by Ed Clarke
‘Welcome to the country, Townie,’ said Mari. ‘We need to observe the dragon’s flying abilities and we can’t do that near cows. May I begin?’
Dylan rolled his eyes and lifted his pen.
Mari carefully opened the lid of the travel terrarium, and Gweeb looked up at them as quizzically as a dragon could. She pulled a large ball of string out of her bag and started looping it around his neck.
‘Hang on,’ said Dylan. ‘What are you doing?’
‘I’m making a leash,’ replied Mari.
‘What on earth for?’
‘So he doesn’t fly away, of course. That would be the end of everything.’
Dylan shook his head firmly. ‘But he’s a wild animal, not a kite. You might strangle him. We have to train him to come to food, like they do with birds of prey.’
‘You think we can train him?’
‘Of course,’ replied Dylan.
Mari was unconvinced. ‘Just so you know, this is going down as your idea.’
She reached back into her bag and handed him a small plastic box full of worms.
‘So what do we do first?’ she asked.
‘Why don’t you try telling him what we’re doing?’
Mari snorted. ‘Because he’s a wild animal? And they don’t speak English?’
Dylan shrugged. ‘If you say so.’
‘Fine. Let’s try it your way, Mr Dragon Expert. Now, Gweeb,’ she continued in her best scientist’s voice. ‘Today I shall be making some observations about you, and my assistant over there will be noting them down. I shall then write up an article to be verified by Dr Griff Griffiths and published in the International Journal of Science. I hope you will help us by cooperating to the best of your ability, and not attempting to fly away.’
Gweeb looked blankly at them.
‘Do you think he got all that?’ Mari asked Dylan, one eyebrow raised.
‘You know that lizards don’t like the cold either, right?’ said Dylan. ‘Shouldn’t we get started?’
Mari nodded. ‘First observations,’ she announced. ‘Physical appearance. Colour is deep red. Reptilian scales all over. Eyes are green.’
‘We know all this,’ said Dylan.
‘I know we know, but we have to be thorough for those who don’t,’ replied Mari. ‘This is for publication.’
She found the tape measure in her pocket and stretched it out next to the dragon. With some difficulty she managed to unroll Gweeb’s tail along the length of it to get an accurate figure.
‘Length: 15.2 centimetres from nose to tail.’ She spun the tape measure round and extended Gweeb’s wings between her fingertips, prompting an eggy hiss from the little dragon. ‘Wingspan: 16.5 centimetres. Have you got that?’
‘Yes, Dr Jones.’
‘You don’t have to keep calling me Dr Jones.’
‘I think it suits you,’ said Dylan with a wry smile.
Mari ignored him and changed the subject. ‘Do you have a phone?’ she asked.
‘Dad won’t let me,’ said Dylan. ‘Why?’
‘Because we should take pictures,’ said Mari. ‘And Mum won’t let me have one either.’
‘You’re pretty good at drawing,’ Dylan observed.
‘I’m not sure that’s enough for the International Journal of Science,’ replied Mari. ‘We’ll have to think of something later. Let’s keep going.’
Dylan cocked his head to one side and lifted his pen in readiness. ‘Yes, Doctor.’
Mari bit her tongue. He wasn’t taking this at all seriously.
‘Next, texture.’ Mari ran her finger along Gweeb’s body. ‘Soft to the touch. Not slimy.’ She prodded the dragon’s belly. He squirmed and glared.
‘Steady on,’ said Dylan.
‘This is for science,’ said Mari. ‘These are important tests.’
‘He’s still a living thing. You’ve got to give him a bit of respect.’
Mari was getting a little irritated with Dylan now. ‘And you, Dylan, have to respect science.’
‘Maybe it’s better if you do this by yourself,’ said Dylan. ‘It doesn’t seem like you want my help.’
‘Well, you may remember that I didn’t actually ask for it,’ snapped Mari.
Dylan put down the ring binder and held up his hands. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘I’ll leave you to it then, shall I?’ He started to walk away.
Mari ground her teeth. He was infuriating, but she was far too worried about what he might do if she let him go. Besides, it would take longer if she had to do all the measuring and all the writing herself.
‘OK, wait,’ she said finally. ‘I would like your help.’
Dylan turned round. ‘On one condition,’ he said.
