The Dragon Tree (27 page)

             
Even while he planned the savagery he would momentarily inflict on the red dragon, he remembered that there was a human being under the hideous exterior. Whoever it was at the bottom of the slope – whoever it was who hissed at Billy and readied himself to do battle – he was someone’s son or brother. Someone’s friend.

             
Maybe even someone’s father.

             
Can you hear me?
Billy projected the question toward the mind of the red dragon. He still detected only the ripple, but he had to try.
I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if you keep fighting.

             
The red dragon raised his head and leveled his deep-set eyes at Billy. There was something there. Recognition or defiance, Billy couldn’t be sure.

             
Hiroki drifted down and landed beside Billy. They stood wing-to-wing thirty feet above the red dragon and dug their claws into the dirt. The only sound was their heavy breathing and a low growl from the red dragon.

             
We can’t do this, Billy. We have to let him go.

             
I know, Hiro.

             
In tandem, Billy and Hiroki inched down the slope.

             
The red dragon tilted his head to one side as if straining to hear their telepathic conversation. The long slit of his mouth turned up even more at the corners in a macabre smile. He spread his wings and rubbed them against the trees just behind him, then turned and opened his jaws.

             
The flames that erupted from the red dragon’s throat were so hot they were white. He slowly turned his head to aim the flames across a twenty-foot wide stretch of trees. The red dragon was directing the flames so forcefully that they blew past the first row of trees and ignited a great many more.

             
Billy and Hiroki froze where they stood, hypnotized by the horrible beauty of the licking white flames. Only when the red dragon flapped its battered wings and once again took to the air did Hiroki finally come to his senses.

             
He’ll burn the whole forest down.

             
The red dragon screeched and took to the sky.

             
Billy raced after him.

***

              As soon as her transformation in the woods was complete, Eva felt a strong telepathic pull from the mountains. It was frighteningly chaotic, like the static between radio stations. But a few scattered syllables rose out of the static and entered her mind. She couldn’t make out words, but she was sure of the voices.

             
Billy and Hiro. I’m coming.

             
She climbed up a thick tree trunk and pushed her head through the tree’s uppermost boughs. Despite the cover of the forest, she was still in a residential neighborhood and saw houses and cars.

             
Why do I have to be yellow?!

             
There was no choice. She had to go.

             
She slowly unfurled her wings above the trees and pulled her hindquarters and tail out of the tree’s boughs. She knew she would have to climb up to the clouds quickly, so that anyone who caught a glimpse of her would get only a glimpse. If she was lucky, they would doubt their own eyes.

             
Remember, you have camouflage… Just go!

             
She leapt skyward.

              Her impression of Billy and Hiroki’s minds grew stronger as she flew north. As it turned out, she could have found them by sight alone.

             
Smoke billowed up from the trees in great plumes. As she closed in on the source of the smoke she saw a bare patch of ground. It was difficult to make out clearly but the angle of the slope brought memories of her last dawn transformation rushing back.

             
The lumber site.

             
She swung wide of the site to avoid inhaling the smoke and scanned the ground for any sign of her friends. And then…

             
Get out of here, Eva!

             
It was Hiroki’s voice in her mind but it sounded different than before. His dragon growl had found its way into his telepathic projection and she recoiled at his intensity. But she knew that if something had rattled Hiroki enough for him to sound that way the danger must be great. She dipped her head and coasted down to the hilltop.

             
Hiroki was at the bottom of the slope facing a wall of fire. He was ripping the ground apart with his claws and flapping his wings furiously. The cyclone he created sent the dirt flying into the flames.

             
He’s trying to put out the fire. It will never work.

             
Eva scanned the site for something she could use to help Hiroki. Her black eyes landed on the metal storage container she once cowered behind to hide her nakedness. With a rush of adrenaline she scrabbled toward the container and barreled into it. It flipped onto its side, badly dented. She jumped onto the dented side and tore into the metal with her claws. In a matter of seconds she had ripped off the entire side sheet and had turned the container into a usable tool.

             
I said go, Eva!

             
Hiroki was still working furiously at the bottom of the hill but had turned to look up at her. There was anger in his eyes, but fear as well.

             
I’m not leaving without you, Hiro!

             
Eva latched onto the storage container and rolled it on its corner to dump out its contents. Then she flapped her wings and rose twenty feet above the air with the container dangling from her talons. It was heavy – a greater burden for her than the Buick had been for Billy – but her wings were strong and she was determined. She flew down the slope, dragging the open side of the container. It tore into the ground and rapidly filled with dirt.

             
She pulled up and flew past Hiroki, rising to a height of fifty feet to avoid the flames still consuming the trees. Then she used all her strength to flip the container in midair and dump its contents onto the fire.

             
Hiroki looked up at her and screeched happily.

             
We can do this together, Hiro!

