Billo, the Magickest Dragon

BILLO, the MAGICKEST DRAGON

It was so long ago that history books hadn't been invented.
And so far away that it was miles from anywhere else - the forgotten
land of Nowhere-at-All.
Many strange creatures lived here: Fairies, Goblins, Trolls, Witches,
and Dragons. The Dragons were the most important. All other beings, no
matter how magical, were afraid of them.
Dragons were big and very fierce. It was said that they lived forever.
And they could never be killed except by human heroes with brave hearts
and good souls. But there were no such people in Nowhere-at-All. Humans
had never discovered this land. And so the Dragons ruled...

Deep within a ring of tall mountains, hidden by a cloud of smoky fog,
was the Dragon kingdom. This was unlike any human kingdom. There were
no castles or tall buildings, nor even houses. And there were no
streets, rivers or gardens. Hardly anything grew here, except a few
straggly thorn bushes, and some very thin grass, most of which was
singed yellow and brown. Instead there were caves - many caves in which
the dragons lived. There were cracks and pits in the ground, often
spouting blue and red flames which the dragons loved to paddle in.
There were also oily puddles, full of sleeping rainbows, but no-one
took much notice of these, for dragons do not like water; the steam
from these puddles made their shining scales go all misty. And dragons
are awfully vain.

In the very largest cave, the King and Queen Dragon lived. Each sat
upon a hoard of gold instead of a throne. This might not sound very
comfortable, but it was perfect for royal dragons. All dragons loved to
collect pretty, shining things. Maybe a piece of coloured glass, or a
brand-new teaspoon. And all dragons liked to build hoards of these
treasures to show off to their friends. But royal dragons collected
only pure gold. Nothing else would do. That was to prove how very royal
they were.

One delightfully foggy morning, the Queen Dragon stepped off her hoard
of gold to reveal a lovely glittering egg. She looked at it with pride.
It was as large as the biggest Easter Egg you ever saw, covered in
pretty, metallic blue foil. Except this was not blue foil; this was the
natural colour of the eggshell.
Lovingly, she licked the egg with her long, forked tongue. "I wonder if
it will be a boy or a girl?" she said, dreamily.
The King Dragon sniffed the egg with an air of knowing-it-all. "A boy,
I am sure," he said.
"Such a lovely colour.." The queen sighed as she clambered back onto
the egg.

Two weeks later, the marvellous egg spun around and cracked.
The king and queen watched, breathlessly..

The egg bounced, then broke in half, and out came a most peculiar baby
dragon. He was bright, shimmering blue, and he immediately began to
howl and cry. The tears fell on the hot floor of the cave, causing a
cloud of steam which misted up King Dragon's royal red scales. "Dear
me," he said. "What have we here?"
"Deary, deary me.." Queen Dragon could not think of anything else to
say.

They named him Billo, and right from the start, the king and queen knew
that theirs was a very strange baby indeed.

For one thing, dragons are almost always green, black or red. Blue was
unheard of. And Billo didn't act like an ordinary dragon, let alone a
royal one. He ate the weirdest things. He was fond of munching coal,
which he would dig from the ground with his sharp claws. And he also
liked to lick charcoal and ash from the burnt grass around the fire
pits. Worst of all, he often drank from the oily puddles with their
horrible rainbows, which the other dragons hated.
None of this would have seemed so bad if he hadn't refused to eat
proper dragon food, such as, lambs, rabbits, and small fairies. This
made King Dragon very annoyed after he had gone to so much trouble to
hunt these creatures, flying across the tall mountains to the green
lands beyond. That's what dragons were supposed to do.
But Billo didn't seem like a proper dragon at all. He was a great
disappointment to his parents.
Actually, Billo didn't think it was right to eat small beings who were
so afraid of being eaten - especially fairy creatures. They always
cried and wailed, and begged for mercy, and he was sure they didn't
like it. He tried to imagine what it would be like to be eaten, but he
could not. He only knew it must be horrible. He usually ended up
setting most of his meals free. Billo had a most unusual thing for a
dragon - he had a kind heart.

