by Linda McNabb
“What for?” Toby asked, knowing that King Herat wouldn’t just let them out to be kind.
“Beats me, we’re just doing what we’re told,” Cole said with a shrug.
“Open the door,” Toby pointed around the other side.
Cole let them out and led them to a small cave that was half hidden by a fallen tree where they found King Herat and Prince Rory waiting for them.
“I demand that you go back to the waterfall and let my guards in!” King Herat demanded. “How do you keep closing off that pass?”
“We can’t open it,” Toby replied bluntly. “And even if we could, we wouldn’t.”
“What! How dare you defy your king?” King Herat looked ready to explode. “I must have my guards. Without them I cannot get one of the dragons.”
“You don’t honestly think you’re going to be able to take a dragon out of here do you?” Sanelle stared at him in surprise and disgust.
King Herat looked around, silently counting their number. “Not without the rest of my guards.”
“Father, can’t you see this isn’t just a normal valley? Look around. The sky is a different blue. It’s warm here and on the other side of the waterfall it is still winter. This is a magical place. They’re not going to just let you carry off one of their dragons!” Prince Rory pulled his father to the entrance of the cave and pointed up at the startling blue sky.
“Magic! Huh. I’ll have none of that rubbish,” King Herat said in a dismissive tone, waving his son away from him.
“Just how well did you know my mother?” Sanelle asked boldly.
“We were to be married. I knew her well enough,” King Herat replied a little hesitantly as if it were a subject he didn’t really want to talk about. “Blaise had just been born when she left me.”
“So you knew she was a sorcerer?” Sanelle asked and by the surprised look on his face it was clear that he hadn’t.
“She tried to tell me magic was real, many times, but I never believed her. Just party tricks that’s all they were,” he protested strongly, shaking his head in denial as he spoke.
“So if there’s no magic then how did we get here? And why does a dragon scale heal sickness?” Toby asked bluntly.
“I don’t know… but there must be a reasonable explanation. There always is.” King Herat looked flustered as he stood up and paced around, glaring angrily at Sanelle and Toby.
“Blaise is a sorcerer too,” Sanelle informed King Herat.
King Herat didn’t reply. He just stared at Sanelle as if she were speaking a language he didn’t understand then he turned his back on her and paced over to the far side of the cave.
“And so are all the people in this valley,” Toby added, hoping it would convince King Herat to give up his foolish plan of capturing a dragon.
“And you think Morgain came from here?” King Herat asked as he turned back to face them.
“Yes,” Sanelle replied. “She told me that one day she would bring me here to show me.”
“Sounds like a fairy tale to me… Maybe I’ll track her down and ask her myself.” King Herat said. He lifted his chin defiantly and looked down his nose at them all.
“She’s closer than you think,” Sanelle said and King Herat looked questioningly at her. “Blaise has her trapped in the stone talisman that he wore. He isn’t wearing it any more so he must have left it somewhere near the gateway before he came down here.”
“Then we must find it.” Prince Rory joined the conversation. He had remained silently listening up until now and had obviously believed every word he heard.
“We have to free Klel first,” Toby said as everyone rose to their feet. “He’s the only one we know who can cast the rune needed to set her free. Nobody else here would be willing to help us.”
“Klel?” King Herat queried and raised one eyebrow. “Who is Klel?”
“The dragon you kept prisoner for so long,” Toby said very bluntly and almost to the point of being rude.
“It’s just an animal. Like a horse,” King Herat said with a shake of his head that showed he didn’t see anything wrong with keeping a dragon chained up.
“Can horses talk, think and feel sorrow like Klel did?” Toby asked.
“Really?” King Herat said sarcastically. “It never spoke to me.”
“Yes he can talk but would you have listened?” Toby retorted. “Would you talk to someone who regularly came and tore parts of your skin off?”
King Herat chewed on his lower lip as he considered what Toby had said but did not reply.
