Werewolf versus Dragon by David Sinden Page B

dripping with saliva. His lower jaw thrust forward and his whole face twisted into that of a wolf.
    Ulf looked up at the full moon. He threw his head back and howled.
    With wolf eyes he could see further. He could hear every sound. Smells were filling his nostrils.
    In the distance, the landscape darkened. He could see a vast blanket of trees.
    â€œThat’s Furnace Woods,” Tiana said.
    As the Roc thundered onward, Ulf sniffed the air. He could smell the scent of humans. He glanced down as the Roc shot over the tops of tall pine trees. They flashed below in a blur.
    Up ahead, Ulf saw a circle of bright lights. His ears pricked up. He could hear humans cheering.
    A man was speaking through a megaphone. “Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Ring of Horrors!”
    In the shadows, Ulf could make out a crowd of humans.
    They were gathered beside a huge round pit dug into the ground. They were waving money and shaking their fists.
    On either side of the pit, the tall arms of two cranes were poking from the treetops. As the Roc swooped lower, Ulf looked down.
    He saw Dr. Fielding, gagged and tied to a post. Next to her, standing on a mound of earth, was a man dressed in a fur coat. His face was twisted and rotten.
    Tiana gasped. “Who’s that?” she asked.
    Ulf bared his fangs and snarled: “That’s Marackai!”
    Baron Marackai waved, then held a megaphone to his lips. “I, Baron Marackai, welcome you to an historic night.”
    The crowd cheered.
    The Roc swooped lower, circling.
    â€œI would like to thank our special guest, Dr.Helen Fielding, for helping me gather you all together.”
    Ulf saw Franco Ravioli the chef, Lucretia Da Silva the boutique manager, and Billy Buck the factory owner. Baron Marackai had invited all the criminals from Dr. Fielding’s files!
    â€œFor too long, the RSPCB has meddled in our world,” Baron Marackai said. “Now it’s their turn to suffer. The RSPCB is over! The beasts shall soon be ours!”
    The Baron removed his gloves and raised his right hand. “Death to the RSPCB!”
    All the humans in the crowd folded down their little fingers and held up their right hands.
    â€œDeath to the RSPCB!” they cheered. They began chanting: “Ba-ron, Ba-ron, Ba-ron, Ba-ron.”
    â€œAnd so to the main event,” Baron Marackai said. “For your entertainment I give you a fight between two heavyweights. The first, a fire breather!”
    From out of the trees a crane trundled to theedge of the pit. Swinging from the crane’s arm on a steel wire was a huge metal cage draped in a tarpaulin. It was rocking and clattering.
    A big man with a thick beard and long greasy hair stepped out of the crane’s cabin and climbed down a ladder into the pit. Hanging from the bars of the cage was a chain. The big man attached the chain to a metal ring at the bottom of the pit and climbed back out.
    â€œLadies and Gentlemen,” the Baron announced. “I give you Aziza, the firebelly dragon!” The doors of the cage burst open, and Aziza the dragon tumbled out screeching into the Ring of Horrors.
    The dragon stood in the pit beating her wings. She tried to take off but she couldn’t. She was tied to the ground, the chain attached to a metal collar on her neck. Her back legs were tied together with another chain so she couldn’t run.
    The dragon roared, and a jet of flames shot out of the pit.
    â€œFacing Aziza, we have a beast with the strength of a hundred men.”
    The crowd parted as a second crane trundled to the edge of the pit.
    â€œHere for the first and possibly last time, our challenger—the RSPCB’s very own giant!”
    Hanging upside down from the crane’s steel wire was Orson. The crane jerked, and the wire slackened.
    Orson fell crashing into the pit.

Chapter 22
    FROM THE BACK OF THE ROC, ULF COULD SEE Orson standing in the Ring of Horrors. The giant’s clothes were torn and