by Patricia Bow
“Like wearing oven mitts to hold a hot pan,” Ike finished. He made a sick face.
Simon thought of the way the two punks had looked, sprawled there dull-eyed, as if there was nobody home inside. What would happen to the third — Erwin — after he’d been under the dragon’s claw for a while?
“Dragons are like that,” Pier spoke up suddenly at Simon’s elbow. “With fire or teeth or eyes or speech, they will destroy if you let them near.”
“You seem awfully calm about this,” Simon growled. “Don’t you care about your precious Prism Blade?”
“Of course I do.” Her eyes flicked from face to face in the crowd, alert for danger.
“At least Ty’s trying to get it back,” Ike said.
“Let him try.” Pier turned away, but not before Simon saw a look of satisfaction flash across her face. He got it.
“Ike, you’re the fastest. Quick! Run and stop Ty and Ammy before they get to the library!”
For once, Ike didn’t ask questions. He just ran.
Simon looked at Pier. She scowled back at him. “Why?”
“The Prism didn’t go that way, did it? You can feel it. Zeph isn’t heading for the gate at all. That’s why you’re not worried yet.”
“We could have been rid of those two if not for you.”
“Pier, don’t you see? They could help!”
“No! Not the dragon.”
“But, Pier —”
“It’s a dragon!” she spat. “It means death to me and mine. To you too, maybe. Can’t you see? Has it got into your head?” She backed away.
“Pier, wait!”
But she was off again. Simon dashed after her. Three strides, and he ran smack against something and bounced off. Big hands grabbed him by the arms before he could fall, and held on. Pier slipped away through the crowd like a fox in a forest.
“Whoa!” Oscar said. “Cool it just a minute.” He held Simon out at arm’s length. “You knew something was going to happen back there, didn’t you? That was you climbing on the platform. How’d you know?”
“Excellent question,” said Mr. Manning, over his shoulder.
It took a good five minutes for Simon to explain, in a way they would believe, why he’d been underneath the platform just then, and what he saw there. He was looking for Pier, and he saw … these guys. He couldn’t explain why they spooked him. “There was just something about them, sitting under there. And, um, I think that grey guy was with them. I just got a bad feeling. I thought they must be planning something.”
Oscar studied him, and nodded slowly. Mr. Manning shook his head in despair. “It’s irreplaceable,” he said.
Pier watched the shadow float across the games field under an empty sky. She held her breath. The only people on the field now were the clean-up crew. She thought of calling out to warn them, but guessed they wouldn’t pay attention or believe, even if they did hear her.
From her hiding place in the chestnut tree next to the high school, she had already seen a cat and a couple of squirrels vanish as they scampered in panic across the grass. They were just gone, snapped up into thin air. Animals always knew when a dragon was near, but often that didn’t save them.
But the cleaners were safe, most likely. The beast probably wouldn’t grab a person, she thought. Even if it was that hungry, it wouldn’t want the fuss. It seemed to want to keep things quiet.
The first time she’d felt the dragon above she had raised her baffle spell, but then she realized it was not hunting her.
And then, when the Prism Blade had snuffed out like a candle in her mind — what a terrible moment that was! She thought, of course, that it was gone, that the dragon had taken it back through the gate in the air. But she soon knew that the dragon was still here, and so was the other dragon, and dragon-friend Amelia, too.
She knew then what must have happened. For reasons that were plain as day once you thought a little, the grey dragon was not able to use that gate they’d all come in by, the one that was now high in the air. Even though it could fly. So it was crisscrossing the town, up and down and back and forth, searching for another gate. And lunching.
Meantime, it had hidden the Prism behind an illusion, the same way it had hidden the three boys when they stole the trophy and carried it off. But no illusion could last forever, especially if you were working others at the same time. They all took energy.
She wondered how the beast stayed invisible as it flew. Was that another illusion, or a kind of shape-shifting, or a spell like her baffle spell? This dragon must be very strong.
