by Ed Clarke
Then Gweeb disappeared round a headland off to their left. They waited, but he didn’t reappear, so Mari and Griff gave chase, Dylan panting behind them.
The tide was coming in, and when they got to the headland they had to wade through water half a metre deep to see round the jutting cliff. It wouldn’t be long before the shallow cove they were entering was cut off entirely. It was a narrow strip of shingle, pressed up against a sheer cliff that must have been thirty metres high. There was no sign of Gweeb, but in the middle of that cliff, about a hundred metres away, they could see a large, dark cave, partially hidden by a fresh rockfall.
‘He must have gone in there,’ said Mari, pointing to the forbidding hollow.
‘We can’t follow him,’ Dylan said. ‘The rocks look unstable, and the tide could trap us in there.’
‘Then it could trap him too,’ Mari told him. ‘We have to go after him.’
‘He can fly out when he sees the water coming in,’ replied Dylan. ‘We can’t.’
‘You don’t have to come,’ said Mari. ‘I‘ve got a proper scientist to help me now.’
Dylan stood firm. ‘Tell me one thing: are you going in there to save a friend or retrieve a specimen?’
Mari glared back at him until Griff broke the tension.
‘Let’s just get it back, shall we?’
‘Yes,’ replied Mari. ‘Let’s.’
As Mari and Griff started towards the cave, Dylan let out a growl of frustration and followed, nervously eyeing the onrushing sea.
‘Have you got your phone?’ Mari asked Griff as they reached the mouth of the cave, picking their way over the loose rocks.
Griff looked confused for a second, then realized what she meant. He flipped on his phone’s torch and illuminated the chasm. The cave wasn’t terribly wide, or all that tall – probably three times Mari’s height – but it was very deep. Staring into the darkness, even Mari started to have second thoughts about going any further, but she swallowed her fears and pushed on, with the others in hot pursuit.
By the light of the shaking phone, Mari could finally see where Gweeb had got to. He was flapping around at the back of the cave, scrabbling against one of the stony walls. She tried to reach out and catch him, but he was too quick and too slippery.
‘Gweeb,’ she urged. ‘Come here.’
Mari could hear the waves crashing behind them. She didn’t need to look to know that the sea was almost at the mouth of the cave. Another few moments and they would be cut off.
‘We’re trying to get you out of here,’ she pleaded.
But Gweeb didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving.
‘He won’t come to me, Dylan,’ said Mari. ‘I don’t think he trusts me.’
‘Stop trying to catch him, and let him come to you,’ he said.
‘We don’t have time for that!’ cried Mari. ‘I’m just no good with animals. You do it.’
‘No, Mari,’ said Dylan. ‘He’s your dragon. He will come to you.’
Mari swallowed her exasperation and, against her instincts, stood still. Gweeb stopped flapping and perched on a nook in the rock, looking down at her.
‘I don’t have any worms, and I know I’m no good at this,’ Mari said. ‘But I’m asking you to come back to me. Please.’
Gweeb eyed her warily. Then, after what seemed like an age, he hopped off the rock, flapped lazily on to her palm and curled his tail around her finger.
Mari let out a breath that turned into a delighted laugh. ‘Welcome back.’
‘Oh my God,’ exclaimed Griff. ‘It’s beautiful.’
In the light from the phone, Gweeb’s crest shone as if it were a prism. Almost as if he knew he was on display, he stretched out his wings before tucking them contentedly back against his body.
Griff’s eyes were on stalks. ‘It really is …’ He couldn’t quite bring himself to say it. ‘I mean, it just shouldn’t be, but it absolutely is …’
‘A dragon?’ said Dylan.
‘A dragon,’ Griff finally confirmed.
Mari smiled again, this time with the pride of knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had discovered something truly amazing. And that one of the people she most respected knew it.
‘Can I hold him?’ asked Griff.
‘Come on, guys, let’s do the dragon-handling later – we need to go now,’ said Dylan, glancing anxiously behind him.
But Mari wasn’t going to miss out on her moment of glory. She turned and extended her hand towards Griff, who reached forward with his and watched, captivated, as Gweeb made a twisting little journey from her finger to his. Griff brought the dragon up close to his face, his other hand holding his phone to illuminate the scene. His eyes grew wide with joy as he looked from Gweeb to Mari.
