The Dragon Breath Chronicles

Part One

The Stolen Boy

Chapter 1.1 The Birthday Surprise

Euan Redcap, snapped my mother. You haven’t heard a word I’ve been saying, have you?

She was right. I hadn’t.

I’d been daydreaming about a story my grandfather once told me about how a blood red dragon had made its nest amongst the craggy rocks up in the high hills. It hadn’t been such a big dragon, not much bigger than a small pony. But it proved troublesome and problematic for all the hill folk.

It had stolen sheep away in its powerful talons and burned the crops in the low fields with its fiery breath. According to my grandfather it had skimmed over the church and knocked a big chunk of masonry from the steeple. And it had landed on someone’s barn roof, splitting the wooden support beams from the pressure of its weight.

It had made a terrible nuisance of itself. Folk were afraid to come out of their cottages in case it fell upon them from the sky. Folk couldn’t get to sleep at night for its nocturnal screeching and keening. Folk would look out of their windows in the morning and find piles of fresh dragon dung steaming on their lawns. Eventually when they couldn’t take it any longer some men were hired to take their hunting dogs up to the craggy rocks and . . .

Euan? repeated my mother. Are you listening? I asked if you’d finished your porridge.

I looked down my empty bowl and gave her a nod of my head, blushing slightly.

That morning my father had caught a rabbit in one of the snares he’d set out along by the fence that surrounded my mother’s vegetable patch. It was a hefty catch with plenty of meat on the bone, which meant we were going to have a big pot of rabbit stew for my sister Isla’s birthday supper.

My mother was holding it up by its long ears. Her forearm strained against its dead weight. She jabbed her finger at its underbelly, then turned to Isla, who had just finished her last spoonful of porridge. I need you to go down into the glen and pick some wild mushrooms to put in the stew.

You’re sending me on a chore on my birthday? complained Isla.

Mushrooms won’t pick themselves, said my mother.

She gave my father a sly wink.

I held up my hand to cover the grin that was spreading on my face. I knew that sending Isla to pick mushrooms was just a ruse so that my mother could get on and bake the birthday cake she had been secretly hording ingredients for.

And you’re to take your brother with you, she added.

The grin fell rapidly away. What was she talking about? She didn’t need to hide the cake from me. I already knew all about it. The last thing I needed was the humiliation of having to trail along at my big sister’s heels.

Him? complained Isla. He’ll only slow me down.

My mother rolled up her the sleeves of her blouse, hefted the rabbit up by the scruff of its neck, and laid it down by the sink. This has to be skinned and gutted, she said. I don’t want your brother getting under my feet all morning.

"I could help you instead," I suggested.

My mother shook her head. You’d be more of a hindrance than a help.

Now she was at it! Why didn’t either of them have any faith in me? Maybe I did have a tendency to be easily distracted. Maybe my attention did wander sometimes. And maybe that could be the cause of the occasional mishap or accident. But I wasn’t half as bad as they always seemed to make out.

He’ll be a hindrance to me as well, Isla moaned.

All he’ll need to do is hold the basket while you pick the mushrooms, said my mother. She began sharpening her gutting knife against the whetstone.

I drummed my fingers impatiently on the top of the table. It was always like this with my mother and my sister - they seemed to feel free to make all sorts of plans for me, without ever actually including me in the conversation. But I had solemnly promised my parents that this year I would be on my best behaviour for Isla’s big day, so I fought down the strong urge I had to give them both a piece of my mind.

When it became clear that my mother wasn’t going to back down Isla let out an exaggerated sigh. She folded her arms tightly across her chest and pursed her lips. I could see the freckles standing out against the bridge of her nose, the way they always did when she was annoyed.

Why can’t you send him up the hillside to help tend the sheep with Pa?

By then Pa had already picked up his shepherd’s crook and left through the back door. I could hear his dogs yipping and yapping as they followed him up the path to the hillside. He was a fast walker. I would have to run if I was going to catch up with him.

My mother lifted the rabbit and slapped it down onto the chopping board that sat on the kitchen table. Her braids went swaying from side to side like twin pendulums on a big grandfather clock. He’s too young. If the mist comes down from the high hills your father will need all his wits about him to make sure none of the sheep wander off. It won’t help if he has to keep a watch on Euan as well.

