Dragon Valley Trilogy

by Linda McNabb

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  TAKING TRYX HOME

  Kheron stared at the cat as Dyahn picked it up and held it up for them to see. His face had gone a pasty white colour, which clashed terribly with his red hair, and his mouth dropped open.

  ‘How did you do that?’ Falh asked, looking as unsure of himself as Rhonan had ever seen. He stared at her shadow and then pushed her hair back from her ears to check if they were pointed. ‘You’re a hunter, not an elf.’

  ‘Maybe it’s because she’s a bit of both?’ Rhonan suggested.

  ‘Yes, yes, that must be it,’ Falh said and he nodded furiously. ‘It must be. Hunters can’t do elf magic.’

  ‘It isn’t right,’ Kheron muttered as he backed away and sat on a large rock.

  Dyahn, over the shock of succeeding, was now looking immensely pleased with herself and she was stroking the cat and holding it tightly.

  Tryx and the dog were bounding about noisily and both had now seen the pink cat. They rushed up, frightening the cat, which leapt out of Dyahn’s arms and hissed angrily at them. Both Tryx and the dog stared at it in surprise then the dog started barking furiously.

  ‘We should get going,’ Falh said as he stood up a little shakily and frowned once more. ‘You should get rid of the cat first though. We can’t have too many animals.’

  ‘No way,’ Dyahn said defensively. ‘I made the cat and I’m keeping it. I want to prove to father that I’m part elf too. Rhonan’s dog is making more noise than my cat. Make him get rid of his dog. Who ever heard of a blue dog anyway!’ She slipped the rock into her pocket and pouted.

  ‘Or a pink cat,’ Kheron added, earning himself a glare from Dyahn.

  ‘Just keep well away from each other and they shouldn’t bother each other,’ Falh said with a sigh. ‘They can only go about a dozen paces from the rock itself.’

  Rhonan picked up his pet-rock and walked several dozen steps away. The blue dog followed obediently, but Tryx was more interested in the cat. She came up to it and nuzzled it curiously. The pink cat hissed and swiped the dragonet’s nose with her claws. Tryx looked surprised but did not flinch.

  ‘She can’t hurt Tryx,’ Falh explained as he picked up his pack and started to walk towards the mountains again. ‘She is just an illusion after all.’

  He began to walk much faster than before they stopped as if he could leave behind the magic that Dyahn had done. It wasn’t until he realised that the injured dragon and the children couldn’t keep up with him that he slowed down, but he remained silent as they walked and a deep frown creased his forehead.

  They camped that night at the base of a small mountain, sheltered from the wind by a large rock. Falh set about building a campfire as it was a cool night. The huge mountains ahead of them had blocked the sun hours ago and a bitter wind was whipping along the barren rocky landscape.

  ‘Won’t the hunters see it?’ Dyahn asked as she looked dubiously at the roaring fire.

  ‘It’s on the far side of the rock and it’ll be dark soon so unless they’re looking directly this way in the next minute they won’t know we’re here.’ Falh threw another stick on the fire as he glared at the rocks in her hands. Dyahn hadn’t been satisfied with having just one pet-rock – she had picked up a dozen more small stones and rocks and now had a collection of assorted animals playing around her wherever she went.

  ‘Don’t you think you have enough now?’ Kheron asked, looking very annoyed.

  ‘I might make some more,’ Dyahn said with a teasing tone. ‘If I feel like it.’

  Kheron looked frustrated but he threw a stick on the fire instead of replying.

  ‘Don’t worry, if you don’t talk about it anymore she’ll get bored and stop doing it,’ Rhonan suggested as Dyahn wandered off to play with her colourful menagerie followed by a delighted dragonet.

  ‘We’ll leave at first light as it is still a long way to the mountains,’ Falh said and took some food from a backpack he had carried from Shaldoh.

  Rhonan looked up ahead at the mountains and was sure he saw winged shapes flying above them. Dragons. They must be huge if he could see them from this distance. He shook the thought from his mind and turned to Falh.

  ‘Can you show me some more elf magic?’ He asked and Dyahn’s head snapped around with interest but Falh shook his head.’

  ‘Maybe later,’ Falh promised. ‘We need to concentrate on other things for now.’