‘This is going to change everything,’ he breathed.
Mari felt all the bad feeling just melt away. Griff was right: whatever had gone before – with Dylan, with her mum – it was in the past now. Her life was finally going to change for the better.
Meanwhile Griff was performing a rather close inspection of Gweeb’s underside. ‘I should tell you though,’ he said, ‘that I suspect Gweeb isn’t a boy dragon. From what I know of the biology of the closest reptilian cousins, he looks more likely to be a she.’
Mari raised one eyebrow in Dylan’s direction, and he shrugged back with a slightly sheepish smile.
‘You’ve done brilliantly with her, Mari,’ Griff said. ‘But this is too important to keep to ourselves. It’s time to tell the world about Gweeb.’
‘Yeah, well, we won’t be able to tell anybody if we drown in here!’ said Dylan.
Mari and Griff turned to see the water lapping inside the cave. They were seconds away from being cut off by the tide.
‘Let me just get a picture of her,’ said Griff, holding up his phone.
But there wasn’t time for that: before anyone had a chance to say another word, there was an almighty rumble above their heads – not from the sky, but from the earth.
With an apocalyptic crash, the entire mouth of the cave collapsed and everything went black.
The first thing to return was the sound of the waves, as far away as someone else’s dream. Then a lightning crack and the rumble of thunder getting closer. One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand. And then, finally, the driving rain against the rocks. But, as Mari slowly opened her eyes, there was still no light to see by.
She could feel cold, wet stone beneath her cheek and knew that she must be lying down, knocked there by the rockfall. She stretched her arms and legs fearfully, to be sure that her body was working properly, and was relieved to find that it was. She lifted her head and levered herself into a sitting position.
A flash of light suddenly illuminated the space from what seemed like a pinprick high up above her head. Although she was dazed, Mari could still work out what must have happened. The mouth of the cave had been covered by a huge rockfall, and only a tiny hole was left at the top of the slide. Not even big enough for a child to crawl through.
‘Dylan! Dr Griff!’ she shouted above the sound of the waves. ‘Gweeb!’
Another lightning flash enabled her to see what was happening. Dylan and Dr Griff were both flat out on the floor of the cave, and Gweeb was licking Dylan’s ear, in what seemed to be an effort to wake him up. Mari crawled over and shook him gently. Dylan moaned, and flipped over on to his back. He looked up at Mari as the lightning hit again.
‘What … happened?’ he murmured.
Mari smiled, glad to find that he was OK. ‘Stray chips,’ she said. ‘Big ones.’
‘Urghhhh … Ow!’ came a voice from the other side of the cave.
‘Dr Griff? Are you OK?’ called Mari.
‘Can’t … move … my … leg,’ came the pained response.
As they scrambled over to Griff, Mari slipped on something smooth and fumbled around in the dark for it. Griff’s phone. Mari could feel where the screen had cracked, but it was intact. She prayed that it
still worked. She found the phone’s torch function and flicked it on to reveal Griff’s leg: it was trapped at an awkward angle beneath a large rock. Dylan leaned forward to grab it, but Mari pulled him back, remembering the incident with the calf. She wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.
‘It might be broken,’ she said. ‘We have to be careful not to move him. Help me lift the rock.’
Mari put the phone down with the torch facing upwards so there was enough light in the cave to see by. Then, together, they very carefully raised the rock off Griff’s leg.
Griff blew through gritted teeth in pain. ‘Call an ambulance,’ he said tightly.
‘There’s no phone reception down here,’ said Mari.
‘Then how are we going to get out?’ Griff snapped irritably.
Mari had been so concerned about everyone being OK that the realization that they were trapped was only just sinking in.
‘Er, guys,’ said Dylan, pointing. ‘Is that water coming in?’
Sure enough, seawater was seeping into the cave through the rockfall. Mari knew what that meant. It meant the tide was still rising and the rockfall wasn’t watertight. They had less than an hour before high tide, when the cave would be entirely reclaimed by the sea.
