The other Groblettes lay amongst the stones, some dozing some just staring out at the sea as if it was calling to them.
“Why do the serpents object so much to being called snakes?” asked Paul suddenly, and several of the Groblettes snorted loudly at his sudden remark. “When I was trying to anger them I called them snakes and it made them so angry they attacked almost straight away.”
“Both that and the thought of them being made into boots.” laughed Wahid.
“That too.” laughed Paul, “but I just don’t get it. They were really angry. They are snakes, after all!”
“Serpents.” smiled Ybarro, “Not snakes. Not like a snake in any respect at all.”
“Nonsense!” laughed Paul, “they looked exactly like snakes. Just bigger.” He paused for a moment, running his encounter with the reptiles through his mind, “Nothing different about them at all.”
He stopped for a moment, the Groblettes watching him in the darkness now lit by the moon overhead. There had been something, he thought, racking his brains, and then it came to him. “They did have four little bumps underneath their belly in pairs. One set at the front, the other the back.”
“Indeed.” smiled Flip, “and once they have developed then they would also have two more on the back, though much longer and higher. Paul stared at the cook trying to imagine why a snake - no, serpent, would have such bumps upon its body.
“Legs.” said Sparr finally, putting Paul out of his misery, the camp giving him a slow handclap as he looked even more confused than he had been before.
“Why on earth would a serpent need legs?” he laughed, “and why does it have legs on its back? Just doesn’t make sense! Are you all mocking me?”
The Groblettes laughed, but they shook their heads too,
“Not legs on their backs.” said Wavebrite, wings.”
“Wings?” laughed Paul incredulously, “a serpent with four legs and wings? What kind of serpent is that then?” Paul watched the Groblettes smiling at him and then he listened to his own question in his mind and then he remembered the inn and the creature with the blue triangle at its head.
“A flying serpent.” said Paul dreamily and the Groblettes began to nod.
“When they are on the brink of adulthood they grow out of their old form and reshape themselves. The legs are the first; the wings later. Once fully mature they can fly for sure, though some head to the sea instead. Serpent’s Run is the place they head for, and instead of wings they grow fins.” Wavebrite noticed Paul was looking completely confused now.
“Sea serpents.” said Wavebrite with a smile. Paul nodded, trying to take all of this in and make sense of it. “Nobody's quite sure why some take to the air and other the sea. It is just the way of it really.” Paul decided to press on regardless.
“So the snakes… sorry, serpents that we have just escaped from are adolescents?”
“Assuredly.” smiled Beezle, “no feet. No wings. Just young ‘uns really.”
“But they were massive!” laughed Paul.
“You want to see them when they are fully grown!” laughed Sparr, and Paul shivered, the night air blowing about the camp, tugging at his cloak.
The moon rose high in the star lit sky and Paul and the Groblettes found themselves dozing. Wrapping his cloak about him he drifted off to sleep, his dreams troubled and full of serpents.
Morning arrived and the camp made itself busy cooking the few creatures that Brith and Wahid had caught, whilst some of the meal was kept to one side for Ybarro and Sparr who had maintained the last watch and therefore were still sleeping.
“We should be there by tomorrow if we maintain a swift pace and do not tarry long for any reason.” said Flip as he was packing up his cooking utensils.
“Evening at the latest.” said Beezle, casting a wary look at Paul which Paul could not help but return. To his surprise the captain made his way across the camp and stood before him.
“I know this trip has been difficult for you.” said the captain, “and the Keel is hard to please and that’s no mistake. Yet during this journey you have proved yourself to be a friend to the Groblette-Ra time and time again. When the time comes for you to be brought before the Keel I will speak for you.”
“Thank you.” stammered Paul, genuinely touched.
“I am but a humble sea captain.” said Beezle and there were cries of disagreement from several of the other Groblettes, “but I will do what I can.”
“I too.” said Flip.
