Jonah and the Last Great Dragon (6 page)

Mike placed his hands on the table. ‘I told your wife that I have to call a meeting to alert as many people as possible. Look, we need to take action fast, if we are to prevent a disaster. People could get hurt. If we go to the church now, quickly, and if I can convince you that we have a serious problem here, will you help me get word around the community?'

The men nodded. ‘Come on, then,' said Emlyn. ‘I'll get my guns.'

As Emlyn spoke, Jonah noticed a strange expression flicker across Mike's face. Then he nodded.

‘Right,' he said.

Emlyn came back into the room with a couple of shotguns. ‘Right, then, lads. Are you going back to Maesglas to fetch guns for yourself and Rhodri?' he asked Bryn.

‘Yes, and I'll bring Claire here, if it's OK. I don't like the idea of her being at the farm alone, if there are really wolves around.'

Bryn left the farmhouse and was soon back with Claire, and two shotguns.

Emlyn turned to Gwen. ‘Now you lock yourselves in. Don't go outside until we're back. We won't be long.'

‘I don't like this,' said Gwen. ‘You're putting yourselves in danger, for no good reason. Why can't you just take Mike's word?'

Rhodri patted her shoulder. ‘It's OK, Gwen, really. Even if we did meet wolves, they'd be unlikely to attack five grown men. Especially when they hear the guns. Don't you worry.'

The men went out into the farmyard. At the kitchen door, Emlyn turned round. ‘Tell Erin where I've gone,' he said to Gwen. ‘And tell her I'm sorry. I could have handled that better.' He shut the door behind him, and Gwen and Claire looked at each other nervously.

‘I don't know about you,' Gwen said, ‘but I could do with another cuppa. While I make it, would you go up and tell Erin to come down now? I'd be happier if we were all in the same room, until the men get back.'

Gwen made more tea and the four of them gathered round the kitchen table. They all sat rigidly, straining to listen for any noise outside. Erin's eyes were still red from crying but she managed a watery smile, when her mother hugged her.

‘They'll soon be back, Mam,' she began, ‘and then—'

She was cut off by a terrible howl from the direction of the church. Her hand flew to her mouth. They all jumped to their feet and then they heard a commotion of shouts and snarling. Claire turned to Gwen.

‘Get me a shotgun, Gwen,' she said. ‘I'm going outside. Don't worry,' she added, as the other woman faltered. ‘I'm a good shot.'

But before Gwen had time to fetch one from the gun-rack in the study, the men came running back down the farm drive and spilled into the kitchen.

‘Erin, I owe you an apology, my love,' said her father sombrely. ‘And Mike and Jonah. You were right all along.'

Just as the men were coming back from the church, where they had a glimpse of the nasty little creatures the children had seen on the roof, the wolves had come down from the woods. They had sprung into the lane again, but the five men had been able to hold them off for long enough to sprint back to the farmhouse.

‘But it was weird. None of us got a decent shot at them,' Rhodri said.

Ted turned to Emlyn. ‘Don't you think we ought to get your animals inside, Boss?'

‘Good point. We must round them up right away,' said Emlyn.

‘Yes, let's get the stock in the barns first, and then we have to get out and warn local people quickly,' Bryn said urgently, ‘or someone's going to be killed.'

Emlyn suddenly stared at Bryn, and then looked round the group. ‘Someone's going to get killed,' he repeated softly. ‘Yet have you noticed? We've six or seven ferocious predators in the valley but not a single sheep nor any of your cattle, Bryn, seem to have been hurt.' He looked round the group. ‘They aren't hunting to eat.'

It was true. Bryn's Hereford cattle and all the sheep in the meadows along the lane seemed perfectly calm and undisturbed.

‘It's people they are after,' said Bryn, slowly.

‘Somehow,' said Gwen, ‘that makes the situation more frightening. We have to let everyone know.'

‘Well, we can't phone. I suggest we go now and bring in the livestock, and then we can drive around,' said Bryn.

‘If we leave word at one house among, say, six or seven, they can pass the message along to the others. That way, we could reach most people,' Ted offered.

‘Good thinking. Where should everyone meet?'

Rhodri, who had been sitting silently, listening, now spoke. ‘How wide an area do you need to cover? You aren't talking just about this valley, are you?'

