Rise of the Dragons Read online

  Kaan gasped in amazement. Long boxes of various colors, which he thought must be dragons wearing a weird kind of armor, were moving slowly through the streets of a huge city. Dragons in colored boxes Kaan could understand, but what shocked him was that scurrying along beside them were humans—hundreds of them—like little black ants. Kaan was stunned. “Hey, dragon!” he said to Lysander. “Where are we?”

  Lysander did not react.

  “Don’t suppose you know anyway,” Kaan muttered. “Don’t suppose you, dumb dragon, can even see all those people down there. Well, I’ll tell you where we are. We’re in the Lost Lands. My ma told me all about this stuff. Stories and all that. I thought she was talking garbage. We all did.” Kaan laughed. “But hey, maybe she was right, eh, Binkie? Just wait till I tell her. Ha ha!”

  Lysander ignored Kaan and concentrated on the itchy feeling between his eyes, which he was pretty sure was leading him toward the portal back to his own world. Lysander headed steadily upward into the thick, cold cloud, and soon even Kaan’s spyglass showed only misty whiteness. It was now that Lysander became aware of a clattering noise in the sky, growing ever louder. He became aware of a disturbance in the air and a strange metallic smell, which did not feel good at all. And then, suddenly Lysander saw another huge silver dragon coming out of the cloud, heading straight for them. It was terrifying: Its wings whirled around the top of its body like a windmill, and it had a fat, blunt snout with a powerful beam of light streaming from it. Kaan began to scream, but in the din of the great dragon’s ear-shattering noise, Lysander didn’t even notice. Blinded by the beam of light shining straight into his eyes, Lysander shot upward, and guided by the tingle between his eyes, which was now so strong it made him want to sneeze, he went rocketing toward the portal.

  And then he was there, spinning into a tunnel of light. Kaan’s screams were silenced, the silver dragon with the clattering wings was gone, and all was beautifully calm. In perfect control now, Lysander allowed the portal to pull him through its vortex and send him shooting out like a cork from a bottle into the blue skies and sunshine above the Black Mountains. Kaan gave a great whoop of relief to be back in familiar surroundings, and as the boy fidgeted in the pilot dip, Lysander coasted slowly down toward the forbidding stronghold of Fortress Lennix. As he drew closer, Lysander saw a yellow Raptor flying rapidly up toward him and he recognized Declan as the rider.

  Not wanting to spook the young Silver, Declan and Timoleon kept their distance. But they were close enough to see Kaan sitting astride the dragon as though he were a returning hero, riding one-handed and kicking Lysander to show who was boss. Declan noted that the Silver was not reacting to his brother at all, but was staring down at Fortress Lennix as if searching for something.

  There’s no way they’ve Locked, Declan sent to Timoleon.

  Totally disconnected, Timoleon agreed as they drew level with Lysander and Kaan.

  “Hey!” Declan yelled across to his brother. “Where have you been?”

  “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Kaan shouted back smugly.

  Declan sighed. What an idiot, he sent to Timoleon.

  An idiot who’s had a good flight though, Timoleon returned. I wonder where they disappeared to?

  I suspect we’ll soon find out, Declan sent. Kaan looks full of it.

  Declan and Timoleon followed Kaan and the Silver as they glided down toward the landing yard, where, to Declan’s surprise, the Silver ignored the landing cross and, flying only a few feet above the ground, headed for the back of the yard. Kaan began to panic. “Stop!” he yelled. “Stop and land, you stupid dragon!”

  Declan watched with interest as the Silver blithely ignored its rider’s commands. It was now hovering right above the poop slide, which led straight down to the poop pit some twenty feet below. In a slick maneuver that impressed Declan—it had clearly thought this through—the Silver tucked its tail in and performed a perfect backflip. With a piercing shriek, Kaan plunged neatly headfirst into the very center of the pile of steaming poop, leaving only his bare feet sticking out.

  Declan knew he shouldn’t laugh—but he did.

  D’Mara Lennix sat in her ebony dragon chair presiding over a family meeting. A scrubbed and very pink Kaan sat sulking next to his mother, and opposite him Tamra and Mirra pointedly held their noses. Declan sat at the far end of the desk next to his father, both of them silent.

