“Thank you Aunt Lippy, but we just wanted to ask you a question.”
“Oh? And what would that be, sweetheart?”
Edward let out a sigh. “We want to know the difference 'tween being hatched and being borned.” he said solemnly.
“Yea,” said Laora. “Edward thinks he was hatched out of his momma's tummy. I don't see how. But if he did, how'd he get there in the first place and how'd he get back out?”
“Why, that's quite simple,” said Lipperella. “Edward's momma laid him, just like I laid you, only Edward didn't have a shell on...”
“So being borneded just means being laid without having to hatch out of an egg?”
“That's 'born,' dear, and that's exactly right.”
“But how'd he get in there?”
“Well, Edward's daddy put half of teensy-weensy Edward in his momma when he bred her, just like your papa gave me half of teensy-weensy you when he bred me...”
“Wow, Aunt Lippy! That makes sense. So that's why I look somethin' like King Edmond, or 'sposed to (I don't member him) and somethin' like Momma. Momma acted funny when I asked her, and I couldn't essactly follow what she was stumbling around about. Maybe she just didn't know, Aunt Lippy, but she was the best momma...” Edward gave a sudden unexpected sob and Lipperella scooped him up at once, hugging and rocking him.
“Well,” said Lipperella, as she squeezed him. “Humans really haven't got it straight, yet. Most of them fancy that the whole teensy-weensy child comes from the father, as though the mother is just a place for the teensy-weensy child to stay for a spell...”
“Well they ought to be eshamed of such a notion, momma,” said Laora.
“That may be why they have a hard time talking about it, sweetheart. The hardest thing for any creature is to face it's own nonsense.”
“Thank you for esplaining to me, Aunt Lippy,” said Edward, pulling away from her arms. “Can Laora and I go out there with them now?”
“You certainly may, Edward.”
“Thank you, Aunt Lippy!” he cried as he grabbed Laora by the hand and towed her into the kite field.
She planted her feet for a moment. “Let's just walk,” she said, swinging his hand.
“All right,” he said, giving a little jump as he shook her arm as though it were a skipping rope.
“You're my very, very, very bestest friend, Edward. Did you know that?”
“And you're my bestest, too. You're really my bestest. Actually you're the only friend I've ever had, 'cept Momma and Uncafuzz.”
Laora's eyes went wide at this. She so hoped he wouldn't cry. “Well, I want you to have the very bestest birthday in the whole world,” she said quickly, “so I've got 'o think 'o something quick to make sure it's the bestest ever and ever. Then we can keep you happy all day.”
He gave her an abrupt little hug and went prancing in circles around her, ending up in the grass on his elbows.
She sat down beside him, shook herself and sorted through some flight feathers. Suddenly she spied something in the grass right in front of her. “Got you,” she said between her teeth as she snapped up a vole. “Edward, you want half? They're really good.”
“No thanks. I don't care so much for raw voles.”
“You sure? I could let you have the front half. It's still squeakin', and it's your birthday.”
“I really 'preciate it, but remember? I had a really hard time getting the last one down. They kind o' stink bad.”
“Momma...” she said, swallowing the rodent in one gulp, “Momma says they're real good for your feathers, but I guess all your feathers are just hair.” She shook herself again, gave each wing a snap and rested her head on his shoulder as they watched Flame and Blaise soaring, diving and chasing one another in the air. “They're still kind of awful, but they're sure getting better,” she said, giggling at the sight of them colliding.
“Yea, but you're 'way better than they are. And you're 'way better than every single one of your other brothers and sisters. You fly better'n the whole mob put together.”
“Thanks,” she said, lifting her head to study him for a moment. “Hey! I know. Edward?”
“Yea?” he said, unable to take his eyes off the soaring dragonets long enough to look at her.
“I'll bet you'd like to fly too, wouldn't you?”
“Oh, that would be wonderful. Right now, I wish I'd hatched instead o' borned. I'd even eat a vole if I could go up there with you.”
“I thought so. Let's go, Edward,” she said jubilantly, springing to her feet. “That's what I could do so you could have a happy day.”
