War of Dragons (43 page)

John transformed and took to the air without any further delay. Dave followed behind him.

In a bit of a rush, John?
Dave asked.
Didn't want to say goodbye to your little friend?

John did his best to glare at him, something that was difficult as a dragon.
Time to get going, isn't it?

Very true. Hang on, don't you have a girlfriend that you brought with you? Isn't she a Red Dragon as well?

Oh, don't you start,
John replied irritably.
If I'm going to risk my life for a bunch of girls I don't know I think I should be able to do it without being mocked.

Yes, that's one way of looking at it. Of course, you are doing it for your girlfriend. Me, I am doing it out of the goodness of my heart and if I'm going to risk my life, I should be able to enjoy myself while doing it by mocking you.

Brilliant,
John replied.
I thought Natan and Gideon were annoying. Shouldn't you be studying the ground, improving your maps?

Doing it all the time, young John, but that doesn't stop me being able to converse with you. It'd be rude to fly without making polite conversation. I'd worry that you'd think I was neglecting you. I know how self-conscious you children are nowadays.

I'll live. Oh look, they're taking off now.

Yes, thank you for pointing that out,
Dave replied.
It would have been easy for me to miss four hundred dragons taking off.

Right, whatever,
John replied.
I'll fly over there, you fly to the left. Let's go.

John flew away from Dave, ignoring his objections about being slightly off course. The Brown Dragons seemed to know where they were going and all started on the journey home. John realised how tired his group must have been, as the new group moved much faster than he expected, being fresher having not flown that far. Despite having no extra weight, John found that he wasn't moving a lot faster than the group and they made quick progress to the south.

Eventually the forest began to thin and John realised that they were approaching the place they reached this morning with the first group. It was late afternoon, but there would still be plenty of time to reach the territory of the Brown Dragons before sunset. He would have pinched himself if he could; they were actually going to make it without losing any more girls.

Then suddenly, a dark shadow appeared to the east. John's heart froze; he wasn't sure how they had missed seeing them, but bearing down on them quickly was a large group of Blue Dragons! John squawked loudly to raise the alarm, but instinctively knew that it would be too late. The Brown Dragons turned to the south-west, all moving as one. John thought this made sense; they would still be heading towards the border but would avoid the Blue Dragons for as long as they could. But he knew that it was too late to avoid them; the Blue Dragons, now realising that they had been spotted, began to shriek, their terrifying shrill sounds shredding the nerves of the frightened girls, who started to scream and cry in anticipation of the onslaught. The Browns were hopelessly outnumbered—perhaps three to one—and the Blues weren't weighed down by additional weight. Their cries became almost gleeful and they flew furiously hard, rapidly closing the gap between themselves and the group.

Dave didn't wait for John to react and flew straight at the Blue Dragons. Despite his long flight, he still cut through the air with incredible pace. But it was one against over a thousand and there would be little that he could do. He appeared to be merely trying to disrupt them, to buy a few seconds and he sent fireballs at their heads as he flew around them, attempting to slash at them with his claws as he darted dangerously near to them. But it had almost no effect against this disciplined group; they maintained a tight flying formation and didn't deviate from their route, closing the gap between them and the rescuers. John realised that there wouldn't be time to deposit the girls and return to the air; the Blue Dragons would attack them from above and the Browns wouldn't stand a chance. They were hanging on to their passengers for now, but as soon as the Blues reached them they there would be only two options: to drop the girls to their deaths, or to die carrying them, still not saving the girls.

John flew towards the Blue Dragons, following Dave's lead, but knowing that there was little he could do, being so tired and that he might well be flying to his own death. He desperately tried to think of a plan that could help as he flew, but could think of nothing. Besides, he was going to arrive too late; the Blue Dragons were now within a hundred metres of their quarry and it could only be seconds before the Brown Dragons dropped all of their passengers. Some of them starting firing fireballs after the Brown Dragons; although they were still too far away to land any hits, it caused the passengers to scream even more frantically, sensing that the end was near.

Then a new sound was heard. A loud, triumphant series of cries that made everyone look up to the heavens. John realised that he really must have been flying half asleep to miss this second group, as descending rapidly towards the distracted Blue Dragons were the rest of Gul's forces, at least four thousand dragons hurtling towards their foes. The Blue Dragons shrieked in rage and fear, realising that they were doomed. Those carrying the girls found an extra burst of energy to pull just away from the Blue Dragons before the reinforcements collided with their pursuers. A series of sickening thuds, crunches and agonising screams followed, with maimed and killed dragons falling like rain onto the thin forest below. John pulled away from the battle scene, knowing that there was nothing he could do here, having no energy to join the fight. Dave joined him and they flew on with the Brown Dragons carrying the girls, leaving the battle raging behind them.

A little close there, John,
Dave said, his voice a little shaky.
I thought we were in a bit of trouble there.

Me too,
John replied.
They were very close to catching the Browns.

Oh no, they weren't going to catch the Browns,
Dave replied.
We were about to watch four hundred girls go splat on the ground though. Would have been rather messy.

Yeah,
John replied irritably.
Hey, Dave, I'm quite tired. Why don't you fly ahead and check that all's clear. I'll stay with the group.

Fair enough, John
.
I can tell when I'm not wanted. I'll patrol at the front.

John couldn't be bothered to correct him and flew alongside the Brown Dragons. He looked over and saw Daphne watching him, who waved when she saw him looking. He nodded at her before rising up to fly above them where she couldn't see him. He thought he recognised the border up ahead, and soon, they were flying over it, then they were descending, and they were home, safely back in the camp where the girls were reunited with their fellow residents of the prison, but now far, far away from that place, and free!