Pier wished it would show itself. A visible dragon was bound to cause an uproar, even among these know-nothing people. Some might shoot at it, and they had stronger weapons than arbalests. They could explode the beast into a million pieces. Yes!
She thought of the terrible scenes she had watched in the picture boxes this morning. Humans fighting other humans — horrible! — and using machines to throw dragon fire at each other. Well, now for once they could use their weapons in the right way.
But only Simon seemed to want to do the right thing. He was just confused about what was right. Poor Simon.
She felt guilty at hiding from him. She’d seen him plodding across the town with Ike, looking, calling. Whenever he came near she put up her baffle and stayed quiet. He was kind, but if she found the Prism Blade and he knew it, he would try to make her share it with Amelia. He just didn’t understand.
But Simon was the least of her worries. The dragon had been skimming over the town for three hours now. At any moment it might find the gate in the meadow behind that house, and then it would go and get the boy and the Prism and soon after that it would be gone. She had to be alert for the moment when it took off the illusion and the Prism showed itself again. And then she would have to move like the wind.
“If he can do it, I can too!” Ty snarled at the sky, where they had just seen a pigeon disappear. A single, grey feather floated down past them and lighted on the grass at the base of Founders Tower.
Ty and Amelia were leaning out at the top of the tower. They had gone there to see if they could spot Zephrinarrinaden, because the stone tower on top of the hill in Founders Park was the highest point in Dunstone. The town lay below them, hazy and golden in the evening sunshine.
“Sure, you can do it,” Amelia said. “But, uh, isn’t Zeph a lot older? I mean, he’s had years and years to get good at flying and eating and being invisible all at the same time. And you’re like, how old?”
“Old enough!”
“Sure. Okay.” She never had been able to get Ty to tell her his age. Maybe his age in dragon years wouldn’t tell her much, anyway. But she was almost certain his age in human years would work out to about fifteen and a half. For some reason, his being not quite grown up was a sore point. It was like that with some human kids, too.
Ty’s plan was to fly back and forth over the town, “brushing it with soft fingers of the mind — so soft none will know,” until he found Pier. “I touched her mind once, so I will know if I touch it again.”
One thing was sure: Pier was tuned in to Wayland’s Prism. If anyone could find it, she could. So, Ty and Amelia would follow her, and when she found the Prism Blade, they would stop her from taking it back to Mythrin. Simple.
They still hadn’t agreed on what to do with the Prism once Amelia had it in her hands. It had to be hidden again, but where? “One thing at a time,” she said. “First, we find Pier.”
But it wouldn’t be a good idea for people in Dunstone to see a dragon flying overhead. It didn’t matter that no human being on this Earth had seen a real dragon in a thousand years. As soon as they saw Ty they would know exactly what he was. That was why Ty would have to be invisible when he flew, like Zeph.
“We wouldn’t be able to search in peace,” Amelia told him. What she was really afraid of was that somebody would get out a hunting rifle, but she didn’t tell Ty that. Any mention of danger, any hint that he should be careful, just made him m
ore reckless.
Like now. “If he can do it, then I can too!” he snapped. And before she could move a muscle to stop him, he set a hand on the chest-high balustrade and vaulted over, fifty feet above the stony ground, and dropped. She shrieked and sprang to the railing, then sagged with relief as he flashed into dragon form halfway down. He swooped up, grinning, wings spread wide.
“Show-off!”
His laughter crackled in her mind.
It was the first time she had seen Ty properly in his true shape. The glimpses by moonlight on Mythrin hadn’t told her much. Blue-green, shimmering, with the muscle and swiftness of a lion — but with four, five times the size and power.
Nothing human about him now. Yet even now she wasn’t afraid, not deep down.
Watch me! came his voice in her head. He circled out from the tower.
Amelia knotted her fingers together as his sea-green wings faded slowly to nothing against the hazy sky over Dunstone, then shaded back. Then winked out again. She let out her breath. He was doing it!
