Becoming a Dragon

by Holland, Andy

  She glared at him. "You're only children; what does it matter? Besides, it's not exactly a secret. It's in the guide books we sell to people."

  Jerome put his hand on her shoulder to calm her. "Please, ignore my friend. He's rather serious about things. We've learnt to not to pay too much attention to what he says. I'm sure no one will try to get into this room. They'd have to get past all those guards first, and you'd need a small army to do that! Please, why don't you continue with your talk? We're all stuck here anyway, and some of the students may be nervous, so you'd put them at ease."

  She smiled up at him. He was probably ten years younger than she was, but she appeared to have warmed to him more than John would have expected. "Of course. That's a good idea," she said gratefully. "Gather around students, we'll continue with the tour. This is almost certainly just a drill; they must have forgotten that we had this tour scheduled. I do apologise. We don't normally show people this room, as it's not particularly interesting but now that we're here…"

  "Was Jerome just flirting with the guide?" Jenna asked Crystal in disbelief. "Doesn't he know when to stop?"

  "As if she'd be interested in a boy like him," Crystal replied acidly.

  "She's a guide in this stupid place, and probably gets paid less than Jerome spends on hats," Jenna replied. "He's tall, good-looking, and apparently has enough money to buy half of Furnace. Of course she'd be interested."

  Crystal glared at her. "Arthur seems to be speaking to that attractive girl from Ash class quite a lot today, doesn't he? Isn't she from the West as well?"

  Jenna pulled a face. "That's his second cousin, for your information. You're just annoyed because you still like Jerome—"

  Suddenly the trap door creaked open and one of the guards stuck his head in. "All clear. Just a drill. You can all come out now."

  "How did he do that?" Amber asked. "I thought you locked it from the inside."

  The guide turned to her, a look of relief on her face. "Oh, yes, it's possible to release the locking mechanism from above. There's a hidden release button, in case an enemy managed to get in the room and lock us out. Everyone, follow me out of the room."

  John and Daisy were at the back of the group again, and waited as the other students climbed the ladder back into the room above.

  "Strange that," John commented. "I wonder if the drill had anything to do with what happened in the library."

  "It would make sense," Daisy replied. "You'd expect them to increase the security everywhere."

  "You would if they believed me," John replied. "I get the feeling that my credibility is starting to wane. To be fair to them, it is a hard thing to believe, and even I doubted what I was seeing."

  Daisy nodded sympathetically. "I believe you. And it makes sense. Why would anyone other than a Blue Dragon steal from our military library?"

  Arthur discussed the same question with Seth over lunch, which they ate back at school after the tour finished. "John doesn't make things up," Arthur stated flatly. "I don't think he has the imagination for it. If he said he saw an intruder, then that's what happened."

  Seth shook his head. "Yes, but does he tell us everything? He always holds something back. Like that time he almost died. We still don't know how he survived in that valley, left all alone. He probably did see an intruder, but meeting a Blue Dragon? So close to Furnace? Doesn't seem likely."

  "What are you discussing?" Crystal asked, sitting down to join them. "You look very serious."

  Seth told her about what John had told Arthur and Daisy.

  "So that's where he was yesterday," Crystal replied. "I wonder why he didn't tell me."

  Arthur shrugged. "Has he even had time? He was busy all day yesterday, and came to see us as soon as he was free."

  "So, a Blue Dragon in Furnace," Crystal mused. "Hard to believe, isn't it? Although I guess after that attack last term it's easier to swallow."

  "Not really," Seth replied. "The man was only lit up by the moonlight, and John could easily have made a mistake. He was very tired. The question is, who else could it be?"

  Crystal paused. "Have you ever heard of the story of the Lord who plotted against the King?"

  "Lord Artus?" Daisy said from behind her, making her jump.

  "Where'd you come from, Daisy?" Crystal asked. "You surprised me. I don't know the name, but John was telling me about what happened to him. The Royal Family was originally just one of several powerful families, and a few generations after Cornelius declared himself King, a head of one of the other families—one of the Lords—was caught plotting against the King of the time. John told me it could have been successful if they hadn't caught him."

  "Lord Artus was his name," Daisy replied. "My tutor taught me about it last year. The plot was to persuade the other Lords to throw their allegiance behind him instead of King Lancelot the second. He wasn't the most popular of Kings, as our enemies constantly attacked us while he was in charge, and although we know now he defended very successfully, at the time, Lord Artus thought he was leading the country very badly and wanted him gone."

  "Very interesting," Arthur commented politely, feeling that everyone was missing the point. "But what has this to do with anything?"

  Crystal shrugged. "Are things so different now? The King is weaker than ever, many in the West and the East long for more independence, and there are several very powerful families that could probably do a better job than the King."

  "Even saying that out loud is dangerous," Seth told her sternly. "It could be seen as treason. I've heard of Lord Artus as well. It's something we're all taught about here in Furnace. There's no trace of his family left; they were executed down to the last child, and most of them were killed in the most horrific ways—deserved of course. Any Lord caught plotting against the King would share the same fate."

