Chapter 53
"Don't worry about Haley, she just thinks she's being funny" Blue offered the terrified boy a hand up.
"I'm not worried about her, it's the monster" he pointed to the Nightmare.
"Oh you mean Boris? You just scared him, that's all" Blue smiled.
"I... scared him?"
"Well you did run up and scream at him" Abigail noted "I don't think it wise to do that to a dragon."
"Dragon?"
The boy was obviously confused. All his natural instincts told him there was no such thing as a dragon, and yet there was Boris, still smouldering.
"Wh-what about the other monsters... down by the river?"
"More dragons, just different types; like the curious looking one over there is Speedy, he's a Night Fury, and the little one devouring the fish is Firefly the Terrible Terror.
"But... well... who are you people... and why are you friends with dragons?"
"Better to have them as friends, than as enemies" Calla noted.
"My name is Blue Dias, this is my sister Abigail..."
"Call me Abby" Abigail noted.
"...this is Calla Linwood and the one legged funny lady who currently smells like dead fish is Haley Robinson."
"Speaking of dead fish, these are ready to cook" Haley insinuated.
"Look we're sorry we scared you, but we chose this spot because we thought there was no one around" Blue apologised as he put the fish onto the pointed sticks he'd prepared.
"Are you kidding? There are people living all around this forest" the boy insisted.
"Oh... well don't worry about us, we'll be on our way after lunch" Blue noted as he positioned the fish around the edge of the fire.
While she waited for lunch, Haley wandered down to the river to wash up. The boy backed away a little, but still stood in awe of the beasts in front of him; and if having three dragons staring at him wasn't bad enough, four more soon turned up.
"H-h-how many d-dragons you have?" he dared to ask.
"Ten, but five are these little guys" Calla said as Daisy curled up beside her.
"Oh my" the boy sat down again when his legs felt weak.
"What's your name kid?" Abigail asked.
"Aaron... I live up the road with me dad and brother."
"Wanna join us for lunch Aaron?" Calla asked.
"Err... no thanks."
Even though the young boy was too nervous to eat, he was still fascinated at these huge creatures and the people who had no fear of them. For the next half hour, he sat and watched, asking the occasional basic dragon question. As time went on, the rest of the dragons returned and he was told their names and types in turn.
"Well I think it's about time we were moving on" Blue noted after they had finished eating "I'll clean up while you guys get the dragons ready."
As Blue walked off towards the river with an armful of metal plates and cutlery, Aaron followed along still asking questions.
"So why did you come here anyway?"
"We're on our way to Sumatra to meet up with our friends and family" Blue answered.
"Do they all have dragons too?"
"Err... no, and I think they'll be just as surprised to see them as you were. But at least you now know not to be too scared if any other dragons show up in the future."
"So there are more of you Dragon Riders out there?" Aaron gasped.
"No, just us; but there are wild dragons living hidden away" Blue informed the boy "I wouldn't expect them to turn up in the immediate future, but they're bound to come eventually and you should treat them with respect and keep your distance until they want to come close to you. They may get angry, but most of the time they are just being defensive; so don't antagonise them... and sharing your food helps too. Just don't try to fight them because you're sure to lose."
"Don't fight them; got it" Aaron nodded.
"And make sure you tell everyone in the area what I told you" Blue insisted.
"Are you kidding? If I tell anyone I've seen dragons, they'll think I'm daft."
"Oh trust me, they'll believe you" Blue winked.
All the dragons were ready to fly when Blue got back, so he packed the dishes away and got up on Speedy's back.
"Would you like a lift home Aaron?"
"N-no thank you" the boy stepped back with a look of terror on his face.
"Wouldn't you like your brother to see you riding a dragon?" Blue offered.
"Um... no I'm good."
"Okay then, see you later."
The dragons and their riders all followed Speedy when he lifted off, while Aaron looked on in amazement.
"Before we continue south, I've got a little job for you all" Blue told the other riders.
With his adventure now over, Aaron wandered off towards his home. Half an hour later he arrived to find his father and older brother standing between the house and the barn, watching the skies; his father holding a loaded shotgun.
"Hey Dad, what's wrong?" he called out.
The look of relief on his father's face was plain to see as he placed the gun carefully on the ground and ran to the boy.
"Oh thank goodness you're alright; I was so worried" the man said, throwing his arms around Aaron and holding him tight.
"You should have seen it Aaron, there was a dragon here" his brother said excitedly "Dad and I were working in the barn when we heard this roar. We rushed outside and saw this dragon flying overhead. It shot a ball of blue fire into the sky that exploded like fireworks."
"What colour was it Callum?" Aaron asked.
"Huh? It was um black" the confused brother replied.
"Oh that would have been Speedy; did you see the person on his back?"
"Aye son... we did" his father said, clearly confused.
"His name is Blue Dias" Aaron noted.
"How do you know that?" Callum gasped.
"I met him and his friends down near the river; there were four of them and they had ten dragons with them. He taught me what to do if any wild dragons should ever appear in the future."
"If any wild dragons come around here, I'm givin' them both barrels" Aaron's father said.
