Drake the Dragonboy (10 page)

“Youse better come with us without a struggle or we'll squash you,” he growled.

“Where are you taking us?” asked Donny.

“Nowhere terrible,” he said, “if that's what you're thinking. We just need to keep you safe while the authorities decide how to deal with the situation.” None of them moved.

“Look what happened last time they decided to deal with the situation. They sent a whole lot of dragonfolk to a building to die,” whispered Juniper. Donny nodded in agreement. Somehow, they all seemed to be thinking the same thing. Drake noticed Ronan had twisted a sheet around his arm. “Now,” yelled Ronan as he ran towards the window and smashed it with his sheet-covered arm. The window shattered, leaving clear access to the sky above. Ronan grabbed Daisy around the middle and launched into the sky making a clean getaway. Juniper quickly shot through the window, darting around the now frantic Sausage-head as he tried to grab her. Drake grabbed Donny, wobbling with his weight as he tried to fly upwards. Donny's weight made him slow and Monkey-bottom was only centimetres away. He flapped ferociously and made a little ground but Monkey-bottom leapt upwards, grabbing Donny's leg and dragging them backwards. Drake saw Juniper dart beneath them. She let out a frightening roar and fire shot out, burning Monkey-bottom's arms and causing him to fall to the ground in pain. Drake gathered up some momentum and flew with increasing speed up into the sky. They flew as quickly as they all could, staying close together, until they reached the edge of the desert and then Drake followed Ronan down to the ground. He landed with a thud and let Donny fall onto the ground. Donny clumsily landed on his bottom. Juniper landed lightly next to him.

Standing at the edge of the desert, Donny put his arm around Drake.

“You kids are amazing. I never imagined you'd be able to save me on your own. I thought you'd go straight to your mum or my work … but you've done all this yourself. And if you hadn't, who knows what would have happened to me?” Drake smiled at Donny, feeling a bit uncomfortable at all the praise, and then looked in turn at Ronan, Juniper and Daisy.

“What now, guys? I guess we get ourselves back to Dragonland,” said Drake.

“I'm not going back with you. There's nothing back in Dragonland for me. I like it here,” said Ronan. He put his arm around Daisy, who blushed.

“I'd like you to change your mind, Ronan. Really. I know it has been safe for you but it won't be now. People, scary people, now know that there have been dragonfolk in the city. The Quintas have come in with us and hurt lots of people. People will be scared and when people are scared … Please come back with us … I really don't want to have to force you,” said Donny.

It was pretty funny hearing Donny Dramco threatening Ronan like this. Parents just always thought they had all the control. Donny was barely over five foot, tubby and unfit. Ronan stood six foot tall, like a warrior. His huge black wings opened, with just a little arched majestically over his head. His once shaved head had grown back into soft, dark curls and when he smiled at Donny, he looked like a powerful angel and not necessarily a good angel. Ronan definitely had a darker side.

“Mr Dramco, no disrespect but there's nothing you can do. Bye guys. Hope you make it okay. Give the Quintas a smackin' for me,” he said and hugged Juniper and Drake in turn.

“Juniper,” he said to her hugging her, “I think of you like a sister.” Juniper's mouth dropped from a smile to a fixed line. “And Drake, you know, you've become like a nerdy brother.” Drake wished he hadn't added the word nerdy but smiled at him anyway and gave him a firm handshake.

“Dais', you coming?” An obviously love-struck Daisy hugged them all goodbye, including Donny. Drake looked at Daisy closely and then looked at Juniper standing next to her. Daisy's large green eyes were very pretty but they didn't have the depth of Juniper's brown eyes. Juniper's face had so much expression. From compassion to horror, she hid nothing. Daisy on the other hand hid behind a sweet smile and Drake had no idea what she was really thinking. Drake was okay about Ronan and Daisy getting together and this surprised him. Drake noticed Juniper looking back at him and he quickly looked away. Ronan swooped Daisy onto his back and launched himself into the air. Drake watched as Ronan and Daisy disappeared into the distance.

They looked into the sky, already tinged with an evening shade of pink, to see a hoard of Quintas circling around, swirling angrily in figure eights. Recent events seemed to have riled them up.

“Now, I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but I've heard, and I saw it on a map when I was building the force field … there's a cavernous section of the desert that continues right through to Dragonland. If we find it we can just walk through, sheltered by the walks of the rocky cavern. There's no way the Quintas would be able to get into such a small space,” Donny said, rubbing his chin and nodding knowledgably.

“I've heard about it in stories,” said Juniper, wide-eyed. “And I've heard that the pathway is guarded by witches.”

“There're no such things as witches, Juniper,” Donny jumped in before she had even finished the word. His tone was patronising. Men of science like him did not believe in witches. Drake hadn't even been read fairytales as a child because as his father had explained to four-year-old Drake, a young child's mind has no way to distinguish between fact and fantasy. Instead he read him stories about boys on adventures in the wilderness. Four-year-old Drake had pointed out to his father that young dragonfolk boys didn't go on adventures in the wilderness either, so that was also fantasy. Donny didn't have an answer to that.

“Let's go and see what we can find,” said Drake. “We'd better get moving before it gets dark.”

