We Fight Dragons (Volume 1, Chapter 8) 'Fragile things'

Far away in the city, Zar and Mels had spent the day talking about what had happened at the standing stones, and they were still talking about it after school at the train station.

‘It was freaky! Those boys are weird!’ Zar declared.

‘That’s a bit mean,’ Mels defended.

‘Why? You saw Jam attack Niles. There is something wrong with them.’

‘I also heard that Jam came back to apologise, but Niles broke his nose.’

‘Whatever. You shouldn’t defend them. You weren’t there on that hill. And did I tell you about his mum?’

‘No. What about her?’

‘Well. When she was driving me home afterwards…’

‘That was nice of her.’

‘…she kept asking me questions. You don’t ask strangers about their family. And then she said I had nice hair! Can you believe how cringe she is?’ When Mels didn’t respond, Zar took her silence as agreement and continued. ‘And when I told her that my thousand-dollar phone had been ruined, do you know what she said?’

Mels had slowly been growing bored of the same conversation, but she knew that Zar expected her to be interested. ‘No, what?’

‘She said… get this… ‘phones are fragile things around electricity’, can you believe it? I mean, does she think that she is an expert on phones!’

A demanding voice interrupted Zar’s monologue. ‘Who’s an expert then?’ It was Niles, with his mates who were hanging back at distance. Mels thought they were acting strangely, because instead of joking and fidgeting as usual, they were deadly quiet and focused on Zar.

‘The mum of that boy whose nose you broke? Why?’ Zar smiled at Niles and added, ‘If you see him again, can you tell him he owes me a new phone? The latest one.’

‘Sure.’ Niles smiled at her, but it was cold, like the look in his eyes. ‘But I don’t know how to find him.’

Mels sensed danger of some kind, but Zar was oblivious to it, so she kept talking. ‘Oh yeah, he lives in a town called Blacken Green, The western line goes there. It’s just a couple of stops.’

Without a word of thanks, Niles and his mates turned and walked off, heading towards the platform for the western line.

Mels was worried. ‘That was strange. I hope he doesn’t start another fight.’

‘I just hope I get a new phone.’

After school Jam and his friends rode along the creek. When they got to the place where Jam had fallen in they stopped, and Oli goaded Jam into jumping the creek on his bike.

Jam looked at them, wondering if any of them were Knights. He reckoned that he could probably jump the creek with ease now. However, if any of them later became Knights then they would look back on this moment and know that Jam had been cheating.

‘Nah. It’s too far,’ he lied.

‘You wuss!’ cried Tobes. ‘Stand back. I can do it!’

They cleared a path for Tobes, who flew at the high-point of the bank, and pumped the tires at the last second, launching into the air. He cleared the creek by several feet and whooped in delight!

Because Tobes had shown the way, the rest of them followed his example ad jumped the creek. Even Zach who the smallest was able to jump it, although he came close to the water. They kept on jumping the creek until the sun started going down, then they headed back to school to pick up their bags.

When they reached the main street they were confronted by the sight of Niles leaning against the school gate. He was scanning up and down the street while sipping from a bottle of cola.

‘What should we do?’ asked Zach.

‘We need our bags. Let’s just get them. What’s he going to do about it,’ said Tobes.

‘I’m worried about why he’s here,’ Jam explained. ‘How does he even know where we go to school? I hope Zar didn’t tell him.’

The boys got off their bikes and walked steadily towards the school gate. As they got close the older boy moved to block the path, shifting the glass bottle to hold it like a club.

Jam challenged him. ‘I don’t know what you’re thinking. And I don’t care. We are square now. You had your shot.’

Jam was familiar with Niles trying to tease and needle him, but he now he was being silent. It was creepy. He looked menacing.

‘Shit!’ cried Oli, sounding the alarm. ‘They are all around us.’

Niles had been stalling so that his mates could creep up around them. The bigger boys emerged from behind walls and out of alleys, and in an instant the younger boys were overrun as chaos descended.

Punches started coming at them. One of the attackers was wielding a fence paling, and Niles was swinging the glass bottle in his hand. Jam felt his instincts kick in, but he restrained them. Instead of punching back he just blocked, and tried to shield his friends from attacks.

Tobes fought back, but all the other boys could do was to circle their bikes and try to keep the bigger attackers at a distance. Jam blocked, and pushed, and grabbed his friends when he had to pull them out of danger. They were all taking blows, mostly fists. Zach was getting the worst of it.

‘Call out!’ Niles goaded Jam in an oddly calm voice. ‘Call your parents for help! Where is that fat cow you call a mother? Maybe she can put a bandaid on this!’ Niles taunted as he swung the bottle at Jam’s head and barely missed. Cola scattered through the air every time he turned the bottle around and swing again.

