Jonah and the Last Great Dragon (2 page)

Erin grimaced. ‘I know! I always talk too much.' She looked at her mother and Jonah, who were laughing. ‘Well, it comes of being a deprived child. Stuck in the middle of the Radnor Forest. That's the trouble with living out here: there's nobody my age, for miles. So when there is someone here, I have to make up for it.'

Jonah grinned. He began to think the summer might be good fun.

‘I'd better go, Mrs Morgan. Thank you very much.'

‘Oh, drop the ‘Mrs Morgan', cariad. We're not very formal in the valley. You call me Gwen. Everyone does.'

Erin jumped up. ‘But what about the dog? It might be hanging around. You can't walk home.'

‘I'll be OK,' Jonah said, trying to sound more confident than he felt.

‘It's all right,' said her mother. ‘I'll give Jonah a lift down the lane. I've got to pop to Knighton for a few groceries, anyway. It won't hurt to go nice and early. Finish feeding the hens for me, dear, would you? Tell Dad I won't be long and, whatever you do, watch out for that dog. We don't want that thing near the farm.'

Jonah climbed into the battered old Land Rover. As Mrs Morgan drove out of the farmyard and turned into the lane, he scanned the hillside anxiously. There was no sign of the dog and he began to relax. Just before Maesglas Farm, Mrs Morgan started to signal a left turn.

‘Oh, don't bother to turn down the drive,' Jonah said. ‘I'll be fine now.'

‘Are you sure?'

‘Yes, really. It's only a few yards to the house. Thanks for the lift.'

‘You're welcome, dear. We'll be in touch. Say hello to Bryn and Claire for me, won't you?'

Jonah got down and waved as Mrs Morgan drove away. Just before he reached the farmyard, he looked up at the hillside and thought he saw movement. He squinted. Was there someone up in the trees? For a moment, Jonah thought he glimpsed somebody wearing a hood but he couldn't be sure. It could have been a trick of the light.

He looked along the ridge and caught his breath. Oh, no! Just below the woods at the top of the hill, the dog was standing on watch. Jonah halted at once and stood absolutely still. He didn't dare to keep walking, in case it noticed him. For a few seconds, the brute turned its head from side to side, sniffing the air. Then it seemed to catch a scent and slowly turned its head. Its eyes locked on to Jonah, boring into him like needles. In that instant, he knew the dog had been searching for him. Terrified, he dashed towards the house.

CHAPTER 3

Breakfast was nearly over at Maesglas Farm when the kitchen telephone rang. Claire got up to answer it.

‘It's Gwen,' she said, turning to Jonah. ‘She wants to know whether you would like to have lunch with them. Shall I tell her Yes?'

Jonah tried to swallow a big mouthful of bacon and tomatoes. He was just about to nod, when he remembered something.

‘Bryn,' he mumbled, chewing, ‘are you still going to clean out the hay-barn today? Because I said I'd help.'

Bryn shook his head. ‘After all that travelling yesterday? And being chased this morning? You need to relax.' He smiled at Jonah. ‘No, you go and have a look round today. Explore the valley and enjoy yourself. But be careful, mind.'

Later, Claire had driven him up the lane. ‘It's no bother to take you. I don't want you running the risk of meeting that dog when you're alone,' she said. ‘You needn't look like that. You don't have to feel ashamed of being scared. If I'd been in your shoes, I'd have been terrified.'

Secretly, Jonah was relieved that he didn't have to walk to the Morgans' farm by himself.

They lazed around in the garden at Gilfach after lunch, playing with the litter of black and white collie puppies, which were nearly old enough to go to their new homes.

‘I'll miss you so much, won't I?' Erin crooned, cuddling a sleepy bundle of fur. Then she put the puppy gently on the grass and jumped up.

‘Do you want to go and explore a bit? Get to know the valley?'

She studied Jonah. ‘Are you OK about that? After what happened this morning, I mean.'

‘Yeah. It's cool.' But he still felt nervous and hoped it didn't show.

‘I'll just let Mam know we're going out.'

Erin ran indoors and came back smiling. ‘She says it's all right for us to go, so long as we aren't too far from the farm and I take this.' She held up her smartphone. ‘If we see the dog again, we're to ring. Then Dad will get his shotgun and come to find us. He'll soon see the thing off!'