  D’Mara surveyed her family, her eyes glowing with suppressed excitement. “This afternoon,” she said, “Kaan saw something very interesting indeed.”

  Tamra and Mirra spluttered with laughter. “Yeah. The inside of the poop pit!”

  “Be quiet, both of you,” Edward snapped. Mirra looked shocked; her father was normally such a pussycat with them. She glanced at Tamra, who shrugged and pulled a face.

  “Today,” D’Mara announced, “Kaan went to the legendary Lost Lands.”

  Mirra looked at Tamra in dismay—had Kaan done something right at last? But Tamra was riveted by the news. “The Lost Lands? You mean Kaan went there for real?” she asked, her eyes glowing with excitement. For the first time, Mirra noticed uncomfortably how much Tamra and her mother looked alike.

  “I mean exactly that,” D’Mara told her daughter. “You all know that I have always believed these lands exist. And now, thanks to Kaan and my Silver, I know they do.” She flashed Edward a look of triumph.

  Edward made a harrumphing noise. He was not convinced. Kaan was a notorious liar—but this time he intended to get to the truth. D’Mara knew what her husband was thinking. “Declan,” she said. “You tell us what you saw up in the sky.”

  “I saw Kaan kicking that beautiful Silver,” Declan said, glowering at Kaan. “And he’d wanted to wear those disgusting dragon boots too. That is no way to treat any dragon, let alone a precious young Silver. Kaan got everything he deserved, if you ask me.”

  D’Mara sighed; she wished her sons didn’t dislike each other so violently. “Calm down, Declan,” she said. “Please tell us what you saw up there—”

  Kaan interrupted angrily. “Why are you asking him? What does he know? Only I can tell you what I saw. And I can tell you something else too: That stupid Silver is no good. And I’m not going on any dragon ever again unless it’s a Red. So there.”

  D’Mara and Edward exchanged glances. “We will discuss that later, Kaan,” his father said. “Meanwhile, you will be quiet. Please continue, Declan.”

  “Kaan and the Silver were flying just above Mount Lennix,” Declan said. “There was a brilliant flash of silver light and that was it. They were gone. Totally vanished.”

  D’Mara turned to Kaan. “Now, Kaan, you may tell us what happened.”

  Kaan, annoyed at having been told to keep quiet, shrugged and said sulkily, “Nothing much. There was a tunnel thing with light and then there was a big cloud and a long way down I saw stuff like one of those old maps with a load of people running around and moving colored dragon-boxes and then we came home. Just stupid, boring stuff on a stupid, boring dragon.”

  D’Mara smiled at her family, revealing her sharp white teeth. “What Kaan is saying is that the Silver took him through a portal. And that he saw a city full of humans.”

  Edward leaned forward. “How many humans, Kaan?” he asked.

  “Dunno. Tons of them. They were like ants.”

  D’Mara looked at Edward, her eyes shining with triumph. “I told you so,” she said.

  “So you did,” Edward said tersely, and turned his attention back to his youngest son. “Now, Kaan. You will write a report on what happened. You will draw a map of the place you saw. You will estimate how many people you saw and then—”

  “No way,” Kaan interrupted.

  “And then,” D’Mara added, “you may go to the Roost and ask Valkea if she would consent to be your Lock.”

  Kaan’s eyes lit up. “Valkea?”

  “Valkea?” Tamra echoed. “But, Ma, you can’t do that! You can’t. Me and Valkea, we’ve got an agreement. W
e—”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Tamra,” D’Mara said. “You are already Locked with Trixtan.”

  “It’s not a full Lock. You know it’s not. I have to share him with Mirra. And it’s so boring.”

  “Be quiet, Tamra,” D’Mara snapped. She turned the full might of her cold-eyed stare upon her daughter and Tamra shrank back, like a snail before salt. One day, Tamra thought, I’ll show my mother who’s boss. And then she’ll be sorry.

  D’Mara turned back to her son. “Valkea is a fine Red and Krane tells me she would like to Lock with a Lennix. So you stand a good chance. I advise you to be on your very best behavior. Valkea is not a dragon to be messed around with. Do you understand?”