Mike shook his head. ‘We need to reach anyone who lives near enough to come to Cascob church tomorrow morning.'

The adults, who were already very worried, now looked completely mystified.

‘Why at the church?' Claire wanted to know. ‘Outside the pub in Bleddfa, on the green there, would be better, surely? I know the landlord would—'

Rhodri cut in. ‘Sorry, Claire, but we don't have time now. Let's do as Mike asks, till he has time to explain.' He stood up. ‘Mike, if we want to use the churchyard, I think we should go to Knighton and see the vicar. Why don't I take you on my motorbike? Afterwards we can get around people in Bleddfa.' He turned to the others. ‘If we all take different villages, and call on a couple of houses in each street, we shall soon get people to pass the word to their neighbours. All right?'

Erin sprang to her feet. ‘Jonah and I can do New Radnor. Jonah could borrow Dad's bike, couldn't he? Or we can go on the ponies,' she said, and Jonah nodded eagerly.

Ted grinned at them. ‘On ponies? The wolves would think lunch was coming!'

‘And with Jonah's bad shoulder and both of you in shock!' Gwen exclaimed. ‘You're going nowhere. You are staying here.'

‘No way!' said Emlyn firmly. ‘Not alone here with wolves on the loose, Gwen. Let them go with one of the adults in a car.'

‘I'll see to Cascob,' offered Ted. When the sheep and cattle were in, Bryn and Claire would drive to the villages along the road running north of the Radnor forest, and Emlyn and Gwen would take the southern route.

‘Get as many people as you can,' Mike said, ‘to the churchyard by half-past seven tomorrow morning.'

Ted began to object. ‘You'll never get people to the church at that time.'

Mike leaned forward. ‘The earlier the better. We can't leave things as they are for long. It's urgent. We have to get round as many houses as possible tonight and ask people to come to a meeting tomorrow. We have to take action straightaway! Just tell them there will be information about the telephone blackouts, and – er – some worrying happenings in this area. That's probably all you will need to say, for the moment.'

As they all went out, Jonah noticed Bryn take Rhodri aside and heard him ask quietly, ‘Do you think Mike genuinely has some special information?'

Rhodri nodded. ‘Yes, I do.'

‘Are we talking about terrorism here?'

Jonah stared. He couldn't believe what Bryn had just asked. Terrorists? Here in Radnorshire? And using wolves? He looked across at Rhodri.

‘I don't want to speculate about who Mike is, or where his information is coming from but my instincts tell me he can be trusted,' Rhodri said to Bryn, adding grimly, ‘I just hope I am right!'

CHAPTER 10

By a quarter past seven the next morning, a crowd of anxious villagers were milling about in the little churchyard. Bryn had worried that parked cars would cause chaos in the narrow, hilly lane, so he was pleased to see that Rhodri and Ted had parking well under control, directing cars into one of Emlyn's fields a hundred yards or so from the church.

Jonah saw Erin arrive with her parents and slipped across to join her. They smiled at each other, both aware of the tense atmosphere. He noticed that people were glancing around anxiously and chattering in low voices. They all seemed to be discussing why their phones and televisions wouldn't work. Everyone realised that if the vicar and the parish councillors wanted a meeting this early in the morning, something must be seriously wrong. Some people in the crowd looked very worried, particularly mothers holding small children.

‘Where is Mike?' Bryn asked, frowning. ‘No point bringing everyone here without him. Go and see if you can find him, kids.'

Jonah and Erin walked out of the lych-gate to watch the people coming up the lane.

‘How's your shoulder?' Erin asked.

He waggled it experimentally. ‘Do you know?' he said. ‘It's only just a bit sore. The pain was terrible when the wolf was biting me. I was like, it's going to kill me. I'd have thought I wouldn't be able to move it for weeks, but it hardly hurts at all, now. Don't you think that's a bit weird?' He remembered the terrifying faces swirling round him in the blackness as the wolf's jaws had closed on him. Thinking about it made him feel shivery and so uncomfortable that he couldn't bring himself to talk about that part yet.