“And I!” shouted Brith and Wahid in unison, clapping each other on the back and laughing at the coincidence of their call. Wavebrite also held his hand up to indicate that he too was in agreement with this, and the remaining Groblettes all cried out, “aye!” in unison, even Ybarro and Sparr, who the previous calls had awoken.
“You do not even know what you are agreeing with!” shouted Paul, laughing.
“If it concerns yourself and my comrades are smiling then I am in agreement too!” laughed Ybarro and Sparr beside him nodded eagerly.
Paul felt a lump rise in his throat. He knew his past precluded him making friends easily, but these creatures had extended their friendship to him once he had got to know them. Were they really friends? Smiling, he thought that perhaps yes, they were.
The camp was hastily dismantled and packs were shouldered for another day on the road. The Groblettes had estimated that by the next day as evening fell they would be at the gates of Anchor Bay and the thought filled Paul with both anticipation and trepidation, for it was there that he would be brought before the Keel to account for his accidental sinking of the ship and destruction of the lighthouse. He knew it had been an accident but he could not help but feel culpable for his actions; yet it all seemed so far ago. Surely he had accounted for his errors ever since? He could not decide, and he did not know anything of the Keel, and yet he also had hope. If the leader of these Groblettes possessed as much common sense and courage as his friends gathered about him then he was sure he would fare well. He sighed, trying to put the thought from his mind, his right arm aching dully as he found his place in the line and once again they set off.
This time Beezle seemed to set a faster pace than yesterday, but they did not run. It was but a brisk march and as they travelled along the road the sea drew nearer. Low, sloping rock strewn fields ran down to the sea which was now clearly visible, a dark grey blue line on the horizon. Occasionally the smell of salt flew with the breeze, and the Groblettes sniffed greedily at it, eager to both return home and also to be back beside the sea once again.
On they went, marching into the morning as the sun rose slowly and lazily to the height of the sky, the day warm and bright, yet the breeze was a cooling and welcome one. As midday approached they pulled to the side of the road again and after a brief but successful hunt, Flip was making busy with a few fat hares and his cooking implements.
“Good progress we make this day.” said Wahid, sitting down before Paul, “it will be before evening we shall reach Anchor Bay tomorrow if we keep it up.”
“I think Beezle seems to know just the correct pace to set.” smiled Paul, “I guess that is why she is a captain after all.”
“Indeed.” smiled Wahid, “Indeed.”
After eating they set off again, the cooking fire extinguished and the cooking implements safely stowed. On they marched, mid-afternoon approaching and the day beginning to look as if it was about to cool when they stopped by the road for a brief rest. Paul thought it was not routine for them to do this, but he knew the Groblettes were drawing close to home now, and so probably felt safer than they had in a long time.
Paul wandered away from the group who were sitting on the path, rubbing aching muscles and shoulders, generally getting themselves ready to move off again. He stared back along the road the way they had come, and although the road was sloping gently down the forest was still visible indistinctly on the horizon. As he watched a small dot appeared in the sky above the forest, an eagle no doubt circling abov
e the trees or perhaps just flying over the woodlands. Paying it no heed he returned to the line that the Groblettes were re-forming by the path and made ready to leave again. Yet he looked once more over his shoulder where the dot was still flying over the forest. Just how big an eagle was it to be visible at this distance? he wondered, but they were off again and soon he forgot about it.
Yet the march over the next hour was disturbing, for he felt the urge to continually look over his shoulder as if they were being followed. His right arm began to throb even more than before but he was determined to ignore it and so he strode on, maintaining his pace.
An hour later he looked over his shoulder, wondering what was troubling him so, and as he did so he saw the dot high in the sky. It was much nearer and bigger now, yet still on he strode. They would be at Anchor Bay soon and then they would be safe.
By late afternoon the dot was much bigger and closer and he could not ignore it any more.
“Stop! Stop!” he cried to the Groblettes, and as they spun in alarm to see what the commotion was, Beezle stopped dead in his tracks, noticing for the first time the dot high above them in the sky.
