Going Back Home - CHAPTER VIII

The flight back wasn't eventful. They did stop at the lookout post to pass the night and carried on flying until they got to Mountainfoot. When they saw the town in the distance Alberto said, I wonder why it always seems quicker on the trip back to a place”.

“Does it?” Asked Ashram, “it seems the same to me.”

“I agree with Alberto but I don't know why,” said Alvaro.

They reached the town at the foot of the mountains and they could see people coming out of their houses to wait for them.

“They are not scared any more,” said Alberto.

“They know us. They probably saw us from a far but they have been neighbours with dragons for a long time so they recognised us easily,” answered Ashram.

“Do you think they recognise us? Considering the damage we did to them?” Asked Peter.

Ashram though for a while. “It's possible but considering your change of colour most likely they won't. We have to be careful though. After all they are dragon experts,” he said.

They landed on the same field that they had done on their way to meet the Soul Slaver and there was already a crowd gathered waiting for them.

“Ashram! What are the news!” A man shouted.

“The dark dragons are no more!” Ashram shouted back and the crowd cheered, some of them running towards them. They all climbed off the dragons and were surrounded by people asking questions.

“Where did the dark dragons come from?”

“Why did they attack us?”

“Are they dead?”

It was the type of questions they answered while they walked, but soon realised that a silence was falling over the crowd while a woman was speaking. They stopped and turned towards the woman. She looked angry and had tears on her eyes.

“You destroyed our house! My oldest boy and my husband are badly burned because of you!” She was shouting while looking at Peter.

“It's true! I remember him!” A man shouted and the welcoming group soon became an angry crowd.

The other dragons closed ranks and stood between the people and Peter.

“Come on! We have to stop this before it gets out of hand!” Shouted Ashram.

They all ran towards the dragons and stood between them and the people of the town.

“Please stop!” Shouted Ashram “These dragons have helped us defeat the Soul Slaver! They had no control over their actions before! The Soul Slaver had absorbed the goodness from their souls!”

The boys were just as scared by the current situation as they had been during the past battles. The crowd stopped and listened to Ashram. It was a good thing they respected him. A man walked forward followed closely by the woman that had lost her house and about ten more women and men. The rest stayed being, some had spades and sticks in their hands.

“You well know that some people were killed by that dragon and his friends!” The man told Ashram.

“As I said. They were not themselves. They were controlled by the Soul Slaver.” Answered Ashram.

“You could say that about a drunk being controlled by the beer!” The man replied.

“You have no idea what this dragons have gone through. The Soul Slaver is an intelligent creature that manipulated them. You can't say that about beer.” Answered Ashram.

The woman stepped forward looking at the dragons and said, “you mean there's more dragons that attacked us here?”

Ashram went pale as he realised that he had made matters worse.

“Look at the small orange one!” Someone shouted “I remember her! She burned my barn!”

The crowd raised whatever weapons they had and shouting started to slowly walk towards the dragons. Ashram raised his hands and shouted, “please be calm! We can explain what happened!” but the crowd was too angry.

“What do we do Alvaro?” Asked Alberto.

“Well our dragon brothers are on the side of Peter and Ellen and I'm with my dragon brother,” Answered Alvaro.

“But we can't fight this people. After all they are correct. There has to be something we can do,” Alberto said.

Just then Ashram told them to get ready to fly. The two boys climbed on to their saddles but when the crowd saw this they became even angrier. Alvaro was going to put a force shield up when they heard a voice shout, “stop! All of you stop! I give myself in!” It was Peter the dragon. He turned to the others and said, “they are right. It was me. Even under the control of the Soul Slaver it was my actions that did this.”
This stopped the crowd who went quiet looking at Peter who lowered his head and walked towards the crowd of people who parted to let him among them and started to get ropes together. Peter lay on the floor without any resistance. The man who had been talking to Ashram rope in hand walked towards Peter and started to place the rope around his mouth.

“NO!” a voice shouted between the crowd so loud that made most of them jump. The crowd opened up and there in the middle was a red haired boy. Who with a high head started walking towards the dragon. Peter the dragon looked at the boy and stood up dropping the rope that was loosely held around his mouth.

“Peter!” Shouted the woman that had told them about her son and husband. The dragon looked at her but she was shouting to the boy.

“Stay away!. This dragon is the one that hurt your dad and brother.!”

The boy looked at her and answered, “it's OK mum. I know him!” He reached the dragon and touched him. Peter the dragon lowered his head and looked at him for some seconds then he raised his head, opened his wings and sang. No one in the town had ever heard a dragon sing and they were awed.

“A new dragon brother!” Said Alberto who didn't just see the dragon sing, but also saw multicoloured lights flowing from the boy and the dragon which filled the field, the town and the air around them.

“A new dragon brother!!” Shouted Ashram so that everyone could hear.

The mood of the crowd of people changed from anger to amazement then to sheer happiness when they realised that one of their boys was a dragon brother.

“But Peter. This dragon burned your dad and brother,” Peter's mum told him.

