The Dragon's Gold

by Alex English

  She stood on the bank, searching for any kind of opening. As she watched, she saw that the water seemed to be draining into a large hole at the far end, like bathwater flowing down a plughole. Echo scrambled across the rocks to take a closer look. The hole was dark and steep, with several centimetres of water flowing down it. She checked the compass. The miniature dragon jittered and flicked back and forth, faster and faster, like it was alive. As she got even closer to the opening, the tiny figure did a nosedive so that it was pointing straight down.

  Echo shook her head. ‘No doubt about it, the only way is down,’ she murmured.

  ‘What are you doing over there?’ Echo looked up to see Horace gingerly picking his way over the rocks to her. They both looked down into the hole, then at each other.

  ‘It’s a lava tube,’ said Horace. ‘It must have been formed when Mount Enoc was still active. I expect the whole mountain’s riddled with them.’

  ‘It’s the way in,’ said Echo, showing him the pocket watch.

  ‘The way in to wher—Oh no!’ said Horace, paling. ‘A dragon’s cave, Echo? Why would you even want to…’ He shook his head, aghast and lost for words.

  Echo looked at Horace and thought for a moment. ‘Don’t you want to see a real dragon?’ she said. ‘Imagine what the professor would say! You’d be able to present your findings to the Explorers’ Guild.’

  ‘Never.’ Horace folded his arms tightly across his chest. ‘It’s a bad idea, Echo. Very bad. I don’t even like the look of that hole, and that’s probably the best of it.’

  ‘It’ll be fine,’ said Echo, keeping her voice light. ‘It’s just like the slideway at the professor’s house.’

  ‘But where does it end? In a dragon’s lair? In a dragon’s jaws? We’d get burned to a crisp or eaten, or burned and eaten.’ He shook his head firmly. ‘Absolutely not.’

  ‘There’s no time to argue,’ hissed Echo. ‘We need to get down there before the others find the cutlass. There are bigger things at stake.’

  ‘I’m not arguing.’ Horace folded his arms tightly across his chest. ‘I’m refusing to get drawn into yet another one of your schemes. Dragons aren’t to be trifled with, Echo. I’ve been reading all about them, remember? They’re frightfully dangerous.’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ said Echo. She had to stop the other sky pirates before it was too late. And she couldn’t let being frightened hold her back. ‘Come on,’ she said. She glanced up at the airships circling. ‘If we stay out here, we’re bound to get caught by the other sky pirates. We’ll go together.’

  Horace shook his head. ‘No. I’m sorry, Echo. I’m hiding here until the Black Sky Wolves arrive—’

  BANG! A deafening blast came from overhead as Obsidian came diving towards them, fire flaring from its cannons. Echo instinctively ducked as a stray cannonball plunged on to the rocks on the other side of the pool, smashing the ledge they’d been hiding under to smithereens. One of the other ships returned fire.

  Horace put both hands over his head and crouched, shaking, on the riverbank.

  Echo looked from him to Obsidian, wheeling above them, to the lava tube.

  Without another word, she grabbed Horace’s hand and jumped.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Echo landed with a bump and skidded down the tube on her bottom, pulling Horace behind her. A slimy carpet of weed cushioned their landing and the shallow trickle of water that flowed down the base of the tunnel swooshed them along into the darkness. With each twist and turn of the tunnel, they skidded up the sides and back down again, until Echo was quite dizzy.

  ‘That was close!’ she yelled, above the whoosh of the water.

  ‘You tricked me!’ Horace’s voice wobbled with fear. ‘You shouldn’t have done that. We’ll be eaten alive.’

  ‘Safer down here than up there.’

  ‘We’ll see about that,’ Horace whimpered.

  Still the tunnel went on, going down and down into the heart of Mount Enoc. Soon it was pitch-black and still they kept sliding.

  ‘If only we had the glow jar,’ Echo shouted back over her shoulder. ‘Then we could see where we’re going.’

  ‘I don’t think I want to see,’ said Horace. ‘Oh, who knows what’s down here?’

  ‘Wait, I can see something.’ Echo blinked. There was a dim blueish light in the tunnel up ahead. She could see the next bend. As they got closer, she saw the ceiling was covered in some kind of glowing blue mould. ‘Look at this!’ she yelled, as they whizzed past.

