Dragon Valley Trilogy

by Linda McNabb

  ‘Look at the size of the one she has now!’ Rhonan said in shock as the dragonet bounded towards them with a large sapling clasped between her front legs. It was too heavy for her to fly with so she was doing leaps that made her look like an overgrown puppy. ‘It’s almost as big as she is.’

  ‘We’d better sort this out quickly or she’ll hurt herself,’ Falh said with a sigh.

  They pushed the raft into the river and then sighed with relief. It was crude, and not at all pretty, but it floated – and that was enough.

  ‘It floats!’ Dyahn exclaimed with delight.

  Tryx leapt over to look at the raft and almost tipped it over by landing on the very edge of it. The dragonet jumped up into the air with a squawk of disgust and landed on the elf stone.

  ‘Can you put it on the raft, Tryx?’ Kheron asked.

  Tryx lifted the stone and put it on the raft. Her wings were still very shredded and were bleeding again from the effort of flying. She landed back on the river bank and nursed her injuries with a whimper. Rhonan was trying stop the raft from floating off while Kheron and Dyahn checked how bad the dragon’s wings were.

  ‘She probably won’t be flying much for a while,’ Kheron guessed.

  ‘How will she keep up with us?’ Dyahn asked with a frown. ‘We’re not leaving her behind.’

  ‘She can’t ride on top of it. It would sink,’ Falh pointed out. ‘And the river is running too fast for her to run alongside.’

  ‘Maybe she could swim behind the raft?’ Rhonan suggested. ‘She doesn’t seem to mind the water and it will clean her wounds again.’

  Tryx sat listening and Rhonan was surprised to see her nod her head and trot happily to the water and leap in. She sat floating, waiting for them to get on the raft.

  Water eases pain, she said, slowly swishing her wings in the cold water.

  The others quickly climbed aboard their hastily-made raft and Rhonan gave it a push away from the bank.

  ‘It didn’t sink,’ Falh commented with a hint of surprise. ‘I remember making a raft as a young boy but it didn’t float as well as this one.’

  The raft began drifting slowly down river, with Tryx bobbing along behind. Their progress was not fast but knowing they were taking a much needed elf stone to Shaldoh had them all in good spirits.

  ‘How are we going to get Tryx to give up the stone when we get to Shaldoh?’ Dyahn asked a few hours later as she leaned on the black stone and looked back at the dragon. Tryx was keeping the stone in sight and staring at it longingly.

  ‘We’ll deal with that when we get there,’ Falh answered, but it was clear he was bothered by that part of their plan. ‘We’ll stop just up ahead for the night.’

  ‘Can’t we just keep going?’ Kheron asked. ‘Then we’ll get there quicker.’

  ‘It’s still another full day down the river and we don’t want to risk anyone falling off while they sleep. I don’t think dragons can sleep while they float either,’ Falh pointed out. ‘Besides there’s a good place to stop not far from here.’

  He did not elaborate on what was so good about where they were stopping and they pulled the raft over to the side of the river just as the sun started to peak over the mountains behind them. The land around them plunged into the shadows that gave it its name.

  Rhonan had been expecting to have to pull the raft half out of the water to stop it drifting off and he was not the only one surprised to see a small wooden landing at the water’s edge. An old rope, tied to the landing, secured the raft and Falh stepped ashore with an almost eager step.

  ‘Who built this landing?’ Kheron asked as they followed the older elf up a small dirt path through the trees.

  Tryx leapt gracefully out of the water and narrowly missed knocking down the trees as she followed them up the path.

  ‘My great grandfather,’ Falh replied softly as they came out of the trees. ‘Bryn and I were born here but nobody has been here for about twenty five years.’

  Ahead of them was a log cottage, clearly abandoned long ago. The thatched roof was in a bad way but the walls looked sturdy. A small garden of flowers at the front was overgrown with weeds, and ivy had covered most of the logs on one side of the cottage. Beyond the cottage were hundreds of trees, but they were not like those of the small forest that they had just come through. Tryx limped alongside them then turned and made a beeline for the trees.

  ‘They’re fruit trees,’ Falh told them.

  ‘Tryx likes fruit,’ Rhonan said when a heavy silence fell between them all. Falh was staring at his old cottage as if replaying old memories in his head.

