Loren gazed at the gem sparkling like far away stars between her fingers.

“It’s ugly,” said Cat, curling her lip. The lie fell easily from her tongue as her sister deftly moved the peridot well out of her reach. “It’s too big.”

Loren ignored her. “It’s like dragon scales,” she said, captivated by the flickers dancing across the stone cupped in the curve of her palm. “So beautiful.”

“Just be careful with it,” warned Will with an impish grin, leaning against the wall. “It’s really old.”

Sunlight streamed through the bedroom window shimmering across the gem, and Loren stared at it, entranced. She had loved the necklace since the first moment she’d prised open her mother’s jewellery box and clung to stories about its discovery many years ago. Now she perched on the bed, admiring and coveting the treasured stone as she turned it within her fingers.

Her shoulders quivered as a spark flew down her spine, and she rolled the stone between her thumb and forefinger. It was the most captivating green she’d ever seen. Its surface radiated the same colour as Loren’s eyes. She glanced away from the jewel catching her younger sister’s gaze. Envy rested behind Cat’s hazel eyes and Loren harboured an uncomfortable pang of guilt, but not enough to prevent her from reaching up to fasten the chain about her own neck. The stone, rough cut and just a little bigger than a large walnut, hung with satisfying weight, and Loren brushed her fingers tenderly across its cold planes.

Light shifted.

Loren sensed the room alter and crack. Bewildered, she watched her younger brother lunge forward, alarm twisting his face, and then all the shadows disappeared. Cat’s hands flailed wildly as she unexpectedly grabbed Loren’s shoulder. Pain shot through her upper arm as her sister’s grip tightened. White fire reflected in Cat’s wide eyes and Loren winced as an excruciating, piercing whine filled the room.

Before Loren had time to think Will shoved them both aside, right off the bed. He bellowed in their faces as an arcing flame rode the ray of sunshine, flashing across the room, narrowly missing Loren’s face. Heat seared her cheek, and she shrieked as she tumbled through empty air.

Loren grabbed helplessly at the void. Her stomach flipped, and her head pounded as she tried to snatch a handful of cotton bedcovers before darkness engulfed her. Then she hit the ground hard.

Dazed by the impact and with glaring white light burning through her head, she slid painfully down a rough grassy hill. She landed on all fours at the bottom of a damp hollow filled with spongy moss and a painful slab of grey limestone. She scrambled to her feet, rubbing her bruised hip and thigh, and looked around. She blinked, dizzy and disoriented. “What the—” The chill struck first, then the dazzling light, and then a wild beating sound made her glance skyward.

“Get down!” Will seized her wrist and yanked hard. “Now!”

Blinded by the sun, confused, and deafened by the cacophony raging in the skies above, she allowed her brother to pull her arm almost out of its socket. Her feet slipped and a whooshing sound zipped past her head. A huge fizzing hailstone took a chunk out of the earth and dirt stung her legs through her jeans. “Ouch!” she cried, stopping dead to stare at the ball of ice rolling to a stop at her feet. She stared frantically, taking in the scorched grass, blackened thistles, and scattered fires across the hillside. In the few moments since landing she had no idea where she was or what was happening, and as the noise above rumbled on she gazed up into the sky.

“What is that?” She wildly waved her free arm. “Where are we?”

“Don’t!” Will slapped her hand. “Don’t draw attention,” he hissed. “We have to move!”

“Over here!” Cat grabbed her sister’s hand and they stumbled towards a crop of rocks and long grass.

Again, Loren cast her eyes upward, and high in the cloudless blue sky a clash of red and white streaked and wheeled, and the heavens flashed and sizzled.

“Is that? What the—” She was lost for words, and her head spun like she had vertigo.

“Dragons!” yelled Cat, tripping over her legs and diving towards the wiry grass. Will followed, dragging Loren with him as he slid down on his knees and pulled both sisters behind slate-grey boulders.

“Dragons?” Loren crouched, trying to catch her breath, and wrinkled her nose against the acrid smell. “But dragons don’t exist! What’s burning—and where are we?”

Dragons exist, a panicked screech rose from amid the singed grass at Loren’s feet, and Welsh Reds are treacherous!

