by Farr, Cathy;
‘No, don’t!’ shouted Tally. She was scrambling over broken planks and struts that had not that long before been the steps onto the stage. ‘Wil, don’t turn her over! If that stuff gets any more air she’ll lose her skin!’
Wil let go as if he’d been stung and Gisella slumped back into the dirt.
Tally hopped over the only remaining step.
‘Oh, dear! Orange really isn’t her colour is it?’ said Tally. She patted Mia’s flank as the forlorn hound plodded over to greet her. ‘It’s bonacuss dung, Wil. Eli has told me about it. They farm bonacuss on Rockmoor Downs – dangerous but delicious, apparently. Anyway, one of the young farmhands got in the way of a young bull – you know – behind it… and… anyway there’s only one cure for bonacuss poo burns.’
She stopped abruptly, her gaze following the wandering dragon on the other side of the square – it was eating something and had at least for the moment stopped that mournful cat call.
‘Well?’ prompted Wil. Gisella remained stubbornly still and he was getting more anxious by the moment.
‘Dragon urine,’ said Tally.
‘What! They’ve got dragons on Rockmoor Downs? How… where…?’
‘Brom’s Lair – it’s the breeding ground for the Giant Redback, Eli told me that, too.’
‘Well, I’m not even going to try to guess how that all works,’ said Wil, recalling the size of the tooth he’d seen earlier. ‘So, how do we get a sample from our little friend over there?’
Tally cast a quick look around the wreckage of wagons and stalls and headed for an upturned wagon a little way off. She disappeared into the debris that had once been the stallholder’s wares and emerged holding up three dead hares. She looked very pleased with herself.
‘With fresh meat and a little patience!’
As it was, the dragon proved to be extremely easy to catch and Wil felt what he could almost have described as a hug of comforted gratitude as he watched it gobble down two of the hares in quick succession.
‘It’s really small for a Ridge Creeper, isn’t it?’ he said throwing the remaining hare into the air. The dragon – not much bigger than a small, albeit very fat, pony – snatched at the offering just before it hit the ground and crunched happily.
‘Well, maybe it’s only young,’ said Tally. Her arms were full of jugs that she had just found in a deserted bar nearby.
‘We can’t use those, Tally, they stink!’
The jugs did indeed reek of rat beer. Tally breathed a long suffering sigh.
‘Honestly Wil, it’s not as if we’ve got much choice. And anyway, once that dragon’s done his bit the rat beer, I can assure you, will be a mere memory.’
‘But will she be okay?’
Wil bent to make sure Gisella was still breathing.
‘Why is she unconscious? Is it the fumes?’
‘Na,’ answered Tally. ‘Tinniswood’s mother hit her with a Wraithe Wolf’s head – she was yelling something about Gisella trying to steal her hat.’
‘Ooh,’ said Wil, with a hollow laugh. ‘I think that’s my fault.’
The green slime was oozing into the dust where Gisella lay.
‘Won’t it get worse the longer that stuff’s on her?’
‘She’ll be fine for the time being as long as we can keep the air off. As she’s lying in it, that’s about the best place for her right now,’ said Tally, sounding oddly hard-hearted.
‘But it’s all up her neck – where it splashed,’ said Wil.
‘Mm, I’m pretty sure it’s only the dung that’s the problem; you know, the slime. I’m sure Eli said that the splashes just make the skin peel. It’ll heal,’ said Tally. She was poised ready to catch anything that the dragon produced but the dragon was not procuring anything.
‘Well, maybe we could get this thing to hurry up if you’re only “pretty sure”?’ said Wil. He was frustrated by the dragon’s lack of co-operation and by Tally’s lack of compassion. It also hadn’t escaped his notice that the silver light from the twin moons was brimming over the city walls like an over full cup. Trying to match Tally’s tone, he added, ‘I was supposed to get you and Tanith back to Lovage Hall tonight. Lady Élanor made me promise that I’d get you back before the moons crossed.’
One of the jugs slipped from Tally’s grasp but she managed to grab it before it hit the ground.
‘What? Why didn’t you mention this earlier, Wil? What exactly did she make you promise?’
‘Er, I can’t...I can’t really remember,’ said Wil, thrown by her sudden alarm. ‘Try!’
