Power of the Fire Dragon: A Branches Book (Dragon Masters #4) Read online

  tracey

  west

  P

  O

  W

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  F

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  O F

  T H E

  O F

  T H E

  by

  Tracey West

  illustrated

  by

  Graham Howells

  Read All the Books

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  HOLD YOUR FIRE!

  . . . .

  . . . . . .

  . . . .

  . .

  THE DRAGON SHOW

  . .

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  . . . .

  . . .

  WHAT ABOUT WORM?

  . .

  . . . .

  . . .

  A WIZARD FOR A BABYSITTER

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  BEHOLD, THE DRAGONS!

  . . .

  . . . . .

  TROUBLE IN THE TOWER

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  . . . .

  GUARDING THE CASTLE

  .

  . . . . . . .

  THE HYDRA

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  MALDRED'S PLAN

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  RORI TO THE RESCUE

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  THE RED DRAGON STONE!

  . .. . . .

  POOF!

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  THE QUEEN'S SURPRISE

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  A NEW DRAGON?

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  Text copyright ©

  2015 by Tracey West

  Interior illustrations copyright ©

  2015 by Scholastic Inc.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc.,

  Publishers since 1920

  .

  scholastic

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  branches

  ,

  and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for

  author or third-party websites or their content.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this

  publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in

  or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether

  electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission

  of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions

  Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the

  author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead,

  business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  West, Tracey, 1965- author.

  Power of the fire dragon / by Tracey West ; illustrated by Graham Howells.

  pages cm. — (Dragon masters ; 4)

  Summary: When the king decides to take the dragons to Arkwood to visit Queen Rose,

  Rori, Drake and their dragons are left behind — so when the evil wizard Maldred attacks the castle

  riding a giant four-headed dragon that spits poison, the two young dragon masters

  and their dragons are forced to defend the castle by themselves.

  ISBN 0-545-64631-6 (pbk.) — ISBN 0-545-64632-4 (hardcover) — ISBN 0-545-64636-7 (ebook) — ISBN

  0-545-75484-4 (eba ebook) 1. Dragons — Juvenile fiction. 2. Wizards — Juvenile fiction. 3. Magic — Juvenile

  fiction. 4. Adventure stories. [1. Dragons — Fiction. 2. Wizards — Fiction. 3. Magic — Fiction. 4. Adventure

  and adventurers — Fiction.] I. Howells, Graham, illustrator. II. Title. III. Series: West, Tracey, 1965- Dragon

  Masters ; 4.

  PZ7.W51937Pntp 2015

  813.54 — dc23

  [Fic] 2014033958

  e-ISBN 978-0-545-64636-9

  F

  irst edition, August 2015

  Illustrated by Graham Howells

  Edited by Katie Carella

  Book design by Jessica Meltzer

  FO

  r

  My neph

  eW

  S dAniel And COLin

  ,

  who would be excellent Dragon Masters. –TW

  V

  ulcan, no!” Rori yelled.

  Her big, red dragon shot fire from his

  mouth. The fire hit a bush. The bush burst

  into flames.

  “Shu, quickly!” Bo called out.

  HOLd yOuR fiRe!

  A blue dragon darted through the

  air. A stream of water flowed from her

  mouth onto the fire.

  “Thank you, Shu,” said Bo, petting his

  Water Dragon.

  “Vulcan,” Rori said to her dragon. “I said

  to hold your fire!”

  “Maybe he only heard

  fire

  ,” said Drake,

  trying to be helpful.

  Drake was eight years old, and a Dragon

  Master. His friends Rori, Bo, and Ana were

  Dragon Masters, too. A magic stone called

  the Dragon Stone had chosen them. And each

  of them had a dragon to care for and train.

  Today all four Dragon Masters and their

  dragons were in the Valley of Clouds behind

  King Roland’s castle. They were getting

  ready for a special event.

