Dragon Rider
“She will,” said Rat, chuckling as she jumped off the rock into the damp grass. “Brownies are never happy without something to complain about. Well, now let’s go and see the old dragon. If you’re going to start tonight there’s no time to waste. Certainly not enough time to finish your quarrel with this dim-witted mushroom-muncher.”
3. Advice and Warnings
Slatebeard was lying at the mouth of his cave listening to the rain when they arrived. “You haven’t changed your mind?” he asked when Firedrake lay down beside him on the rocky ground.
The young dragon shook his head. “But I won’t be alone. Sorrel’s coming with me.”
“Well, well!” The old dragon looked at Sorrel. “Good. She may come in useful. She knows human beings, she has a quick mind, and brownies are more suspicious by nature than dragons. Which won’t be any bad thing on this journey of yours. Her big appetite could be a problem, but no doubt she’ll soon get used to eating less.”
Sorrel looked anxiously down at her stomach.
“Listen, then,” Slatebeard began again. “I don’t really remember very much. These days, the pictures get more and more muddled in my mind, but I do know this: You must fly to the highest mountain range in the whole world. It lies far away in the East. And when you get there, you must find the Rim of Heaven. Look for a chain of snow-covered peaks encircling a valley like a ring of stone. As for the blue flowers growing in the valley,” he added, closing his eyes, “their fragrance hangs so heavy in the cold night air that you can taste it.” He sighed. “Ah, my memories are faded now, as if they were lost in the mist. But it’s a wonderful place.” His head sank to his paws, he closed his eyes, and his breath came more slowly. “There was something else,” he murmured. “About the Eye of the Moon. But I don’t remember what.”
“The Eye of the Moon?” Sorrel leaned toward him. “What’s that?”
But Slatebeard only shook his head sleepily. “I don’t remember,” he murmured. “But … beware,” he said, his voice so soft that they could hardly hear it, “beware of the Golden One.” Then a snore emerged from his muzzle.
Firedrake straightened up, looking thoughtful.
“What did he mean by that?” asked Sorrel anxiously. “Come on, we’d better wake him up again and ask him.”
But Firedrake shook his head. “Let him sleep. I don’t think he can tell us any more than he’s told us already.”
They left the cave quietly, and when Firedrake looked up at the sky the moon was visible for the first time that night.
“Oh, good,” said Sorrel, holding her paw up in the air. “At least it’s stopped raining.” Suddenly she clapped herself on the forehead. “Oh, fearsome fungi!” She swiftly slipped off Firedrake’s back. “I must pack some provisions. How do we know there won’t be mushroom shortages where we’re going? Back in a moment. And don’t you dare,” she added menacingly, wagging a furry finger in Firedrake’s face, “don’t you dare even think of starting without me.”
With that she disappeared into the dark.
“Now listen, Firedrake,” said the rat anxiously, “you really don’t know much about what you’re looking for. You’re not used to navigating by the stars, and Sorrel’s mind is usually so full of mushrooms that she could get north and south mixed up and confuse the moon with the evening star. No, it won’t do.” Rat stroked her whiskers and looked at the dragon. “You need help, believe you me! As it happens, a cousin of mine makes maps. Very special maps. He may not know exactly where the Rim of Heaven is, but he can certainly tell you where to find the highest mountain range in the world. Stop off and see him on the way. I have to admit visiting him isn’t entirely without its risks,” said the rat, wrinkling her brow, “because he lives in a big city. But I think you ought to chance it. If you set off soon you can be there in two nights’ time.”
“City?” The indistinct figure of Sorrel emerged from the mist.
“For goodness’ sake, must you scare me to death?” asked Rat. “Yes, that’s right. My cousin lives in a human city. When you’ve left the sea behind you, keep flying eastward inland, and you can’t miss it. It’s huge, a hundred times larger than this valley, and full of bridges and tall buildings. My cousin lives in an old warehouse on the river.”
“Does he look like you?” asked Sorrel, stuffing a few leaves into her mouth. She was carrying a bulging backpack, which she had brought back from one of her excursions into the world of human beings. “Yes, of course he does, you rats all look the same. Gray, gray, and gray again.”
“Gray is a very practical color!” spat the rat. “Unlike your silly spots. As it happens, however, my cousin is white. Snow-white. He wishes he wasn’t.”
“Do stop squabbling,” said Firedrake, looking up at the sky. The moon was now almost at its height, and if they were to set out that night it was time to leave. “Climb aboard, Sorrel,” he said. “Shall we take Rat, too, to give you someone to quarrel with?”
“No thanks!” Rat took a couple of small steps backward in alarm. “There’s no call for that kind of thing. I’m perfectly happy to know the world at secondhand. It’s a lot safer.”
“I never quarrel with anyone, anyway,” Sorrel mumbled with her mouth full as she clambered up onto the dragon’s back. “Pointy-nosed persons are oversensitive.”
Firedrake spread his wings, and Sorrel hastily clutched one of the large spines on his crest.
“Look after yourself, Rat,” said the dragon, bending his neck to nuzzle the little animal affectionately. “It’s going to be some while before I’ll be back to keep you safe from wild cats.” Then he stepped back, took off from the damp ground, and rose into the air, beating his wings powerfully.
“Oh, no!” groaned Sorrel, clinging on so tight that her furry fingers hurt.
Firedrake rose higher and higher into the dark sky, and a cold wind whistled around the brownie girl’s pointed ears.
“I’ll never get used to this,” she muttered. “Not unless I start growing feathers.” She peered down cautiously at the valley below. “None of them,” she grumbled, “not a single one has so much as put his neck out of his cave to say good-bye. They probably won’t come out until they’re up to their chins in water. Hey, Firedrake!” she called to the dragon. “I know a nice little spot over there beyond those hills. Why don’t we stick around here instead?”
But Firedrake did not reply.
And the black hills rose between him and the valley where he had been born.
4. A Big City and a Small Human Being
“Oh, pestiferous parasols!” grumbled Sorrel. “If we don’t find somewhere pretty quick they’ll catch us and put us in the zoo.”
“What’s a zoo?” asked Firedrake, raising his muzzle from the water. He had landed an hour ago in the big city, in the darkest part of it they could find, far from the streets that were full of noise and light, even now when night had fallen. Ever since, he had been swimming from one dirty canal to the next looking for a place to hide during the day. But hard as Sorrel strained her catlike eyes and raised her sensitive nose to the wind, they couldn’t find anywhere that was large enough for a dragon and didn’t smell of human beings. Everything smelled of humans here, even the dark water and the garbage adrift in it.