The Spirit Tree

by Jacqueline Kirk

Chapter 5

  Unable to tell if it was even day or night the two boys followed the forest Guardian as he led them on what seemed to be a rather long and twisting path. Twice they had to hide as the King’s scouts came near, waiting for the strange creatures to pass by before they could continue. It wasn’t long before Billy was leading them down into a small grove that had a high waterfall and a pool.

  “What is this place?” Michael asked him.

  “This is where the dragon lives.” Billy told them.

  Michael looked around in the shadows but could see nothing that would suggest any kind of cave or large winged creature. “I don’t see anything.”

  “Behind the waterfall there’s a small cave with a hidden tunnel at the back. I found it when I was trying to hide from the King’s huntsmen.” He paused to look at the two boys closely. “I don’t mean to be rude but you two look very tired. I don’t think it would be wise to face the dragon half asleep.”

  Michael looked at James and could see the tiredness on his face. He felt a twinge of guilt when he thought of what James had already been through today and yet he hadn’t complained about being tired at all.

  “Could we sleep for a bit in the cave then?” he asked Billy.

  Billy grinned and nodded then proceeded to the edge of the pool. Skirting along its edge he nimbly stepped along the rocks the water crashed on to and disappeared behind the curtain of water. Michael and James stood uncertainly for a moment staring at the slippery looking rocks until Billy’s head appeared past the waterfall and he beckoned them on.

  “Give me your hand,” said Michael holding his hand out to James.

  James looked at Michael’s hand and then to the slippery rocks they were about to step on obviously deciding it wouldn’t be worse than falling into the water and grasped his friend’s hand.

  They inched their way across the stones with only the odd slip of a shoe until they reached the edge of the waterfall. The spray had already soaked them so with a deep breath they plunged behind the waterfall until they stumbled into a cave that was long and narrow.

  Billy grinned when he saw them and went back to setting up the fire. They shook most of the water off their clothes but the material was quite wet so they decided it would be best to remove them and dry them properly by the fire.

  It wasn’t long before the fire was burning cheerfully and their clothes and boots that were laid out around the perimeter steamed as they dried leaving the two boys in their underwear. Meanwhile Billy was arranging what looked like bundles of leaves along one side of the cave. Michael realised he meant for this to serve as a bed for them and smiled to himself. He suddenly realised just how tired he was now.

  “Are we to sleep there?” he asked Billy.

  Billy rubbed his hands together to get the last of the leaves off of them and nodded. “I don’t really need to sleep. This is as comfortable as I can make it but at least you won’t be cold if I keep the fire burning.”

  “Thank you Billy,” Michael told him feeling genuinely grateful for the Guardian’s thoughtfulness.

  Billy smiled and seemed to blush a little at the praise. He watched while Michael and James settled themselves then sat down by the fire feeding it small twigs of wood while the humans settled down.

  It didn’t seem long to Michael before Billy was shaking him awake. He heard a muffled grumbling and knew that James had also been woken. Stretching he realised he felt quite refreshed and sat up rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

  “It’s time we went on,” Billy told them.

  Michael noticed the worried look on the fae boy’s face and felt a little trickle of fear go down his spine. “Is something wrong? Did something happen when we were sleeping?”

  Billy shrugged a little. “It might be nothing, just another affect of the taint but I’m worried that the others might know you’re here.”

  “What?” both Michael and James said at the same time.

  “The King and his scouts were out a lot more than they usually are and there is a restlessness to the forest. It’s hard to explain.”

  “Did you go back out?” Michael asked in alarm.

  Billy nodded and said, “ For a little while just to see if we were followed. I think we got here in time, they won’t find us here now.”

  The two boys put on their now dry clothes at Billy’s urging as he put the fire out with a deft scoop of dirt. The darkness closed in then until a small glow began to fill the cave and they could see that Billy held a small glass ball that glowed from within.

  “What’s that?” James asked curiously, “What makes it glow?”

