EarthFlight Two: Dragon's Quest

would open the Paleozoic Games, kiss baby reptiles on your birthday and tell everybody they’re doing very well,’ Alli Gator replied.

  Dragon drummed his fingers on his belly while he considered this.

  ‘These games,’ he mused. ‘They’re big around here?’

  ‘Oh yes indeed,’ replied Alli Gator. ‘Folks come from all over. The next games are in the spring.’

  ‘What if I agree to be king until the end of the games when you will appoint the supreme champion to take my place?’ suggested Dragon. ‘Will that satisfy you?’

  Alli Gator blinked, as did the eyes behind him. Then he spat on his hand and offered it to Dragon. Wabbit gasped. Alli Gator’s hand was not unlike Dragon’s. It was scaly on top, had long shapely fingernails and looked to have smooth pale scales on the palm.

  Dragon spat on his own hand and sealed the pact with a shake. The frog army hopped past saluting Dragon and his consort.

  ‘You’re doing very well,’ Dragon said to each of them.

  By the time the frogs, the sentinel dragonflies, the eyes and noses and the insects that used the eyes and noses for stepping stones had filed past and Wabbit had curtsied to each of them, and Dragon had told them they had all done very well, the sun had retired and the moon had got up.

  Wabbit sighed as she gazed at the sky. ‘Thank goodness it’s not a full moon. I haven’t the energy to leap over it tonight.’

  Dragon smiled to himself for he knew that absolutely nothing, not even Wabbit herself, could stop Wabbit from gambolling about with the moon when it was full.

  Alli Gator showed Dragon and Wabbit to a very well appointed cave; there was glow worm side lighting and electric eel sockets in the walls, a beautiful nest of hairy moss to sleep on and woven damselfly wings to walk on.

  ‘Oh, Dwagon!’ Wabbit exclaimed. ‘Isn’t it perfect! I can’t wait to go to sleep so I can wake up again.’

  The next morning Wabbit was woken by the swamp dawn chorus. The frogs appeared to be leading the orchestra with their very deep croaks setting the tempo. The sentinel dragonflies hummed as they dived over the swamp enticing the trilobites to click were required and the noses to splash in the water.

  Wabbit prodded Dragon who was softly stacking zeds. He grumbled and flapped his scales open and shut.

  ‘Wake up, Dwagon,’ said Wabbit. ‘It’s today again.’

  Dragon struggled to open an eyelid, then stretched as he sat up. He yawned.

  ‘This is a rather comfortable den,’ he said rubbing the sleep from his eyes. ‘Reminds me of home.’

  As he said that he startled himself. He hadn’t thought of home forever. In fact up until now he couldn’t even remember his home. He gulped. If he couldn’t remember his own home, how could he be sure that he wasn’t the Dragon King as told by ancient lore.

  Outside the den was an impressive line up of breakfast foods which Wabbit sampled while Dragon made the bed. A vibration in the ground interrupted her and Dragon come to the door of the cave to see what the disturbance was. Together they watched the frog army marching smartly towards them then up and over the hill towards the horizon. Presently the red arrow dragonflies formed a V formation and with a dull hum they shot into the distance.

  Next they heard a lot of splashing about and barking of instructions. Wabbit took hold of Dragon’s hand and led him to the swamp. What a sight! Alli Gator stood on the side of the swamp shouting through a megaphone while the rest of the eyes and noses – this time with their soft white lizardy bodies facing up – did backstroke across to the other side of the swamp.

  ‘Oh there you are,’ said Alli Gator to Dragon and Wabbit. ‘I trust you slept like a king.’

  Dragon agreed that he did and smiled his thanks.

  ‘I slept like a queen,’ said Wabbit, not to be outdone.

  ‘Are you training for the Paleozoic Games?’ asked Dragon.

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ said Alli Gator.

  Dragon cleared his throat. ‘You are all doing very well.’

  ‘Could we enter the games, Dwagon?’ asked Wabbit.

  ‘Of course not,’ replied Dragon.

  Wabbit stuck out her bottom lip so Dragon explained.

  ‘Firstly, we mustn’t win. The winner will take my place as king until the real Dragon King can be found, and I don’t want to win and have to replace myself with me. Secondly, Dragon’s are Jurassic. It would be a breach of the rules, Wabbit.’

  ‘I see,’ said Wabbit a little dejectedly. She would have loved to pilot Dragon across the Paleozoic, bravely riding him against the clock, perhaps beating other dragons by a nose.

  ‘Dwagon,’ she said, ‘what about girls? Could I enter the games?’

