EarthFlight Two: Dragon's Quest

spread on warm rocks soaking up the sun. Sorry Pod frowned.

  ‘My boys here are set on competing and on winning,’ he said. Suddenly he seemed to have an evil twinkle in his eye that wasn’t there five minutes ago. Everyone in the swamp gasped, including Dragon. Wabbit’s ears stiffened.

  ‘We are not overly concerned with your future,’ Sorry Pod continued. ‘You’ve been here since the year dot and haven’t progressed very far. No. I’m sorry. We must insist. You will allow us to compete in the Paleozoic Games.’

  Alli Gator groaned.

  Dragon smiled at Sorry Pod while muttering to Alli Gator out the side of his mouth. ‘Just smile and agree to it.’

  ‘We’ll set up our training camp in the hills,’ said Sorry Pod pointing to the horizon from which they’d come.

  The dinosaurs retreated until they were no more than dots on the horizon.

  ‘This is a grave situation,’ said Dragon. ‘Is this the first time you’ve been approached by the dinosaurs?’

  ‘Yes it is,’ said Alli Gator.

  ‘What sort of games do you play in the Paleozoic Games?’ asked Wabbit.

  ‘Oh the usual. Pond skimming – that is, trilobites are skimmed across the swamp with as many bounces on the surface as possible without being eaten by the eyes and noses. Of course there is the five legged four hundred metres, the seven legged five hundred metres and the nine legged medley. That’s the mixed races. For instance, a frog and a couple of ears and noses could team up, as long as there are nine feet on the ground at the start line.’

  ‘What about at the finish line?’ asked Wabbit.

  Alli Gator shrugged again. ‘I don’t know about that.’

  ‘No frognastics?’ she asked. ‘Blind Wabbit’s bluff?’

  Suddenly Dragon roared with laughter and a great ball of fire spewed from his mouth. ‘That’s it!’ he cried. ‘Wabbit’s done it!’

  ‘I have?’

  ‘Yes, of course,’ said Dragon. ‘The dinosaurs must play Blind Dinosaur’s Bluff. Oh, it’s so simple. Listen up.’

  Alli Gator and Wabbit were all ears as they concentrated on Dragon’s plan.

  The days and weeks wore on. Dragon and his Wabbit queen were very good at being a temporary king and queen and went about telling everyone how well they were doing, especially when they were training very hard for the games. Everyone was practising hard and going to bed early and getting up late. The frogs had slimmed down so their biceps were chiselled and their abs were like washboards. The eyes and noses could do push-ups with three other eyes and noses on their backs.

  The red arrow dragonflies formed a spy squadron and every morning they hummed out to the dinosaur training camp to see how the enemy was faring. Every day they would report the same thing; the dinosaurs basked in the sun or chased their own tails. There was no special training going on at all.

  When the dragonflies filed their report Dragon and Alli Gator nodded sagely.

  ‘It seems the dinosaurs think they don’t need to train to win,’ said Dragon. ‘They think because they are so big and handsome...’

  ‘Handsome?’ interrupted Alli Gator turning up his top lip.

  Dragon swished his tail across the ground. He cleared his throat. ‘As I was saying, the dinosaurs believe their fine attributes alone will be enough to win the games. But we know better.’

  At last the day of the opening ceremony arrived. A splendid parade took place with every competitor marching past Dragon and Wabbit as they sat on their thrones.

  ‘You’re doing very well,’ said Dragon to them all, his face fixed into a permanent smile so his muscles hurt.

  The swamp was teeming with visitors who had come from all over the dimensions and Dragon could hardly make himself heard as he gave a welcoming opening ceremony speech. Then he sat back, quite exhausted, and whispered to Wabbit.

  ‘Enjoy your last days as queen, Wabbit, for we shall find a new king and we can be off. It’s awfully tiring being royal isn’t it?’ He sighed and looked skyward. ‘I long for the open road.’

  Wabbit laid her hand on Dragon’s and smiled at him. The she gave a royal wave and announced, ‘Let the games begin.’

  The competitors lined up for the four hundred metre five legged race. A salt and pepperpus teamed up with a brachiosaurus who piggy-backed him, so he could put one foot on the ground at the start line. Frogs tied themselves to dragonflies. Then they were under starter’s orders; that being Alli Gator. Alli now played his trump card. He pulled out blindfolds and tied them around the eyes of each competitor. Then he set the race and fired the starter’s gun.

  It was a stumble at the start with much huffing and going about in circles. For a while it looked like the race would never begin. Then the frogs leaped out of the melee and pulled away from the bunch leaving the dinosaurs flailing about at the start. As soon as the race began it seemed to be over. In a one frog race – actually a frog/dragonfly race – the swamp-dwellers won hands down, leaving the dinosaurs on the start line wondering what on earth happened.

