I don't think Daisy would handle being told that information as well as you."
"You can't be serious!" Arthur said. "Are you really that bad? I thought you were getting better."
"No, Arthur. I am not getting better. Transforming at night should never be done. You have no idea of the pain it causes, or the damage it does. If you had tried it you would have died, but I knew a way to reduce the risk. Unfortunately, using fire makes the whole thing more dangerous and much more painful—much more painful than I imagined was possible, and possibly caused too much damage to recover from. I knew that was possible; it was a calculated risk."
Arthur paused to take this in. It was just like John to be so matter of fact about his own chances of surviving. He glanced at John, trying to read his expression. If he was angry or bitter about Arthur's ingratitude, he didn't show it, but that didn't make Arthur feel any better.
"Look, John. I'm really sorry about this and about the comment about Daisy as well. I should be grateful for what you did. That's the second time you've saved her now. Is there really nothing I can do?"
John didn't reply straight away, wheezing breathlessly as he walked. When he responded, he spoke slowly. "I'll need to lean on you while I walk. It isn't far. Then just get everyone out of here. Tell them what you like, but make sure they don't come looking for me. I don't like asking you to lie, but do so if it keeps them safe. Valley Cats are not the only dangers you'll face here. Staying here with me would not be safe. I'm guessing that you realise that now."
"Ok, I can do that," Arthur replied, nodding quickly to show his agreement. "Although that makes it even more important that you let me get you out of here." John said nothing, but just glared at him irritably. "Fine, as you insist. What will you do now?"
"For now, I'll rest; mainly as a dragon, at least while it is light. I'll recover fastest that way. While human I will just get worse, and probably wouldn't last the day. I would transform now, but I would struggle to move after I transform, and I don't want to get stuck here. There's a better place to rest not far from here."
"How long will it take to get better?" Arthur asked.
"Fully better, I don't know, but hopefully I'll be able to fly within a couple of days. If I'm not improving by then, I probably won't make it. Expect me back mid-week or not at all."
Arthur shook his head in despair, feeling terrible, and tried to support as much of John's weight as he could while they walked. John continued to wheeze painfully for the rest of the short journey and Arthur was very relieved to reach their destination, which was a rocky area with very little cover.
"This is where you leave me," John told him, lowering himself onto a rock.
Arthur looked around dubiously, wondering how this place could be any better than where they had been before. "Are you sure? There's no water, no trees to climb, and when we leave we'll see you from the air. Especially after you've transformed. If they see you, they'll all want to land to see if you're alright."
"You won't see me," John replied simply, clearly not going to elaborate. "And I doubt they'll all want to see if I'm alright."
Arthur had nothing to say to this, remembering Crystal's harsh words just before they left. It was pointless to try and convince John that she hadn't meant anything by her comments. Why couldn't she have just this once been more pleasant? He looked around, still wondering why John had wanted to come to this spot. "What were those things last night? You called them Valley Cats, but I've never heard that name before. Are you really safe from them here?"