by E. D. Baker
As excited as she was, Annie almost forgot that they had a reason to ride on a dragon’s back. Every once in a while she remembered and turned around to look behind them. Rotan was there, sitting astride a crooked branch that still bore a few withered, ice-coated leaves. He flew hunched over with both hands gripping the branch, so intent on following the dragons that he didn’t seem to notice the wind that made his long robes flap behind him. Annie thought he looked like a predatory bird, ready to strike. Just looking at him was enough to make her shiver.
Annie was glad that she and Liam were riding on Millie’s back and not Audun’s. Millie was keeping her internal fire stoked so that her body generated enough heat to keep her passengers warm. Annie felt toasty from her head to her toes despite the cold weather. As an ice dragon, Audun couldn’t generate heat, and actually felt cold to the touch. Riding on him would only have made Annie colder, whereas Azuria had magic to make warmer clothes for herself.
Although the air was bitterly cold when they started out, it became even colder as they headed over the mountains and Annie could finally see the ocean. Unlike the clear blue water surrounding the islands they had visited in warmer climates, the water here was a murky blue gray that hid whatever was in its depths. When Annie looked straight ahead, she could see a cloud bank that stretched from one side of the horizon to the other. The clouds were thick and dark, piling on top of each other so high that she wondered if any dragon could fly over them.
Annie glanced down and gasped. A group of large fish were racing through the water below them. One came to the surface and blew water out of a hole on top of its head. Another rose up, then fell back into the water with a tremendous splash.
“Those are whales,” Millie called, turning her head toward Annie and Liam. “They look big from here, but they’re enormous when you get close. The smaller one is a baby.”
“Amazing!” Annie exclaimed.
She was still watching the whales when something screamed. When she looked up, she saw a flock of large birds tearing toward them out of the sky. Half the birds peeled off to attack Audun, while the rest came after Millie. Some of the birds flew at the dragoness, pecking at her head and face. The others descended on Annie and Liam.
“Get down, Annie!” Liam shouted as he waved the sword Azuria had given to him.
Annie crouched behind him, but when she felt a bird’s talons on her back, she turned and flung up her arm. The bird was about to tear at her when she struck it, and suddenly it seemed more anxious to get away than attack her. She turned to look; the bird that had appeared to be some kind of large hawk was now a seagull. It flew away, squawking in distress.
“They’re not hawks, they’re seagulls!” Annie shouted. “Rotan changed them!”
“If he wants hawks, he can have them!” cried Azuria, waving her finger in the air.
A strong wind sprang up to blow the birds back to the wizard. He flailed his arms at them so violently that he nearly fell off his branch. Annie watched him until she had to hold on more tightly to Liam; Millie was descending toward the water.
The two dragons were flying side by side under the clouds now. A cold wind lashed them with sleet, which froze on Audun but dripped off the warmer Millie. When water ran into Annie’s eyes, she let go of Liam long enough to wipe her face with the back of her hand. Dropping her hand, she happened to glance down and gasped as a black-and-white fish as long as Millie shot out of the water straight at them, its teeth-lined jaws gaping open.
“Watch out!” Annie screamed.
Millie’s head whipped down. “Hang on!” she shouted, veering to the side. With a few powerful beats of her wings, they were angled higher again, entering the thick gray clouds.
They flew through the clouds for a time, unable to see anything around them. Even so, Millie and Audun stayed close together, apparently able to know exactly where the other dragon was in the murky darkness.
“How can you fly through this without getting lost?” Annie called to Millie after they’d been in the clouds for a while.
“Dragons have an excellent sense of direction,” Millie called back. “We can find any place even with our eyes closed as long as we’ve been there before.”
“Are we almost there?” asked Annie.
Millie chuckled, which made her shake so hard that Annie could feel the vibration under her. “We’re still a few hours away,” the dragoness finally said.