  ‘What?’ said Horace.

  ‘On the ceiling!’ Echo turned to look at back at him and saw his eyes were squeezed shut. ‘Look up, Horace!’

  He dared to open one eye and squinted up at the ceiling, then gasped. ‘How fascinating,’ he said. ‘Phosphorescent lichen.’

  Echo pushed herself upwards and leaped for the ceiling, grabbing at the lichen with both hands. She managed to rip a handful free before coming crashing down and spinning on the slippery tunnel floor.

  ‘Try to get some, Horace!’ she shouted, as she slid down the tunnel, now head first and on her back, clutching the fluffy, glowing fronds to her chest.

  Horace reached for the lichen himself and managed to snatch a bunch with both hands. As Echo rocketed round another bend, she saw him dangle for a moment, before the lichen tore off and he tumbled back down into the tunnel and careered helter-skelter after her.

  ‘When will this tunnel end?’ he panted.

  Echo swung her legs round and righted herself as she kept sliding. Her heart was racing from a strange mixture of excitement and fear. They’d escaped the other sky pirates, but what was waiting for them at the bottom of the tunnel? And how would they ever find their way out again?

  As they rounded yet another bend, Echo suddenly realized that their crazy descent was slowing. She could sit upright now, and the walls still flew past, but she wasn’t being flung around every time they turned a corner or shot up the side of the tunnel when it spiralled in on itself.

  ‘I think it’s levelling off!’ she shouted back to Horace.

  They slid round one final bend and, in the light of the glowing lichen, Echo saw the tunnel opened into a wide greenish pool of water. Her heart fluttered with relief at the lack of dragons or anything else waiting to eat them. She whooshed down the final straight.

  ‘Hold tight!’ she shouted. ‘I think we’re going to—’

  The pool swallowed Echo as she hit it with a splash. She bobbed up again and blinked. Horace popped up next to her, coughing up water. Gilbert swam a leisurely lizard-paddle in circles round them.

  ‘Now what?’ said Horace, glancing around nervously. He shivered. ‘It’s spooky down here.’

  Echo took in their surroundings. The pool was in the centre of a wide, high-roofed cavern. The ceiling here was covered in the same glowing lichen that they’d found in the tunnel and the light cast eerie shadows on the water. Echo could make out another tunnel opening on the far wall, and two more to their left.

  ‘I guess we take one of these,’ she said.

  ‘But which one?’

  They waded out of the pool and on to the rocky cavern floor. Gilbert sneezed water from his nostrils and Horace wrung out his sopping shirtsleeves. Echo glanced around. Stalactites hung from the ceiling and water ran from their points with a steady drip drip drip. The cavern was cool and smelled of wet stone and pondweed.

  Echo reached into her bag. ‘Maybe the compass will help,’ she said. She clicked open its silver casing and examined the face. The dragon wobbled and spun for a moment before settling.

  ‘It’s pointing here.’ Echo traced the line. The compass seemed to be directing them to the two left-hand tunnels, but which one? ‘Come on,’ she said.

  Gilbert clambered up her leg to find his perch on her shoulder and they crept forward into the furthest tunnel, bunches of glowing lichen held aloft.

  They hadn’t been walking long when there was a whooping, hooting sound from up ahead. Horace jumped and dropped
his lichen bunch in shock.

  Echo froze. ‘What was that?’ In her haste to get down here and find the dragon’s lair, she hadn’t considered there might be other creatures around too.

  Gilbert’s claws tightened on Echo’s shoulder and he let out a tiny chirrup that Echo knew meant, Oh no, owls!

  ‘You’re right. I think it is owls,’ she said.

  ‘Are… are you sure it’s not ghosts?’ said Horace, worry etched on his face.

  Echo rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. There’s no such thing as ghosts.’

  Horace flushed. ‘It sounded spooky. I don’t like it.’

  ‘Shh!’ Echo raised a finger to quieten him. It wasn’t owls at all, but voices. A tingle of fear ran down her spine. The other sky pirates! They didn’t have much time.

  ‘Echo, we should get out of here.’

