by K Madill
Mandamus gave him a sympathetic nicker. He wished he could help.
“Let me show you how it works,” Luco said. “This is a chord,” he strummed the guitar with purpose. “I play one,” he grinned as he strummed again. “Then I play another.”
Mandamus watched as his fingers moved and the guitar made a different sound.
“Then,” Luco went on, brushing his fingers against the strings faster, “you play note after note and then you have a song.” He played a few more notes while singing under his breath. “This is what we call music and let me tell you something, music is the last magic we humans have left.” Luco nodded his head to the beat and thumped his guitar in unison, all the while stroking the strings faster.
Mandamus had heard of human music before for even though Daleth didn’t say much about her time with people, she did tell him that her favourite thing about man was his music and would describe parties where they would play it loud and dance all night long. Mandamus liked Luco’s song, especially now because he had slowed his beat and now plucked the strings slowly and intricately.
Mandamus listened drowsily to Luco’s beautiful melody and as the notes drifted up into the starry sky above, he couldn’t help but feel grateful to the Silver City orchestra for denying Luco a place in their ranks for it meant he wouldn’t have to search for the Bachelor Herd alone. His only problem now was finding them.
Chapter 8
The Dragolotl
The next morning was bright and balmy. After a quick breakfast, Luco packed up his dishes and his tent, then checked the blowdown that covered his bike.
“I guess I should put my guitar in there too,” Luco said, pressing his lips together. “It’ll be awkward to carry.” Mandamus could tell he was reluctant to leave it but Luco stowed his guitar in its case and placed it beside his bike, then arranged the leafy branches, making sure both were fully concealed. Shouldering his bag, Luco led they way to the Gold River and by mid-afternoon, they found themselves climbing a steep hill.
“How far away is the train?” asked Mandamus, pausing so Luco could catch up. There wasn’t a tree in sight and the sun beat down on the sparse landscape. Luco’s hair hung in sweaty strings and his shirt stuck to him in wet patches.
“It’s a while away,” Luco puffed. “I didn’t realize how far.” He scratched his head.
“How do humans get around?” Mandamus asked, thinking about how now that he was travelling with Luco, it was going to take as twice as long to get anywhere. “Does everyone ride a motorcycle?”
“Not everyone,” Luco answered. “Some ride horses. My aunt, Geminga, has a bear named Ursa that pulls her around in a cart. Some people have cars. We travel on the water in boats and when have to go long distances, we take the train.”
“I’ll let you on my back,” Mandamus suggested, thinking about how much that would hurry things along. “I mean, my aunt Daleth carried her human on her back all the time.”
“Yes, well,” Luco replied and Mandamus was surprised to hear a hint of nervousness in his voice. Luco glanced at the space between Mandamus’ back and the ground. “I don’t know how to ride and you don’t know how to be ridden. We don’t have any equipment either so, for now, we are walking to the train.”
“Tell me about the train,” Mandamus urged.
Luco smiled. “It’s called the Silverline, and it’s made up of shining train cars, all on wheels. Inside, there are comfy places to sit for humans, and stables and kennels for creatures. You can also get the best meals in the Silver Kingdom because the chefs buy fresh food from the farms along the way. It travels all through the city and to the outer villages on this big track, built on stands in the sky.”
“What makes it move?” asked Mandamus, breathless with anticipation that he was going to be seeing this awe-inspiring machine for himself in a few days time.
“The sun,” Luco told him, sounding winded. The climb seemed to be hard for him, but Mandamus had to hold himself back from racing straight to the top. “All of our cars and motorcycles and boats run on power that we get from the sun.” He pulled a small glass marble out of his pocket. “This here is the battery that runs my bike. It harvests sunlight and moonlight. I took it out of the engine because I didn’t want anyone to steal it.” He dropped the glass ball back into his pants pocket. “All of our things run off either solar or moon power.”
