by Kate Forsyth
CHAPTER TEN
‘Yuk!’ said James and Sarah and Tim.
‘Certainly I can,’ the dragon said, looking astonished. ‘Is that what small boys like to eat these days? Times undoubtedly have changed.’
‘Not that much,’ James said.
Ben ignored them all, clearly excited by his idea. ‘If I find someone to stay and keep you company, will you give me some of your treasure? Please? I don’t want much, just enough to buy a big house with a big garden and a dog.’
‘Certainly not,’ the dragon said. ‘Surely Princess Sarah is treasure enough?’
Sarah smirked at the boys, but then turned and looked up at the dragon imploringly, clasping both her hands together. ‘Please? Really, they’ve been very brave, don’t you think?’
The dragon hesitated.
‘Please?’ Ben asked.
‘Please?’ James asked.
‘Peas?’ said Tim.
The dragon shook its huge, horned head, sending a halo of smoke billowing out. The children all coughed and waved the smoke away from their faces.
‘You may take your princess,’ the dragon said. ‘I will not stop you. But a dragon never allows a treasure-seeker to get away with a single coin or jewel. It is against every known dragon principle.’
‘We wouldn’t tell anyone,’ Ben said. ‘We’d pretend we found it.’
The dragon snorted, sending out a great gust of smoke and cinders.
‘You said . . . you’d give . . . anything . . . for someone intelligent . . . to talk to,’ Ben said through his coughs and wheezes.
‘Well, yes, but. . .’
‘You wouldn’t be lonely any more,’ Ben said. ‘My friend is not interested in treasure. As long as he gets pilchards and cream every day, I’m sure he’ll be happy to keep you company. And he likes to talk. He talks an awful lot.’
‘Really?’ the dragon asked.
‘Really,’ Ben said.
‘Very well then,’ the dragon said grandly. ‘You may take as much as you can carry.’
‘Yippee!’ Ben shouted.
‘Me too?’ Tim asked.
‘And me?’ James said.
‘And me?’ Sarah said.
The dragon hissed out a long spray of sparks. ‘See? It’s always the same. Only ever interested in my treasure.’
‘Please,’ Sarah asked winningly, fluttering her eyelashes. ‘To remind me of you.’
The dragon sighed and smiled, and shrugged its gaunt golden shoulders. ‘Very well. I cannot withstand Princess Sarah’s smile. You three may each choose one thing, and one thing only, as a memento of me.’
Sarah jumped up and down with excitement. ‘I’ll keep my diamond tiara,’ she said. ‘Can I have the bracelets too?’
The dragon hissed at her, and the bed, the dresses and the dolls all disappeared in a swirl of smoke. Only the diamond tiara was left, rather askew on Sarah’s head.
‘I guess not,’ she said.
James and Tim both grabbed golden swords with jewels in their hilts, and began to whack at each other. Ben stared round at the treasure, feeling rather overwhelmed. He wished his pyjamas had pockets, or that his hands were bigger.
‘Tie the corners of your cloak together to make a sack,’ Sarah suggested. ‘And pile it up on your flying carpet. I’m sure the dragon won’t mind carrying us home.’ She smiled up at the dragon, who was blowing smoke rings and pretending not to see what the boys were doing. ‘You don’t mind, do you?’
‘Not at all, Princess Sarah,’ the dragon answered politely. ‘It would be my pleasure to serve you. Besides, I quite enjoy a nice joy-flight.’
So Ben made a treasure sack out of his cloak, and piled jewels and golden cups and candelabras on the flying carpet. By the time he finished, his arms were aching. He scrummaged around until he had found another golden sword and thrust that through his sash, then filled up his wizard’s hat with golden coins.
‘Don’t forget our bet,’ James whispered. ‘Some of this treasure is mine.’
‘Some of it,’ Ben whispered back. ‘One handful.’
‘Two handfuls, and all my pockets.’
‘OK,’ Ben said, too happy to argue.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The dragon made a cradle out of its immense claws and the children climbed in rather nervously, Ben dragging his red and black striped treasure bag and bulging wizard’s hat with him. None of them could help screaming when the dragon launched into the air, for it went so high so fast, and they were flung up against the very hard claws, which were rather like the bars of an ivory cage.
Once it was aloft, though, it was much better, for the dragon flew very smoothly. They soared over the ocean of gold and jewels, then suddenly burst out over the real ocean.
The sun was just coming up, and the children all peered out between the great curved claws at the sea far below them. It looked like blue wrinkly silk. They flew for what seemed like hours, the wind blowing the smell of smoke out of their hair and clothes. Then they saw the familiar square shapes of the city skyscrapers on either side of the harbour, and squealed in excitement. Behind them, the flying carpet struggled to keep up, sagging heavily in the middle from the weight of all the treasure.
‘What are we going to tell mum and dad?’ James said, as the dragon began to wheel down towards their bay. ‘They’ll never believe us!’
‘I can pretend I just got lost,’ Sarah said. ‘Though I’d hate them to think I’d be so silly.’
‘Not much pretending there,’ James said. ‘You’d better be nice to me or I’ll tell the dragon to barbeque you,’ Sarah said.
James opened his mouth to say something else, then thought better of it and shut it again.
‘Good decision,’ Sarah said. She raised her voice and called to the dragon, ‘Fly through the railway tunnel, dragon dear, and then no-one will see you. They don’t know you’re really a nice dragon, so they might shoot at you, or something.’