  Billy held it up higher so they could see it clearly. “There’s a salamander inside, that’s how it glows. The salamander feeds on magic so all you have to do is learn the proper spell to feed it and it should last a long time. Comes in handy I can tell you!”

  They followed Billy and his glowing ball as he walked to the back of the cave and seemed to disappear through the wall. Michael and James stepped forward cautiously, holding their hands out in front of them. They were pleasantly surprised to find out that they could go straight through the wall as if it wasn’t even there.

  “There’s a spell that hides the tunnel entrance,” Billy told them as they joined him. “It’s quite effective but doesn’t actually stop anyone just hides the fact there is a tunnel here. Now, there’s a while to go before we get to the main cave where the dragon is and if we’re quiet we should be able to pass by unnoticed.”

  They walked behind Billy, the light from the glowing ball shedding enough light that they could see the tunnel walls, which were strangely smooth as if a giant worm had bored it’s way through the rock. Every now and then they would come across a pile of rocks that had collapsed into the tunnel leaving it partially blocked but these were no real obstacles to the boys as they scrambled over them.

  After a while Michael began to feel how warm it was getting. He noticed that James was feeling it too when he took off his jacket to sling it over his bag. He loosened his own jacket and the top of his shirt to try and let some of the cooler air reach him. It didn’t really work. Billy, however, didn’t seem to be affected at all.

  “How much further is it?” he asked Billy quietly, slightly alarmed at how loud his voice sounded in the tunnel.

  Billy turned to look at the two boys and held a finger up to his lips to indicate they should be quiet. “Not long,” he mouthed to them.

  Michael looked at James for a moment trying to decide whether it was too late to send his friend back but the determined look on his friend’s face told him it would be futile to try. Instead, he smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way and turned to follow Billy.

  It wasn’t long before a glow could be seen ahead. A soft orange glow like that from a dying fire shone from what they could now see was the end of the tunnel turning a corner. When they rounded this corner the tunnel became a large cavern filled with the very large and very much alive dragon.

  Michael took a sharp intake of breath at the sight. He knew Billy had said there was a dragon but he had felt some doubt as to that until the moment he saw it for himself.

  Several small fires burned around the walls of the caves and these cast light on the shimmering red and gold scales of the dragon’s hide. The two boys couldn’t take their eyes off of the dragon as they looked from it’s large square head with the twisting horns that rose straight up and shimmered a strange pearl and gold colour, along it’s length to the tip of the tail that lay stretched out behind it and twitched every now and then as if it was dreaming.

  It was the wings that Michael found the most fascinating. They were huge even folded up as they were and protruded from the powerful shoulders in one graceful curve. They were held slightly away from it’s body as if it was too warm which Michael could understand now that he stood this close to it.

  The waves of heat that came off the dragon were almost unbearable and he could feel the sweat trickling down his back underneath his shirt.
Yet, still he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the creature. He thought it was beautiful as much as it was frightening.

  A tug at his sleeve from Billy brought his attention back to their predicament. He looked past the dragon to another tunnel opening on the far wall and nodded to Billy to go ahead. He looked to James to make sure he was following then grabbed his collar to pull him away from the dragon.

  Grinning at James’ annoyed expression he didn’t see the small pile of rocks before his foot kicked them and a few scattered across the floor. They all froze and stared at the dragon intently for a few moments but it didn’t stir at all. Michael smiled apologetically at the other two and they continued on their way to the next tunnel.

  Billy was almost at the tunnel entrance and when he turned back to smile in relief at the two humans his face froze suddenly and his eyes looked at something behind them. From the way his eyes kept looking higher and higher Michael knew that the dragon had woken.

  “Leaving so soon?” a deep, husky voice said from above their heads.

  Michael and James turned slowly and the first thing they noticed was the large and lethally sharp claws on the dragon’s feet as it stood towering over them. The underside of its belly that they had been unable to see before was paler than the rest of its scarlet hide and its eyes were a pale green like the sea.

