War of Dragons by Andy Holland Read Free Book Online

flooded his body. He clutched his side, panting heavily and leaning on the cave wall for support. He looked back at Jenna as he caught his breath, giving her a hard look. She looked away, then began her transformation. John turned away to give her some privacy.
    "You can look," Jenna told him. She was standing a little way away from him, eyes trained on the floor. Tears were starting to roll down her cheeks. "Not much to look at now, eh?"
    "If you want sympathy, you may get it looking like that, but that's not what you need."
    "What do I need, John?"
    "Forgiveness. From Daisy mainly. If she forgives you then Arthur might let it go."
    "Fat chance of that," Jenna replied bitterly. "She hates me."
    "Why does she hate you?"
    "You know the answer to that."
    "Tell me anyway."
    Jenna paused. "She thinks I'm mean to her. That I treat her badly."
    John shook his head. "It's more than that. She thinks you despise her; that you look down on her."
    Jenna shrugged. "Same thing really."
    "Just saying sorry won't change what she thinks, because believe it or not, she can read you quite well and will need more than words. You need to change how you think, and you start by recognising that you have no reason to look down on her. She's a better flier than you, she's better at combat, she's smarter than you and does better than you in almost every subject. The only thing you were better at was being vicious and after watching her rip the head off that Blue Dragon, I think that's probably changed, hasn't it?"
    Jenna nodded. "She's braver than I am. I was so scared; I froze. I'm really sorry I didn't help you. I just couldn't…." Jenna broke down into tears, but John decided against comforting her.
    "I'm not the one you should be apologising to," John replied softly.
    "But your wounds," Jenna stuttered, "they looked so bad."
    "They'll heal," John replied with a shrug, trying to ignore the spasm of pain that it caused.
    "But how quickly?" Jenna asked between sobs. "What if we're found first? Could you defend us now? I've put us all in danger!"
    "Time will heal these wounds," John insisted. "There's nothing you can do to speed it up. And although you have much which you should feel bad about, that shouldn't include my injuries. You couldn't have done anything to stop that. But you can try and make things right with Daisy. And don't worry, we won't be found in these caves."
    Jenna didn't reply, but just carried on sobbing.
    "Can you try doing that, Jenna?" John pressed.
    Jenna nodded, still crying quietly.
    "Good," John replied. "Now if you don't mind, I think I'll have a little sleep."
    John sunk to the floor, his knees collapsing as his strength began to fail him before he lay down and passed out from the pain.

Chapter 3 - A long rest
    "I think he's waking up."
    John opened his eyes slowly, adjusting to the firelight, and saw Jenna staring down at him. He was lying on the floor of a cave and the others were gathered around a small fire. Jenna backed away to give Daisy some room as she hurried over to see him.
    "John, John, can you hear me? Are you alright?"
    He closed his eyes again for a second, gathering his thoughts and trying to remember where he was. It came back to him; he was in the cave and had had a nap. There appeared to be some bedding underneath him and there was a blanket laid over his body. He wondered how they had done this without waking him.
    He opened his eyes again. "Oh, hello. I'm fine. Really, I just needed a little rest. Don't look so worried."
    Daisy and Jenna exchanged glances. They clearly weren't convinced. Daisy just shook her head and wiped his brow, which he was surprised to find was damp with perspiration.
    "I'll be fine," John assured her. "It's sweet of you to worry, but I'm sure my wounds will heal quickly."
    "You worried the nurses a bit there," Seth said, sauntering over casually and sitting down in front of him. "All of us, truth be told."
    "Why?" John asked, trying to sit up before clutching his side in