“Did you hear that?” Loren hissed and peered at the coarse blades trying to ignore how much her head thumped.

“Hear what?” Will shrugged, ducking instinctively as another fireball erupted high above them amid sparkling showers of ice.

G-Get off me! yelped a voice in Loren’s head. She blinked and glanced down to see a wriggling olive-green lizard desperately trying to free the tip of its tail wedged beneath Cat’s boot. Cat started as a flash of fire coursed across the sky, and Loren hurriedly reached down, grabbing at the lizard’s rear as it escaped from beneath her sister’s heel.

Don’t touch my t-tail! Took me weeks to g-grow that one back! it shrieked, its voice reverberating in Loren’s mind.

“The lizard talks,” Loren muttered, scooping it up, not sure whether to watch the spitting skies above or the little creature struggling within her hand, its tiny feet tickling her palm.

The what? I’m a lechrad! I’m Orca! it cried, pushing through her fingers, and leaping out of her hand. It darted across the boulder searching for a crevice, but Loren was too quick and grabbed it in a gentle pinch between her fingers.

“Can you two not hear him?” Loren’s brow furrowed as she stared at the tiny lechrad attempting to locate the common sense that definitely eluded her.

Cat turned as the creature in her sister’s hands finally caught her attention. “Hear who?” she asked, trying to raise her voice above the noise.

“This!” hissed Loren. “The lizard!”

Cat poked the lechrad, and he yelped and scurried up Loren’s arm. “I heard it screech, that’s all,” said Cat.

“Then listen again!” Loren carefully guided him back down her arm to cradle him in her hands. At Loren’s irrational insistence all three leaned close, staring into the creature’s vivid violet eyes.

W-What are you doing out here blatantly advertising yourselves to the Reds? he asked with deceptive boldness. He shivered, gulped, and nervously flicked his long pink tongue. Miniscule beads of water decorated his body like a shimmer of autumn mist across his scales.

“Seriously? You can’t hear him?” asked Loren still trying to control her brimming incredulity.

Cat leaned against Loren and roughly pushed away the gemstone swinging from her sister’s neck to get a better look at the trembling creature. “He squeaks, that’s all,” she said.

Hide! Orca begged. We have to hide!

“I heard that!” cried Cat, sitting back on her knees. “He spoke!”

“That’s what I said!” Loren grinned, relieved that she could now rule out insanity. “I hear him too!”

Will flinched as the skies rang with dragon screams and fire right above their heads. “None of this makes sense,” he began, “and you lot going on about a talking lizard makes even less sense.”

Cat gripped Loren’s arm and squealed. “Can’t you hear him, Will?”

“Nothing!” said Will.

“Get off!” Loren swiped at her sister, sharply pushing her away as Cat prodded the creature on her hand.

“Why not?” demanded Cat. “Why can’t he hear you?”

It’s the stone around her neck. The lechrad flicked the air with his tongue. Spirit g-gems made interspecies c-communication possible centuries ago. He should be able t-to hear me too.

Loren looked down at the stone at her breast. She wasn’t sure if it still glowed like green fire or if the bright sun just flashed like lightning upon it. She stroked the gem and gasped. Her fingers brushed a surface of velvet, not the cold hard crystal she’d always felt before. She frowned and settled back against the uncomfortable grey rocks. Cat burrowed beside her and Will slid closer on his knees. “Touch the stone,” said Loren, pulling her brother’s hand up towards the gem.

Will let out a gasp. “It almost feels fluid.”

…and now you can hear me. The lechrad paced upon Loren’s palm.

“Wow! He speaks! It’s in my mind, but I can hear him,” cried Will. He shook his head and the girls grinned.

F-Finally! We need to, to g-get out of here!

“We can’t with those up there! What exactly are they?” demanded Loren, waving at the dragons in the sky.

Welsh Reds—and Shivrins! He hissed, recoiling in disbelief, his next words lost within the sound of splintering ice.

Loren closed her hand around the creature and peered over the boulder. Flames stained the air, sparks flew, and explosions riddled the skies.

“How did we get here?” she asked, shivering as a cold gust swept across the rocks. “And where are we?” Loren trembled and glanced back at the smouldering hillside. She frowned at the rocks and tors and bit her lip. “I know where we are, but I have no idea how we came to be here,” she added, perplexed.