Then came the day when Billo was ten years old. That was when a dragon
was considered to be grown-up.
The King Dragon summoned his son to the royal cave, and spoke to him
solemnly: "Billo, I have never been very pleased with your behaviour,
but now is your chance to prove yourself. I want you to roar, and make
fire like a real royal dragon. You are old enough to do it."
Billo opened his mouth and took in a great breath of smoky air. Then he
coughed and tried again. But instead of a deafening roar, he made a
soft gurgling sound, and instead of a blast of dragon fire from his
mouth, out came a cloud of beautiful, rainbow-coloured bubbles. These
floated all over the cave, and some landed on the king's shining scales
- one even hit his nose with a cold little splat.
The king was furious. Good heavens! The boy was trying to make him go
rusty!
"I always knew it!" he said, angrily. "You are not a proper dragon and
you never will be. You must leave this kingdom at once!"
Billo began to cry, which was a mistake. His falling tears caused steam
to rise from the floor of the cave, and all over the king, who was
still uncomfortably damp from the bubbles.
The Dragon King bellowed with rage, and breathed a red-hot blast of
flame which blew poor Billo right out of the cave and up towards the
mountain tops.
The young dragon did not know where to go, and so he flew in a wide
circle above the kingdom, crying all the time. His tears fell into the
cracks and fire pits, and all the dragons rushed into their caves to
escape the clouds of nasty steam.
Then Billo flew over Fairyland, which was just over the mountains, next
door to the dragon kingdom. Again he flew in circles, still crying
great big tears. It rained for weeks.
The Fairies were very cross. They all hid under their toadstools.

*******

Miles away from the Dragon kingdom, right at the very edge of
Nowhere-at -All, lay a great sparkling ocean which stretched as far as
the eye could see and very much further. It was this which separated
the magical land from the rest of the world where humans lived.

All alone in the middle of the blue-green waves, a small boat was
bobbing. This contained a little prince and princess who were very sad
and frightened. They had given up trying to steer the boat with
paddles, and were now just drifting on the tide. There had been a
terrible storm the night before, and their royal ship had been wrecked.
Many people had escaped in small boats like their own, but the prince
and princess had lost the others in the dark. Now they did not know
what to do or which way to paddle. All of the sea looked the
same.
Suddenly, Prince Alvin sat up straight and pointed. "Look over
there!"
Princess Amelia sat up also, and looked. In the distance they could see
the great towering cliffs which bordered the land of Nowhere-at-All.
"Land!" she cried joyfully. "Is it home?"
"I don't think so," replied the little prince. "But any land is better
than none. Let's go!"
They picked up their paddles and began to push furiously towards the
misty cliffs..

*******

Billo had flown for many days across the land of Nowhere-at-All. He was
feeling very lonely and rather tired. It seemed like forever he had
flown.
He had landed briefly in several places, just to find food and someone
to talk to: in the dark green forest where the elves played; in the
rocky hills where the trolls lived; by the glittering blue lake where
the mermaids splashed and sang; and in a grassy meadow where some
graceful unicorns were galloping. But every place he stopped, the
creatures screamed in fright and ran away from him. It seemed that
no-one wanted to talk to him. No-one would be his friend. There was
nowhere he could go. Poor Billo...
Then he passed over the great sea cliffs, and saw the golden beach and
the sparkly ocean. This must be the edge of the world; he would go no
further. But there might be nice caves in this wall of cliffs. Perhaps
he could find one big enough to live in. He would become a sea
dragon.
Billo landed on the sandy shore and looked out to sea, just as the
little prince and princess were paddling through the surf in their
small boat..

"Eeeek!" squealed Princess Amelia. "There's a dragon on the
beach!"
"Ooo-er!" said Prince Alvin as he madly tried to paddle backwards. But
the tide was too strong. The little boat was carried helplessly towards
the shore. Both children dropped their paddles and began to cry.

