by Alex English
‘You heard me. And do it tightly. I’m not stupid.’
Echo looked from Miranda’s vicious smile to Horace’s terrified face.
‘Quickly,’ snapped Miranda. ‘Or I can just kill him now.’
Horace put his hands out in front of him, wrists together, and Echo bound them with the rope.
‘Excellent.’ Miranda stepped towards Echo with another rope.
‘W… what do you want me to do?’ asked Echo.
Miranda laughed cruelly. ‘Oh, just hang around here and be delicious,’ she said. ‘Dragons like young flesh.’
‘But… but you can’t!’ Echo squirmed, as Miranda bound her hands behind her back. ‘You can’t just leave us here to be eaten!’
‘I think you’ll find I can,’ said Miranda, with a smirk. ‘It will be an honourable end. I’ll make sure your sacrifice is remembered when I am queen of all the seven skies.’
She shoved Echo and Horace towards the slender, rib-shaped rock and ran their ropes round it so they were tied back to back. ‘This looks like the perfect spot. It’ll take a good few gulps to get rid of you, which gives me time to retrieve the cutlass. Now, where are those marshmallows?’
‘Marshmallows?’ Echo whispered to Horace.
Horace shook his head sorrowfully. ‘Dragons have a sweet tooth,’ he whispered. ‘Old Gus brought a whole crate of chocolate fudge cake.’
Echo glanced over at where her knapsack lay discarded in the dirt, wishing they hadn’t toasted all the marshmallows she’d collected in the marshes. Perhaps they could have used them to pacify the dragon somehow. She swallowed down her fear. Before they were burned to a crisp, that was.
Miranda took out a paper bag from her pocket and scattered a few marshmallows near Echo’s and Horace’s feet before stalking back towards the entrance to the lava tube, leaving a trail of the pink sweets behind her.
As she turned away, Echo felt Gilbert scuttle out of her collar and run down her back. She twisted as far as she could and looked over her shoulder. ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed.
But Gilbert didn’t answer. Instead, he grabbed at the knot with his jaws, braced all four feet on Echo’s back and shook the rope as hard as he could. Echo’s heart leaped.
Echo twisted her hands and felt the binding round her wrists loosen. ‘That’s it,’ she said. ‘A little more.’
Gilbert strained his little scaly body until finally the rope slipped and Echo pulled her hands free. She glanced over at Miranda, who was nearly at the entrance to the tunnel. Anger flooded through Echo in a wave. She wouldn’t let Miranda get the Cutlass of Calinthe. If anyone deserved it, it was Lil. Lil would use it to do the right thing.
Echo drew Stinger from her boot with a swish and felt a low thrum of energy vibrate up her arm.
‘Stop!’ she shouted.
Miranda turned, a look of surprise on her face. ‘How did you…’ She caught sight of Echo’s sword and laughed. ‘Still want to fight me? Didn’t you learn your lesson last time?’
‘I’m not going to let you get that cutlass,’ said Echo, trying to stop her voice from shaking. She advanced again. ‘If anyone should have it, it’s my mother, Lil. She’d use it to do the right thing.’
‘The right thing!’ Miranda’s voice dripped with sarcasm. ‘Who cares about that? I’m the only one who can lead the sky pirates to victory. Under my command, we’ll rule the world!’
‘A true sky pirate wouldn’t want to rule the world,’ said Echo. ‘A true sky pirate would fight for good.’
‘What would you know about being a sky pirate? You’re just a child.’ Miranda drew her cutlass and stalked towards Echo.
Echo’s heart raced, but she stood her ground and tightened her grip on Stinger, who vibrated in her hand. ‘I know that a true sky pirate would never attack a defenceless, sleeping creature,’ she said. ‘A true sky pirate would be clever enough to get the gold without hurting anybody.’
For a moment, Miranda’s brow creased in a frown, then she recovered herself. ‘It’s just a dragon,’ she said, with a forced laugh. ‘A beast.’ Her voice grew stronger. ‘A dangerous beast that would wreak havoc on anyone who came close to it. I’m doing the world a favour – they’re just too stupid to see it.’
‘No,’ said Echo, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks. Even if she couldn’t stop Miranda from getting the cutlass, she had to convince her to spare the dragon. ‘If you would just take the time to understand. She’s a mother. She’s protecting her eggs!’
