Dragon Masters #2: Saving the Sun Dragon (A Branches Book) Page 3
Drake thought,
except it's all blue and black and purple.
Wati's rainbow ribbon grew and grew.
It swirled around Kepri’s body. She stirred a
little, but her eyes were still closed.
Ana squeezed Drake’s hand.
The light from the blue-and-purple rainbow
grew bigger and shone brighter. The Dragon
Masters had to shield their eyes.
Then . . .
whoosh
! The light swirled all
around them.
T
he light began to fade. Drake blinked.
Everyone looked at Kepri. Her white scales
looked shiny again. Her eyes were open and
clear. She did not look sick anymore, just a
little tired.
“Kepri!” Ana cried happily. She started to
run to her when—
RObbeRS!
Bam!
They heard the sound of wood
breaking. Loud voices were coming from the
tunnel that led to the hidden chamber.
“The robbers are coming!” Ana yelled. “We
must get out of here!”
Rori balled her hands into fists. “We’ll fight
them!” she growled.
Kepri and Wati roared as four men dressed
in black ran into the chamber. They carried
bows and arrows, spears, and clubs.
When the robbers saw the dragons, they
stopped, their eyes wide. Then one of the men
started yelling to the others. The men raised
their weapons and took aim at the dragons.
“They want to capture the dragons!” Ana
warned.
Wati quickly sprang into action. He shot a
black beam of light from his mouth. The beam
hit the first robber in the chest and knocked
him down.
Drake’s heart pounded. He moved closer
to Worm.
Then the second robber stepped forward.
He sent an arrow flying right at Kepri.
“No!” Ana cried. Then she jumped in the
path of the arrow!
D
rake watched in horror as the arrow flew
toward Ana. He dove toward her, hoping to
knock her out of the way.But before he could
reach her, the arrow stopped in midair—inches
from Ana’s face.
fLyiNg
Drake landed with a thud. He picked himself
up and looked at Worm. The dragon’s green
eyes were glowing. Drake knew what that
meant: Worm had used his mind powers to
stop the arrow.
The arrow fell to the floor. And Worm
wasn’t finished! Next the weapons flew from
the hands of the robbers. They slammed into
the wall, breaking into pieces.
The four robbers
floated up off the floor.
Their legs dangled
beneath them. They
shouted at Worm.
Drake could see the
green light in Worm’s
eyes starting to flicker.
“Worm can’t hold them up there much
longer,”he guessed. “We must get out of here!”
“Get on the dragons!” Heru yelled.
Heru and Rori climbed onto Wati. Ana
climbed onto Kepri’s back. Drake and Bo
climbed onto Worm.
“Wati! Blast the top of the pyramid!” Heru
ordered.
Wati aimed a black beam of light at the top
of the chamber. A bright rainbow ribbon came
from Kepri’s mouth and joined it. The top of
the pyramid opened up!
“Now we fly out,” Heru said.“Go!”
Wati flew up, and Kepri flew up behind him.
Worm stayed on the ground. The light in his eyes
kept flickering. The robbers’ feet were almost
touching the floor now.
Drake saw that Worm couldn’t use his power to
do too many things at once. He knew his dragon
couldn’t fly like the other dragons. But Worm
could take them somewhere else in a flash—if he
was strong enough.
“Worm, get us out of here!” Drake yelled.
Worm let go of his grip on the robbers. They
tumbled to the floor. Then they quickly got
up, angrily charging toward Drake, Bo, and
Worm. The dragon’s eyes glowed green.
“Hold on tight, Bo!” Drake yelled.
One second, they were in the chamber. The
next, they were outside the pyramid!
D
rake and Bo climbed off Worm’s back.
They looked up. The sun was just starting to
rise. Kepri and Wati were flying around.
“We can’t stay here long,”Bo said.“Soon the
villagers will wake up, and we can’t let them
see the dragons.”
Drake nodded.“Yes, and Griffith is probably
worried about us.”
AnA'S DeCiSioN
Kepri and Wati glided down and landed next
to them. Ana, Heru, and Rori climbed off the
dragons’ backs. They ran over to Drake and Bo.
“You made it!” Ana cried.