  ‘Well, what do you suggest?’ Echo hissed. ‘We can’t go back up the lava tube – it’s too steep. Even if we could get all the way back up, we’d be caught by the other pirates outside and then where would we be?’

  ‘We could go back and try a different tunnel.’

  ‘But the dragon is pointing this way.’

  Horace huffed. ‘How do you know that thing’s even working?’

  ‘I just know, okay? Look, we’re going to figure out a way to get the cutlass. Once we have that, the other sky pirates will have to do our bidding. But we don’t have much time.’

  Horace wrung his hands. ‘We can’t face a dragon. They’re dangerous, and clever too. Nobody ever managed to take gold from under a dragon’s nose. Not even the Knights of Nordland.’

  Echo thought for a moment. ‘There must be something you’ve learned from all your reading. Don’t dragons ever leave their lairs to hunt?’

  Horace thought for a moment. ‘Yes, but not until night-time. They’re nocturnal.’

  ‘Couldn’t we sneak in now while it’s asleep?’

  ‘No!’

  ‘Well, there must be a way,’ said Echo, although privately she had to admit that the whole thing seemed impossibly dangerous. But something inside her wouldn’t let her give up and she kept on walking, into the eerie quiet of the tunnels. The pirate voices seemed to have faded away, and the only sound was the squelch of their soggy boots on stone and the thud of Echo’s heart in her ears.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  Echo and Horace trudged through the tunnels for what seemed like hours, following the direction of the compass dragon.

  ‘Can we take a break?’ Horace begged. ‘We’ve been walking for ages.’

  Echo looked round at him and took in the dark shadows under his eyes. ‘I suppose so,’ she said grudgingly. ‘But just a short one. We need to keep moving.’

  They hadn’t heard any more shouts from the other sky pirates, but Echo couldn’t help feeling nervous about their proximity. And what if Miranda or one of the others got to the Cutlass of Calinthe first? Echo couldn’t let that happen.

  They found a smooth area of the tunnel and sat down side by side in the gloom. Echo opened her knapsack and pulled out the bag of jelly beans, which they shared in companionable silence.

  When they were finished, Echo tossed the last jelly bean to Gilbert, who swallowed it with a gulp. She crumpled up the paper bag, shoved it back in her knapsack and got to her feet. ‘We need to find this dragon cave before the others do. Come on.’

  ‘Why do you really want to find it?’ Horace said.

  ‘To stop Miranda getting her hands on the cutlass, of course,’ said Echo.

  Horace shook his head. ‘I mean the real reason. You can’t be prepared to take something from under a dragon’s nose just to stop Miranda getting her way. It’s stealing.’

  Echo felt her cheeks grow hot with indignation. ‘That dragon has a whole hoard of treasure. It won’t miss one measly cutlass.’

  Horace frowned. ‘I can’t believe you’d risk getting burned to a crisp just to get some gold. What are you trying to prove?’

  That I’m a real sky pirate, thought Echo. She folded her arms. ‘I’m a Black Sky Wolf. Steal for good, that’s our motto.’

  ‘But you’re not stealing for good.’ Horace stared at her. ‘You’re just trying to impress your mother.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’ Echo glared at Horace, furious at both him and herself.

  But Horace hadn’t finished. ‘If you steal from the dragon, you’re just as bad as Vossberg and Old Gus and all the others,’ he said.

  ‘How?’ exclaimed Echo. ‘I’m not hurting anyone.’

  ‘What about the dragon?’

  ‘They’re vicious monsters.’

  ‘Says who? According to my studies, they’re much misunderstood creatures that need our protection,’ Horace exclaimed. ‘Not that Old Gus listened to any of that,’ he added ruefully.

  ‘And who wrote that?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Horace sighed. ‘Who told you they were vicious?’

  It was Echo’s turn to be embarrassed. ‘Miranda,’ she said.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Horace, with a huff. ‘You might be desperate to be a sky pirate, but don’t start acting like her.’

  ‘I’m not desperate!’ Echo folded her arms. But somewhere deep down she had to admit that Horace might be right.

  After walking in grumpy silence for a while, Echo suddenly thought of something. ‘Did your books say anything about communicating with dragons?’ she asked. ‘Maybe, if we talk to it, we can explain about the cutlass.’

