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  "Who, the Brown Dragons?"

  "No, the Military Council; I mean, they allowed him to go. He left some time ago. About a week ago now."

  "And you've waited this long to tell me?" Perak asked incredulously.

  Jerome glared at him. "I've waited for nothing. It hasn't been possible to come any earlier. Besides, I can't see how he would slip through."

  "Is this boy one of the ones blown over into our territory? You said they were your classmates."

  Jerome shook his head. "No, he was the one that flew after them to bring them back."

  Perak's eyes widened. "He flew into our territory? And made it back?"

  Jerome nodded. "Everyone is a little surprised about that story. He flew in, undetected, found the four that had been blown in, and escorted them out. He is an unusually good flier, and I can't overstate that; he really is exceptional. He was the one that intervened during that failed attack on Furnace."

  Perak frowned and started pacing back and forth. "The less said about that mess the better. Anyway, so this boy has slipped through and fought with our men before? I think you underestimate him. This plan with the Browns will be treated seriously. Let me know if you hear anything about this boy; even rumours."

  Jerome nodded. "I'll keep my eyes open, as always. When do you want the next update?"

  "As soon as you can," Perak replied. "I'll send a minion—as you put it—here every day until the invasion. I want regular updates. Come as often as you can."

  "As you wish. It's harder to get here than to our old meeting place and it takes longer, but at least it's safe."

  Perak ignored him, not caring for his opinion on the location. "Go! I'll leave here shortly, so stay low so you're not seen near here. Leave now!"

  Jerome took to the air, glad to be away from Perak. He'd known him for many years, but could never consider him a friend. Perak had once tried to appear as one, but gave up the act years ago and had grown colder and harsher over time. Jerome had asked Perak whether he would be informed in advance of the invasion to ensure that he could get to safety, but Perak had merely replied that disclosing this information would be too big a risk—in case he was caught and tortured. He had begun to suspect that what Perak actually thought was that after the invasion, Jerome would no longer be of any use, and if he was accidentally killed then there was no great loss. No, Perak was not someone to consider a friend or to put any trust in. Far from it.

  Chapter 11 - Beginning the invasion

  Perak had not been completely honest with Jerome—something that didn't trouble him in the slightest. The invasion wasn't about to start; it had already begun. He stood on top of a raised platform, seven of his division commanders flanking him as he surveyed his troops. Several thousands were standing to attention in front of him, neatly lined up and standing motionless, awaiting the order to depart. He looked up to the sky and saw a single dragon gliding towards him, a familiar and welcome arrival. Perak motioned to his division commanders to make room for it to land and transform. Moments later, he was standing next to General Zygar, the legendary head of the military, and by extension, leader of the Blue Dragon nation.

  "Colonel, I see your troops are ready to leave," Zygar commented. "How many do you have departing today?"

  "There are four hundred and forty separate missions leaving today, comprising of six hundred and twenty-three squads, making a total of—"

  "Four thousand three hundred and sixty-one men," Zygar finished his sentence. "That's a lot of individual missions, Colonel."

  Perak nodded proudly. "It is. Each one meticulously planned down to the last detail."

  "This is the third day we've sent these men out," Zygar said. "How many troops were there on the previous days?"

  Perak smiled at the test. He knew all these answers off by heart, having reviewed each mission with his division commanders.

  "Five thousand eight hundred and twenty-four the first day and three thousand six hundred and sixty-one the second day, so a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty-five squads have already been sent out on a total of four hundred and fifty-two missions."

  Zygar nodded. "So, much smaller targets for the men leaving today?"

  Perak nodded. "Lots of small hamlets with just a handful of residents. The sort of thing that would normally be overlooked. I plan to overlook nothing. All the attacks will occur simultaneously and when they do, we will sweep away all traces of the Red Dragons from the countryside surrounding their towns and cities. When Colonel Tarek leads the main attacks on the cities, there will be no surprises from behind, no forgotten groups of Red Dragons that strike at us when we least expect it. And there will be no advance warning as we approach, no one to see us until we are very near—when it is too late."

