The Lost Witch (18 page)

"Uh Carole, the high ground's smoking like a nasty cigar," Zack said.

"Not to the peak," she sighed.

"What if dragons live in the woods?" Martin said.

"I doubt there's enough room," Carole said.

"Something else might. Some saber-toothed tiger thing or who knows what."

"Hope you can climb trees," Zack scoffed.

"Martin's right, Zack," Lilly said. "We hadn't a clue about dragons or those
reptiles."

"We'll just have to keep our eyes peeled," Carole said, "because we can't stay here.
There's no drinking water. And by nightfall those swamp creatures are sure to come calling, if
they even wait that long."

"Reet, reeet?"

"Take a closer look at the ground." She pointed at the patterns crisscrossing the
beach.

"Tracks." Zack whistled. "Tons of 'em."

"I bet the reptiles come out at night, which probably means they're safe from the dragons
then, but--"

"We're not safe from them," Lilly said.

"We can't just walk out in the open with monsters flying about," Martin said.

Carole pointed to a gap in the rock face on the far side of the beach. "Looks like a ravine
of some sort."

"There's a lot of open sand between here and there," Martin said.

"I'll check it out. If I'm spotted I can always gli... I mean Glistlefern said my dress could
help protect me."

"Only if it's fire proof," Martin said.

"It's not like we've much choice." Carole rounded on Martin with both fists clenched.
"We're sitting ducks if we hang around much longer, so unless you've got a better plan? "

"Sorry, sorry, you're right!" Martin retreated.

The sky was still empty, so pulling on her hood, Carole slipped outside.

"Ever cool, Carole," Zack said. "Your dress was purple a minute ago, now it's rock
gray."

"There's no way a dragon will spot her, now," she heard Lilly say.

Martin's voice was very low, and a little quavery. "She's not the one I'm worried
about."

Carole followed an overhang to the open stretch of sand, where she stopped and looked
skyward again. A dragon was circling high overhead. She froze.

A second creature crossed the sky to join the first and the two began what looked like a
spiraling dance. She waited until both dragons had drifted into the smog cloud, before bolting
across the clearing and ducking into the gully.

The gully was a lot wider than it had seemed from the cave, but it did lead away from
the beach. A small stream ran along one side. It was little more than a trickle now, but from the
polished appearance of the rock, a good portion of the gully had been carved out by water. That
likely meant the passage continued uphill a fair distance, possibly even as far as the forest.

She stuck her finger into the water and tasted. A little sulfury, but otherwise fresh.
Keeping a close eye on the sky, she motioned for the others to join her.

Zack led, followed by Lilly and then Martin, whom Runt seemed to be head-butting in a
coaxing sort of way. They shuffled single file, hugging the rock face and sneaking frequent
glances skyward. They'd come halfway when Carole sighted another dragon. She held her
breath, but this one flew directly into the smog ringing the mountaintop.

She was still staring at the clouds when a flicker caught her eye. Something else was up
there, a darker smudge against the dirty orange. She stared until she saw the flicker again. Wings
near the rock face.

Just then the dragon plummeted, like a shadow hurtling down the mountainside.

Carole flapped her arms in warning, but Zack, the only one who could see her, was
staring at the swamp. She reached into her rucksack and grabbed an oatcake. Taking aim, she
fired it across the clearing.

It smacked solidly against Zack's shin.

He jumped back, bumping into Lilly, who fell against Martin. All three tumbled to the
ground, leaving Runt able to see Carole who was waving and pointing.

Runt squealed a sharp warning. Lilly, Zack and Martin stopped threshing about and
looked towards Carole. All three were white-faced.

Carole pressed against the gully wall. If the rapidly descending dragon flew straight
past, odds were it wouldn't notice the tumble of bodies against the base of the cliff.

The behemoth soared silently overhead. It didn't look down.

Carole waited until it had traveled well beyond the swamp before even daring to breath.
She was about to motion the others to come ahead, when the dragon somersaulted and dropped
from sight.

Where'd it go?
She craned her neck, trying to see through the lacy fern canopy.
How could something so big just disappear?
The sky was empty.

