Drake the Dragonboy (6 page)

T
hey were flying in unison, silently, for some time before Juniper said, “We've done it.”

“I can't believe you kicked Roche in the head. That was awesome,” exclaimed Ronan. He was concentrating on flapping his giant wings gently to stay at the same height and speed as the others. Juniper, on the other hand, seemed to be exerting quite a lot of energy, flapping her fluffy wings ten times to Ronan's one, to keep up with them. Drake was the only one who was comfortable. His arms were spread wide but somehow relaxed with the wind beneath his wings holding them up without any effort on his part.

“Yep, we're here flying up above Dragonland. It looks so tiny down there, hey!” Drake dropped his head to look below. Juniper dropped her head too but her body accidentally followed and she started heading towards the ground. Drake trod air (as he called it in his head) by doing a sort of flutter forward closely followed by a flutter back. Ronan tried to do the same thing, accidentally used too much force, and went shooting up into the sky. Drake waited for a couple of minutes for them both to sheepishly return.

“We just don't have your talents,” complained Juniper.

“Is that orange ahead of us the force field?” asked Ronan.

“Yep,” verified Drake. “We'll fly through a couple of metres of orange and then out the other side.”

“Fingers crossed,” said Juniper.

As they approached the orange light, Drake felt his stomach tie in knots. He had spent his whole life thinking that this was a real barrier. He really wanted to be able to get through but he also didn't because he didn't want to think that all these years his dad had lied to him. Ronan and Juniper both looked at him as they approached and entered the orange light. For a few seconds, they saw everything through a tinge of orange and then they were through and soaring far above the wasteland.

“Watch out for Quintas now!” said Ronan. This was his responsibility. His front pack was loaded with bombs ready to light and throw.

“Yes,” said Juniper, anxiously. “Don't worry, I'll be watching out. Wonder how far it is until we get to the city.”

“Are you okay? Are you getting tired?” asked Drake, feeling bad that he had only just thought about what a struggle it was for Juniper to fly for a long period.

“I'm okay,” she said, sounding weary.

“Fly behind me … it'll be easier.”

Suddenly, a dark cloud came over them and sent a chill all the way down Drake's spine.

“Don't look up, Ronan!” Drake yelled forward at him and instantly Ronan looked up. Again, his body followed him, shooting upwards. Drake and Juniper watched in horror as Ronan shot upwards right towards the body of a giant Quinta. The Quinta soared about fifty metres above them, its giant body casting a huge shadow over them, with its wings spanning what seemed like hundreds of metres. Drake and Juniper couldn't see Ronan. He'd disappeared into the darkness beneath the Quinta. The Quinta lifted its huge head and let out a giant ball of fire. Juniper and Drake both screamed in fright and grabbed each other's hands.

“We need to fly out of here as fast as we can,” said Drake. Juniper didn't need convincing. As they flew away the Quinta let out another huge breath of fire and a microsecond later there was a giant explosion. Ronan was nowhere to be seen. Fear pushed them as fast as they could go to the edge of the city.

“Look down,” called out Juniper. “It's the city.” Down below the dust had given way, in part, to some rough-looking tin houses, with red-dirt roads winding through them. There was even a little patch of green here and there. They glided down a little away from the houses, at the edge of the desert, so that no-one would see them flying in. They had no idea what to expect. Once they were safe on the ground Drake noticed Juniper was shaking like a leaf. He put his hand out to comfort her and noticed that he was shaking just as much. His comforting hand was vibrating like his phone when he put it on silent.

“Let's try ringing Ronan,” Drake said. He grabbed his phone and pressed Ronan's name before holding a quivering hand to his ear. Juniper watched anxiously. Five rings and it went through to Ronan's voicemail.

“You've reached the house of the awesome Ronan. I'm not here right now. Leave me a message and I'll get back to you if I feel like it.” Drake shook his head to let Juniper know he wasn't getting through.

“Ronan, call us if you get this message. We're worried,” Drake said quickly. He was surprised at how steady his voice was.

Drake had been counting on Ronan's presence as they entered the city. He was big and strong. On their own, Juniper and Drake were easy targets and Drake had no idea if the people in this city were dangerous.

“What do we do now?” said Drake, looking expectantly at Juniper.

“We really didn't plan any further than this, did we?”

