Down The River
‘Wake up!’
Billy’s eyes flew open and he sat up straight, adrenaline pumping through his veins. Was something wrong?
Ling-Fei was standing next to him, looking outside the cave. She turned to smile at him. ‘It’s sunrise! Time to go! We need to make the most of the daylight,’ she went on. ‘The days are shorter here. I’ll wake the others.’
‘Good idea,’ said Billy, stretching his arms over his head. ‘The sooner we get going, the better.’ His body ached. He felt as if he could sleep for at least another twelve hours. He’d been anxious the entire time he’d kept watch, jumping at every shadow. When he’d been unable to keep his eyes open and kept dozing off, he’d woken Charlotte to take over. But, despite being exhausted, he hadn’t slept well at all. He’d had terrible nightmares. He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d dreamed about, but the feeling of terror remained.
‘I’m up, I’m up,’ said Dylan as Ling-Fei shook his shoulders. ‘We can’t stay in here, our nice safe cave, a little longer?’ he said, yawning.
‘You’d rather we were out at night? In the dark?’ said Charlotte, brows raised. She’d popped up as soon as Ling-Fei had nudged her.
‘All right, all right. Off into the unknown, probably to our deaths, we go,’ said Dylan.
After a breakfast of peaches and pork buns, the four climbed out of the cave. As they did, Ling-Fei patted it again. ‘Thank you for protecting us,’ she said. She looked at everyone else expectantly. ‘Say thank you.’
Feeling silly, but not wanting to upset Ling-Fei, Billy gave the cave a thumbs up. ‘Thanks,’ he said. Charlotte and Billy did the same.
They stood at the edge of the mountain range, heads tipped back to gauge how high the peaks reached. In the daylight they could better see how foreboding the range appeared. The mountains were inky black, like smoke smudges against the red sky.
‘So do we go up and over?’ Dylan asked after a moment. ‘Too bad none of us got flight as our power.’
‘To be fair, we thought we’d be able to fly on our dragons,’ said Charlotte.
‘There has to be a way to go through them,’ Billy said, eyeing the mountains ahead. He too felt daunted by how far they would have to travel on foot. He had a terrible feeling it was going to take them days to reach the red dome. By then, it might be too late. If they made it at all.
Suddenly, Ling-Fei got down on her hands and knees and put her ear to the ground.
‘Er… what are you doing down there?’ asked Dylan, looking alarmed.
‘Shh!’ said Ling-Fei. ‘I’m listening.’
‘To what?’ Dylan said.
Charlotte thwacked Dylan on the arm. ‘Shush! Let her listen.’
After a minute, Ling-Fei looked up and smiled. ‘There’s a river that cuts through the mountains. It flows south, towards the red dome. If we follow it, I bet we’ll get through to the other side.’
‘And you know this how?’ Dylan said incredulously.
‘Because of her power, you pickle-brain,’ snapped Charlotte.
‘I heard the river in the earth,’ said Ling-Fei patiently. ‘I think this is the right way to go.’
Billy was glad that somebody had an idea what to do. ‘Then that’s what we’ll do,’ he said definitively. ‘We have to trust each other. And our powers. It’s the only way we’re ever going to get to the red dome.’
Ling-Fei was right.
The group only had to walk a few hundred metres before they came upon a river that made a natural pass through the mountain range. Its banks were steep and narrow, but it was still better than attempting to climb the towering mountains around them. They hiked in silence along the riverbank for most of the day, walking in single file, with Ling-Fei at the front and Charlotte at the back. As they marched on, Billy started to feel as if they would never get out of the inky mountain range. That he’d spend the rest of his life walking along this river, surviving on nothing but peaches – the peach trees that had disappeared in the dead forest had re-emerged alongside the river. Billy’s earlier confidence in Ling-Fei and her power began to waver. So she’d been right about there being a river, but did she know how far it went? And in what direction? He wanted to believe her one hundred per cent, but as the day went on doubts kept wiggling into his brain. It didn’t help that Ling-Fei kept stopping to examine rocks, speaking to some and collecting others in her pockets as they went.
Twice they saw nox-wings flying overhead and had to duck behind boulders, waiting, breathless, hoping they hadn’t been discovered.
Billy had lost track of how long they’d been walking when they finally stopped underneath a peach tree to rest and have lunch, all sunburned and hungry.
‘I’m exhausted,’ said Dylan, opening his backpack and passing round some pork buns.
‘I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of pork buns,’ said Charlotte as she took a big bite.
‘That’s good,’ said Dylan, ‘because those and peaches are all we have.’
Billy stretched his legs in front of him as he sat and ate a peach. He didn’t think his body had ever felt so sore. ‘Hopefully we’ll get out of these mountains tonight,’ he said. ‘And closer to the red dome.’
‘Hopefully,’ Charlotte echoed.
‘Hey, what’s that?’ asked Dylan, pointing to a grey blob in the river.
The group stood up and took several steps back.
‘It might be another crab,’ said Charlotte, picking up a nearby stick.
But the animal that hopped out of the water looked nothing like a crab. Billy thought it was more of a cross between a small dog and a fish. Its face was scrunched between two big eyes, and it had a squat body with four stubby legs underneath and a small tail that waggled furiously as it hopped up and down on the shore. A big tongue hung out of its open mouth.