Miranda’s eyes sparkled. ‘Eggs? Well, I can add those to my collection along with the cutlass. They’ll fetch a pretty penny at Amaranth Point!’ She shrugged one green, leather-clad shoulder. ‘If you show me where they are, I’ll cut the Black Sky Wolves half.’
‘No way,’ said Echo. ‘Helping you is the last thing I’d do.’
‘In that case, I’ll just have to get rid of you here and now.’ Miranda swished her cutlass and advanced on Echo, baring her teeth in a ferocious grin. ‘Do you really think I’m scared of a child?’ She ran at Echo, her cutlass raised.
Echo ducked as the blade swished over her head and crashed into a clump of thorny bushes. She rolled clear, landing in the red dirt, then jumped to her feet, Stinger held out in front of her, ready to fight.
Miranda attacked again and Echo blocked her blow with a clang. The force of the blow reverberated up Echo’s arm, making her wince, but she held steady and forced Miranda backwards.
Miranda reached into her belt and drew out the bullwhip with her other hand, flicking it with a crack that sent up clouds of rust-coloured dirt.
Echo coughed and covered her face as the thick dust choked her.
Miranda saw her chance and flicked the whip again. The leathery coils snaked towards Echo, wrapped round Stinger and wrenched it out of Echo’s hand, flinging it into the undergrowth.
‘No!’ Echo staggered backwards, weaponless. She tripped on a gnarled root and went tumbling to the ground. Miranda was almost upon her, her teeth bared in a horrible smile.
‘Echo, look out!’ Horace shouted, as Echo staggered to her feet.
Miranda flicked the whip with a crack. The coils wrapped round Echo until her arms were pinned to her sides and she was completely helpless.
‘Nice try,’ Miranda panted. ‘But you won’t defeat me.’
She marched Echo back over to where Horace was tied, his face ghost-white and eyes wide, removed the whip and retied Echo’s hands.
‘I’ll tie it extra tightly this time.’ She gave the rope a yank that made Echo yelp as pain shot through her wrists. ‘You won’t be getting out of that until you’re ripped out in a dragon’s jaws.’
Miranda stormed back to the entrance of the lava tube, and disappeared into the darkness, cutlass glinting, leaving Echo and Horace tied helplessly to the rock and a faint scent of peppermint in the air.
CHAPTER THIRTY
Horace shook his head sorrowfully as he and Echo stood back to back, tied tightly to the rock. ‘You should have just waited until she’d gone. We could have run away!’ he said.
‘Sky pirates don’t run away.’ Echo’s hands tingled as the ropes bit into her wrists and she wriggled uselessly against them. She looked for Gilbert, who had disappeared under a thorn bush during Echo’s fight with Miranda. ‘Gilbert, where are you?’
She saw a flash of yellow as the little lizard scuttled out of the undergrowth and ran up Echo’s leg. But, however hard he tried, Miranda really had tied them up securely this time. After struggling for several minutes, the little lizard flopped, exhausted, into the red dirt, and Echo was still bound as tight as ever. Her arms ached where they had been forced unnaturally behind her back. She glanced around in desperation. Stinger still lay where it had landed in the bushes, out of reach and far too heavy for Gilbert to manage. There really was no way out this time.
‘We could have escaped,’ continued Horace. ‘We could have waited for Lil and the others to arrive.’
Echo squinted into the distance. S
ix airships were dotted round Mount Enoc. Anaconda was moored close to the volcano’s mouth. The yellow-sailed ship circled above the river. Even the Purple People Eater, its balloons patched with grimy sailcloth, and Obsidian, still soot-stained but functioning, had arrived. But the Scarlet Margaret was nowhere to be seen.
Perhaps Lil never got my message at all, Echo thought despondently. Or perhaps she decided not to come.
Echo shook herself. No, Lil was her mother. There was no way she would leave Echo here, with dragons and danger and six rival sky-pirate clans! Something must have held them up. In the meantime, there had to be something Echo could do to stop Miranda.
‘We have to get that cutlass,’ she said. ‘Can you see anything that would help us?’
‘Really, Echo? Who cares about the cutlass when we’re about to get eaten by a dragon!’
