‘Oh, I’ve been growing it for years and years, little hatchling.’
‘Can we go to my hoard now?’ asked the green dragon, bouncing up and down.
‘I don’t know why he’s in such a hurry to embarrass himself,’ sniffed the silver one.
‘I will leave it to the humans to judge,’ said the green dragon.
‘I’d very much like to see your hoard,’ said Dylan. He took off his glasses and wiped them on his shirt. ‘I’ll admit, I’m not sure how it could be more impressive than this one.’
‘You wait,’ said the green dragon with a wink. ‘It’s just this way.’ He walked round the silver dragon’s pile of jewels and down another corridor. The cavern crystals flickered to life above them as they moved deeper into the lair.
‘This,’ said the green dragon, waving his small arms out grandly, ‘is my hoard.’
Billy instantly understood why the silver dragon had mocked the green dragon.
There was not a shining jewel in sight. The green dragon’s hoard appeared to be a heap of… junk.
‘I only collect human-made items,’ said the green dragon proudly. ‘Buttons, especially. So easily confused with coins, don’t you think? I often wonder how humans tell them apart!’
‘Tell buttons apart from money?’ asked Billy, stepping forward to take a closer look at the green dragon’s hoard.
Everywhere he looked, there were hundreds – no, thousands – of multicoloured buttons, of all sizes and materials. Where had the dragon found all of these?
‘Yes! I think my buttons are worth far more. They are all so different! Why would anyone want, say, a stack of identical gold coins –’ he shot a sly look in the direction of the red dragon – ‘when they could have a stack of unique buttons?’ He bit his lip and looked anxiously around. ‘You do agree, don’t you?’
Billy blinked, unsure what to say. He had a sneaking suspicion that it was a bad idea to lie to a dragon, but he also didn’t want to offend him…
‘I love your buttons!’ said a voice from behind him. It was Dylan. ‘I’m a fan of buttons myself.’
‘Oh thank you!’ said the green dragon, beaming.
‘Enough about buttons,’ said the red dragon. ‘Do you want to see some real treasure? Come, follow me to my hoard.’ The dragon turned and lumbered down another corridor, leaving smoky air in its wake.
Billy wondered what the red dragon considered ‘real treasure’ to be. Part of him worried that it might be human skeletons or something equally terrifying.
Charlotte seemed to have no such worries. ‘Come on!’ she said. ‘I bet this one really does have the best hoard.’
As they turned down the corridor to where the red dragon waited, Billy stopped in his tracks, amazed. Floating orange balls of flame lit up the cavern. And there were piles and piles of gold coins, all spilling over each other and tinkling as they did. Towers of gold bars reached the roof of the cavern. Gold crowns and necklaces and rings. Candelabras and gold shoes, and even a gold throne. All glowing yellow-gold.
‘Wow!’ said Charlotte, her eyes huge. ‘Can I try on that crown?’
‘Maybe another time,’ said the red dragon.
Billy looked up at the blue dragon. ‘Where’s your hoard?’
The blue dragon looked bashful. ‘Mine doesn’t compare to these hoards. It is… different.’
‘Her hoard is very special,’ said the green dragon. ‘Unique. Not quite my taste, but special.’
‘I’d like to see it,’ said Billy, intrigued.
‘We have to go deeper into the cavern. Stay close,’ said the blue dragon.
As they wound deeper into the mountain, the air around them grew damp and cool.
Finally, something glinted up ahead.
‘It’s a waterfall!’ said Ling-Fei, squinting in the darkness. ‘A glowing waterfall!’
‘Indeed it is. And my hoard is behind it,’ said the blue dragon. She flew forward on her silent wings, and then lifted one wing under the waterfall, like an umbrella. ‘This way.’
Billy went first and found himself in a tiny grotto lit by glowing blue icicles hanging from the ceiling. In the centre was a small pool. It was full of beautiful shells and shining rocks and brightly coloured coral.
‘I have more of a… living hoard,’ said the blue dragon. She ran a wing through the water and the pool lit up. ‘There’s some stardust in there too.’
‘It’s like a tide pool,’ said Billy, crouching down to watch glowing green seagrass waving just below the surface of the water. Then he straightened, reaching into his pocket to wrap his hand round his lucky seashell. Pearly white and shaped like a clamshell, its edges had softened with time. He held it out. ‘Would you like to add this to your hoard?’ he asked. ‘It looks like you already have a lot of shells, but this one is from California, which is pretty far from here.’
‘It is very kind of you to give me something from your home,’ said the blue dragon. ‘Thank you.’ She gently took the shell from Billy’s outstretched hand with her teeth and dropped it in the glowing pool. As the shell struck the water, it took on its own shimmering light.
Billy looked at the blue dragon. ‘I’m… your match, aren’t I?’ he said, feeling a bit dizzy with the hugeness of it all. He was filled with a thrumming electric pulse.
The blue dragon dipped her head. ‘I’m glad you can feel it too.’
‘What happens now?’ asked Billy.
‘Hold on a second,’ said Charlotte. ‘What about us? We need to match with our dragons!’
‘So impatient,’ said the silver dragon, and Billy could have sworn she rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you will match with your dragon. That is the entire point of you being here.’
‘Let us go back up to our main cavern,’ said the red dragon. ‘It is far too cold down here. And it is time to initiate the dragon bond.’
The Power Of A Name
Billy’s heart hammered as he stood with his friends across from the dragons.
Not from fear. From excitement.
‘Before we go forward, we want to make