Mandamus was impressed but even with all of Luco’s details, he couldn’t picture the line of silver boxes as Luco had described it all as being propelled along a track in the sky by the sun’s rays. It sounded complicated compared to four strong legs and a good muscular flank.
Mandamus eyed the man’s nose closely. It was crooked and much smaller than his and it certainly didn’t look capable of finding good things to eat.
“How do you find water?” he asked. They had reached the top of the hill and began trekking along a narrow trail to find a way down the other side. Here, it was a sharp drop.
“And what about food?” Mandamus went on. “Or your way home? Your nostrils are so small.”
“Well, my uncle owns a farm and grows a lot of my food,” said Luco breathlessly. Mandamus noticed that he avoided looking down the slope. “What I don’t grow, I buy and when I need to find my way, I use my compass.”
“A compass? What is that? Some kind of nose?”
“No,” Luco laughed. “I need to stop for a minute.” He pulled a piece of cloth from his pocket and plunked himself down in the middle of the trail. “Whew,” he wiped his forehead, “I’m roasting.”
Mandamus reached down and nosed the ground which was made of hard-packed dirt. He longed for a cool drink of water. His mane felt glued to his neck and sweat dribbled down his chest.
“Here, this is a compass,” said Luco, pulling something out of his pocket.
He dangled a long silver chain with round pendant about the size of crab apple out in front of him. It was made of glass and inside was a spinning needle with an arrow at one end and a silver ring at the other.
“I’ll show you how it works,” Luco said. “Watch.” He held the compass flat in his palm, gazing down at it as the pin spun wildly, finally stopping with the arrow end pointing at Mandamus. Luco looked down and a wide grin spread across his face.
“See?” he said proudly, holding it out.
Mandamus leaned in for a closer look. The word ‘horse’ floated in the middle of the silver ring at the other end of the needle.
Mandamus was amazed. “What in the - how does it work like that? How do the words just appear?”
Luco shrugged as he stuffed the instrument into his pocket. “I often wonder that myself. It belonged to my father and when I turned eighteen two years ago, my mother gave it to me.”
Mandamus was impressed, but secretly thought that Luco’s compass was no match for his nose which could find just about anything. He spent the rest of the morning trying his best to describe the silvery, cool smells that led him to water or the tangy smells that led him to other animals. He couldn’t find the dry, dusty smell that would lead him to the desert, but Luco had assured him that they weren’t even close to it yet.
They made their way along the crest of the hill and then found a narrow trail that led to the bottom, finding themselves in a small valley, facing another tree-covered peak.
“Let’s stop here for a bit,” said Luco wearily as he shrugged the pack from his shoulders. “I need a break.”
Luco dropped his bag then flopped onto the ground with a grunt.
Mandamus’ tail turned stiff with alarm. The strong smell of fish washed over him. They were not alone.
Boom!
A large maple tree plummeted to the ground, missing Luco by inches. With a startled whinny, Mandamus reared. From behind the flurry of sticks and leaves, a creature appeared.
It was as tall as Mandamus but much wider, with squat arms, we
bbed feet, and a long tail. Its pink skin was luminous. Feathery tendrils grew out on either side of its neck. The thing was about to pick up the fallen tree when it noticed Mandamus staring.
Widening its big black eyes, it let out a startled grunt and dashed up the hill. When it got to the top, it looked back. Seeing that they were still watching, the creature let out a tremendous roar and disappeared over the crest.
“What was that?” Mandamus asked, rooted to the spot with fear.
“If I’m not hallucinating from all of this heat and climbing, I’d say it was a dragolotl,” answered Luco in amazement, scrubbing his eyes with his fists. “But that can’t be. There haven’t been any dragolotls around for years, not since they were exterminated.”
Mandamus felt a twinge of pity for the dragolotls.
“They’re water dragons,” Luco told him, his voice still filled with wonder. He shaded his eyes and strained to see. “They’re supposed to be bigger than that, though. Even its gills, those wispy things growing out of its neck, seemed small. Weird place for him to live too,” Luco added, glancing around at the parched landscape. “Dragolotls usually live in water.”