“We figured that Worm could do his cool
Earth-Dragon-thing and get you out of there in
a blink,” Rori said.
Drake smiled at Worm. “Yeah, he’s awesome.”
Then the twin dragons flew up again and
circled the golden top of the pyramid.
“Kepri and Wati look so happy together,”
Bo said.
Ana sighed. “I am so glad Kepri is better,”
she said. “It’s all because of Wati. He knew
how to heal her when no one else could. I
really think she should stay here with him.”
She sounded sad.
“But she’s
your
dragon,” Drake said. “She
should stay with
you
.”
Ana shook her head. “I don’t have a strong
connection with Kepri. Not like the one that
you have with Worm. Your stone glows when
you and Worm connect—just like earlier
tonight when he called to
you. My Dragon Stone
has never glowed.”
“But Griffith said it
would happen to you,
too,” Drake said. He
looked at Bo and Rori.
“To all of you.”
Ana had tears in her eyes. “I might never
know now. It seems like Kepri is better off
without me.”
Heru put a hand on her shoulder. “Listen
to Drake, Ana. I knew Wati for a year before
my stone glowed,” he said. “It takes patience.”
Drake turned to Heru. “You said you weren’t
a Dragon Master. But you have a Dragon Stone
and your own dragon. How are you
not
a
Dragon Master?”
Heru shrugged. “It is
your
king who has
called you a Dragon Master. I serve no king.
All I know is that for many ages, my family
has served dragons. When dragons come to
us, we help them.”
King Roland doesn’t want to help dragons,
Drake thought.
He just wants us to train them.
“We must get back to our kingdom,” Bo said.
“The castle will be waking up soon. If King
Ro
land finds the dragons missing . . .”
Drake shuddered. “That would be bad for
us—and for Griffith!”
He turned to Ana. “We must go. Do you
want to see if Kepri will come with us?”
“I’ve decided that she should stay with
Wati,” Ana said sadly. “I will say good-bye. Let
me call her.”
W
ait!” Drake yelled. He saw something: the
Dragon Stone on Ana’s neck. It was glowing!
Drake pointed to it. Bo, Rori, and Heru all
turned to look.
“Ana, your stone!” they cried.
Ana gazed down at the glowing stone. She
got a strange look in her eyes.
“Ana, what is it?” Rori asked.
ONe LaSt
Good-bye
“I think I can hear
Kepri’s voice ... inside
my head!” Ana said.
Everyone was
quiet as Ana listened.
She got a smile on
her face. She looked
up at Kepri flying in
the sky.
“Kepri wants to
come back to be
with her brother
one day,” Ana said. “Just like I want to come
back to my family. But until then, she wants
to stay with me in the kingdom of Bracken.”
“I’m so happy for you,” said Drake.
“Yes. We would all miss Kepri as much as
you,” added Rori.
The sun was higher in the sky now.
“Ana, we must go,” said Bo softly. “Everyone,
including our king, will be waking up soon.”
Ana nodded. “Come, Kepri,” she called out.
Kepri and Wati circled the pyramid one last
time. Then both dragons swooped down. They
landed next to Worm and the Dragon Masters.
Drake smiled at Heru. “Thank you for
helping us,” he said.
Heru smiled. “No problem. Perhaps we will
meet again.”
“That would be nice,” Drake said. He turned
to his friends. “Okay, everyone. Just like last
time. Place one hand on Worm.”
Ana hugged Wati. Her cheeks were shiny
with tears as she broke away. Then she put
one hand on Kepri and one hand on Worm.
“Okay, Worm,” Drake said. “Home, please.”
Worm’s body started to glow green once
more . . .
A
few seconds later, the Dragon Masters
were all back in the Training Room in King
Roland’s castle.
“Good heavens!” a voice cried.
When Worm’s light faded, Drake saw Griffith
standing in front of them—with another
wizard! Like Griffith, he had a white beard.
But he was a head shorter than Griffith and
twice as round.
HOMe
Griffith looked at Kepri.“My goodness! She
is cured!” he said. “When I saw Worm glow
green and you all vanished, I trusted that
Worm would know where to find a cure.”
“Yes! Worm took us to meet Kepri’s twin, a
Moon Dragon named Wati,” Drake explained.
