‘STOP! YOU LOATHSOME CRACKING OLD FOOL!’ he yelled and everyone stopped singing at once. It was like they‘d suddenly lost their voice. Gwarllow, too, looked at him with utmost disgust as though someone had punched him in the face.
They made their way from the electrically shocked crowd and jumped at the stage. ‘Gwarllow, you’ll have to listen to us—’
‘What did you call me?’
‘I didn’t mean to but—’
‘WHAT DID YOU CALL ME?! AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!’
‘See, this dragon isn’t responsible for killings—’
‘I didn’t ask your opinion on the dragon,’ he said in a cold voice that fell like a meteor shower on Derek. ‘What are you doing here – and if you’re so healthy then return to Sana, I won’t miss you.’
‘Please, sir,’ said Anna. ‘S-Soldiers of Aurisca have killed those farmers to make you enemies with the d-dragons.’
A shrilling silence followed her voice, everyone was looking at them. They were believing him or not, he didn’t know.
‘How can you say that?’ said Gwarllow quietly.
Anna told them the entire tell in a loud voice so no one could miss anything.
‘Where is the boy?’
‘We found him behind the tree line but he would have fled by now.’
‘Hmm … in that case I must say you lack evidence,’ said Gwarllow, shooting a nasty look at Derek.
‘Please believe us …’
‘I cannot – you failed to prove this dragon innocent and that’s why we’ll have to do it. We can’t ignore the cries of our friends just for some crazy little children.’
‘You cannot kill an innocent!’
‘Dragons are beasts, they don’t show mercy when they kill our people then why should we?’
‘You did teach Aurisca, didn’t you?’ said Derek bitterly. ‘And does Timple-Town know the identity of this innocent chief.’
Derek was very happy to see Gwarllow head popping with purple shades on his temple, he was like someone had forced a spoon of smelling sandwich into his mouth. Derek could see, he didn’t except a bit of that.
‘How do you know?’ he said, after a second’s deadly stare in super-enraged but forced calm voice.
‘A friend told me.’
Derek knew what Gwarllow was thinking: if this little boy spread his past among citizens, no it wasn’t good for him but how the hell he knew about Aurisca? His wife was dead and there had been no witnesses.
Although Derek didn’t show him, he was enjoying the look on the village headman’s face.
‘I concealed the truth from everyone,’ said Gwarllow in a mysteriously cold voice which wasn’t sounding any good to Derek. ‘I think I can conceal another one from them.’
‘What do you mean?’
He raised the fire torch, lit the grass and whispered something that made Derek tremble on his feet and land on the other side of fire – beside the scared dragon.
Derek didn’t know what made him do that, but next moment he could say he was in trouble because the red giant was now dancing on his feet, spitting fire to make the situation worse.
‘Oh god he’s crazy,’ cursed Anna as she jumped over the fire and thinking Derek jumped on purpose. ‘What the hell you were doing! – What do we do now?’
‘I have an idea but it’s insane!’
‘That you are yourself – what’s it, anyway?’
‘Can you cut these iron chains?’
‘Will try – hey – you’re not going to ride him?’ she said, looking outraged.
‘No, not me, we both will.’
The fire was towering and the dragon was panicking, they were struggling to keep themselves away from both … Derek, after shooting a vicious look at Gwarllow (whose face, except his eyes, was hidden behind the flames) flung himself on to the giant’s foot and stacked there. Anna didn’t need to work too much, the sweeping tail of dragon took her, but not before she had blasted the chains and as soon as the beast realised he was free, he set off.
CHAPTER NINE
Fury’s Tale
They were crashing through the forest; branches of tall trees were passing swiftly not more than an inch below their feet and it looked more dreadful when you were hanging from the feet and tail of a fire-spitting dragon.
Timple-Town had already disappeared beneath the clouds as they continued to advance towards somewhere unknown. Derek was hoping that the dragon knew where it was going … and what if he didn’t, things couldn’t get worse.