  Zygar smiled. "Very good, Colonel. Is it time for them to leave?"

  Perak nodded and walked towards the edge of the platform to give the signal to depart, an almost imperceptible nod to one of his division commanders. A loud bell was sounded, and every man began to transform. Perak watched as the grassy plain in front of him rapidly turned blue. Within ten seconds, all dragons were lined up and standing to attention. Perak signalled again and as soon as the bell sounded, all of the dragons took off, squads flying in unison and filling the air with the sound of flapping wings. From here groups of dragons would head for points all along the border where, when night fell, they would sneak into the Red Dragon's territory and begin their long treks towards their targets. Within a few minutes, they were all out of sight.

  Zygar turned to face him. "Excellent work, Perak. Have we had any return yet?"

  "None, which is far better than I expected. Unless whole squads have been caught and killed, which is unlikely, all have remained undetected. Of course, they are still three days away from their targets, but I am still very pleased with the progress."

  "Excellent. Keep me updated if anything changes."

  "Of course, sir. How are the rest of the preparations going?"

  "Very smoothly. Colonel Tarek is as organised as you and will be ready ahead of time. Colonel Kessick… well, he will be ready."

  Perak sneered at the mention of Kessick. The pleasure of catching up with Tarek and becoming a colonel had been soured by the knowledge that Kessick had also been promoted. He still couldn't understand how Zygar thought that buffoon deserved to have been made a division commander, let alone a colonel.

  "Have you despatched another messenger to your spy?" Zygar asked.

  "Yes, sir. We're sure the last one didn't make it, which was unfortunate timing. We should have an update tomorrow evening."

  Zygar nodded. "Very well. It is less than ideal but not totally unexpected. I will be here for that."

  "Journeying so deep into their territory was always going to be risky," Perak admitted. "But it has been worth it; without the spy we would not have known all that we do know about their city defences."

  "Nor would we have been aware of the plan to bring in the Brown Dragons."

  "A plan that may not come to much," Perak replied dismissively. "We have had no news of any attempt to cross our borders and even if they did try, I doubt they would succeed. We know where he was due to try to cross the border, and we've had many dragons camped near there for some time. They would have spotted him."

  "Maybe, although I suspect that was a ruse; we know that the boy was aware of the spy; he could have given the Council a false route. Indeed, I would be surprised if he had not. I would not rule out the Browns."

  Perak shrugged. "They will not act until the war has begun; by then, we will have destroyed half of the Red cities."

  Zygar smiled. "I applaud your confidence and I look forwards to reading your spy's report. Spare no effort to ensure that we hear from him this time. Till then, Colonel."

  "General, till then."

  Chapter 12 - The Rescue Mission

  "It's been decided," Mark said, walking into Arthur's room without knocking, John trailing behind him. "Both John and I will be
going to the Blue Kingdom to find this prison camp. Believe it or not, John has the most direct experience with Blue Dragons in the country."

  "We've had no spies there for years," John explained. "Anything we knew about them is likely to be very out of date."

  "That seems to be remarkably stupid," Jenna commented. "I mean, they're the largest and most aggressive country. Surely you should be putting more spies there than anywhere else."

  John and Mark looked at each other before bursting out laughing.

  "Jenna," Mark said between laughs. "Please tell me, how many neighbouring countries do you have?"

  "Three," she replied. "No, two."

  "Yeah, exactly. Are you sure you're in a position to criticise our foreign intelligence?"

  Jenna coloured quickly and glared at him. "Whatever. See how much you're laughing when you're there and haven't a clue where you're going."

  "Thanks, Jenna," Mark replied. "So encouraging. Has anyone else got any words of wisdom before we head off to try and save you all from annihilation?"

  "You're going now?" Daisy asked, looking at John in alarm.

