War of Dragons (31 page)

John turned and carefully placing his feet to avoid crushing the tents, walked towards the south-east edge of the enclosure. He walked straight through the fence as if it wasn't there, trampling and crushing it as he approached the first enclosure, continuing to charge through the fence and rip a large gap in the north-east corner of the enclosure.

John realised that the alarm had not been sounded to alert the camp to the arrival of the army. In the distance, he could see two other giant dragons with Blue Dragons flying around them. Two of the others must have been forced to transform early and were the focus of the Blue Dragons' attention. Now the Blue Dragons were aware of his presence as well. Guards streamed out of tents between the two enclosures and began to transform. John didn't wait for them to be ready and moved quickly towards the tent, flooding it with a powerful stream of fire, ignoring the tortured screams that the partially transformed Blue Dragons emitted. He wasn't sure if this was breaching their laws, as he hadn't actually been attacked yet and he couldn't see if the others had been either, but he no longer cared, as waiting would almost certainly lead to the deaths of these girls. Natan followed his lead, lowering his head to the ground and flooding a guard tent with deadly flames.

John felt fireballs strike his neck, a gentle warmth that barely penetrated his thick scales. Blue Dragons were already in the air and were beginning to attack him. He snapped at one as it flew past, catching it's body in his jaws, his teeth biting deep into the dragon's chest and crushing it's rib cage. He flung it away casually and turned to face the rest of the flying dragons. There were hundreds in the air already. He roared and the sound carried across the whole camp and even drowned out the sound of the alarm bell. Seven other dragons up and down the camp echoed his mighty roar, the sound deafening and terrifying every person in the camp. The Blue Dragons used their piercing shrieks to strike fear into their enemies; now they knew what he felt like. Still, it did not stop them attacking him. They were swarming around him like gnats, trying to tear at him with their ineffective claws, but doing little more than irritating him. John lifted his tail and swatted at them, knocking several out of the air and impaling one on the spikes on the tip. The Blue Dragons were fast and agile, while his body was slow and cumbersome, but their teeth and claws could do little more than scratch his thick scales and their fire did even less, while every contact he made with them was likely to be fatal.

The prisoners still did not move, watching him in terror, having never seen anything nearly as large as he was now. John lifted his feet and carefully walked further into the enclosure, avoiding all of the tents and roaring again before snatching another Blue Dragon from the air and crushing the life out of it. He gazed down at the prisoners and looked one directly in the eye, who held his gaze, frozen to the spot. He shook his head, gesturing towards the torn fence. The girl nodded, finally having understood the message and shouted out to the other prisoners around her before beginning to run towards the gap in the fence. He was relieved to see that most of them had already moved to tents in the north-east corner, ready to escape the enclosure.

He lifted his head again and watched the Blue Dragons that were circling above him, trying to work out how to attack him after watching him destroy so many of their comrades. He roared at them again defiantly before taking a step towards the torn fence, carefully avoiding the fleeing girls. The enclosures were large and moving to the centre was going to take some time and the Blue Dragons were not going to make it easy. John moved back to the edge of the enclosure and enlarged the hole that he had created to allow the girls to escape more quickly. One of the Blue Dragons shrieked in rage, the piercing call causing him to shiver, and then it dived towards the prisoners, sending a fireball at a group of girls as they ran towards the fence. They screamed as the fire struck the fence but before it could send a second fireball Natan snapped his teeth around the creature's neck and head and swung his neck, flinging the corpse at the dragons in the air.

Nice work,
John called encouragingly, but Natan didn't reply, distracted by the many Blues that were flying around him. They continuously swiped at his neck and body, trying to find a weak spot and dodging his snapping jaws. John roared again in warning to the Blues, hoping to keep them away as the girls ran between his legs and through the gap in the fence. There were so many prisoners and they were running as quickly as they could, but couldn't get through the fence fast enough. He bent down and seized the fence in his jaws, ripping the thing from the ground and giving the prisoners enough room to escape. Most of them had moved out of the enclosure into the open area, running between the ten separate enclosures and hurrying towards the centre. John stepped carefully, staying behind to avoid treading on them. Natan had moved ahead, also walking slowly, struggling to place his feet in between the crowds running between his legs. The Blue Dragons were still concentrating their attacks on them rather than the prisoners, who were, after all running into the centre of the prison camp rather than out of it.

Natan,
John called over to him.
Move to the side, out of the way. Let them get past you.

Yeah, sure,
Natan replied irritably, dodging one of the flying blues.
These things are annoying.
The Blue Dragons were concentrating on him, rightly judging that he was less experienced.

Use your tail,
John suggested. Natan flicked his tail inexpertly, managing to miss every dragon when it appeared impossible not to hit one. He lifted his front leg and swiped at one, missing again. He only narrowly missed a group of girls beneath as he put his foot down.

John didn't dodge the dragons’ attacks at all, aware that that there was very little they could do to him. Each time one approached his head he snapped at them, more often than not successfully, throwing corpse after corpse back at his attackers. They were quickly learning to try and keep their distance from his head, although being attached to a long and flexible neck proved difficult. Wherever they attacked him on his body he could reach them with either his head or tail, and the pile of dead dragons around him was mounting up. Indeed, so far the main danger to the girls was from falling bodies.

Natan was still having far less luck, although he was starting to realise that they couldn't do much to him. As a Blue Dragon buzzed around his head, he reared up into his hind legs and brought his two front feet together quickly, catching it between his terrible, clawed feet. The mangled remains of the Blue Dragon slipped from his feet and he dropped his feet back to the ground, landing heavily and coming close to squashing a large group of girls, who miraculously managed to avoid his feet.