They trudged through the dry red sand using Donny's pocket compass to ensure that they were heading east and not going around in circles.

Before long, in the distance they saw the jagged edges of the rocky cavern. The sight of rocks in the distance quickened their pace, putting a visible skip in Drake's step, and they made it to the entrance in minutes.

Rocks at the entrance to the pathway were piled upon each other so you could almost imagine the plates of land colliding together thousands of years ago. They were stacked tall with an opening so high up that Juniper had to stand on Donny's shoulders to crawl through. Donny then beckoned Drake to do the same.

“Dad, you'll never be able to get up on your own. I can fly myself up and crawl through. You climb on my shoulders.”

Donny shrugged in acceptance as Drake leaned against the rocks and Donny used his body as a stepladder. Drake grimaced as he felt his father's full weight on his shoulders. It was the second time that day that he'd had to carry his father's weight and his muscles ached. He was definitely going to do something to encourage his father to lose some lard once they got back to Dragonland. Donny shuffled into the hole and disappeared. Drake only used the smallest flutter of his wings to help lift him into the cavern. All the flying had really improved his upper body strength. He'd probably even be able to climb the ropes in gym now.

Once all three were in the cavern, they looked at the path before them. It was evening so the light was dimming and the rocks blocked out more of the light, making it difficult to see. The pathway though was smooth and had been cleared of rocks. It was easy to follow.

“Cleared by witches,” Juniper muttered so that only Drake could hear.

They walked quickly and quietly, Juniper first, followed by Donny and Drake coming up last. They had achieved a steady rhythmic pace and made quite a distance when the air became thick with fog, causing them to slow down. The fog gave the air a chill and meant they could see little further than their feet in front of them. They continued without mentioning it as if there were no point. They couldn't turn back.

A sudden cackle cut through the stillness sending Donny flying into the air and Drake tumbling over him. When they both clambered back up, Juniper was standing in front of three women dressed all in black. Their black shrouds framed their lined faces, long noses and frizzy hair.

“We are the witches of the wasteland,” cackled one witch, her face visibly more lined than the others.

Donny was shaking like a leaf, while Drake was frozen in one spot, statuesque. Only Juniper seemed to be functioning.

“We mean you no harm,” she said in a soft voice. “We just want to go home.” The witches' faces softened as she spoke and then grimaced back into their surly selves as she finished.

“We'll let you pass if you solve this riddle,” said the oldest witch.

“And if we can't solve it?” asked Donny, his voice wavering.

“Then we'll eat you for dinner,” cackled the shortest witch, standing up on her tiptoes to appear more menacing.

“Not all of you,” added the third witch, her voice more singsong than cackle. “We'll just eat your legs and send you home on broomsticks, legless, as a warning to others not to cross us.”

“Yes, just your legs will do. I make a delicious sweet and sour dragonleg stew,” added the old witch. “If you're polite we'll ask you to join us.”

“Join you in eating our own legs?” asked an incredulous Drake, his face screwed up.

“Can you just give us the riddle now?” asked Donny. He was confident he'd be able to solve it.

“Stand in a row, facing the back of each other, like this,” said the short witch, pushing them into place. Juniper stood at the front of the line. Donny stood behind her and Drake at the back. “Do not turn around. You can only look at the people in front of you. Now, kneel down.” They each knelt down and she put a hat on each of their heads. Drake standing at the back could see that Donny was wearing a white hat and Juniper was wearing a red hat.

“If one of you can guess the colour of the hat on your head, we will let you go. But before you answer, you must keep standing in this line. You cannot turn around.”

“We do have a hint for you,” said the sing song witch. “There are only red hats and white hats. At least one hat is red. At least one hat is white.”

Drake silently looked at the hats in front of him. How could he possibly know the answer? If they had one of each colour, his could be either colour. He felt sick. They were too close to reaching home to be trapped by these witches. He wasn't sure that they'd really eat his legs, but he didn't want to test it. After a minute's silence Donny spoke up.

“I'm wearing a white hat,” he said, his voice no longer shaking. He sounded sure of himself and Drake felt relieved. You could always count on his dad to solve a puzzle. He couldn't pull himself up a wall but he could solve any riddle.

“That's right,” said the old witch, also sounding relieved. “Off you go then.” The witches stood aside and let them walk through.

“Stop!” said the short witch sharply and they all did. “Could I have the hats back, please?” Drake breathed again and all three whipped off their hats and raced off down the path. Once they were a safe distance, Drake tapped his dad on the shoulder.

“How did you know what colour hat you were wearing?” he asked.

“Because you didn't solve the riddle. If I'd been wearing a red hat like Juniper, you would have immediately known that you were the only one wearing a white hat.”

“Ah, of course!” said Drake, still impressed.

“You were right about witches being real, Juniper,” Donny said to her.

“You know what, Mr Dramco, I don't think they really were witches. I think they're pretending to be to scare people away. They really didn't seem to be genuinely nasty and it was all a bit too much like a fairytale storybook. Don't you think, Drake?”

“I don't know about the fairytale bit because I've never read any but I definitely trust your judgement on people,” answered Drake.