  After a light meal they fell asleep almost immediately with the dragonet curled up as close to the fire as she could get. She had grown again and blocked most of the heat from the fire, causing Rhonan to get up and shove her aside. She grumbled but stayed out of the way. Rhonan went back to lay down feeling relieved that the dragonet was on their side. She was so large now that if she were not their friend they could have been in big trouble.

  The next morning Rhonan gently patted Tryx’s side. Everyone else was up and ready to go but Tryx had slumbered on, snoring nosily.

  ‘It’s time to go,’ he said, as the dragon opened one sleepy eye. A second later the eye flickered shut again.

  ‘Dragonets sleep a lot,’ Kheron said, nodding his head as if he had expected her to be hard to wake. ‘Isn’t that right father?’

  ‘Yes, they do most of their growing while they sleep,’ Falh replied, then he said loudly. ‘We’re going to find more dragons.’

  Home? Tryx’s eyes snapped open and she stood up slowly. They headed off at first light and Falh’s pace wasn’t much slower than the previous day but by late afternoon the mountains loomed in front of them. They were at the foot of a group of large mountains that cast the afternoon shadow over the lands behind them. The slope was steep and seemed un-climbable.

  ‘Do we have to go up there?’ Rhonan asked and Falh nodded. ‘I can’t see a way up.’

  ‘I know a way,’ Falh told him. ‘We are very near where the dragon’s live.’

  ‘Have you been up here before, father?’ Kheron asked. ‘I thought you said it was too dangerous a place to ever go. You wouldn’t let me ever come here before.’

  ‘That’s because I’ve been there and seen how dangerous it is,’ Falh answered with the cryptic logic of a parent. ‘We lived not far from here when I was young. Bryn and I used to sneak up here to watch the dragons and we were always in trouble for it.’

  ‘Do we have to let her go home?’ Dyahn asked as she reached up to put her arm around the dragonet’s neck and hugged her. The dragonet had grown even more and was now taller than Dyahn. ‘I want her to stay with us.’

  ‘And where do you intend to keep her?’ Falh asked patiently. He had stopped mentioning the pet-rocks and Dyahn appeared to have stopped creating them but there were still a dozen cats, birds and rabbits all around her. ‘And she’s eaten all almost all the food we had and is still hungry. Imagine how much food she’ll need when she’s fully grown.’

  Dyahn sighed but did not protest as they followed Falh around the base of the mountain. A small forest grew at the foot of the mountain and Falh led them towards it.

  ‘We will have to wait for first light tomorrow,’ Falh said, sitting down with his back against a tree. ‘The way up is far too tricky to follow in the dark.’

  They spent another cold night but this time Falh would not allow them a fire in case any of the dragons saw it. There was very little breakfast either as Tryx had eaten almost everything they had. It was a tired and hungry group of travellers that followed Falh back to the mountain.

  They finally came to a small trail, which wound its way up the mountain. The dragon’s wing was almost better and her limp had completely gone. She looked at the trail, snorted at the steepness of it, tried to launch herself jerkily into the air and fell back to the ground when her wing would not support her.

  ‘I guess her wing is still hurting,’ Rhonan commented as the dragon grumpily followed them on foot.

  ‘Keep those pet-rocks quiet or it will let the dragons know we’re coming and that would not be a good idea.’ Falh stare
d hard at Dyahn for a few seconds until she sighed and took the dozen rocks from her pocket. She rubbed out part of the circle on each one and the pets faded away as if they had never been there. Rhonan did the same and sadly watched his blue dog cease to exist.

  The narrow path was more suitable for a goat than humans but nobody dared to complain. More than once Rhonan had to grab hold of the hardy flax that grew on the rocky mountain to stop him falling. Falh was holding tightly to Dyahn as they worked their way slowly up the mountain in the grey half-light of dawn. Kheron was bringing up the rear along with Tryx. Her wing was still not able to extend fully and she was forced to scramble up the mountain on foot. It clearly wasn’t what she wanted and she grumbled softly to herself.

  The air around them was quiet and oddly unsettling. There weren’t even any birds singing to welcome the sun. Rhonan almost missed the noise from Dyahn’s menagerie as it would have stopped him hearing his own heart thumping so loudly.