  “Rori, you must keep Vulcan under control,”

  warned Griffith, the wizard who trained the

  Dragon Masters. He turned to the others. “King

  Roland will be here soon. He wants to see what

  your dragons can do.”

  “Is he really going to take us — and our

  dragons

  —

 
; to the Kingdom of Arkwood?”

  asked Ana. Her dark eyes were shining. “I've

  heard that

  ueen Rose’s summer festival is

  wonderful.”

  “Yes,” Griffith replied. “The king plans to

  show off the dragons at the festival.”

  “Then the dragons won’t be a secret any

  longer!” said Drake. “We can finally tell our

  families about them.”

  “And everyone will see what an amazing

  dragon Vulcan is!” Rori added.

  Griffith looked worried.

  “What’s wrong, Griffith?” asked Ana.

  “I do not know if it is safe to bring the

  dragons out,” he replied. “I tried to tell King

  Roland about Maldred the dark wizard. I

  told him that Maldred might be planning to

  attack. The king just laughed and said he was

  not afraid of any old wizard.”

  “But Maldred is dangerous!” Drake said. “He

  spied on us! His dark magic made Kepri sick!

  And

  he almost stole the Dragon Stone!”

  Griffith nodded. “I know.”

  Rori balled up her fists. “If Maldred attacks,

  Vulcan and I will stop him! Vulcan is the

  strongest dragon ever!”

  Bo looked at Drake and shook his head. Rori

  was always bragging about Vulcan.

  “You are brave, Rori,” said Griffith. “But you

  and Vulcan have not made a connection yet.

  Until you do, you must be careful.”

  Rori’s face got red, and she looked away.

  Each of the Dragon Masters wore a piece of

  the magical Dragon Stone. When they were

  connecting with their dragons, their stone

  glowed green.

  Drake

  —

  like Bo and Ana

  —

  could hear his

  dragon’s voice inside his head. But this had

  not happened to Rori yet. And Drake knew

  it bugged her to be last.

  “We may not have connected yet,” Rori

  said. “But that doesn’t mean we couldn’t fight

  Maldred if he attacked!”

  Just then, a soldier walked into the valley.

  “All welcome King Roland the Bold!”

  K

  ing Roland marched across the grass. He

  was a big man with red hair and a bushy beard.

  Six guards marched behind him.

  “The dragons are looking fine, wizard,” he

  said in his booming voice. He nodded at Worm.

  “Even that brown one.”

  TH

  e DRagON ShOW

  The king has never seemed to like Worm,

  Drake thought.

  So what if he looks like a big,

  brown worm? He is a powerful Earth Dragon!

  “I'm glad that you are pleased, Your Majesty,”

  said Griffith.

  “I am not pleased yet!” the king said. “I need

  to see what these beasts can do. This is the first

  time that I will show my dragon army to the

  world. When we march into the Kingdom of

  Arkwood, everyone will be amazed!”

  Ana stepped forward. “They’re not an army!

  They’re just dragons.”

  A guard glared at Ana. “Silence, girl!” he

  barked.

  “They are more than just dragons,” said the

  king. “When word gets out that my kingdom

  is protected by dragons, nobody will dare

  attack us.”

  Maldred might attack us,

  Drake thought.

  But he did not say that out loud.

  If the king

  didn’t listen to Griffith’s warning, he won’t

  listen to mine.

  Griffith clapped his hands. “Dragon Masters,

  let us show King Roland what you can do.

  Please line up!”

  The Dragon Masters had practiced for days.

  Drake felt excited. He couldn’t wait for King

  Roland to see Worm's powers!

  Griffith turned to the king. “First, I would

  like to present Bo and Shu, his Water Dragon.”

  Bo stepped forward and bowed. Then he

  waved his hand at Shu.

  Shu floated in the air above them. Her

  blue scales shimmered. She opened her mouth

  and a stream of water came out. It flowed in a

  circle around them all. Then the water turned

  into misty droplets and fell to the ground.