“Where are we?” asked Cat, panic building in her voice as she clutched her sister’s arm.

“The Black Mountain,” said Will, rising to his feet and turning full circle to take in their surroundings as recognition hit him.

G-Get down! shrieked the lechrad, struggling to escape Loren’s grip as Will ducked again. I don’t want to be d-dinner!

“You’re not big enough to be d-dinner,” teased Cat, glancing up at the dragon battle and covering her ears as the noise increased. She grabbed at her brother’s arm and pulled him back down to the crook in the rocks.

“How on earth d-did we g-get here?” Loren’s teeth chattered as the chill on top of the mountain howled about the rocks and drove into her bones. Misery began to beat the sense of foreboding that lurked within her. Loren’s anxiety had been masked by adrenaline up until this point, but now alarm and apprehension were overcome by sheer dread and confusion.

Will rose back up on his knees stretching to look across the mountain and towards the valley below. He began to stand and Orca screeched again. C-C-Can you please stop attracting Reds!

“Will, get down! Listen! How do we get away from those dragons up there then?” Loren baulked, as yet more frozen rocks bounded down the slope landing at their feet in the hollow of boulders.

Hide for a bit and don’t show yourselves, advised the jittery lechrad.

“You’re kidding, right?” said Loren. “I want to get off this mountain.”

Well, off you g-go then. I’m just going t-to hide here for a bit, Orca stuttered.

Loren grabbed his tail. “I don’t think so.”

Orca panicked and struggled wildly for a moment, but he had no wish to lose his tail.

“Loren! You can let him go,” said Will, gazing with apology at the creature gripped inside his sister’s hand.

“I’m sorry!” said Loren, her voice terse and laced with sarcasm. “We’ve been dumped on a mountain with dragons and talking lizards, and you want me to let him go? He talks! We need to work out what’s going on here. Lizards don’t talk, do they! Do they?” She stared dubiously at her brother. “Who set all this up? Are you in on this?”

“This has nothing to do with me! And, no, I have no idea what’s going on,” he began, “but we know where we are, we can get home, or go and get help, call someone.”

“Not with them up there! How is that done?” Loren flinched as a hail of frozen bullets sprayed the boulders behind them. “What’s happening up there, then? It looks so real!” She brought the lechrad up to her face, studying him closely, searching for seams and mechanics. “You look so real!”

The lechrad shivered and flinched. Unrest, Sh-Shivrins shouldn’t be this far down…They’ve been attacking further west but coming here is suicide.

“We come from over there, we live over there! I haven’t seen them before! And why is it suicide?” said Loren, trying to swallow her panic.

Orca shivered violently again. Welsh Reds, they’re the, the red ones. He ignored Loren’s groan. They throw fire, huge flames, and Shivrins, well… He frowned. There are more of them, but they’re smaller and they’re ice dragons; they only fight with ice and hail. Would you mix fire and ice?

“Not really.” Will shrugged. “So, why are Shivrins fighting something they can’t defeat?” Will ignored his sister’s snort of derision and mutters of contempt.

Orca tried to stop shaking as he took a deep breath. I don’t know, but I wouldn’t pick a fight with Reds. You know we have to hide or g-get away, don’t you? And c-can you please stop holding my tail so tight?

Loren glared. “I don’t believe all this. Something’s not right here at all.” She stared at the surrounding rocks. Her head spun as she searched for irregularities and revealing signs. “Where are the hidden cameras?”

I’m minding my own business—happily avoiding missiles from on high—and I t-try to help you while you’re standing d-directly in the line of fire, and this, this is what I get? He sniffed and tried to puff out his golden chest. Well, thank you.

“And I’m not sorry. Something’s not right here. I mean, who’s voicing you for a start?” insisted Loren, shaking her head and peering over the rocks, looking for tell-tale clues of an elaborate prank.

“You could bite her,” Cat offered. “Then she might let you go.”

“Cat!” Loren objected. “That’s not helpful!”

Cat shrugged, but Orca decided not to attack the hand that still gripped his precious tail.