“What are you talking about, Laora? How could I ever do that? You said it yourself. All I've got is hair for feathers.”
“You don't have to, silly,” she said, nodding at the others. “Hurry up. Get on my back.”
“You can't carry me piggyback like a unicorn in the air. How would you get off the ground?”
“I may be the littlest, but I'm already bigger'n you. And look at my chest. I've got more muscle than any of the rest of the mob, and my pulley bone's the biggest. I swear I can get you off the ground at least, and if I can't fly far with you today, I promise I will right soon. Momma told me I'm goin' 'o be as big as she is, within the year,” she said, squatting to offer her back. “Come on. Let's try it. What's the matter, Edward?”
“I really want to, but...” he said, looking bewildered.
“It's my birthday present for your pipday,” she said, gesturing with little lunges.
Edward bit his lip, thinking things over. “All right, let's try it,” he said with a decisive nod. “But if I'm too heavy, you stay on the ground. Promise?”
“I know what I'm doing, Edward,” she said, sounding almost offended. “And if you're as brave as I've always thought, you'll get on this minute.”
Edward threw his leg over her back and grabbed her by the neck with both arms.
“Too tight, Edward. Loosen up so I can breathe. As soon as we're up, just get a handful of my neck feathers on each side.”
“Won't that hurt?”
“Not if you get enough feathers in each fist. You ready?”
“Am I too heavy?”
“No, I told you I know what I'm doing,” she said, as she gave a sheet-popping flap that flattened the grass on either side of her.
“Wow,” he cried, watching the grass spring back up. “You are strong...”
She answered by lunging into the air.
It gave him a good scare. And for a moment, he cast about frantically trying to find a secure hold without cutting off her wind. He could not look down at first, so he looked up at the brilliant crisp blue of the cloudless fall sky. Now, he was no longer quite sure which way down was and it made his head reel, so he clamped shut his eyes.
“How is it, Edward?” said Laora, gliding for a moment. “Are you having fun?”
“Oh yes,” he said, trying not to vomit nor sound terrified as he kept his eyes squeezed tight. “This is wonderful, Laora. I could fly like this forever. Are you getting tired? I mean, does your back hurt? Do you think we can land without getting hurt?”
“You sure worry a lot!” she giggled. “You're very light and I must be much stronger than you can imagine, 'cause this is nothing. This is 'way easier than carrying you on my back on the ground.” She resumed flapping and climbed steeply.
When she leveled off and began gliding, Edward dared to open his eyes. “Great Bells of Bratin Brute! This is terrific! Laora! Thank you, thank you! This is the best birthday ever in the whole, whole, whole world!”
“Oh, oh,” she said, as she looked down to see Spark and Lipperella far below, hurrying to the middle of the kite field to stare up at them. “Are we are in trouble?”
“Bet we are,” said Edward as his voice fell. “We'd better land.”
“Yea, I guess so,” said Laora, falling silent as she started a slow spiraling descent.
***
There had been delays in addition to their late depar
ture from Oilean Gairdin. Neron had forgotten to take into account the heavy rains during the week before, and after a couple of hours' travel in the Jutwoods, the bed of the dirt road changed from sandstone to waterlogged clay, miring them down. Over and again, they had to get out and walk in order for the team to manage pulling the coach. Once it was so bad that they had to tie their baggage to the backs of the team and rig up a makeshift fan hitch from the end of the tongue, so that the three mounts could help the team pull. As if that were not enough, just as they were getting to the end of their last half mile long mire, they found a five foot thick gum tree, forty foot from the roots to the first limb and woodpecker hole, blown down across the way. This would not have been any great problem, except that being at the end of the last of the clay, the road wound into a fissure in a shale bluff face, turning the tree into a substantial barricade. There was nothing for it but to cut the trunk in two.
Lucus wished they had gone by ship. Neron wished he had remembered. Hubba Hubba chastised them all for not having wings. By the time Lukus, Neron, Strom, Danneth, Jerund and the driver all had severe blisters, it was pitch black. The team and all of the mounts had to be hitched to a log chain to pull the tree aside.