  King Roland nodded, smiling.

  “And now, I present Ana and Kepri, her Sun

  Dragon,” Griffith announced.

  Ana climbed onto Kepri and sat in the

  saddle. She patted her neck. Then the slim,

  white dragon flew up into the sky.

  Kepri did what she did best: She swirled

  and looped in the air. On her way down, Shu

  sprayed misty water into the air. Kepri sent

  a sunbeam out of her mouth. Together, they

  made a rainbow.

  “Ooohhhhh,”

  said the guards. Even King

  Roland was staring in wonder.

  “Rori and her Fire Dragon are next,” said

  Griffith, pointing.

  Drake was nervous. It would be his and

  Worm’s turn soon. First, Vulcan would shoot

  fire in the air, where it couldn’t hurt anything.

  Then Worm would use his mind powers to lift

  all three dragons in the air!

  He watched as Rori and Vulcan flew up,

  up, up.

  “Vulcan, fire!” Rori yelled.

  Vulcan didn’t listen. He flew down to the

  ground. When he landed, he let out a loud roar.

  Whooosh!

  A stream of fire shot from his

  mouth! Then a strong wind blew through

  the valley.

  “No, Vulcan!” Rori yelled.

  The flame charged right at King Roland!

  17

  T

  he fire rode the wind, closing in on King

  Roland. Scared, his guards all jumped back.

  Suddenly, an invisible force knocked King

  Roland out of the fire’s path. Drake looked at

  Worm. His dragon was glowing green. Drake

  knew that Worm had used his mind powers

  to save the king!

  What ABOut WOrM?

  The fire swept past the king and died out.

  Two guards helped King Roland to his feet.

  “I am fine,” he said, brushing them away.

  Then he pointed at Vulcan. “No thanks to

  this

  dragon!”

  “But it was the wind!” Rori protested.

  “Silence!” yelled King Roland. “I cannot have

  this dragon setting

  ueen Rose’s castle on fire.”

  He nodded toward Shu and Kepri. “I’ll take

  these two.”

  “What about Worm?” Drake piped up. “He

  just saved you!”

  “Saved me? I think not. One of my guards

  pushed me out of the way,” the king said.

  He looked at his guards. They all nodded.

  “It wasn’t a guard,” Drake insisted.

  He looked over at Ana and Bo. He could

  see they felt bad for him. Rori still looked mad

  about Vulcan.

  “Drake speaks the truth, Your Majesty,”

  Griffith said. “Worm moved you with the

  power of his mind.”

  “Impossible!” the king said. “This plain, brown

  dragon could not have such
strange powers.

  Kepri and Shu will be the only dragons going

  to the Kingdom of Arkwood tomorrow.”

  The king turned and stomped away. His

  guards marched behind him.

  Drake sighed, patting his dragon. “It’s not

  fair,” he said to Worm. “I know how great you

  are! Why won’t the king believe us?”

  S

  top pushing me!” Rori shouted.

  “I’m not pushing you!” Drake said, moving

  away from her on the bench.

  It was the next morning. Griffith had asked

  Rori and Drake to sit quietly in the Training

  Room while the others got ready.

  a WizaRd

  fOR

  a babySitteR

  “Stop bickering, you two!” he said. “Stay

  out of trouble until Diego gets here. I will not

  leave for the Kingdom of Arkwood without

  another wizard here to watch over the castle.”

  Then Griffith went to help Bo and Ana

  with their dragons.

  Sitting on the bench was boring. Drake kept

  squirming. And Rori kept complaining.

  “Why does Diego have to come watch us?”

  she asked. “We don’t need a babysitter.”

  “Well, maybe Griffith just wants to make

  sure that Vulcan doesn’t set the castle on fire,”

  Drake said. He knew it was kind of a mean

  thing to say. But Rori was really bugging him.

  Rori’s green eyes flared. “It was the wind!”

  “Maybe, but Vulcan was supposed to shoot