  Alli Gator called the seven legged five hundred metre race. Again the competitors lined up and again he tied a band around their eyes. At the firing of the gun the swamp-dwellers shot off ahead of their rivals and were at the finish line before the dinosaurs could figure out which way to go.

  Wabbit clapped her hands. ‘Did you see that, Dwagon?’ she cried. ‘How clever our subjects are!’

  Dragon rolled his eyes. Wabbit was getting too comfortable as his queen. It was just as well it would be all over soon.

  ‘Yes,’ Dragon replied. ‘Your idea is working.’

  Wabbit furrowed her brow. ‘My idea?’

  ‘Blind dinosaur’s bluff.’

  ‘You mean?’

  Dragon nodded.

  ‘Can the frogs...?’

  ‘Uh-huh.’

  ‘The dinosaurs can’t...?

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘Oh, Dwagon,’ Wabbit muttered. ‘How clever.’

  Dragon and Wabbit congratulated the winners and told them they’d all done very well and that they looked forward to seeing them in the grand final tomorrow.

  That night the swamp-dwellers put on a great feast for their king and queen for this time tomorrow they would have a new king and Dragon and Wabbit could take to the skies once more.

  Wabbit licked her fingers daintily after having devoured carrot cake; her favourite.

  ‘I’m going to miss being a queen,’ she sighed.

  Dragon let a little burp escape and blushed. ‘Excuse me,’ he said. Then he patted his tummy.

  ‘I agree, Wabbit. It’s too easy to get used to but the time has come and now that I set my mind on it, I can’t wait to hit the wide open spaces again with you on my back, the clouds wisping through my wings.’

  ‘Yes, that does sound appealing,’ agreed Wabbit.

  Alli Gator called for a toast and noted that Dragon had performed his duties as temporary king most admirably and that Wabbit looked splendid on his arm.

  ‘It’s been our pleasure,’ Dragon replied. ‘Now you must all get a good night’s sleep, for tomorrow one of you will win the gruelling cross swamp and be crowned temporary king of the swamp.’

  The next morning the swamp was abuzz with excitement as the officials scurried into marshalling points and the competitors lined up on the start line. The dinosaurs, having been completely bamboozled yesterday produced blind folds of their own.

  ‘Oh no!’ exclaimed Wabbit.

  Dragon laid a gentle hand on her arm. ‘I anticipated this,’ he said. ‘Fear not, Wabbit.’

  ‘No blindfolds today,’ Alli Gator explained to Sorry Pod. ‘In fact, no dinosaurs today.’

  ‘What do you mean no dinosaurs today?’ roared Sorry Pod.

  ‘None qualified for the grand final,’ Alli Gator said with a grin.

  ‘None qualified?’ Sorry Pod repeated with such a hot breath the air shivered.

  Wabbit stiffened as she grew nervous. It struck her that it wouldn’t do to upset such a
large creature as a Sorry Pod.

  ‘However,’ Alli Gator continued, ‘in the interests of inter-dimension relations I’m sure we could come to some arrangement. It would be nice for your descendants to see your name in the Paleozoic record, as it would be nice for our ancestors to think that we existed into the Jurassic.’

  ‘What did you have in mind?’ asked Sorry Pod.

  Alli Gator bent his finger and Sorry Pod bent to him who whispered in his ear. Then Sorry Pod shook hands with Alli Gator and called the dinosaurs to a meeting.

  Alli Gator called the race to get ready and the army of frogs and the red arrow dragonflies climbed on board their dinosaurs and lined up on the start.

  ‘What’s going on?’ asked Wabbit in a hushed voice.

  ‘It’s a compromise, Wabbit,’ Dragon explained. ‘The dinosaurs don’t want to lose face. The swamp-dwellers will race the dinosaurs, thus giving them entry into the grand final, which they did not qualify for, and allows one of them to win, which they expressly set out to do, if you remember. But of course if a dinosaur alone won the Paleozoic Games a travesty would beset the entire geological dimension so it has been agreed that one of the swamp-dwellers who rides a dinosaur to victory shall be the winner and thus crowned temporary king of the swamp.’

  Wabbit rolled her eyes. She supposed Dragon knew what he was doing.

  ‘So everybody wins. Is that what you’re saying?’ she asked.

  Dragon cleared his throat loudly. ‘We are moving forward towards an outcome.’

  Just then a crack split the air as the starter’s gun fired and the cross swampers were off. Wabbit clapped her hands and Dragon furrowed his brow as he surveyed the race from his