First Aid for Fairies and Other Fabled Beasts (5 page)

In the light of the little ball ahead of her, she saw cracks into which she could fit her fingers to drag herself forward. Then the space widened a little and she could get up from her tummy and use her knees and elbows too. She edged round a slight bend, and saw a grey circle ahead. The way out! The air seemed slightly warmer too.

She called behind her, “I think I’m nearly there. Give me a couple of minutes, then follow me.”

She forced herself towards the exit, and the grey circle widened to reveal that the tunnel opened out just above the floor of a cave, which was dimly lit by a hole high in the ceiling.

At the other side of the cave, on a raised platform of rock, a lizard crouched on a nest of wire and bricks and pebbles.

As Helen got an idea of the size of the cave from some bats fluttering in at the hole in the roof, she realized that the cave was bigger than her school gym hall; the nest was made from metal swords,
gold crowns and jewels; and the lizard was the size of a small van.

This was the dragon. And the dragon was crying. Not delicate little sobs like Lavender, but great roaring howls.

The dragon was bright blue, with long silver claws, and a vast tail coiled round its whole length. Its eyes were closed, but its jaws, resting on its front legs, were open. It was breathing out ragged clouds of smoke as it wept. It had long curved white teeth and a forked tongue which vibrated with every gasping cry.

Helen couldn’t see any sign of Yann or Catesby. But she had to get out of the hole, so that Rona and Lavender could fit through.

There was no elegant or quick way out of the narrow tunnel, because she couldn’t get her feet out until she had lowered the rest of her body down to the ground. She tried to be quiet, but as she bumped onto the rocky floor of the cave, she dislodged some stones. That set off a flurry of bats from the ceiling, and the dragon lifted its head and roared.

Helen yelled, “I’m a friend of Yann’s!” as the dragon clattered off its metal pile and stumbled in her direction. It didn’t look very seriously injured; all four legs were working and so was its fire-breathing equipment.

It blasted jets of flame through the air towards the flying bats and the rolling pebbles, towards anything moving and making a noise. Helen scrambled behind a pile of rusty metal and hid there, hoping the dragon couldn’t see her.

She smelt smoke and heard the scrape of claws getting nearer. All of a sudden, Helen wished she hadn’t tried quite so hard to persuade her strange new friends to take her with them tonight.

“Frass! Frass!”

“Master, I am here.”

“Where are the young idiots now?”

“They have left the human house, and gone to the dragon’s lair. But the dragon is badly injured. They won’t be going anywhere else tonight. I have a family of weasels stationed at the cave entrance, and another at the human dwelling, so we can keep track of them all.”

“And you drove the dragonling off before she found the clue?”

“Oh no, she had the clue with her when she fled.”

“What! Why did you allow that to happen, you flea-bitten goat-legged failure?”

“We already know what the clue says, Master, and I thought that if the children of the fabled beasts had it too, then if they managed to work it out before we do, we could simply follow them to the Book.”

“You thought that a gang of half-grown half-witted half-beasts would work it out before
me?
I am the Master of the Maze, the Lord of the Labyrinth, the prince at the heart of the puzzle. Do you doubt that I can best them at a simple riddle?”

“No of course not, Master, of course not. But the clue is meant for them, sir, not us, and the Book may have designed it so that only they can work it out.”

“I see. And the human girl? Does she know anything valuable? Will they be going back to her abode? Is it worth keeping watch?”

“The weasels report that the fabled beasts have taken the girl with them to the cave. She is still helping them. Perhaps she now knows their secret?”

“A human child? Working with the centaurs and fairies and other fluffy beasts? That is not
auspicious
. Watch her. Watch her family. Find out who her friends are, and what is precious to her. But do not be seen. Use native creatures where you can. And bring me the copy of the clue again. Then give me peace and quiet to think.”

Helen crouched behind the rusty metal as the dragon scraped and grunted towards her. She had an ointment for burns in her first aid kit, but she didn’t think it would be enough to save her if this dragon hit her directly with a flame. Should she call out again and say she was a friend? But if the dragon couldn’t understand her, or was in too much pain to listen, then a shout would just give her position away.

