Drake the Dragonboy (5 page)

In the dead of night, under the light of the moon, three caped silhouettes could be seen stealthily creeping up to the top of Monument Hill. As its name suggested, at the top of Monument Hill was an enormous statue of Gordon Starpower Dragonfolk, one of the ancient dragonfolk heroes. The plaque told of how he and other elders had lived here thousands of years ago in caves. They'd hid from the Quintas in caves and fought them with spears, hiding under giant shields. Gordon was a brave warrior.

“Okay,” said Juniper, shining a torch on her face. “How do we get started?”

“Do you think we just kind of flap our wings and off we go?” asked Ronan, giving his wings a ferocious flap that sent his feet off the ground.

“Looks like a good start,” said Drake, laughing nervously. Juniper shone the torch on each of their faces as they spoke.

“Okay, let's all just flap about and see what happens,” agreed Juniper. Juniper's wings looked delicate next to Ronan's huge black wings that spanned the length of his body. Juniper's wings were about half the size of her body and covered in fluffy brown feathers. They were soft and downy and when she folded them around her body they looked like a snugly doona. She flapped them gently and didn't move at all. She tried a little harder and then with all her energy and concentration flapped them as hard as she could and lifted off the ground only to fall back down a few seconds later. She kept practising and finally managed to lift herself a few feet off the ground. Her flying was very controlled but not very powerful.

Ronan, on the other hand, was all power and no control. He would leap miles into the air, flapping madly and flying chaotically about the sky with little choice about where he would end up. He was also laughing uncontrollably, enjoying the buzz of whooshing through the sky.

Drake was having the most luck. His wings were just the right size. They were large enough to be powerful but small enough to feel balanced and in control. Unlike Juniper, his wings were mostly scaly and only had a few feathers here and there. As he raised his body above the ground, he felt his mind and body connect below the surface of his thoughts in a way he had never experienced before. Instead of flying straight up like Ronan was, he angled himself and rose gently into the air, paused at the height of his flight and soared, lightly flicking his wings to keep him at the same level, before calmly diving back to the ground. Once he had mastered this, he tried a few more difficult moves — a figure eight, a dive back to the ground with a few somersaults, flying straight up high quickly and powerfully, and floating back down as if he were a feather. He was so caught up in what he was doing that for a long time he didn't notice Ronan and Juniper watching him in the light of the moon. When he did see them, he saw admiration on both their faces that he'd never seen before. He came back and landed next to them.

“How did you go?” he asked them both. “I was so caught up in flying that I forgot to even look at you two.”

“That was amazing,” said Juniper.

“We can't believe how great you are at this!” exclaimed Ronan.

“Especially given how terrible you are at sports … oh, sorry!” Juniper put her hand over her mouth.

“That's fine,” said Drake, smiling. He knew how bad he was at sports and always dreaded any kind of sports day. But this was different, for some reason.

They spent the rest of the night practising. Drake gave them both lessons and by dawn they were all flying well enough to be able to get themselves through the wasteland and out of Dragonland. They hoped they were flying well enough. It would be a long trip and their wing muscles were very under-developed. But Drake felt hopeful. They had made it this far and he hadn't thought they would. Maybe they would be able to rescue his dad after all.

Drake sneaked into his bedroom just as his alarm was going off and clambered into bed as his mother walked into the room to hurry him up.

“Come on Drake, you'll be late for school.” She threw his clean clothes on the bed and walked back down the stairs to make his breakfast. Drake sighed and dragged himself out of bed. He hadn't slept and he was physically exhausted. He would have pleaded sick but they'd all agreed not to draw attention to themselves or look at all suspicious before the big day.

He knew he could get through the day because they were only a day away from THE DAY. They would leave first thing the next morning, after a solid night's sleep, at around nine when school started. Although this was a dangerous time to leave in terms of being seen, it was the best way to avoid the Quintas, who were most likely to be out in force hunting for food at dawn and dusk. They'd decided that even if they got caught leaving, they'd be up in the air and no-one would be able to do anything about it. Drake wondered if they'd left it too late. It had almost been a week since his message but their plan had taken time to put into action. You can't just grow wings overnight.

At school, the three stayed close together, excitedly whispering, and keeping their capes tucked tightly around each arm to hide their wings. It would be devastating if someone noticed their wings now.

“Can you believe we're really going to do this?” whispered Juniper excitedly in Drake's ear. Her warm breath tingled on his cheek.