“Dragon.” he whispered quietly, and all eyes turned to the sky above them.
The reaction from the other Groblettes was instant. Flip raced forward to stand beside Paul, as if by crossing the small distance between them somehow gave him a better view. Ybarro simply stood rooted to the spot, as did Wahid and Brith. Wavebrite however stood looking around him as if he was trying to find somewhere to hide, yet as his head spun around looking for cover his face at the same time bore the impression that he knew that the flat, rock studded fields would yield no hiding place at all.
Beezle merely stood rooted to the spot, her mouth hanging open as the dot that was at first high up and far away in the sky began to draw nearer and nearer.
“Dragon as in the serpent that appeared at the Last Oak Inn?” enquired Paul, and Flip shook his head beside him.
“Bigger.” he muttered, “much, much bigger. Only very few serpents grow large enough to be thought of as a dragon. It is not as commonplace as you might think.”
“Well the one outside the inn was soon sent packing when you broke the blue thing, whatever that was, on its head. Can’t we just do that again?”
“This serpent is not the same, Paul” said Wahid, drawing alongside him as well, “We have no time to elude it. The beast is nearly upon us.”
Paul frowned. It certainly did not seem to be the case.
“It is a long way away yet.” he said, “Can’t we try to outrun it?”
“No.” scowled Beezle, finally moving forward and examine the growing dot in the sky, “Every step we take brings us nearer to Anchor Bay. I would not bring such a creature down upon their heads.” Paul looked up at the sky. The dot was no longer a dot, but a small formless shape that was getting nearer by the second. “We stay where we are.” concluded the captain almost with an air of desperation.
Paul watched the captain stride back a few paces and stand by the roadside, as if she was waiting for the creature to arrive. Paul dragged his attention back to the sky. The shape was still indistinct - he could not make out any physical aspects of it at all - and yet it was without doubt a large shape flying through the air towards like an arrow in flight. He had problems reconciling the size of the object and its indistinct appearance. For a moment the congruity of the two things baffled him, but then he squinted at the aerial object and he concentrated hard.
First he saw wings, then as he tried to focus, a long straight tail and neck, the head also jutting from the body as if that of a serpent. It was as black as a starless night and as it drew nearer it began to lose height, and Paul began to realise why now several of the Groblettes were actually cowering in fear.
“It is huge.” gasped Paul, finally fixing an idea of the dimensions of the approaching beast in his mind.
“Nahuatl comes.” whispered Beezle and several of the Groblettes groaned aloud.
“Who?” asked Paul, spinning around to confront the Groblettes who seem to have all given up hope.
“The king of the serpents.” sighed Flip, and dropped to the floor, his head hanging low, “Neptune’s face has turned away from us.” sighed the cook, “the great beast Nahuatl has come, and we are all doomed.”
Paul looked at his friends in dismay. He had never expected them to give up so easily! Yet he turned to face the approaching dragon and at last he was able to understand, for now he could hear its approach too.
Across the stony fields there was a flapping sound as the giant creature’s leathery wings moved gracefully, propelling it forward at a speed that Paul found almost terrifying. Now he could see it clearly, a huge black beast, wings and tail moving against the slight breeze blowing in from the sea, its huge horned heads and yellow eyes glaring down as it drew nearer, its four legs drawn up against its body as it flew towards them. The mouth and snout of the creature drooled flame, huge fangs jutting from its flame riddled mouth. Involuntarily, Paul took a step backwards, nearly tripping over Flip who was cowering in fright as the dragon approached.
Then it was upon them. Paul gasped as he watched it descend, skimming above the ground, its wings hardly moving as it glided down over the fields, growing in size with every second until suddenly its four legs hit the ground and it skidded to a halt before the company, the grass and stones thrown away from its feet as deep furrows formed as it sought to bring itself to a stop before them, which it did slowly, and with elegance. The ground shook at its approach, and rocks and shale bounced upon the ground around them. With a deep roar the creature stopped and then looked about them all as if searching for something. Or someone.