  ‘We’ll need to speed up a bit,’ Falh said as he stopped on a narrow ledge and waited for them to catch up. ‘We need to get over the bridge and through the pass before the dragons wake up for the day.’

  ‘But don’t we want the dragons to see us?’ Dyahn asked, looking back at Tryx. ‘We want them to see Tryx.’

  ‘Not yet,’ Falh replied. ‘They don’t like humans and if they see her with us they are likely to reject her.’

  Rhonan could tell from his uncle’s frown that there was a lot more to it but nobody asked what it was. After a very short rest they continued on up the rocky path. The air was getting colder with every step and Rhonan’s fingers were going numb. His breath was coming out in great clouds of mist and his throat hurt with every breath.

  ‘Is it much further?’ Dyahn asked quietly as she slipped yet again on the loose shingle.

  ‘It flattens out soon,’ Falh said as he hauled her to her feet and picked her up, carrying her effortlessly. They came around a sharp bend and the top of the mountain came into view.

  ‘I see a dragon,’ Kheron said, jabbing his finger excitedly into Rhonan’s back. ‘Look up on the ridge.’

  Rhonan paused and looked up ahead. Sure enough an immense blue dragon sat perched on a rocky outcrop, surveying the land around. It was very similar to the illusion Kheron had created in the forest, but much larger.

  ‘Hide!’ Falh hissed. He almost threw Dyahn into a small bush and waved the others back around the corner. ‘Don’t let Tryx through.’

  Rhonan hurried back around the bend and both he and Kheron looked at Tryx a little uneasily. How were they supposed to stop the dragon? She was almost as tall as Rhonan now and twice as wide. The golden dragon seemed confused by their sudden stop and she nudged them ahead again.

  ‘Tryx, you need to stay here for a bit,’ Kheron said, trying to get the dragon to listen.

  A raucous cry of the blue dragon pierced the air and Tryx immediately stopped trying to push her way past. Instead she shrank back and her eyes whirled to a red, angry glow. A low snarl began to rumble deep inside her.

  ‘What’s wrong with her?’ Rhonan whispered to his cousin. Kheron shrugged in reply.

  ‘It’s coming this way!’ a tense whisper floated back to them. ‘Kheron – we need a diversion.’

  Rhonan’s eyebrow rose. A diversion for a huge blue dragon – what could be used to take attention away from them? Kheron didn’t seem to be having the same doubts as he grabbed a handful of rocks and began scribbling furiously on them with his blue chalk. He was throwing them at Rhonan’s feet after he drew on each one. He reached into his pocket and also threw down a narrow stick of chalk.

  ‘Make them pretty big,’ he said without looking up.

  Rhonan picked up the first one, saw it had a large-winged bird on one side and immediately flipped it over to draw the last part of the pet rock.

  Within a minute there were a dozen blue birds circling just above Tryx. They seem to have taken the young dragon’s attention away from whatever was upsetting her and she reached up to swat at one of them.

  ‘I’ll make you some later,’ Kheron promised as he patted Tryx gently on the nose. Rhonan handed the pet rocks over to his cousin who drew back his arm and threw the stones out across the flatlands behind them. The birds, tied to a limited space around the rock, followed instantly – soaring and swirling down the side of the mountain.

  With a loud sharp cry, right above them, the blue dragon shot overhead and down after the birds. A gust of wind almost blew them off the side of the mountain and Rhonan fell back against the mountain, banging his head. It took a second for Falh’s voice to register as Rhonan watched the immense dragon catch up with the birds and try fruitlessly to catch them.

  ‘Rhonan, get up!’

  With a start, Rhonan stood up and they all ran up the last slope of the narrow track. Nobody had to be told to hurry. They all knew the illusion wouldn’t fool the blue dragon for long.

  The ground levelled out to a small plateau which was covered with small trees and bushes. They dashed for a small thicket of trees, with Rhonan and Kheron herding Tryx along ahead of them.

  They had only just reached the trees when the angry sounds of a frustrated dragon came closer. The blue dragon flew straight over their hiding place without pausing. Rhonan hadn’t realised he was holding his breath until Kheron slapped him on the back and grinned at him.