Mari desperately tried to think of a solution as Gweeb flapped at her ear, just as agitated by the situation as she was. She tried to brush him – her – away so she could concentrate.
First she had to check if there really was no way out. Mari climbed up the loose rocks towards the little chink of the outside world that was still visible. Small stones broke and rolled beneath her feet as she scrambled to the top.
‘Watch out!’ cried Dylan as some of the debris landed centimetres away from him.
Shrugging an apology, Mari peered out through the small gap that had been left by the collapse. She could see the storm still raging outside, a sky-scraping piece of forked lightning hitting the water in the distance. She tried to pull at the rocks around the hole to make it bigger, but they were large and heavy.
‘Help me, Dylan,’ said Mari, knowing that Griff wasn’t going to be of any use.
Dylan clambered up the slope to join her, and together they grabbed hold of one of the limestone blocks and managed to heave it out of the way. Others followed, one by one.
‘OK, that’s enough,’ said Mari after a few moments. ‘I think I can fit.’
Pushing her arms ahead of her, she wriggled forwards until the top half of her body was through to the outside. And then Mari realized the full extent of their predicament.
All she could see was the sea. The tide was rising by the second, waves already crashing right up against the rockfall. There was no beach anywhere to be seen, and no way to escape. Even if they could get out of the cave, it would be very dangerous to try and swim back to the shore – the currents were too strong and the sea too angry. They would be smashed back on to the rocks. The only possible way out was by boat, but no one was crazy enough to be out on the sea in this storm. No one would be looking for Mari and Dylan, because no one knew where they were, and there was no way of getting a message to them. Unless …
Of course! That was the answer.
‘Pull me back in!’ Mari shouted to Dylan.
She felt the tug on her ankles and let herself be hauled back into the cave.
‘There’s no way out,’ she said breathlessly. ‘The tide’s already too high. But … do you still have your school bag with you?’
‘Yes, but –’
‘I need a piece of paper and a pen.’
‘What for?’ asked Dylan.
‘Just hurry!’
He scrabbled in his bag and found what Mari was looking for. Mari quickly tore at the page until she had a piece of paper that was no more than five centimetres square. Then, very carefully, she scribbled something on it. When she’d finished, she pulled a hair tie from her ponytail and held out her hand.
‘Here, Gweeb,’ she said. The dragon swept down from her perch on the cave wall and landed on her finger. Mari rolled the piece of paper around her tail, fixing it tight with the elastic hair tie. Then she brought the dragon up to her face and looked her in the eye.
‘Take this to Mum, Gweeb. On the farm. Where the cows are.’
‘What are you doing?’ said Griff incredulously. ‘That’s a wild creature, not a homing pigeon.’
‘As a scientist, I would have said the same thing,’ said Mari. ‘But now I know what an extraordinary animal Gweeb is. Dylan helped me to see that.’ She smiled at her friend. ‘I think she knows we need help.’
‘Once it’s out of this cave, you’ll never see it again,’ Griff snapped. ‘At least let me take a photo first.’
‘No time for that,’ replied Mari, rooting around in her own bag for one of the milk pots left over from the train. She peeled back the lid and gave Gweeb a drink, hoping it would give her the energy she needed to battle her way through the lashing rain. Then she lifted Gweeb up to the hole in the rock.
‘Find Mum, Gweeb,’ Mari said, releasing the dragon into the storm.
For a moment Gweeb seemed uncertain, buffeted by the wind as she circled round the opening, almost as if she didn’t want to leave. Lightning smashed down over the sea behind her, lighting up the whole cove. Gweeb had never looked so tiny, never seemed more vulnerable, than she did now against this vast, angry sky. Mari suddenly panicked that she was putting Gweeb in terrible danger. But then, as if making her mind up, Gweeb spread her wings wider and turned, flying headlong into the storm.
Seawater was covering the floor of the cave now, and swirled threateningly against Griff’s feet. Mari and Dylan had managed to lift him up on to the rocks, above the rising water, but it was creeping ever closer. Mari was stationed by the opening, scanning the horizon for any sign of help. Just below her, Dylan lay back with his eyes closed, as if he could will their predicament away.
