Extract from

Untitled dragon book

Cape wrath, north western tip of Scotland.Angus threw the stick as far as he could along the empty, wind swept beach. Itwhistled sharply as it spun through the air with a black streak bounding after it. Boneowasn’t quite quick enough and crashed head first into the tall grasses that edged thedunes. The grasses shook for a while and then Boneo re-emerged triumph, stick in mouth.Angus beckoned him forward and Boneo trotted back to his master, dropping the stick tothe ground and then jumping up excitedly trying to grab it again as Angus picked it up.“Okay, last one,” Angus said throwing the stick with extra effort. “It’s bloomingfreezing out here.” Unfortunately the rushing wind grabbed at the flying stick and took it off course, carrying it out to sea a bit. Both Angus and Boneo looked out to the bobbing stickin the cold blue water with dismay.“Well, go on then,” urged Angus. “T’was a good stick that.” Boneo replied with a lookthat simply said ‘No way’. “Well, I suppose I could have a go, if y’er too chicken,” Angusgrumbled.He took off his shabby wellies and socks, placing them on the sand and beganrolling his trouser legs up. Boneo got excited and started to jump and bark.“It’s not funny you rotter. I shalt bother in a minute.”Angus dipped a toe in the sea. It really was cold. He could feel the hairs rise up onthe back of his neck and his stomach clench. With grim determination he planted his solefirmly on the seabed and proceeded with the other foot until he was a few meters out.Boneo jumped back and forth from the water, lapping at it occasionally and barking at thewind.Angus concentrated on the stick, reaching out with his hand he tried to encourage itnearer with soft words. He inched his way closer and closer to the stick, his heavy feetsinking two or three inches into the soft sand with every step. The water lapped around hisankles and then his calves and then wetted his rolled up denim at the knees as the wavesgleefully kept the stick just out of range. He was so nearly there, just a little farther, and

then he had it. Finally. He turned, pleased with himself, back to shore and waved the stickto show Boneo who still jumped and barked at the waters edge. A big wave came upbehind him and he yelled out as the cold water soaked through to his underwear. Boneoseemed to die laughing rolling around in the sand.“You just wait you ungrateful hound,” Angus began to shout trudging back to shore.Suddenly his bare foot brushed against something under the water, puzzled Angus pulledback and stared through the crystal clear waters of the north sea waiting for the ripples todie down enough to see what it was. The shimmering form of several big white spheresbegan to take shape, all knotted together in a kind of net.“Someone’s lost a whole net of footballs,” he mused kicking one with his foot. Thetexture alarmed him. It certainly wasn’t a football, it was more organic like a...a jelly. Angussuddenly bolted away and back to the safety of the shore. He struggled desperatelyagainst the friction of the water and ploughed head first on the sand, crawling away fromthe water.“Blooming hell!” he yelled examining his feet. “Blooming jelly fish!” Boneo lookedsympathetic and licked at Angus’ salty toes, but Angus soon found to his relief that therewere no stinging sensations or pinky rash forming. He frowned.“Must a got lucky,” he told Boneo, slightly confused. “Or maybe they weren’t jellyfish.” After all he hadn’t actually seen them properly, maybe they were some kind of seaweed, or debris fallen off a boat or something. Curiosity began to get the better of himand with his fear and then embarrassment over with, Angus ventured back into the watersto hook the net of white balls on the end of Boneo’s stick, which he noted Boneo wasn’ttoo happy about, and then dragged them ashore.Laid out on the beach it was still unclear what they were. Boneo sniffed aroundthem again and again, playful barking at a few but didn’t have any helpful suggestions.Angus put his socks and wellies back on and began to poke the strange things with thestick at first and then with his fingers.Fourteen shiny white balls lay before him, slightly smaller than footballs, all wrappedup in a stringy substance. They reminded him of giant turtle eggs, like the ones you see ontelly with the mummy turtles burying them on the beaches at night, all soft and smooth likePing-Pong balls. But these were like Ping-Pong balls after a good hard game, all slightlydented and squished out of shape, indeed some of them were totally squished or brokenopen. They weren’t man-made that was for sure. Angus was pretty sure they were eggs,but what of?After some thought Angus took out a pen knife and started to cut away at the stringy

material. He picked the healthiest looking ‘egg’ although he wasn’t exactly sure what washealthy and what wasn’t with these, and threw the remaining ‘balls’ back into the sea,where they just bobbed up and down for a bit, threatening to be washed back in with thetide, before sinking below the surface, then he and Boneo started the coastal climb home.They returned home to their modest white-washed cottage and slammed the door closed against the wind. Felix sat on the kitchen table and surveyed them both withdisgust, the wind from the opened door had ruffled his fur which only a moment ago hadbeen basking in the heat of the stove.“Move aside there, Felix,” Angus said flinging his coat on a peg and sitting at thekitchen table. “And come have a look at this.” Felix tried to feign disinterest but curiosityovercame him and he came sniffing over. Boneo lapped at his water bowl briefly and thensat down next to Angus, putting his head on his lap.“I reckon it’s an egg. Don’t know what of though. Maybe’s a whale or... no waitmammals don’t lay eggs, so it can’t be a whale. Must be a fish or a squid or some thing.”Felix meowed loudly which was unusual for him.“What?” asked Angus puzzled. Felix walked around in a circles a few times thenflopped his massive ginger weight down in frustration.“I dunno what he’s tryna say!” he said to Boneo. Boneo stretched out his neck andtried to lick out at Angus who rubbed him affectionately under the chin.“All right then I reckon we’ll put this in the bath with some salt water and see whathappens. Can’t be nothing bad cos it’ll only be a baby, right. If it is something bad we canalways kill it and have it for tea,” he nodded in decision and grabbing the salt pot in onehand and the egg in the other he proceeded up the stairs, with Felix and Boneo followingclose behind.The egg stayed in the tub for four weeks, green slimy stuff building up the sides.Angus rarely, if ever, actually bathed, so it remained undisturbed. He hardly ever sawpeople and he figured animals couldn’t care less if you smelled a bit, so he didn’t see thepoint in bathing, anyway he went in the sea often enough, soap was for women.He’d been back down to the beach the day after he’d found the egg to see if hemight save some of the others but there had been no sign of them, probably washed backout to sea.Angus added more seawater regularly, losing the excess out of the overflow. Hewould have given up hope of hatching something weeks ago if he couldn’t actually seemovement within the egg. The first time he saw something move inside he thought it was