One by one, the Native riders dropped to the ground and deposited their passengers. Eliza and Garret found the rest of their family. Elizabeth and the boys had run into town when they’d seen the flames over McKenzie’s Prospect and had been carrying buckets ever since.
Jake and Match were the last to fly over the town. They had no passenger to drop off and stayed in the air, watching events. They ducked and wove around the dragon that was nearly ten times the size of Match, keeping out of the beast’s eyeline so they weren’t attacked.
The dragon flew up and down and all around, but couldn’t fix on a single target. It wanted to get away from the Natives, who were spoiling its efforts to destroy McKenzie’s Prospect. It reared up, one last time, and flew high over the saloon and the mercantile. Jake flew Match below the dragon, between its back legs, so that it could see neither them nor the shadow they cast.
The dragon hesitated, and Jake was horrified when he realized exactly where the creature was heading. The great beast set its direction and began to fly east, towards the school.
As they approached the building, Jake noted the candlelight that shone from the large windows in the schoolhouse. Miss Ballantine was inside.
Jake urged Match onwards and upwards, and they appeared right under the dragon’s chin just as its nostrils began to flare with sulphurous smoke.
The vast creature saw the little dragon at the edges of its vision and turned its head for a better look, while exhaling a comet of fire. The fireball just missed the front of the schoolhouse and clipped the roof. Jake breathed a sigh of relief. Then he saw the dragon turn and whirl around the back of the school, for another attempt at firebombing the building.
Jake looked in the direction of the schoolhouse door and then aimed Match at the side of the great dragon’s head. They came in on its left and, once again, put it off its stroke. The dragon pawed the air behind Match as he darted away, dropping two or three yards by curling its wings up.
Jake did not need to steer Match at all. The little dragon simply read the boy’s mind and went where his rider directed. Jake felt relaxed and in control, but also strangely excited as he realized that he was seeing through Match’s eyes. The boy and the dragon were as one.
Match was smaller and faster than the great hulking dragon, and he had Jake in his mind to do all the thinking. He was soon buzzing around the big beast, which swatted at Match, missing every time, and becoming increasingly frustrated. The little dragon darted and ducked, avoiding three gouts of flames that seared the dusty ground outside the schoolhouse, but didn’t scorch the building.
The fire in the roof was spreading, and, in between keeping the big dragon occupied, Jake willed Miss Ballantine to get out of the school.
Match ducked down and flew along the side of the building, and Jake looked in at the windows, where he saw Miss Ballantine struggling towards the door. She was weighed down by something wrapped up in her arms. Relieved, Jake brought Match back up, and suddenly they were right in front of the dragon, which tried to swat them with one of its wings. The creature appeared to be tiring, weakened by the wounds in its neck. It tossed its head to dislodge the arrows embedded there as it wailed with frustration.
As they came around to the front of the building again, Jake finally saw Miss Ballantine struggling down the schoolhouse steps. Then he heard a rumble and a whoop, and suddenly Yellow Cloud was in the air beside him. He could also hear hoofbeats as the Native horsemen arrived at the scene and could see the townspeople hurrying up Schoolhouse Hill, carrying torches.
Yellow Cloud yelled at Jake, before peeling off and climbing to the west of the school, to draw the dragon away from Match. Jake had taken his eye off the ball and did not respond fast enough. He was back in his own head, instead of nestled in Match’s mind, and the poor little dragon paid the price.
Jake clung to the feathers on the nape of Match’s neck as they fell out of the sky, spiralling towards the ground at an alarming rate. He tried to pull them up, but the evil dragon’s huge wing had finally swiped Match, and he was winded and unable to recover in time.
Jake continued to pull up, hard, as Match hurtled towards the ground. Then, at the last second, he managed to get enough lift to prevent them ploughing headlong into the dusty earth. Match tumbled and rolled, flailing his wings and kicking up a long trail of dust as he skidded along the ground. Jake hung on to Match, and, by curling up as close to the dragon’s neck as possible, he avoided anything worse than a few scrapes and bruises.