‘I’m getting wet again,’ whined Griff.
Mari and Dylan scrabbled over and did their best to lift him, but it was difficult without sliding on the loose rocks beneath their feet. Mari staggered under his weight and slipped as a stone gave way.
Griff cried out in pain. ‘Watch out!’ he barked.
Mari looked down to see the smooth rock that had failed to support her. Something seemed different about it, but the light was still far too low to make it out.
‘I’m going to need the torch,’ she said.
Dylan fumbled around for Griff’s phone, and handed it to her. She directed the beam down at the rock. It was rounded, and in the torchlight she could clearly see its reddish hue.
‘It can’t be …’ she murmured.
‘Can’t be what?’ asked Griff.
Mari swung the light around the cavern. She jumped across the rockfall, stopping every now and then to examine the debris more closely. ‘I can’t believe I didn’t notice this before!’ she cried.
‘Notice what?’ said Griff, his irritation building.
Mari directed the beam of torchlight at reddish round rock after reddish round rock, all poking up out of the rubble. ‘This is what Gweeb has been looking for,’ she said. ‘This is why she’s been acting so strangely whenever she’s near the beach.’
‘WHAT IS IT?’ yelled Griff.
‘Eggs,’ Mari replied. ‘All these red rocks are eggs. Just like the one Gweeb hatched out of. The rockfall has released them.’
Griff’s eyes bulged with excitement. ‘Bring one to me!’ he shouted. ‘Quick!’
Dylan passed one to Griff, who held it up and turned it from side to side. And then he began to laugh. It started as a chuckle, but as it went on it became more and more bitter.
‘You’re right,’ he said. ‘Eggs. A whole new species. And here we are, about to drown. I never thought that the biggest day of my life would also be my last.’
‘We’re getting out of here,’ said Mari, with complete conviction. ‘Gweeb will find a way to get help. I know she will.’
‘It’s not com
ing back and we all know it,’ snarled Griff.
Dylan looked shocked, but Mari wasn’t giving up that easily.
‘Thinking like that isn’t going to help us either, Dr Griff,’ she said.
But Griff was just getting going. ‘Dr “Griff” Griffiths,’ he said, as if he were reading out the news, ‘star of TV’s Dinosaur Hunt, died today while fossil hunting on a beach in Wales. Although liked by some children, he was never much of a scientist, and never discovered anything important.’
‘They wouldn’t say that, Dr Griff,’ said Mari.
‘You don’t think so? What exactly would you know about it?’
‘What about all the children you’ve inspired?’ replied Mari hotly. ‘All my life I’ve dreamed of being a scientist like you.’
Griff half coughed, half spluttered out another laugh. ‘Well, welcome to the real world, Mari Jones. Where even if something good happens to you, it’ll turn bad before you blink. This should have been the discovery that made me famous.’
And with that Griff raised the egg he was holding high above his head and brought it crashing down on to the rocks next to him. The egg cleaved instantly in two – to reveal a tiny, dusty creature within it. Griff snatched it up by the tail.
‘What are you doing?’ shouted Mari in horror.
‘I,’ said Griff, ‘am making the best of a bad situation.’ He scooped some water up from beneath his feet and anointed the dragon with it. ‘I name thee Pterodraco griffithsi – Griffiths’ Flying Dragon!’
The dragon he was holding twitched into life, twisting and turning away from his finger.
‘But that’s Mari’s discovery, not yours!’ shouted Dylan.
He made a grab for the dragon, but as he did so he leaned against Griff’s broken leg. Griff let out a scream of pain.
‘The dragon!’ shouted Mari. ‘Be careful of the dragon!’
The tiny creature Griff had been holding wriggled free of his hand and flapped erratically across the rocks. Mari tried to catch it, while Griff held Dylan off.
‘You are children!’ yelled Griff. ‘You don’t deserve to make discoveries. I’ve spent the last fifteen years of my life grinning into a camera, surrounded by grubby little oiks like you. Do you know who takes me seriously? No one! I could have been Sir David Attenborough. I could have had a knighthood too. I could have had respect! But I don’t get invited to the Palace – oh no – I get invited to play Buttons in the Swansea Christmas panto.’