After ten minutes of flight when the green floor swiped into a lake, Derek saw the reflection of Anna’s terrified face for the first time.
‘You okay?’ he called, protesting against the cold winds.
‘I don’t have a very good feeling, Derek!’ she said.
‘Why? You know where this dragon is heading?’
‘It’s obvious, isn’t it? – home.’
‘Home,’ he whispered urgently.
In the meantime, when they had crossed the lake trees became drier every second … and now they were nothing more than dead trees, who looked to have got nothing as water for years. The carpets of snowy grounds were replaced by droughty, cracked land. It was as though they had journeyed from a wedding park to a graveyard.
And Derek felt the dragon getting lower and lower … finally landing on its feet and shaking the passengers on his back.
It was something very horrible – the stones were fuming smoke from the cracks like they were smoking; Derek could see it was the only opening in the endless and spooky dry-forest; the dry grass was spread on the floor till the rows of scary trees surrounding them.
But Derek wasn’t worried about that, none could be – when you have a dragon to run away from.
‘Run!’ yelled Derek, grabbing Anna in mid-air.
But the dragon was in no mood to spare them. He blocked their way and roared like a thunderstorm. Derek put Anna down, she was literally a bit heavy but he wasn’t going to tell her that and that was sensible, too – there’s nothing good in having two dragons chasing you.
‘Get out of the way! We just saved your life!’
‘That’s why – let me thank you properly.’
If Derek hadn’t seen the dragon’s beak-like mouth moving, he’d never have believed it was him who spoke.
But he couldn’t believe it – he just could not believe it, he turned to Anna, dying to hear, ‘I said those words.’
But she said, wearing a very similar look like him. ‘This dragon’s talking?’
‘Oh, yeah, I can talk, can sing, too … want to listen?’ the dragon said again in his opera-singer sort of voice.
Anna stared at him as if she wanted to scream but he gestured her keep calm and before he had turned to the dragon he started singing loudly.
It was as though someone was trying to hammer nails into your temple with no kindness at all – but they said nothing and waited for him to finish. They would choose life even if it was torturing for few seconds.
When he did finish his song, Derek clapped automatically; so did Anna, still white in the face. ‘I thought no one could be worse than you.’
The dragon bowed as if he had believed their forced-greetings.
‘Thank you very much for your admiration and for what you did there … you’re Derek and Anna, aren’t you? I heard you, by the way, I am Fury,’ he said, with an arched lip which forced Derek to think, he is smiling? ‘They’d have killed me if you hadn’t come.’
‘Oh it was nothing,’ said Derek, wondering if he talked he’d get used to this dreamy-reality. ‘But why did they suspect you … I mean there must be a thousand more vicious things in here and why did you go there? If you knew Gwarllow didn’t like you.’
‘I don’t know … I was just flying by and then I saw my fellow dragons, sort of, partying in the farms and I desperately wanted to meet them so—’
‘Desria!’ Derek and Anna shouted, simultaneously.
‘Yeah, whatever it was
. I know there was something wrong but I couldn’t resist myself from meeting my long gone friends so – I just landed … and something smashed me … then, loud bells and next moment I found myself in a ground and they were saying they would execute me …’
‘Your long gone friends?’ said Anna, abandoning her fear, too.
‘Yeah, there’re not too many dragons left in this forest – yes, once it was full of them,’ Fury added at the look on Anna’s face. ‘There were thousands of us – we were more powerful than any magic creature ever lived – but we never used this power to spread evilness – we lived in our forests and let everyone rule in the way they’d want – but Aurisca and Christin weren’t satisfied with this – they wanted to overrule us –
‘Wanted to push us out of their way – they partied with local villagers, thugs and – hammered us to the extinction – most of the dragons fled to other countries – abandoning their crown and everything.’
Derek looked at Anna, she was looking at Fury with the craziest of frowns ever. After all, he himself had troubles in believing what Tiana told him about the brotherhood of Aurisca and Christin.
