Chapter 17 - To the Dragonlands.
The next morning, there was a little tension over breakfast.
“I don’t feel well, can’t go for training today,” Jon exclaimed.
His dad was having none of it.
“You look perfectly alright to me, now come on, eat your breakfast, you’ll need all your strength today.”
“Maybe, but I’m still not going.”
“What do you mean? You’re not going.”
“Just what I said, little boy wonder wizard can go if he wants, but I’m stopping here.”
“No need for that attitude, apologise to your brother,” Llewellyn said sternly.
“No.”
“Apologise!” he said even more firmly.
“Sorry Tom, I didn’t mean it. But I’m still not going and that’s final.”
“It’s okay dad, I’ll go on my own.”
“I’m not sure about that, with two of you it would be a better and safer experience. I shouldn’t really say safer because I will make sure neither of you comes into any real danger, but Jon needs the experience as much as you do.”
“No, it’s fine, I’ll go on my own,” Tom insisted.
“Okay, if you’re sure. But Jon, listen up, you will need to go there sometime, so why not go with your brother, you’re the eldest, you should be looking out for him.”
“I know, but dragons just aren’t my thing,” Jon added more calmly.
“What on earth do you mean by ‘not your thing’?”
“Exactly what I say, I don’t particularly like dragons, to be honest, they scare the whatsits out of me.”
“But you like Howel, he’s a fine dragon, and he likes you.”
“Yeah, for supper,” he said sarcastically.
“Don’t be daft, Howel wouldn’t eat you, or anyone else for that matter, unless he had to that is.”
“That’s the problem, what if he decided he had to eat me. What if he got all paranoid one day and decided you, me, Jon, and everyone else was out to get him? He’d eat us all.”
“No, he wouldn’t, and you know it, Howel is a very gentle dragon, he hardly ever eats anyone,” Llewellyn said with a grin.
“Anyway, why are we going there? Not to fight dragons I hope?” Jon questioned.
“No, don’t be daft, that way you would get eaten! It’s something all acolytes do; they go to seek out dragons and learn from them. Most dragons are incredibly wise, many have great magic which they sometimes share with acolytes if they take to them. Blue Dragons being the exception, a species to be avoided at all costs. Some dragons, especially purple ones, as you know already, can be a little stuck up, but don’t worry, learn what you can from those that you meet of any colour except blue. You also go to see if you can find a dragon to partner up with. Very few do, most don’t. Don’t worry if you don’t, only a handful of acolytes ever pair up with a dragon, fully fledged wizards don’t do any better. Most wizards are dragonless. Of the seven High Elders, only two have dragons, of the other forty-nine Elders, about five have them, even Flinty doesn’t have a dragon to call his own. So, no worries if you don’t get one to fall in love with you. You can always get another pet,” Llewellyn smiled at the boys, “and don’t forget, no one ever owns a dragon, it’s a partnership of trust and respect.”
“Alright, I’ll go, but I’m not happy about this. You had better be keeping a close eye on us. And if I don’t like what I see, get me back here quick.”
“Okay, I will.”
“Promise?”
“Alright, I promise. Enough already! Now, quickly through the door, half the morning’s gone arguing.”
The boys stepped through the door. They felt what seemed like a tug on their bodies and then a spinning sensation, a sudden stop, opened their eyes and there they were, on the far side of Trymyll in the Dragonlands. They had ‘landed’ atop a very tall mountain, the whole area was mountainous, with lots of steep valleys, caves, densely forested areas and what looked like quarries in some of the valleys. They were above the snowline, so it was cold, very cold. They wrapped their black cloaks around them and drew a little energy from their wands to warm up but being careful not to melt the snow and sink. The boys knew that their dad could both see and hear them, so Jon asked.
“What’s with the quarries dad?”
They would hear any reply in their heads, not as an actual spoken word.
“This is where the stone for the castles came from several thousand years ago, they quarried the area when the castles and surrounding towns were originally built. They don’t quarry anymore; they use bricks just like at home; and just like at home, the quarried granite buildings outlast the brick-built ones by millennia.”
