The Case of the Vanished Sea Dragon Read online

  This time the liquid got the cloud, but it was off target, not quite hitting where the heart would have been.

  Dirk fell on to all fours, his head bowed. He felt like he had sunburnt his insides. He couldn’t speak. His vision was blurred but he heard that distinctive baritone say, ‘If you don’t get one, the girl will be pavement jam.’

  Dirk stood up with his last bit of energy and checked the flask. There was only enough left for one more attempt. He picked out another low cloud in the shape of a dragon. He took the final gulp of liquid fire and held it in his throat. It felt like it was going to burn a hole straight through his skin. He waited for the right moment, trying to focus, and then released it.

  ‘Aghhhhyeahh,’ he screamed as the orange liquid shot from his mouth, piercing the cloud.

  This time it was on target. Instantly the cloud began to bubble and hiss angrily.

  ‘Get ready,’ said Vainclaw.

  The cloud above came tumbling down, swirling like an out-of-control helicopter. The soft blurry edges took form, like a photograph being developed. A tail appeared, a body, wings, a long sleek neck and, finally, a head. The materialised Sky Dragon was about the same size as Dirk but with a longer head and tail and a much larger wingspan. Its back was sky blue, its belly, cloud-white. It landed on top of the building, clasped its paws to its heart in pain, tried to stay on its feet, but slumped on to its belly.

  Dirk gasped for breath, feeling like his insides had been cooked. He could barely speak but he managed to mutter, ‘I’m sorry,’ before he passed out altogether.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  ‘Nooo,’ cried Holly, watching Dirk collapse into a heap.

  ‘Eh, little girl, keep a lid on it,’ said Mali. Holly could feel his warm stinking breath on her face. She looked down. It was a long way to fall. Below, normal people in the streets went about their normal lives, doing normal things, as though it was just a normal Tuesday evening in the middle of London, unaware of the drama unfolding above them.

  The Sky Dragon was blocking Holly’s view of Dirk. It looked weak and tired. In the centre of its blue back was a black burn mark, where the liquid fire had torn through its body. It coughed, and a cloud of ash flew off its skin, like dust being beaten from a pillow, landing on the ground, producing an outline around its body. It raised its enormous head wearily and looked at her. She noticed that, unlike most dragon eyes, which were yellow, its eyes were creamy and reflective.

  Arthur and Reg threw the net over the poor creature. It tried to free itself, but clearly didn’t have the energy.

  ‘What is your name, Sky Dragon?’ said Vainclaw, bending low to speak in its ear.

  ‘My name is Nebula Colorado,’ it replied. It was a female and spoke with a voice as soft as a summer’s breeze.

  ‘It is humans who have done this to you,’ said Vainclaw. ‘Together with this Mountain Dragon they summoned you in order to kill you. We came to save your life. Stand back, humans.’

  Arthur and Reg silently obeyed.

  ‘It’s a trick,’ shouted Holly with all the energy she could muster. ‘Don’t listen to …’

  Mali clasped a clammy paw over her mouth, preventing her from speaking.

  ‘Send for help,’ urged Vainclaw, his words dripping like poison. ‘The humans are planning to attack. The Kinghorns need allies if we are to defeat them. Mankind has awoken to the reality of dragons. It is time for action before all your brothers and sisters are summoned and slaughtered.’

  The Sky Dragon opened its mouth again and spoke. ‘I have called the Skies. They are coming,’ she said, shutting her eyes.

  Vainclaw inspected the body. ‘She’s unconscious,’ he announced.

  Where are you, Dirk? Holly thought hard, remembering how he had spoken in her head when they had been up against the Kinghorns the last time. There was no response.

  Vainclaw turned to Holly, smoke pouring from his nose. ‘I imagine you’re waiting for your detective to save the day,’ he said.

  Holly didn’t answer, trying not to look at how far from the ground she was.

  ‘Alba Longs, check on Mr Dilly,’ ordered Vainclaw. ‘Do it quickly or Leon will slice up your sister.’

  ‘They mean what they say,’ said Delfina, her voice quivering with fear.

  ‘That’s right. I’ll cut up your sister and feed her to the pigeons,’ said Leon, digging his claw further into Delfina’s chin.

  Shaking with every step, Alba made her way around the Sky Dragon. ‘Mr Dirk is still here,’ she said. ‘There is no movements from him at all.’