"Blue said it was a bad idea to try and fight dragons because we're sure to lose" Aaron insisted "He said it's better to give them some food and make friends."
"Friends?" his father said, even more confused.
Just then a man arrived on a horse, riding hard.
"Angus, did you see the dragon fly by?" he asked.
"Aye we did; it appears my son met the rider down by the river."
"You met her? What was she like?" the man on horse said as he dismounted.
"I thought you said it was a man?" Angus said to Aaron.
"I said there was four of them; what colour was the dragon you saw sir?" Aaron asked.
"It were red... and really ugly."
"That one's called Boris, and the lady on his back was Haley Robinson; she's got a pathetic leg."
"What made it pathetic?" Callum wondered.
"You know... it wasn't real... made of metal."
"You mean prosthetic son" Angus chuckled "Perhaps we should all go inside, and you can tell us all about these riders you met and their dragons."
As they went in, Aaron suddenly realised what the Dragon Riders had done. By flying around the area and showing themselves, they had made it possible for the boy to tell his story without being called a liar. It was nice to know Blue was true to his word.
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The Dragon Riders took advantage of the increase in daylight they gained as they travelled further south. They flew on for most of the afternoon, only taking a short fifteen minute break after crossing the channel into France. By the time the sun had started to set, they had travelled more than halfway across the country to the once great city of Lyon. Unlike Inverness, most of the metropolis was still intact but they did pass another crater fifty kilometres north of the city, meaning there was still quite a lot of damage to the surrounding area. Many of the buildings had not managed to withstand the accompanying shockwave, or the passage of time.
"Hey that looks like a good place to stop for the night" Haley pointed down to a large park about five kilometres from the city, on the south eastern side.
Beginning to tire, they all wholeheartedly agreed about its suitability and had just started down, when Calla noticed something else.
"Hey... that oval on the east side; is that a horse racing track?"
The Dragon Riders turned slightly left and landed on the track near the remains of the main grandstand.
"Hippodrome de Parilly" Haley read on a sign next to the finishing post "Are you sure they raced horses here?"
"Hippos is Greek for horse" Abigail chuckled.
"So what does Hippopotamus mean, horse potato?"
Haley was most disappointed when Abigail literally fell off her dragon laughing.
"Potamos in Greek means river" Blue smiled "so Hippopotamus effectively means horse of the river, where as hippodrome was a place for horse and chariot racing."
"Horse potato" Abigail repeated with tears streaming from her eyes.
"Alright, don't rub it in" Haley sulked "Greek words on a French sign... and besides, why were you learning this kind of stuff on Mars?"
Abigail managed to climb back to her feet but still needed to lean on Lucy and Ricky for support.
"Professor Topolski always said I'd be glad one day to have taken part in his language lessons, but up till now I never believed him."
"Okay fun's over for now, let's see if we can find the stables" Blue suggested.
In the fading light of dusk, the Dragon Riders could just make out a group of single story buildings east of the dilapidated grandstand, and rightly assumed this was the place they were looking for. Being solidly constructed of concrete blocks, the horse stables had mostly withstood the test of time, but were still in a very run down condition. Even so they would make a good place to spend the night, so they dumped all their gear in a pile and started to look around.
"Hey Firefly, could you give me a little light please" Blue asked the little Terror.
The dragon perched in its usual place on Blue's shoulder and with its mouth open, he provided a bright lantern flame. The other riders followed Blues example and spread out to explore the buildings, trucks and horse floats scattered throughout the area. The first few were mostly empty apart from discarded rubbish and fallen ceiling timbers, but later he did find a few straps and bridles hanging on wall hooks.
"Maybe we can make some use of these, eh Firefly?"
As he exited with his find, Blue noticed Speedy was following along behind and looking into every place his rider had just been.
"Don't want to be left out, do ya bud?" Blue smiled at the curious dragon.
"HEY... I'VE HIT THE JACKPOT" Abigail called out from a truck parked near a side gate.
Dragon Riders and dragons rushed in from all directions to see the young girl from Mars proudly holding up a small racing saddle.
"The truck is full of stuff like this" she declared "Must have belonged to a saddler and farrier."
Being first on the scene, Calla climbed into the side door of the long box truck.
"She's right... although I don't think the dragons would be happy if we tried to shoe them."
Blue took a deep breath and smiled; thing certainly seemed to be going their way.
"Well it looks like we've got a lot of stuff to play with before we leave tomorrow, I suggest we..."
"Oh merde" a shocked voice came from the gate near the back of the truck.
It was now too dark to see who was there, but they could still make out the silhouette of a tall thin man who soon ran away screaming.
"BETES SAUVAGES! LEZARDS DE MONSTRE!"
"Oh crap; here we go again" Blue sighed.
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As is usual, not much has happened in the last few days. I went for a long bike ride this morning in what should have been peak traffic, but there were not too many cars on the road.
I have now gone from "I don't have any anime to watch" to "How will I decide which one to watch first?" I suppose this is a good problem to have ;)
Stay safe everyone and I'll be back soon, Marty