The Land of Roar series

Just then Rose rolls over, yawns and opens her eyes.

‘Rose, I had the weirdest dream last night,’ I say.

‘Other people’s dreams are boring,’ she mutters.

I shake my head. ‘Not this one.’

But she’s not listening. Instead she sits up and stares over my shoulder. ‘What is that?’ she says.

‘What?’ I turn to look. At first I don’t know what she’s talking about. Then I see it. Painted on the wall outside Win’s cave, in big dripping letters:

WHAT’S IN THE BOX?

The words have an instant effect on me. My mouth goes dry and my skin prickles with fear. ‘The Box . . .’ I whisper.

‘I’d almost forgotten about The Box,’ says Rose.

‘Me too.’

Like so many things in Roar, The Box had slipped to the back of my mind. But just seeing the message brings back a jumble of unpleasant memories. I untangle myself from my sleeping bag and shake Win. ‘Wake up. Something’s happened!’

‘What? Where?’ He leaps to his feet. Then he sees the message.

The three of us approach the words as if they might leap off the wall and bite us. Up close we can see the black paint is dripping over the lumpy rock and the letters are jagged and messy.

‘The Box is gone,’ I say. ‘Right?’

Rose nods. ‘Mitch got rid of it years ago.’

‘That writing was not there last night,’ says Win, reaching up and running a finger through a drip of wet paint. ‘Who wrote it?’

‘Who do you think?’ I say. ‘Crowky.’

‘No.’ Rose shakes her head fiercely. ‘It can’t have been Crowky. He’s gone. Win said so.’

‘Plus, he doesn’t know where my cave is,’ says Win. ‘If he did he’d have trashed it years ago.’

‘Listen,’ I say, ‘I know it was Crowky because I saw him. He was here during the night!’

They stare at me in disbelief. ‘Arthur, what are you talking about?’ says Rose.

‘In the middle of the night something woke me up and I saw this . . . shape sitting between you two.’

Rose shudders. ‘How can you be sure it was Crowky and not just some, I don’t know, tree shadow?’

‘I heard rustling feathers, and he spoke to me. He said my name. Tree shadows don’t talk, Rose!’

The two of them continue to stare at me. ‘And that was it?’ says Rose. ‘He just said, “Arthur”?’

I think about the other thing Crowky said, Take me to Home, but something stops me from mentioning it. ‘That was it,’ I say.

Win puts a reassuring arm round my shoulder. ‘What did you do then?’

‘I went back to sleep.’

Rose gasps. ‘Arthur, how could you possibly go back to sleep?’

‘I thought I was dreaming!’ I protest. ‘Win said Crowky was gone. You said he was gone. I thought I was having some freaky middle-of-the-night moment, so I hid in my sleeping bag and . . . went back to sleep.’

‘Nice,’ says Win, nodding. ‘Stealthy. That’s ninja-thinking, mate. If I’m ever scared I pretend to be a rock. Works every time. So what should we do now?’

Rose drops her voice to a whisper. ‘We need to get out of here. That paint is still wet. Crowky couldn’t have finished writing it that long ago. He’s probably hiding nearby, watching us!’

We fall silent as we look around, our eyes jumping from Win’s cave to the tall trees.

‘Where shall we go?’ I say.

Win doesn’t hesitate. ‘The Crow’s Nest. It’s the safest place.’

He’s right. The Crow’s Nest is the perfect fortress: it’s strong, built high on sharp rocks and surrounded by a wild sea. Plus the Lost Girls are there and they’re fearless, and fearless is just what we need right now.

We leap into action.

While Rose whistles for a dragon, I pull on my trainers and Win dashes around his cave finding apples, his wand, a telescope and a hefty-looking wooden sword. He stuffs it all in a rucksack.

‘Ready?’ says Rose grabbing Mitch’s bag. Already I can hear the distant thud of dragon wings.

‘Ready,’ I say.

Then we take one last look at Crowky’s sinister message before jumping off the rock and running into the forest.

Rose’s dragon whistles all sound the same to me, but the dragons know who she’s calling, and this time, it’s Pickle and Vlad who appear in the sky.

At first they’re just blobs on the horizon – one red, and one blue – but then we can make out their wings and swinging tails. I glance back at the forest and Win’s cave, urging them to hurry up.

I needn’t worry. The dragons are so eager to see Rose that soon they’re diving towards us, and landing with a crash. Win and I step backwards, but Rose stays exactly where she is, still and calm, waiting for her dragons to come to her.

They race forward and nuzzle their snouts against her face. She strokes their necks and her touch turns them into overexcited puppies. They flop to the ground and stick out their legs so she can scratch their scaly stomachs.

Then she starts talking to them in her Obby Dobby language, making the dragons’ eyes half close and licks of fire roll from their happy gaping mouths. ‘Gobood boboys!’ she says, ‘Gobood boboys!’

‘That’s got to be hot,’ says Win as Rose is enveloped in a cloud of smoke.

She reappears, wiping soot and sweat from her face. ‘I’ve told them that we need to go to the Crow’s Nest,’ she says. ‘I’ll take Pickle and you two can have Vlad. Can you still remember how to fly a dragon, Arthur?’

I swallow. I want to get away from here, but right now Vlad is glaring at me through narrowed eyes. ‘Yep,’ I say.

‘So what are you waiting for?’ says Rose. ‘Get on his back!’

‘Come on,’ says Win, pulling me forward.

We approach Vlad and try to climb his bulging side. But it’s hard, like scrambling up a roasting boulder, and we keep slipping down. Eventually, I manage to grab hold of a spike and pull myself up. Win does the same.

It’s much easier for Rose. She simply steps on to Pickle’s dipped head, walks along his neck and settles down behind his ears. ‘Lobet’s gobo!’ she says, and obediently Pickle stands up and starts to trot across the meadow.

‘Lobet’s gobo!’ I say to Vlad, imitating Rose’s confident voice.

Vlad stays exactly where he is.

Last time we were in Roar I discovered that all I needed to do to speak Rose’s mysterious dragon language was add ‘ob’ before each vowel sound. Only this time it doesn’t seem to be working. I try again. ‘Lobet’s gobo, Vlad!’

He turns to look at me. Smoke seeps from between his teeth and a rumble starts somewhere deep inside him. This means he’s building up a great big bellyful of fire. I really wish he’d move his jaws away from the direction of my face. ‘Gobood boboy,’ I say patting his head. ‘Robise.’

Still he doesn’t move a muscle. He just stares at me as if he hates my guts and is really angry that his brother’s got Rose on his back while he’s stuck with me and Win.

‘Arthur, are you sure you know what you’re doing?’ asks Win.

I nod. ‘I’ve just got to show him who’s boss,’ I say, then I clear my throat, sit up a little taller and shout, ‘Robise! ROBISE!’ Vlad’s rumble has reached a crescendo and my body is vibrating so much my teeth are chattering. His jaws creep open and I see fire glowing in his throat. Desperately I add, ‘Plobease!’

With a flick of his head Vlad decides to obey. He stands, huffs out some smoke, then starts to jog after his brother.

Win and I slam up and down on his hot scales. Ahead of us Pickle jumps and takes off, flying low to the ground. I squeeze my knees round Vlad and hold on tight to the spike. It’s almost impossible to believe that this huge, heavy creature could ever lift up in the air, but after a few more steps, he leaps forward, stretches his wings . . . and we’re off!

‘We are flying a dragon!’ shouts Win, followed by a loud ‘WAHOOO!’

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