Dragon Charmers: #1 Mountains of Fire

by Linda McNabb

CHAPTER SIX - HUNTING A WHITE DRAGON

  Sleep was the last thing on Logan’s mind. He went around the cottage, opening curtains and extinguishing lamps. He briefly wondered if they’d be back in time to re-light them at night, but was somehow sure their quest would take much longer. He could only hope that the old man would recover by nightfall, although he didn’t seem to be as fearful of the dark as he had been. Nor was there was there time to try to work out why Zared had been upset about looking for the prince.

  Alyxa returned as the sun reached its zenith, having told her father where she was going, and they were trying to get Zared to understand where they were going.

  ‘Remember to have some food today,’ Logan said, pushing a loaf of bread in front of the old man. ‘We may not be back today.’

  ‘You’re going out?’ Zared asked, turning and looking surprised. ‘Anywhere nice?’

  ‘We’re going north,’ Alyxa said when Logan found he couldn’t repeat it for the twentieth time. ‘We’re going to find the white dragon.’

  ‘Ah... give Silverhorn my best regards,’ Zared said, a broad smile brightening his face and deepening the heavy lines around his eyes. ‘It’s been a long time since I’ve been to his lair.’

  A deep sigh sank through the old man, and his face relaxed into the expressionless mask of one who is asleep. Logan and Alyxa exchanged a helpless look. Logan dug a piece of paper out of a drawer and quickly scribbled a note on it. He carefully avoided writing the real reason for their trip and any mention of princes or dragons. He left the note wedged underneath the loaf of bread and picked up his cloak. It wasn’t a particularly warm one, but it was the best he could find.

  ‘That won’t be warm enough up in the mountains,’ Alyxa said, indicating her own heavy woollen cloak. ‘Riding a dragon up there will be very cold, even though it’s summer.’

  ‘It’s all I have,’ Logan said in a slightly snappish tone. He didn’t even want to go, and the thought of going flying on a dragon, on a quest to kill another dragon, made him rate being cold at the very bottom of his list of concerns.

  ‘Wasn’t there a woollen cloak in that chest?’ Alyxa asked and then shrugged when Logan glared at her. ‘Well, nobody’s using it. It can’t hurt to borrow it.’

  Logan cast a quick look at the almost comatose wizard and gave in. There was no way he could ask permission to borrow the cloak, and being frozen to death wouldn’t help their quest. He went into the workroom without a word and gently lifted the lid of the chest. Questions about his past flooded back as he looked at the innocent-looking items on top of the false bottom. He drew out a heavy, dark green woollen cloak and closed the lid, promising himself that he would find out more when he returned.

  ‘That’s much better,’ Alyxa said with a nod as he lay the green cloak over his arm. ‘Won’t you need the sword?’

  Logan’s eyes flicked over to the silver sword, which lay on the table next to the bread. He picked it up and had only just tucked it into his belt when wingbeats announced the prince’s return.

  ‘Charmer! Apprentice!’ the prince bellowed, without even dismounting.

  ‘The sooner we go—’ Logan strode towards the door.

  ‘One more thing we need,’ Alyxa said calmly. She picked up the stone jar which had Dragon Heart written on it and handed it to Logan.

  Logan paused as he took the jar, stared at it one more time, and wondered just how small this dragon was if its heart would fit inside such a tiny jar. Perhaps it was no bigger than a bird? Surely it would be easy to slay a dragon that size? He could easily bring it down with his slingshot. It probably wouldn’t feel a thing. Feeling slightly buoyed by that thought, he shoved the jar in his pocket and opened the cottage door. He cast one last look back at his master, then walked out to the blue dragon with his head held high. He had no intention of letting the haughty prince see how scared he was of flying.

  The sun was far too hot for comfort and Logan wondered how he could feel both hot and cold at the same time. Prince Myles was sitting at the front of the dragon, and a deep blue cloak lay across the dragon’s back just in front of him.