Got it!
he declared triumphantly.

Move out of the way!
John snapped.
You almost killed about twenty people with your feet!

I knew where I was putting them,
Natan responded irritably.
I didn't tread on anyone.

John walked forwards, staying to the right of the moving crowd.
Move to the left a bit more. We're meant to be shielding these girls; that means keeping them between us.

But they're not trying to attack them,
Natan objected.
They're just going after me!

Why should they bother attacking the girls? You seem to do that for them. Stop arguing and just move.

Natan let forth a stream of fire at two Blue Dragons that were swooping at his head. They disappeared into the flames and when they reappeared they were alive but completely disorientated, dropping limply from the sky, one landing heavily by Natan’s feet, which he promptly used to tread it into the ground.

Fire works well,
Natan observed.

What a surprise,
John replied sarcastically.
Did you even see how close the other came to crashing into the girls? You're lucky it managed to break out of the fall, or you'd have killed a lot of people. Please just move to the side!

Natan shook his head, but finally moved to the left, out of the path of the girls, who were still running towards the centre, where a large number of the prisoners had already gathered. He reared onto his rear legs again and snapped his jaws high in the air, catching the wings of two dragons that were flying close together, before shaking his head like a dog with a rat, tearing them to pieces.

John could see that two of the other Teradons were in the centre of the camp, either side of the growing crowd of prisoners, who the Blue Dragons were yet to pay attention to, focussing their attacks on the eight giant Teradons.

Natan was still the main target for the Blue Dragons at their end of the camp, with none willing to venture near John. Had he faced any real threat, John would have lent him some assistance, but for now he was happy for them to be distracted from the movement of the prisoners. Natan was starting to get the hang of using his tail as a weapon and was felling the Blues at an impressive rate, so probably didn't need any assistance anyway.

Is that you, John?
Dinah asked. Before he could answer she sent a torrent of flames high into the air and singed the wings of a group of Blues that had flown too close.

Hi, Dinah,
John replied.
What started the alarm?

That was me, unfortunately. It couldn't be helped; they were searching the tents for something and there was nowhere to hide. How are things at your end?

So far so good. We lost a couple of the girls at the start when one of the Blue Dragons decided to attack the prisoners, but they've switched their attention to us—or rather to Natan. What about you?

Same, pretty much, although they haven't touched the prisoners yet, but mine didn't have far to move. Come closer; we can form the ring now.

John and Natan ambled forwards and the eight dragons formed a circle around the prisoners, looking up at the circling Blue Dragons.

They've stopped attacking,
Dinah observed.
What are they up to?

They've realised that their approach wasn't working,
Theo replied.
Fortunately, it took them a while to work that out, thanks to Natan's efforts at keeping them entertained.

Very funny,
Natan replied coldly.
I think you'll find that I've killed at least fifty of them now.

There are many more to come,
Theo pointed out.
Don't lose focus.

Here they come!
John warned the others. The Blues had all simultaneously dropped into a dive and thousands dragons were plummeting towards them at high speed.

Any suggestions?
Gideon asked nervously.

Roast them
, Theo replied.
Don't tread on the prisoners. There's no point dodging—you'll be too slow.

The Blues all approached from the same side, presumably to avoid crashing into one another. As soon as they were within a couple of hundred metres John and Natan let forth a powerful stream of flames into their midst. Scores dropped to the ground, unable to control and pull out of their dives while caught in the flames, but the others dodged the onslaught and reached their target, raking the three closest Teradons with their claws as they passed. They flew past the three and over the group to attack the Teradons on the other side and found them just as formidable. Theo waved his spiked tail in the air, catching several who spun out of control, crashing into the turf beyond the circle and kicking up grass and mud before rolling along the ground. None took off after landing or showed any sign of life. The prisoners cheered at this small victory, although most of the Blue Dragons flew past uninjured. However, the sheer futility of the approach was not lost on them and they did not try that approach again.

Now what will they do?
Gideon asked.
That didn't work well for them.

No,
Barnabas replied quietly,
and they know it. They'll think of something new now.

Let them bring it on,
Natan bragged as he stamped on some dying Blues that had fallen just outside of the circle.
There's nothing they can do to us.
He paused before asking,
there isn't, is there?

Have you never wondered why there are none of these dragons left?
Barnabas asked.
Of course we're vulnerable. The question is how long it takes them to work it out.

They looked up at the Blue Dragons circling above them, who were shrieking menacingly, but making no move to repeat their failed diving attack. They were not that high, but out of the reach of their necks and their fire. Suddenly they all changed direction, each Blue Dragon flying away from them, spreading out from the centre of the camp.

Ha, they're fleeing!
Gideon declared happily.
They know they can't beat us.

You couldn't be more wrong,
Barnabas replied.
Look, they're not going far; they're all landing. I think they've worked out what to do next.

The Blue Dragons were landing all around them, some still flying low as if searching for something. Eventually all of them landed and for a moment they were all still and eerily quiet. Then one shrieked and all the others joined in before all taking off as one, flying back towards the circle of Teradons and prisoners, their cries shattering the nerves of the prisoners cowering beneath the giant dragons.

What were they doing?
Natan asked nervously.

No one replied; all of them were just watching the approaching horde. The Blue Dragons flew slowly and as they grew nearer John could see that each dragon was carrying something. They started circling as they neared, gradually gaining altitude, spiralling higher and higher above them.