Then came an ear-ripping shriek, and Ty slammed into view. He wasn’t flying, he was falling. Spiralling down and down. The trees at the south side of the park gobbled him up.
“This is useless.” Ike dropped onto the concrete rim of the wading pool in front of the town hall. “She can make herself invisible, too. How are we ever going to find her?”
They had walked their feet off and not seen a sign of Pier or Erwin or the trophy. Their last sign of the big, grey dragon had come about twenty minutes ago, at half past six.
They were sure, at least, that Pier was still here. There was no way she could reach the gate to Mythrin, even if it still existed. The stained-glass window was gone, and the construction workers (no, they’d be destruction workers, wouldn’t they?) had half of the old library knocked down.
The town hall square was in shadow now. The fountain in the middle of the pool cooled the air a little. Ike was trickling with sweat, his filthy T-shirt sticking to his chest, hair standing up in damp, reddish tufts. Simon guessed he looked much the same, maybe worse, because his hair was thicker and made him hotter. He guessed he also smelled about as good as Ike — which, what with the games and the heat and the walking, wasn’t very good at all.
He wanted to go home and stand in a cool shower and drink cold milk and then flop. But he couldn’t quit, not yet.
The cold milk they could get at Bruce’s Coffee and Doughnuts. They got it and walked east on King Street, past the steel-and-glass façade of the new mall. Simon kept looking up at the sky. It made him nervous knowing there was a humongous dragon that he couldn’t see flying around up there.
There was almost nothing to give Zeph away. A burst of warm wind out of the still air, a whiff of sulphur, a shadow skimming over the pavement when there was no cloud overhead to cast a shadow. But once you knew there was a dragon around, you noticed the signs. And you got a prickly feeling between your shoulder blades.
Simon was getting that prickly feeling now. A woman came walking along the street towards them. A small dog with a curly white coat tugged ahead of her on a long leash. Suddenly it stopped, planted its feet, and started yapping at the sky.
Simon and Ike flattened themselves against the mall window. The dog barked and barked and barked, and then in mid-bark it was gone. Its leash flicked up into the air and vanished, too. The woman started screaming.
They were still there ten minutes later, trying to help her tell the police what happened to the dog, when another scream caught Simon’s ear. It was faint and came from a strange direction, high in the air. It was not a bird.
Pier heard the woman screaming two blocks away. She shrank into a shop doorway and closed her eyes. Screaming always frightened her. It dragged too many bad memories out from behind locked doors.
A light sprang to life behind her eyelids. She gasped. Not a light, really, so much as a green-gold-violet smudge, as if a butterfly’s wing had brushed the darkness. But it was there.
So, the dragon couldn’t keep the Prism Blade hidden completely. There was a rip in the illusion, or perhaps the Prism was working free of the spell. Maybe it is looking for me. Calling to me.
She closed her eyes tighter. She focussed. Which way?
CHAPTER 16
STRANGE FRIENDS
Amelia tracked Ty down in the woods south of Tower Road. She would never have found him without that sudden voice snapping in her mind while she hesitated on the dirt path. This way! And stop shouting. I am not deaf.
He was stretched out, all green-blue and gleaming, in a mess of crushed small trees and wild grapevines and, she thought, poison ivy. At first she thought he was all right. Then she saw the way he kept rubbing his right arm with his left hand.
“He got you!” She reached for his arm, but he leaned away.
“A small bite only. He has sharp teeth for such an old one.”
She squatted down beside him, on the side without the poison ivy. The gash on his arm was not bleeding, but it looked dark and swollen, and the scales at the edges were pulled askew. As she watched, the ragged edges of the wound closed under his stroking hand.
“Does it hurt?”
“No!” Ty flicked his head carelessly. “This is nothing. He could have snapped my wings in half or burned my eyes out. This was just a warning. He said ….”
But he wouldn’t repeat what Zeph had said. Amelia guessed it was something like “Stay out of my way, kid.” If Ty had been human he would have been scarlet with shame and fury. He kept clashing his teeth together and glaring up at the sky.