             
Eva hauled the empty container back to the slope to fill it again.

***

              Billy hung back fifty yards as the red dragon once again flew erratically. It was due to pain this time, not strategy. When Billy tackled the red dragon out of the sky before, the violence of the impact had obviously done real damage. One of the dragon’s legs dangled haphazardly as he flew and he seemed to hold one wing close to his ribs.

             
You know you can’t lose me. Where are you taking me?

             
They were east of Alpine where there were no residential areas. But this patch of land was spotted with industrial complexes. There were processing plants for lumber, canneries for seafood and warehouses that could have held almost anything. At this time of night the complexes should be deserted, but Billy still drifted higher reflexively. If he caught any sight of a human on the ground, he could be in the clouds in seconds.

             
The red dragon began a slow, steady descent. He was headed directly toward a junkyard littered with rusty vehicles. There were passenger vehicles, industrial vehicles and even a few boats. A two-story warehouse loomed large at the back of the yard, its sheet metal doors rolled up to give access to its dark interior.

             
Billy watched the red dragon adjust his course and head straight for the warehouse. He hung back, his heart racing, as the red dragon landed awkwardly and scurried inside the building.

             
This is stupid, man. You can’t go down there.

             
He dipped his left wing and started to circle back the way he came, but continued the spin until he was once again flying toward the junkyard.

             
Then again, this might be the best chance you ever get. While he’s hurt.

             
He scanned the dark ground once again and saw no signs of human activity. He flared his nostrils hoping to pick up the odor of people, but again found nothing. The only sign he was not alone was the persistent ripple of telepathic energy emanating from the red dragon.

             
He tucked his wings and swooped down. He cautiously landed to the side of the warehouse and looked around again. Still nothing. His talons tapped on the asphalt as he crept toward the black opening of the warehouse and stepped inside.

***

              The smoke was still so heavy that people could surely see it all the way in Alpine. Forest fires weren’t common in such a wet region, but the sight of so much smoke would inspire fear in town. Dozens must have called 911.

             
By the time the Parks Department helicopter cut a path toward the lumber site – a half-dozen fire trucks following via winding mountain roads – the flames were already extinguished and Eva and Hiroki were miles away. They were up in the clouds above Alpine, safely out of view.

             
Where did Billy go, Hiro?

             
Hiroki turned his heavy head toward her.
I can’t sense him
.

             
He had quickly told Eva all about the red dragon and she was desperately worried about Billy. He shouldn’t have chased the creature and he shouldn’t try to fight it again without Hiroki and Eva at his side. Billy’s recklessness was infuriating, but she was too scared to be truly angry with him.

             
What does he think he’s going to do, Hiro? Kill the red dragon?

             
Hiroki screeched.
If he does he’ll be killing a person, too.

             
Hiroki veered off to the north, back toward the forest road he had raced along with Billy earlier that night. He couldn’t see his Buick through the dense foliage, but he picked up the faint odor of dragon that had permanently soaked into his vehicle.

             
It wasn’t yet midnight, but Hiroki felt his body readying for a transformation. He had changed because of his anger – not because of the setting sun – and it seemed the change could only last as long as his fury.

             
I’m changing back… Have to get somewhere safe.

             
We can’t leave him out there all alone
, Eva protested.

             
There’s nothing we can do now
, Hiroki insisted.
I’ve got a small jar of dragon leaf powder in the glove box and clothes in the trunk. Come on.

             
As Hiroki descended to the dark mountain road, Eva thought she saw his body begin to shrink. Amazed that the transformation could happen mid-flight, she followed him down.

***

              The only light in the warehouse was a red bulb that pulsed above a fire extinguisher. It cast an eerie red glow on the concrete block walls and metal girders that ran up to the ceiling. One wall was lined with low tables supporting reclaimed ship parts. The entire space smelled like seawater and an uncoiled hose dripped into a floor drain.

             
The
Alpine Angel
filled the rest of the warehouse.

             
The fishing trawler was larger than Billy, but one side of the hull had buckled and collapsed inward when he and Hiroki pushed it onto the harbor beach. Someone had taken a torch to the damaged area and had cut away a section of metal, leaving a gaping hole in the belly of the ship.

             
The only place he can hide.

             
Billy crawled forward with his head low to the ground. He opened his jaws wide and readied his throat. If the red dragon vaulted out of the ship’s bowels with slashing claws Billy would blast him with searing white flame. He placed one heavy paw on the edge of the hull and the whole ship rolled a few feet toward him. The metal under his claws screeched as it bent, alerting the red dragon to his presence. But it didn’t matter now. They both knew there was no escaping this confrontation.

             
Most of the boat’s guts had already been cleared away to leave an open space, but the partial deck above Billy squeezed him into a low crawl. All of his senses were on high alert.