The guards wore armour plating with a green, red and black tunic, a helmet with a shield-shaped badge stamped into it and shiny black boots. They had the same fur as Mug and Ivan and even bigger hands and muscles. The insignia on their tunic sleeve was a shield with three parallel stripes running diagonally from the top left to the bottom right. Within each stripe was an image. The top brown stripe had a mole head, the middle yellow stripe had a tree, and the bottom brown stripe had a portcullis.
‘Halt!’ said one of the guards, taking a step towards her. ‘Who are you and why have you entered the castle?’
Scared, she turned to run back through the entrance only to find the portcullis rolling closed.
‘Halt!’ bellowed the guard again, pulling his sword that, until now, she hadn’t noticed was strapped to his back. ‘You will come with us!’ Both guards rushed towards her. Stumbling backwards, something connected with the back of her knees and she tumbled into a small crevice in the wall next to the castle gate arch. Instead of finding solid footing, the floor gave way and she disappeared through a trapdoor. She heard the guards shout out in alarm.
It was a vertical drop down a narrow shaft, and she bumped painfully against the cold, stone sides on the way down. No sooner had it occurred to her that at this speed the landing was going to hurt, she shot out the shaft and landed heavily, hitting her head on the hard floor before passing out.
* * *
The outline of a large bird figure stood over her, its wings extended to cover her body. One of its wings was on fire. She could not make out its face as her body sank into the earth that had inexplicably turned into quicksand. Trying to fight it made her sink faster. The earth closed above her, sealing her once again in darkness. She landed on her back in yet another dark tunnel.
‘Yes, we have her,’ said a disembodied voice.
A voice next to her said, ‘Quick! Get her out of here. Their lives are in grave danger.’
Deelind awoke abruptly and opened her eyes. She saw nothing. Panicking, she whimpered. Had hitting her head caused her to go blind? Her breathing sped up as she realised that she was lying on a cold floor and everything was dark. She had never known such darkness. Slowly recalling the past events, she was no longer sure what was real and what was a dream. Had she just dreamt of a Dragonknight? Never having met one before she couldn’t be sure. All that talk with Mug and Tom must have got her imagination working overtime.
Pushing aside her thoughts Deelind focused on her surroundings. She was not sure how long she had been unconscious, but her body was cold and sore. Shifting a little she winced at the throb of new bruises and the sting of abrasions on her legs and arms. She could feel a wall along the length of her body and a light warm breeze on her face. It had a nasty smell, like a toilet that had never been cleaned. Great, of all the places to end up she appeared to have landed in or near a sewage tunnel. Gritting her teeth, she stretched out her body and checked all her limbs. Apart from being badly bruised and the egg-shaped lump on her head, she could feel nothing more serious. She had been lucky not to have broken any bones in the fall.
Grimacing against the painful headache, she shouted, ‘Help! Anyone? Please help!’ Silence answered her. ‘Help!’ she screamed at the top of her lungs.
With her throat feeling dry and hoarse, Deelind gave up shouting and turned her attention to exploring her surroundings. Her muscles protesting the movement, she slowly sat up, tipped her head back onto the wall and mulled over her situation. In the pitch-dark she needed to get her bearings without losing her only known position of the wall at her back. Deelind stretched her arms out on either side to see if she could feel another wall. Her fingers on both hands brushed against the smooth surface on either side of her. Slowly, inch by inch, she stood up, keeping the wall at her back and her hands exploring the walls to either side of her. She followed the walls as high up as she could reach, trying to find the place she had fallen through. Instead she found a solid ceiling. She had fallen straight out of the shaft. The exit point should be directly above her, but in the darkness she could be just missing it, unaware that it was right by her hand.