“Good job we brought that stuff!” declared the driver, as he climbed to his seat and gathered up his reins. “Neron might 'ave forgot, but he only half forgot. I wouldn't 'ave brought a trunk full 'o axes and chain.”
At last Lukus fell to a deep enough sleep that the pitching of the coach had ceased to wake him. A sharp pop woke everyone bolt upright. Soraya had to shift about, stoppering the whimpers of first Daniel and then Ariel with a teat apiece.
“What the Pitmaster?” said Lukus. “Did they just...?” Another ear-wincing pop sounded. “Werebeasts. That's it, isn't it?”
“Well, here we are, and it's after dark,” said Soraya with the sleepy softness of a considerate mother, having just been awakened.
“My,” he said, running his hands through his hair. He flexed his hands about their blistered palms. “That takes me 'way back. Are you done with Ariel? You want me to take her?”
Soraya slid a cloth down her bodice and carefully raised her shoulder, offering Ariel to him.
He sat back slowly with his warm bundle as the lurching coach smacked him in the head. He ignored it altogether. With her in his arms, he could brush aside all kinds of things. “Wow!” he said at the sound of another pop. “That's the third werebeast they've fried. It might have been Danneth who got that one. I saw the flash out yonder. I think that's him. Are you frightened?”
“Why should I be?”
“Well 'way back, your brothers convinced me that werebeasts are right dangerous. Aren't they?”
“Certainly, but no more so than that many adders or vipers out there would be. I'd be scared out of my wits if I looked up to find a werepossum sitting where you are, but that's not going to happen. I hope werebeasts are the only things we have to deal with, if you want to know.”
“So you prefer them to the trolls?”
“By all means.”
“Why?”
“Well, nearly all of the werebeasts in the Jutwoods are too small to rip you apart and eat you alive. Werebears have been known to exist, but most werecreatures are things like squirrels, opossums and rabbits.”
“Well,” he said with a chuckle, “I'll be on my toes next time I take up with a rabbit, I can tell ye.”
“You're in the habit of taking up with rabbits?” said Soraya with an odd look. “Sometimes I'm not sure just what parts of the things you say are indeed serious, Lukus.”
“I actually did once, and that's no joke. 'Twas 'way back when Rose and I went to the Peppermint Forest to find Ugleeuh. Spring was his name. He was one of Ugleeuh's enchanted thralls. He was a nice rabbit...”
“There must be quite a story to go along with him. So what became of this Spring, did you call him? Did he go back to being an ordinary rabbit when Ugleeuh's magic faded?”
“Ugleeuh murdered him for helping Rose and me.”
“I can tell by the tone of your voice that you took him seriously, that you liked him...”
“Well yea. He probably saved our lives. At the very least, he helped us escape.”
“So, I suppose he'd just be an ordinary rabbit today if she hadn't killed him, aye?”
“Hard to say. Ugleeuh's enchanted creatures were indeed forest animals sometimes, but just as often they were Elves or Humans trapped as talking animals. They were like people in animal suits. Whatever Spring was, he was a very good friend and he gave his life to save Rose and me.”
***
Laora trotted to a tottering halt in the grass a dozen rods from Spark, Lipperella and a wide-eyed gathering of the rest of the dragonet mob.
“Look,” said Edward as he slid off her back, “just let me take the blame, all right?”
“No,” said Laora. “It was my idea and if anyone's going to get hollered at, then it should be me.”
“Yea, but it's my birthday and I might not get scolded.”
“That was a pretty impressive stunt!” said Spark, calling out as they approached. “You certainly got everyone's attention. Do you have any idea at all how dangerous it was? Had Edward fallen, could anyone have caught him? Would you want to be the one to break the news to Rose and Fuzz?”
“It was my present to Edward for his birthday,” said Laora, as she stood up proudly, “and, it was wonderful. It was lots an' lots an' lots better than doing it alone. Edward flied real good. Did ye see him, Papa?” By now she was fairly bouncing with excitement.
