The story dragon

Chapter one

by Karen King

“Now let me see, what story shall I tell you today?” asked Dracospeare.

Chandra, Nick, and the little dragonets, Silverwing and Tizzy, watched excitedly as the dragon reached up to take a story scroll off the shelf. They loved to listen to his stories about the dragons of old and the perilous adventures they went on.

“Let me choose!” Tizzy pushed past Dracospeare and grabbed a scroll right at the back of the shelf. As he pulled it out all the other scrolls tumbled down.

“Ouch!” yelled Tizzy as two rolled-up scrolls hit him on the back of the head.

Another scroll unravelled over Dracospeare, completely covering his eyes.

"Hmmph!” he snorted.

The others laughed and went to help their friends pick up the scrolls.

“Hey, this isn’t a story, it’s a map,” Chandra said as she and Nick carefully lifted the yellowed sheet of parchment off Dracospeare’s head.

“A map? Lay it on the floor so I can have a better look – carefully now.” Dracospeare warned them. “It’s very old and fragile.”

Everyone crowded around as the two children carefully spread the map out on the floor. “Wings and claws, this is a very ancient map indeed,” exclaimed Dracospeare. “I’ve never seen it before.”

“Look at all the strange places marked,” said Silverwing. “There’s the Tunnels of Time and the Unknown Lands.”

“And the Land of Monsters,” said Tizzy.

“And the Caves of Sorcery,” said Chandra.

“And the Land of Secrets,” said Nick.

Dracospeare studied the map thoughtfully. “This is where we are,” he pointed to a big cross on the map marked The Land of Dragons. “So if we go through the caves we should find a tunnel to take us to these other lands.”

“Can we go and find them, Dracospeare? Please!” begged Silverwing.

Dracospeare looked at the eager faces in front of him. Then he nodded slowly.

“I think we will,” he said. “It’s time that dragons went on adventures again instead of just reading about them.

“Yes! We’re off on an adventure!” Tizzy and Silverwing cheered together.

“Can we come too?” asked Chandra and Nick.

“Of course you can. We’d be glad of your company,” said Dracospeare.

So, they packed a bag of emergency rations and useful things to take on an adventure and off they all went.

The caves were right at the far end of Dragonsville. They were very dark and smelt musty, as if no one had lived in them for years. As indeed they hadn’t.
Right at the back of the caves was a long, dark tunnel. They all set off down it, Dracospeare in the lead, breathing out fire now and again to light the way.
There were lots of strange noises and dark shadows.

“Going on adventures is a little bit scary,” Tizzy whispered, looking around nervously.

Suddenly the tunnel divided into two passages.

“Which way do we go?” asked Nick.

| Follow the left passage | Follow the right passage | Split up | Look in the shadows |

If you see a scroll at the start of a chapter, it means that you are reading a version that the pilot group voted their favourite .