They scrambled up the steep meadow on the other side of the road from Gilfach Farm to wander along the ridge, looking across at the dense tree-cover on the hills behind their farms. From up here they could see Bryn's farm snuggling into the valley. Jonah could not help peering at the woods to see whether the monstrous dog was still around.

‘Jonah? Jonah!' He realised Erin was laughing at him. ‘You're miles away!'

‘Sorry. I was just thinking—' Jonah turned abruptly to Erin. ‘If I tell you something, will you keep it to yourself?'

She nodded eagerly.

‘Promise?'

‘Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die.'

‘It's just that it sounds crazy. It's about this morning.'

Erin had flopped down on the ground, her dark eyes alight with interest. ‘What? The dog, you mean?'

‘Ye-es,' he said slowly. ‘Except—'

She sat up. ‘Except what? Go on.'

‘Except it looked – well, before you say anything, I'm sure it wasn't a German Shepherd or anything like that. It was bigger, wilder looking, and it just didn't look like a Shepherd,' he finished lamely. He reddened, feeling embarrassed. ‘I mean, if I didn't know wolves are extinct in Britain, I'd have thought that's what I saw. A really big wolf.'

For a moment they stared at each other. Erin's mouth dropped open. ‘But you do think that's what it is, don't you? That's incredible!' She shook her head. ‘Look, Jonah, it's not that I don't believe you, it's just – well, I'd have to see it again myself, closer up.'

‘What would you do if we did see it?'

‘Why? Is it there again? Where?' She was staring apprehensively at the woods.

‘No, sorry, I didn't mean that. It's just that I wondered what we would do, if we did see it again.'

Erin was still gazing down at the woods. ‘Let's just hope we don't,' she said slowly. Then she shook her head, as if to clear her mind, and gave Jonah a sideways glance. ‘If we did see it, we could put a spell on it!'

‘Oh, yeah? Like you know one!'

‘I do, as a matter of fact. Better show some respect, boyo, or I might put a spell on you!'

Jonah chuckled. ‘Like what?' He thought for a moment and then, grinning, chanted: ‘Abracadabra, Jonah Drake, begone from here. Go jump in the lake.'

Erin rounded on him. ‘You can put that grin on the other side of your face, Master Jonah Clever Clogs Drake, because I do know a real spell. See the little church down there?' She pointed to where Jonah could just see a small square tower poking above trees. ‘That's St Michael's, and there's an Abracadabra spell on the wall inside.'

‘Really? In a church?' Jonah could hardly believe it. ‘Do you know the spell?'

Erin nodded.

‘Say it then. Go on.'

She rolled her eyes. ‘Honestly, Jonah, it's a real spell. I can't go saying it out loud. It's supposed to be very powerful. Mam says not to mess with things you don't understand. You don't know what might happen. But I do know the spell was used to free a girl from possession by demons. Her name was Elizabeth Lloyd.'

‘Wow! When?'

‘Well, a long time ago. About 1700, I think. But that doesn't matter. You know it's a proper spell that really works, if people had it put inside the church!'

‘Can we go down and see it?'

Erin shook her head. ‘Not today we can't. The church will be locked. It's only open once a month for the Sunday afternoon service. We could go then, if you like.'

‘They only have a service once a month?'

Erin spread her arms wide and whirled around, her dark curls flying. ‘Look around you. See the size of the congregation?'

Jonah laughed and gazed down at the valley, where he could see a couple of rooftops near the church and just two or three houses tucked amongst the woods and meadows.

‘Yes, I see what you mean. Not exactly a big village, is it? I'd still like to go down to the church, though.'

‘OK.' Erin was off, leaping down the hillside and Jonah breathlessly scrambled after her. She stopped suddenly so that Jonah, who could not stop his legs in time, ran into her, and they had to grab each other so that they didn't fall over. Hanging on to Jonah's arm to steady herself, Erin pointed beyond the church.

‘Look, can you see that?'

‘What?' Jonah, frowning, stared towards the church, but could not see anything out of the ordinary. ‘I can't see anything.'

‘Yes, look.' Erin turned Jonah's shoulders so that he could look along her outstretched arm. ‘Look over to the left of the churchyard.'