Miss Ballantine descended the schoolhouse steps, and Eliza and White Thunder ran to help her. The girls took some of the things from the teacher’s arms and jostled them into position in their own. Only then did Jake realize what Miss Ballantine had rescued from the schoolhouse. The people of McKenzie’s Prospect had built one school, and they could build another. Books, on the other hand, were precious, and most precious of all were the storybooks.
As Miss Ballantine and the girls hove into view, Jake recognized the clothbound volumes that made up Miss Ballantine’s collection of H. N. Matchstruck novels.
Two more dragons joined Yellow Cloud’s mount in the skies over the burning schoolhouse. They flew in formation for a moment or two and then divided to attack the great dragon on all sides. Yellow Cloud flew over its head, making it wind its neck in a savage turn, as the second dragon flew around behind it, snapping at its tail. The third dragon came in low, scorching the scales off the beast’s belly with a well-aimed blast of flames. The expert Native riders wove their mounts around the massive creature, taking it in turns to attack on all sides. The second dragon got close enough to scratch the beast’s nose and duck away before it had a chance to breathe fire at it.
Then Yellow Cloud brought his mount down heavily on the big dragon’s back, making it drop suddenly in the sky before it had the opportunity to spread its wings and recover. When it did, the third dragon swept in at an angle and buffeted the beast’s wing so that it scrambled in the air and had to throw its body into a dramatic roll. The three little dragons continued to menace the huge creature for several minutes. It was an elaborate cat-and-mouse game. Once or twice, the great beast managed to strike back at the dragons with its claws and gouts of fire from its nostrils. It swiped and clawed, and they ducked and wove, tangling it in its own limbs and wings and tail. Eventually, after a long and exhausting battle, the huge creature was too confused and too angry to know what to do.
Finally, the great black dragon fell out of the sky. It was too low to spread its wings, and it landed on its back, in front of the school, with an earth-shaking crash.
McKenzie’s men from the steps of the mercantile, and members of the posse, brought in by the Natives, opened fire on the dragon. It curved its wings around its body, and the shots ricocheted off its scales, sparking in all directions.
‘Stop!’ yelled Pius Garret.
The dragon had come down to earth between the townspeople and the school, leaving Miss Ballantine and the girls stranded at the bottom of the schoolhouse steps. They were right in the line of fire of any bullets that bypassed the dragon or ricocheted off its scaly hide.
Jake had made sure that Match was comfortable and then watched Yellow Cloud and the other Native riders bring down the dragon. He was horrified to see the townspeople firing their guns at the creature and even more horrified to see the beast’s reaction. The great dappled dragon raised its head and turned to the schoolhouse, to Miss Ballantine, Eliza and White Thunder.
Jake was bruised and aching, and his hair and clothes were full of dust, but he couldn’t just stand by and do nothing. He stumbled towards the vast dragon with the purple eyes, took the bracelet off his wrist and raised his arm high abo
ve his head. He began to swing the bracelet, and, by the time the note was singing, silence had fallen all around him. Jake stood a few yards in front of the monster dragon, between it and his friends huddled together at the bottom of the schoolhouse steps.
He screwed his eyes deep into his face, expecting to be incinerated at any moment, but that was still better than watching his friends die. When Jake could stand it no longer, he slowly opened his eyes. The dragon’s head hovered a couple of yards away, its maw dripping acid saliva into the dust. Its glossy magenta eyes stared deeply into Jake’s.
Jake felt something behind the dragon’s eyes. He blinked and concentrated, allowing his mind to get lost behind them, just as he had with Match. Finally, he felt it. He felt what he had felt when he had looked into that same eye the night of the wagon-train fire, the night his parents were lost to him.
Jake summoned all the rage and hatred he felt for anything that could seek to destroy the people and the things that he loved. He didn’t just think about Miss Ballantine and her books, or Eliza and White Thunder. He didn’t just think about Pius Garret or his beloved Match. Jake filled his mind and his heart with all the things that he loved, but, more than anything, he thought of his family, of Ma and Pa and Emmie.
