The Battle Of The Mountains - CHAPTER V

Alberto thought that the mountains looked big from a far but being right next to them was impressive. They looked like a solid wall of towers higher than the clouds and he felt very small.

“I know the felling,” Alberto the dragon told him. “I always feel that way when I fly near them.”

Alberto could feel the tension coming from the rest of the group. He felt safe riding his dragon brother but reason told him that they were flying into a fight and he was only an eight year old boy. He knew he didn't want to fight anyone no matter how cool it was being a ninja who had a dragon brother. This was real. Someone could really get hurt.

“I'm glad you feel that way,” his dragon brother told him. “You are going to make a fine dragon rider. It has been known in the past that when some humans discover they have a dragon brother, they become power crazy and usually end up hurting others.”

“What happens to them after that?” Asked Alberto.

“They end up being exiled to other universes. Some fight until one of the brothers dies and in some cases the dragon refuses to participate and they break up the brotherhood.”

They were surrounded by high peaks and it was getting colder. Alvaro shouted at Alberto to switch on his flight console. It wasn't difficult as it had a green button with the word “On” on it. When the console came on, it showed a little yellow dragon in the middle, a blue one next to it, and five white dragons flying around them.

“I can't tell which one is Ashram!” Alberto shouted to his brother.

“There's no need to shout,” Alvaro's voice said from the console, “we can talk through this.”

“Thanks,” said Alberto. “How can I tell which one is Ashram?” He asked.

“There's that green dragon in front and Ashram is in front of him. Just click with your finger on the image that is on the same place on the console and say his name.”

Alberto touched the little white dragon that corresponded to were he could see Ashram and said “Ashram”. The word 'Ashram' appeared on top of the image and it became a brighter white.

“The graphics are not very good are they?” Alberto asked his brother.

“It's not a Xbox. It's supposed to give you information on what's around you in a easy to understand way.”

Alberto was wandering how his brother had thought about all these details when he hear the console beeping and five red dots appeared in front and higher than them on the screen.

Alvaro looked at the red dots and shouted to Ashram, “five bogeys at twelve o'clock above us! They are still far!” He knew this because they were still little dots on the console and not little dragons.

“By the Great Tree of the South! What are you talking about!” Replied Ashram.

“Sorry! Five dragons in front and above us coming fast!” Replied Alvaro.

“Ok. Next time don't talk funny like that. We have to understand each other!” Shouted Ashram.

“Yes please!” Agreed Alberto. “No fighter pilot stuff that only you can understand.”

Alvaro slid his finger on the console and the picture zoomed out. Now he could see a bigger area around them and the mountains that looked a bit 3D. He saw on the right an area were they could fly higher without being spotted by the other dragons.

“Let's go over there to the right! We'll have time to fly higher without being seen!” He shouted to Ashram.

Ashram gave him thumbs up and all the dragons flew to a space between the mountains on their right. Then Alvaro realised that Ashram had no saddle or console.

“Ashram! Hold on! I'll put a saddle on your dragon!” He shouted while he pointed his wand towards the elf.

“Don't worry about...” Ashram said but by then the beam of light had jumped across the air and for a second it surrounded him. Next thing he knew, Ashram was sitting on a saddle looking at the console with a surprised look on his face.

“What's this?” Alvaro heard him say through the console.

“It's the flight console and communications device,” answered Alvaro. He saw Ashram turning around and again gave him the thumbs up while he heard him say on the console “Great idea!”

“Slide your finger to the right to zoom in and to the left to zoom out,” Alvaro instructed.

He heard Ashram say “Zoom...? Ahh. This is very good. I was wandering how you knew about the dragons. The beeping is a bit annoying though."

“The closer the beeps, the closer the dragons.” Alvaro said.

“Excellent idea. You have to tell me about this things when we have a little time.”

By then they had reached a small valley surrounded by high mountain walls and were flying in circles and gaining altitude fast.

