The Basque Dragon

by Adam Gidwitz

  “And that’s not Sugaar,” said Professor Fauna. “That looks like a male herensuge. And those six little heads aren’t heads. Those are baby dragons.”

  “I think,” said Uchenna, “that we’re watching a family reunion.”

  Elliot, Uchenna, and Professor Fauna watched as the herensuge family played and cuddled and roughhoused together.

  Suddenly, Elliot said, “Where’s Jersey?”

  Uchenna pointed. “There!” Jersey had crawled over to the herensuge family and started growling at one of the babies. The baby, which was much, much larger than Jersey, growled back. The two danced around each other for a second and then began tussling on the ground. They were of such different sizes that it looked like a kitten wrestling with a dinosaur.

  Elliot rubbed his head in disbelief.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Suddenly, a huge stone crashed to the ground, right beside the three members of the Unicorn Rescue Society.

  “We must leave this cave,” said Professor Fauna. “Now.”

  “But we can’t leave the herensuge family!” objected Elliot. “We’ve got to get them back to Mitxel! What if the Schmokes come back with guards and guns? Or the cave crushes the whole dragon family? Then, all of this would have been for naught!”

  “I don’t know what ‘for naught’ means, but I agree,” said Uchenna. “We should lead them out of here!”

  “But how?” Professor Fauna had picked up Jersey’s backpack and extracted another fish. “There are very few left! Not nearly enough for an entire family of herensuge.”

  Elliot grabbed the fish. “We don’t need the entire family to follow us! We just need to lure one! One of the babies!” He ran toward Jersey, who was still tussling with the young herensuge. For one instant, Elliot thought, I am running toward eight dragons who are wrestling and blowing fire at one another. And then he decided to stop thinking, because he was pretty sure that if he thought about it too much, he would faint. Instead, he said, “Here, Jersey! Here, boy!”

  Jersey looked up. The horse-size baby dragon that Jersey was playing with cuffed the little Jersey Devil so hard he went rolling across the ground. But Jersey stood up on his four little legs, unfazed, and click-clacked over to the fish Elliot held out. The baby herensuge saw where Jersey was going and began to follow the fish, too. Elliot started to walk backward, leading the baby dragon and the Jersey Devil, toward the tunnel that led up to the library.

  “Not that way!” Uchenna said. “We can’t lead the dragons right back to the Schmokes and their guards. Follow me!” She made her way toward the hole in the cavern wall that the herensuge family had made. “There must be a whole network of caves down here,” she said. “Maybe there’s a way out.” She and the professor led the way, and Elliot followed behind, holding up the fish. Jersey and the baby herensuge followed Elliot. Soon the entire herensuge family had fallen in line. It was as if, now that they were together, they didn’t want to be separated again.

  “This is the craziest thing I have ever seen,” Elliot murmured.

  Uchenna led them deeper and deeper, following the twisting path of the ancient cave. The atmosphere became gloomier and thicker. Their footsteps barely echoed now in the darkness. Sometimes a baby dragon got too close to Elliot, and he tossed them the fish in his hand.

  “We better find a way out of here soon,” Elliot said. “I’m running out of fish.”

  “If we go very much deeper, children,” said Professor Fauna, “I fear we will run out of air.”

  Jersey watched another fish sail over his head and into the mouth of a baby dragon. He whined. Then, his whine became more energetic, more curious. Suddenly, he scurried ahead of Uchenna and then up a steep incline.

  There was a crack in the cave wall, not quite as big as the little Jersey Devil, and the last rays of sunset were filtering in from the other side.

  “Good job, Jersey!” said Uchenna. “I don’t think we can fit through there, but that’s a good sign. Keep looking for openings, little guy!”

  “The sooner the better,” said Elliot. “If I run out of fish and these herensuge are still hungry, they might try to eat something—or someone—else.” He tossed a fish into the daddy herensuge’s mouth, then reached into his bag for another. He groped around for a moment before turning the bag upside down. It was empty.