When the clouds around them finally parted, revealing a dismal sky and the leaden-looking ocean below, Annie felt as if a weight had been lifted off her. She glanced at Audun, who was flying so close to Millie that the two dragons’ wing tips almost touched. Azuria had used her magic to wrap herself in a layer of blankets and was tied onto the dragon with straps. She was asleep, her head lolling with each beat of Audun’s wings, her mittened hands lying limply at her sides. Every once in a while she jerked awake, consulted her far-seeing ball, and said something to Audun. Within minutes, her eyes were closed again. Apparently she didn’t find dragon flight as exciting as Annie and Liam did.
Annie glanced back, wondering if they had lost Rotan. When she didn’t see him, she called to Millie, “I think we’ve lost the wizard.”
“He’s still there,” said Millie. “He’s just farther behind. Azuria is keeping track of him with her far-seeing ball.”
Millie was right. The next time Annie looked back, Rotan was in sight, clutching the branch, looking more bedraggled than ever.
It wasn’t long before Annie started seeing huge blocks of ice floating in the water. “What are those?” she asked Liam. When he didn’t know, she asked Millie.
“Those are called icebergs. This part of the ocean is full of them. Now that we’ve seen them, we know that we’re a little over an hour away from the stronghold.”
“That’s good,” said Annie, “because—” She gasped as a wall of water rose out of the ocean to tower over their heads.
“Rotan!” exclaimed Liam.
“Oh, no he doesn’t!” Millie cried as the wall began to descend on them.
Annie could feel the dragoness take in a deep breath and was amazed when she exhaled a long tongue of flame that grew bigger with each passing second. The water wall shrank as the flame turned it into steam, which Azuria blew back at Rotan. Annie looked behind her when the wizard yelped and nearly fell off his branch again.
They flew in and out of clouds after that. Millie’s heat was enough to warm Annie and Liam and to dry their clothes once they were out in the open. The next time the dragons began to descend, they headed toward the largest iceberg Annie had seen yet. It was higher than the tallest icebergs they had passed and wider than most, with sides as sheer as if a giant had used a knife to cut them from an even bigger block of ice. When the clouds opened up above them, letting the sun shine through, the whole thing reflected light like a polished mirror.
The reflected light was so bright that Annie didn’t notice the three approaching dragons at first. It didn’t help that they were as white as the iceberg and blended in so well with it. Audun and Millie saw them right away, however, and flew to meet them.
“We need your help, Wave Diver. An evil wizard is following us!” Audun shouted to the leader of the dragons. “Tell Frostybreath!”
“We can do the same thing to this wizard that we did to Olebald!” Wave Diver shouted back.
“That’s what I was thinking!” Audun replied.
While Wave Diver landed on the ice and disappeared into an almost invisible opening, the other two dragon guards moved off so that they blended in with the ice again, making it almost impossible for Rotan to see them. Millie landed at the entrance right behind Wave Diver and slipped into a tunnel that could easily fit two dragons side by side. Annie crinkled her nose. The air smelled sour, almost as if bushels of fruit had gone bad. It took her a moment to recognize it as the concentrated smell of many ice dragons living together.
“Go wait at the end of the hall,” Wave Diver told Millie. “Audun knows
what to do. He’ll lure the wizard in, then my dragons will follow and block the entrance so the wizard can’t escape that way.”
Liam was already helping Annie down from Millie’s back when he turned to Wave Diver and asked, “Is there anything I can do to help?”
The dragon, who was nearly twice as long as Millie, just laughed. “Not a thing, little human, except stay out of the way. We can handle this. Now hurry. I can hear a human shouting. The wizard must be close.”
Annie and Liam ran down the hall with Millie right behind. Although everything was made of ice, the floor had been embedded with sand so that it wasn’t slippery. The hall was fiercely cold, however, and Annie already regretted that she and Liam had been so quick to get off Millie’s back. Annie’s teeth were chattering when they reached the end of the hall.
“You two wait inside,” said Millie, and nudged them toward an open door. They slipped inside, but instead of hiding, they peered around the doorway.