“I guess it’s no good asking you to promise not to try it again, eh?”
She’d heard of eyes blazing, but never seen it before now. I’ve gone too far. She stood up and took a step back.
Then, just as she was thinking of making a run for it, Ty sank back into a grumbling heap. “How could you know? You are only ardin.”
“Know what?” She settled herself cross-legged beside him, outwardly at ease.
“Why we of the Urdar almost never give our word. Doesn’t that come into your old tales?”
“I don’t know.” She tried to remember any dragon stories she’d ever read or seen. “Puff the Magic Dragon” didn’t seem much use here. “The Casseri say dragons are tricky. Like, they lie and don’t say what they mean.”
“No! We never lie. Never! That’s why ….” He rolled his spine in a giant shrug. “A dragon will do anything not to swear a promise. That is why we slip away between if and but. Because words have power for us. Words bind. If I give my word, it can never be broken. Never. It will bind me tighter than the strongest iron.”
“But … well … I mean, we have vows and things, too,” Amelia said. She felt shy and awkward, as if she was talking to somebody about their religion. Do dragons have religion? Don’t ask!
“But you can break a vow. We can’t. If I say to you, ‘I give my word not to hurt this ardin child, this Pier’ …,” he drew a huge breath and blew out a sulphury-smelling gust, “then I could never, never, never do any hurt to her, not even if she was about to kill the chief. Or destroy all my people.”
After a long silence he added, “I should not tell you this. I think it is secret.”
“I won’t tell a soul. I promise!”
“To you that means nothing.”
“That’s where you’re wrong!” she snapped. “Can’t you get it into your head —”
Twigs crackled. Ty leaped up. When Simon and Ike appeared at the edge of the clearing, he laughed a creaky dragon laugh and changed to human form. There was a shallow slash on the right sleeve of his leather jacket.
“We figured out where you might’ve come down,” Simon explained, still from a cautious distance. “We need to talk.”
“Why?” Amelia set hands on hips. “You’re on Pier’s side.”
“S’right. I’m on Mara’s side, too.”
“Me too,” Ike put in, from farther back.
“You can’t be on both si
des.”
“Yes, we can.” Simon looked from her to Ty. His eyes touched on the leather sleeve. “I don’t think any of us can do much about Zeph by ourselves. I think we’ve got to work together.”
“Right.” Ike glanced up at the sky. “Let’s lie low someplace and make a plan.”
Ty refused to lie low. “Like a worm,” he sneered. He insisted on being as close to the sky as possible.
“Okay, we’ll go up on the apartment roof,” Amelia said. “Besides, we might spot Pier from there.”
Celeste let them take sandwiches and juice up to the roof of the Hammer Block. She didn’t say anything about Ty, because he’d made himself scarce. She only said, with a casual glance at Simon as he stood at the kitchen table, buttering bread: “They found her clothes.”
“Um, what?”
“That homeless girl’s old clothes, in a plastic bag in a garage near the gorge. The police found them stuffed behind some paint cans. There was also an empty tube of neon-red hair gel.”
“Huh.” Simon buttered the edges of the bread with microscopic care. Ike grinned nervously. They both looked guilty as sin. Amelia put on an ultra-bored expression.
“So now they’ve got a better idea of what to look for,” Celeste added. “Anybody hears anything, you know the number to call.”
“Um, right,” Simon said miserably.
Ten minutes later, while Amelia, Ike, and Simon were sitting at the picnic table on the roof eating their sandwiches, Ty climbed over the balustrade.
That really made the boys jump! Amelia giggled. “Did you think he walked up the wall like a spider?”
No, he’d gone up the fire escape at the side of the building, away from the street. The last dozen feet to the roof were nothing to him. A leap and a scramble and there he was, straddling the balustrade. The rip in his sleeve was nearly healed now.
“This is the very worst place to be.” Simon pointed around the rooftop with his sandwich. “Zeph could just swoop down and grab us.”