Erin was looking thoughtful. ‘Yes, it is weird. Look, Jonah, when you were lying on the ground, blood was pouring out and there was this great flap of flesh, sort of hanging down. Stomach-turning! The wolf almost ripped your shoulder off. I thought you would have to have an operation. But it's as if you just got scratched a bit.' She hesitated, looking down at her feet. ‘You know, when Mike bandaged your bite? He looked – well – sort of far away and intent. Oh, I can't explain. It's just that there's something about him, something – I don't know – it's as if he's someone quite different from who he says he is. I don't mean he's sinister,' she added hastily, as Jonah started to object. ‘I just mean that I'm sure there's more to Mike than he's telling us.'

Jonah nodded slowly. ‘Yeah, you could be right.'

‘You don't think,' Erin said thoughtfully, ‘that he's SAS, do you?'

‘What, in the Army, you mean?'

‘Well, of course, fluff-brain. Special Air Services.'

Jonah stared. ‘How come?'

‘Well,' she continued, ‘they're trained to do special combat and they go behind enemy lines, don't they? And they work in secret to search for terrorists and everything. Look how Mike fought off the wolves all by himself. He obviously knows about combat. Yeah? And when I asked if he worked for the Forestry Commission—'

‘He said he worked for another company!' Jonah broke in. ‘You could be right! They talk about “companies” in the Army, don't they?' He thought for a moment and moved closer to speak quietly into Erin's ear. ‘I heard Rhodri talking to Bryn last night. He said he felt he could trust Mike. And he wondered if Mike was here to investigate terrorism.'

Erin's eyes widened. ‘Well, that sounds like the SAS to me. And Rhodri would know.'

Jonah wrinkled his forehead. ‘Why?'

Erin stared. ‘Don't you know? Didn't anyone tell you?'

‘No. Tell me what?'

Erin shook her head, big-eyed. ‘I can't believe you've been related to him for six months and you still don't know.'

Jonah made a mock grinding sound with his teeth. ‘I may have to injure you. What don't I know?'

Erin was delighted. ‘He was in the Regiment.'

Jonah looked puzzled. ‘What regiment?'

‘No, not any old regiment. The Regiment! You know, near Hereford?' Erin made googly eyes. ‘Oh, crikey, Mastermind, do you need to ring a friend?'

‘Hey! Cut it out.' Jonah said, laughing. ‘I don't know what you're on about. And you don't ring a friend on ‘Mastermind', anyway.'

Erin threw a weary glance upwards. ‘There's a pretty famous Army HQ near Hereford. No? Doesn't ring a bell? Rhodri was stationed there, Jonah. He was in the SAS!'

‘Rhodri was in the SAS? Really? Wowzers!'

‘The penny drops!'

Jonah grinned. ‘Nobody said! I just knew he'd been in the Army. I didn't even know the SAS were based near here.'

‘Well, they are, and I wouldn't mind betting Mike's one of them. He's so calm and sort of quietly in control. He's just the type.'

Jonah nodded thoughtfully. People were still going through the lych-gate and Erin waved to several children who went to her school.

‘I thought you said there weren't any other kids our age in the valley,' Jonah said.

‘There aren't. They all live round the Radnor Forest, though. I'll introduce you after the meeting,' she told Jonah. ‘You'll like Gethin. That tall boy just going up the path. He's great at rugby.'

The children kept scanning the crowd for Mike. Jonah looked at a trickle of people filing through the gate. The little church was coming alive today, with so many people here.

Standing on tiptoe to get a better view, Erin commented. ‘If we had this many people here every Sunday, the church wouldn't weaken.'

A small shadowy thought stirred in Jonah's mind.

‘Erin,' he said urgently. ‘What exactly did you say about the churches round the Forest?'

‘That if the link weakened,' Erin said patiently, ‘the dragon would come out.'

Jonah clutched her sleeve and drew her to one side. ‘Erin,' he said in a low voice, ‘the link is weakening, isn't it? This church is hardly used. What if the smoke means—'

‘—that the dragon is waking up,' Erin finished, her eyes wide.

Jonah's mouth was dry and he felt shivery with excitement. ‘It could be the dragon, couldn't it? What if the old legends were true, Erin? What if it comes up here?'

They stared at each other. Then Erin frowned and bit her lip in thought. ‘Those horrible monkey-things we saw,' she began slowly. ‘If the hand that grabbed you did belong to one of those things…'

‘It was going to pull me down to the dragon.'

‘To feed it? You could have been its dinner!'