  "No time like the present," Mark replied cheerfully. "The invasion could happen any day now based on what you told us. The sooner we find this camp for the Dark Browns the better."

  "But what about your preparation?" Crystal asked. "Do you know where you're going to look?"

  "Well, as Jenna so helpfully pointed out, we don't know much about the Blue Dragons any more and this particular region was never well known to us," Mark replied. "In fact, two of the members of our team are there primarily for their ability to accurately produce maps. The government sees it as an opportunity to increase our knowledge of that area."

  "Great," Arthur commented. "Glad they're taking it so seriously. No specialists in rescue missions?"

  "Well, the government hopes to have six after this mission, but currently there aren't any," Mark explained. "It's not as if we have had to do any rescues before."

  "John has," Daisy corrected. "He's had to rescue us lots of times."

  "Yes, Daisy, although I'm not sure that's something I'd be boasting about. Anyway, there you are, Arthur. We do have a specialist."

  Arthur shook his head in despair. "You really aren't filling me with confidence."

  "I must admit, I'm not too happy about this," Crystal agreed. "You seem very relaxed. Aren't you worried? Just six of you wandering into Blue Dragon territory. What would happen if someone worked out who you are?"

  "We'll be fine," Mark replied dismissively. "It's better to have fewer of us anyway. Less chance of someone being caught. Besides, we'll be flying as Blue Dragons. It'll be very safe." One glance at Daisy told him that she wasn't at all convinced and Crystal still wasn't at all happy either.

  "I guess it's not like John hasn't sneaked in before," Seth pointed out. "And he brought us out last time."

  "That was different," Crystal argued. "John was avoiding Blue Dragons last time. He'll be looking for them this time."

  "They need to go as soon as possible," Arthur pointed out. "The Brown Dragons won't enter the war until they do. The invasion could start any day now. It's worth taking the risk."

  "Easy to say when you're not the one taking the risks," Crystal replied.

  "We'd better be going," John interrupted. "We just came in to say goodbye. I'm sorry, but we do need to leave straight away."

  "I'll walk with you to the balcony," Daisy said a little sadly, getting up and taking John's hand.

  "Shall I give you two a few minutes?" Mark asked with a smirk. Daisy pulled a face as they left the room.

  "Right, well, have fun while we're gone," Mark said, addressing the rest of them. "Crystal's cousin will look after you, I'm sure."

  "Look after yourself, and John," Crystal said, kissing him on the cheek. She really did look quite concerned.

  "John can look after himself," Mark replied with a cheeky smile. "You should know that by now. Considering your track record, he's probably safer over there than he is back here with you."

  Crystal pulled a face. "Very funny."

  "Good luck," Arthur said, extending a hand to Mark. "We really do appreciate what you're doing."

  "Thank you. Right, let's go and interrupt those two. I think they've had long enough to say goodbye. See you all in a few days!"

  Mark left the room without further ado and hurried after his brother. Daisy looked like she was nearly in tears when he found them on the balcony, but she didn't say anything to try and dissuade them from leaving. He urged John to transform immediately and then they took off and left, heading to the north-east. They were to travel alone to the border, where they were due to meet the other four members of their little group. When they arrived, they found the others had beaten them there and were enjoying their lunch. They landed and transformed before joining the group. One of the group, who looked a little old for this mission, approached them, waving and smiling warmly.

  "John, Mark," he said with a broad smile and extending his hand. "Theodore. Very pleased to meet you. I'm the team's Blue Dragon expert. Ha, a good joke that. I've never claimed to be an expert, but in the absence of a real expert that's what they've decided I am. Other than you of course, John."

  "What is your area of expertise?" John asked.

  "What do I do when I'm not flying into the unknown?" Theo asked cheerfully. "I'm a government employee, working in the Department of Trade. I guess you probably aren't too familiar with us, having lived with the Red Dragons for so long, but our job is to encourage the opening of trade routes with our neighbours."