  "Yes, which is why it might make sense to put some blue in your hair and divert attention away from your family if someone gets seen," Crystal replied. "John might not have been mistaken at all in what he saw, just in what it actually was."

  "But the Lords all have access to the military library," Arthur pointed out. "They wouldn't need to steal anything."

  "Not everything," Crystal replied. "My father is on the council, remember? A number of the documents are only available to the five commanders. We've had our first attack on the capital and my father thinks it hasn't been handled that well. If that was leaked to the other lords, maybe they would think about choosing a new leader."

  "Whatever your father thinks, it's best if no one else knows," Arthur told her sternly. "I'm guessing he wouldn't appreciate your repeating it to us."

  "Don't worry, Crystal, we won't repeat what you told us," Daisy assured her. "But do you really think one of the Lords could be behind the break in? I mean, would there be anything useful they could steal?"

  "John's probably the one to answer that one," Crystal replied. "The question is, which of the Lords is most likely to be behind a plot?"

  "Easy," Seth replied, looking over at the next table where Daniel and Joel were sitting. "Thorne. His is the largest and richest family in the kingdom, and no offence twins, but the West has always been the least loyal of the principalities. It's rumoured that Thorne was the family that sparked the formation of the principalities in the first place."

  Arthur nodded. "I believe that's probably true. The Lord Thorne of the day probably thought he could manipulate my great, great grandfather Prince Gerald more easily than King Micah, being the youngest of the five sons of Prince Henry the second. He couldn't have been more wrong. My brother may share his name, but the first Prince Gerald was as different to my brother as you could be. Studious, quiet. He probably seemed lacking in confidence to Lord Thorne before the foundation of the Western Principality, but as soon as he had real power he was a very different man. Everyone thinks that the West is rich just because of our location, but Prince Gerald had both great foresight and wisdom, and the West grew very quickly under his rule. The Thorne family can't co
mplain too much; they became incredibly wealthy under our families reign."

  "Yes, although your distance from unfriendly neighbours can't have hurt too much, can it?" Seth observed. "Easier to grow quickly when your neighbours aren't attacking you every day."

  "How is that different to the Capital?" Daisy asked. "Last year was the first attack on Furnace in over two hundred years. Even the South isn't attacked often, and has had just a handful of raids in the last twenty years. It's only the north and the east that has any real reason to complain, and we've provided a lot of financial support for rebuilding after the attacks. Much more than the Capital."

  "Another student of John's, I see," Seth replied, not just a little impressed. "I submit. I can't claim to know much of our history, so there's no point arguing with you."

  "Well, I can't claim to know much more," Crystal added. "John is doing his best to change that, but it seems he's having more success with Daisy."

  "Perhaps I knew some of this anyway," Daisy replied indignantly. "I might have had an excellent knowledge of our history before I met John."

  "She did, actually," Arthur confirmed. "Having your own tutor helps a lot. But coming back to Lord Thorne. It could make sense, his being behind a plot. I know your father doesn't think very highly of him, and our family is equally dismissive of him, but he is actually pretty intelligent. He is very influential and would be the only really convincing rival to the Royal Family. No other family has the resources or backing that could allow them to think that a plot would be worthwhile. If this is an internal plot, which to me seems more likely, it would have to be Thorne."

  "Are you sure this isn't just because you don't like him?" Daisy asked. "Don't misunderstand me, I hate Daniel and have never trusted his family, but couldn't John be right? The Blue Dragons are the real enemy, aren't they?"

  Arthur shook his head. "Blue Dragons are just a nuisance; they have given up attacking us properly years ago. We're too strong for them to ever invade, and they know it. No, I think this is an internal plot, and personally, I mean to keep an eye on Daniel. I'd advise you all to do the same."

  Chapter 34: The City Defences

  After the relative excitement of the first week of term the students settled down into a tedious routine. Jenna, who became bored easily, pestered Crystal to speak to her mother about a weekend away at their holiday residence just so that they had something to look forward to. Crystal pointed out that this was only the second week, and this was the party season with the majority of the class having their birthdays in the next two months, but Jenna was not to be placated so a date was agreed and Seth and the twins all managed to persuade their parents to allow them to go. John of course needed no such permission, something that irked Jenna, knowing there was no way to stop him coming.

  But the trip was several weeks away, and although they now had both combat training and flying to break up the monotony of the more academic subjects, the weeks still dragged.

  "I can't say these lessons are as fun as I hoped they'd be," Jenna told Crystal after their second lesson. "I'm surprised, I'll admit, but it was more fun with the headmaster teaching. This new teacher has sucked all the fun out of the class."

  Crystal couldn't help but agree. The whole class had been spent on drills; endless practicing of set moves and strengthening exercises. The Professor explained that by doing this their responses would become automatic; they wouldn't have to think what to do, and it all sounded sensible, but was also very dull.

  No such criticism of their flying class could be made. John had managed to maintain the high standard of teaching that he had from the outset, and had slowly won over all but the more fervent of his critics. He managed to follow the syllabus and still teach them plenty that wasn't on there, yet never leaving behind even the slowest learners in the class. Even Jenna admitted that Gerald told Arthur that John had taught them far more than he had learnt by this point in his first year and that he was teaching them things even first year army recruits didn't know.