With a pitiful yowl, the little dragon waddled over to the upturned wagon and nudged the pile of splintered wood. Wil kept his eyes on the dragon.
‘Um, she said,’ he started – sadness was consuming him again. ‘Well, she said something about only being sure you and Tanith are safe if you are at home with her – at Lovage Hall… er, Tally, I think you might need that jug!’
By the time the dragon had finished all three jugs were brimful with plenty to spare. All the time its doleful whine quavered through the empty square. Phinn and Mia lay with their chins on the dirt – their eyebrows flicking as they watched and waited.
‘Right,’ said Tally, setting down the jugs one by one next to Gisella. ‘It’s quite easy – all you have to do is pour the urine on every bit of green. I’d do it myself but if my sister wants Tanith and I back at the Hall before the moons cross, we really need to be there.’
‘But it took us a day and a half to get here,’ said Wil, his heart now in his boots – he suddenly felt desperately lonely. ‘How will you get back in time?’
‘Wil, don’t you know anything about pegalus – they are capable of covering great distances very quickly – as the raven flies, you could say!’
The word raven hit Wil like a bolt.
‘Oh no! Pricilla – Tally, Pricilla got injured. I left her with someone.’
‘Who? Where is she?’
‘I... I don’t know?’
‘What? Who you left her with? Or where she is?’
The dragon stuck its snout into the wreckage of another wagon a little further away. Wil’s mind cleared a little in the sudden hush.
‘Er, well both really.’
Tally looked appalled.
‘You mean to say that you gave my sister’s precious raven to a stranger so that you could rescue your girlfriend?’
‘Now hang on, Tally! Actually I came to rescue you, remember!’
‘You say!’ retorted Tally.
‘Blimey, you two make any more noise and Rexmoore’s men will be back down here in a flash – loose bonacuss or not!’
A huge timber prop under the stage cracked and toppled to one side; Mortimer emerged, followed by Farrow who appeared to have a green stain across her rump; and then Seth.
‘Hi Tally,’ said Seth, before Mortimer could speak. ‘You okay?’
‘Oh yer, I’m great thanks,’ answered Tally, her voice dangerously pleasant. ‘Been holed up for days in a freezing tower made of gold with – for most of the time – no one to talk to except a nutty woman with an obsession for hats!’ Seth threw Wil a slightly unnerved glance but Tally was in full flow. ‘Then I got tied to a stake while nutty woman’s son tried to burn me alive! Gisella’s rather inconveniently got herself plastered in bonacuss dung; Wil’s lost my sister’s raven and… and I’ve just been told I’m due home before the moons cross. Me? I’m good thanks!’
‘Oh,’ said Seth in a very quiet voice. ‘That’s alright then.’
Mortimer stepped out from the debris holding out Wil’s hunting knife.
‘Hey, Wil, I found this under the stage, thought you might need it. What’s happened to Gisella?’
‘The bonacuss – Imelda used her as a shield.’ Wil took the knife and slid it back into its familiar home in his boot. ‘But it’s okay because Tally said that all we need to do is pour dragon wee over her and she’ll be fine.’
Tally snorted.
‘I did not say she’d b
e fine. I said she wouldn’t lose all her skin – well, not permanently. She was, after all, also smacked across the face with a hat made out of a Wraithe Wolf’s head.’
‘What?’ chorused Mortimer and Seth.
‘The Jackal’s mother,’ said Wil by way of an explanation.
‘Ah!’ said Mortimer. ‘Right, well… er... shall I give you a hand then. I’m guessing she won’t need these just yet, then?’ He held up Gisella’s crossbow and a handful of silver-tipped bolts.
‘Er, no,’ said Wil, somewhat distracted. ‘Apparently we have to be quick. You hold, I’ll pour.’
Stowing the bow behind the nearest up-turned stall, Mortimer carefully rolled Gisella over. With a brief glance at Tally, who ignored him, Wil trickled the pale yellow liquid over Gisella’s neck and tunic. The slime turned pale pink almost immediately and little ribbons of steam drifted from the rosy goo.
‘Goodness me, you’ll have to be quicker than that, Wil. You’re saving her skin – not getting her ready to meet your mother! Give it all a good splosh!’
