Dragon Gold Read Free

Send me dragon gold, from the –’
    â€˜You forgot the apostrophe “s”,’ the cat hissed. ‘It was meant to be “dragon’s gold”, not “dragon gold”. No wonder you conjured up a dragon!’
    â€˜But how do I fix it? What can I do?’ Ben begged, who was really feeling very sick and anxious about Sarah.
    â€˜I wash my paws of the whole matter,’ the cat said, turning its back.

    Ben gripped his wand. ‘Please?’
    The only answer was a low growl and a lash of its tail.
    â€˜But I have to get Sarah back,’ Ben said.
    â€˜Good luck,’ the cat said over its shoulder. ‘You have your magic wand. Use it.’
    Unhappily, Ben went home. James was having a sleep-over while his mum and dad, Ben’s mum and dad and the police kept on searching for Sarah. Usually when Ben and Tim had a babysitter they were allowed to sit up late and watch a video, but tonight they pretended to be really tired so they could go to bed early. As soon as the babysitter turned off the lights and went to watch TV, Ben slid down from his bunk-bed and went to sit beside James.
    â€˜I reckon what we do is go find the dragon, fight it, kill it, and get Sarah back,’ he whispered.
    â€˜Me too!’ Tim cried.
    â€˜Sshh, Tim!’
    â€˜The dragon will just burn us to a crisp,’ James said gloomily.
    â€˜Well, then, we’ll go when it’s asleep. We’ll get Sarah without waking it up.’
    â€˜I bet dragons have really good hearing,’ James said.
    â€˜We’ll have to wait until it’s late.
    Midnight. That’s a magical time.’ James perked up. ‘I’ve never been up at midnight before. I tried on New Year’s Eve but I fell asleep before the fireworks. Can we have a midnight feast, do you reckon?’
    Ben nodded. ‘Sure. Dragon slayers wouldn’t go out hungry, would they?’
    â€˜Might as well do something fun before we all get fried,’ James said.

CHAPTER SIX
    Ben set his alarm for 11.30 pm, even though he was sure he wouldn’t sleep a bit.
    He did, though, and when his alarm went off it woke him with a big fright. Ben whacked the clock so hard it fell off the shelf. He lay there stiff and silent, listening, but nobody stirred. The house sighed and creaked in its sleep as it always did, being a very old house. When Ben was sure his mum and dad were still asleep, he very cautiously pushed back his doona and climbed out of his bunk-bed. He slipped down the ladder and shook James awake. James cried out and Ben shushed him.

    â€˜Don’t wake Tim else he’ll want to come too,’ he whispered urgently.
    From the shadows of the bottom bunk came the plaintive cry, ‘Me too?’
    â€˜No, Tim Tam, you go back to sleep now.’
    â€˜Me go too?’
    â€˜No, Timmy, it’s too dangerous. Go back to sleep.’
    â€˜No!’ Tim wailed. ‘Me too!’
    â€˜OK, OK,’ Ben said. ‘Just be quiet else you’ll wake Mum and Dad.’
    â€˜Me too,’ Tim said happily and clambered out of bed.
    Before they went to sleep they had laid out everything they thought they might need. Ben put his red and black striped wizard’s cloak on over his pyjamas, pulled on some socks and boots, put on his wizard’s hat and thrust his magic wand through a scarf he tied round his waist. James put on a knight’s plastic helmet and breastplate, and picked up the best of the plastic swords and a shield with a golden lion on it. The knight’s outfit was Tim’s favourite dress-up, and he protested loudly and at length. In the end he was only kept quiet by being given the pirate’s outfit to wear – a black tricorne hat with a white feather, an eyepatch, a plastic hook and a curved sword. Ben had never heard of pirates battling against dragons but Tim did not care. He loved his pirate outfit.
    â€˜How are we going to get there?’ James whispered