Then she heard a clatter of stones, and saw Rona roll out of the hole in the wall a few feet away, pushing the green rucksack out in front of her. There was another roar and another jet of misdirected flame.

Rona yelled, “Oh cool down, Sapphire! It’s Rona and Lavender, and the healer’s child. We’ve come to help.”

Helen heard a crash and another grating sob. She peered cautiously round the pile of metal. The dragon had slumped on the floor of the cave just a couple of clawed footsteps away.

Lavender flew out of the hole and darted round the cave, leaving floating balls of light in a circle round their heads.

Now Helen could see that the dragon’s eyes were purple, puffy and oozing pus. She also saw that the tangled pile of metal she’d hidden behind was a heap of rusty armour. Perhaps the knights of long ago had indeed waded through that pool.

Rona was standing by the dragon, stroking her head and singing gently. Helen stepped nearer, feeling safer now that her friends were here, but the dragon raised its blind head and roared. Helen stumbled back again.

Rona explained, “She doesn’t like humans. She says that all humans ever want from dragons is their treasure. She won’t let you near her trove.”

Rona soothed the dragon with her hands and voice. “Sapphire, my friend, she is here to help. She healed Yann’s leg and she can heal you too.”

The dragon roared again and blew a small jet of smoke in Helen’s direction.

Lavender flew down, having flicked lights all round the cave.

“Oi!” she snapped. “We came all the way here to help you, Sapphire, and I know you’re scared and sore, but remember your manners, and let this
healer’s child have a look at you.”

The dragon roared once more. Sparks danced across the floor.

“I have a gift for Sapphire,” Helen said quietly. “I have some treasure to add to her trove.” She took a glittering string of beads from round her neck. It was a necklace she had made with Kirsty one rainy weekend, made of plastic pearls and rainbow-coloured teardrops, but it sparkled in the magical light.

“It’s beautiful,” said Lavender firmly. “And it will fit nicely on your front leg.”

It was threaded on strong elastic, so it did indeed stretch over the dragon’s claws, to fit round her front left leg.

The dragon stopped roaring. She grunted and whistled creakily. Rona knelt by her head to listen.

Then the selkie turned to Helen. “Sapphire thanks you for the gift, but she cannot see it, as she has been blinded by the Master’s creatures. Can you help her?”

“How was she blinded?” asked Helen, picking up her rucksack and trying to concentrate on the dragon’s eyes, rather than her teeth and hot breath.

“She was collecting the Book’s riddle from the walled garden, and someone knocked a tower of stones down onto her. Her scales protected her body, but chips of rock and slate got into her eyes. Catesby had to guide her home because her vision was blurred. Since he left, her eyes have got worse, and now she can’t see at all. She is very frightened.”

Helen opened the first aid kit, and pulled out the exotic animals book. She found lizards’ eyes in the index, and studied that page before noticing pictures of snakes’ eyes on the opposite page. She looked up at the dragon’s eyes, and frowned. Sapphire’s eyes looked more like snakes’ eyes than lizards’ eyes.

She then put the book down and spoke directly to the dragon.

“Do you shed your skin?”

Sapphire’s throat rumbled and she nodded.

“Do you shed the scales over your eyes?”

Sapphire nodded again.

“Hmmmmm.” Helen studied the snake pages again.

“Right,” she muttered. “If you had eyelids and tear ducts I could just wash the bits of grit out, but instead you have see-through scales that cover your eyes, and the grit is trapped underneath. If I don’t clear it out, it will stay there until the next time you shed your skin, and by then you might be blinded for ever.”

The dragon groaned.

Helen hunted in her bag and got out an eyedropper the length of her littlest finger. She looked up at the dragon, whose eyes were the size of bicycle wheels. Helen sighed and put the eyedropper back. She dug out the biggest syringe in the bag. Then she broke the seal on a bottle of sterile saline, filled the syringe, and walked right up to the dragon. “Stay still,” she said calmly.

Using a sterile swab to clear the pus and dust away, Helen could see gravel-sized bits of sharp,
grey rock in the dragon’s eyes. She gently eased the see-through scale away just enough to skoosh saline in and dislodge the stones.

She tried not to flinch at the gusts of hot breath on her legs, but at least they were drying her boots and jeans, and warming the rest of her up.

