Night Terrors by Helen Harper Page A

going to be too late, I think, panicking. I’m not going to be able to stop him. I swing my legs up and jump again, pulling myself onto the dark thatching. Before I can fling myself in the archer’s direction, however, there’s a loud screech followed by a strange, flapping noise. I feel the house underneath me shaking. A huge shadow appears, covering almost the whole of the square. That’s when the screaming really begins.
    It’s a fucking dragon. A huge, black cloud of a dragon. It screeches once more.
    The archer changes his aim, pointing his bow upwards and letting loose an arrow. It bounces harmlessly across the dragon’s body. There are other Department members doing the same thing from the other rooftops. They don’t all have bows; I spot two handguns and at least one rifle. Were they planning to fire into the crowd of Travellers? The thought makes me feel sick.
    Their focus is now on the dragon. They fire repeated shots at it but nothing seems to affect it.
    The people down below are in full-blown panic, running in all directions to get away. Although the streets leading from the square are now crammed, and I can see lots of Travellers who have enough control of their minds to disapparate at will winking out of existence, there are still too many people here. Either they don’t have the ability to disapparate or they’re in too much of a panic to consider it. Either way, this is going to be a bloodbath.
    I don’t think about it. I draw myself back, storing power in my hamstrings, then burst into a sprint. I fly into air and latch onto the dragon’s clawed foot. It screeches again and tries to shake me off. I ignore the stares of the dark-suited men standing by the fountain. That makes four Department heavies on the roofs and five below; I’m betting there are still more cowering around. They certainly aren’t doing much to stop the damned dragon.
    I pull myself upright, keeping a close hold of its leg. It stretches its neck a few times, snaps its jaws and tries to pull me off but it’s not limber enough to get close.
    ‘You should try yoga!’ I yell.
    Apparently unimpressed at my suggestion, the dragon beats its wings harder and starts to rise into the air. Alarmed at how quickly we gain height, I abandon my grip temporarily in favour of pushing upwards and scrambling across the heavy, dull scales onto its back. Despite my confidence at being able to move with speed and dexterity here in the Dreamlands, I still almost fall off. My head swims with nausea as the dragon rolls from one side to the other. I won’t be able to cling on for long.
    The scales are thick and like armour; this dragon’s been built for battle. I search around desperately for a weak spot as it wheels round the sky. Its wings stretch out on either side of me, dark, leathery things. I wonder if I could damage one in some way to force the dragon down to the ground but it’s too risky.
    Screeching once more, the dragon swoops downwards. I fall forward and am forced to curl my fingertips underneath the scales to stay on. As it passes next to one of the taller buildings, I finally get an idea. At the very least, it’s an opportunity for me to get a weapon.
    I loosen one of my hands and stretch. I’m not sure whether this will work, in fact there’s a very real chance I’ll plummet to the ground. I grit my teeth and will my body forward. I have to do this.
    Unfortunately, the dragon catches sight of a potential target, wheels round and dives in on her as she runs for cover. The movement is so swift that I’m too terrified to scream. The target, a young woman called Mary who I know, hears the dragon’s roar and makes the mistake of turning. The second she sees the dragon bearing down on her, she freezes. I squeeze my eyes shut as the dragon’s terrible jaws yawn open. Dear God. It’s going to swallow her whole and there’s nothing I can do about it.
    There’s a sudden crackle and I feel the hard body beneath me jerk and abruptly