Mandamus scanned their surroundings. There wasn’t a lake, or even a puddle, in sight.
“How can anything survive without a river around?” Mandamus asked, struggling to keep his legs from fleeing. “He’d die of thirst here.”
“Not dragolotls,” Luco told him. “They have a couple bellies, like a cow does, and they can store water in at least two.” A creature with a few stomachs? Mandamus’ terror ballooned. More places to store horse meat,” he thought. Before he could help himself, he reared with a frightened whinny.
“Hang on now, calm down.” Luco slung his arm around Mandamus’ shoulders after his forelegs landed heavily back on the ground. He twirled Mandamus mane between his fingers. “It’s small. It’s probably a baby.”
His heart gave a lurch as, Mandamus realized they were in the worse position a prey animal could ever find himself in – trapped by a valley with the predator on the upper ground. The only way out was past the dragolotl or climbing the practically vertical land they’d just slipped and stumbled down. The valley stretched endlessly before them. Where was the way out? If the dragolotl decided to come plunging down that hill, there would be nothing Mandamus or Luco could do. Then an even more dreadful thought hit him. If it was a baby, where was its mother?
“Babies have mothers,” Luco said, as if reading Mandamus’ mind. “She’s most likely around here too and we do not want to run into her. We can turn around and find a different road, but then we’re about another four-day journey to the Gold River. We can’t stay here in this valley either, we might as well offer ourselves up on a plate if we do. We have to get out of here, and the only way out is by hiking up this hill and taking our chances.”
They started trekking upwards.
“Why were the dragolotls hunted to extinction?” asked Mandamus. The walk was easy for him but Luco’s face was turning red.
“The Queen and her wizard created what they call the Dragolotl Hunting Act about ten years ago,” Luco explained, breathing hard. “And from then on, it was open season. Of course, it wasn’t always that way. Old King Wenceslas, a king from when my grandmother was a girl, made a peace treaty with the dragolotls and left them alone.”
“A peace treaty? How come?” He bent down and lipped at the short, sun-baked grass while he waited for Luco to catch up for he kept slipping on the loose, pebbly ground.
“Well,” Luco wheezed, struggling upwards, “Dragolotls used to run amok, flooding villages and stealing gold, until Wenceslas rounded them up and put them in the Blue Basin, a deep, icy lake near the Silver Castle and sternly told them never to come out or he would rehome them to the farthest reaches of the kingdom.
“And did they come out?”
Luco shrugged. “I don’t know. There are people who say they did, such as the queen and her wizard and that’s why they passed the Act and had most of them killed.”
Mandamus paused. “What do you think?”
Luco shrugged again. “My grandmother told me that the law about dragolotls was just a lie to cover up what Asura and had really been doing. She said it was the army who was responsible for the flooded villages and people’s empty pockets and that they were blaming it on the dragolotls. She also thinks the queen is making armour out of the dragolotls’ hide and that was the real reason the Act had been passed in the first place.”
Mandamus felt a surge of anger. This human queen had taken his herd and other animals from the Green Forest and now she’d almost wiped out an entire species.
“How do you know it’s a ‘he’?” Mandamus asked. “You keep calling it a ‘he’”
“It had horns,” explained Luco, holding his fingers on either side of his head, “they were little ones, which is why I think he’s young, but they were horns all the same which means he’s a boy. Now, what I want to know is why is a young dragolotl, out here all on his own, pushing over trees?”
Mandamus had no idea.
“Well, I want to know,” said Luco. He paused, taking his hat off his head and mopping his forehead with it. “I think we should go over to that hill and find out what that dragolotl is up to,” He put his hat back on.
“Are you kidding?” Mandamus asked, but he followed as Luco began scaling the steep knoll once more.
They stopped just before the peak. Struggling to keep their footing on the loose ground, they lay down and peered over the crest of the hill and own the other side.