‘You have conditions now?’
‘You let me make sure Gweeb is OK,’ he said.
Mari gave him a funny look. ‘I don’t understand.’
‘I mean, make sure he’s healthy. And that you don’t, you know, hurt him. With your science.’
Dylan sounded just like Rhian. Mari had to gulp down her pride before replying.
‘Fine,’ she said eventually. ‘You can check on the creature’s welfare before we carry out any experiments.’
Dylan smiled his approval. ‘What’s the next test then?’ he asked.
‘Flying,’ replied Mari.
‘Fantastic,’ said Dylan.
As if on cue, Gweeb sprang into the air, whipping their faces with his tail as he whisked past them. Dylan followed his trajectory high up into the sky as he swooped and soared at incredible speed. His jaw dropped open in amazement. He turned to look at Mari. She was biting her nails.
‘You’re sure he’s going to come back for the worms?’ she asked.
‘Relax,’ said Dylan. ‘And enjoy the show.’
Mari tried not to worry. A small smile crept slowly across her face as Gweeb skirted a hedgerow one minute and then rocketed into the air to chase a sparrow the next.
‘Fascinating behaviour,’ she said finally. ‘Probably hunting.’
‘Glad you like it.’ Dylan smiled. ‘I’ll write that down.’
But he wasn’t writing yet because, like Mari, he was still staring up into the sky, completely entranced by the dragon’s flight. They stood together in silent awe, every now and then looking across at one another to exchange a grin, relishing the moment.
That is until Mari noticed that Gweeb was starting to slow down, his attention caught by something in the distance.
‘OK, get the worms ready, Dylan,’ she said nervously.
‘Why? He seems happy enough –’
Suddenly Gweeb shot off in the direction of the lighthouse on the clifftop a hundred metres or so behind them.
‘What’s he playing at?’ murmured Dylan under his breath, but there was no one to hear him because Mari was already hurtling off after Gweeb. By the time Dylan caught up with her at the cliff edge, he was wheezing as heavily as if he’d just finished his first half-marathon.
‘Worms, Dylan,’ said Mari urgently, her eyes fixed on the dragon as he raced back and forth along the cliffs below them.
‘What’s he doing?’ asked Dylan, peeling open the worm box.
‘I don’t know, but it’s not the same behaviour as when he was chasing that sparrow,’ Mari replied.
She cast a worried eye down the cliff path. In the distance, a man walking a chocolate-coloured Labrador was wandering in their direction. He hadn’t seen them yet, but it wouldn’t be long before he did.
Dylan thrust a worm into Mari’s hands. She held it between her fingers and raised her arm high in the air.
‘Gweeb!’ she yelled. ‘Come back!’
But Gweeb was far away now, diving low across the waves, then turning to swoop back up to the cliffs, and then out over the water again.
‘It’s almost like he’s looking for something,’ said Dylan.
‘But what, though?’ Mari wondered.
‘And what if he doesn’t come back?’ asked Dylan nervously.
&nb
sp; ‘Then I will blame you entirely,’ said Mari.
The man and the Labrador were getting closer.
‘Gweeb!’ she shouted again.
‘GWEEB!’ they yelled at the same time.
Then, before they knew it, the Labrador was bounding up to them, sniffing Mari’s jeans and jumping up at her outstretched arm. Mari shrank back, holding the worm out of reach while trying to avoid being slobbered on.
‘Don’t worry, he loves kids,’ said the owner with a grin. He pointed at the worm Mari was still holding in the air. ‘You’ll not tempt that bat down with worms, you know. They’re insectivores.’
‘Thanks.’ Mari grimaced, relieved that the man wasn’t any more suspicious.
‘Come on, Angus,’ the man said to his dog as he kept on walking. ‘You’ve got sheep to bother.’ The Labrador came to heel immediately and trotted off behind him.
At almost the same moment, with no fanfare at all, Gweeb suddenly appeared, swooping down on to Mari’s hand to take the worm like an obedient hawk. He curled his tail around her finger while he gulped it down in two swift movements.
‘Good gwiber,’ said Mari proudly, surprised to feel every inch the dragon trainer. ‘Why did you fly off like that, eh?’