Paul looked at the dragon as it stared at him, its deep yellow eyes almost seeming to stare right through him. Its mouth seemed to almost conceal a smile.
Paul estimated that the creature was at least one hundred feet long, and its height was about half of that. The head was saying slowly from side to side, and small flickers of flame rose from its mouth and nose almost involuntarily.
To his surprise Beezle moved forwards several steps and then kneeled before the creature.
“Mighty Nahuatl.” he said almost solemnly, “We welcome your presence here and stand honoured before you. Yet we are just humble sea faring folk and seek to discover that in your great and formidable wisdom you will allow us to proceed upon our way.” The creature looked at Beezle down the length of its nose, as if the captain was not worthy of speech with him. When the dragon answered its voice seemed to shake the ground beneath their feet, its deep resonance threatening to crack the earth beneath them to shards and shale.
“I see no ship.” it said, and Beezle looked up from where she was kneeling before the beast and saw that it again was looking almost amused.
“Our ship was lost to us.” said the captain, “and we were forced to journey through Black Root Forest to reach our home. Our ship is a great loss to us.”
“Almost as great a loss as a lighthouse, I would imagine.” smiled Nahuatl, and Beezle kept quiet at the dragon's knowledge of this.
The dragon looked around the kneeling Groblettes and cast an eye over Paul who still remained on his feet.
“So you have disrupted a nest of my kindred in the old forest.” Enquired the dragon and Beezle shook his head.
“It was but a misunderstanding, great king” said Beezle. She was about to continue but a deafening roar filled the air and Paul clapped his hands to his ears to attempt to stifle the sound. It was only as it was decreasing in volume into a few short roars that Paul realised that the dragon was laughing.
“A misunderstanding you say?” it chuckled, “They wanted to eat you and you did not want to be ate. I see no misunderstanding in that.”
“Begging your pardon, my lord” said Beezle, “But I did not want to bring disrepute upon your kin and sought to make light of the matter.”
“Indeed.” roared the dragon, apparently satisfied for now with
this explanation. Silence fell about the fields as the dragon looked each one of them up and down in turn, before finally resting its eyes upon Paul. The dragon had a real look to it; its bearing was aloof and yet also thorough.
“I see one here who does not bow before Nahuatl.” it said, a slight edge of anger in its voice. Beezle cast a warning look in consternation as Paul walked towards the dragon.
“I was merely wondering what you wanted.” Paul said, and for the first time the huge dragon looked genuinely confused.
“Wanted?” it enquired and Paul thought he saw its eyes widen a little. He had stepped forward more in instinct than anything. But now seeing the huge creature’s attention was firmly placed upon him he began to reconsider his foolhardiness.
“Well you must want something.” said Paul defiantly. Somewhere a little voice in his head was telling him to stop, but he could not quite seem to manage it.
“Must I, now?” said Nahuatl, its head lowering to stare at him. “Interesting. Light and shadow.”
“I would have thought that you would want something, yes.” smiled Paul, a smile that did not somehow reach anywhere other than his face, “Unless this is a social visit of course.”
The dragon raised its head again and turning away from the group roared a deep breath and immediately a white hot blade of flame erupted from the creature’s mouth, scouring the rocks around it and incinerating the earth. As abruptly as it had begun it ceased, and Paul watched as dark black smoke rose from the assailed ground, the rocks where it had struck melted into small glowing piles of ash and shale.
“I shall tolerate impudence only so far.” snarled the dragon, as Paul felt his knees begin to shake. He decided he had best play along and so slowly bowed before the great dragon, dropping quickly to one knee.
“Good.” said the dragon, its demeanour brightening somewhat. “I came in search of he who had been granted the Green man’s boon, though now I see that light and darkness have settled upon you in equal measure.”
Into the Light- Lost in Translation Page 23