  Dragon laughed and gently stroked Wabbit’s hair. ‘I’m sorry, Wabbit. You are even more out of time than I. You belong to the Cretaceous.’

  ‘I see,’ she said, although she didn’t see at all.

  Suddenly there was an enormous thumping sound. On the horizon beyond the swamp where the hills glowed a chilly blue colour, a herd of mixed dinosaurs trampled everything in their path as they approached. Some were low to the ground with short legs and spiky body armour. Others had strong back legs which they walked on and only tiny front legs which they used to sling hand bags over. Still others were so large their heads looked little, so far off the ground they were. Most had impressive tails that Wabbit thought rivalled Dragon’s tail, although she was far too polite to say so.

  The eyes and noses Eskimo rolled so that only their eyes and noses could once again be seen and the squadron of red arrows darted back to prepare for attack. As the large creatures made their way to the swamp the frog army came around behind them, effectively trapping the enemy.

  The dinosaurs were so large the residents of the swamp would never defend themselves, but the dinosaurs didn’t want to hurt the swamp creatures’ feelings so they acted less fierce than they really were.

  ‘We mean you no harm,’ said a chap with an enormous body and quite a small head. He nibbled on a tall tree, accidently pulling its roots from the ground. Out tumbled thousands of very angry ants who fell to the ground amidst an avalanche of soil. The dinosaur was so tall he didn’t notice. He also didn’t notice the ants form a battalion and march upon his great sweep of a tail and proceed to bite him. But he did giggle as he felt a tickle.

  ‘We’d like to compete in the Paleozoic Games this year,’ he said. He waved his hands casually over his group as he introduced them to Alli Gator, Dragon and Wabbit.

  ‘I am Sorry Pod, son of Sorry Pod,’ he explained with a small bow.

  Alli Gator ruffled his scales so they stood on end and opened his mouth wide. He stayed still as a cave painting until he was sure all the dinosaurs had had a good look in his mouth. Then he snapped it shut so quickly the dinosaurs jumped back a step.

  ‘You must be new around here,’ said Alli Gator.

  Sorry Pod casually shuffled from foot to foot. ‘We’re passing through,’ he explained.

  Dragon ah-hemmed. ‘We need to confer,’ Dragon whispered to Alli Gator as he pulled him aside. ‘The dinosaurs are from the Jurassic,’ Dragon exclaimed. ‘They mustn’t compete out of their own time dimension for they will win and you and your species, as well as your neighbours in this beautiful ecosystem will become extinct.’

  Alli Gator’s eyes grew as large as moons as he gulped. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Ask Sorry Pod how he came to be in your dimension,’ Dragon suggested. Again Dragon placed a hand on Alli Gator. ‘I’m sure they just want to have fun. We don’t want to upset them. I mean, look how big they are. Perhaps they could be games officials; direction finders, speed clickers, that sort of thing.’

  Alli Gator was impressed with the counsel his new Dragon King had given. It was a wise suggestion. He resumed his discussion with Sorry Pod.

  ‘I understand that you are from the future, Mr. Pod,’ said Alli Gator. ‘It would be a tragedy if you were to change the future by participating in the Paleozoic Games.’ He waved a slow arm a
s he took in his surroundings. All the creatures merely blinked, hanging onto Alli’s every word. ‘We would of course be delighted to compete against such magnificent creatures but alas it cannot be so. For example, if a dinosaur won an event in which a trilobite participated, it would mark the extinction of trilobites everywhere and the dinosaurs would automatically take their place. This would make nonsense of the principles of evolution. I am sorry, Sorry Pod, but you must be patient. You must not force yourself back into deep time.’

  The dinosaurs muttered amongst themselves and some continued to eat. Wabbit guessed that such large creatures must have to eat continuously to keep alive.

  ‘Our illustrious Dragon King has a solution, however,’ Alli Gator continued. ‘He has most generously decided to offer you important duties at the games, if you so wish.’

  Alli Gator, Dragon and Wabbit watched the dinosaurs huddle into a group discussion.

  ‘What do you think they’ll do?’ whispered Wabbit.

  Alli Gator shrugged. ‘How do you know all this, Dragon?’

  ‘I am from their dimension,’ Dragon explained. ‘When I saw this swamp and the eyes and noses I felt so at home, you seemed familiar and I thought for a while we could have been related. But as soon as I saw Sorry Pod I remembered that I come from the Jurassic too. Maybe, just maybe, these guys know of my clan.’

  ‘Oh, Dwagon,’ Wabbit whispered clasping her hands together tightly.

  Presently Sorry Pod swept his great tail across the ground oblivious of the basking maycans as they