Filled with vengeance for them all, Jake took a deep breath and summoned all his remaining energy. Then he bellowed long and loud, ‘Aaaaarghh!’
Jake’s mouth and lungs concentrated all his loathing of the despicable beast into one great cry. It was partly a war cry and partly a mourning wail.
The vast dragon slunk back from Jake, making itself as small as possible, and then, its eyes still locked on Jake’s, it unfurled its wings. With one great bound, and a fierce, sulphurous blast from its flaring nostrils, the beast took to the air. It sprayed its path with a great comet of flames and then followed the comet’s tail high into the sky, turning west and disappearing into the darkness.
Jake was buffeted by its fierce, stinking breath. He felt suddenly hot and light-headed, and the wind from the dragon’s wings felt like a hurricane pounding his chest. He fell to the dusty earth, his chest heaving, the bracelet clutched in his left hand. He had no energy to stand or to keep his mind working. He collapsed, all his efforts spent.
Epilogue
Nathan McKenzie sat in his sister’s parlour and handed Trapper Watkiss the bottle of whisky that they’d been sharing.
‘If you want me to keep you out of jail, you’d better do as I say,’ said McKenzie.
‘I’m the only one knows how to get to the Injuns,’ said Trapper, and, with that, he pulled a bead bracelet out of his pocket and held it up for McKenzie to see, before snatching it away again.
‘I know what’s up in them mountains,’ he said. ‘The folks at the Hudson’s Bay Company aren’t going to be impressed with you losing the mercantile and the saloon, are they?’
‘Are you threatening me?’ asked McKenzie, grabbing hold of Trapper Watkiss by the front of his red knitted underwear.
‘No, sir,’ said Trapper, ‘but we’re partners now. You won’t get what you want without my help.’
‘Give me one of those gems,’ said McKenzie, ‘and I’ll show it to the Hudson’s Bay Company. They’ll soon send reinforcements, and the mountains will be mine!’
‘Will we get rid of the Injuns?’ asked Trapper. ‘Evil devils!’
‘That’s the first thing we’ll do,’ said McKenzie, holding out his hand for Trapper’s beads.
‘One day,’ he said, ‘Prospect will be McKenzie’s Prospect again, you mark my words.’
Jake woke in a warm bed, his head resting on a feather pillow. He didn’t open his eyes for a minute, but he could hear Pius Garret working busily in his forge, and he could smell bread baking and coffee on the stove.
‘Sit down and rest, Eliza Garret,’ scolded Elizabeth Garret. ‘You’ve had more interruptions than one young person can be expected to cope with.’
‘Well,’ said Eliza, ‘if anyone can deal with interruptions, Mama, it’s you.’
‘Tell us again!’ said David.
‘Yes, tell us how you rode a dragon, Eliza,’ begged Michael.
Jake could tell, even with his eyes closed, that it wasn’t early. In fact, it wasn’t morning at all. The little window in the loft faced west and the sun, low in the sky, was shining into the room from that direction. He must have been asleep all night and all day.
He opened his eyes and rolled back the blankets on Eliza’s bed. He was clean and dressed in Daniel’s too-small pyjamas. He smelled his cuff, to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. Then he remembered the fire and he remembered staring hard into the great dragon’s eye.
I saw something there, he thought. The same thing I saw the night of the wagon-train fire.
Jake was out of bed, pulling his buckskin trousers on over his pyjamas, when Michael and David appeared at the top of the loft ladder. Eliza was right behind them.
‘Get back into bed,’ she scolded. ‘Mama will be so cross if you run away again.’ With that, they heard Mrs Garret’s voice.
‘Pius!’ she called. ‘Jake’s awake!’
Jake was pulling his jerkin on over his pyjamas by the time Elizabeth and Pius Garret had climbed the steps and was looking around for something to put on his feet.