Another dragon joined Millie. He wasn’t much bigger than she was and had an officious air about him. “Wave Diver sent for Frostybreath. What is going on? I should be kept informed at all times so I can inform the king.”
“Hello, Iceworthy,” said Millie. “It’s an evil wizard named Rotan. He’s followed us here and we want Frostybreath to freeze him. The wizard should be entering the hall at any moment.”
“Oh!” said the dragon, and he scurried off around the corner.
“You should go back inside,” Millie told Annie and Liam, shuffling closer as if to block the doorway.
Annie glanced down. Millie was so warm that the floor under her feet was partially melted. When she moved, the floor refroze instantly, almost as if by magic.
“Is there magic here?” Annie asked her. “Does magic keep the stronghold together? Because if it does, my presence here will bring it down around us. Remember, we told you that magic doesn’t work around me.”
“Don’t worry,” said Millie. “Your being here won’t make a bit of difference. The stronghold is held together through dragon magic, which is the strongest magic of all. Nothing can hurt this place.”
The thunder of running dragon feet came from around the corner. “I hope that’s Frostybreath,” Millie said, and turned her head to see who was there. A moment later Audun landed in the entrance and Azuria hopped off, calling, “Rotan is right behind us!”
The Blue Witch hurried down the hall and threw herself into the room. After taking one look at Annie, who was turning blue, Azuria asked, “Are you cold?” When Annie nodded, the witch pointed a finger and sent blue sparkles her way. The sparkles hit Annie and rebounded, splatting across Azuria’s chest, then growing to envelop her. A moment later the old witch was wearing another layer of thick, fuzzy clothes. “Drat! I forgot about you and magic! Here, I don’t need these, you do.” Taking off the extra clothes, she handed them to Annie and glanced at Liam.
“I’m fine,” he said.
Annie gave Azuria a grateful smile as she drew the warmer clothes over the ones she was wearing. She was pulling up the hood when Rotan shot into the hall and hopped off his branch. Suddenly Audun was running down the corridor toward them. “Run, Millie!” he shouted as Azuria dragged Annie and Liam away from the door.
A hissing sound followed Liam down the hall. He was halfway to the corner when the ceiling above his head cracked in long, jagged lines. An instant later it was whole again and looked as if it had never been touched.
Rotan swore and tried again, aiming at the floor. The new crack repaired itself just as quickly.
Audun had almost reached the corner when Rotan said a spell over his walking stick, turning it into a spear and hurling it at Liam. “It’s poisoned!” Azuria shouted.
Millie’s head popped around the corner. She flamed, aiming it at the stick, which blackened and turned into ash.
As the wizard drew closer, Annie could hear his next spell forming. Whatever it was, the noise it made was harsh and discordant. “We have to stop him!” Annie told Liam.
He nodded. Waiting until Rotan was passing the open doorway, Liam dashed out of the room and tackled the wizard, knocking him to the floor. Annie was right behind him, and before Rotan could catch his breath, she had her hand on his arm. The moment she touched him, his magic fizzled and went out.
“What did you do?” Rotan shouted just as a huge white-and-blue dragon came tearing around the corner.
Annie and Liam got out of the way as the dragon took a deep breath and blew a coating of frost on Rotan. Ice crackled as it formed on the wizard, holding him immobile so that only his eyes could move.
“Thank you, Frostybreath,” said Audun. “He was a hard one to stop.”
“He doesn’t look like much,” the big dragon said, giving the wizard a poke with his talon. “How evil is he?”
“As bad as Olebald,” said Millie. “And he deserves to be put on ice for a good long time.”
“Then that is precisely what we’ll do,” Frostybreath said as he picked up the motionless wizard with his talons and draped him over one shoulder.
Six other dragons came racing around the corner, skidding to a stop when they saw Frostybreath with the wizard. “You got him!” one of the dragons said, sounding disappointed.
“At least we get to see what happens next!” another dragon said with glee.
They hurried to form a line behind Frostybreath, who led them around the corner to a curving ramp that ran down into the stronghold.