As Dylan leaned in to watch, Gweeb wheezed out his after-dinner breath into his face. Dylan gagged at the smell.
Mari giggled. ‘Now that is interesting,’ she said.
Dylan raised a questioning eyebrow.
‘After feeding, his breath has the odour of rotten eggs,’ she said.
‘It certainly does,’ said Dylan. ‘Shall I write that down, Dr Jones?’
‘Thank you, Assistant Dylan –’ Mari smiled – ‘but let’s do that back at the farm. It’s too risky to stay out here any longer.’
They picked up their things and placed Gweeb back in the reptile box. As Mari stole a last glance at the dog walker disappearing off along the path, the man blew a large plume of breath out into the crisp morning air. And a small but perfectly formed idea dropped into her head.
Back in the kitchen, Mari was rummaging around in a drawer in the Welsh dresser.
‘What are you looking for?’ asked Dylan.
‘I want to test a hypothesis,’ she replied.
‘Test a hippo-potheosis?’
‘Hypothesis. A scientific theory. A starting point for investigation.’
‘And your theory is?’
‘Ha! There it is.’ Mari brandished the lighter she’d just pulled out of the drawer.
‘Hang on a minute,’ said Dylan, looking worried. ‘You said you would run stuff like this past me first.’
‘Follow me,’ said Mari. ‘You bring Gweeb.’
But Dylan wasn’t moving.
‘Quickly,’ said Mari. ‘We don’t have long before Mum gets back with the cows.’
Dylan reluctantly picked up the terrarium and followed her back out into the farmyard. Way off in the dairy, the milking machine was still making its familiar sounds.
‘So, the rotten-egg smell …’ said Mari. ‘What do you think it means?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Dylan. ‘Gweeb’s eaten some rotten eggs?’
Mari tried to be patient. Dylan wasn’t a proper scientist, after all.
‘No, it means that the dragon’s stomach is producing some kind of gas as it digests its food. And this –’ she held up the lighter – ‘is going to prove it.’
‘How?’
‘I’m going to set light to it.’
‘You’re going to make Gweeb breathe fire?’ Dylan looked horrified. ‘Like in a fairy tale?’
Mari rolled her eyes. ‘Yes, Dylan, and then I’m going to make him fight a tiny knight and kidnap a miniature princess.’
‘Well, if dragons are real, maybe fairy tales are true too,’ said Dylan.
There was no way a scientist like Mari was going to entertain that notion. ‘We’re not in a fairy tale, Dylan. We’re in Wales. And Gweeb isn’t a mythical creature, he’s real. And I’m going to prove that he’s breathing out methane by igniting the gas.’
Dylan instinctively pulled Gweeb’s box close to his chest. ‘I still don’t think that’s a good idea,’ he said.
‘All right, you can hold Gweeb,’ conceded Mari. ‘I’ll do the science bit.’
Dylan grudgingly placed the box on the ground and removed the lid.
‘Please feed him a worm, Assistant Dylan.’
He pulled a squirming worm out of the box. Gweeb’s head snapped round towards him, tongue lolling like a puppy begging for a treat, before snaffling the worm down. Standing behind them, Mari wasted no time in holding the lighter right next to Gweeb’s gaping jaws.
‘Too close,’ warned Dylan.
Mari muttered to herself, and moved the lighter another ten centimetres away. As she did so, she heard a rumble in the creature’s stomach and flicked up a flame. A second later, Gweeb belched out a stinky breath that instantly caught light, sending a tongue of flame shooting out about a metre in front of them.
‘That is so cool!’ said Dylan, grinning at Mari, who couldn’t help but return the smile. Even Gweeb looked pleased with himself, his emerald eyes glinting.
‘Hypothesis successfully proved,’ announced Mari. ‘Please write that down.’
‘Shouldn’t we do it again, just to be sure?’ asked Dylan eagerly.
‘Science before fun,’ said Mari, pulling the ring binder out of her bag.
‘Boo!’ said Dylan as he put Gweeb back in the box.
‘Dylan, the lid!’
Dylan had forgotten to close the terrarium, and that split second was all Gweeb needed. He sprang upwards, snatching the lighter out of Mari’s hand with his claws as he whipped up into the air, flying across the yard, and high into the hay barn.