That was nonsense. If the mist came down Pa wouldn’t need to keep a watch on me at all. I would be a huge help to him. I could listen out for the bleating of the sheep. I could point him in the right direction to go and fetch them. I could help him shepherd them down the hill.

Isla sighed again. I’m going to need my wits about me as well. I’ll need to look for good sized mushrooms. Euan will only go and do something stupid like fall in the stream.

No I won’t! I yelled, finally deciding that I couldn’t just stand there and hold my tongue.

You will, insisted Isla. You’re always doing stupid things! Especially on my birthday.

Not this again. Was I never going to hear the end of it?

No, I’m not, I huffed.

Yes, you are, said Isla. Last year you went and got yourself stuck in the ditch. Up your armpits in stinking mud, as I recall. And the year before you fell off the dyke and knocked out the last of your baby teeth.

We’ll nothing has happened to me this year. I said, defensively.

Not yet, Isla shot back.

Quiet! Both of you! snapped my mother. She wiped her hands on her apron. Isla, you’ll do as you’re told and take your brother with you down the glen. Euan, you’re to behave yourself. You’re to hold the basket for your sister to put the mushrooms in. And you’re not to go anywhere near the stream. You hear?

Realising that there was absolutely no point in arguing, I nodded my head moodily.

Come on then, if you’re coming, snapped Isla.

Grabbing the basket, she turned to my mother.

I bet something stupid happens to him. You wait. I guarantee it!

Chapter 1.2. Down in the Glen

We zigzagged across the wide meadow, tramping a winding trail through the white and yellow carpet of daisies and dandelions. Bumblebees with fat black stripes went buzzing past my ears. Blue and red butterflies fluttered lazily around us. At the far end of the meadow I caught a glimpse of a fox dashing swiftly for cover.

I picked up a piece of old tree branch that had snapped in half when I stepped on it. I pretended it was a sword, swiping down blades of grass before me like imaginary opponents. Stop messing around, complained Isla.

How come you’re always think you’ve got the right to tell me off? I called after her.

How come you’re always messing around? she called back.

Turn it back on me, I thought. That’s just typical. That’s all she ever does. Euan’s messing around. Euan’s getting in the way. Euan’s gone and done something stupid again. What would she do if I just disappeared in a puff of smoke? She’d be sorry then. Wouldn’t she?

I tossed the branch as far across the meadow as I could.

Watch out! cried Isla, as it sailed over her head. That could have hit me!

I growled back at her. It was miles away from you.

Stop messing around! she snapped again.

That did it!

She had no right to boss me about!

I began to deliberately drag my heels, slowing my pace till the gap between Isla and myself grew considerably wider. With a bit of luck I’d be able to sneak off and claim that I lost her somewhere down in the glen. Then without warning she came to a sudden halt. I stopped too. Did she have eyes in the back of her head, or what?

Isla swung around on her heels and marched furiously towards me. Her face was as red as her freckles. Her hand was so tightly wrapped around the handle of the basket that her knuckles were turning white. With her other hand she grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me forward. Ma told me to keep an eye on you! So you better stop messing around!

It never did any good to get on the wrong side of Isla once she got herself into one of her tempers. I put aside my indignation and allowed her to haul me down the tree-lined slope that descended into the shaded glen. It was cool down there. The ground was soft under foot. When I breathed in, the air was full of the perfume of pine needles and scent of wild flowers.

After five minutes or so of searching we found a big cluster of mushrooms near the foot of a contorted old rowan tree. The soil they were growing in was black and spongy. Their caps were wide and creamy and their stems long and fat.

You stay here out of the way, said Isla. And hold on tightly to the basket. I don’t want you clomping around with your big feet and squashing everything.

She removed her shoes and socks and went tiptoeing amongst the beige-coloured mushrooms. Crouching gently down she began snatching the base of their stems and plucking them out of the soil. When she’d collected six or seven mushrooms she came over to me and tipped them into the basket.

Down in the belly of the glen I could hear the gurgling of the stream as it gushed over the smooth, flat pebbles. Despite the shade of the trees the hot sun was sending darts of light down through their branches, making my back feel sticky. I glanced dreamily towards the sound of the water. I longed to go down and paddle there in my bare feet. I would build a dam with some big stones from the bank. Then would use one of my socks as a net to catch sticklebacks that drifted into the pool it created.