“I can't! Who would have imagined we'd be doing this? A week ago we didn't even think there was anything outside Dragonland.”

The next morning at breakfast, Drake's mum looked at him strangely.

“Are you okay, Drake? You seem very jittery today.”

“I've got a big test today, Mum,” he said, awkwardly.

“It's not like you to worry about a test.” She placed a bowl of cereal in front of him and poured milk on it. He wondered how old he would be before she let him pour his own milk. I mean, seriously, was she worried he'd spill it? Would it matter that much if he did?

“You're right … I've got sports today and we have to do rope climbing in teams.” That was more like it. He hated sports and especially hated team sports where there was all this pressure not to let the team down. And he always did. He was always the one who dropped down before he hit the top knot. What nonsense, anyway. Now if he could do it with his wings fully grown …

“Oh, why didn't you say so?” his mum said and went and made herself toast.

Ronan and Juniper were already waiting for Drake in the girls' shower when he arrived. They'd decided to go there and make sure they had everything organised before they slipped out the side gates to the oval just after the bell went and everyone had gone to class.

“Backpacks,” said Juniper. She had her hair pulled back into a long plait that sat down the middle of her back beneath her cape, finding a little home between her wings.

“Check,” answered Ronan and Drake. Juniper put a tick on her list. She was a list kind of person.

“Food.”

“Check.”

“Water.”

“Check.”

“Bombs.”

“Check.”

“Phones.”

“Check.”

“I'm so nervous,” said Juniper. Ronan and Drake nodded in agreement. Nerves seemed to make them both silent while it made Juniper chat endlessly. “This morning my mum was on at me constantly thinking there was something wrong.” The bell sounded and the three jumped up in fright and then giggled.

“We'll wait five minutes,” said Juniper, taking lead again. “Drake, time it on your watch because every second in here is feeling like an hour.” Drake started his timer and they all sat watching the seconds tick away. After three minutes had passed Juniper put her hand to her mouth and managed to turn a breath of fire into a little fire burp.

“Ah, let's get out of here before Juniper turns us into crispy bacon chips,” said Ronan, looking at her nervously.

“Right, let's go,” ordered Juniper. They all put backpacks on their fronts, swallowed deeply and exited the cubicle. Juniper went out of the girls' toilet first, giving the boys the all clear signal. Then they all separated and went down different corridors to get to the oval. It would be less suspicious if someone saw them. They'd just think they were running late for school.

It wasn't Drake's lucky morning. It seemed that Miss Tess, who was never late for class, was also late on this particular morning. She came bustling down the corridor towards him, baskets in each arms piled with material for experiments in class, and almost collided into him.

“Drake, what are you doing?” she asked him, breathless.

“I'm … ahh … just a bit late this morning, Miss Tess.” She looked at the large pack attached to his front and the now bulky cape stretched over his wings and raised her eyebrows. Then she dismissed him with a wave of her hand. “Whatever you're up to I'm sure it's important. Off you go.” She continued on her way down the corridor and Drake continued on his.

Then, as he rounded a corner, he banged right into Mr Roche. They should have waited a good half an hour into class, he thought. He wondered why they hadn't and realised that none of them had mentioned it as an idea because staying nervously in the shower cubicle for another twenty minutes would have driven them insane. Drake bounced back and looked Mr Roche in the eyes.

“What are you doing, Drake?”

“I'm just a bit late,” Drake said calmly.

“Just a bit late! You've got a big pregnant backpack on your belly and something looks odd about that cape today. What are you up to? Knowing you, no good.” And that's when, not knowing what else to do, Drake decided that he probably could run faster than Roche, even with a pregnant backpack on his belly. He took to his feet and ran, ran, ran as fast as he could. Roche was close behind but not close enough. Drake ran onto the oval where he met the two others and screamed out, “Now, go now … Roche is right behind me.”

And without further fuss, they shrugged their wings out of their capes and took to the great blue sky above. “Up, up and away,” yelled Ronan, dramatically.

Drake was only a few feet off the ground when Roche caught up and grabbed at his legs. With a swift swing of his left leg, he swiped Roche's head and knocked him to the ground. As Drake flew up into the air he saw Roche below holding his head and rubbing his eyes in disbelief. He was screaming something but Drake was too far away to hear anything. They'd done it. The three of them were soaring far above Dragonland, off on an adventure of a lifetime. As they soared off into the distance, Juniper let out a roar of fire, releasing all the built-up tension and creating a wondrous display for all the students and teachers who were now on the oval watching them.