  ‘Why did you leave?’ Dyahn asked, walking up to the cottage and rubbing dirt off the window so she could peer inside.

  ‘Shaldoh went for as far as the eye could see back then. We elves lived in harmony with the humans, even though we kept mostly to ourselves.’ Falh started talking as he bent and pulled out some weeds and used them to clean the window for Dyahn. ‘Then the king of the humans blamed my father, Corbyn, for something he didn’t do. The King declared a bounty on all elves and we were forced to go into hiding.’

  ‘It looks like you left in a hurry,’ Rhonan added as he stood behind Dyahn and looked into the gloomy interior. He could see a table and chairs, set with bowls and dishes.

  ‘I thought we had been hiding from the humans for centuries,’ Kheron said, looking slightly disturbed to hear that humans and elves had been friends not too long ago. ‘How old were you when you left here?’

  ‘I was only a young boy, not long in my teens.’ Falh turned and looked up at the mountains in the quickly fading light. The shadowy shapes of dragons could be seen in the distance. Falh grinned as he turned to his son. ‘And sneaking up to watch the dragons was Bryn’s and my favourite thing to do. Of course, we were always in trouble.’

  Falh stepped forward and dragged ivy off the old wooden front door and pulled it open. He stooped to go through the low entrance and the others followed. Rhonan looked around the side of the cottage to see where Tryx was and saw her up on her hind legs, raiding an apple tree of the old withered fruit that was stuck in the thick branches. She would be happy enough for now.

  By the time Rhonan followed the rest into the cottage, Falh had lit three lamps and a cheery yellow glow filled the room. The inside of the cottage was in reasonable condition considering the damaged roof and at least half of it was liveable. Rhonan was even more pleased to see several beds at the far end of the cottage.

  Falh quickly laid a fire, poked a long stick up the chimney to make sure it wasn’t blocked, then lit the small pile of kindling. The small cottage warmed up in just a few minutes as the sky outside darkened quickly.

  ‘I’ll just go and check on Tryx,’ Rhonan said.

  ‘I’m coming too,’ Dyahn said, jumping up from her spot in front of the fire.

  Falh handed Rhonan one of the lamps and he and Dyahn headed for the orchard. At first he thought Tryx must have flown off as he couldn’t hear any sounds except the cool evening breeze in the trees. Then the light of his lamp showed up a great sparkling lump in amongst the trees.

  ‘Tryx?’ Dyahn called out and hurried forward to see if the dragon was okay. She put her hand on the dragon’s leg and shook it but received no response.

  Rhonan held the lamp close to the dragon’s scaly snout and then grinned. ‘It’s okay sis, She’s just asleep. She’s probably eaten so much food that she wouldn’t be able to walk, let alone fly.’

  A reassuring snore told them the dragon was indeed asleep and they went back to the warmth of the cottage.

  ‘How is the dragon?’ Kheron asked, tossing more wood on the fire.

  ‘Asleep,’ Dyahn told him.

  ‘She’s growing fast,’ Falh commented. ‘This one has barely had any sleep at all lately. I wouldn’t be surprised if she slept for a day or more given half a chance. She could be very difficult to wake tomorrow.’

  Nobody seemed hungry so they banked up the fire and everyone was asleep in a ver
y short time. It seemed like Rhonan had only just closed his eyes when he was woken by pale grey light filtering in through the clean patch on the dirty window.

  ‘We’ll get going in a few minutes,’ Falh told them. ‘We shouldn’t stay in one place too long.’

  ‘I’ll go and wake Tryx,’ Kheron said, rolling off the bed and stretching. The young elf yawned as he went out the door.

  ‘I’ll help,’ Rhonan said, following quickly.

  Rhonan was worried about the dragon sleeping out in the cold all night. He caught up with Kheron just before the trees and they went in search of Tryx. It seemed to be much further into the orchard than he remembered from last night but finally the great shiny bulk of Tryx came into view. She was curled up at the base of an apple tree with her nose tucked under her tail.

  ‘She’s grown again,’ Kheron commented as he walked around her and then stopped next to her scaly head. He leaned down and yelled loudly. ‘Wake up!’