“We certainly did,” said Spark, letting out a huge sigh as he turned to Lipperella. “You scared us half to death is what, honey child. We couldn't bear to have anything happen to Edward. What sort of whim got you up there?”
“We're a team,” she declared. “We belong together on the ground or in the air.”
“Yes, perhaps you are, but it would have been better had you said something to one of us first.”
“You'd 'ave said no. Then we couldn't have showed you. Can't you see? We have to be together.”
“Yes, that's plainer day by day. Still,” he said, shaking a finger, “you have to tell us. We must be where we can watch your first flights together.”
Laoara's eyes went quite wide. “You said, 'first flights together,'“ she said with a bounce as she threw her arms around his neck. “You're the bestest papa in the whole world.”
“Come on you two,” said Lipperella as she took Edward by the hand, “it's time to go in and eat.”
Laora and Spark followed them inside amongst the swirl and jostle of the mob of dragonets determined to be there first. “Surprise!” shouted most of the dragonets, the moment they reached the kitchen, as others cried, “Birthday!” and, “Happy pipday!”
Edward spied the cake at once, the first he'd seen since Myrtlebell had baked one for him the year before, and his eyes brimmed with tears. And even though he'd not yet learnt to read, the moment he saw: “Happy Birthday Edward!” he knew what it said. And as the tears spilt down his cheeks, he bounced and grinned and clapped his hands.
***
As eager fingers streaked the platter, chasing after crumbs, Tors, Kast and Gweltaz ambled into the kitchen with nods all 'round, just back from the Black Desert.
“Hey Edward,” said Tors. “Did ye spare us a piece o' that cake?”
Edward looked forlornly at the platter of chocolate crumbs. “I didn't know you were coming,” he said.
“I heard you flew today,” said Tors.
“Yea,” said Edward with a bounce. “It was wonderful.”
“Ah! I can imagine it was,” he said, a hungry light flickering in his eyes. “Well, happy pipday, Edward. And may ye have many, many more. Now you'll have to excuse me. I must have a word with those older and less airborne in the next room.”
***
“So what did you find?” said Spark as he plopped into the center of a huge cushion. “Is the Black Desert g
oing to do for us?”
Tors looked at Kast and Gweltaz. “It should serve right well indeed, Spark,” he said with a decisive nod. There's nothing but hot black sand for miles and miles. We'd even decided to go just a bit further and turn around. Then suddenly we stumbled onto the ultimate haven. Underneath that coal black sand there's a limestone cave system that simply puts this one to shame. Who knows? It could be ten times as extensive as this one, and outside of the cave crickets and blind salamanders, nothing at all lives there.”
“What about water?” said Lipperella.
Gweltaz slapped his knee. “There's a river down in those caves that beats anything you ever saw. Water will not be a problem...”
“It's deeper, wider, faster and colder than anything any of us ever saw,” said Kast. “And pure. Tastes like rainwater.”
“Do you reckon things will grow there?” said Spark.
“Any place water gets to the surface, things are growing,” said Tors. “I'd think we could easily irrigate.”
“And what about wildlife?” said Lipperella, finding a cushion. “The dragonets will have a much greater need to hunt than the rest of us. If not, have we reached a point where we're willing to imprison the animals we eat?”
“There are all kinds of things in the ravines and oases,” said Kast, enthusiastically taking to his feet. “Things with incredibly big ears: long eared asses, long eared aurochs, a bison of some kind, and these huge long eared hares, all over. It looks like all the hunting we'd need.”
“What do they find to live on in such a place?” said Lipperella.
“Oh, there are indeed lots of strange plants,” said Kast, “stubby, rubbery green trees with no leaves, for instance. The asses were feeding on them. We climbed a cinder cone and found lush grass growing in the crater. You have to see this place. It's as nigh to ideal for dragons as I've ever seen.”
Spark squeezed Lipperella's hand. “I'm going to the Council with them, love,” he said. “I'll probably be back late.”
“I'll talk to the mob and Edward. I'll be waiting up for you.”
Heart of the Staff - Complete Series Page 99
