“Yep, we’re here flying up above Dragonland. It looks so tiny down there, hey!” Drake dropped his head to look below. Juniper dropped her head too but her body accidentally followed and she started heading towards the ground. Drake trod air (as he called it in his head) by doing a sort of flutter forward closely followed by a flutter back. Ronan tried to do the same thing, accidentally used too much force, and went shooting up into the sky. Drake waited for a couple of minutes for them both to sheepishly return.
“We just don’t have your talents,” complained Juniper.
“Is that orange ahead of us the force field?” asked Ronan.
“Yep,” verified Drake. “We’ll fly through a couple of metres of orange and then out the other side.”
“Fingers crossed,” said Juniper.
As they approached the orange light, Drake felt his stomach tie in knots. He had spent his whole life thinking that this was a real barrier. He really wanted to be able to get through but he also didn’t because he didn’t want to think that all these years his dad had lied to him. Ronan and Juniper both looked at him as they approached and entered the orange light. For a few seconds, they saw everything through a tinge of orange and then they were through and soaring far above the wasteland.
“Watch out for Quintas now!” said Ronan. This was his responsibility. His front pack was loaded with bombs ready to light and throw.
“Yes,” said Juniper, anxiously. “Don’t worry, I’ll be watching out. Wonder how far it is until we get to the city.”
“Are you okay? Are you getting tired?” asked Drake, feeling bad that he had only just thought about what a struggle it was for Juniper to fly for a long period.
“I’m okay,” she said, sounding weary.
“Fly behind me … it’ll be easier.”
Suddenly, a dark cloud came over them and sent a chill all the way down Drake’s spine.
“Don’t look up, Ronan!” Drake yelled forward at him and instantly Ronan looked up. Again, his body followed him, shooting upwards. Drake and Juniper watched in horror as Ronan shot upwards right towards the body of a giant Quinta. The Quinta soared about fifty metres above them, its giant body casting a huge shadow over them, with its wings spanning what seemed like hundreds of metres. Drake and Juniper couldn’t see Ronan. He’d disappeared into the darkness beneath the Quinta. The Quinta lifted its huge head and let out a giant ball of fire. Juniper and Drake both screamed in fright and grabbed each other’s hands.
“We need to fly out of here as fast as we can,” said Drake. Juniper didn’t need convincing. As they flew away the Quinta let out another huge breath of fire and a microsecond later there was a giant explosion. Ronan was nowhere to be seen. Fear pushed them as fast as they could go to the edge of the city.
“Look down,” called out Juniper. “It’s the city.” Down below the dust had given way, in part, to some rough-looking tin houses, with red-dirt roads winding through them. There was even a little patch of green here and there. They glided down a little away from the houses, at the edge of the desert, so that no-one would see them flying in. They had no idea what to expect. Once they were safe on the ground Drake noticed Juniper was shaking like a leaf. He put his hand out to comfort her and noticed that he was shaking just as much. His comforting hand was vibrating like his phone when he put it on silent.
“Let’s try ringing Ronan,” Drake said. He grabbed his phone and pressed Ronan’s name before holding a quivering hand to his ear. Juniper watched anxiously. Five rings and it went through to Ronan’s voicemail.
“You’ve reached the house of the awesome Ronan. I’m not here right now. Leave me a message and I’ll get back to you if I feel like it.” Drake shook his head to let Juniper know he wasn’t getting through.
“Ronan, call us if you get this message. We’re worried,” Drake said quickly. He was surprised at how steady his voice was.
Drake had been counting on Ronan’s presence as they entered the city. He was big and strong. On their own, Juniper and Drake were easy targets and Drake had no idea if the people in this city were dangerous.
“What do we do now?” said Drake, looking expectantly at Juniper.
“We really didn’t plan any further than this, did we?”
“No … I guess we walk into the city and see if we can find someone … and if they seem friendly we’ll ask them for help. There’s not much else we can do. Ronan’ll be okay. He’ll catch us up,” Drake said, his voice sounding falsely jolly like when his mum was trying to make a trip to the dentist sound like fun.