  ‘Hurry up, I want to be back this afternoon,’ he demanded irritably.

  Logan climbed up on the dragon’s back leg and hoisted himself onto the smooth scales, trying to look as if he had done it a hundred times before. Alyxa followed suit, seeming to leap up in a single movement.

  ‘I think it will take longer,’ Logan told the prince. Ignoring the prince’s annoyed look, Logan continued, ‘Zared told me that the sun sets along the pass we are looking for. If it’s not sunset, we won’t find it.’

  Prince Myles didn’t reply, but turned and grabbed hold of the reins. Only Alyxa’s warning had Logan grab his own riding straps in time as the blue and purple dragon lifted into the sky with a stomach-lurching leap. How anyone could find this fun was beyond Logan, who clung on for dear life as the dragon changed direction and charged at the mountains with sickening speed.

  The next six hours passed in a blur of desperately trying to stay on the dragon and almost passing out from tiredness. Logan tried to focus on the tall, snow-capped mountains that were drawing near with an alarming speed. He found that if he kept his eyes fixed on a single peak, the rhythmic lurching of the dragon’s body bothered him less. In time he managed what was as close to sleep as was possible on the back of a dragon.

  A sudden change in the dragon’s rhythm brought Logan out of his self-induced coma-like state. It seemed impossible to keep in rhythm with the dragon’s lurching, and Logan expected to be thrown off with each downbeat of the blue’s huge wings. He wriggled his hand to find a finger that hadn’t become numb, only to forget all about his hands, or even being on a dragon. Up ahead, only a few dozen dragon lengths away, was the huge mountain range that had looked so tiny a matter of hours ago.

  The dragon wasn’t going forward anymore; it was hovering, beating its wings in a lazy motion that was designed to maintain their position. The rhythm seemed so natural that Logan was sure the blue would be able to keep it up for hours if needed.

  ‘Which way?’ the prince said, turning and glaring at Logan as if he had already asked the question several times.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Logan replied, suddenly taken back by the number of mountain peaks and narrow gullies that were visible from their extraordinary vantage point. There were at least a dozen combinations of peaks which matched the wizard’s description of the White Dragon’s home. The lurching of their stationary hovering was making Logan feel ill and wasn’t sure if he could hold on much longer.

  ‘Which way does the sun set?’ Alyxa asked, obviously seeing that Logan was in no state to make a decision.

  ‘Over there,’ Myles said, pointing to a group of mountains to their left.

  ‘Well, that narrows it down,’ Alyxa said, ‘The sunlight can’t go along a pass if there’s another mountain blocking the sun. We need the ones with no mountain in that direction beyond them.’

  ‘Let’s take a look then,’ the prince said, and the dragon suddenly swerved and dove at the same time. Logan felt his stomach lurch and had to shut his eyes. He opened them when they levelled out. They spent the next few hours flying up and down mountain passes, trying to figure out which ones would be facing the setting sun.

  ‘It could be any of the last three passes,’ Alyxa said as the dragon hovered a few hundred dragon lengths above the snowy mountains.

  ‘We can see all three passes from that plateau. We’ll land and wait to see where the sun goes,’ Myles decided. ‘The blue’s a little bit restless anyway and it’s a while until sunset.’

  Logan couldn’t help the sigh of relief that escaped him at the prince’s decision to land. He was surprised at how loud it sounded, and almost blushed when the prince cast a curious glance his way. With a twitch of the leather straps, the prince signalled the dragon to land. Logan slid down the dragon’s back when it tucked its wings back and sank toward the snow-covered slopes, nose diving and swirling along
currents of air.

  They were only a dragon length from the ground when the blue dragon snapped its wings out and beat downwards, stopping them in mid-air. With the gentlest of movements, it touched down on the snowy mountain and obligingly knelt to allow its passengers to dismount.

  ‘Now you can’t tell me that wasn’t fun,’ Alyxa said, digging Logan in the ribs as he slid off the dragon, leaving his cloak where it was tucked under the strap.

