The Return of the Dragon Read Online Free Page A

him and ran to poke his head in the cottage door. He explained the dreadful news to his mother.
    “Wait for your father,” his mother protested, but Niko shook his head.
    “Maybe he hasn’t gone far,” he said. “I’ll go look again. It won’t be dark for a while yet.”
    He ran back down the village street and up the winding track toward the mountain. Once again he circled the field where his sheep had been grazing. Nothing there. He climbed higher, poking his head into every little thicket, checking behind every rock and tree. Then, caught and tangled in a thorny branch, he found a tiny tuft of soft brown wool. Panno must have wandered this way, Niko thought. Lost and confused. He called, but there was no answering
baa.
He climbed higher and higher, searching as he climbed. He had never explored this part of the mountain before. The shepherds stayed lower down, closer to the village, where the grass was greener and richer.
    Suddenly he heard a shifting in the bushes in front of him, a scrabble on the rocks. Little hooves on stone? “Panno?” he called softly. He pushed the branches aside and felt his heart leap in terror in his chest. He was face-to-face with the monster.
    It was the most enormous creature Niko had ever seen — bigger and more terrible than he had imagined. It was covered with gleaming golden scales. It had polished golden claws, a long arrow-pointed tail, wings neatly folded across its glittering back, and — Niko gasped — three heads on long serpent-like necks. One head, its eyes a piercing green, was looking directly at Niko. The other two heads, eyes closed, were curled low on the creature’s shoulders, seemingly fast asleep. Niko’s knees gave way beneath him. He sank to the ground and buried his face in his hands. He was almost too terrified to breathe.
    Then the monster spoke.
    “My dear boy,” it said. It sounded concerned and upset. “Please don’t be frightened.” It nervously twitched its golden tail. “Despite my impressive and powerful appearance,” the monster said — it turned pinkish and looked modestly down at its claws —“I am quite peaceful. Pacific in nature. At heart, my dear boy, I assure you, I am gentle as a lamb.”
    Niko tried to ask a question. At first, no sound came out.
    Then he said, in a high, strained voice, “But aren’t you . . . a monster?”
    “The designation,” the creature said in an offended tone, “is highly rude.”
    Look what you’ve done,
one part of Niko’s mind shouted at him.
First you stumble into the monster. Then you have to insult it and make it angry.
    “Highly rude,” the creature repeated huffily. “The proper, or common, name, as one might call it, is
drake
or
dragon.
We are, to be precise, a tridrake. A three-headed dragon.
Tri,
as in
trident, triangle,
and
tripod.
”
    “I’m sorry,” said Niko faintly. He gulped nervously. “But was it you that? . . . Have you ever? . . . Do you . . . eat sheep?”
    “Eat sheep?” the dragon repeated. It shuffled its claws uncomfortably. “Well, I cannot deny, dear boy, that in the distant past I have—occasionally . . .” Its voice trailed off. “But not in recent centuries,” it said firmly. “Dragons, by and large, are vegetarian. Besides”—it made a face—“sheep are so
woolly.
And they bleat.”
    “Vege . . . ?” Niko began uncertainly.
    “We eat vegetables,” the dragon said. “And cereal grains and fruits.” It eyed Niko severely. “Clearly, education is not what it used to be.”
    A breath of wind rustled the bushes, causing Niko to jump and look hastily over his shoulder.
    The dragon looked with him.
    “You seem on edge, dear boy,” the dragon said. “A not uncommon state, I find, for humans. Perhaps a soothing soup . . .”
    “There’s a monster on the mountain,” Niko said. His words tumbled over each other in his hurry to explain. “Everybody’s frightened. Sheep have been disappearing for weeks — dragged off and killed. Just today,