"Hey, John!" It was Natan, who was half-sitting, half-lying on a log in the middle of the camp and had spotted John land. "You made it back! Come and join us."

"Hello, Natan," John said, walking over to join him, "how was your journey back?"

"Long, tiring, boring," Natan replied, stretching himself out. "Almost wanted to see some Blue Dragons to break the monotony of that wretched forest."

"You really didn't," John told him. "We had a very close encounter on the way back. It could have gone horribly wrong."

"Really, what happened?"

John shook his head. "I'll tell you later. I want to see Theo first. What's happening with all of these girls? It looks like everyone is still here."

"Relax, John. You've done your part. Theo is coordinating it all and we've had a bunch more people from the government arrive. They're going to take all of the Reds, Sandy and Wasp Dragons back to look after them till we work out where they need to be taken."

"What about these Browns? Why are they still here? Didn't half of them arrive last night?"

"This morning and there are thousands of them to be moved and no one to take them; they're all patrolling the borders or fighting on the other side of the border. But that's not our problem, John; let Gul worry about it. Tomorrow, I'm headed home."

John shook his head. "We're too near the border here. The Blues could cross over at any time. Could you seriously leave them all here in danger after all the trouble we went to get them out?"

Natan sighed irritably. "Alright, let's go and find Theo. I get the feeling you're not going to let this lie, are you?"

John shook his head, extending his hand to help Natan stand up. "This place has completely changed; where is everything now?"

Natan shrugged. "Well the population has more than doubled, so what did you expect? Follow me. We're right by the headquarters."

Natan led John to the headquarters, which was formed of a series of large tents, each with guards outside.

"John and Natan for Theo," Natan said to the guard outside the first tent.

The guard nodded and waved them in. Inside the tent Theo was talking to two grey-haired men; all three of them sat around a large table.

"John! Welcome back! I had heard that you had arrived. I was just about to send someone out to find you."

John nodded. "What's happening about relocating all of these girls, Theo? We're very near the border here. This place has no defensive advantages and it's too big a risk to keep them here any longer."

Theo shook his head, smiling in a bemused way, and turned to the two men beside him. "Straight to the point as always. Gentlemen, meet John. He's the reason that we're all here today on this mission. John, this is Jude and Benjamin, who work in the Department of Immigration. We were just discussing this matter and it's all being taken care of. We will be moving all of the foreign girls out of here first thing in the morning. There aren't any populations of Blues nearby, so there won't be any attacks before we get them out of here."

"What about the Browns? The others make up a small minority. They'll still be here."

Theo sat back, looking a little surprised. "They're already home, John. It's up to the Browns from here."

"Not good enough, Theo," John replied. "They're fighting a war now and these girls are near the border and at risk. They should be moved further away from the border—much further away. If the Blues attack here in force they could kill thousands of those girls."

"Young man," Jude replied, "that is something that is out of our control. We've handed these girls over now. It's up to Gul to manage their safety."

"Speak to Gul then," John said. "They're not safe here."

Jude shook his head. "Gul doesn't need us telling him what to do—"

John banged the table and stood up. "Fine. I'll go and speak to him. Enjoy your committee meeting." He stormed out of the tent and approached the guard at the next tent's entrance.

"Is Gul in here?"

The man shook his head and pointed to the central tent, a large, richly decorated one. John nodded and hurried towards the tent.

"John, wait!" Theo called after him.

John ignored him and walked up to the two guards at the tent. "Urgent request to speak to Gul. I'm the one who led the return of the prisoners. It's regarding their safety."

The guard shrugged, sizing John up and then turning to go into the tent. "Follow me," he said as he entered.

"Ah, the young man," Gul said in greeting. "Apologies, but your name escapes me."

John shook his head. "No apology necessary, sir. My name is not important. I've come to speak to you about the girls we rescued; I'm concerned about their safety so close to the border."

Gul nodded, smiling. "Borders are not fixed, young man. The border will be moving away from them in a couple of days."

Theo burst into the tent accompanied by Jude and Benjamin. "Gul, I apologise for John's intrusion. He is tired from his trip and not thinking clearly."

Gul waved his hand dismissively. "It is fine, Theo; I was hoping to thank him for returning all of the girls to us. He has done a marvellous job."

John shook his head impatiently. "But they're still at risk. Having them all together, it makes them a target. They need to be moved away from the border."

Gul frowned. "These are our girls, John, and our concern. I don't see any Golden Dragons in their midst. Worry about your own."

John looked him in the eye. "There were Golden Dragon women out finding the camp though, and it was one of them who rescued the first prisoners. There were no Brown Dragons in that first trip into the Blue Dragons' territory, just us. You didn't want us to just worry about our own then."

Gul glared at him icily. "Perhaps you forget who you're speaking to, boy."

Theo placed his hand on John's shoulder to calm him and smiled disarmingly at Gul.

"It's so easy to forget that John is just a boy when you consider what he has achieved, wouldn't you agree, Gul? But being just a boy and having never visited your great nation before, we can make some allowances for his ignorance when it comes to how to address leaders as important as yourself, don't you think? Children can so easily lose their heads in situations like this." Theo smiled at John, but his eyes were hard.

Gul turned to Theo and nodded curtly. "I expect the boy is tired from his long trip; we can make allowances in this instance."

Theo smiled and bowed. "Although he does so inexpertly, he raises an important point. Borders are irrelevant at a time such as this. The Blues could attack at any moment."

Gul shrugged. "What would you have me do? I need all my men to fight this war, which you wanted us to join.  The girls cannot move themselves and where could they go anyway? The Blues could attack anywhere up and down the border."

John spoke up again. "Fine, let us take care of them. Take them over the border to our land till the war is over. We will find a haven for them. The Blues would never dare attack us."