  John nodded. "Is that going well?"

  "Not really; most of our neighbours hate each other and only just tolerate us. It’s a bit of a thankless task, but we remain hopeful and can celebrate the occasional success. You know, like going a whole month without having a death threat."

  "And the rest of the team?"

  "Ah, well these two young men are from the government's mapping department and are keen to extend our knowledge of the region. I'm not totally sure they understand that this project is about finding prisoners rather than filling in gaps on their maps, but I'm hoping they'll stop us getting lost at least. This is Dinah, who also works for the government, for the Department of Health. She's some sort of counsellor. I guess someone thought that the prisoners might need someone sympathetic to talk to, although I did point out that it might be better to concentrate on getting them out first, but sadly, no one listens. And this is our seventh team member, a late addition, Reuben. He's a musician."

  "Why do we have a musician?"

  "Well, there is a lesson to be learnt there. I complained that six wasn't enough people, and when asked what sort of people I wanted, it turns out that saying I don't care, just get me anyone, was really the wrong thing to say."

  John was a little stunned. "Sorry, I'm a little confused. Is there no one from the military here?"

  Theo looked puzzled. "What do you mean? We don't have a military, John."

  "My brother has been living with the Red Dragons for a long time, Theo," Mark added helpfully. "He's thinking of the Defence Force."

  "Oh, no, just us I'm afraid. Of course, everyone is a reserve for the Defence Force—you knew that, didn't you, John?"

  John frowned. "I had forgotten, to tell the truth. But there are specialists though, are there not? Full time members of the Defence Force? Wasn't Father doing that before we moved away?"

  "There are plenty," Theo admitted. "But this isn't seen as a Defence project. Somehow this has been picked up by Trade—hence my involvement. It did surprise me when they asked me, although probably not as much as it surprised Reuben."

  John turned to Mark. "Am I missing something? Like a punch line? I mean, do they want this mission to fail?"

  Mark sighed. "Welcome home, little brother. This is how our government does things. This whole mission is aimed at dragging the Dark Browns into probably the biggest conflict this land has ever seen. All they originally appro
ved was facilitating a meeting between the Reds and the Browns, not getting involved in the fight. Now, they don't want it to fail, but at the same time they aren't going to be enthusiastic about it either."

  John sat on a log and put his head in his hands. "This is a disaster. I could just imagine Arthur's face if he were here now. How on earth are we ever going to succeed?"

  Mark sat down beside him. "Don't worry. It's never as bad as it looks. Remember, these are all reserve members of the Defence Force with many more years of experience than you. You'd be surprised at how much training they have to do, even now."

  "But if we fail here, you know what's at stake, don't you? It's not just the Reds; after destroying them and taking their lands the Blues would be unstoppable and they'd sweep away the Browns without any problem, and then in a few years it would be us. I don't think anyone realises how dangerous they are. We're vastly superior to them in the air, but they're resourceful and determined and they're already too large for comfort. We should never have let them destroy the Greens."

  Mark shook his head. "You worry far too much. I'm not saying you're wrong about the Greens or how important this is, but you need to focus on this mission. After all, it's the only thing we can control right now and worrying never achieves anything."

  "That would be easier if you told me the plan. You've told me nothing so far. I thought we were going to discuss it when we arrived."

  "We will; I was just letting them finish their lunch. Anyway, it isn't my plan. Theo is the architect of this one."

  "Great. That fills me with confidence."

  Mark laughed and patted John on the back. "Don't let Theo fool you. I know him by reputation and he'll do a good job. He was a captain in the Defence Force, as was I. Come on, John; it's time to meet the team properly."

  He led John over to where the others were finishing their food. "Hello, everyone. This is my brother, John, and I'm Mark. We've already met Theo, and you must be Dinah?"

  "That's right, pleased to meet you both." Dinah looked about ten years older than Mark, and looked very relaxed—far too relaxed for John's liking.