“The talisman. My mother,” Sanelle prompted and pointed out of the cave. “Let’s talk about this later.”
King Herat scowled, but followed, as they crept out of the cave and around the mountain. Nobody seemed to have realised the prisoners were gone. Toby had expected to see Klel in a cage but he was lying alone just outside a large cave.
“Klel!” Toby whispered as loud as he dared and Klel lifted his head a fraction to look in their direction. Toby signalled for him to come over to them and Klel got up slowly and walked over.
Let you out? Klel asked but then saw the others who were with him. Dragons and sorcerers not like. Go back.
“You have to help us find the talisman that Blaise wore,” Toby insisted. “Then we’ll leave here and you can come back with us.”
Must stay. Take punishment, Klel said sadly.
“You must help!” King Herat commanded in a tone that he would use on a servant at his castle. “I need to find out if what they say is true.”
Help you? Klel queried with a deep rumble and his eyes coloured instantly to a brilliant red.
Klel advanced towards King Herat with a menacing glare. Small flames flicked out of Klel’s nostrils as the king stepped backwards through the bushes.
You cause pain! Klel snapped at King Herat and small jets of flame seared the grass at the king’s feet. Many years!
King Herat jumped back from the flames and fell heavily on his back. Toby couldn’t blame Klel for his anger at King Herat and it looked as if nobody else did either as none of them stepped forward to help the king up.
“Please, I’ll make it up to you,” King Herat begged and pleaded with a shaky voice.
Klel took one more step and towered over the pathetic figure of King Herat who was holding his hands over his face, expecting more flames.
“Wait!” Prince Rory stepped forward and stood directly in front of Klel.
King must pay! Klel’s eye still glowed red and he turned to face Prince Rory with one foreleg raised. Toby was sure Klel would sweep the prince out of the way but the prince spoke again.
“I know he has done wrong. But can’t you see that if you kill him, you will become the same as he is!”
Klel lowered his forearm and stared at Rory in confusion, his eyes flickering between orange and red.
“I am just as guilty as my father,” Rory stated firmly. “For I did nothing to stop him. Flame me as well if you must punish my father.”
One small flame flicked out of Klel’s mouth as he snapped it shut and his eyes settled to a dull orange colour.
Will not become like him! Klel muttered thickly and then turned to Toby. Why need Klel’s help?
“To set Morgain free,” King Herat spoke out and the dragon’s head snapped back towards King Herat so suddenly that Toby was sure he heard a crack in one of Klel’s bones. Keen eyes stared hard into the king’s, seeking confirmation of his words. “They say she is trapped within the talisman.”
“You know my mother?” Sanelle asked Klel quietly.
Left valley with her. Long ago. Where talisman? Klel said, far too loudly and almost everyone held their finger to their lips to quiet him down.
“We think Blaise must have left it up near the waterfall. If it was near him he wouldn’t be able to do magic and I saw it around his neck when he was in the lake,” Toby told his friend.
Go now. Not fly. Be seen” Klel started walking off in the direction of the waterfa
ll without even waiting to see if they were following. Nobody helped King Herat to his feet and he was left to hurry after them.
Flying the distance had only taken a matter of a minute or two but walking back, and mostly uphill, took far longer. They had to hide several times when the dragons flew overhead and it made the trip much longer. They had just reached the plateau near the waterfall when a loud howl from down in the village told that their escape had been noticed.
Toby could see dragons rising into the air, and they were all heading towards them at an alarming speed.
“Quick, everyone look around. We’ve got to find it before they get here,” Sanelle said, kicking clumps of grass frantically.
They spread out along the plateau and the dragons were almost there when Toby spotted the talisman in the shallows of the small lake.
“Here it is!” Toby picked it up and held it high for them all to see.
Just then an arrow whizzed past his ear and he looked over at the mounted dragons with shock. They shot at him!