“Come on! Faster! We have to be above them quick!” Alvaro told them. He knew from playing flight simulators that it was the best option in a dog fight.

Alberto who had also played fighter simulators was looking at the screen with a feeling something could be improved. Then he got it.

“We should separate,” he told the rest. “The three dragons with raiders should attack first and the free dragons should act as a backup in case we can't handle them.”

“More military skills,” Ashram said. “Where do boys as young as you get all this knowledge?”

“TV and computer games,” answered Alberto.

“You mentioned that TV thing before. It must be a very aggressive and violent place if you get that type of know-how from it,” said Ashram.

“My mum would agree with you,” Answered Alberto, “but it's only entertainment. It's not real.”

Alberto saw the look on Ashram's face and he knew Ashram had realised that TV was no military training and now he wasn't happy about taking the boys to a dragon fight.

"Hold on! If TV is not real then we should turn back like Merlin said. You can't go into battle without some sort of training." Ashram told them.

"It's true," Alvaro answered "but we are dragon brothers. That means that we have the knowledge and skills of our dragon brothers. I can feel it in my bones."

"It's true." Alberto agreed. "I can also feel it."

"Those skills plus what we have learnt on our world makes us warriors to be reckoned with." Alvaro said and their dragons agreed.

Ashram seeing the four of them united and in agreement decided to carry on although keeping a close eye on them.

By then they had reach the correct height above the other dragons which already look like little dragons on their screens, which meant they were close.

“If we fly over that peak we'll be right on top of them!” Alvaro said and the three of them flew towards the peak and over it. Alberto saw the dragons below and they dived towards the dark dragons in silence. In his head he heard Alvaro the dragon telling the four free dragons to wait higher up and to only attack if they called them.

Alberto reached forward with his mind towards the dark dragons to see if he could feel anything left from the original dragon but the dragons felt this and realised they were being attack. They tried to separate but it was too late, the brothers and Ashram were on top of them.

Alvaro pointed his wand at the largest of the dark dragons and when a second later the light from his wand dissipated, the dragon was enveloped in a type of sticky plastic which meant that it couldn't move its wings and fell towards the abyss.

At the same time Ashram had shot one of his arrows to a smaller dragon. The arrow seem to overshoot and miss the head of the dragon, but right in front of it, the arrow exploded into green powder. The dragon flew right into the small cloud of powder and was blinded by it. After a few seconds flying blind it crashed on the side of the mountain and fell bouncing off the edges and rocks on the mountainside.

Alberto got out three ninja stars and threw them towards the dragon that was right below him. The stars got the dragon behind the head but rather than hurting it, it just made it mad. Just before the Albertos got to it, it turned upside down and waited for them with its legs and claws up towards them. Alberto the dragon open his wings wide to slow down and threw a ball of fire towards the waiting dragon but just missed him. The dragon who was now falling backwards got ready to flame them and opened its mouth. Alberto who had seen this coming threw a ninja star to the dragon's open mouth with an unexpected result. There seem to be a huge electric short-circuit and electric blue sparks came out of the dark dragon's mouth. The dragon turned the right way up and tried to fly but couldn't and just fell as if it had been stunned. Just then Alberto felt a violent jerk and saw one of the other black dragons digging it's claws on the side of his dragon brother. The pain shot through his own side and he screamed in pain and fear. He looked to his side but there was no injuries there. He was feeling his dragon brother's pain. He felt anger at the other dragon and looked for it just in time to see it falling surrounded by one of Alvaro's sticky bubble things. Ashram was further away protecting him from the fifth dragon who ran away when he saw the four free dragons flying towards them.

“Let him go!” Shouted Alvaro, “we have to help Alberto's dragon!”

“There! There's a space between the mountain. Looks like a cave.” Shouted Ashram.