Above the dark line of the trees, a thin plume of smoke was rising, not steadily like smoke drifting upwards from a bonfire, but in spurts, as if someone was using a bellows.

Jonah nodded. ‘I see it now. Why is it doing that? Coming up in little puffs, I mean.'

Erin was biting her lip as she stared at the smoke. ‘I don't know. I can't think what it could be. If it's coming from the woods, it wouldn't be a farmer burning rubbish, would it? I don't like this, Jonah. It might be a forest fire.'

‘Come on.' Jonah was excited. The wolf dog slipped from his mind. ‘I think we ought to find out what it is.'

CHAPTER 4

They slithered on down the hillside towards the lane as fast as they could, sometimes sliding down where it was steep, and then running as they neared the bottom, where the hill dropped gently towards the road. Erin dropped onto the grass, laughing, while Jonah, panting, was bending over with his hands on his knees.

‘Do you think some idiot has dropped a cigarette end and the grass has caught?' he gasped.

Erin grew serious again. ‘Well, that's what I'm scared of. When it's dry like this, the bushes can go up like tinder. It's odd, though, the way the smoke is coming up, bit by bit.'

‘Quick, then. Let's go and see,' Jonah said.

They hurried up the steep lane between the two stone cottages that lay on either side of the road by the church gate. At the end of the churchyard wall, there was a metal farm gate opening into a small hilly field, running steeply down to thick woodland. Now they could see the puffs of pale grey smoke again, rising high in the air.

‘It doesn't smell bad,' said Erin, stopping to sniff the air, ‘so they aren't burning old tyres or anything.'

‘And it's not spreading,' Jonah said. ‘The smoke is just going straight up in a thin stream, look. Come on, let's get a move on.'

They ran along the top of the sloping field until they were level with the plume of smoke and then Jonah saw that there was a brook at the bottom of the hill, dividing the meadow from the woods.

‘How do we get across? Where's the bridge?'

‘Oh, who's a little townie, then? We don't have bridges out here.' Erin grinned as she sat down to pull off her sandals. ‘Come on. Take your trainers off. It's not deep. We can wade across.'

She ran down the slope, sat on the bank and slid carefully into the eddying water. ‘Ooh, it's cold,' she called, giggling. Jonah rolled his jeans as high as he could and lowered one foot into the stream.

‘Wow. It's freezing,' he gasped, stepping down into the swirling current and feeling for a foothold on the slippery mud at the bottom.

‘Don't leave your shoes. You won't be able to walk through the undergrowth without them.'

They crossed the brook carefully, up to their knees in water, trying not to lose their footing on the sharp pebbles and mud.

‘It's not going to be easy walking through here,' Erin said. They wiped their feet as well as they could on the grass and put their shoes back on. ‘And we won't be able to see much; we'll just have to follow the smell of burning.'

The larches and pines closed around them as they plunged into the woods. Twigs crunched beneath their feet and sunlight occasionally flashed through the leaves, as the children ducked under branches and followed the smoky smell.

‘Here it is!' cried Jonah, holding a prickly branch aside for Erin. ‘I can see it now.'

They moved out from the dappled light under the trees into a clearing. Thick smoke was eddying upwards through winking shafts of sunlight. They both stopped and stared, coughing as the smoke caught at their throats. Instead of the bonfire they expected, there was an enormous fissure in the ground, running through the forest, as if the earth was cracking apart. Several trees were leaning over with their roots high in the air, as if a giant had come through and pushed them clumsily aside. Out of the cleft came puffs of smoke, and sometimes a tongue of flame leaped into the air.

‘What is it?' Jonah asked.

Erin was wrinkling her forehead. ‘Haven't a clue,' she said.

‘But there's something terribly wrong.' She turned to Jonah, clutching his sleeve. ‘Oh, you don't think it could be the beginning of – well, a volcano, do you?'

He shook his head, frowning ‘We haven't got volcanoes in Britain.'

‘But that doesn't mean we never will. What about those plates in the Earth's surface that move and form mountains? We've just done those in Geography. Do you think that could be what's happening?' asked Erin, wide-eyed.

‘I dunno. It's weird.'

Jonah picked his way over the uneven ground towards the giant fissure and craned his neck to peer down into the smoke billowing from the crack.