Billo regarded the children with interest. They looked a bit like
fairies except they were the wrong colour. Both had golden-brown hair
and large brown eyes. Fairies usually had red or silver hair and bright
green eyes, they mostly had wings, and their ears were more pointy. The
mermaids were similar, except for their fishy tails. These small
creatures must be foreigners. He wondered where they had come from.
"Hello," he said in his friendliest voice. He gripped the edge of the
boat with a huge blue talon, and pulled it ashore for them.
The prince and princess tumbled out of the boat and stared at him with
mingled terror and amazement at hearing him speak. The little boy held
the girl's hand. They were both trembling and looked as if they might
run away at any moment.
"Please don't be afraid of me," Billo said. "I am a very friendly
dragon, and I am lonely. Please stay and talk to me."
"How can you speak?" the girl ventured to ask, though her teeth were
chattering.
"Just the same as you can," Billo replied with surprise. "I learned
when I was a baby."
Prince Alvin felt he ought to be brave and say something. "What country
is this?"
"It's the land of Nowhere-at-All," the dragon informed.
"Where is that?" the princess asked.
"Why - nowhere at all, of course," Billo replied most unhelpfully, for
he really didn't know.
"C-could you take us home?" the princess asked, nervously.
"Easily - if I knew where home was. Where do you live?"
The prince pointed. "Somewhere across the sea - that way."
Billo felt slightly uneasy. "Are you humans then?"
"Yes!" they answered both at once.
The dragon took one step backwards and looked down at them with some
dismay. "Are either of you ... heroes?"
"Definitely not," the prince said. "Heroes are big and brave. We are
very small and rather nervous at the moment."
"Good!" said Billo. Then added, "Suppose I took you home, and a big
brave hero wanted to slay me. What would I do then?"
The great black eyes of the dragon looked so worried that the prince
and princess could not help giggling. They had quite forgotten their
fright.
"We would let no-one hurt you," Prince Alvin promised. "We would tell
them what a good and noble dragon you are. We are the children of a
king. The people would listen to us."
"Aahh.." said Billo, "that is excellent news. I am the son of a king
myself, but..." His eyes began to fill with tears.
"But what?" Princess Amelia's heart was full of concern. "What's the
matter noble dragon?"
"I - I am a failure," Billo explained. "I am not a proper dragon. I am
not brave nor cruel. I cry nasty tears and I cannot make fire. I have
been cast out of my kingdom - my parents are ashamed of me. And all
other creatures are afraid of me because I am a dragon. I am all alone
with nowhere to go - and no-one wants to be my friend." Big tears
spilled from the sad black eyes and made large damp patches on the
sand.
"Please don't cry!" Amelia wailed through her own tears.
"We will be your friends," Alvin promised. "If you will help us - we
will help you."
"You are an awfully handsome dragon," Princess Amelia said. "What is
your name?"
The dragon brightened up at once, and polished the scales of his face
and chest with a blue, three-taloned hand. "My name is Billo," he
said.
"We are very pleased to meet you Billo," the prince declared. "This is
my sister Amelia, and my name is Alvin. Will you take us home
now?"
"I will gladly take you home, young friends. But the evening grows
late. I was intending to find a nice damp cave when I came here. It is
comfortable on this beach - and you could always sleep in your boat.
Could you wait until morning? When I have rested after my long flight,
I will be fitter to take you home."
"Of course we can wait," Alvin assured. "We are very tired ourselves.
But we are also hungry. Do you know where we can find food?"
"Er.." Billo looked around the beach, thoughtfully. He took a bite from
a chunk of salty rock and crunched it loudly. "This is quite tasty," he
said.
Amelia giggled.
"But we can't eat rocks," Alvin protested. "Our teeth are not as big as
yours."
"Of course not. I forgot." Billo then fished in a small pool beneath
the rock, and brought out a cluster of mussels. "How about these? I
have seen the mermaids eating similar sort of things."
"Oooh mussels!" squeaked Amelia with delight.
"But we need a fire to cook them," Alvin said sensibly.
Billo looked sad again. "If I weren't such an awfully useless dragon, I
could make fire for you in a flash."
"Don't worry," Amelia said. "I've got some matches in my pocket."
"Oh - that's not allowed," Alvin protested.
"Getting shipwrecked is an emergency, Silly!" Amelia said.
Billo watched with interest as they gathered pieces of driftwood to
build their fire. He thought humans were terribly clever - and these
were just children. What must the big ones be like? Then he started
back in amazement as Amelia struck a match and the small fire blazed
into life. "That's wonderful magic," he said.
"It isn't magic," Alvin explained. "It's just matches - a human
invention."
"My goodness!" Billo was impressed.