  The third week promised a small but welcome distraction in the form of another school day trip, this time to the Army's practice towers. Furnace, like all of the big cities, was dotted with tall defensive towers, armed with powerful, self-loading cross bows; they were powerful enough to take down a Blue Dragon if one was accurate enough to hit one.

  "This is something common to most races," John told Crystal in their lesson just before the trip. "Although we mainly rely on claws, teeth and fire, almost every surviving race has some form of these towers. There are always those who can't transform, such as children and pregnant women, and even ignoring that argument, it's useful to have something to fall back on if your enemy takes control of the skies. The Greens used to have the most sophisticated and powerful of these weapons, although that didn't prevent their utter defeat at the hands of the Blues."

  "If they have been defeated," she pointed out. "My father told me that you'd presented that theory but they haven't investigated it yet. And how can you know all this about Green Dragon weapons? Oh, I know, don't tell me. A final lesson question, right?"

  John nodded. "You are learning. I presented the Greens' destruction as a theory as I couldn't explain how I knew it to be true, but trust me, the Green Dragons are long gone. It's just a matter of time before the Council confirms that."

  And you're not going to tell me how you know that, are you? Crystal thought to herself. She didn't see how he could know this, but knew better than to question whether it was correct. A number of things that he taught her could be verified, and everything she double checked turned out to be correct. There was plenty that couldn't be verified though, and John was frustratingly evasive on how he knew any of it. Daisy was even more frustrating, unquestioningly accepting every word John said regardless of how unlikely it was that he could know whether it was true. Crystal had once asked her how she was sure whether something John had told her was true, and her answer was, "Because John told me." It was the one time she had sympathised with Jenna's dismal view of the girl.

  "Made it on time today," Professor Silver said as Crystal entered the classroom for the early registration. She saw John was already settled at his desk, seemingly ignoring the Professor. She chose to follow his example and pretended not to hear what he said. Although she was on time, she was one of the last to arrive, and they left shortly afterwards.

  "We will be flying there today," Professor Silver told them, "as it is too far to walk. I guess we will see how much you really have learnt in your flying lessons."

  Crystal saw that Daisy visibly fumed at this obvious slight at John's expense, but as ever, John's expression was an impenetrable mask. The class split up to transform, before regrouping as dragons in the school gardens where the Professor was waiting for them.

  Circle if you need to gain height to clear the school buildings, Professor Silver told them. I don't want any of you crashing into a window. We will all leave together; I don't want any of you getting lost on the way. Once you're in the air and have cleared the buildings, just circle until I tell you that we're ready to leave. Now, first, I want—

  Excuse me, Professor. Haven't you forgotten something?

  Professor Silver turned to face John, who, being the first to transform, had been waiting patiently for the class to ensemble.

  What? No, Wood. I don't think I've forgotten anything, and don't interrupt me.

  The Headmaster told you that, as the Flying instructor, the students would be my responsibility from the moment they transformed till we landed. Had you forgotten? I was standing beside you when he told you.

  Professor Silver said nothing for a moment, staring at John. No, I hadn't forgotten. I just thought—

  Then I will take it from here, Professor. You may watch, but do not interfere—

  Now just hang on, young man. Who do you think you're talking to?

  Please let me finish, John replied. You may watch, but do not interfere. 'John is to take responsibility for the class' were the Headma
ster's words, were they not?

  Professor Silver remained silent for a long moment, staring at John coldly. As a dragon, it was a little harder for him to intimidate any of the students, as they were now all the same size as him, and he never seemed to have much effect on John anyway. Fine. The class is yours.

  John turned away from him to face the class with his tail curled around his legs like some giant pet cat. Class, form three lines. Give yourselves plenty of space. You won't hit anything, I assure you, but there's no need to make it difficult for yourselves. That's it, spread yourselves out. Now, I'll be above you, watching you all the time. Take off when you're ready.

  Crystal watched John take off and ascend quickly—much more quickly than she or any of her classmates could—and then he circled above them to watch them. Feel free to join me up here, Professor, he called to Professor Silver. Professor Silver didn't even acknowledge him, still seething quietly.

  The three dragons at the front glanced at each other hesitantly. They had all taken off many times before, but usually at the top of a hill, or if on the flat, without any obstacles ahead. This was a little more challenging, having all of the school buildings surrounding them. The first to take off was Mia, flapping quickly at first, then circling counter-clockwise to slowly ascend. Behind her, Jerome took her place and took off before any of the others in the first row could take off, quickly catching up with and passing Mia.

  Excellent, Mia, John called. Thank you for being the first. Good, Jerome; very confident flying.

  The other two in the front row, Amber and Lauren, began to take off, flying together. Behind them, the next three dragons moved forwards and followed them, and then the next three.

  Excellent. Keep going, John urged them. Circle slowly above the school. Stay in your threes; when we leave, we'll travel in Vs of nine, so you may as well get into that formation now. The class slowly organised themselves into V shaped lines of nine, circling over the school until the last student in the class took to the air and cleared the school building. Professor Silver was the last to take off, and kept some distance from the students.