Now that she knew what was behind and to the side of her, she needed to move forward. Gradually, with her hands out in front of her, she shuffled forward, checking the sides walls as she went. Even if she hadn’t minded dark, confined spaces, she was sure that she would never want a job that required underground work after this. Becoming a moler was out of the question. It wasn’t long before her outstretched hands touched something solid and vertical. Another wall. She must be in some sort of long, narrow room. Feeling her way up the new wall, she found she couldn’t reach the ceiling. If the ceiling slanted, it might be too high to reach. Aside from there being no obvious ceiling at this end of the room, it seemed like a dead end, too. Now what? The hole that she had fallen through didn’t seem to exist anymore. Probably one of those closing-type burrows Tom had talked about, or some other kind of magic that she would have never thought existed until today. In despair, she leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor. Placing her head on her knees she sobbed until exhaustion claimed her.
Hearing a faint bird cry, Deelind looked up and saw a beautiful, pure white dragon. Looking through dragon eyes she could see for miles and the land was far away. Houses were like little dots, and roads looked like lines drawn on the ground. It felt like nothing she had experienced before, and it was glorious. With the wind under her wings, she felt free, as if she could fly forever.
Deelind’s head slipped off her knees and she jerked awake. Half-dazed she heard a voice saying, ‘Up, go up. You must go up!’ Then there was silence and she was back in the darkness.
Deelind knew from the discomfort of the hard ground under her that this part was not a dream. Pulling herself up one stiff limb at a time, Deelind explored the wall behind her again. As before, she found nothing but the smooth wall and floor. Even jumping she could not reach the ceiling at this end. She couldn’t see what she was doing, she could be missing it by millimetres. Was there even a ceiling? In frustration, with tears brimming, she jumped up yet again and hit the wall as high as possible with her hand. Her fingers brushed something that felt like a hard lip or edge. Her heart lurched painfully in her chest. She hardly dared to hope. Even though her bruised and battered body screamed with each jump, she took a deep breath and jumped again. This time she managed to grab the edge, but she didn’t have the strength to pull herself up. Feeling sore, tired and disheartened, she dropped back down to the floor, breathing hard while tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Somehow knowing there was a possible escape route but not being able to reach it made things even worse. Again, she heard the voice faintly call out, ‘Up, go up.’
Blindly Deelind obeyed and jumped. This time she managed to get a good grip on the edge with one hand. She quickly brought up her other hand and clung on desperately. Pulling with her hands, and with her feet scrabbling frantically against the wall, she somehow managed to lever herself up onto a ledge, where she collapsed, exhausted.
After taking a few minutes to catch her breath she explored the ledge and quickly discovered that she couldn’t stand up and that she was in another passageway. Thankful to be moving forward at last, she crawled on her hands and knees, slowly working her way through the passageway. The passageway gradually spiralled upwards and as she turned a corner, the tunnel came to a sudden end. Hope surged when she spotted a faint light far, far above her. After so much darkness even this little bit of light hurt her eyes. Hope quickly turned into despair as she looked straight up a vertical shaft. There was no way on this earth that she could climb up a shaft and out into the sunlight. Feeling wrung out and exhausted from hours of being confused and terrified, she slumped against the tunnel wall. To her horror it gave way and she fell. ‘Not again,’ she pleaded, silently promising herself that she wouldn’t lean on any more walls!
* * *
This fall was more like a steep slide, ending abruptly as Deelind crashed ont
o a hard, flat surface. With the wind knocked out of her, she felt panic rise as she struggled to suck in much-needed air. She lay there gasping in airless space, when suddenly fresh air flowed into her lungs. Her chest rose and fell sharply with deep gulps of oxygen. She brought her arm up to shield her eyes from the sudden brightness around her. Her eyes felt like they were being stabbed with hot needles and they were watering like crazy. Fresh air? Light? She was outside! Opening her eyes gradually, she could see the sun was setting and the softer light helped her eyes adjust. Through blinking eyes, she saw she was sprawled on a narrow ledge precariously close to the edge. Heart hammering, she scooted rapidly backwards until a solid, stone surface was pressing against her back. She took some deep breaths to calm herself as she scanned her surroundings. Pulling herself into a seated position she could see what might be a valley. She could see a cliff on the far side and then the land dropped away. Could this be one of the valleys Mug had spoken about? The cliff face she was leaning against continued either side of her and high above her.