  Uchenna looked at Elliot, holding the empty bag. She looked at the eight dragons, shuffling down the dark cave after her, their leathery wings beating with each step, their tiny dragon eyes glowing. She looked up at the crack in the cave wall.

  “Professor,” she said, “you have a watch, right?”

  “Of course!” he said. He held up his wrist, showing off his unicorn watch with the sparkly band.

  “Give it to me,” she said.

  “No! I won this watch in a very difficult game in an arcade!”

  Uchenna raised an eyebrow.

  “Of course. Sorry. Here it is.” The professor took off the watch and handed it to her. Uchenna started waving the watch back and forth in front of a baby herensuge’s face. The glitter on the watchband caught a beam of sunlight. The herensuge was enchanted. It forgot all about fish.

  Eyes fixed on the glitter, the baby dragon took a shuffling step toward Uchenna. Then another. Uchenna took a step backward, only to find herself up against the cave wall.

  Before the baby dragon could take another step, Uchenna drew the watch back behind her head and extended her other arm like she was about to throw a football, and then hurled the watch at the hole in the wall. It clattered through, disappearing into the evening.

  “Whoa!” said Elliot. “What a throw!”

  The baby dragon went bounding up the incline after the watch. It scrabbled at the opening, trying to get through.

  “Come on,” Uchenna murmured. “You can do it.”

  The baby dragon tried to scrape the rocks away, but she made very little progress. Uchenna turned away, her shoulders folding in on themselves. “That was my best idea,” she said. “Now we’ll never—”

  BOOM!

  The mother herensuge—Mr. Mendizabal’s herensuge—crashed through the tiny stone crack after the watch. Suddenly, there was a giant hole in the stone wall. The dragons all clambered up after the mother and went flapping up into the beautiful Basque mountain evening. Even in the distance, they could see Professor Fauna’s watch sparkling as it dangled from the mother herensuge’s talon.

  Professor Fauna, Elliot, and Uchenna climbed up the stone face into the dying daylight. They turned their heads upward, watching the dragons gain altitude and make the formation of a V, like geese flying home after a long winter. The dragon family was heading in the direction of Mr. Mendizabal’s house.

  Jersey climbed up on Uchenna’s shoulders. Elliot beamed at her. “That,” he said, “was awesome.”

  Uchenna smiled. “Let me know if you ever want lessons on throwing like a girl.”

  “Uchenna,” said the professor. “I am very impressed. But,” he added, “I really did like that watch.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  When Uchenna, Elliot, and Professor Fauna finally climbed the hill leading to Mr. Mendizabal’s house, he was waiting for them in the driveway, covered in grease and motor oil. The Phoenix, Professor Fauna’s plane, stood beside him. It looked even more dented and scratched than it had before, but the propeller was twirling slowly, as if cooling down from a successful test run.

  “We did it, Mr. Mendizabal!” Uchenna shouted.

  “It is such a relief,” he replied, his smile so broad that his mustache bristled like a toothbrush. “I saw her return to her cave just a few moments ago. And with her whole family! Never did I know she had a mate! And babies! So many wonderful babies!”

  He beckoned them inside. But on the threshold, they stopped.

  Íñigo Mendizabal stood in the center of the front room, his s
uit stained with sweat.

  Uchenna demanded, “What’s he doing here?”

  Mr. Mendizabal walked in and put his hands on his hips. Everyone was gazing at Íñigo.

  Mr. Mendizabal spoke to the children and Professor Fauna without taking his eyes off his brother. “Íñigo just told me that he helped the Schmoke brothers kidnap the herensuge.”

  “Treachery!” Professor Fauna cried.

  Íñigo Mendizabal bowed his head. “It is true. And I have begged my brother for forgiveness. I thought I was sharing with the world the glory of Euskal Herria! The power of our dragon, helping and healing the whole globe!”

  “She is not our dragon,” his brother chided him. “She is her own.”

  Íñigo nodded and sighed. “That is true. I was wrong. But no mistake was more grave than trusting the Schmoke brothers. I was a fool.”