‘I care. And you will too once Miranda’s in charge of the seven skies. She’s dangerous, Horace.’
‘I think there’s more we need to be worrying about…’ Horace trailed off.
‘What is it?’ Echo strained to look at him and the entrance to the caves over her shoulder. ‘What can you see?’
‘Listen!’
Echo froze. She could hear footsteps. No, she could feel footsteps. Footsteps so large and heavy that they shook the very mountain they were standing on.
The footsteps grew louder. There was a deep rumble that seemed to vibrate through Echo’s bones and the great, gleaming red dragon came lumbering out of the volcano.
The dragon sniffed and daintily licked up a marshmallow with her long, forked tongue. Smoke spiralled from her nostrils and she regarded them unblinkingly with catlike amber eyes.
‘W… what should we do?’ said Echo. It had been one thing looking at the sleeping dragon and imagining taking a piece of its gold, but seeing her up close, awake and dangerous, was quite another.
‘I don’t know!’ whimpered Horace. ‘Close our eyes and prepare to die?’
The dragon took another pace forward, lashing her muscular tail from side to side with a whump whump.
‘Is that good?’ Echo asked. ‘That she’s wagging her tail?’
Horace shook his head vigorously. ‘No. It’s bad. Very bad… Oh no!’
‘What now?’ Echo’s heart stilled as she saw the little golden-scaled figure of Gilbert scuttling across the rocks straight towards the dragon.
‘Gilbert, no!’ she hissed. Gilbert paused and cocked his head towards her, then turned back and continued to run right up to the dragon’s snout.
Echo’s heart almost stopped beating entirely as the dragon’s nostrils flared and she stared at Gilbert with her amber eyes. Echo grabbed Horace’s hand and squeezed it tight as Gilbert crept closer.
‘What is he doing?’ whispered Horace.
‘I don’t know!’ Sweat prickled on Echo’s forehead. She strained uselessly at her bonds. If only she could break free and pluck him out of harm’s way!
The dragon opened her jaws in a wide-mouthed yawn and dropped her snout so that she was nose to nose with Gilbert. Echo held her breath as Gilbert raised his crest and bowed his head low.
What was he doing? She clenched her jaw in trepidation as he continued to bob his head.
The dragon watched in silence, before raising her own crest in response. Echo’s mouth dropped open. ‘I think he… he’s talking to her,’ she murmured.
‘Talking to… to a dragon?’
‘Yes! That’s what he said to me before. That we should talk to her.’
Horace shook his head in disbelief. ‘I suppose dragons and lizards are related, zoologically speaking,’ he said. ‘But still, it seems implausible that—’
‘Look!’
The dragon bobbed her head in turn and blew smoky breath over Gilbert, before butting him, ever so gently, with her snout.
Echo and Horace both broke into huge grins.
‘Is… is she friendly?’ asked Horace. ‘I can’t believe it.’
‘Shh!’ Echo pointed at Gilbert, who was racing back across the rocks towards them. When he reached them, he tugged at Echo’s boot laces and turned back to the dragon as if to say, Come on.
Echo’s eyes widened in terror as the dragon lumbered towards them, her tail still swishing this way and that. She could feel Horace shaking behind her.
The dragon lowered her huge head and looked Echo right in the eye. Then she opened her jaws, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, each one as big as Echo’s hand.
Echo gasped in horror. This was it. This was how it was all going to end. She clutched Horace’s hand and squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
To Echo’s surprise, all she felt was a soft nudge to her belly, followed by the slackening of her ropes as they slipped off and fell to the dusty ground. When she opened her eyes again, she was amazed to see the dragon, very gently, turning to Horace and slicing through the ropes that bound him with her teeth.
Horace looked down at himself, then at Echo in amazement. ‘We’re… we’re free,’ he said.
The dragon bobbed her head.
‘Can she understand us?’ he said, his eyes wide. ‘She can’t… can she?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ said Echo, still not quite believing this turn of events. ‘Gilbert can, so why shouldn’t a dragon?’
She turned to the dragon and gave a nervous curtsy. ‘You should go,’ she said. ‘It isn’t safe for you here. Miranda will kill you if she gets the chance…’ She trailed off as the dragon made a strange gagging, hiccuping sound.
‘What’s she doing?’ Echo asked.
‘I’ve got absolutely no idea,’ said Horace.