  ‘Well done cousin, that was good team work,’ the young elf said. ‘Wasn’t he beautiful?’

  Beautiful? It wasn’t a word that Rhonan would have used, but he supposed the dragon had been impressive, if only by its size.

  ‘It’s gone,’ Falh assured them as he peered out around the trees. ‘But I doubt that’s the last we’ll see of it.’

  ‘You used to come up here and do this as a child?’ Rhonan asked his uncle. It was a leading question that Falh seemed to understand immediately.

  ‘I wasn’t really a child, your brother and I were similar in age to you and Kheron,’ Falh replied, seeming a little hesitant to answer. ‘It wasn’t really as dangerous as it seems.’

  ‘And we were told off for going to ride wild ponies!’ Dyahn muttered. ‘I’m going to see them every week after this.’

  ‘I don’t think Tryx wants to go home,’ Rhonan said, taking a step away from the golden dragon.

  Tryx’s eyes had turned red again and she was trying to lift off and fly after the blue dragon, but by the growl of anger it wasn’t to make friends. Thankfully her right wing was still too weak to hold her aloft and she sank back to the ground.

  ‘She doesn’t seem to like her own kin,’ Kheron mused. ‘I wonder why?’

  ‘These are just the lookout,’ Falh told them. ‘The rest of the dragons live over the peak, down in the valley.’

  ‘Why do they need a lookout?’ Dyahn asked. ‘What are they looking out for?’

  ‘I have no idea,’ Falh replied with a shrug. ‘Bryn and I often wondered that but we never worked it out. Dragons hate the cold and they wouldn’t stay here if they didn’t have to. Whatever it is, it’s important enough to make them live in freezing snow all year around.’

  After another check of the ridge, Falh hurried them across the plateau. There was snow on the ground now and it soaked the edge of Rhonan’s trousers, numbing his legs instantly. He didn’t even care though as most of his attention was on the sky and where the safest hiding place was. It was due to this lack of attention to where they were going that he almost fell off the edge of a cliff. The ground vanished before him and a chasm about a hundred paces wide stretched out before him.

  ‘We cross over here,’ Falh said, grabbing Rhonan’s shirt to stop him tumbling off the edge. The red-haired elf pointed to a rocky outcrop that stretched most of the way out across the chasm. A narrow rope bridge stretched the rest of the way.

  Rhonan wasn’t the only one frowning as they followed Falh out onto the rocky ledge. Falh was testing his weight on the rock every few steps and then urging them to follow. They couldn’t get close
enough to ask what they all wanted to know until they were right out in the middle of the chasm.

  ‘Who built the rope bridge?’ Kheron was the first to ask as Falh seemed to be checking the condition of the ropes. Snow covered the supports and the wooden boards which formed the path across.

  ‘I don’t know. It was here when I was your age.’ Falh shook the snow from the bridge and then stepped out before the bridge even stopped swinging. ‘Wait until I’m on the other side. Then come across one at a time. I don’t think it will hold more than one.’

  The three children looked at each other nervously. The bridge looked like it was about to fall apart! Tryx also looked at the bridge, snorted once, spread her wings and glided across. Her injured wing stayed steady just long enough for her to reach the other side then she tipped sideways and landed awkwardly.

  Falh tested each wooden board, kicking one away into the depths of the chasm when it cracked. He reached the other side and turned back, urging them to follow and spoke quietly but the sound drifted across easily. ‘Dyahn, you first. Step exactly where I did. The ropes are almost rotten.’

  Rhonan was impressed as his little sister took a deep breath and half shut her eyes as she stepped out onto the unsteady rope bridge. The ropes creaked and groaned even under her slight weight. Rhonan sighed with relief as she reached the other side.

  Kheron stepped out next and was only half way when the one of the wooden boards snapped beneath his feet. The young elf had to grab the ropes to stop himself falling. Rhonan watched the board vanish into the seemingly bottomless chasm and a chill ran down his spine.

  Rhonan waited for his cousin to reach the other side before he dared to step onto the rope bridge. The boards beneath his feet were slippery and damp and the ropes were cold and brittle. He forced himself to concentrate on his feet as he stepped from one board to the next.