We Fight Dragons (Volume 1, Chapter 10) 'Sinister secrets'
For Jam, school was becoming a welcome relief from all the other things that were happening in his life. School was comparatively simple. He just had to turn up, pay attention, and try to understand. When he asked a question there was always an answer.
The only thing about being at school that niggled him was that he now had a secret that he had to keep. Not just for the sake of it, but because the secret was dangerous, and could lead to trouble for his friends. However, it was still difficult to keep secrets from them.
Being a Knight, and knowing that any of his friends might also be Knights, was like getting too close to a lit candle. It made the tip of his nose itchy just thinking about it.
Jam took guesses as to who else in town might be a Knight. Tobes was an obvious choice. He was big, fearless and loyal. But then again, Jam also suspected that Zach was a Knight, and he was the complete opposite of Tobes. For that matter, if their situations were reversed, how many of his friends would pick him to be a Knight? Not many, he guessed.
Far away in the city, something dark and sinister also knew that Jam was a Knight, and it was quite sure of the fact. It had sent its servants to flush out his parents, and had gotten a good look at his father. Dragons can sense the power of a Knight, and the Knight it saw was strong.
Dragons are reluctant to engage in fair fights, but then again, they don’t have to. They have others who will fight for them, whether they want to or not.
Once again the Dragon left its dark lair deep beneath the city, using the pipes and train tunnels to access the surface quickly, quietly, and invisibly. It saw the girls again when they arrived at the station after school. They were weak and ill-suited to fighting, but they knew something he wanted to know. It needed to speak to them, but not as a Dragon… as a human.
Hidden in the shadows the Dragon took on the form of a man. When it emerged into the light it was wearing a suit, and had slicked-back hair, and it moved with purpose.
‘Hello, young ladies,’ the Dragon introduced itself. ‘My name is Mr Scale, and I work for the Department of Education.’ Mr Scale sent the illusion of an identification card into their minds, charming the girls into believing that he worked for Department of Education. ‘I understand that you are friends with a boy called Niles, is that correct?’
Mels was scared. Alarm bells were going off in her head, and she sensed that something was wrong with the stranger. Her instincts also told her to hide that fear for her own safety.
In contrast to her friend, Zar was intrigued. ‘Yeah, we know him. What’s he done now?’
‘It’s a serious Department matter. He has not been in school for the past few days. Do you know where he might be?’
‘Have you tried the games arcade? He and his friends go there after school. Hey, has this got anything to do with that weird boy?’
‘Maybe,’ Mr Scale smiled. ‘But for privacy reasons I cannot comment.’
Mr Scale left the girls to speculate on what was happening. It didn’t take the Dragon long to find Niles and his friends lurking at the back of the games arcade, out of the sight of passers-by.
When they saw Mr Scales they immediately sensed that he was dangerous. The Dragon had controlled them with magic it had left a scar in their minds. They didn’t understand it, and couldn’t explain it, but they knew he was bad news. They thought about running, but that would mean having to run past the menacing figure, which they were too nervous to try.
‘Do you remember me?’ Mr Scales whispered with a familiar voice.
Niles gulped. ‘Yeah. Stay away from us. Whatever you made us do, that wasn’t our fault.’
‘Of course it wasn’t,’ said Mr Scale. ‘And neither is this…’
The boys were used to acting-up and even swearing in front of teachers, as well as bossing around smaller kids, but nothing could save their minds from the terror that a Dragon inspired. They froze with dread.
You did well… Last time you were my eyes… But now you will be my hands…
Fire flowed from the mouth of the Dragon, small globes of it, drifting towards the paralysed boys, and as the fire touched their foreheads it vanished, and then their eyes began to glow with the dim light of a green flame.
My children… I have gifted you fragments of my power… use it… to destroy! Go!
The Dragon’s minions moved as one. Unlike the last time when they were en-spelled, this time there was no clouding of their minds. They were razor-sharp, and had only one idea! They caught the next train to Blacken Green, and on arrival they armed themselves, with palings, with broken glass, and with bricks they tore from walls.
Mr Scale was with them, in spirit, if not in body.
After school Jam and Zach raced to Shirate, outrunning the others who could not keep up with them, not even Tobes who usually won every foot race. They got to the community hall way ahead of the others.
‘You’re getting faster,’ exclaimed Jam, hoping that Zach would see this for himself.
Zach looked behind them for the others, and was genuinely confused that he couldn’t see them. He wasn’t used to winning at anything physical.
‘Zach, has your dad talked to you about the fight?’
‘I didn’t get in trouble, if that’s what you mean? Luckily mum didn’t think it was bad enough to go to hospital, but my parents kept checking on me all through the night.’
Jam was deflated. He couldn’t understand why no one had told Zach about being a Knight. He thought it was so obvious, because no one was supposed to heal from an injury like that so quickly. It was just like when he thought he’d broken his hand at Shirate. Why was everyone waiting to tell Zach? It was annoying!
They started Shirate by practicing the traditional patterns. Then they did some more board breaking techniques. Breaking a single board was now so easy for Jam that in his enthusiasm he grabbed an extra board for Zach to hold so he could break two at once.
He was about to punch the boards when Mr Dawson stopped him. ‘Steady on, Jam. You’re still learning. You don’t want to go to the next level too quickly. It could lead to injuries if your technique has flaws. Stick with one board for now, until you can do it perfectly.’
‘Yes, Mosha.’ Jam was deflated again.
‘And another thing,’ said Mr Dawson, ‘I notice that you get really worked up when you break the boards. I don’t want you to do that. I want you to stay calm. Not relaxed, but calm and focused. There’s no point having the power to break boards if you have to be angry to do it. Okay?’
Jam was surprised by the way that Mr Dawson had spoken the word ‘power’, like he meant something else by it. Did Mr Dawson know that he was a Knight? And if Dad had trusted MrDawson with that information, then maybe it was because Mr Dawson was also a Knight, which meant that Tobes was as well.
‘Yes, Mr Dawson… um, Mosha… I think I know what you mean.’
‘Good lad.’
After Mr Dawson had moved on to help the other boys, Jam leant over to Zach and in a low voice he said conspiratorially, ‘I could have broken two.’
Zach laughed. ‘You’re dreaming.’ Zach was clearly unaware that he was getting stronger, and Jam couldn’t think of any way to help his friend to understand.
At the end of class they bowed to the Mosha and to each other. The boys also did their customary slapping of hands, as a way of encouraging each other. Because of what had happened recently, Mr Dawson directed them to go straight home and not hang about on the street.
Jam, Rollo, and Zach lived in similar direction so they headed off together, discussing how many boards they thought they could break.
What Jam and his companions didn’t know is that the hall was being watched by half a dozen dimly glowing pairs of eyes. Eyes that used the shadows to follow them as they walked home.
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