Eyeing the edge in front of her with trepidation, Deelind bit her lip. She needed a better look at her surroundings. Although not normally scared of heights, her alarm bells were yelling that one slip and she’d be over that ledge. She didn’t think she could do much more than a quick look. Carefully she rolled onto her stomach and stretched her body flat on the ledge floor. She shifted slightly until her head was near the edge. Slowly she peered over the ledge. Her stomach rushed up to her throat and her body broke out into a cold sweat.
It was a sheer drop below her. She was perched high up on a cliff face overlooking a massive valley. The cliff face below and to either side of her was peppered with narrow ledges just like hers. Fully grown trees looked like small, green shrubs on the bottom of the valley. She had seen enough from this angle. If she was careful, she could stand at the back of the ledge and look around. She wiggled backwards until she could sit safely with her back pressing against the cliff face. Steadily she eased herself into a standing position, using her fingers to find grips in the cliff face behind her.
Deelind looked at the vista in front of her in wonder. The thin stone ledge overlooked the huge valley with vast, open plains and forests. A river flowed down the centre of the valley.
Loud thunder rolled through the valley. Looking for the source, she felt her eyes widen. Scores of dragons were flying up the valley towards the cliff face she was on. The beating dragon wings created a deafening rumble that was amplified by the sound bouncing off the cliff face walls.
They were magnificent. The sun glistened off their scales, creating a kaleidoscope of colour in every direction. Small, young dragons zipped in and around massive flying beasts. Some dragons landed on their sturdy back legs outside caves nestled in the cliff face. They folded in their large, leathery wings, dropped down onto their front legs, and walked into the caves. She realised that these must be their caves where they slept at night. The noise from their wings alongside their bellowing calls as they moved about their caves was deafening and she covered her ears. She kept still and waited, not wanting to draw their attention to her. While she waited for the beasts to bed down for the night; a cold breeze had picked up and the light was fading. She needed to get off the cliff face, fast.
The ledge she was on was narrow and wound itself around and down the cliff, past some now dragon-filled caves. She picked her way along it. The first cave she reached was filled with a large dragon whose tail protruded out onto the ledge and curled along the narrow path in front of her. If the tail was any indication, this dragon was the colour of a winter sunset, a blend of blues, purples and pinks with hints of yellows and oranges. There was just enough space to inch past it and on to the next cave. In the tight space, she brushed against the creature. The tail flicked, knocking against her legs. The scales, slightly larger than her hands, felt warm and smooth. She wobbled for a moment, clutching at the cliff face with her fingertips. Steadying herself, she sucked in a breath to calm her heart rate. Looking ahead, she was relieved to see that the way forward was now clear. With the light nearly gone, she could feel the dropping temperature as the sun set. A large, and seemingly empty, cave opening loomed in front of her. There was no choice but to camp the night out in it, no matter what dragon may be using it. Just as the last of the light disappeared, she stepped into the entrance of the cave.
The round cave entrance was large enough for Deelind to walk in standing upright. Even by stretching her arm upwards she could not touch the top. It looked old and well used. The sandstone edges of the cave entrance were worn smooth. The entrance floor was littered with small, round pebbles. She breathed a sigh of relief, not realising how tense she had been or how scared she was. Her muscles were tired, and her body was shivering from the cold. A flicker of light came from within the cave. She walked through a short sandstone passage towards it.
On entering the gloomy cave, she startled when she saw the size of it. The cave was easily as big as half a football pitch. The soft sound of dripping water reached her ears, although the cave air was dry and warm. Not too far into the cave, a blue ring of flames burnt in a camp-style fireplace, surrounded by large, beach ball-sized stones. To the side of the fireplace a large dragon was fast asleep. Exhaling softly and muscles tense, she took a moment to absorb its beauty. Lying down it was nearly as tall as a single-storey building. The dragon’s body was covered in satiny, charcoal-grey scales which were larger than a dinner plate. Huge, deep grey wings were relaxed near its sides. The head looked just like the drawings of dragons Deelind had seen in books.