‘You’d better be right about this training thing,’ snapped Mari. ‘Get another worm, quick. I’ve got to get up there.’
Dylan scrabbled around in Mari’s bag, but the worm box was empty. He scratched about in the dirt beneath their feet instead, desperately trying to find something wriggling.
Meanwhile Mari cursed the fact that she hadn’t stacked the bales properly yet. There was no way she could climb up the messy pile to get to Gweeb. She quickly began lifting, turning and slotting the bales into a tidy staircase of hay. It didn’t take her long, and soon she was picking her way carefully upwards.
She glanced up at the tiny dragon, still perched way above her head. He was holding the lighter in one claw like it was a toy, absent-mindedly scratching at it with the other. Mari felt her heart plummet. Sooner or later it would spark, and if that happened in a barn full of hay …
‘Gweeb,’ she called sternly. ‘Put that down!’
He stopped what he was doing and looked over at Mari just long enough to make it clear both that he’d heard her and that he was going to ignore what she’d said. Mari craned her neck to see where Dylan was.
‘Have you got a worm yet?’ she shouted.
‘I can’t find any!’ he yelled back.
‘Try the old vegetable garden behind the house!’
Dylan nodded and ran off.
‘From now on, new rules,’ Mari muttered under her breath. ‘The boy doesn’t get to hold the dragon.’
She was a good five metres above the ground now, she realized nervously. But still Gweeb was out of reach. At the other end of the farmyard, the familiar squeezing and clonking sound suddenly stopped. Rhian had finished milking and would soon be going in for her breakfast. They were running out of time.
Mari looked back at Gweeb again – just as his claw struck the wheel and a flame spurted up out of the lighter. Mari held her breath, but unfortunately Gweeb didn’t hold his. The little dragon wheezed – and a burst of flame shot across the barn.
Mari looked on in horror as the fire licked across one of the hay bales. It smouldered, then smoked, and then finally flickered into flame. Any second now, the whole barn would be on fire …
‘Dylan!’ shouted Mari from the
top of the hay bales. ‘Worms! Now!’
But there was no sign of Dylan, and putting out the fire was now far more urgent than catching Gweeb. Edging warily back down to the ground, Mari scanned the barn and caught sight of a coiled hose in the corner. Racing over, she turned on the old tap and pointed the end of the hosepipe towards the growing flames. But the stream of water wouldn’t reach. She looked out of the barn to see her mother walking up from the dairy, driving the herd of cows in front of her. Mari’s eyes instinctively flew back to the dragon, who had stopped flicking the top of the lighter and was now sniffing the air, clearly sensing the approaching milk source.
In a last act of desperation, Mari stuck her thumb over the end of the hose to squeeze the stream of water into a more powerful, concentrated jet. Finally it reached the burning bale and quenched the flames. Rhian hadn’t seen her yet, but any moment now she would.
A plastic box came skidding across the stone floor of the barn and banged into Mari’s foot. She looked down and saw that it was full of worms, then looked up to find out where it had come from.
‘Hello, Mrs Jones, have you seen Mari?’
It was Dylan, stepping out from behind the hay barn to intercept her mother and the cows. Mari immediately dropped the hose, grabbed the box and thrust it in the air towards Gweeb. He instantly lost all interest in the lighter, dropping it on the hay-strewn floor as he swooped down to gorge himself on the worms.
‘Pterodraco jonathani,’ Mari said. ‘You are Trouble with a capital T.’
She bundled the dragon into the terrarium and firmly closed the lid, before hiding it with a great armful of loose hay.
‘Mari! There you are!’ said Rhian, spotting her. ‘Look, Dylan’s here.’
‘Oh, hi, Dylan,’ said Mari, appearing entirely uninterested.
‘Mari …’ said Rhian, raising her eyebrows as if to say, Be nice to him. ‘What brings you round, Dylan?’
‘We’re, er, doing an experiment,’ Mari said, before she really knew how she was going to end the sentence.
‘OK,’ said Rhian expectantly.
‘Erm, it’s for school,’ Dylan said quickly. ‘We’re working together on a project. We’re … partners.’
‘Really? Mari didn’t mention that,’ said Rhian. Mari winced at how pleased her mum sounded. ‘Well, it’s a shame, but Mari still has some farm work to do this morning and …’