  ‘Best fun I’ve had in years,’ Logan replied sarcastically, wondering if he could avoid throwing up in front of the prince.

  ‘Here, put this on your neck.’ Looking a little sorry for him, Alyxa scooped up a handful of snow and slapped it on the back of Logan’s neck. ‘It’ll help you feel better.’

  ‘He gets motion sick? Typical,’ the prince muttered, leading the blue dragon away and tethering it to a small tree which was struggling to survive in the cold snow.

  Logan turned away, holding the snow in place, and felt relief flood through him as quickly as the chill from the cold snow. He felt better after a minute, but his legs still felt as though the ground was moving.

  ‘You should have your cloak on. It’s cold up here,’ Alyxa’s voice said from just behind him, making him jump and spin around. He was surprised to see that his friend was a dozen paces away, next to where the dragon lay dozing on a grassy clump.

  ‘Sound travels a long way up here,’ the prince said, looking amused by Logan’s surprise. ‘But she’s right. We can’t have our dragon-slayer’s sword arm freezing up.’

  Logan dropped the snow, a new shiver running down his back as some melted snow trickled down his neck. Although he wasn’t sure if it was the cold snow or the thought of having to kill a dragon that caused the shiver. He walked over to the blue, stamping large holes as his feet sank into the powdery cold, and pulled his cloak from the dragon’s back. He slipped the cloak on and sighed with relief at the instant barrier to the cold that it provided.

  ‘That’s an impressive cloak.’ The prince looked very interested, and a little put out that a mere apprentice should have a cloak that equalled the quality and fine material of his own. ‘Where did you get it?’

  ‘I think it belongs to the wizard,’ Logan replied with a shrug.

  ‘It’s too long for you,’ Myles pointed out, and Logan saw the hem was dragging on the ground. It had obviously been made for someone much taller, which ruled out the wizard who was almost exactly the same height as Logan.

  ‘What is that smell?’ Logan asked, turning to Alyxa with his nose screwed up and a pained expression. Now that the motion illness had subsided, and he wasn’t cold, he noticed a smell that reminded him of rotten eggs.

  ‘Mmmm, it is a bit strong, but you get used to it after a while,’ Alyxa said with a smile. ‘It’s what draws the dragons up here. It’s what makes them able to live in such a cold climate all year round.’

  ‘They like the smell?’ Logan asked in disbelief.

  ‘No, it’s not the smell,’ Alyxa laughed. The sound echoed in the odd silence. She pointed over to a small ridge. ‘Take a look and you’ll see.’

  Logan walked up the small slope, wondering what he was going to find. He stopped when he reached the top. Down in the next small valley he could see several large lakes and what appeared to be steam rising from them. He looked back at Alyxa. ‘Hot pools, up here in the snow?’

  ‘These mountains are very old,’ Alyxa replied, stamping her way up to join him. The prince stayed sitting on a rock, looking uninterested. Alyxa and Logan began to walk down into the valley where the rotten smell grew so intense that Logan had to peg his nose with his fingers.

  ‘So why does it stink?’ Logan could almost taste the smell as he spoke. It was a bitter, metallic taste that made him want to scrub his tongue.

  ‘It’s a sulphuric lake that is heated by the fire trapped inside the mountain,’ Alyxa kicked at the snow, exposing the tufts of long wiry grass underneath. ‘Every few hundred years, one of them builds up so much heat and pressure that it blows the top off the mountain and rains fire.’

  ‘Ah, I see why dragons like it then,’ Logan said, eyeing the bubbling lake with a new cautious respect. He knew dragons loved heat and fire, and they loved water as well, so it was the perfect combination. He just hoped he wasn’t around when it rained fire. They reached the shores of the lake and walked around it towards a cluster of rocks. He saw a small shimmer in the air, just beyond the lake and pointed to it. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘An air vent,’ Alyxa said, looking very interested and hurrying her steps. ‘It’s where the earth splits a little and the heat spills out to the surface.’