Shadows cast by the fire darted along the cave walls, briefly illuminating the pitch-black areas in the far reaches of the cave. A large shadow flickered on the far cave wall. Another dragon was sleeping at the back of the cave. This dragon was huge and much bigger than the grey dragon. Most books she’d read with dragons in them agreed that dragons never stopped growing. If that was true, by the size of this one, it was ancient. Age had muted its red-brown colouring and it was well camouflaged against the cave walls.
Deelind stood still, barely breathing. With two large dragons in it, this cave was far from empty and extremely dangerous. Shivering, tired and thirsty she knew she couldn’t safely navigate the narrow path outside in the dark. She had to risk it and spend the night in this cave. Maybe, if she was especially lucky, the dragons were heavy sleepers.
Keeping an eye on the cave’s occupants, she silently moved towards the fireplace and its promised warmth. On fine, soft sand in the centre of the fireplace were two enormous, mother-of-pearl eggs. Spellbound, Deelind watched the light of the blue flames play in the sheen of the eggs. Were these the dragon eggs the boys had spoken about? Reaching the fireplace near the biggest egg, she couldn’t resist putting out her hands to warm up on the strange blue flames. The egg in front of her was as tall as she was. The egg wobbled, leaning over towards her. Alarmed, momentarily forgetting the flames, she reached out to push it back quickly. A loud grunting sound echoed in the cave.
She flinched, yanking her hand away from the egg. The loud rumble had come from the dragon nearest her. Turning slowly and carefully, so as not to anger the beast, she looked out of the corner of her eye. The dragon had moved in its sleep, its one wing lifting slightly to reveal more eggs considerably smaller than the ones in the fireplace. Guessing that this was the mother dragon, she slowly turned to check on the large dragon at the back of the cave who was still sleeping soundly. Breathing out quietly, Deelind turned to study the eggs in the fireplace again. Tom had said that featherlite eggs had blue flames surrounding them, which meant the eggs in the fireplace must be the featherlite eggs! They had thought there was only one but in fact there were two.
Casting her eye around the rest of the cave, Deelind saw a small stream of water running down one side into a pond. She licked her dry lips. It had been hours if not a day since she had had anything to drink. Quietly walking over to the pond, she saw coloured water swirling around in it. Could she
drink this water? Accepting that she was too thirsty not to drink, she put her hand into a section that looked clear. Instantly, the water turned into seven distinct colours just like a rainbow. She studied each one: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet, her thirst rapidly intensifying. She dived for the violet colour, gulping it down. The water tasted like grape juice and she drank until she could take no more. A strange buzz filled her body. She stumbled away from the water and sat down next to the fire, enjoying its warmth. Feeling disoriented and fatigued, she lay down and was soon fast asleep.
* * *
Deelind was yanked out of a deep sleep by a painfully loud crack coming from within the fireplace. Jumping up, she faced the fire, spotting the reason for the noise. A baby dragon was fighting its way out of its egg. A small wing was caught in a slit in the shell. The flames were low and there was plenty of room inside the fireplace for her and the eggs. She could jump over them and help the dragon. Taking a step back, she ran forward and leapt, only feeling a little zing as she passed over the low, blue flames onto the sandy patch with the struggling creature. The flames shot up, blocking her escape. At the same time, she caught the creature’s gaze. A crisp, clean voice, imbued with the sense of soft snowfall, said telepathically, ‘You took your time getting here. Help me with my wing?’ The dragon turned its attention back to its wing. Deelind bent forward to help break the eggshell away from the wing. Once freed, the young dragon wrapped its wings around her, and she hugged it back. Her heart soared. This felt so right, so safe. She never wanted to let go of the little dragon.
A part of her was aware that her reaction was unusual and that the blue flames were growing stronger and more intense, but she couldn’t bring herself to care. Her body prickled all over. Intense pain, first burning hot and then ice-cold, flowed through her.
Deelind and The Icefire Page 4