Damn! Niles’ advice was solid, but it also felt like a trap. The decision to call for help was taken out of Jam’s hands when Rollo copped a punch in the teeth and started calling for his dad. The blood, and Rollo’s quickly swelling lips, made it sound comical but no one was laughing, not even their attackers who seemed completely ‘mindless’.

The pace of the attacks began to slow as the attackers grew tired from punching. Tobes managed to get an occasional kick in, but he was slowing down as well. Fear and adrenaline kept the smaller kids from relaxing. Jam had to be mindful that he didn’t look too strong.

Niles feinted with the glass bottle at Zach. Jam saw the attack, caught the bottle, and wrenched it out of the bigger boy’s hand, but it was a distraction. While Jam was busy with the bottle, the boy with the fence paling struck Zach in the head collapsing him to the ground. Rollo was still calling for help, and his calls were becoming more frantic.

Jam was enraged. What was the point of holding back, if this was going to happen? He was about to kick out at Niles and do some serious damage, when he heard Dad.

‘Hey!!! You boys! What the hell are you doing!’

‘Dad!’

‘Are these the boys from the city?’ His father waded into the fight and pulled one of the attackers out of the melee.

‘Yeah, it’s them.’

‘Don’t you do anything. Let me deal with them.’ Unfortunately, as soon as Dad let go of him, the boy turned right around and attacked again.

Niles ceased fighting and walked up to Jam’s father. As he approached, Jam’s father saw the tint of green in his eyes. Niles was en-spelled, just standing there taking a good look at the Knight in front of him, letting the Dragon see him clearly through his eyes.

And then suddenly the chaos stopped.

Niles shook his head, like he was coming out of a dream, and all of his mates did the same. They dropped whatever weapons they were holding backed away in confusion from the scene of the fight.

‘Don’t do anything',’ said Dad. ‘Just let them leave.’

The boys from the city looked to each other in total confusion, before running away as fast as they could towards the train station and back to the city.

Jam thought that his father would pursue them, seeking revenge, but instead he rushed over to Zach’s side. Zach was unconscious. Dad yelled at Tobes, ‘Go get Ava!’

‘Uh… who?’

‘Dr Joyce! Her clinic is down Main street. Go! Now!’

With that Tobes ran off, as Dad tried to make Zach comfortable without moving him, checking that he was breathing. He didn’t bother telling the other boys to go home, because he knew they wouldn’t, and they deserved to know how their friend was.

Within moments Dr Joyce, Zach’s mother, was running up the street with a first aid kit. Tobes was showing her the way. Without a word she took over from Dad, carefully feeling around her son’s neck and skull, and his holding open his eyes.

‘No blood. No concussion. What happened to him?’ she demanded.

Jam was first to find his voice. ‘These older kids, from the city, one of them hit him in the head with a fence post.’

Zach opened his eyes and looked up at his mother, smiling weakly. ‘Hi, mum. What are you doing here?’

For the first time since she’d arrived, Dr Joyce’s demeanour softened and the stroked Zach’s forehead. ‘You got hurt, Zee. Do you remember what happened?’

Zach tried to sit up, but his mother kept him lying down. ‘We were going to pick up our bags from the school, and these boys from the city attacked us.’

‘Ava, I saw who attacked them. I’ll make the police report. You just worry about your son,’ said Dad.

‘Thank you, David. I’ll call John and have him bring the car around.’

As his mum made the phone call, Zach sat up, rubbing his head. Jam couldn’t be sure, but he thought that the bruising on Zach’s head was less than before. He looked to his Dad who nodded to let him know that he’d also seen it, but also zipped his lips as a sign not to mention it.

‘I’m okay, Mum. I think I can walk my bike home.’ Zach’s mother tutted and started retelling horror stories about boys who had turned up at her clinic with mild injuries and acting tough, that later needed to go to hospital.

After a brief wait, Zach’s father turned up with their car and the Joyce’s left, still debating whether Zach needed to go to hospital or not.

‘Listen up a moment boys,’ said Dad. ‘Let your parents know that I will call them tonight to explain what happened, and that I will file a police report with your father, Toby. You did great, by the way Toby, keeping the younger kids safe.’ Tobes beamed at the acclaim, almost embarrassed, but not quite.

Jam was sure that Dad knew it was really him who had protected the other boys and despite that, or because of it, he felt jealous of Tobes for the praise he got from Dad. Praise that should have been his. It rankled his strong sense of fairness, even though he knew it was for the best.

‘Come on, Jam. Let’s get home and make sure you’re alright.’

‘I’m fine,’ sulked Jam, letting his temper get the better of him. ‘You know I am.’

His father didn’t say anything. He just gave Jam a stern look that said I know… and I know that you know. It made Jam regret losing his temper.

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