Not convinced that Tally’s intentions were entirely to the benefit of Gisella’s health, Wil tipped each jug in quick succession. The steam rose now in clouds and, for the first time since they’d found her, Gisella stirred and opened her eyes. Tally put her hands on her hips.
‘There, see. I would say she’ll be as pretty as before but–’
‘The moons are coming up fast now, Tally,’ said Mortimer quickly. ‘If you want to make it back to Lovage hall, you’re cutting it a bit fine, even with Tanith.’
‘Is Wil going to come with me?’ said Tally, not moving an inch. ‘After all, he did promise to get me back to my sister.’
‘Er, no, Tally. I’ve got to help Gisella – my first aid bag, you know – if she needs anything else.’ It wasn’t the best excuse but Wil was so angry with Tally right now that the temptation to throw her off Tanith somewhere over Tel Harion might just have been too great – moons crossing or not! In fact, Wil was feeling angrier by the minute.
Mortimer came to the rescue.
‘Seth’ll go with you, Tally. He’s lighter than Wil. Tanith will be able to go faster.’
Wil was struggling now to keep up. Rage was building inside him. White hot fury was flooding through his veins; red mist was clouding the edges of his vision again – something was closing in… and whatever it was, it was very angry. He shook his head, struggling to find even simple words.
‘Does anyone know… what… er, happened… to the… er… bonacuss?’
Tally ignored him and folded her arms.
‘I don’t want him to come! I want Wil to come or I’m not going!’
Mortimer took a step towards her.
‘Seth, get on Tanith. Tally, I’m only going to ask you this once and then if you don’t co-operate I will personally lift you onto that pegalus!’ Behind him, two silver orbs were now sitting on the battlements. ‘Will you get on Tanith and get going for Saran!’
His tone left no doubt. It was not a question, it was an order. Tally twisted her toe into the ground as if daring to consider arguing and threw Wil a hurt look.
But Wil didn’t notice.
Several very bad things happened all at once.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Out of the Sky
‘Get them!’ shouted Imelda. ‘Kill the hounds if you have to! Kill them all except the seer!’
Something whistled past Wil’s ear and thunked into the ground behind Farrow. Phinn was on his feet in an instant – a second later his heart rending howl split the air.
‘NO!’ yelled Wil. But the ground under his feet began to tremble and out of the shadows, firing green slime in its wake, thundered the bonacuss. Mortimer skipped backwards, firing bolts as he went.
‘Get behind that wagon! Seth, get Tanith over there – NOW!’
‘Phinn! Phinn’s been hit!’ shouted Wil.
‘I know, but he’s on his feet.’
Wil scooped Gisella up in his arms and hurtled towards the wrecked stall – bonacuss dung was spraying everywhere. He ducked down to avoid getting plastered. Seth was already astride Tanith; the pegalus reared – just in time. Green slime splattered over a huge pile of sheep skulls on an abandoned stall behind them.
‘Just give me a bow, Wil,’ whispered Gisella. Wil nearly dropped her in surprise.
‘Giz, you’re–’
‘A bow, Wil! And get Tally on that horse!’
Not sure whether to thank Mortimer or to curse him, Wil thrust her own bow and the bolts towards her and poked his head out from behind the flimsy barricade. Imelda had Tally by the hair – and by the look of things Tally was giving as good as she was getting. The Jackal, meanwhile, was loading his catapult with whatever was near, firing with surprising accuracy. Something hard smacked against Wil’s temple.
‘Ow! Giz, can you hit The Jackal from here?’
Gisella took aim.
‘Which Jackal do you want me to hit?’ she said and fired. There was a howl.
‘Good enough,’ said Wil. ‘Well, it was the right one at least, but only got his arm from what I can see.’
‘I’ll try harder next time,’ said Gisella with a slightly cross-eyed grin. ‘Now go and get Tally!’
On the far side of the square, with nowhere else to run, the bonacuss was spinning on its haunches for another charge. The little dragon was standing right in the way. Imelda was still struggling to get the better of Tally; and Mortimer was grappling with one of Rexmoore’s guards who seemed to be getting the upper hand. Amid the chaos, Wil could see all three Fellhounds. They were simply standing around the dragon.