Isla noticed the wistful look in my eyes. Don’t you dare move from there, she cautioned me. And don’t you dare tip the basket. I’m not going to spend the rest of the afternoon trying to pick mushrooms caps out of the nettles.

I’m not that stupid, I said.

Isla’s eyebrows went up.

Oh, yes you are.

She wove her way back through cluster of mushrooms.

It was then that I heard a low droning noise coming from somewhere high above us. I looked up through the leafy interwoven latticework of branches toward the white clouds that were billowing in the pale blue sky. The sharp shaft of sunlight that came streaming through the spidery bows of the rowan tree made me squint and narrow my eyes.

Pay attention to what you’re doing! barked Isla. If you drop those mushrooms I’ll knock your head into next Tuesday.

The droning grew louder. I could feel it vibrating in the ground beneath my feet. Isla came back and tipped another handful of mushrooms into the basket. Can you hear that? I asked her.

It’s an airship, she said.

An airship?

Once I had seen a pencil sketch of an airship in the big encyclopaedia that was usually kept under lock and key in the library at the village school. I remembered a boat-like structure, apparently called a gondola, suspended on wires beneath a fat balloon. I started to feel excitement build up inside me. I had never actually been lucky enough to see one in real life.

Isla let out one of her pronounced sighs. From Tennanbrau City. They rarely come this way. But sometimes there are thunderstorms that send them off route.

I know where airships come from, I told her.

Dragon hunters I expect, said Isla.

My mouth dropped wide. Dragon hunters? In the Low Counties? I closed my eyes and conjured up images of brave men, kitted out in protective armour, risking life and limb to bring down monstrous fire breathing beasts and draw the wonderful breath from their lungs. Dragon Breath, the very name sent a shiver down my spine. It was the power source upon which all of Tennanbrau City was driven.

What a glorious and valiant profession drawing Dragon Breath must be.

Just pay attention to what you’re doing, snapped Isla. It’ll pass over soon enough.

The droning grew even louder. So loud now that the leaves on the rowan tree began to rustle and tremble. I couldn’t help but look up again. I craned my neck and gasped in shock as the most enormous thing that I had ever seen in my life came descending down from the clouds. The glen was swallowed up in its shadow.

Chapter 1.3. The Drunken Molly

The first thing that I was able to make out was the gondola, hanging below the balloon on silvery wires, just like the sketch I’d seen in the encyclopaedia. The tarred hull gleamed with condensation as its big iron anchor swayed from side to side.

Then came the balloon itself came into view, starkly crimson in colour and as long and round as a fat marrow. I could feel the churning of the turbines that drove the airship’s engines trembling through me. I could see the dizzying spin of the propellers that jutted out from wide housings at its tail end.

A column of steam came shushing out of the pistons. A huge glob of sump oil came oozing blackly down, landing with a wet smack in the undergrowth nearby. Lower and lower came the airship. It was so low now that I could read the name that had been painted along its side in ornate golden letters.

The Drunken Molly, I thought. What an odd name.

I had always imaged that an airship would have an excitingly appropriate name, like ‘Cloudburster’ or ‘Skyslicer’ - Drunken Molly seemed somehow a bit of a let-down.

Nevertheless, she was an awesome sight.

I saw people leaning over the wrought iron railings that encompassed the deck of the gondola. They were pointing down at Isla and me. I couldn’t actually hear their voices over the thrum and clank of the engine. But I could tell from the animated way that their faces moved that they were shouting eagerly to each other. One of them produced something that glinted in the sunlight and held it to his eye.

A telescope!

I waved my arm enthusiastically back at him and almost tipped over the basket of mushrooms with my enthusiasm.

Isla! I cried. Look!

But she was already looking, still as statue below, neck stretched skywards, mouth gaping wide. Following her gaze I looked up again. The airship had descended even lower. It was so low now that I could make out the outline of the wooden slats that criss-crossed the belly of the gondola. It was so low that it was actually bending the tallest shoots on the highest bows along the canopy the glen.