“Wati cured her.”
“Just like it said in
Dragon Lore
!” Rori added.
Griffith put his hands together.“Wonderful!”
he cried. “Worm, you are full of surprises.”
“He is very unusual,” said the shorter wizard,
stepping up close to Worm.
“Dragon Masters, meet Diego,” Griffith
said, pointing to the wizard.
“Very nice to meet you,” Diego said.
“I have asked Diego for his help,” Griffith
said. “We have been trying to find out which
dark wizard could have sent that red orb.”
“I know only one wizard with a heart evil
enough for this type of dark magic,” Diego
said. “His name is Maldred.”
Drake shivered. “Why would Maldred send
the orb here?”
“That’s something we still have to figure
out,” Griffith said.
Diego put an arm on Griffith’s shoulder.
“Together.”
Everyone was quiet as they thought about
this. Then the loud voice of a castle guard
broke the silence.
“All rise for King
Roland!”
Diego snapped
his fingers and
vanished in a puff
of smoke. Then
the king stomped
in with two guards
behind him.
“Did you heal my dragon, wizard?” King
Roland asked.
Drake thought quickly. If the king found
out that Worm had taken them far away, he
might get mad. Or he might try to use Worm’s
special power.
What if he takes Worm away
from me?
“Griffith made a potion, and it worked,”
Drake lied. He pointed to Kepri. “See?”
“I didn’t ask you, boy,” King Roland said
crossly.
But the king's frown faded when he saw
Kepri.“Hmm. I see it’s true. Good work, wizard.
It looks like I won’t have to replace you with
another wizard ... for now.”
Then the king and his guards turned and left.
Griffith smiled at Drake. “Thank you,” he
said.
“Will you tell the king about that dark
wizard named Maldred?” Bo asked.
“There is not much his army can do against
Maldred’s dark magic,” Griffith said. “It will be
up to us to protect this kingdom.”
Rori snorted. “Vulcan won’t be afraid of
some old wizard.”
“And Vulcan won’t be fighting that wizard
alone,” Ana said, looking at Kepri. “All of us
will help.”
Drake looked at Worm. He was proud of
how his dragon had helped Kepri. “Yes,” he
said, turning to his friends.“Whatever happens,
we’re all in this together!”
TRaCey WeSt
likes the sun
because it helps her garden grow. But
on hot summer days, she loves being
outside at night under the moonlight.
That’s how she knew that Kepri the Sun
Dragon would need to have a Moon Dragon twin!
Tracey has written dozens of books for kids. She
does her writing in the house she shares with her
husband and three stepkids. She also has plenty of
animal friends to keep her company. She has two
dogs, seven chickens, and one cat, who sits on her
desk when she writes! Thankfully, the cat does not
weigh as much as a dragon.
GrahaM hOWellS
lives with
his wife and two sons in west Wales,
a place full of castles, and legends of
wizards and dragons.
There are many stories about the
dragons of Wales. One story tells of a large, legless
dragon—sort of like Worm! Graham’s home is also near
where Merlin the great wizard is said to lie asleep in
a crystal cave.
Graham has illustrated several books.He has created
artwork for film, television, and board games, too.
Graham also writes stories for children. In 2009, he won
the Tir Na N’Og award for
Merlin’s Magical Creatures
.
Name some similarities between
the Dragon Masters and their
dragons. For example, how is Bo
similar to Shu?
What CAUSES Kepri to get sick?
Who are Heru and Wati? Why
are they important?
Why does Drake
LIE to King Roland
on page 88?
Do you think Kepri belongs
with Ana or with Wati? Why?
Write about your opinion.
SAVING THE SUN DRAGON
scholastic.com/branches
Questions and Activities
Illustrated early chapter books that grow readers!
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Cover art by Graham Howells
Cover design by Jessica Meltzer
DiScOVeR the SeCRet
Of the DRagoN StoNe!
Drake is a Dragon Master.
He and the other Dragon
Masters—Ana, Rori, and
Bo—train dragons for
the king. When Ana’s
dragon, Kepri, becomes
sick, everyone must work
together to save her. Did
dark magic make her sick? Does Worm have a new
secret power that could help her? The Dragon
Masters are about to find out!
Read more