“What do we do now?” Tom asked.
“I suggest you both mount your staffs and have a recce.”
The boys did as suggested. They both sped down the mountain at breath-taking speed and into the valley. Jon seemed to have gained a lot of confidence and had only slight problems keeping up with his younger sibling. They swooped across the bottom of the valley, into quarries and out again, up vertical faces and across plateaus and down the other side. Eventually, they came to a stop on top of a quarry as they could see smoke in the distance.
“What do you reckon that is?” asked Jon.
“Well, it is the Dragonlands, so I’m guessing it might be dragons.”
They continued cautiously, over the next crest and there in the next quarry were a dozen or so chickens, both hens and cocks and a large cockerel.
“Why are there chickens down there?” asked Jon.
“They’re not, they’re a family of Red Dragons. Watch.”
He had remembered what Howel had told him, ‘Red dragons are to be sought; they are very magical, faithful, trustworthy and have longer lives than any other dragons. Their metamorphic other is a hen or cockerel according to their gender. He just wished he knew what metamorphic meant, but he thought it was like when Howel turned into Howl the Jack Russell. He floated slowly down to the group of chickens. Dismounted, bowed, and said.
“Good morning Red Dragon family.”
There was a dozen ‘pops’ as the dragons, of all different shapes and sizes ‘recovered their dignity’ as Howel would have put it. The largest male was a good sixty-foot-long, there were a couple of mature females about fifty-foot-long and a variety of small to medium-sized dragons which Tom assumed were their offspring.
The male spoke in a strong, deep, resonating voice that seemed to bounce off every wall in the quarry.
“Good morning to you young acolyte. May we know your name?”
“I am Acolyte Thomas Jones, a son of Llewellyn the Brave, and watching from the top of the quarry wall is Acolyte Jonathan Jones, eldest son of Llewellyn the Brave.”
“Llewellyn the Brave, I know him, I suppose you have come to learn of dragons and to perhaps win a favour?”
“Yes please," Tom replied somewhat nervously.
“Well bring your sibling down and I will introduce my family to you both and teach you what I wish you to know.”
Tom bowed again and flew up to where Jon was standing.
“You coming down? He wants to introduce himself and teach us stuff about dragons and things.”
“Not blooming likely, we’ll both be eaten alive!”
“No, we won’t, Red Dragons are very nice and very trustworthy, and he knows our dad.”
“Help me dad, I’m too scared to go down there. He’ll eat us both!” Jon said.
Their dads' voice came into his head, "Don’t be scared, I know this particular Red Dragon and his family. He is Odgar Caddell, and his ladies are Rhedyn and Awel. Be polite and respectful and they will respond with the same.”
Tom lightly gripped his stone and sent out an aura of tranquillity surrounding his brother. Jon calmed down, mounted his staff and they floated down together.
“Jonathan, son of Llewellyn the Brave. You too are welcome. I am Odgar, and these are my females Awel and Rhedyn. We have between us nine immature dragons or whelps as you would call them; I won’t bore you with all their names as I know you will forget them anyway.”
That’s true thought Tom.
“You have come to learn of dragons and perhaps to win favour or fellowship with one. I can and will teach you what I wish to teach you out of respect for your father, but all my offspring are here to stay and neither I nor my ladies wish to have a long-term fellowship with a wizard at the moment.”
“Oh no,” thought Tom, “another few days of lessons.”
“Not at all,” said Odgar, “the knowledge I give will be passed over very quickly indeed. Oh, and don’t forget, I can get your thoughts, surely the Purple Dragon, Howel has taught you that much?”
“Yes, I know, sorry, I forgot," Tom said apologetically.
“Well then, keep your negativity to yourself,” Odgar said sharply, his voice again bouncing all around the quarry, “hold your staffs upright and just below the stone. Move the stone and hold it against your forehead.”
As they did there was a flash, and then what seemed like a movie playing at very high speed flashed through their heads. It was so fast they did not even have time to see a single frame. In a couple of seconds, it was over. Finished.