Through the shaking leaves, I could see that several of the crewmen were leaning over the railings with what appeared to be looped lengths of rope held in their hands. They began to swing these around and around above their heads.

Run! cried Isla and broke into a sudden, unexpected sprint.

I found myself frozen to the spot as she came dashing past me.

Your shoes and socks, I called after her. You left your shoes and socks!

She didn’t look back. Run, Euan!

Isla was already halfway up the slope that led from the glen to the meadow.

What about the mushrooms? I cried.

Isla glanced back over her shoulder.

Just drop the basket and run, you idiot!

There came a loud crack as if something was falling rapidly down through the branches. This was immediately followed by a dull thump from somewhere behind me. When I looked back one of the rope loops had been thrown down from the gondola and had landed amongst the clump of mushrooms. A second later it was swaying in the air above my head as it was hauled back up to the airship.

Isla was at the top of the slope now. Run, Euan! she screamed down at me.

I had no idea what was going on. But the look of sheer terror on her face was more than enough to spur me on. I threw the basket to one side. The mushrooms scattered, spinning and somersaulting away. I ran for the slope. From behind me I could hear the crack-crack-crack of more branches snapping, followed a dull whump-whump-whump as rope loops were hurled down from the gondola to land in the glen.

I stumbled up the slope.

Come on! yelled Isla.

Her face was deathly pale.

I was three quarters of the way up the slope when she turned and broke into a sprint again. Move it! I heard her call back.

I crested the slope and ran after her.

Wait! I cried. Not so fast!

But the gap between us was growing wider with every frantic churn of her legs. I could feel the drone of the airship’s engine humming in the ground below my feet. I could feel its ominous shadow creeping closer to my shoulders. It was like being chased by a huge, lumbering bear. The shadow seemed to drain all the warmth from the sun, shrouding me in a melancholy chill.

Whump-whump-whump went the tumbling rope loops behind me.

I tried desperately to make my legs go faster. My heart thumped against my chest. My lungs felt fit to burst. A sharp stitch stabbed at my side. Isla was way ahead of me now. Far across the meadow. Almost at the stone dyke. The drone of the airship’s engine seemed to be burrowing right into my head. I started to cry. The tears blurred my vision. I wasn’t even sure if I was still running in the right direction.

Then something caught hold of my left leg.

For the briefest moment, I thought that a thorny branch had hooked itself onto the bottom of my trousers. But it clearly wasn’t a thorn. As I tried to yank myself free whatever had hold of me yanked forcefully back. I lost my balance and fell face first onto the sun-baked grass. I tasted dirt and straw in my mouth and spat it out.

Isla! I screamed. Isla! Help me!

Ahead of me Isla skidded to a halt and spun back around.

In an instant the world turned swiftly upside down.

Everything went into a whirl.

It took me a moment or two to realise that I was rising high above the ground. Something was contracting tighter and tighter around my ankle. The pain in my leg was excruciating. I realised with a horrible jolt that I had been caught by one of the rope loops and I was being hauled up toward the airship.

Isla! I screamed, kicking out with my free leg and waving my arms desperately. Isla!

I could see her running across the meadow. Her voice was carried up to me on the wind. I could hear it above the drone of the airship’s engine.

Euan! Euan!

Higher and higher I was dragged. The wind whipped around me and set me into another wild spin. I saw my father on the hillside with his sheep. He was watching the airship and I could tell instantly that he saw me. He came hurtling toward the meadow, his dogs barking like crazy at his heels, his sheep scattering before him and galloping off in a dozen different directions.

The wind spun me again. Now I saw our cottage, with its thatched roof and the thin streamer of smoke trailing from its stubby chimney. My mother came out of the kitchen door with a wooden bucket under her arm. She began to toss bits of rabbit innards out into the yard for the black crows to feed on.

She looked up to the hill where my father was running as if his very life depended on it. She looked over to the meadow where Isla had fallen to her knees in a fit of tears. She looked up to where the airship ploughed through the summer sky, coughing steam and wheezing smoke. She saw me dangling there on the rope.

She dropped the bucket and let out a scream.