‘But that can’t be possible, I mean,’ she tried to protest. ‘Christin and Aurisca friends, no, never.’
But the dragon didn’t mind her, he probably expected that. ‘I know it’s hard to deny some legend you’ve grown up with and I believe you’re from Sana. But you must not ignore the truth.’
‘But how do we know you’re telling us the truth.’
Derek knew she was crossing limits, but when he looked at Fury, he was calm. ‘Your emperor never told you about his friendship, did he? And why he attacked us?’
‘You must’ve terrorised the people less powerful than you …’ she said and Derek knew she had just guessed.
Fury laughed. ‘You are blaming me exactly like those villagers … Aurisca and Christin tried to turn people against us and – in a way, they were terrorising everyone.’
Derek remembered the words of the boy he met many moments ago and his words echoed in his head. ‘Aurisca ordered us to do this – I swear!’
‘I think he’s right, Anna,’ he said, peering at her. ‘It all makes sense – the boy told us the same … perhaps Christin sensed the evilness in Aurisca and left him.’
‘But this cannot be true, we can’t believe any other creature we walk by.’
‘See,’ said Derek pulling out the photograph from his pocket.
Anna reacted how he had anticipated her to: she stared at the photograph for a couple of seconds then at him and continued this cycle for three times.
‘I know this is freaky but trust me for a second. This is real.’
‘But—’
‘Please, Anna believe me.’
She didn’t say anything, deep in thoughts and after a minute, she nodded at him. ‘Probably.’
(Derek doubted if she really believed what she said.)
‘But I don’t understand,’ said Fury. ‘Why do you want to find Aurisca? I mean there is no problem in staying alive.’
‘He’s kidnapped Christin’s daughter, Alicia. And we want to save her.’
Fury laughed so hard that Anna and Derek jumped off their feet, he must have remembered something amusing or he was shocked to madness.
‘You are dreaming, Mr Derek – he destroyed us, ruined us – and you want to sneak into his city, to save a hostage right under his nose?’
Derek thought it was more like a taunt than a question. But he took a deep breath and said. ‘You were ruined because you broke away – he did not win, you let him win, Fury. You didn’t stay together – you all scattered … that defeated you.’
Fury wasn’t laughing anymore, he was rigid, unreadable. But he said, hardly moving his mouth, in a very cold voice.
‘You know what you’re doing? – You know where she is? You know where is the Dark City? You don’t know! And – this – makes – you – weak.’
‘Maybe you can tell us?’ he said, pretending he hadn’t considered his previous words at all. But he couldn’t deny, Fury was right – he didn’t know anything. He never asked for any of this, he should be with his parents, enjoying his last days of life, rather than having this bottomless adventure.
In between his thoughts, he felt a hand on his shoulder. It was Anna, she must have read his thoughts because she was smiling determinedly at him.
‘I can,’ said Fury, looking unblinkingly at him. ‘But do remember me, this is a suicidal task, Aurisca is very powerful,’ – he looked at his left knee at the purple illumination, that couldn’t be concealed by the jeans he was wearing – ‘he can give you pains more than that!’
He kept looking into Derek’s eyes, and Derek, too, didn’t break the contact. ‘I have only two more days to live, and I want to make them special – special beyond imagination.’
Fury was undisturbed … he exhaled a furious breath which fluttered Derek’s cloth. ‘Very well – get on to my back, I will take you to the Dark City.’
‘Thank you,’ he said, confused between the emotions of happiness and freight.
CHAPTER TEN
City Of Demons
Derek rubbed his eyes, he didn’t know when had he drowned into dreams over Fury’s back and perhaps he should feel brave about it. His past experience of Dragon flight wasn’t helpful either, he could still feel those very same few hours old drumbeats in his chest.
Every part of his body ached with his efforts to hold on to his enormous back, which for him, looked nothing less than a football field with red scales.