  Kaan was already on his feet. “Oh yes! Yes, I understand. I’ll be really nice to her. I will, I promise.”

  “But first you do the report for your father. It will be good practice. If Valkea allows you to Lock, you will have to write up a log for each flight. You understand that?”

  Kaan nodded impatiently. “Yep, yep, I get it. Can I go now?”

  D’Mara nodded. Through half-closed eyes, Tamra watched Kaan scrape back his chair. He unwound his silver sash, threw it to the floor, and ran out, leaving the door open behind him. Silently, glowering like thunder, Tamra stood up. Declan, Mirra, Edward, and D’Mara watched her as she picked up her notepad, neatly tucked her chair into the table, and walked toward the door, head held high. She closed the door quietly behind her and they heard her light footsteps going slowly down the stone stairs, then there was silence.

  D’Mara frowned. Tamra’s considered silence worried her. She would have much preferred a door-slamming tantrum.

  Later that night, D’Mara and Edward stood on the roof of D’Mara’s lookout and watched the skies. It was a clear night with a bright moon that illuminated a few small clouds in their usual place above Mount Lennix.

  “Can we be sure Kaan went through a portal?” Edward asked. “You don’t think he was just boasting, telling stories? He’s not the most truthful of our children, to put it mildly.”

  “I believe him,” D’Mara said. “You can always tell when Kaan is lying. He looks up to the left and fiddles with his right earlobe.”

  “Does he?” Edward was surprised.

  “I wouldn’t expect you to spot subtle signs like that, Edward, but yes, he does. Every time. And this time he didn’t. Not once. And he wasn’t boasting, was he? He didn’t really want to talk about it.”

  Edward was surprised. He thought D’Mara hardly noticed their children. “Well,” he admitted, “Decimus thinks the Lost Lands might really exist too.”

  Now it was D’Mara’s turn to be surprised. “Well, well. And I always thought that Lock of yours was a bit of a bonehead. Good for him.”

  Edward was thinking. “So if the Silver took Kaan through a portal,” he said, “why are you giving him Valkea to Lock with—surely he should stay with the Silver?”

  “Kaan is no good for the Silver,” D’Mara said. “I see that now. He’s too big, too clumsy. The Silver is a delicate beast. He’ll damage him and we can’t risk that.”

  “Kaan didn’t look right with him,” Edward agreed.

  D’Mara nodded. “And they didn’t Lock, that’s for sure. There was absolutely no communication between them. But we have the Silver now and that is what matters. Because with it the Lost Lands are lost to us no more!”

  To Edward’s shock, D’Mara grabbed his hands and looked down into his eyes, holding his gaze uncomfortably. “Edward, don’t you see? This is why I wanted that Silver egg. This is why I walked all that way to the ghastly Zolls’ place to get that dragon. Our world is no good anymore. We’ve used it up. There is nothing left for us or the Raptors. This wonderful Silver is the key to our very survival. With it we can go to a place full of humans just waiting to be used. We can go through to those Lost Lands and make them our own. Edward, those lands and all in them belong to us.”

  “I understand. Believe me, I do,” Edward said, desperate to escape the piercing gaze.

  D’Mara laughed and, to Edward’s relief, let go of his hands and spun around to look out of the window up at the sky, where there lay a myriad of invisible links to a whole new world that they now had access to. “We Lennixes are not finished yet, Edward. Just think how grateful our Raptors will be to eat human flesh again,” she said, touching a subject she knew Edward held dear.

  Edward became animated. “It will be just like the old days, before we had to go over to sheep. It’s never been the same since.”

  “It is so simple,” D’Mara said. “The Silver is our key.”

  “But a key needs a Lock, D’Mara,” Edward said. “And clearly, that’s not going to be Kaan. So what do we do?”

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” D’Mara said. “I rather suspect that Declan was right, the Silver already has a Lock—that shepherd boy.”

  Edward was aghast. “Well, that’s a disaster,” he said. “There’s no point if the Silver’s not Locked with a Lennix.”