“No. It wasn't this one. Maybe the same body but a dragon is first made of his soul and then of his body. Peter's didn't burn dad or John. It was the Soul Slaver using Peter's body,” Peter answered while climbing, with some difficulty at first, onto Peter the dragon's back. When he was sitting Peter jumped to the air followed by everyone's cheers and flew around the town while the boy shouted “Yeeesss!!”

Alvaro and Alberto had a big smile on their faces. They knew what the new dragon brother where feeling just then.

“Do you think I will ever find my sister?” Asked Ellen.

“I'm sure you will Ellen. Just wait and see.”

By then the two Peters had landed in the town square and the rest of the people ran towards them. Suddenly our heroes were all by themselves.

“Well. That turned out OK,” said Ashram. “Come on. Let's go and rest at my house. We'll go to Middleway tomorrow.”

Once they got to Ashram's place they had something to eat in the open air as it was still warm, even though the evening had arrived. All the food except the dragon's food was vegetable.

After they finished eating Alvaro asked Ashram for a map as he wanted to show him were New Zealand was, but the map that Ashram brought had the Americas, Ireland, Great Britain, the west coast of France, northern Spain and a bit of the African continent but no more.

“Where's the rest of the world” Alvaro Asked.

Ashram looked at the map and answered “Merlin told me that the rest of the world shouldn't be mentioned. The people here haven't discovered it yet.”

“That's silly,” said Alberto, “they know about he UK, France and Spain and not about the rest?

“It's because that's how far sailors have gone,” Ashram said.

“What about dragons?” Asked Alvaro.

“They have their own maps in their heads and they cover most of the planet.” Answered Ashram.

“And Elves?” Asked Alberto.

“We also do know a lot more and our maps cover a much bigger area but I'm not allowed to take them out of our kingdom,” answered Ashram, “ordinary humans haven't had the means to travel far. Until today that is.”

“Why? What happened today?” Asked Alvaro.

“What you saw before. A local boy has become the first dragon brother in history.”

“What about the dragon brothers of old. Where did they come from?” Asked Alberto.

“Mostly from parallel universes like yourselves. Others have been elves.”

Alberto was going to ask him why, but Alvaro looking at the map asked, “Where are we now?”

Ashram pointed to a spot.

“Look Alberto. We are in Argentina. The mountains must have been the Andes.”

“Cool! Dad would have liked to be here,” Alberto answered.

“Ashram. I would need a bigger map to show you were the fruit came from,” Alvaro told Ashram.

“Merlin can use his magic tomorrow and show you all the planet. You can tell me then.”

They carried on talking about what they had seen and done until it was dark and then went to sleep. The next day, early in the morning they took off into the sky to fly to Middleway.

When they got to Middleway, the town looked just as they had left it. The boys were a bit disappointed, as they expected a welcoming party, but obviously news didn't travel very fast here. Merlin was waiting for them when they landed.

“We did it!” Shouted Alberto.

“It wasn't easy but they had no chance,” said Alvaro smiling.

“I'm glad. I knew you would it. I also felt a change to positive energy coming from the mountains, so I had a good feeling that you had succeeded,” answered Merlin.

“We also met Sandipani the Sage. The Queen of Old.” Ashram told Merlin.

Merlin turned towards Ashram not too happy with the news. “I suspected she would come back sometime or another. We have to keep an eye on the dragons now,” he said a bit worried.

Alvaro, who never liked the queen very much, asked, “why don't you like her?”

“During her time, dragons made war on each other. Something that had never happened before.”

“Why would we fight each other?” Asked Ellen.

“Oh. Hello there. What's your name young lady?” Asked Merlin.

“Sorry,” answered Ellen looking a bit embarrassed. “I'm Ellen. I'm a friend of the dragon brothers.”

“Well Ellen. Basically Sandipani convinced some of them that they were better than the rest and they wanted more. The other dragons didn't like the idea and didn't comply. Sandipani's dragons used force to impose their ideas and the war started.”

“Who won?” Asked Alberto.

“The free dragons but only because Sandipani disappeared and soon after her cousin did so too, so the royal dragons had no leaders. Soon after that they forgot about the class difference.”

“I knew there was something fishy about her,” said Alvaro.

“There's also good news,” said Ashram. “Actually it's great news. A new dragon brother has appeared in Mountainfoot.”

“That's great news! I can't remember the last time that happened!” Answered Merlin.

“That would have been three days ago,” said Alberto. “When it happened to us.”

Merlin bursted out laughing, “quite right, but I meant here on Pacha. Now come inside. You have to tell me all the details.”

“What's Pacha,” Alberto asked Alvaro.

“I think it's the name of this area,” answered Alvaro.

“Actually it is the name of the whole planet and for dragon birth brothers is also the name of this universe,” said Merlin.

They all walked to Merlin's house and once inside they told him all the details of their adventure.

After listening Merlin sat quietly for a long time. In the end he said, “you have met an enemy much larger that I ever imagined. Had I known I would have not sent you. I knew about the prophecy of course so I knew that there was a lot of power on your side. We have to be extra careful next time.”

“Next time!” Shouted the boys.

“Yes. Even if there are no strange dark enemies you have to come back for your education. There's plenty you have to learn to become full dragon raiders. It's a great responsibility.”