“The downslope is much broader, not as steep,” Luco said quietly. “The ground is hard packed dirt with scraggly grass patches. There’s a giant pile of old moss-covered logs and beside them, it looks like some kind of shelter. It’s made out of boulders bigger than you, all stacked into a pyramid. The rocks don’t look like they’re from around here either, they’re black and shiny. Odd. What the heck could build something like that, I wonder?”
Mandamus didn’t know.
“There’s a crazy looking patch of woods,” Luco continued. “The trees are all lopsided and fallen down.”
“What’s after the pyramid?” Mandamus asked.
“Another forest.”
“Where do you think the dragolotl went?” Mandamus asked nervously.
Luco shrugged. “I can’t see it anywhere.”
Mandamus craned his neck for a closer look and swivelled his ears but neither his sight or hearing found anything amiss. It was as though the creature had vanished into thin air.
“Well, if we just hide here,” Luco said, “he’s bound to—” but he was cut off by a ground-shaking squeal that rattled their chests and rang their ears.
Mandamus scrambled on the sliding pebbles but couldn’t find his footing. He eyes rolled in fright.
“Easy, easy,” Luco said, reaching over to place a comforting hand on Mandamus neck. “That dragolotl is no threat, and if his mother was anywhere near here, we’d be eaten by now.”
“A cheerful thought,” Mandamus said, his voice squeaky with fright. “What does your compass say?”
Luco pulled the compass from his shirt and held it in his hand, watching as the needle whirled and landed with the arrow pointed in the direction of the creature’s cave. “Rescue?” Luco read quizzically. “Hmm, I wonder if that dragolotl needs to be rescued?”
“I would say it’s us that needs rescuing,” Mandamus answered shrilly, “and a new compass. That thing doesn’t work.”
“It works just fine,” Luco said, his eyes shining with excitement. “It’s pointing at the dragolotl and saying ‘rescue’ so I’m going to go have a look.”
“Luco, no!” Mandamus cried, grabbing him by the sleeve with his teeth.
“It’s fine,” Luco said, shaking him loose. “It’s a baby. No threat.” He squinted down at the dried up landscape and
jumble of oddly angled trees. “Right there,” he pointed at the crooked forest. “I’ll go in through those trees to the side of the shelter and peek in.”
“Not a good idea,” Mandamus fretted.
“You stay here, in case he comes out again,” Luco said and Mandamus resisted the urge to give him a nip.
“What am I supposed to do if he comes out?” Mandamus asked, feeling desperate. He did not want to be left on his own.
“Run away!” Luco told him
Mandamus stomped in irritation, but Luco ignored him and crept down the range after the dragolotl and it was at that moment that Mandamus’ strong eyes saw the sparse grass flex and a chunky boulder stretch. Only, boulders don’t stretch, Mandamus’ thought and so he stared harder at the rock and foliage until his eyes picked out a long tail, round face and feathery gills that were perfectly blended to the hard-packed dirt and patchy vegetation.
Mandamus couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “He’s camouflaged,” he thought, impressed at the dragolotl’s ability. Now that Mandamus could see him against the backdrop of the landscape, he couldn’t un-see it. The creature, however, seemed confident that it was well hidden, and it unfurled his tiny wings then stretched his legs out comfortably. Mandamus’ heart almost stopped when he realized that in another few steps, Luco would run straight into its face.
Mandamus let out the loudest whinny he could muster and raced down the hill.
“Look out!” he shouted. He swerved around Luco and skidded to a stop in front of him. “It’s right in front of you!
“What?” Luco shrieked, staring around wildly. “Where?”
“Right there.” He gestured with his head, trying to keep his voice low. “Look. You can see its outline against those rocks.”
“Oh, would you look at that, there he is,” Luco whispered admiringly, catching sight of the creature. “Clever little thing, isn’t he? I can barely make him out against those boulders. I guess that’s why he’s toppling down trees up there too; He’s trying to build himself a patch of woods to hide in.”