Alberto knew he had to concentrate giving love to his dragon so that he could glide to the cave below them. They crash landed in the cave which thankfully was big enough. Alberto quickly got off to have a look at the wound. They were deep cuts and his dragon brother was bleeding. Just then Alvaro and Ashram arrived.

“Quick! Get some cloth on the wounds to stop the bleeding!” Ashram shouted.

Alberto took his cloth belt off and tried to stop the gush of blood coming out of his dragon brother with it. Alvaro also helped with his shirt and the bleeding slowed down.

“I wish I had my medicine herbs,” said Ashram.

“We could cauterise the wound with some fire,” Alvaro the dragon suggested.

Then Alvaro said, “what have I been thinking of?” Looking angry he stood back and said “Episkeu Maximus!” while pointing the wand at the dragon. A huge bright light surrounded the hurt dragon and then it seemed to go into the wound and disappear.

Only then Alberto realised that the pain that had been on his side all along was now gone. His dragon brother raised his head, looked at him, then looked at the place were the wound had been, and then around the cave.

“What happened? Were are the dark dragons?”

Alberto who was too surprised to say anything ran towards him and hugged him. “I was so scared,” he told his dragon brother. “I though you were going to die. Alvaro made you better with some magic.”

“Thank you,” the dragon says to Alvaro. “I'm glad you know healing magic.”

“Yes Alvaro. That was good magic you did then. Did you also learn that on your TV?” asked Ashram.

“Actually I'm not sure were I got the spell from. Maybe from a film.”

“Remember that the spells are simply a way to focus. It's the intention behind the one that counts. You did very well,” Ashram told him.

“Help!” They all heard in their heads. “My sister needs help!”

“Who said that?” Asked Alvaro.

“I think it's one of the free dragons. Were are they by the way?” Asked Alberto.

“They are gathered below around one of the dark dragons,” replied Ashram, who had walked outside of the cave to the edge of the precipice and was looking down.

Alberto the dragon stood up and said, “let's go! I'm OK now. They need our help.” He then lowered his head to let Alberto climb on him.

Alvaro and Ashram ran towards their dragons, climbed on them and the dragons walked to the opening of the cave.

Alvaro, Alberto and Ashram all jumped off the edge and flew into the precipice on their dragons. The fall the dark dragon had taken had been great and Alberto felt that they were going to be too late.

“Alvaro please get ready to cure it. Look most of the black is gone!” Alberto told his brother, but when they arrive he could already see the energy sipping into the ground and a wisp of bright red light flying around one of the free dragons and then flying up to the clouds. A great sadness fell on Alberto. He knew what had happened. “She's dead,” he told the rest of the group.
It was the dragon blinded by Ashram's arrow.

Once on the ground Alberto slid off his dragon brother and walked towards a dark red dragon who was lying next to the body of the dead female dragon.

“You are her brother aren't you?” He asks.

The dragon turns towards him and says, “yes. She's my sister. I didn't recognise her all dark like that and we fought her. This is so unfair.”

Alberto could feel the pain in the dragons heart like if it was his own. He sat next to them and began to cry quietly. This death, plus seeing his dragon get hurt, was just too much for him.

“This is what we have to stop,” Ashram told him while he sat next to Alberto, putting his arm around him. “You are too young to be here fighting like this but without the dragons birth brothers we are lost.”

“It's true,” the red free dragon told him. “We can't allow the soul slaver to take any more of us. The old dragon king inside you will make us free and happy again. I know it.”

Alberto looked at his human brother, then at his dragon brother and felt the love, pride and respect coming from them. He realised that, even though a boy, he had to stand up and become a warrior like in the stories his dad told them. He now knew that all of them together could and would defeat whatever it was that was causing so much pain. This was not a game any more. It was real life.

Alvaro, remembering a film he saw, surrounded the body of the dead dragon with rocks and then he turned them into crystal, making the body indestructible. For a while and in silence they looked at the transparent tomb.

“It's time to finish this!” Said Alvaro. “Let's go and kick some soul slaver butt!”