“Trace the rune that is underneath it… quickly!” Sanelle blurted out. The dragons were almost close enough that if they launched another attack there would be no doubt as to the accuracy of their aim. A quick glance showed him that Blaise was mounted on one of the dragons with a scared looking Kaylene clutching his waist. His bow was empty and he was busy notching up another arrow. He had pushed away the sling on his arm and seemed to be having no trouble using it.
Toby turned the talisman over and drew the rune with his fingertip and spoke his word in his head. He did it all so quickly that it wasn’t until he finished that he remembered that he had given his magic to Klel and now he had wasted the few seconds they had. He should have passed it over to Klel to release her.
“Here Klel, you must do it.” Toby threw the talisman high in the air towards the dragon. He wouldn’t have dared to throw it if they weren’t so short of time.
The stone talisman arched through the air but just as Klel reached out to take it, an arrow struck it, knocking it from his reach. It fell, towards the solid rock face of the cliff below them, and Toby watched with horror as it would surely smash against the rocks.
Everyone fell silent and even the dragons, realising that something was not as they expected, hovered just short of their prey.
The talisman was only an inch away from a rock ledge, well below them, when it began to shimmer and glow. With a burst of light it exploded into millions of tiny pieces. Bows were lowered and the sorcerers all stared, along with everyone else, as the light expanded into the shape of a person and then it faded, leaving Morgain standing there, staring at them all.
Blaise blanched and almost fell from the dragon he was on. His bow was empty again which meant he was the only one to have fired on them. Toby knew Blaise had been trying to destroy the talisman before Morgain could be released.
Morgain, her expression as black as a thunder cloud, stared straight at her son and raised her left hand, pointing at him with one finger. Blaise fumbled to get another arrow ready but it dropped from his shaking fingers and, with a look of pure fear in his eyes, he pushed free of Kaylene and tried to leap off the dragon’s back. The fall would surely have killed him but he seemed to prefer it to the wrath of his mother. Instead he hovered in mid-air, held there by his mother’s powers, leaving a terrified Kaylene clinging to the dragon on her own.
“Morgain?” A voice from the midst of the dragons cried out. “We thought you lost when Klel ran off and took you with him.”
“He did not run away… I did. He came to look after me,” Morgain corrected them. “He did nothing wrong. I begged him to take me for that flight the day I fell. I wasn’t holding on as I should have been. It wasn’t his fault.”
The sorcerer’s faces coloured with shame and embarrassment and the dragons on which they rode hung their heads in shame. The dragons’ eyes faded to a pale blue that Toby took to be their expression of shame.
Klel. Son. Forgive us! Klel’s father flew in low and hovered close to his son. We have wronged you.
Klel nodded his head briefly but did not reply. It would obviously take time for their relationship to be healed.
“My son has something to tell you all,” Morgain said with a firm tone that dripped with the threat of dropping him. “I may have been trapped in the stone but I was always aware of everything going on outside it.”
“I would have taken over the world!” Blaise shouted angrily, seeming not to care if his mother did drop him.
Morgain quickly told all that her son had done and the dragons and sorcerers quickly moved in and grabbed hold of him, flying him back towards the village.
The rest of them were transported back by other dragons. Sanelle ran to hug her mother as soon as they landed. Toby stood a short distance from them trying to comfort the still shaking Kaylene.
“It’s okay Kay… Klel wouldn’t have let you fall. He would have come to get you,” Toby reassured her, not expecting her to remember when Klel had saved her before, but a sudden spark in her eyes said that it did sound familiar.
“Thank you for releasing me,” Morgain said as she and Sanelle came over to join them.
“I didn’t do it,” Toby replied quickly. “I gave my magic to Klel.”
Morgain looked to her daughter for an explanation and Sanelle told of how they had both given their magic to Klel after King Herat nearly killed him by removing too many scales. It took several minutes to tell the whole story and her mother listened intently to it all.