  Horace shook his head. ‘They’re known to be intelligent, but nobody’s ever managed to talk to one and live to tell the tale,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry, Echo. I just don’t think it’ll work—’

  But Horace didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence. As they rounded the next bend, they both sucked in an awestruck breath. The tunnel had opened out into a vast cavern filled with gold from wall to wall. Mounds of gleaming coins, jewel-encrusted crowns, sceptres and swords lay heaped. Ropes of pearls were strewn among chests spilling over with gold doubloons.

  And among all these riches, red-scales gleaming, tail curled round itself and smoke curling delicately from its nostrils, lay an enormous, sleeping dragon. A real dragon! Echo’s head spun for a moment, not quite believing it, as she took in the sheer wonder of the huge red beast. As much as she’d been expecting it, preparing for it, dreading it almost, a small part of her hadn’t quite believed that the dragon would be real. But here it was, breathing softly. It was breathtakingly enormous too, almost half the length of the Scarlet Margaret. Echo couldn’t stop staring in awe. She could almost feel the power rising off the dragon in waves. It was beautiful. Dangerous but beautiful.

  As they watched, the great creature stretched in its sleep, snorted out a tiny ring of smoke and refolded its wings. Horace covered his mouth with both hands to stifle a scream. Echo merely froze. For, when the dragon had shifted, it had lifted up its cream-scaled belly, revealing a clutch of three glittering eggs.

  ‘We need to hide, Echo,’ whispered Horace urgently, pulling her away. ‘It’s a female and we do not want to wake her.’

  But Echo couldn’t tear herself away from watching the dragon, her eyes wide and her stomach fizzing with a mixture of fear and excitement. She finally ducked back into the tunnel, after quickly scanning the mountain of gold for any sign of the cutlass. She took a deep breath, taking in the smell of sulphur and a hint of peppermint.

  ‘Isn’t it wonderful, Horace?’ she said. ‘I didn’t quite believe we would really see a dragon, but—’

  ‘We have to get out of here,’ Horace hissed. ‘That dragon will eat us as a snack, Echo! Don’t you know how many explorers have tried to plunder dragons’ lairs and never returned? And this one’s a nesting female, which is at least ten times worse!’

  ‘I’m not leaving until I’ve got the cutlass,’ said Echo. ‘We’ve come this far. We can’t just bail out now. Perhaps I can creep in without her noticing somehow.’ But even Echo knew this would never work. There was simply too much g
old. She’d never find the cutlass before the dragon woke up.

  Echo was stirred out of her thoughts by Gilbert, who scrambled up to Echo’s shoulder and butted her cheek with his snout as if to say, Talk to her.

  ‘What? I don’t know how,’ whispered Echo.

  ‘What are you on about?’ whispered back Horace.

  ‘I’m talking to Gilbert.’

  Horace folded his arms. ‘This isn’t time for a chat. We need to find the way out. This is too dangerous – even you have to admit it.’

  Echo shook her head. ‘We didn’t get stranded at Shark’s Fin Peak, kidnapped by Old Gus and separated from the Black Sky Wolves just to leave now. What about the cutlass? We can’t just let the others find it. We’re sky pirates – or at least I am.’

  Horace folded his arms. ‘I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, Echo.’

  ‘I’m just trying to—’

  Behind them, the click of high heels on stone rang out. ‘Well, what do we have here?’ The familiar voice made Echo’s skin crawl and she whipped round in horror.

  There before her, green-nailed hands on hips, stood Miranda Vossberg.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  Before Echo could reach for Stinger, Miranda had her own cutlass at Horace’s throat. ‘Don’t even try it,’ she snarled. ‘Out, now.’ She marched Echo and Horace through yet another maze of tunnels, these ones wide and scorch-marked and covered with the glow jars Miranda had bought in Amaranth Point.

  They climbed over collapsed rocks, round clusters of razor-sharp stalagmites and waded through pools of murky reddish water, until finally the three of them emerged, blinking, into daylight as the tunnel surfaced at the rim of the volcano crater.

  Miranda led them to a rock that arched into the sky like a giant rib bone on the volcano’s upper slope. She tossed Echo a rope. ‘Bind his hands.’

  ‘What?’