  Rhonan was surprised to see that this had absolutely no effect on the sleeping dragon. ‘Is she okay?’

  ‘She has stuffed herself with fruit and looks likely to sleep all day,’ Kheron guessed with a shrug.

  ‘We don’t have a day to wait for her,’ Rhonan pointed out. He reached down and moved her tail from on top of her snout and tapped her on one of her horns. ‘Tryx, wake up.’

  Kheron took a dozen steps backwards and shook his head in disbelief. ‘I wouldn’t have done that if I were you.’

  Rhonan found out what he meant a second later. Tryx’s eyes blinked open and she glared at Rhonan with a look of pain and anger that made his heart skip a beat. Small flames licked out of her nostrils and she snorted, throwing a jet of flame at Rhonan. He leapt back, barely out of range, and fell over a tree root. When he struggled to sit up he was surprised to see that Tryx had tucked her head back under her tail and was snoring again.

  ‘Their horns are very tender,’ Kheron said with a barely contained laugh.

  ‘We should go back and tell your father that we can’t wake her,’ Rhonan said, ignoring his cousin’s laughter. ‘We can’t just leave her here.’

  Kheron was still chuckling when they came into sight of the cottage. Rhonan stopped suddenly and pulled Kheron around the back of the log house.

  ‘What’s up?’ Kheron asked, frowning a little at Rhonan’s odd behaviour.

  ‘I hear voices,’ Rhonan whispered back.

  ‘Elves have better hearing than humans,’ Kheron objected. ‘And I don’t hear anything.’

  The look he shot Rhonan said that he thought Rhonan was playing a joke on him.

  ‘Perhaps father has found us?’ Rhonan suggested, keeping his voice a little lower than normal and ignoring Kheron’s doubts.

  Kheron looked about to object again when he suddenly stopped and sniffed the air. His face paled and his doubts appeared to have been proven wrong as he peered around the corner of the log house.

  ‘It’s a hunter,’ Kheron said with a shake of his head. ‘I can smell him.’

  Rhonan sniffed in deeply but the only thing he could smell was rotting fruit from the orchard.

  Kheron had crept around to the window and had rubbed a tiny patch clean, after only a brief glance he drew back. He was clearly upset and worried. ‘It’s your uncle.’

  Rhonan leaned down to peer through the clear spot on the window. Sure enough his Uncle Terac stood just inside the door. Beside him stood a tall man with a full black beard and both men held bows. Rhonan’s first thought was to yell out and warn Dyahn and Falh but logic told him it was too late. Then he saw Falh and understood why Kheron had looked so worried.

  The tall red-haired elf lay on the floor with a rounded arrow-tip in his back. Rhonan’s eyes flicked around the room and saw Dyahn trying to hide behind a curtain that was used to separate off the beds from the living area. She had her pack on her back and she kicked Rhonan’s further behind the curtain. He knew both his and Kheron’s bows and quivers of arrows were there too. They had nothing to fend off the hunters.

  ‘Where is your brother?’ Uncle Terac asked, notching up an arrow casually. Ryena’s band of gems was draped across one of his shoulders.

  ‘He’s not here,’ Dyahn said boldly. ‘He went looking for a dragon.’

  ‘Then we’ll follow him. His trail shouldn’t be too hard to pick up,’ Terac said with a determined look.

  ‘It could take days to hunt him down.’ Terac’s fellow hunter looked annoyed. ‘We’ll only just make the Spring Festival if we turn back now.’

  ‘But we need to find the other child. I’m not sure this one is a Shadow at all,’ Terac insisted, pointing at Dyahn. ‘I just don’t feel the same tingle from her as I did when I followed them before.’

  ‘We already have two. That’s more than enough. Your father will be very pleased, considering who they are. And that band of gems will make an excellent gift for the king.’ The bearded hunter strode forward to Dyahn. He drew a length of rope from his pocket and grabbed hold of her arm. ‘And we’re taking this one too, just in case.’

  Rhonan almost banged on the window as he saw the huge man tie Dyahn’s hands together. Kheron pulled him back from the window.

  ‘We can’t fight them. They will just capture us as well if we let them know we’re here,’ Kheron hissed at him as they retreated back to a clump of bushes. ‘If only we could wake Tryx, she would make them leave.’