“You only gave the magic you had grown so far, Toby. It just had to start growing again and here in the valley it grows very quickly,” Morgain assured him seeming very proud of them both for saving Klel.
“What will happen to Blaise now?” Sanelle asked as she watched him being led away under heavy guard.
“That is up to the elders, but they will probably strip his magic completely and banish him from the valley,” Morgain replied sadly. “I had hoped that he would change.”
King Herat stood nearby and Morgain watched as he walked slowly over to her.
“I’m sorry I never believed you, Morgain,” he said, a little meekly for a king.
“I believe it is Klel you owe an apology to. I thought he lived at the castle by choice. If I had known you held him prisoner I would have…” She let her threat trail off as King Herat coloured with embarrassment.
“I will take any punishment I am given. I can see I was wrong to harm the dragon.” King Herat pulled his shoulders back and stood bravely willing to accept his fate.
“Punishment is not the only way to deal with things,” Morgain said and Prince Rory nodded in agreement. “I’m sure you’ll find a way to make it up to Klel.”
“You’re not going to imprison me, or strike me down?” King Herat looked surprised and he frowned uncomfortably at her leniency. “I deserve to be punished.”
“You must find a better way,” Morgain insisted as she walked off, linking her arms with both Sanelle and Toby, and leaving the king to think about it.
Toby pulled Kaylene with them as Morgain headed towards the crowd of sorcerers and sorceresses who were waiting patiently to greet her.
“My daughter, Sanelle,” Morgain said as she introduced her to several relatives who crowded around her.
“Who’s the boy?” An elderly lady, supported by a stout cane asked.
“Toby…” Morgain trailed off with a frown. “I don’t actually know who he is.”
She turned to Toby and he just shrugged his shoulders.
“I never knew my parents,” Toby told her.
“He looks a bit like old Harry,” the old lady said, peering closely at Toby.
“Nah, more like Jess,” another said and a loud discussion followed but nothing was decided.
“I guess you could just say you’re a son of the valley,” Morgain suggested. “We may never know who your parents were, but you are family to everyone here.”
Toby blushed, overwhelmed to find
he now had more relatives than he could ever have dreamed of, and he quietly slipped away from the crowd, taking Kaylene with him.
“What now?” Kaylene asked as they sat on a small hill in the long grass and stared out across the valley.
“I guess you go home,” Toby replied. “I’m sure you’ll start to remember things soon.”
“And you?” Kaylene prompted.
“I don’t know. I guess I could go back to the castle.” Toby frowned thoughtfully. “I’d like to see a bit of the world though. Travel around a bit.”
If apprentice go, master go. Klel came up behind them and Toby turned in surprise.
“Surely you’ll stay now that you’re home again,” Toby said as Klel settled comfortably onto the grass next to them.
Always wanted travel. Never much chance. Klel lifted his foreleg that still bore the worn spot where his chain had been.
Toby had to admit that travelling would be far easier and much more fun with Klel along and he grinned at the dragon.
It was over a day later that they all assembled on the plateau next to the waterfall. Blaise was there with them, looking defiant and angry despite the fact that his eyes had returned to the dull brown that showed his powers had been taken from him. He stood slightly apart from the others, with his arms tied behind him, as King Herat and Prince Rory studied King Robet and the gathered guards on the other side.
“How are we going to get through there without giving them the opportunity to come through?” Prince Rory asked as he waded into the lake to get a better look.
Wait for night. Sneak through. Klel suggested, hovering effortlessly over the top of the prince.
Nobody could come up with a better suggestion so they sat and waited until night fell on the far side of the waterfall. King Robet had left for the night and the guards who had remained to watch the waterfall were huddled together around a small fire, not even watching the lake.
“We’ll take Kay back to the North Kingdom. There’s no need for her to travel that long way by wagon,” Toby offered looking over to see if Klel minded and the dragon nodded in agreement.
Always help good friends, he said in a gentle voice that made Kaylene blush with embarrassment.