  ‘You see, little girl?’ said Vainclaw to Holly. ‘We’ve won. All we have to do now is wait for the other Sky Dragons to appear, then we will take our new allies straight down to the Outer Core to build up their strength ready for the beginning of the war. Dragons against humans. Who’s your money on?’

  ‘Eh, boss,’ said Mali, sounding nervous. ‘Won’t the humans notice all them Skies appearing over the city?’

  ‘Who cares?’ snapped Vainclaw, with a dismissive wave. ‘The time is upon us. We have waited too long for the right time. Finally, we will have the ultimate weapons … Sky Dragons. Let these upright mammals convince themselves on their idiotic TV shows that the sightings above London were just hallucinations brought on by some chemical in the water. With the Skies on our side, all of dragonkind will join us. Then we will pluck this over-ripe race from their position of power. Once we have won they will bow down to their new dragon masters. Kinghorns will rule them all, and I, Vainclaw Grandin, the first up-airer, will rule the world.’ Vainclaw shouted these words triumphantly.

  ‘Nice speech, boss,’ said Leon.

  ‘Yeah, it was really stirring and all,’ nodded Mali enthusiastically.

  ‘It won’t work,’ said Holly weakly.

  Vainclaw looked at her with an amused smile. ‘What would you know, a mere human child?’

  ‘You won’t be able to trick the Sky Dragons. They won’t join you,’ said Holly stubbornly. ‘I could see it in her eyes. There was kindness. She won’t help destroy us. None of them will.’

  ‘Eh, boss, shall I drop her?’ said Mali, holding her over the edge.

  Vainclaw reached out a long claw and touched Holly’s hair, blowing pungent smoke in her face, then turned his back and nodded.

  ‘Yes, drop her,’ he said.

  Holly felt Mali’s grip loosen.

  He let go and she fell.

  When Karnataka had seen the fire flare, his first instinct was to ignore it, but Archie, who had been enjoying his second dragon ride of the evening, saw it too and said, ‘What’s that?’

  ‘It’s nothing,’ said Karny dismissively. ‘Probably a shooting star.’

  ‘No it’s not. It’s what he talked about; a fire flare, isn’t it?’ he said, remembering Dirk’s words back in the yard. ‘That means they’ve found the van.’

  In spite of the danger, Archie was having the best night of his life. He had already met three dragons and now it was up to him to persuade this one to do the right thing.

  ‘OK, so maybe it does,’ admitted Karnataka. ‘So we can go home. I’ll drop you off at the nearest station.’

  ‘We should go and help them,’ said Archie. He had noticed Karnataka hadn’t exactly been searching very hard for the van.

  ‘Why?’ snapped Karny.

  ‘Because from what I heard back there this is all your fault,’ replied Archie resolutely.

  They came to a rest on top of a bakery with air vents churning out delicious smells. Karnataka craned his head round to look at Archie. ‘You don’t know anything, human.’

  ‘I know you’re a coward who won’t go and help someone who’s supposed to be a friend,’ said Archie.

  ‘So what?’ said Karnataka in his high-pitched whine, pacing around an air vent. ‘So what if I’m a coward? What’s so good about being brave, anyway? Cowards stay alive, particularly smart cowards.’

  ‘I don’t think you are smart,’ said Archie pointedly.r />
  ‘I don’t care what a human kid thinks. I’m not going,’ stated Karnataka.

  ‘A dragon who was working for you has been kidnapped by humans.’

  ‘So what?’

  ‘So as far as I understand you’re quite an important dragon.’

  ‘A very important dragon,’ interjected Karnataka.

  ‘Isn’t that going to bring up some difficult questions … questions you don’t want to answer? Like, what was she doing for you and whether the whole thing is your fault?’

  ‘Well, yes,’ admitted Karnataka.

  ‘So the truly cowardly thing to do would be to go help rescue her and avoid all that hassle.’

  Karnataka breathed in the smell of fresh bread from the shop. ‘Yes, I suppose you’re right.’

  ‘Brilliant. Let’s go,’ said Archie, beaming.

  ‘You’re pretty smart for a human,’ Karnataka said bitterly. ‘Don’t tell anyone I admitted to being a coward. I have a reputation to maintain, you know.’

  Karnataka jumped across the road to another roof, heading towards the Thames where the flare had come from.