Suddenly the swamp erupted. A massive reptile lunged ashore and charged up the
beach.

"Run for it!" she screamed.

With Martin in the lead, the four sprinted towards the gully.

The reptile bellowed and gave chase.

A deafening roar split the air. Spinning about in a shower of sand, the reptile raced back
to the swamp. It splashed into the water at the same time as her companions dove into the
gully.

Before the reptile could plunge beneath the surface, it was engulfed by a gigantic
fireball.

This time Carole saw it all.

The dragon must have circled the swamp to come up from behind. Although it wasn't as
large as the one they'd seen earlier, it was still gigantic. Its two-toned body was luminescent
orange underneath and dark purple on top. It had two stubby, powerful rear legs, two long and
dangerous looking forelegs, and two pair of shimmering wings. Its head, neck and tail were
broad and flat, and its three glowing eyes sparkled with a cold iridescence.

A strange thrill coursed through Carole's body as the dragon pounced upon its
still-twitching prey, hooking the roasted reptile with its front claws. Its neck weaving like a gigantic
serpent's, it roared again and sprang easily into the air.

The dragon's body flattened out as it became airborne. Carole was astonished to see that
it could glide with its body as well as fly with its wings. Carrying the reptile's limp carcass, it
flew towards the smoldering, upper slopes of the mountain.

Hearing sounds behind her, Carole turned to see four heads emerge from the first bend
in the gully. "You can come out, they're gone."

"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" Martin mopped his face with his
sweat-soaked shirt. "Did you see the size of that thing?"

"Which thing?" Zack was swatting at the swarm of bugs circling his head. "They were
both huge and they both had huge teeth. I take back what I said about seeing dragons. The sooner
we get out of this place the better."

"Reeeet!"

"This gully looks like our best bet," Carole said. "Keep close to the walls, just in
case."

"And keep quiet, too," Martin said as he glanced skyward. "Keep very quiet."

The ravine was steep, the air hot, the insects vicious, but no one complained. Not
because they didn't feel like it, but because they were to miserable to talk. Martin had given up
whining, finding it wasn't worth gagging on the foul-tasting bugs.

He was the last to squeeze through a particularly narrow passageway when something
burnt him on the leg. He began jumping around, yelling, "Ow, ow, my leg, my leg!" Still
hopping, he fished into his pocket and pulled out a blackened object, covered with steaming
cracks. Before he could drop the thing, it exploded in a puff of smoke.

Out of the smoke appeared a tiny golden dragon, the size of a kitten; twin spirals of
steam curling from its snout. It stared into Martin's eyes, before coughing out a short flame and
springing into the air. After flitting around them, it hovered a moment longer, and then settled
lightly onto Martin's shoulder.

"Oh, isn't that cute. He thinks you're his mother," Lilly stroked the creature's back.

The dragon's eyes sparkled.

"Cute? The beast nearly burnt off my leg. What if it decides to take a chunk out of my
nose?"

"Oh, come on." Lilly giggled. "He's just a baby."

"Where'd it come from?" Carole said, her arms crossed.

"An egg."

"What egg?"

"Uh...a golden one."

"From back in the cave? The orb I told you to get rid of?"

"Well I--" A particularly large bug flew past Martin's face. Quick as a flash the dragon
flamed the insect and snapped up the blackened morsel before it could hit the ground.

"Guess we don't have to worry about feeding it, anyway," Zack said quickly. "As far as
I'm concerned, the little flamer can have all the bugs he wants."

"Little Flamer! That's what we'll call him," Lilly said.

Little Flamer seemed content to perch on Martin's shoulder and wait for lunch to come
to him. When they ran into a particularly thick swarm of insects, the tiny dragon circled the bugs,
herding them into an ever tighter knot before flaming and devouring the whole lot.

The next time Little Flamer landed on Martin's shoulder, he groaned, "Ugh, I think he
just gained five pounds."

"And you're complaining?" Zack shook his head. "This is the first time in hours we
haven't been bitten raw."

"Easy for you to say, but I'm the one carrying him and my pack was already heavy
enough."