The dragon tilted its wings and wheeled down. The children all shrieked and clung on tightly to its claws as the yawning mouth of the railway tunnel raced towards them. Then the dragon folded its wings and shot through its dark length, coming down to rest just inside the tunnel mouth at the far end. They could see lots of people with torches searching all through the dawn-grey park. The dragon opened the cage of its claws and Sarah climbed out, straightening her tutu and adjusting her glittering tiara.
‘Goodbye, Princess Sarah,’ the dragon said sadly.
She kissed its snout. ‘Bye-bye, dragon. Thank you for not eating me.’
‘It was my pleasure,’ it replied.
‘And thanks for my tiara,’ she said. ‘I’ll be able to play at being a real princess now.’
The dragon winked back a tear as Sarah went running down from the railway tracks towards her white-faced, red-eyed mother. The boys and the dragon watched, feeling very pleased and proud of themselves, as Sarah was kissed and hugged and scolded by her two distraught parents, while the police all stood around, smiling. No-one seemed to notice that her tiara was now made of real diamonds.
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘Now,’ the dragon said, ‘take me to my new friend! I am missing Princess Sarah terribly already.’
Feeling rather nervous, Ben told the dragon the way to the witch’s house. For, of course, the new friend Ben had been thinking about was the witch’s grey cat. He could only hope that the cat would consent to being a dragon’s companion, instead of an old, absentminded witch’s.
The cat was fast asleep on the wall and not at all happy to be woken up by a dragon. When it had had the situation explained to it, however, the cat stopped hissing and arching its back, and began to purr.
‘You do not have any other cats, do you?’ it asked. ‘The old lady with whom I reside has, unfortunately, nine other cats, and I do feel that my abilities are rather under-appreciated with so much competition.’
‘No other cats,’ the dragon promised.
‘What about dogs?’ the cat said, li
cking its back with an air of unconcern.
‘No dogs, I’m pleased to say.’
‘Delightful,’ said the cat, tidying up its tail, which had been startled into a shape three times its natural size at the sight of the dragon. ‘My owner . . . I mean, my witch has five dogs, all of whom have puppies at distressingly regular intervals.’
‘Surely a lapse of good taste,’ the dragon replied. The cat’s purr grew noticeably louder. ‘Are there, by any chance, mice in your cave?’ it asked then, hopefully.
‘Far too many,’ the dragon said. ‘They disturb my sleep with their squeaking.’
‘I’d be happy to solve that problem for you,’ the cat purred. ‘I do have a particular predilection for chasing mice.’
‘Marvellous,’ said the dragon. ‘I would appreciate that.’
‘I’ll want a bed of satin cushions,’ it said, ‘and a bowl of cream every day.’
‘Twice a day,’ the dragon said.
‘And pilchards, of course.’
‘Of course.’
‘Smoked trout?’
‘Any time you please.’
‘And perhaps the occasional prawn head?’
‘It would be my pleasure.’
The cat smiled, showing very sharp white teeth. ‘No, no, I declare, the pleasure is all mine,’ it answered.
‘So you’ll go?’ Ben asked hopefully.
The cat yawned. ‘Certainly,’ it answered with dignity. ‘Anything to help.’
‘Oh, thank you!’ Ben cried.
The cat unfurled its tail and leapt gracefully from the wall to the dragon’s head, sitting between its horns. ‘I’ve always wanted to fly,’ it purred. ‘Up, up and away!’
The last stop was home. Tim was fast asleep, curled up in the dragon’s claws with his hand gripping his sword and a smile on his face. James was grinning from ear to ear too and, looking back at the mound of treasure weighing down the flying carpet, Ben couldn’t keep the smile off his face either.
They buried the treasure in the sandpit, then waved goodbye to the cat and the dragon, who flew up into the rising sun like a flaming arrow. Then, dragging the rug behind them, they crept inside, Tim still half-asleep. They were halfway up the stairs when the phone rang. They ran like the wind and had just managed to jump into their beds when Ben’s mum came running in to tell them that Sarah had been found, safe and well. She did not seem to think it strange that Tim was wearing his pirate’s hat in bed.
Most of the morning was spent taking James home and listening to the grown-ups making a fuss over Sarah, who, despite being banned from any play dates for a month, was looking very pleased with herself. This may have been due to the sparkly tiara she wore on her head, or the fact that her mum and dad could not stop hugging and kissing her.
All Ben could think about was the treasure in the sandpit. He was wondering how to explain it to his parents. In the end he decided to dig a big hole in the garden and pretend he’d found the treasure there. After all, he thought, his mum was always turning up old coins and bits of broken china when she was gardening.
So, later that day, Ben and Tim set about methodically digging a huge hole under the lemon tree. When their parents saw what they had done, they were absolutely furious – until they saw the treasure. Their mum sat down in all the mud and dirt with her mouth open and said not a single word, a most unusual thing for Ben and Tim’s mum.
‘But where can it have come from?’ she asked when she could at last speak again. ‘What’s it doing under our lemon tree?’
‘It’s the lost family treasure,’ Ben said solemnly. ‘Remember that story?’
‘No,’ their mum said uncertainly, for she told so many stories it was hard to remember them all.
‘Well, that’s what it is,’ Ben said. ‘So we’ll be able to buy that big house now, with a garden big enough for me to have a dog, won’t we?’
‘And me!’ Tim said.
‘I guess so,’ their mum said.
‘We’ll be able to buy ten houses!’ their dad said, running his hands through a sack of gold coins.
‘I only want one,’ Ben said. ‘With a garden big enough for a dog.’
And that’s how Ben’s wish finally came true.