“Wow!” said Tom, “that was fast. So fast I’m not sure I caught any of it.”
“Oh, but you did, every single bit of it, and I also learnt every thought you have ever had as well. Let me prove what I say. You asked your father the other day if you could become invisible?”
“Yes, but how....”
“Think invisible.”
Tom didn’t quite know how to think ‘invisible’ but tried to imagine no one could see him. As he did, he began to fade and eventually disappeared.
“That is just one of many skills which I have passed to you both.
“Jonathan, the first day that you and your sibling were reunited you said, that you could not connect to your wand. Well, now it is time to connect.”
Jon had no idea what he meant but took his staff and held it aloft. He could feel the power surge from his staff and down through him, around him and back into the staff. He pointed the staff at a huge boulder, the power shot out and the granite vaporised. He pointed it at a piece of rock the size of a small car and willed it to rise. It rose effortlessly into the air. He was connected, oh boy was he connected.
“Whoooheee!” he yelled with joy!
“Apart from those two little tricks, I have invested you both with many more, but you will realise them later as you go on with your quest. You may not realise now, but you know everything a human acolyte needs to know about dragons, again, you may not grasp it now, but when you need to know something, you will find that you already do. Now, off you go Jonathan, son of Llewellyn and Thomas son of Llewellyn. I, Odgar and the ladies Awel and Rhedyn wish you good fortune, sound magic and long life; a good day to you both, and please give my kindest regards to your father,” Odgar said with a deep bow.
“Good day to you Odgar Caddell, good day to you Awel and Rhedyn,” Tom spoke first, and then Jon repeated. They both bowed courteously, mounted their staffs, and flew off again at great speed. Jon realised that he now felt completely confident in his flying and was now able to keep up with Tom quite easily. He now had no fear of dragons either, Odgar had taught him all he would ever need to know about dragons in a few seconds. He now knew for certain that the only dragons to fear and avoid were the Blue Dragons.
They continued their journey, up mountains and down into valleys, in and out of quarries, always keeping low to the ground to avoid being spotted by anything hostile. After about thirty more minutes, they came to an abrupt halt. They could sense trouble ahead.
They could hear a commotion of some sort up ahead and so, they pushed on slowly to the top of the next quarry, they stopped near the edge and peeked over. What they saw was both alarming and frightening. Down below they could see a Golden Dragon and her whelp. Caught by their claws in iron traps, cold iron traps, or they would have escaped by now. There were three Blue Dragons down there too, they were baiting the Golden Dragon and trying to capture her baby Golden Dragon. The three Blue Dragons were being egged on by a dark wizard dressed head to toe in black.
“We’ve got to do something, that Golden Dragon is getting terribly upset and is tiring fast. Once her strength is gone, they will easily capture the whelp. We have to stop them,” said Tom.
“How are we going to do that, we don’t have much chance against three Blue Dragons and a Dark Wizard.”
“We have surprise on our side, we are also dressed in black, so he may not see us as the rescue party, I have a trick up my sleeve beyond the normal wand and staff, and I now know how to kill a dragon. Odgar must have taught me in his ‘lesson’ as he knows I would never use it against another dragon except in self-defence. We’ll fly around the valley and then straight in over the top of the Dark Wizard and his Blue Dragons and position ourselves next to the mum, then, I’ll deal with the dragons while you hopefully engage with the wizard.”
“How do I do that?”
“Engage with your wand and staff, the wisdom of the wand will guide you and give you the power required.”
“I hope you’re right. Let’s do it before I think too much and get scared!”
They swooped around and down at lightning speed and stopped dead next to the Golden Dragon facing the three Blue Dragons and the dark wizard.
Tom summoned all his courage and spoke, at least it sounded like him, but his voice was magnified many times and he could be heard quite clearly above all the commotion.
“Let these dragons go and be on your way or face the consequences of your actions!”
The dark wizard let out a sardonic laugh, “And how can two small boy acolytes of little consequence make me, and my dragons face any consequence?”