  D’Mara’s eyes glittered in the moonlight. “So we’ll make that shepherd boy a Lennix,” she said. “We’ll adopt him into the clan. He’ll be so grateful he’ll do whatever we want.”

  Edward felt giddy with admiration. “D’Mara Lennix, you’re amazing. Absolutely amazing.”

  For once, D’Mara’s smile reached her eyes. “I know,” she said.

  Early next morning Allie was on her way to Bone Grind. Carli was with her, sent back after D’Mara reported her for “smirking.” They were late, and hurrying through a crossing point where six passageways met, when Carli stopped and frantically flapped her hands. “Back! Get back against the wall,” she hissed. Marching toward them was a phalanx of guards in the impressive Lennix household livery of gold and black with the colored sashes of their own Raptor Locks. “Something’s up,” Carli whispered. “The household guard never ever come down here.”

  Wide-eyed, Allie stared. Not at the guards who looked so impossibly clean and bright in their finery—but at the slight, ashen-faced figure being marched between them. “Joss …” Allie breathed. “It’s Joss.”

  “Shh!” Carli hissed.

  For a fleeting moment, Allie met Joss’s panicked gaze, and then he was gone, swept past her in a clacker-clack, clacker-clack of steel-tipped boots. Allie watched the backs of the guards disappear around the corner, taking Joss away from her, to what fate she had no idea. All she knew was it looked bad.

  “Come on,” Carli said, pulling Allie along with her. “We’re even later now.” Blindly, Allie followed Carli as she ran along the passages to Bone Grind. As Carli pushed open the door, she saw tears streaming down Allie’s face. “Hey, kid,” she said gently. “It’s not so bad. At least we’re going to be warm today. We’re burning bones for ash for the new eggs’ nests.”

  Allie nodded. She stared at the pile of bones waiting to be scrubbed clean and placed into the furnace, and she realized that she didn’t feel the slightest bit sick. In fact, she didn’t feel anything at all. And she didn’t think she ever would again.

  Joss, on the other hand, felt sick with nerves. Something terrible was about to happen to him, of that he was sure. Why else would he be sent under guard to the Lennix quarters? He’d heard all about Madam D’Mara’s cruelty to prisoners, the way she singled some out for particularly dangerous duties, and as he was marched up a flight of wide stone stairs, he guessed that now it was his turn. He’d heard enough stories in the Raptor nursery to know what to expect: D’Mara reveled in the occasional push from the launching platform and had even been known, so they said, to dump prisoners into the bone crusher.

  Joss was trying to decide which fate would be the least terrible when the posse of guards threw open a heavy set of doors, marched him through, and—with much stamping of feet—halted. Joss stared in amazement at the opulently furnished hall that lay before him. Polished weapons and trophies lined the walls, which were festooned with red and black silk banners on which was emb
lazoned the Lennix symbol: a red inverted triangle enclosing an upward-pointing black arrow. Down the middle of the hall was a long, narrow table; at the nearest end was a large candle and three ebony chairs with red velvet seats. Two of the chairs were already occupied: one by D’Mara Lennix and the other by Edward Lennix. The chair between them was empty.

  The guards bowed and backed out of the room, softly closing the doors behind them, and Joss was left alone to face the Lennix clan chiefs. They looked up, appraising him with a cool gaze as though, he thought, they were looking at something and deciding whether to buy it.

  D’Mara spoke first. “Welcome, Joshua, to Fortress Lennix.” Joss said nothing; his mouth was too dry to speak. D’Mara continued smoothly. “Joshua, clan Lennix is an inclusive family. We like to welcome the very best of people into it. At Compound Zoll I saw at once that you were one of these people. I believed you were destined for great things.”

  Confused, Joss stared at D’Mara. He heard what she was saying but the words made no sense at all.

  D’Mara and Edward exchanged anxious glances. Was there something wrong with the boy? He looked utterly gormless. D’Mara steamed ahead. “But before I could offer you anything, I had first to prove your worth to my husband. He did not believe me.”

  Edward flashed an annoyed frown at D’Mara, who paid no attention. “And so, Joshua, you were put into the Roost as a prisoner as a test of your character, which I am delighted to say you have passed with flying colors. Of course, I knew you would, despite Edward’s—”