  Rhonan crept through the bushes until he could just see the front of the cottage. A covered wagon stood a short way down the lane and another hunter was heading for the cottage. Dyahn was being dragged out and she wasn’t going quietly.

  ‘Get your hands off me!’ she yelled as she kicked at her captor. The huge man took no notice as he carried her effortlessly to the wagon.

  ‘Help Terac with a Shadow in there. It’s just one, but it’ll have to do,’ the bearded man told the third hunter.

  The back flap of the wagon was thrown open and Rhonan stared in horror. Two people were tied up, leaning against the white cloth wall of the wagon. His parents.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  A HOSTILE WELCOME

  ‘We have to wake Tryx,’ Kheron said, looking pale as they watched Falh being carried out of the cottage. The two hunters were struggling to carry the tall elf and the third hunter, having put Dyahn in the wagon, came to help.

  ‘And soon,’ Rhonan added. Falh was thrown unceremoniously into the back of the wagon and the flap tied down.

  ‘I can’t believe they were dumb enough to come back here. Hunters check these old cottages every week or so,’ Terac said as all three hunters climbed up onto the driving platform and a few seconds later it was heading down the overgrown lane.

  The boys dashed from the bushes as soon as the wagon was out of sight and headed back to the orchard. They prodded at the dragon, yelled, and even waved fruit under her nose but Tryx slumbered on, only rousing slightly to belch.

  ‘That didn’t smell good,’ Kheron commented, stepping back a few paces. ‘I think she ate too much rotten fruit. She looks a little odd too – more a dull brown colour than golden.’

  ‘I don’t think she’s going to wake up any time soon,’ Rhonan said with a resigned look.

  ‘It will take them a day or two to reach the Spring Festival anyway. There is still time to catch up with the hunters,’ Kheron said, trying to sound positive but not really succeeding.

  They wandered slowly away from the orchard and down to the river.

  ‘It doesn’t seem right to just let them take our families away,’ Rhonan muttered as he angrily tossed a rock into the slow flowing river. ‘We should have followed them.’

  ‘And what could we do against three hunters?’ Kheron asked, looking as upset as Rhonan. ‘We know where they’re going. We’ll wait for Tryx to wake up and she can fly after them and force the hunters to set them free.’

  ‘A few good bursts of flame will have them running for their lives.’ Rhonan chuckled despite the grim situation.

&n
bsp; The wait for the dragon to wake up was much longer than either of them had expected. Every hour they went into the orchard and prodded Tryx. Occasionally she grunted but mostly she just snored.

  ‘We might have to stay here another night,’ Kheron said, looking at the position of the sun. It was well past its zenith and about to vanish beyond the mountains. They were both leaning against trees and staring at the river where the raft bobbed against the jetty. A loud crash in the distance made them both sit up and exchange a hopeful look. In a second both of them were heading for the orchard at a sprint.

  Tryx came out of the orchard, shaking a broken tree from her tail, She staggered up to the two boys and they had to step aside to prevent her bowling them over. She belched suddenly and swayed slightly.

  ‘I don’t think all that rotten fruit agreed with her,’ Kheron observed with a calculating look and a tilt of his head. ‘But she’s grown even more.’

  ‘She could definitely carry one or even both of us by now,’ Rhonan said, also seeing the possibilities.

  ‘Do you think she would?’ Kheron asked, stepping out of the dragon’s way again.

  ‘It would make it a lot easier if she did,’ Rhonan said with a shrug.

  ‘Tryx can carry two,’ Tryx said, launching into the air, extended her wings and then snapped them shut and fell to the ground in a howl of pain.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Kheron asked as they both hurried over to the dragon.

  ‘I don’t think her wings are healing properly,’ Rhonan suggested as he gingerly lifted one of Tryx’s wings. Sure enough the cuts on her delicate wings were red and swollen and clearly causing a good deal of pain. The gash on her leg was also swelling and did not look good.

  ‘She won’t be flying anywhere, anytime soon,’ Kheron said with a huge sigh. He patted the dragon comfortingly then sank down against a tree trunk looking upset and angry. ‘You were right, we should have followed the hunters on foot while we had the chance. We’ll never catch them now.’