“No … I guess we walk into the city and see if we can find someone … and if they seem friendly we'll ask them for help. There's not much else we can do. Ronan'll be okay. He'll catch us up,” Drake said, his voice sounding falsely jolly like when his mum was trying to make a trip to the dentist sound like fun.

“Sounds as if it's the only thing we can do,” said Juniper.

“It's pretty scary, isn't it?” admitted Drake. He felt very shaky. He was exhausted from the flight, worried sick about both his father and Ronan and terrified of this new strange place. Everything in Dragonland had always been so very familiar, it had been boring. He'd never even met anyone new, except if you counted newborn babies. No-one left Dragonland unless they died and no-one new arrived. Juniper didn't reply; she just exhaled very slowly and looked at him nodding. They held hands as they walked towards the city. Drake had always dreamed of holding Juniper's hand but now he was too tired and too scared to enjoy it.

They wandered through the dusty streets looking at the tin shacks by the edge of the road.

The city was really dirty and unlike anything they had seen before, which made them uneasy.

The houses were makeshift sheds and not even the sort you bought at the hardware shop. They were pieces of tin jammed together with bricks and nails and glue. But even the most makeshift shed had a little television antenna sticking out of the roof, which surprised Drake.

They saw a few people as they walked but didn't feel comfortable talking to them. The people looked similar to dragonfolk but seemed a little taller and it seemed as if they didn't have wings at all, unless they kept them very short and strapped right down. Their faces were also a bit thinner and longer and their skin varied in colour from fleshy pink, to white, light brown, dark brown and black. Fortunately, Drake and Juniper didn't look different enough for anyone to take any notice of them. They continued with what they were doing without as much as a glance at them. The people were busy washing clothes and themselves under taps in the street — again something you'd never see in Dragonland — and sweeping out their dirt-floored houses. Animals wandered about. Dogs and cows fought over scraps and garbage that people threw out of their houses.

Drake and Juniper walked slowly up a hill, their legs starting to get tired, smelling a million new smells: fires burning, sewerage gone astray, rotting vegetables outside makeshift-looking shops.

“Do you think the city is all like this? All dirty and smelly?” asked Juniper.

“I don't know. It's interesting to smell all these new things. I feel as if I've never really smelt anything before, compared to all these smells.”

“I like some of the smoky smells, like back there where they were burning those little sticks. It smelt a bit like my mum's garden at home.”

As they reached the top of the hill, they stopped dead and gazed at what they saw before them. In the distance was an enormous city of skyscrapers higher than anything they'd seen before. So high were these buildings that you couldn't see the tops of some of them. They were surrounded in a grey, smoky haze. And the city stretched out both directions along the horizon. It was getting dark and the buildings were lit up with brightly coloured lights and slogans that meant nothing to Drake and Juniper.

“I guess we head towards the city,” said Drake. Although they wanted to stop walking, they had decided to keep going. It made them look as if they were heading somewhere, which meant no-one took much notice of them. If they stood still and looked lost, somebody was sure to look at them.

As they got closer to the city, there was much more going on. There were still tin shacks but these were interspersed with more sturdy, well-constructed buildings, mostly made of cement. They had once been white but now were dirty and chipped. Some of these were open-fronted and housed shops; others had little red doors and windows covered with bars. The bars scared Drake. He'd never seen bars like this before and it made him worry about their own safety, especially as it was getting darker and they had nowhere to stay the night.

Suddenly, Juniper yelped with delight. “Look over there, Drake, do you see it?”

“Huh,” he said, following her pointed finger to where a tiny baby dragon was sitting. He had a collar and lead and was being paraded around outside a brightly light door. His owner was a young man with short multi-coloured hair and deep brown skin. In Dragonland, folk only had pinky, white skin, so Drake couldn't help staring at both of them.

“Let's go over and have a look,” said Juniper. Drake nodded in agreement and they started on their way towards the little dragon. They were a few metres away when a girl about their age, with blonde hair in pigtails and brown skin that was almost golden, grabbed them both firmly and pulled them harshly to the side of the road.

“You don't want to go over there,” she said to them. “The dragon looks cute but what they're doing is cruel and if you go over there you're just supporting the abuse!”

“What do you mean?” asked Juniper, looking horrified.

“Well, you know that dragons don't stay up at night. They go to sleep. So, how do you think this little dragon is staying awake?”