"But we haven't got a cooking pot," Amelia suddenly realised.
Then Billo showed them a trick he had learned from watching the many
creatures of Nowhere-at-All. He placed a heap of pebbles in the fire to
grow hot. Then he put the mussels into a very tiny rock pool. As the
small stones heated, the dragon transferred them to the little pool,
until the water began to steam, and the mussels began to spit and open
their shells.
"You are so clever, Billo," Amelia praised him.
"Now we can eat," Alvin said, matter-of-factly.
"And I must wish you "Goodnight"," Billo said . "I will return for you
in the morning." He spread his great shimmering-blue wings, and lifted
from the beach without a sound.
The children watched until he was just a black speck against the
sunset. "That is the magickest dragon," said Amelia.

*******

Billo had been right about the caves. The wall of cliffs was full of
them. In one of these lived a wicked old witch. Her name was
Witchy-Nor.
Witchy-Nor had two pets (they were more like slaves, actually), a black
cat - and an equally black crow. These unfortunate creatures were quite
clever, and obeyed her every wish and command out of fear for their
lives.
Witchy-Nor was in an awfully bad mood. She was trying to create a spell
to make herself young and beautiful, and it did not seem to be working.
She stirred the smelly soup in her big black cauldron, and she frowned
as she muttered magic words from the spell-book. The soup contained bat
wings, spiders' legs, fish tails, bird's eyes, and a hundred other
horrible things, all faithfully collected by Cat and Crow.
Witchy-Nor had tried out her brew on both of them. Cat had become a
sweet furry kitten, chasing balls of fluff around the cave. Crow had
become a helpless downy chick - gaping his beak for food. Then they had
instantly changed back again. There was something missing. The spell
was not complete. Witchy-Nor hissed the magic words from the
spell-book. Then she noticed the missing ingredients. "Of course!" she
yelled. "I forgot the toad! And I need the blood of a maiden!"
"Cor!" said the crow.
"Wow!" said the cat.
Witchy-Nor glared at both of them. Then she looked into her crystal
ball. "Aha!" she suddenly shouted. "There are two human children on the
beach. They are exactly what I need. You two - go and get them!"
"Cor!" said the crow.
"Wow!" said the cat.
"Take some honey cakes to entice them," the witch ordered.

*******

Prince Alvin and princess Amelia had found two large clam shells to use
as plates. They were sitting by their fire eating the lovely hot
mussels when Cat and Crow approached them. Both children looked up in
surprise at seeing the two animals dragging a large paper bag between
them.
The cat dropped the bag at Alvin's feet, then sniffed the mussels
longingly. The crow hopped onto Amelia's knee and eyed her dish of food
with his head on one side. "Cor!" he said.
"What lovely friendly creatures!" exclaimed Amelia. "Do you think they
are hungry?"
Alvin opened the paper bag and saw the pile of rich brown cakes which
smelled deliciously of honey. "I think they like mussels better than
cakes," he said. "Perhaps they want to do a swap."
The cat spoke. "We do like mussels better than cakes. But these are a
gift for you anyway. Our dear mistress has noticed you camping on the
beach. She thinks you might be safer and warmer in our cave for the
night. We have come to invite you."
"Cor!" said the crow, snatching a tasty morsel from Amelia's
dish.
"Please excuse my feathered friend," said the cat. "He has never
learned any manners."
"Can all animals in this country speak?" Alvin asked.
"Not all," the cat replied. "Only the intelligent ones. My little
friend here, is much too stupid."
"Cor!" said the crow. Amelia was now feeding him the last of her
mussels.
Alvin gave the rest of his dinner to the cat, then he and Amelia began
to munch the honey cakes . "We will accept your kind offer," he told
the cat between bites. "We will come to visit your mistress as soon as
we have finished dinner."
The cat miaowed as he devoured the mussels. He actually felt rather
guilty about leading these children into a trap, they seemed like
awfully nice creatures. But he did not dare to disobey Witchy-Nor. It
was more than his life was worth.

*******

Billo had found himself a nice large cave for the night, and had built
a hoard of pretty pebbles to sleep on, as there was no gold to be
found. But he closed his eyes and pretended it was gold. This worked
very well - he was asleep in seconds...

At the crack of dawn Billo returned to the beach to collect his young
friends. But they were nowhere to be seen. Anxiously, he looked all
along the golden shore and out to sea. Where could they have gone in
the dark? Their little boat was still there, and the cold remains of
the fire. He greedily ate all the ash and charcoal. Perhaps they had
decided to sleep in one of the caves. He would go and look...