"Oh, stop your bellyaching. You're the one who pocketed the egg in the first place."

As the gully snaked up the mountain, they encountered fissures spewing out jets of
scalding steam and clouds of vile smelling gas. Getting past was thoroughly unpleasant for all
except the dragon. At one point Little Flamer even took a bath in a hot and pungent pool.

"I bet he doesn't mind the stuff 'cause that's what his insides are like," Martin said, as the
dragon shook itself dry and flew off, dipping and swooping about their heads as graceful as a
swallow.

Finally, after hours of tortuous climbing, they reached a dead end. The ravine had been
plugged by a wall of glassy rock, down the front of which trickled a ribbon of water.

"Looks easy enough." Zack ran his hand along the pitted surface. "Who wants to be the
first up?"

"I suppose I should," Carole said, when no one else volunteered, "since I've the
advantage of camouflage. In the meantime, dig out some food. I'm starving."

She wormed out of her rucksack, stuffed an oat cake into her mouth, pulled on her hood
and began a slow ascent. Her dress immediately darkened to match the black of the wall. When
she reached the brim, she eased herself high enough to peer overtop, but moved no further. What
she saw caused her stomach to drop.

"What's the news?" Zack said, when she was again at the bottom.

She studied the black wall. "This rock face is a dam holding back a small lake. The
forest is just beyond the water."

"So why the frown?" Martin said.

"Because there's a bunch of dragons out there. Sleeping on the ground between the water
and the woods."

Zack glanced quickly overhead. "How many?"

"Five. They're not totally huge, but still..."

"We've no choice then," Lilly said, shrugging. "We'll just have to wait until they
leave."

Carole chewed on her bottom lip. "Except, I think there's a vortex nearby." She looked
at Runt who nodded.

"Close to the dragons?" Zack said.

"No, I think it's in the forest. Maybe even a little beyond."

"So what do we do now?" Martin said.

"Eat," Zack suggested.

"We might as well." Carole sat down and grabbed some food. "We can't go anywhere
until that pack of monsters take off."

A trumpeting roar jolted her back to her feet, before she had even taken a bite.

Thankfully the heavens remained empty.

A second roar shattered the quiet. Little Flamer shot from his rock perch, chittering
excitedly. Carole scrambled back up the wall to see what was happening.

"It's another dragon, bigger than the others," she called down. "I think he caught one of
those reptiles."

"Showoff," Martin grumbled. "Can't they leave a guy to rest in peace?"

The dragon bellowed again, and this time there was a faint answering echo. The
exchange continued, with the answers sounding louder each time.

"What's happening now?" Lilly said.

"Another dragon's circling towards that loudmouth. And the rest of 'em are all riled up.
Maybe it's some sort of challenge."

Lilly and Zack scaled the wall in time to see the newest arrival drop to the ground. It
was large and scarred and snapped its long tail like a bullwhip.

"He's the biggest one yet," Lilly gasped.

"Those two are definitely going to fight," Carole said, gripping the stone so tightly that
her fingertips blanched white. "And I betcha we could make it past the rest while they're
enjoying the show."

Zack's face paled at the suggestion. "Sneak past seven dragons?"

"We can use that jumble of rocks along the shoreline for cover, and hop between
boulders the rest of the way."

"What about the vortex," Lilly said. "Is it still there?"

"Oh yeah, it's there." Carole was now feeling the pull of the tunnel like an incessant
tapping on her forehead.

"I guess there's no harm in getting ready."

They dropped into the gully.

"Are you out of your minds?" Martin said, when told.

"You prefer sitting here being devoured by bugs?" Zack picked up his pack and wiggled
into it.

"Better bugs than dragons!"

"We only move when they fight." Carole hefted Runt onto Zack's shoulders and started
back up the wall. "Of course you're always welcome to stay behind."

After following the others up the wall, Martin gaped at the scene before him. "We're
supposed to sneak past those monsters?"

"That's the plan," Carole said.

"This is insanity. You're all crazy!"

Carole shrugged, "If we want to get to the vortex before it shuts down, we have no
choice."

"It's still crazy."