‘It’s a little river pup!’ said Ling-Fei, walking towards it.
‘You know what that animal is?’ asked Billy. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it!’
Ling-Fei laughed. ‘Neither have I, but can’t you tell it’s a river pup? What else would it be? You’re a good river pup, aren’t you?’ she cooed, going closer.
‘Careful, Ling-Fei,’ said Dylan, taking a few steps back.
‘I can tell this creature is gentle,’ said Ling-Fei. She walked right up to the animal and picked it up. ‘Hi, little one!’
The animal gave a small yap and licked Ling-Fei’s face, before squirming out of her grasp. It hopped up and down a few more times, then trotted towards Dylan.
Dylan let out a yell and ran round the group in a circle as the animal chased it.
‘Relax, Dylan!’ said Ling-Fei with a smile. ‘I bet it just wants one of the pork buns.’
Dylan grabbed a pork bun and turned to look at the creature. He moved the bun in a large circle in front of him. The river pup followed the bun’s movements with its whole head.
‘Aha!’ said Dylan. ‘It’s the pork bun you’re after, isn’t it? Not me.’
Dylan slowly crept forward with the pork bun held out in front of him. When he was a few paces away, the river pup leaped up and snatched the bun out of Dylan’s hand, swallowing it whole. It gave a satisfied yap and hopped directly at Dylan, who caught the pup in his arms instinctively.
‘Now you want to cuddle it?’ asked Billy.
‘I couldn’t help it! It was looking at me with those big eyes. Ling-Fei is right,’ said Dylan, as the animal nuzzled his chest. ‘This little pup is sweet.’
‘I knew it,’ said Ling-Fei.
Charlotte looked on warily. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘My mama always said not to pick up strays you find in the street because you don’t know where they’ve been.’
The animal yapped again and licked Dylan on the cheek, leaving a trail of saliva. Dylan made a disgusted face and the other three laughed out loud. It felt good to laugh. It melted some of the tension of feeling lost without their dragons and reminded Billy that, even though they didn’t have much of a plan, at least he wasn’t alone.
The river pup continued to nuzzle Dylan, nosing around on his chest. Dylan laughed harder. ‘That tickles!’
Still laughing, Billy watched the strange creature press its nose harder against Dylan’s chest. The Granite Pearl began to emerge out of the top of Dylan’s suit, and as it did Billy realized with a sharp pang what was about to happen. It was like the moment before a falling glass shatters.
‘Dylan! Your pearl!’ he said, lunging towards Dylan. But it was too late. The animal grabbed the Granite Pearl in its mouth and leaped out of Dylan’s arms. The chain around Dylan’s neck snapped, and the pearl went with the river pup.
Billy felt as if everything was moving in slow motion, like he was trapped in a bad dream. He knew how much they needed the pearls – not only to help them stay alive in this dangerous world, but also to have a chance of defeating the Dragon of Death.
‘No!’ yelled Dylan.
‘Get it!’ said Charlotte.
They chased the river pup as it ran back to the river. It glanced over its shoulder at them, and then jumped in, swimming downstream with its head above water.
‘We’re never going to be able to keep up!’ said Dylan, running along the edge of the river.
‘Billy, you’re a surfer, right?’ Charlotte asked between panting breaths.
‘Yeah,’ said Billy, keeping his eyes on the river pup.
‘So you’re a good swimmer?’ said Charlotte.
‘Sure,’ said Billy. ‘But there’s no way I can swim fast enough to catch that thing.’
‘Do you trust me?’ she asked.
‘Of course,’ Billy said.
Without warning, Charlotte picked Billy up by his waist and spun round twice.
‘What are you doing, Charlotte?’ Billy yelled.
‘Try to keep your body straight and stiff,’ she said. And she flung Billy into the sky.
Billy cut through the air like a javelin. ‘Great thinking!’ Billy yelled as he used his new agility skills to fly through the air and keep himself on track.
‘You can do it, Billy!’ yelled Charlotte. ‘Go! We’ll catch up with you!’
Billy sliced into the water just behind the river pup. He swam as fast as he could, but as hard as he tried he couldn’t reach it. His arms and legs grew heavy, and he knew he’d have to stop and rest soon. Then, as the river pup was almost out of sight, it leaped from the water and dashed into a cave at the side of the river.
‘I’m going to follow it!’ Billy shouted over his shoulder, hoping his friends could still hear him as they fell further and further behind. Billy swam until he reached the cave entrance, pulled himself up on the riverbank and warily went in.
The cave was huge, and completely empty apart from a large pile of rocks in the middle. The river pup was running round the rocks, yelping and looking remarkably pleased with itself.
‘You are a naughty river pup,’ said Billy, walking up to it. Then something caught his eye. ‘What’s this?’ Behind the rocks was a jumble of random items, including a large claw, a bloody fang, a gold coin the size of Billy’s palm and, most importantly, the Granite Pearl. The river pup barked twice, and Billy could have sworn it grinned. ‘Sorry, buddy, you can’t keep this,’ he said, reaching for the pearl.
As his hands closed round it, there was a loud scraping sound. Billy looked over his shoulder and let out a yell.