‘I’m not running away,’ said Jake as he stood in front of the Garrets in his pyjamas and the Native clothes he’d been given. If he hadn’t looked so serious, they might have laughed at the sight of his strange combination of clothes.
‘I’ve got to find out about that dragon. There’s something inside it, something that makes it evil. It has something to do with my family, I know it does,’ Jake said, speaking too quickly, his face flushing.
‘That’s enough now,’ said Mrs Garret. ‘You need to calm down. Supper will soon be ready.’
‘Why don’t you sit with Jake,’ Eliza asked her father, ‘and I’ll bring up a tray?’
‘Thank you, Eliza,’ he said. ‘That’d be grand.’
Garret and Jake ate their meal, and Jake stayed quiet and patient while they talked about everything that had happened while he was asleep.
‘Haskell decided to stay in Prospect,’ said Garret. ‘He’s beside himself about the Land of the Red Moon.’
‘You heard about that?’ asked Jake.
‘Yellow Cloud told us you’d been there. Haskell was very jealous.’
‘The next time I see him,’ said Jake, ‘I’ll make up for it by thanking him for something, twice.’
‘He wants more than that,’ said Garret, laughing. ‘He wants you to persuade your friends to take him there.’
‘They’re your friends too,’ said Jake.
‘I expect you’re right,’ said Garret. ‘I don’t want to see another one of those dragons for a while, though. It’s too much excitement for a simple blacksmith.’
There was a long pause while Jake chewed thoughtfully. He didn’t want to upset Garret, but he had something to say.
‘Miss Ballantine said she expected you back in school as soon as you’re able,’ said Garret, before Jake could speak.
‘What about the school?’ asked Jake. ‘The roof was on fire.’
‘Everyone helped put out the flames. Natives stood side by side with townsfolk,’ said Garret. ‘It could have been much worse. There was no shortage of water or willing hands.’
‘So the books survived?’ asked Jake.
‘Miss Ballantine would’ve died before she’d allow the books to burn,’ said Garret. ‘She told me to say, “The library is still open,” whatever that means.’
‘What about the mercantile?’ asked Jake. ‘And the salo
on?’
‘We’ll soon build another store and another drinking hole in Prospect,’ said Garret. ‘The only person who made any money out of them was Nathan McKenzie, and I wouldn’t want to be him at the next meeting of the Hudson’s Bay Company.’
‘Will he be all right?’ asked Jake.
‘People like Nathan McKenzie always come up smelling of roses, no matter how much horse manure they fall into,’ said Garret. ‘Talking of buildings, it looks like we’re finally going to build a jailhouse in Prospect. Trapper Watkiss is holed up somewhere, but when he shows his face he’s going to have to answer some tricky questions.’
‘We’re going to get a sheriff?’ asked Jake.
‘Who would you vote for?’ asked Garret. Jake thought very hard, but he couldn’t come up with a name. The only really important man in town was Nathan McKenzie, but Jake already knew that would change because, all through supper, Garret had called the town simply ‘Prospect’.
‘I don’t know,’ said Jake.
‘About the bravest man in this town the past few days was Lem Sykes,’ said Garret.
‘Lem Sykes?’ asked Jake.
‘He was the only man stood up to Nathan McKenzie, and he had the most to lose doing it. He’s lost his job, and his uncle’s none too happy with him.’
‘Is he old enough?’ asked Jake.
‘I’ll tell you a secret,’ said Garret, leaning closer to Jake. ‘Lem Sykes is twenty-seven years old.’
Jake’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped.
‘I’ll tell you another secret,’ said Garret. ‘Lem Sykes is more than a little bit in love with a certain schoolteacher.’
‘Miss Ballantine?’ asked Jake, surprised.
They were silent for a moment.
‘I hope Emmie gets to meet Miss Ballantine one day,’ said Jake quietly.
‘I hope so too,’ said Garret.
Jake pushed the last of his supper around his plate. Mrs Garret’s meals were always delicious, but suddenly he felt serious and not very hungry, and he knew that he had to speak.