Read Online The Dragon's Eye by Dugald A. Steer - Free Book Online

have sworn this oath, too.”
    We nodded to Dr. Drake, who asked Alicia to repeat the oath after him: “I, Alicia Light, do solemnly swear to conserve and protect those dragons that still remain, and in no way to harm them or reveal their secret hiding places to those who do not believe in them or would wish them anything other than good fortune.”
    When Alicia had made the oath, Dr. Drake asked Beatrice and me to repeat it after him as well.
    â€œNow,” he said, “welcome to the Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists. Emery and Mademoiselle Gamay will leave us now, but they are both excellent dragonologists, and they will be teaching some of the lessons that you will learn here. As you may or may not know, there are various levels of dragonological achievement, beginning with Dragonological Apprentice and continuing through Dragonological Alumnus — which is the level Billy and Darcy have attained — to Dragonologist Second Class, Dragonologist First Class, and finally Dragon Master, which is, as we speak, a theoretical honour, for there has been no Dragon Master of the Secret and Ancient Society of Dragonologists for a number of years.”
    â€œAren’t you a Dragon Master, then?” I asked.
    â€œI’m afraid not,” said Dr. Drake, smiling. “In the first place, it is the dragons themselves who decide who is to become Dragon Master. In the second, before the last Dragon Master died, he decided, along with the then Minister for Dragons, Lord Chiddingfold’s father, that the Secret and Ancient Society should not recommend anyone for that role. I’m rather afraid that dragons were becoming a little too well-known, and the last Dragon Master did not quite see eye to eye with me on the subject of what I call dragon science. You see, I feel that the best way to help conserve and protect dragons is for people to learn about them. The last Dragon Master felt the same way until he began to teach rather a lot of people about dragons and found things going horribly wrong. He decided that it was safer if people didn’t know about dragons at all. He and the government decided that the existence of dragons must be kept secret at all costs and that, if dragons died out, then that must be their destiny.”
    â€œThat was Ebenezer Crook, wasn’t it, sir?” asked Billy.
    â€œYes,” said Dr. Drake.
    â€œAnd my grandfather agreed with him?”
    â€œIndeed he did. He went further, for he believed that if too many humans became aware of dragons, then a conflict would inevitably occur in which the government would find itself duty-bound to destroy all dragons as a dangerous menace to human beings. But we are getting ahead of ourselves. The
modern
history of the Society is not on our curriculum this year. You have a great deal to learn about dragons themselves. You may congratulate yourselves on being members of a very select group.”
    â€œSo Ignatius Crook is the son of the last Dragon Master?” I blurted out.
    â€œYes,” said Dr. Drake. “Ignatius is the son of Ebenezer Crook. But he is no longer a friend of the S.A.S.D. If you should ever meet him, then I should be wary of anything he says to you. In fact, I should try to avoid him if at all possible. And if you see him again, you must tell me at once.”
    â€œBut why can’t they just make you Dragon Master?” asked Beatrice.
    â€œDear me,” said Dr. Drake, “if I have to answer all these questions, then we are not going to learn very much today. Suffice it to say that, even if the Minister for Dragons and I decided that the time was right, it is not just a question of calling yourself Dragon Master. As I said, the honour can only be bestowed by the dragons themselves. The most intelligent ones have their own society, you know. It is called the Society of Dragons. And there is a special artefact that is needed, which is no longer in the possession of the