“Sounds as if it’s the only thing we can do,” said Juniper.
“It’s pretty scary, isn’t it?” admitted Drake. He felt very shaky. He was exhausted from the flight, worried sick about both his father and Ronan and terrified of this new strange place. Everything in Dragonland had always been so very familiar, it had been boring. He’d never even met anyone new, except if you counted newborn babies. No-one left Dragonland unless they died and no-one new arrived. Juniper didn’t reply; she just exhaled very slowly and looked at him nodding. They held hands as they walked towards the city. Drake had always dreamed of holding Juniper’s hand but now he was too tired and too scared to enjoy it.
They wandered through the dusty streets looking at the tin shacks by the edge of the road.
The city was really dirty and unlike anything they had seen before, which made them uneasy.
The houses were makeshift sheds and not even the sort you bought at the hardware shop. They were pieces of tin jammed together with bricks and nails and glue. But even the most makeshift shed had a little television antenna sticking out of the roof, which surprised Drake.
They saw a few people as they walked but didn’t feel comfortable talking to them. The people looked similar to dragonfolk but seemed a little taller and it seemed as if they didn’t have wings at all, unless they kept them very short and strapped right down. Their faces were also a bit thinner and longer and their skin varied in colour from fleshy pink, to white, light brown, dark brown and black. Fortunately, Drake and Juniper didn’t look different enough for anyone to take any notice of them. They continued with what they were doing without as much as a glance at them. The people were busy washing clothes and themselves under taps in the street — again something you’d never see in Dragonland — and sweeping out their dirt-floored houses. Animals wandered about. Dogs and cows fought over scraps and garbage that people threw out of their houses.
Drake and Juniper walked slowly up a hill, their legs starting to get tired, smelling a million new smells: fires burning, sewerage gone astray, rotting vegetables outside makeshift-looking shops.
“Do you think the city is all like this? All dirty and smelly?” asked Juniper.
“I don’t know. It’s interesting to smell all these new things. I feel as if I’ve never really smelt anything before, compared to all these smells.”
“I like some of the smoky smells, like back there where they were burning those little sticks. It smelt a bit like my mum’s garden at home.”
As they reached the top of the hill, they stopped dead and gazed at what they saw before them. In the distance was an enormous city of skyscrapers higher than anything they’d seen before. So high were these buildings that you couldn’t see the tops of some of them. They were surrounded in a grey, smoky haze. And the city stretched out both directions along the horizon. It was getting dark and the buildings were lit up with brightly coloured lights and slogans that meant nothing to Drake and Juniper.
“I guess we head towards the city,” said Drake. Although they wanted to stop walking, they had decided to keep going. It made them look as if they were heading somewhere, which meant no-one took much notice of them. If they stood still and looked lost, somebody was sure to look at them.
As they got closer to the city, there was much more going on. There were still tin shacks but these were interspersed with more sturdy, well-constructed buildings, mostly made of cement. They had once been white b
ut now were dirty and chipped. Some of these were open-fronted and housed shops; others had little red doors and windows covered with bars. The bars scared Drake. He’d never seen bars like this before and it made him worry about their own safety, especially as it was getting darker and they had nowhere to stay the night.
Suddenly, Juniper yelped with delight. “Look over there, Drake, do you see it?”
“Huh,” he said, following her pointed finger to where a tiny baby dragon was sitting. He had a collar and lead and was being paraded around outside a brightly light door. His owner was a young man with short multi-coloured hair and deep brown skin. In Dragonland, folk only had pinky, white skin, so Drake couldn’t help staring at both of them.
“Let’s go over and have a look,” said Juniper. Drake nodded in agreement and they started on their way towards the little dragon. They were a few metres away when a girl about their age, with blonde hair in pigtails and brown skin that was almost golden, grabbed them both firmly and pulled them harshly to the side of the road.