  Mitxel Mendizabal turned to Professor Fauna and the children. “After leaving you at the factory, I returned to fix your airplane—I thought you might need it to escape the Schmokes. As I was finishing the job, Íñigo came running up the mountain, begging me to help him rescue the herensuge. He had no idea you were already in the process of freeing her!” Mitxel laughed, grabbed his brother around the neck, and rubbed his head. “That is the way of the Mendizabal family! He was ready to fight the treacherous villains! When we saw the dragon family flying back to their cave, we leaped in the air and danced with joy!”

  Uchenna looked up the mountain toward the herensuge’s cave. “What if the Schmokes come back? They know where to find her now.”

  “That is an excellent question,” Mitxel Mendizabal replied. “Luckily, it is a question I have been prepared to answer ever since I began to care for the herensuge. These mountains are full of uncharted caves. Seriously, it is like Swiss cheese in there. I already know of two others, both far from here, that would make ideal lairs for the herensuge. She and her family would be safe, and the Schmokes would not know where to find her.”

  “May I ask a scientific question?” Professor Fauna said. “Will she really live with her family? I thought the herensuge, like the Basque people, wanted to be left alone.”

  “Ah no!” Íñigo Mendizabal exclaimed. “This is what my brother never understood!”

  “I understand everything!” objected Mitxel.

  Íñigo laughed. “No, you don’t. Independence, yes! But isolation, no! They are not the same thing! We can live by our own laws—relying on the strength of our own hands—but we can also reach out our hands to the rest of the world. One Euskaldun is strong. But with the strength of our families and neighbors, we will endure forever.”

  Mitxel Mendizabal gazed at his brother. “Maybe today, brother, I understand what you mean. For the first time.”

  “And I understand that our heritage is too precious to ignore,” said Íñigo. “I shall help you protect this beautiful family of herensuge. And the Mendizabal family, too.” He reached out his hand to his brother. Mitxel grabbed it and pulled him in for a hug.

  Professor Fauna turned to the two children.

  “I am sorry that I did not tell you of my history with the Schmoke brothers. I have been ashamed of my failure with them. That is why, for so many years, I have worked alone. But today, I witnessed firsthand what can be accomplished with courage, teamwork, and courage!”

  “You said courage twice,” Uchenna pointed out.

  “I know. And I know that together we are capable of great things, children. It will be very difficult and take much planning and training, but I believe that someday we will be able to undo all of the damage the Schmoke brothers have done to the world and its creatures.

  “For this reason, I will do what I have not done in many, many years. Not even the Schmokes were given this honor when they were my students.” The professor reached into his pocket and pulled out two silver rings. They were thick, with flat tops engraved with the silhouette of a unicorn. “Uchenna. Elliot. Please take these rings and wear them as a symbol of our fight against all those who would harm the precious creatures of myth and legend. You are now true and full members of the Unicorn Rescue Society.”

  “Coooool,” Uchenna said, trying the ring on her pinkie, then her index finger, then her thumb. Elliot held his up to the light to inspect the delicate engraving of the unicorn.

  “Wear them proudly, but keep them safe,” Professor Fauna went on. “For we will use them to identify ourselves to other agents around the world. Inscribed within is our secret motto: Protege Mythica. Defende Fabulosa. ‘Protect the mythical. Defend the imaginary.’”

  Uchenna and Elliot practiced saying the words: “PROH-te-geh MIH-tih-kah. Day-FEHN-deh Fah-boo-LOH-sah.”

  “Now,” the professor said, “we must return to New Jersey. We will meet again tomorrow after school, in my office, where I will teach you more of the secrets of our society.”

  “Good-bye, children,” Íñigo Mendizabal said. “Thank you for what you did.”

  Mitxel Mendizabal raised his hand in a salute. “It has been an honor to work with you. Protege Mythica!”

  “Defende Fabulosa,” replied Elliot and Uchenna.

  Jersey stuck his head out of his backpack and chirped. It sounded a little bit like “Defende Fabulosa.” Or maybe, “I’m hungry. I’m hungry.”