“This is the fastest way down,” said Audun. “It’s meant for dragons, so you should go with us.”
After the other dragons took their turns sliding down the ramp, Millie led Annie and Liam to the starting point. Crouching down with her chin nearly touching the floor, the dragoness placed Annie on one side of her snout and Liam on the other. With her talons curled around them to hold them in place, she pushed off and started to slide.
Annie held on to Millie’s arm, keeping her eyes closed at first, but when she heard Liam’s delighted shout, her eyes flew open and she hazarded a look around. A moment later she was laughing with joy. The floor of the ramp was smooth without a bump or blemish to mar the ride, and they slid, twisting and turning as the tunnel changed direction. Annie felt as if she were flying again, only this time no dragon muscles bunched beneath her and there was no wind to buffet her.
The tunnel wound around and around the stronghold where the translucent walls changed from light to dark as clouds passed overhead. When it suddenly grew dark and stayed that way, Annie decided that they must have gone below the water level. And then they were sliding on polished stone, heading into the island that was the base of the stronghold.
Suddenly they were shooting off the bottom of the darkened ramp onto a floor that wasn’t quite as smooth; it was enough to slow them down so they could get their feet under them and stand. Torches flickered on the walls, giving them enough light to see where they were going. They had scarcely gotten out of the way when Audun and Azuria slid off the ramp behind them. Annie’s heart was still racing as they caught up with the other dragons, joining the procession that wound through the hallways to a locked door. When Annie peered around the dragons in front of her, she could see Frostybreath talking to a dragon standing guard. After a conversation that she couldn’t hear, the guard unlocked the door and stepped aside. The dragons filed into the room with Frostybreath in the lead.
It was a long, narrow room with no other door. The guard had given a lit torch to one of the dragons behind Frostybreath. Without it, the room would have been completely dark, so Annie was surprised to see a motionless figure standing against one of the walls. When the dragon holding the torch moved closer, Annie could see that the figure was a bald-headed man encased in ice. His eyes were closed and he appeared to be asleep.
“This looks like a good spot,” Frostybreath said, dumping Rotan on the floor. When the wizard stirred, trying to raise his hand, the big dragon breathed on him again, coating him with so much frost that he was com
pletely white and couldn’t possibly move. His eyes were closed now, and he, too, looked as if he was asleep.
Two other dragons helped Frostybreath prop Rotan against the wall beside the first figure. With his friends holding the wizard in place, Frostybreath took an extra-big breath and exhaled long and hard all over the wizard. As his friends moved out of the way, he took another breath and another, breathing on Rotan until the man was encased in a block of ice.
“There!” said Frostybreath as he admired what he had done. “Now he won’t be bothering anyone.”
“Is he dead?” Annie asked Millie.
The dragoness shook her head. “Not at all. When he thaws, he’ll be just like he was before he was frozen even if he stays this way for hundreds of years. It’s another of Frostybreath’s talents.”
“Apparently there’s a lot more we don’t know about dragons than we realized,” said Liam.
“I’m constantly learning new things about dragons myself,” said Millie. “And I am one!”
CHAPTER 15
Annie was relieved to walk out of the room, knowing that the dragons would keep Rotan frozen for many years to come. Now that the wizard could no longer cause trouble, she and Liam could go home—if only they could find a way.
She was wondering if Millie and Audun had any idea how to help them get home, when Iceworthy stopped them in the hall. “King Stormclaw requests your presence in his audience chamber,” the dragon said with his snout in the air. “You, too, Audun and Millie.” He turned and walked away so quickly that Annie and Liam had to run to catch up. Azuria was muttering to herself as she scurried after them.
They followed Iceworthy to a stairwell and started to climb. The steps were wide and deep enough for dragon feet, so were bigger than normal stairs. By the time Annie got used to the rhythm of climbing them, they had gone up two levels and Iceworthy was waiting for them by another doorway.
“Wait inside the first room,” he told them. “Someone will take you into the audience chamber when King Stormclaw is ready.”