But this suffering was very much reduced by the fact that he would be facing Dark City, whose emperor almost gifted him death and a list of lifelong troubles. In the meantime, he saw Alicia’s face which was thanking him every single moment.
But only lust couldn’t drive him so far, there was something more. He didn’t know, he didn’t want to know but just feel it. Feel it as long as he was alive.
The green grounds beneath them were passing swiftly and in a moment, he saw his reflection in the dark waters of a lake.
He never realised when had the sky turned so dark, almost like charcoal, when had the warmness of nature turned into cold sickness.
The soothing winds, as he said, were now furiously annoying. Fresh rolls of thunder were suppressing anything audible, including Anna’s voice.
He just felt she was saying something, but the brand new pit-pats of rain would have overruled her efforts.
‘That is your city,’ said Fury, flapping his wings.
As soon as his eyes had the first glimpse of the Dark City, lashes flew up so fast that his temple throbbed a little in pain.
A laughing black monster – the words jumped up in his mind at the very first sight of the city, which indeed, was built in the centre of the enormous lake, big walls had surrounded it to prevent any penetration. And in the very centre stood a gigantic tower, resembling a five hundred meter high rock stone umbrella, perhaps that was built to avoid fire strikes of dragons during the previous war. The rest of the city had been built around the tower, looking like ants surrounding a crane.
It was marvellous as well as impenetrable, he couldn’t see any way through which they could sneak in without catching anyone’s attention. Tiana was telling truth.
He looked at Anna, she wasn’t looking comfortable either. ‘How’ll we get in?’
‘Don’t know!’ he said struggling against the showers.
‘I know,’ said Fury, not looking at them.
Derek frowned, he must be knowing some secret passageway or someone who could take them in. Yes, it should be that way but when they were twenty meters away from the walls and Derek anticipated him to touch down, he continued his way and they flew over walls, exchanging looks with panic-stricken soldiers. Getting caught by soldiers wasn’t his plan.
* * *
A pair of guards were having, what looked like, a super-boring conversation. They had nothing to do more than watching the dully markets and roar
ing lake before them.
‘You like this job?’ said one of them lazily.
‘Humph! Obviously,’ said the other one, lazily adjusting himself in the chair.
‘Well, I have different thoughts …’
A powerful blow of wind came from nowhere and almost knocked him off his chair.
‘What the—’ he said stupidly.
‘HEY! IT’S A DRAGON!’
‘Dragon …’
‘Run get the archers! We are under attack!’
* * *
‘What are you doing? We had to creep in, don’t make a heroic entry!’ hissed Derek.
Fury kept quiet and headed towards the castle, dodging showers of arrows, being shot by Dark City’s soldiers.
Derek was dancing like a pinball, he clung his back tightly, knowing the fact he could not stay there for too long, what the hell was that idiot doing?
Then, he felt as though gravity was reversing and his legs were hanging over the house-tops – Fury rolled over so that Derek’s heart filled with complete shock. Until now, he thought Fury was joking or perhaps he was making unintentional mistakes but he was completely wrong. ‘YOU IDIOT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’
Anna screamed, even when she was lighter than Derek, dragon’s trembles weren’t sparing her, only God knew how she was managing it. Fury was in full mood to kill them.
He couldn’t be working for Aurisca, he couldn’t have been paid to create a drama. Gwarllow, the cunning boy, Muriel, they couldn’t be actors.
SWOOSH!
Fury’s tale swung and hit Anna’s legs so hard that she lost her grip.
He watched her falling down and automatically let go of the betrayer’s neck; they were freely falling towards the Earth, and Derek’s heart was as though beating like a steam engine’s mechanism. Anna’s screams were hammering his chest, he could not let her die for his foolishness, he had to find a way.
‘GIVE ME A HUG!’ he suddenly shrieked.
‘WHAT?’
‘HUG ME!’
‘YOU AREN’T JOKING!’
‘TRUST ME!’
Five Days: an adventure (A Fantasy Adventure) Page 9