“You don’t want to go over there,” she said to them. “The dragon looks cute but what they’re doing is cruel and if you go over there you’re just supporting the abuse!”
“What do you mean?” asked Juniper, looking horrified.
“Well, you know that dragons don’t stay up at night. They go to sleep. So, how do you think this little dragon is staying awake?”
“I don’t know,” said Juniper. Wide-eyed, Drake stood silently next to her. He was busy staring at the girl. She had light-coloured tiny spots under the surface of her golden skin and large emerald green eyes. Her hair was so fair it was almost white. She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
“They feed it amphetamines.”
“Ampheta-what?” asked Juniper. “Do you know what she’s talking about, Drake?” Drake shook his head shyly and felt his face get hot.
“They are drugs that keep you awake. You know, the ones that drug addicts use.” Drake and Juniper looked at her blankly. This was all a foreign language to them.
“Okay,” said Juniper. “If you say so, we won’t go over there. Why are they doing that to the dragon?”
“To attract tourists, of course, and then get their money when they go into the nightclub.”
“Tourists?” asked Juniper.
“Night club?” asked Drake, wondering if that was somewhere they’d be able to sleep tonight, and what they’d need to do to join the club.
“Tourists are people who come from other countries,” said the girl, looking at them both strangely. “Are you guys all right? You look really tired and very sunburnt,” she pointed to the red, crispy skin peeling off Juniper’s arm.
“Sunburnt?” asked Juniper, rubbing her arm. “My skin is really sore. Burning from the sun, you say. We’ve never been burned by the sun before,” she said turning to Drake.
“Maybe it’s different here … different from …” he paused, “… where we come from. We’re kind of tourists here,” he said.
“You look exhausted and you sound as if you’re from another planet. Do you need somewhere to stay?” asked the girl.
“Yes,” said Juniper, decisively. Drake was too tired to care but he still wondered what a ‘planet’ was. “I know we don’t know anything about you but we really have nowhere to go. I’m Juniper and this is Drake. Please help us.”
“I’m Daisy. Follow me,” she said and took them winding through narrow dusty alleyways until they arrived at a tin shed. She pulled open the shed door and beckoned them in after her. Inside, the little house was very clean. The floor was dirt but swept clean and there was a little stove at one end of the room and a pile of mattresses at the other.
“This is where we sleep,” she said pointing to the mattresses. “And this is where we cook,” she said pointing to the other side of the room. “My mum and dad will be back much later tonight … but that’s all … my brother and sister are both older than me and have moved out. So, there’s plenty of room.” Juniper looked at the three old mattresses dubiously. Her definition of plenty of room must be very different but all the same it was very generous of her to share her house with them. Drake looked around and thought about how his mother would kill him if he brought someone home at the last minute for dinner, let alone to stay the night. She’d fuss that the house wasn’t clean enough, that the bed in the spare room didn’t have clean sheets … He’d never see the world in the same way again and he knew that was a good thing.
“You both look awful. I’ll get you a bucket of water to wash and then I’ll make some dinner. After that, you can go to sleep.” She walked out the door with a bucket.
“No running water?” Juniper said. “This place is so different from Dragonland.”
“I know … it’s like …”
“Like … awful,” finished Juniper. “How can they live like this? No hot shower? No room to themselves for all their things.”
“No things,” added Drake. They stopped talking as they heard Daisy open the door. She was holding a bucket of water in one hand and had a little pile of eggs cradled in her shirt, supported with her other hand.
“Great news! The girls have laid!” Daisy exclaimed enthusiastically. “Take the bucket of water out the front and have a wash and I’ll get dinner.” Daisy threw a piece of colourful material at each of them.