  Logan almost had to run to keep up with her as she hurried towards the wave of heat that rose slowly skyward. ‘What’s the hurry?’

  Alyxa just grinned at him and kept her fast pace, which took some effort in the deep drifts of snow. When she reached the tall jumble of rocks, she climbed them nimbly, dragging Logan behind her.

  ‘Look!’ she exclaimed as she reached the top and pointed triumphantly into the huge hollow that was formed by the rocks. Logan almost fell into the huge cavity as he stared down and saw the small cluster of off-white dragon eggs.

  ‘Where’s the mother?’ Logan felt a lump form in his throat as he looked up into the sky and scanned the horizon. He pictured an angry blue dragon attacking them for going near her nest and made to start climbing down the rocks.

  ‘She’s around somewhere,’ Alyxa said confidently, but without any show of fear. She straddled the rim of the nest and pointed to the small rift in the rock from which the steam was venting. ‘Wild dragons lay their eggs and leave them only while they hunt for food. The steam keeps the eggs hot enough to mature, and since it takes a year for them to hatch it’s a long time to go without food. She’s bound to be back soon as they’re only a month or two away from hatching.’

  ‘I’d say they’re only a week or two away from hatching,’ Myles’s voice startled Logan into nearly falling again, and he gripped the hot rocks for balance. The prince had climbed the rocks so silently that they hadn’t heard him approach. ‘No doubt I would have found these during the annual egg-hunt next week.’

  ‘Really?’ Alyxa didn’t sound convinced, either by his guess at the hatching or by his claim of finding the eggs. ‘I doubt you’ve ever been this far into the mountains before.’

  Logan stared at the eggs. ‘How do you know they’re blue dragons inside? The eggs I’ve seen up at the farm are usually green or yellow, but these ones are white.’

  ‘All dragon eggs are white until just before they hatch. Then they change to the colour of the dragon inside,’ Alyxa explained. ‘Up here the only wild dragons would be blue, so the dragonets are bound to be blue.’

  ‘The blue needs charming,’ Myles said, ignoring her comments. ‘I came to fetch you. We don’t want to be stranded up here if it flies off without us.’

  ‘Why do dragons lose their charm so easily up in the mountains?’ Logan asked, then sniffed and screwed his face up in disgust. ‘It’s probably this horrible smell.’

  ‘Possibly,’ Myles said with a shrug, as if he really didn’t care, so long as his dragon stayed charmed.

  ‘No, it’s something else.’ Alyxa was looking around, frowning. ‘I can feel something in the air. It’s a sort of vibration, washing across us in a slow, steady rhythm. I think that’s what interrupts their charm.’

  ‘Whatever it is, you need to charm the blue now,’ Myles snapped, then his eyes darted down to the eggs. ‘But first we’ve got to get those eggs.’

  Logan looked down into the deep nest and wondered just who was going to be going down to get them.

  ‘Why can’t we leave them and come back later?’ Alyxa suggested. ‘They’re not going anywhere.’

  ‘We’re not the first one to have found them since the mother left,’ Myles pointed out as a huge snake slithered along the bottom of the nest. Its huge body wove a slow but steady course towards the eggs. Logan coul
d see several of the eggs were cracked and obviously now hollow. ‘We need to get as many as we can or there won’t be anything to come back for.’

  ‘I don’t like snakes,’ Alyxa said a little hesitantly. ‘But we are desperate for more blue eggs.’

  Logan’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He didn’t think there was anything that Alyxa was afraid of.

  ‘We’ll do it then.’ Myles’s sneer said he didn’t expect a girl to do it anyway. Logan nearly twisted his neck as he looked up suddenly. His heart skipped a beat. Did the prince expect him to go in there? The prince didn’t appear to notice the shocked look on Logan’s face. ‘You distract the snake and I’ll grab the eggs.’