  Those eyes watched them curiously and Michael could only see curiosity in them but he still stood frozen to the spot, unable to take his eyes off the large teeth that protruded from the creature’s mouth.

  A movement out of the corner of his eye made him look just in time to see Billy launch himself from a nearby ledge he must have climbed up to. His dagger was gripped in both hands as he leapt forward to bring the blade down on the dragon. To everyone’s surprise, except perhaps the dragons, the blade bounced off the dragon’s scales followed by Billy himself.

  The forest guardian slammed into the dragon’s side and bounced off to land in an untidy heap on the floor. The dragon peered around seemingly unfazed by the attack and dismissed Billy as if he was just a nuisance.

  “Well, human child,” the dragon demanded, looking at Michael, “Are you in such a hurry that you cannot answer me? I would have thought that seeing a dragon would have been something of at least passing interest to you.”

  “I…I…” Michael stammered and looked in appeal to James but he was as stunned as himself. “We don’t mean to trouble you,” he said weakly, “we just need to get to the Tree.”

  “Ah, the Tree,” the dragon repeated sadly and settled itself back down on its belly so it wasn’t towering over them quite as much. “That was a terrible thing to happen. So much has gone wrong since then! The evil is creeping through the forest relentlessly… Stop that!”

  Michael blinked at the sudden change of subject and noticed the dragon was looking around at its side where he could see Billy was poking it with his dagger and then looking in confusion at the blade. The dragon blew gently and a small flicker of flame brushed Billy’s hand making the forest guardian leap back with a yelp.

  “Don’t be so rude!” the dragon admonished him, “How would you like it if I tried to stick you with sharp blades?”

  Billy shuffled over slightly embarrassed, to stand with the other two boys. “Sorry,” he mumbled, “it’s just that I always keep this blade as sharp as possible and yet it didn’t even mark your hide.”

  “Of course not!” the dragon replied, “I am a dragon!” He looked thoughtfully at Billy and asked quietly, “How is it you have escaped the taint but your family did not?”

  Billy gasped and Michael looked at him in surprise. There was no reason the forest guardian should have told them about his family but under the circumstances Michael felt a little disappointed.

  Billy shrugged, “I was hunting at the time. My family was at the Tree when Samuel’s soul hit it. I’ve managed to avoid it since by staying near the edges of the forest. I only venture this far in when I need to or if someone needs help.”

  “Like these humans?”

  “Not just them,” Billy said quietly, looking sideways at Michael and James. “There are others of my kind that haven’t been changed. The King and his men like to hunt them.”

  “Your father always did like to hunt,” the dragon commented sourly.

  Michael and James looked in surprise at Billy. “The King is your father?” Michael asked, stunned.

  Billy shrugged dismissively. “It doesn’t really matter now. My parents and all the other tainted fae no longer recognise family or friends. If you’re not like them then you’re an enemy.”

  “You mean,” James spoke quietly, horrified, “Your own father has been hunting you?”

  Billy said nothing and refused to look at them but instead looked rather sullenly at the dragon as if this revelation was all his fault.

  “You see humans,” the dragon explained, “You are not the only ones to suffer. The ones in the forest suffer far greater cruelties than you can imagine. Yet you come here thinking you can change it all just like that. What do you have that we of the forest do not?”

  Michael felt a little annoyed at the dragon’s superior tone but forged ahead anyway, “We don’t know if we can change it. We just have to try – for my mother’s sake!” He paused for a moment as his throat threatened to close with his grief, “I have holy water from our Church. It’s the purest thing we could think of that might reverse the taint.”

  The dragon stared at them for a moment and Michael couldn’t decide if the expression on its face was amusement or disbelief. “I hate to tell you this,” the dragon began slowly, “but no water from a church, no matter how pure, will have any effect here. It was magic that did this and only magic can undo it.”