‘You’re the dragon expert!’
‘Well, she looks like… like one of the professor’s cats when they bring up a furball.’
‘What?’
‘I think she’s going to be sick!’ Horace paled and took several paces backwards.
The dragon’s cheeks bulged and, with a rumble, she spat out one of her eggs, which lay gleaming red in the dust.
‘She must know Miranda’s up to no good,’ Echo whispered.
Horace nodded. ‘Mountain dragons always keep their eggs close to their side, even when they’re hunting,’ he said. ‘Some varieties have special pouches in their throat to keep their eggs safe.’
The dragon gagged again and brought up a second egg, this one a brilliant emerald green. Then, with a final throaty groan, she spat out a golden egg, before nudging all three towards Echo and Horace with her snout.
‘You want us to protect them?’ asked Echo, turning to the dragon.
The dragon bobbed her head again, then cocked it to one side, as if listening.
Gilbert cocked his head too, then his scales flashed red for danger.
‘What is it?’ Echo said. Then she heard it. The distant stomp of boots and the shouts of rough sky-pirate voices were ringing faintly through the lava tubes. There were lots of them, and they were getting louder.
The dragon nudged the eggs towards Echo and Horace again.
‘We’ll look after them,’ Echo said. ‘I promise.’ As the footsteps and shouts grew louder, she and Horace quickly rolled the dragon eggs, each as big as a watermelon, into the bushes and hid alongside them.
‘Here it is!’
Echo turned to see Miranda emerging from the tunnel, a victorious smile on her face.
The dragon turned, slow as a sky galleon, towards the cave entrance, her huge red tail lashing from side to side.
Behind Miranda, a gaggle of sky pirates in all the varied colours of the Seven Skies flooded out of the tunnels, their arms and pockets overflowing with gold and jewels. Echo spotted a sad-looking Grub and her heart clenched with guilt at how she’d tricked him with the imaginary aethernet.
Miranda drew a glittering gold cutlass from her belt and raised it above her head. At this, all the sky pirates dropped down to their knees behind her. Among them, Echo saw sky pirates of every clan. Steel-eyed Seth in his yel
low jerkin, his mechanical eye firmly focused on the gleaming blade. Rashmi the Ruthless, her thick black plait flung over one purple-clad shoulder. Even Old Gus, his pockets brimming with pearls, was bowing down to Miranda.
It was the Cutlass of Calinthe, Echo realized in horror. She had failed. Miranda had found it, and now all the sky-pirate clans were under her command.
‘I am the queen of the seven skies!’ shouted Miranda. ‘And I command you all to kill that dragon!’
Miranda raised her flintlock and fired a volley of shots at the dragon.
The other sky pirates whooped and cheered and ran forward in a terrifying pack, teeth bared, cutlasses held high, swarming all over the crater and surrounding the dragon.
There was a red flash of flame as the dragon roared, shooting fire across the volcano crater.
Echo gasped and shrank back further into the bushes as the dragon’s wings beat with a huge whump whump and she soared into the air, pressing the wild grass flat with the downdraught of her wings. She roared with rage, a deafening sound that rumbled all round the canyon.
Echo watched in horror as Old Gus led a group of blue-clad Thunder Sharks forward, some wielding cutlasses, others firing pistols.
The dragon screeched and sent a cascade of orange flame down on to them. Old Gus screamed as he was blown into the air, the seat of his breeches aflame. He tumbled down the volcano, finally landing in the river with a huge hiss of steam.
The dragon blasted another torrent of flame that licked up the rib-shaped rock and scorched the edges of the bushes Echo and Horace were hidden in.
‘We have to get out of here,’ whispered Horace.
‘But we need to help her,’ Echo hissed back.
Horace shook his head. ‘No, we need to take these somewhere safe,’ he said, gesturing to the three eggs hidden in the bushes.
Echo nodded. Horace was right. If they stayed where they were, they’d end up char-grilled, even if the dragon wasn’t aiming at them. She turned and stuffed two of the eggs into her knapsack. Horace packed the last one into his satchel.
‘Echo!’ Echo jerked her head up to see Grub, his face pinched with fear, staggering down the slope towards them. ‘What are you doing here? Are those…?’ He pointed a shaking finger at the dragon eggs.