An almighty explosion wracked the sky above and screams of rage filled the air. Shards of ice shattered as they hurtled to the ground and everybody ducked, squeezing as close as they could against the cleft in the stone. Loren barely noticed Orca wriggle out of her grip. She stared through a fissure and Will whispered over her shoulder. “Wow, those Welsh Reds are really making minced meat out of the little white ones. I mean it, I think they’re giving up, they don’t stand a chance!”

“You’re actually buying this?” hissed Loren, her fingers white against the grey rock, her heart hammering in her chest.

Orca scrabbled in the grass and climbed up the boulder to look for himself. Fire and ice! You’re right, they’re fleeing for their lives. We need to g-go now, right now! The lechrad leapt onto Will’s arm and scampered up his sleeve, perching on his shoulder. Let’s g-go, quick as you can, while they’re busy.

Will grabbed Cat’s hand and they began to run, heading for the road, without pausing to look back.

Loren leapt to her feet and turned to follow, still plagued by thoughts of a sophisticated hoax, when something whistled by her ear and sickening nausea rose in her stomach as pain tore through her shoulder. Her scream was drowned by the sound of dragon roars as agony spread through her arm and neck. She instinctively reached up, glancing sideways, and saw an icicle embedded in her left shoulder. Pain surged like electricity and tears streaked down her cheeks as she grabbed the frozen spike and wrenched it out. Loren snarled, grimacing in pain, and tossed the barb aside, hearing it shatter on impact. She ran, gripping her injured shoulder with her other hand, feeling the warmth of free-flowing blood slipping through her fingers. She hurriedly pushed her sleeve up her arm, turning the material so it made a tight, thick pad over the stab wound. She ground her teeth and ignored the bile in her throat. This was no hoax.

She chased after her siblings, determined to escape despite her leaden legs and pounding head, undaunted by the copious amounts of blood soaking through her top. She flinched and gripped her wounded shoulder with her arm crossed over her chest. Adrenaline pushed her on, tingling through her muscles, as the noise of battle still rang in her ears and tortured shrieks of death chilled her.

Fear pushed them on as they ran across springy, uneven grass, trying to stay balanced, and then Will stopped, pulling up sharp. Loren yelled, “Why are you stopping?”

“Look!” He stared ahead rooted to the spot. “You’re right, Loren! This is wrong, all wrong.”

Loren winced as her shoulder throbbed fiercely and followed his gaze. She echoed his intake of breath. She’d been so glazed in her pain that all she’d thought about was putting one foot in front of the other. Now she saw the view ahead from the limestone prominence they stood upon, and both fear and confusion merged with the pain hammering in her head.

They’d been running across the bleak mountain, a vaguely familiar path, searching for the road and keen to leave the dragons behind. They hadn’t found the road, but they had reached the edge of the mountain, where the long, winding road should have started down the steep incline. Loren shook her head, her dark hair settling like a curtain about her shoulders, cloaking her wound. She gazed, dumbstruck.

“Where did all the water come from?” Cat dropped to her knees as she stared out across the water-filled valley. “Where’s the road?”

What road? asked Orca.

“The one that’s supposed to be here.” Loren waved her uninjured arm in front of her.

Before them, grass stretched down the hillside; sheep and boulders dotted across the valley as far as they could see right down to the water’s edge. A mournful cry echoed across the land and the sheep close by suddenly bolted, barrelling across the grass away from them.

Orca dug his needle-sharp claws into Will’s shoulder and dipped as low as he could, hugging the boy’s neck. Whop! Whop!

Loren followed the lechrad’s gaze and fire swooped at them. She screamed, grabbed Cat, and skidded to the ground. Will dragged them both behind a dry stone wall. Loren peered over it to see a magnificent rubescent wing almost hit the ground. Dust spiralled, and through the cloud she saw a Welsh Red hover above the sheep. Fire scorched through its flared nostrils and its thunderous roar echoed. Sheep squealed, stumbling wildly. The dragon lowered one crimson leg and plucked a sheep. Its blood-red claw cleanly skewered the charred sheep’s body. The creature snorted and wriggled for a few sickening moments then stopped struggling. The Red dipped its wings and as it launched back into the sky, its vermilion scales blazed in the sun.

Will broke the sudden silence. “Flame grilled,” he said shakily. “Now that’s what I call fast food!”