Drake and Juniper stood out the front of the house, holding the sheets of material, and looking at the bucket wondering what they were expected to do. People were walking past on the street, so they were hardly going to strip down and wash. Juniper looked around and saw a woman down the street tie the material around her body just beneath her arms and slip her clothes out from under her. She clumsily did the same thing, standing right up against the building with her back turned to hide her wings. It wasn’t as hard for Drake. He tied the material around his waist and whipped off his shirt and trousers, also standing against the building so no-one would see his wings. He washed his face and rinsed his hair and took a little of the water for the rest of his body, making sure to leave plenty for Juniper. Then he got dressed in his clothes again. By this time, Juniper had only managed to get undressed and have the material tied securely around her.
“What I’d give for a bit of soap,” she said rubbing water on her arms to wash the thick grime off. Daisy had appeared at the door, with her hands on her hips. She’d changed out of her jeans and into a loose floral dress. She’d taken her hair out of the pigtails and brushed it and now it floated around her head like a halo.
“Sorry, I don‘t believe in using soap,” she said. “Soap messes up the environment further down in the valleys and stuffs the vegetables. Totally messes with the ph of the soil.”
“Okay, sorry,” said Juniper very quickly and meekly. She didn’t mean to be overheard.
“No worries,” Daisy said cheerily. “Just wear your sarong inside and I’ll run some cream on your burnt skin.” Juniper and Drake quickly pulled their capes on to cover their wings as they walked inside.
Daisy had prepared a very simple but delicious meal for them of rice, fried eggs and some fried green leaves that neither of them had ever seen before. Drake thought nothing had ever tasted this good. He guessed he’d never been this hungry before. They talked as they ate, with Daisy asking them question after question. They had both decided to be completely honest. Daisy had taken them into her home and if they couldn’t trust her, who could they trust?
“So, you’re saying that your dad was kidnapped and you’ve come to save him?” asked Daisy.
“Yes, that’s right,” said Drake. “We think he must know something about some dangerous people and they’ve taken him and locked him away.”
“Okay, that bit makes sense but you’re telling me you come from somewhere called Dragonland … is it called that because there are lots of dragons there? Is that why you were so interested in that baby dragon?” Juniper and Drake looked at each other.
“It’s called that because we’re des
cended from dragons, I guess,” said Juniper.
“But we’re all descended from dragons, Juniper, so that doesn’t make any sense,” quipped Drake.
“Ah, no,” said Daisy. “We’re all descended from apes. You are joking right?”
“From apes?” asked Juniper. “That’s crazy. You think your people used to be monkeys? Eeek.”
“Ummmm… dragons are not that great either … big stupid things stomping around on four legs breathing fire everywhere.”
They all started laughing.
“Do you have wings?” Drake asked Daisy.
“What? Wings? Are you serious? Are you making fun of me?”
“We’re serious,” said Juniper. She pulled the cape off and turned around, flicking out her fluffy brown wings and fluttering them gently. Daisy would have fallen over if she’d been standing up.
“You are serious. And you,” she said gesturing to Drake. He took his cape off and flexed his muscly wings. “So you are dragon people. That is so cool.”
“Do you have a tail or something?” asked Drake, wanting some evidence of this crazy ape idea.
“No, apes didn’t have tails,” snorted Daisy, thinking that the very idea was ridiculous. “Hey,” she said suddenly, turning to them in excitement, “does this mean that you know the fallen angel? That boy who has giant wings and fell out of the sky all burned and injured?”
“Ronan!” they said in unison. “Is he okay?” asked Juniper.
“He seems fine. He’s down at the mission hall with a group of his followers. They’re looking after him well. We can go and see him in the morning.” Juniper grabbed Drake’s hand as they both grinned with relief. Drake quickly pulled his hand away as he saw Daisy looking at them.
When they walked in, Ronan was sitting on a big lounge chair on the front stage in the large hall. His large dark wings were spread out behind him and he was dressed all in white. Ronan had always had a presence. He was strong and tall and held himself as if he were special. This had all been multiplied by a thousand. There were about three hundred people gathered in the hall listening to him talk and if Drake hadn’t known him, he would have thought he was ‘the special one’ too.
Drake the Dragonboy Page 4