  After they crossed the river the trail went cold. No more flares went up and they couldn’t find any trace of the reddish-coloured van.

  ‘Well, we’ve tried our best,’ said Karnataka.

  ‘What’s that?’ Archie was looking at an orange streak in the sky. ‘It’s coming from that tall building.’

  Karnataka landed on a low roof near the tower, above a trendy bar which was playing loud electronic music. He could feel the vibration of the bass line beneath his feet. The clink of glasses and hum of human chatter rose up into the warm night air.

  ‘We should go up,’ Archie said.

  ‘This is close enough,’ replied Karnataka.

  A second streak of light flashed above the tall building. Then a third. It looked as though something appeared in the sky then fell out of sight on to the roof. It was impossible to say what.

  ‘What’s happening?’ asked Archie.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Karnataka.

  They continued to watch. Something was being dangled over the edge of the building.

  ‘What’s that?’ exclaimed Archie.

  A girl’s scream cut through the air.

  ‘It’s Holly, go!’ shouted Archie, kicking his heels into Karnataka’s belly, like he was geeing up a horse.

  Shocked by the firmness of the voice and the hardness of the kick, Karnataka obeyed unquestioningly. He spread his wings and flew to the building, where he positioned himself under the falling girl.

  ‘Hold on,’ he said. Archie gripped tightly as Karnataka swivelled upside down, causing him to dangle precariously from his neck. There was a jolt and Archie almost lost his grip as Holly landed on the Shade-Hugger’s soft underbelly. Karnataka clamped a forearm over the girl, holding her safely in place, then turned vertically and flew upwards.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Flying up the side of the building, Holly and Archie found themselves face to face over Karnataka’s shoulder.

  ‘Good timing,’ said Holly weakly.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ asked Archie, seeing she was in pain.

  ‘My leg’s broken and Dirk’s passed out.’

  ‘Who’s up there?’ asked Karnataka, slowing down.

  ‘Leon and Mali are holding Alba’s sister hostage. Vainclaw is making it look like Arthur and Reg have caught the Sky Dragon.’

  ‘Vainclaw Grandin?’ said Karnataka, changing direction, heading down.

  ‘What are you doing?’ said Holly and Archie together.

  ‘Three Kinghorns against one me?’ said Karnataka. ‘Not my sort of odds.’

  ‘If you don’t do something the Sky Dragons will appear and then no one will be able to stop the war,’ said Holly.

  ‘Which would make your job very difficult,’ added Archie. ‘It’s the cowardly thing to do. You know I’m right.’

  ‘You’re really starting to bug me,’ said Karnataka, changing direction again and flying back up the side of the building towards the top, zooming past the floors of empty offices.

  Above them, on the roof, Mali was looking down. ‘It’s the Shade-Hugger, the one that took your job, bro. He’s rescued the girl and he’s got another kid. Can I go and get him?’

  ‘No,’ said Vainclaw firmly. ‘Let him land. From all I hear about this Captain Karnataka it will be easy enough to persuade him to switch sides.’

  Karnataka landed on his hind legs next to Dirk’s unconscious body. He placed Holly down beside Dirk and Archie jumped off.

  ‘Dirk? Are you all right?’ said Holly, draping an arm over his shoulder. Dirk made no response. Holly rested her head on his and closed her eyes.

  ‘How gloriously pathetic,’ said Vainclaw. ‘Welcome, Captain Karnataka. Firstly, let me congratulate you on this marvellous Sky Dragon plan. How inventive you are.’

  ‘Mr Captain Karnataka,’ said Alba. ‘You told me you had Delfina, but these Kinghorns have got her?’

  ‘Keep quiet, Sea Dragon,’ said Leon, ‘else I’ll cut your sister’s throat.’

  ‘I do not think he is fooling,’ said Delfina, sounding terrified.

  ‘Enough,’ barked Vainclaw. ‘Shade-Hugger, I’m going to come straight to the point. I have a proposal. Shortly, the rest of the Sky Dragons will appear. Look, they are already gathering.’

  Karnataka looked to see that the edge of the purple sky was blackening as though a storm was approaching, closing in from every corner of the sky. The sublimated Sky Dragons were nearing.

  ‘I’ll give you one chance. Join us now and you can be one of us. The Kinghorns always have time for a dragon of your moral flexibility.’