“You don't mean school. Do you?” Asked Alvaro and Alberto looked very worried at the possibility.

“I do actually. We have one of the best schools of magic and dragon flight here, although lately we only teach magic.” Answered Merlin.

“Wow. Like Harry Potter!” Shouted Alberto.

“Not quite,” answered Merlin, “I read the first book and this school is not like that. First of all, every one here knows about magic and anyone with any natural skills can come here. We are not hidden. Also you will be more involved in flight skills rather than magic as you have proven you have enough skills in that area.”

“I don't,” said Alberto.

“If you have similar knowledge and imagination as your brother, then you have more than plenty.”

“Thanks!” Alberto said, “by the way. When can we go home?”

“You can go now if you so wish,” said Merlin and he took their weapons and clothes with his wand. They boys stood with their normal clothes again.

“Wait. Before we go, can I see a map of the world please? I want to show Ashram were New Zealand is.”

“Yes you can. I have one that you probably know,” Merlin answered and walked to a room at the back of the hall they were in. It was a much smaller room full of books, a fireplace and at the back a table that gave out an eerie light. When they got closer the boys noticed that the light came from a portable computer.

“Hey. How can you run this?” Asked Alvaro.

“Told you before. Solar panels.” Answered Merlin who got the computer mouse and double-clicked on a blue icon.

“That's Google Earth!” Said Alvaro, “are you going to tell me now that you have an Internet connection?”

Smiling Merlin answered “No I don't. It takes too much energy. What I did was to go to the Google offices and made a clone of the Google Earth servers.”

The boys just stared at him. This Merlin was nothing like the one in The Sword in the Stone.

Alvaro zoomed into the Pacific Ocean and looked for New Zealand and showed Ashram.

“Ah. That island is supposed to be were all dragons come from. I will organize a trip there.”

Alvaro closed the computer application still feeling weird seeing a computer in a place that had dragons and technology that seemed to come from the middle ages.

After saying goodbye and promising to comeback soon, the boys jumped on their dragon brothers and flew East towards the desert. The four of them excited about their adventures and about going back home. Alberto the dragon was looking forward to learning how to open interdimensional doors. That way he would be able to visit his dragon brother whenever he wished.

“How long do we have to go before we can open the door?” Asked Alberto the dragon.

“There are places around the planet where for some reason it takes much less energy to open them which is were we can actually do it.” Answered Alvaro the dragon.

When they finally got there, Alberto the dragon had to mentally connect to Alvaro the dragon while he opened the interdimensional door. It was like learning by experience. After that Alberto the dragon simply knew how to do it as though he had been doing it all his life.

The door opened and the boys saw a dark hole opening in front of them which had a line of little spots of light. When they crossed over they realised it was the town lights far away on the coastline. It was much colder than they remembered but they realised it was because they had gotten used to the heat from the Sea of Sand desert back in Pacha.

“We have to climb higher.” Alvaro the dragon said.

“Why?” asked Alvaro.

“Look over there.” Answered his dragon brother looking down. The boys looked down and saw a dragon with two boys on top flying in the opposite direction.

“Who are they?” Asked Alberto.

“It's you on the way to Pacha,” answered Alvaro the dragon. The boys stared until the others disappeared in the dark.

“I don't get it. We came back before we left?” Asked Alberto.

“That's exactly it.” Answered Alvaro the dragon “We have to do this as you have to have time to get in bed before your dad gets to the room.”

“Ah. Very clever.” Said Alvaro.

“I still don't get it!” Said Alberto but he didn't get an answer as they could see their house and were getting closer fast.

When they got to the house they opened the window and first Alberto and then Alvaro climbed into the room.

“Bye boys! We'll see you soon,” The dragons said and they flew higher.

The boys quickly changed to their pyjamas and got in bed just as their dad walked into the room.

“What's that screaming all about?” He asked.

The boys stayed quiet wondering what he was talking about. After a few seconds Alberto who was holding himself back sat on his bed and shouted. “Dad! We are dragon birth brothers. There's this dragon called Alberto and another called Alvaro and we've been to another planet and fought an old king dragon, and....”

“OK, OK. Alberto. It sounds like a great story, but you should be trying to sleep,” his dad answered.

“But it's true dad! Isn't it Alvaro?” Alberto answered.

After some doubt Alvaro replied, “sounds like a cool story Alberto but can you keep your voice down a bit. I'm trying to sleep.”

“What! Great! Thanks! I see you are back to your old self,” said Alberto lying down in bed and turning towards the wall.

“Good night kiss first,” his dad told him and Alberto turned and got a good night kiss from dad.

“It's true dad. We did do all that.”

“I'm sure you did. You can tell me all about it tomorrow,” his dad said closing the window.

“I thought I had closed that,” He said while walking out of the room and closing the door gently. He heard Alvaro say, “good night dad.” followed by Alberto who also said good night.

“Good night boys. Now go to sleep.” The dad answered from outside the room. He then walked downstairs where their mum was watching TV.

“It's started,” The dad told their mum. She turned to look at him and they both smiled to each other.

The End