She finished the left eye, then moved round to the dragon’s right one. She used the last of the salty liquid to shift the very last bit of grit, then found a length of bandage to dry the dragon’s eyes.

She stepped back a little, and saw two huge,
red-rimmed
, silver eyes, now clear and shining,
looking
straight at her.

The dragon roared softly.

Rona explained, “Sapphire says thank you. She can see again, and she will forever be in your debt.”

“My pleasure,” said Helen, and she couldn’t help grinning as she tidied all her equipment back into the bag.

“What’s the book?” asked Lavender. “Is it your book?”

“No, it’s my Mum’s …”

Helen was interrupted by a familiar clip clop clip clop, and she turned to see Yann trot into the cave through an opening in the far corner. Then Catesby swooped in, frightening more bats into a flurry of leathery wings.

Catesby fluttered anxiously round the dragon, peering at her eyes. Slightly out of breath, Yann asked, “Sapphire! Are you alright? Catesby said you were going blind!”

Sapphire grunted a couple of low notes and Lavender chirped, “She healed her! The human girl healed her … with her book and her green bag!” But Yann didn’t even look at Helen, he just kept questioning the blue dragon. “Do you have the clue? Catesby says you managed to bring it with you.”

Sapphire roared in triumph and flapped her wings, sending Lavender’s balls of light crashing into each other.

Yann yelled, “Yes!” His boy hands punched the air, while his horse hooves pirouetted round the cave. “Let’s see it, you fabulous fire breather!”

Rona said, “Wait. Let us do everything in its proper order. First tell us if there are watchers outside the cave.”

“There were, but they were only weasels. Catesby picked a couple of them up in his talons and dropped them in a stream, then the rest were quite keen to leave. We waited until the wet weasels had slunk away and then we came in.”

“So the Master is using weasels?” Lavender flew down to the long bandage on Yann’s leg. “Might it have been a weasel that bit you, Yann?”

“A weasel?” He snorted. “Well, it was either a very big weasel, or a whole army of them.”

Lavender laughed lightly. “So you say. Perhaps it was just one wee baby weasel. Poor you.”

Helen said, “Whatever bit Yann, whether it was a weasel or a wolf, it was a vicious bite and it’s a bad wound. I will need to look at it again tonight.”

Rona tapped her bare foot on the floor and announced, “Now we must tell our healer the rest
of the story, then we’ll see if she can help with the clue. She is used to books and their ways. She gave Sapphire back her sight by looking at no more than three pages in her book of healing. She knows the words books use.”

“I just used the index,” Helen murmured. But she wanted to hear the rest of the story, so she didn’t protest too much. She was starting to hurt all over, from galloping, tunnelling and rolling about on hard rock. She needed to sit down.

In the glow of Lavender’s flickering light balls, she could see a rounder, less jaggy rock against the wall of the cave so she headed towards it. She started to scramble up it, and was surprised when her foot sank in. She jerked her foot out, and fell backwards.

Yann laughed loudly. “That’s not a stone, it’s a mound of bat droppings!”

Lavender waved some light balls nearer, and Helen saw the rounded rock was a pile of grey ooze, covered in creatures with too many legs, or none at all. She hadn’t smelt it earlier because of the smoke in her nostrils, but now she coughed, and moved away from the stinking heap. Yann was still laughing.

Helen suddenly felt completely alone. She was in a cold, damp, smelly cave, with unlikely beings who didn’t entirely trust her and whom she didn’t completely believe in. She hadn’t had her tea, she was wet, bruised and smelt of smoke, and now she had bat jobby on one foot. She didn’t really want to hear any more stories, she just wanted to go home.

Then the dragon, her chest rumbling softly, nudged a box towards Helen.

Lavender explained, “You can sit here, on this casket. Sapphire says she can trust you.”

Helen looked at Rona with her deep brown eyes, Lavender with her cheeky smile, and Sapphire, glowing a beautiful seaside blue now she wasn’t scared and sore. She might as well hear the next chapter of the story. She sat on the wooden casket with a padlock digging into her thigh, while the others settled down on shields or the rocky floor.

Yann had stopped laughing, and he stood straight and tall in front of Helen.

“You know so many of our secrets. So I will tell you some more.”