  Karnataka glanced back at Archie.

  ‘You can’t do it,’ said Archie.

  ‘Sorry,’ shrugged Karnataka. ‘I told you I was a coward.’ He walked towards Vainclaw, edging around the Sky Dragon. ‘You’ve got yourself a deal,’ he said.

  ‘I knew you were my kind of dragon,’ said Vainclaw.

  Archie leant over Holly and whispered in Dirk’s ear, ‘What can I do?’

  For a moment there was nothing. Then a tiny puff of smoke drifted up from Dirk’s nostrils.

  ‘What can I do?’ repeated Archie.

  The smoke formed into shapes. They were weak and only lasted a second but Archie made out three letters: S K Y.

  Archie looked up. The blackening edge of the sky was getting near, closing in on London. The three smoke letters blended together and formed into the shape of an arrow, which pointed to the large unconscious dragon in the centre of the roof.

  ‘Kinghorns prepare,’ said Vainclaw. ‘When they arrive we’ll kill the humans as though we are rescuing the Sky Dragon from them.’

  Reg and Arthur remained oblivious to his words, helplessly awaiting their fate.

  Archie snuck around the Sky Dragon’s large body, crawling through the thick line of ash that surrounded it. He reached the head and pulled back the net.

  ‘Hey,’ he said in the Sky Dragon’s ear. ‘Hey, Sky Dragon, wake up.’ Nothing. Archie tried to lift up one of its huge eyelids, but it was as though it was locked shut. Then the corner of the dragon’s mouth moved and it spoke softly.

  ‘Too weak,’ she said. ‘Need sugar.’

  ‘Sugar?’ said Archie.

  The circle of sky drew in, as the black cloud army neared. Leon pushed Delfina away, and the two scavengers stood in front of Arthur and Reg, ready to kill them when Vainclaw gave the word.

  ‘Delfina? Are you OK?’ said Alba.

  Before Alba’s sister could respond, Karnataka leapt into the air, kicking Mali in the ear and whacking Leon with his tail, before landing on top of Vainclaw, pinning him down with his claws. ‘Alba and Delfina, get the Scavengers,’ he cried.

  ‘Get off me,’ snarled Vainclaw. ‘What are you doing?’

  ‘Making it better odds,’ replied Karnataka. ‘Now it’s three all.’

  ‘Actually it is four tw
o.’ He heard the voice in his ear and felt a claw around his throat. ‘Get off the boss.’

  ‘Delfina?’ said Alba in surprise. ‘What are you doing? Captain Karnataka is on our side.’

  Delfina forced Karnataka off Vainclaw, with her sharp claws pressed against his neck. ‘You’re wrong, sister,’ she said. ‘I am on the same side as my leader, Vainclaw Grandin.’

  ‘You …You are …You are a Kinghorn?’ stammered Alba.

  ‘I am a dragon, sister,’ she replied, ‘and proud to be a dragon. I was spying for Vainclaw when that stupid Drake arrested me.’ She laughed. ‘You see, sometimes they get it right.’

  Delfina pushed a claw into Karnataka’s ribs, piercing the skin, causing green blood to ooze out.

  The circle of sky was the same circumference as the tower and the dark clouds were beginning to swoop down. In the streets below the humans ran for cover, fearing a storm. But no rain fell. Instead, the sky began to bubble and sizzle, as though it was on fire.

  ‘What a shame, Captain Karnataka,’ said Vainclaw Grandin. ‘You’re about to watch the dawn of a new era and you’ve just blown your chance of being a part of it.’

  Then a voice spoke, drifting through the air like a gust of wind.

  ‘It’s too early for dawn,’ it said.

  Vainclaw spun around to see Nebula Colorado, the Sky Dragon looming over him, standing tall on her hind legs, head raised to the sky.

  ‘Another jelly bean?’ said Archie.

  ‘Thank you,’ said Nebula.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  ‘Sky Dragon … Nebula … friend,’ Vainclaw spoke slowly, emphasising each word. ‘Your anger should be directed at these human aggressors.’

  The Sky Dragon’s milk-white eyes focused on Arthur and Reg, who swayed a little.

  ‘Dragonsong has been used on these humans,’ she said.

  ‘The Skies must join the Kinghorns,’ growled Vainclaw threateningly.