  It was hard to tell.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  As Elliot walked through the front door of his house, his mother called from the kitchen. “Honey! What kept you so long?”

  Elliot looked up at the clock on the wall. Five thirty. He entered the kitchen, which smelled of roast chicken, celery, and carrots.

  “I got a call from your teacher, Mr. Fauna, saying you were joining a club of his? I thought you were joining the band!”

  “It’s Professor Fauna, Mom.”

  “Oh, he’s a professor? Well, this Worm-Nutrition Club sounds very . . . um, interesting.”

  “Uh, yeah. It is. I guess.”

  “Okay. Well, I suppose I don’t mind you coming home a little late from school. As long as you’re doing something educational. Have you made any friends yet?”

  Elliot thought of Uchenna and Jersey and Professor Fauna, of Mitxel and Íñigo Mendizabal, and even of the family of dragons. In his pocket, he felt the cool metal circle of his signet ring.

  “Yeah,” he said at last, “I’ve made a few.”

  * * *

  In her house, one block away, Uchenna sat down with her father in front of a plate of grilled fish and sautéed spinach. Her mother was working late again. As Uchenna shook hot sauce onto the fish, her dad studied her.

  “Sweetie, did something happen to your head today?” Mr. Devereaux asked.

  Uchenna reached up and touched her hairline on the right side of her head. A bump had formed from her fall in the cave. “Yeah, Dad, but it’s no big deal.”

  “Did it happen when you were in that club you’ve joined? With Professor Fowler?”

  “It’s Professor Fauna. Yeah, Dad. But it’s fine.”

  Mr. Devereaux watched her for a moment in silence. Uchenna kept her eyes firmly on her food. She didn’t think she could explain everything that had happened that day. Finally, Mr. Devereaux went back to eating. Uchenna was about to exhale when he said, “I just don’t want you getting into any trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Uchenna said nonchalantly. Under the table, she ran her thumb around the edge of her new ring. “Come on, Dad. It’s a club at school. You think they’d let us do anything dangerous?”

  He looked up again and raised an eyebrow.

  “Well, we don’t. It’s a totally normal club.”

  “Mm-hmm,” said Mr. Devereaux, going back to his food.

  Uchenna said it again, “Totally, totally normal.”

  * * *

  In a dark hallway of South Pines Elementary School, Professor Fauna walked with a hunch, his eyes
wild and wide-open, listening intently.

  “Heeeeere, Jersey,” he murmured. “Heeeeere, little Jersey . . .”

  The sound of scrabbling to his left made him jump. He ran after it, into a kindergarten classroom.

  Had anyone else been in the school, they would have heard the professor’s voice echoing down the halls.

  “Not the fish tank, Jersey! Stop! Stop! Those are the kindergarteners’ fishes! JERSEY!”

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Just as it requires a network of people around the world to protect the creatures of myth and legend, so does it require a network of people around the world to create the Unicorn Rescue Society series, and this book in particular. We’d like to thank everyone who helped us share the amazing exploits of the Unicorn Rescue Society, but particularly we’d like to thank:

  Nikki Gorrell, assistant professor of anthropology at the College of Western Idaho and expert on the Basque Country and Basque mythology in particular.

  Izaskun Kortazar Errekatxo, a proud ambassador of Basque culture and language (and pronunciation!).

  Jesse’s friendly hosts in Euskadi: Maria Carmona Castellano at Urresti, Maria Luisa Urrestarazu at Oiharte, and Stephanie Oxarango at Ondicola.

  Emma Otheguy, who, in addition to being an author of an upcoming URS book, also happens to be a scholar of Basque history in the Americas.

  Anne Heausler, copy editor extraordinaire.

  Xamar, for creating an unbelievable resource in Orhipean: The Country of Basque. A book every kid who’s curious about the Basque Country should own!

  And, finally, to Ricardo Yanci and the children of St. Joseph’s School in Boise, Idaho, for your very honest, and very helpful, opinions about this book—from the representation of Basque culture to your demands for pictures. (So, what do you think?)