‘What the–’ Wil was interrupted by Gisella’s shrill voice.
‘Wil, get Tally, I’ve hit Imelda. Get Tally on Tanith!’
Wil scrambled out from his cover but Tally was already on her way – she was pelting towards them, pointing up at the sky. Imelda, The Jackal and the guards left standing were all running too – in the other direction.
The bonacuss charged.
‘Wil, DUCK!’ screamed Mortimer and, arms over his head, threw himself across the guard he had just managed to overpower.
From out of the black sky plunged a dragon – a huge and very angry dragon.
But Wil didn’t duck. It would be OK. Phinn, Mia and Farrow knew it, too – unfortunately for the bonacuss, it didn’t know very much at all.
As the massive dragon swept skywards, the light of the moons blazed red across the crimson scales of its vast chest. In the square the little dragon stood, quite unharmed, surrounded by the three Fellhounds. The bonacuss lay dead, its great hulk smouldering; the sweet smell of roasting beef filled the square.
‘Gosh, that smell’s making me hungry. Have we got time for dinner?’ said Seth brightly.
‘No!’ answered Wil, Mortimer and Gisella.
‘Tally, get on that pegalus,’ ordered Mortimer. ‘I haven’t got a clue what’s going on but you and Seth are going – now!’ And with that, he picked Tally up, all but threw her onto Tanith’s back behind Seth, and slapped Tanith hard on the rump. ‘Lovage Hall, Seth, and don’t stop *til you see Lady Élanor!’
Wil didn’t think he’d ever seen anything as beautiful in his life as Tanith spreading his huge, golden wings – with one graceful beat, the pegalus was in the air and in three more he was high over the city, silhouetted against one of the luminescent moons.
‘If they get back in time I’ll eat my boots,’ said Mortimer.
‘But I thought Tally said–’ began Wil.
‘Yes, but Wil, it’s freezing; there are hungry eagards out there; Tanith has been cooped up goodness knows where for days and, in case it’s slipped your notice – a dragon in the mood for a barbecue has just turned up!’
In the black sky above them, Wil knew that the huge dragon was circling, although, to his relief, it didn’t seem in the least bit interested in Tanith.
‘It’s a Redback,’ said a voice.
Out of the shadows at the edge
of the square, stepped the dragon tooth girl – and under her arm, quite content, was Pricilla.
‘I know,’ said Wil.
Mortimer looked from the girl to Pricilla and then to Wil.
‘She’ll be back,’ said the girl.
‘I know,’ said Wil again.
‘It was the call, wasn’t it?’
‘Something like that.’
‘The red chest was a bit confusing – they normally get red as they get older. I think it’s stressed. But those teeth – way too big for a Ridge Creeper.’
‘Er, excuse me butting in, but could someone tell me what you’re talking about?’ said Mortimer.
‘The dragon, it’s a Giant Redback – a baby,’ said Wil, nodding over at the little dragon. ‘The hounds must have realised it was an infant just as the bonacuss attacked. They surrounded it to protect it – I… I’ve only just realised.’
Then a whole range of emotions swept over him; thankfully, the white rage had gone. It had been replaced by confusion and anger, mixed with relief. There was something else too that Wil couldn’t quite put his finger on. He wanted – no, needed – to protect that little dragon. Despite knowing that the Fellhounds would help, every sound, movement and smell around him felt like a threat; if anyone attempted to harm the baby dragon at that moment Wil knew he would kill them – no matter who it was.
Wil also knew that the Redback was close and low but she was not going to attack – not yet. She wanted her baby back. So why didn’t he just call the hounds away? Because at the moment the Redback understood that her baby was safe; she trusted the hounds. Tally was on her way back to Saran but Wil knew that they couldn’t just leave the little dragon. He’d seen the cruelty in Imelda’s eyes and he knew that if – when she came back, she would give the order to kill.
There was something else nagging at Wil – a dull ache; Phinn’s amber eyes were fixed on his master – an arrow was still sticking out of his shoulder. Wil could see that the Fellhound’s front leg was wet but in the darkness he hadn’t realised until now that it was wet with blood. Phinn swayed but held his position.
‘Is that dog alright?’ asked the dragon tooth girl.