Dragons vs. Drones by Wesley King

Author:Wesley King
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-02-26T11:57:06+00:00

Chapter

16

Marcus, Dree, and Lourdvang stood together on the exposed ledge outside the Nightwings’ lair, staring at the lush green valley far below them. Multicolored birds were circling over the forest canopy, their shrill voices echoing through the mountains.

Marcus, Dree, and Lourdvang had circled overhead for hours while Dree’s family made the ascent to the cave. It wasn’t an easy climb, but unfortunately without fire-resistant armor, none of them could climb onto Lourdvang. Only when Dree’s family was safely tucked into the cave did Dree, Marcus, and Lourdvang return to the den. They needed a plan.

Dree’s mind was on her father. He had looked ashamed as he stood before Lourdvang and Erdath—afraid to meet their eyes and stealing furtive, bewildered looks, as if he was staring into the past and wondering if he could still return to it. At one point she had seen him wipe his eyes gruffly with his sleeve. She knew he was probably thinking of his dragon, Delpath. Delpath had been killed many years before by hunters, a few years after the split between humans and dragons, and she knew her father still mourned him every day. He refused to even look at the merchant stands in the city. When she thought of Lourdvang being killed for his fangs and scales and heart, she wondered how he could even look at humans without hatred.

Marcus’s thoughts were elsewhere. The flight back to the mountains had been a silent one as he stared out at the devastated landscape. The drones had laid waste to some of the outlying towns as well, leaving hollowed-out ruins and bodies in the soil. Once or twice he thought he saw an almost ghostly black dot slip in and out of the clouds on the horizon. They were watching, waiting, and Marcus still suspected that the attacks would not end until Dracone was devoid of all sentient life. If he was right, the U.S. government could then waltz in through the portal, push the smoking ruins aside, and strip the world bare.

The idea made him feel sick and ashamed. He wondered again if his father had known about all this. If that was why George Brimley had traveled to Dracone, and why he had never come back. Maybe he was just trying to save this beautiful world from his own people. Marcus wanted to believe it so badly that it already seemed true. His father was no traitor. He was a hero that had been betrayed by his own government.

That hope was the only thing keeping Marcus going. His father was somewhere in Dracone, and Marcus was going to find him and help him shut that portal forever. But first he had to stop the drones.

When they returned to the den, Marcus sought out Erdath to ask why he had decided to help. The ancient dragon had taken a long time to answer.

“Because a decade of hate does not erase a thousand years of friendship,” he said at last, smoke curling out of his nostrils as if he was puffing on a cigar.

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