He laughed again, he thought to himself how amusing he was to use the word consequence twice in one sentence.
“We warn you. There are two of us and only one of you, release these chains and set the dragons free.”
“There may be only one of me, but have you noticed my pets?” he carried on in his jovial mood and gestured towards the Blue Dragons, “there my pets, a little light lunch for you. Get them!” he said.
Blue Dragons are easy to confuse because they are not very bright, so instead of attacking straight away, all three of them just looked at the two boys.
Tom shouted at them, “Three of you and two of us, one of you’s not getting fed today.”
This confused them even more, they looked around at the Dark Wizard, as if to say, don’t you mean, it’s three of us and three of you!
While they looked around, Tom struck.
“Bow!” he said.
Instantly he stood there with his Yew longbow and a quiver of arrows. He quickly knocked, aimed, and loosed a single arrow which he knew would have a cold iron tip, he concentrated his thought on the scale just below the fire chamber at the base of necks. The arrow split into three and all three arrows sunk into the chests of the three dragons and then into their hearts. They fell with a crash to the ground. Dead! The dark wizard lost his smile and pointed his staff at the boys letting out a massive energy burst. Jon banged his staff to the ground, and they were surrounded by what seemed like a hemisphere of solid energy. The spell ricocheted off and into the quarry wall, vaporising a few tonnes of granite rock. Jon dropped the shield and sent out his own burst of energy, every bit as powerful as the dark wizards’, Jon didn’t have the qualms that Tom had about hurting or killing people. The wizard avoided the blast by apparating to another part of the quarry and letting off another burst. Jon volleyed this one with his staff, almost like a cricket bat sending it straight back to the Dark Wizard. This joust went on for several minutes before it came to a very sudden halt. The Dark Wizard just froze in time and space. Tom had taken control, frozen everything, and stepped out of the fray. He touched his brother with his wand, and he was at once re-animated. He was just about to launch another burst when Tom stopped him.
“Stop, it’s over, he can’t move.”
At that moment, their father appeared beside them.
“Well done boys, you make me proud.”
Llewellyn released the Golden Dragon from her shackles and then shackled up the Dark Wizard in the cold iron chains. He then released the whelp and used his chains to make extra sure the Dark Wizard was going nowhere. Tom then released his freezing spell on them all.
“Thomas, son of Llewellyn, Jonathan son of Llewellyn and Llewellyn the Brave, we are indebted to you. We thank you for your help in this most difficult situation.”
“How do you know us?” Tom asked, but then he realised he already knew. A Golden Dragon is the wisest of all dragons, why wouldn’t she know?
“Exactly,” said the dragon, even though Tom had not spoken. Being female, she was only about forty feet long. But magnificent, Tom had never seen anything so beautiful in all his life. She was exactly what he had expected and more, much more. Brilliant Golden scales covered her body, each one looking as if it was made from 24-carat gold and burnished to a brilliant shine. She smelled of saffron and incense. Relative to her body, her wings were quite small, not large enough to fly with at all, but Golden Dragons do not need wings, they could fly because they are Golden Dragons. She hovered above the ground effortlessly, her wings just caressing the air, her young whelp next to her.
She was a Golden Dragon of ancient China, for Golden Dragons originated from the Taihang Mountains, a vast mountain range of northern China, stretching some two-hundred and fifty miles from north to south and forming the boundary between the Shanxi and Hebei provinces. They are found deep within the deepest caverns below the mountains of the north, shrouded with magic and unknown to man even to this day.
“Thomas, son of Llewellyn, we owe you a great debt for slaying the three Blue Dragons, as do we to you also Jonathan son of Llewellyn for your bravery in engaging with the dark wizard when so inexperienced in battle. That debt will be paid in full when the time is ready. Until then we return to our weyr.”
With that, they morphed into sparrow hawks and flew away swiftly into the distance.
“What shall we do with him?” said Jon.
“We will take him back to Blaenoraid and throw him in the dungeons. The council will want to question him about his motives.”