Isla was directly below me, tiny as a mouse now. She was getting further and further away. I knew that as well as the rope being hauled up the airship was ascending too. From that height, I could see all of them in one go - my father scrambling down the hill, his dogs yapping at his side, his crook outstretched as if he could somehow reach into the sky and snatch me back down; my mother wringing her hands by the kitchen door, the wooden bucket rocking from side to side where it had fallen by her feet; my sister on her knees amongst the white daisies and yellow dandelions, staring up at me.

Isla! I yelled. Ma! Pa!

I knew that they probably couldn’t even hear me. And I knew too that even if they could there was nothing at all they could do to help me. Then, in the blink of an eye, I was sucked away into the misty swirl of the clouds and the comfortable world that I had known for all the twelve summers of my life was gone in an instant.

Chapter 1.4. Mrs Zachariah

With little recollection of how I had arrived there, I found myself flat out on my back on the grimy deck of the airship’s gondola. Mighty crimson balloon billowed above me. Splintery wooded deck hard against my back. A bow-legged crewman came waddling up to me. Brandishing a keen bladed knife in his filthy hand he cut the rope from around my ankle.

Kicking my heels, I shunted myself away from him. The skin around my ankle was raw and chafed from the friction burn of the rope. I started shivering from the cold air that gusted about the deck. I found myself surrounded by a dozen or more rough looking men, dressed in greasy clothing that was a jumble of patchwork and stitching.

Some held smouldering clay pipes clamped between brown stumps of worn-down teeth. Others chewed sloppily on dirty big wads of tobacco that dribbled ochre trails of tainted saliva over their unshaven chins. Their faces were pockmarked and battered. Their fingernails were stained black with oil. They reeked of sweat and stale rum. They were the opposite of what I had always imagined brave dragon hunters would look like.

They began to poke and prod me as if I was some curious item they’d dug up in the dirt. I was pinched and jabbed and jostled and nudged. A gnarled hand with splintered fingernails shot out and tugged at my red hair, while another pulled up my top lip and an ugly face loomed in to take a good long gander at my teeth. They all started chattering at once. So fast and noisily that I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.

Terrified, I started to bawl. As my face became sticky with tears a chorus of mocking laughter assailed me. Unsightly jeering faces leered down at me. One of them blew pipe smoke into my face, making me cough and wheeze. Through my stinging eyes I noticed a boy not that much older than Isla amongst the jostling crewmen. His ginger hair was long and matted. His narrow face was pale and splattered with freckles. From his appearance he simply had to be a Low County boy like me.

I sat up and pleaded with him. Help me.

The boy came forward with a mischievous grin on his face. He gave me a kick to my shoulder. I fell back onto the deck, hitting my head with a painful thump. His grin spread wider. He whispered something to the crewmen. As they howled with laughter, he crouched down beside me. Don’t whine, he said. It’s all a big joke. They’ll lower you back down in a basket once they’ve had their fun.

They will? I rubbed my eyes with the heels of my hands.

The boy nodded. But the more you cry the longer it will take for them to grow bored of you.

A voice barked out what sounded like an order. A female voice - deep and gruff and officious. The crewmen stepped swiftly away from me, and a small woman appeared in the clearing they left behind. Hands on hips she glared down at me. I swallowed hard and did my best to stop crying. If she was in charge, then she would surely put an end to this and order them to lower me back down so that I could run home.

She was dressed in men’s clothing; knee length boots, leather britches and a thick overcoat with wide lapels. Her black hair snaked out from under her wide brimmed hat and hung in twisted braids like sodden rat tails around her shoulders. Her dark, sullen eyes appeared to be swirling in wildly their sockets and her face seemed to dance and jitter with a thousand nervous tics and twitches.

She looked as if she was teetering on the verge of total madness. It seemed that at any minute she might fall to the ground in some sort of juddering fit. I felt my hopes replaced by a deep sense of foreboding. The woman poked me with a grimy finger and whispered under her breath in an odd lilting tone that sent a cold tingle down my spine. We could have had a boy like you. Me and my bonny Captain. We could have had ourselves a son had the accursed White Sow not taken him from me.

I had no idea what she was talking about. Her eyes seemed to glaze over. It felt as if she was staring straight through me. The way the crewmen stood with their heads hung in silence suggested that they were somewhat wary of her. She reached out and ruffled my hair.