*******

Prince Alvin had been turned into a toad. He sat on the floor between
Cat and Crow, croaking miserably.
Princess Amelia was imprisoned in a wicker cage. She was crying and
wailing, seeing what had happened to her brother, and she dreaded to
think what would happen to her.
"Hee-hee-har!" cackled Witchy-Nor. "Now I have my toad and my maiden. I
will soon be young and beautiful again. Throw the toad in the pot,
Cat!"
But at that moment, Billo stuck his head through the cave entrance,
almost filling up the space.
"Cor!" said the crow.
"Wow!" said the cat.
"Ig-ig-ig," said the toad who was really Prince Alvin, and was not
quite used to toad language.
"Good morning Madam," Billo said politely. "I see you are cooking
breakfast. Would you mind an extra guest?"
"Arrrghhh!" screamed Witchy-Nor, most impolitely. "Get lost
Dragon!"
"Billo, please help us!" wailed Princess Amelia.
The dragon looked at her, and saw that she was trapped in a cage. There
was no sign of the little prince. Something funny was going on here. He
looked back at the witch who was trembling and backing away from her
cauldron. "Madam," he said, still very politely. "What are you doing to
my little friends? Is this any way to treat visitors?"
"Mind your own business!" the witch hissed.
Billo could see she was asking for trouble. This was a very wicked
witch indeed. He could feel a magic tingle in the back of his throat.
Without even thinking, he opened his mouth and took a deep breath. Then
he blew an enormous rainbow-coloured bubble which floated towards
Witchy-Nor and popped over her. The wicked witch was completely
imprisoned inside. Though she screamed and raged and tried to break
out, she could not escape from the magic bubble.
"Cor!" said the crow.
"Wow!" said the cat.
"Ig-ig-ig," said the toad who was really Prince Alvin.
"Hooray!" cheered Princess Amelia.
Billo removed his head from the cave entrance just long enough to allow
the bubble to float out. It soared high into the sky and far over the
sea. Witchy-Nor was gone...

"Billo - you darling creature - now please save my brother," Amelia
begged.
"Ig-ig-ig," said the toad, sadly.
Billo suddenly understood what had happened as he looked at the forlorn
little toad. He immediately blew another bubble which hit the small
creature with a "splat". Then Prince Alvin was standing there, smiling
at Billo and Amelia. "Thank you, my friend," he said to the dragon. "My
sister was right. You are the magickest."
Billo blew another bubble towards Amelia's cage. This melted at once,
and she ran towards him to kiss his brilliant blue scales. "We are so
lucky that we met you," she told him.
Then Billo looked at Cat and Crow who were both trembling and trying to
hide in the corner.
"P-please spare us," begged the cat. "We were so afraid of Witchy-Nor.
We were in her power."
"Yes," Amelia agreed. "It wasn't really their fault."
"Okay." Billo relented at once.
"Cor!" said the crow.
"Wow!" said the cat. "We are free at last."
Then they both fled from the cave in case Billo should change his
mind.
"It is time to take you home, my little friends," the dragon
said.
Alvin and Amelia clambered onto his back with gladness.
Billo lifted into the air, slowly and carefully with his two young
passengers...

They flew for the rest of the day and all of the night. Billo was
concerned about his young friends; they might need to eat or stretch
their legs - and there was nothing but ocean beneath them. But he need
not have worried. They'd spent a sleepless night in Witchy-Nor's cave,
and they both slept soundly, locked in each other's arms, and nestled
safely upon the cool scales of his broad back. In the rosy light of
dawn, they awoke and saw the misty cliffs of the land of humans which
they called "Alvinia". "Nearly there," Billo told them,
encouragingly...

*******

The King and Queen of Alvinia had survived the shipwreck. They were
overjoyed to see their son and daughter again, for they had imagined
them to be drowned. When they heard the story of the children's rescue
by Billo, they immediately adopted the dragon as a member of the Royal
Family. They gave him a special garden of his own, and a golden crown
to wear. An expert chef was employed to bake his favourite coal pies
and charcoal biscuits, and his own personal pepper-pot was filled with
lovely white ash. They even dug him a pond filled with oily water.
Billo was convinced that the sleeping rainbows in oily water was what
made his bubbles so strong and colourful.
Billo was happy at last. He was a real royal dragon with a kingdom of
his own, and all of the people loved him.
After all - he was the magickest dragon.

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