by Brandon Mull
Grimp licked his lips. “After you cross, the bridge belongs to me. Officially. Not squatter’s rights. Not a claim. Mine. Final word from the illustrious gamekeeper.”
“Unacceptable,” Henrick said with a growl.
“It costs you nothing,” Grimp replied. “I already claimed it. This bridge is almost never used by the Blackwell staff. And you won’t be pretending to have a say over it much longer.”
“Unacceptable,” Henrick repeated.
“I’ll throw in lifetime privileges,” the troll said. “You ever come back this way, cross as often as you like, with whoever accompanies you.”
“Not a chance,” Henrick said.
“One last offer,” Grimp said. “Tell me who is with you and your business tonight. On your honor. And you’re free to pass.”
“I’m glad that was the last offer,” Henrick said.
“Are you sure you want a brawl rather than a negotiation?” Grimp asked. “Are you sure you can take me before they get hurt? Are you even sure you can take me?”
“Let’s find out,” Henrick said.
“No counterproposal?” Grimp asked.
“Sure. Move out of the way. Three. Two.”
The troll lifted a tube to his lips. Kendra flinched, fearing it was a blowgun, but the troll ducked under the railing and slipped beneath the bridge. A long, low note sounded. A moaning call.
“Ride!” Henrick yelled, bow still ready.
Glory surged forward and Kendra hung on tight. Mendigo sat behind her, clattering and tinkling. “Protect us as needed, Mendigo!” she called.
Galloping beside her brother, Kendra raced across the bridge. Henrick followed, bow still ready. Looking back, Kendra saw no sign of the troll. But the moaning call kept sounding.
“Dire bears,” Henrick said as he caught up. “The scoundrel is calling dire bears. He knew he couldn’t stand up against me in a fair fight. Trolls and their traps.”
They started racing up the slope at the far side of the bridge. The way ahead was clear except for brush and bushes, with trees off to either side.
“Dire bears sound bad,” Seth said.
“Bigger and more aggressive than any bear you know,” Henrick said. “Magically enhanced. Huge and fierce. Several roam this area of the sanctuary.”
“Will they come?” Kendra shouted.
“Depends,” Henrick said. “If Grimp prepared correctly, he conditioned them by blowing the call and having fresh meat at the bridge.”
A huge roar bellowed from off to one side.
“Not good?” Seth asked.
“Glory, Noble, keep going toward the grove,” Henrick said. “I’ll rejoin you later.”
With an arrow still held ready, Henrick veered to the right, toward the sound of the roar. Kendra watched in fear as a pair of bears the size of elephants stormed out of the forest. Grotesque spines bristled on their heads, backs, and shoulders, and vicious teeth showed when they roared again.
Henrick ran straight at them, an arrow nocked and ready. He swerved as the nearest sprang at him, launching an arrow into the immense, shaggy beast. The attacking bear just missed the alcetaur, who circled around and released a second arrow into the hindquarters of the other dire bear.
Glory continued to pound up the slope beside Noble. The weedy ground streaked by in a blur. Kendra realized that she could get really hurt just by falling. Glancing to the side and back, she saw that Henrick had succeeded in getting the hulking bears to chase him.
“Should we help him?” Seth called.
“He wants us to get away,” Kendra replied. “He told us he’s fast. If we go back we might endanger him more. Once we’re clear he can run.”
“What about Mendigo?” Seth asked.
“Against the bears?” Kendra shouted. “I don’t think he’s big enough. He wouldn’t even slow them.”
Seth seemed satisfied.
Kendra looked back again. Henrick was leading the dire bears toward the bridge. The bears were very fast, but his zigzagging path seemed to give them trouble. Turning was not their forte.
Noble and Glory plunged into woodlands again, and Kendra could no longer see Henrick or the colossal bears. The deeper they fled into the trees, the more Kendra hoped the horses knew where they were going. She had no idea.
After some time they emerged from the woods. The horses ran along ridges and over hills. Racing through the night without Henrick kept Kendra on edge. The night sounds made her anxious—ominous hoots and chilling howls. What if they met more dire bears? Or a dragon?
As they cantered across a moonlit meadow, Kendra heard hoofbeats from behind. Turning, she was relieved to see Henrick catching up. Noble and Glory slowed without being told.
“We can pause here,” Henrick said, coming to a stop. Sweat glossed his torso, and he was panting. There were noticeably fewer arrows in his quiver.
The horses halted as well.
“Are you all right?” Kendra asked.
“I got some exercise,” Henrick said. “There were a few close calls.”
“Those bears were enormous,” Seth said.
“Dangerous beasts,” Henrick agreed. “Savage. Strong. My arrows were minor annoyances. But the dire bears lost interest in me after I outdistanced them.”
“Should you have bargained with the troll?” Kendra asked.
“I wish I could have,” Henrick said. “I didn’t want to provoke violence, especially with you two present. But Grimp was testing his limits. As you witnessed, our authority is in question right now. If I had yielded to his demands, word would have spread quickly that we are on our way out and can be bought. That we back down under duress. It would have spawned much bigger problems in the future.”
“Good thinking,” Seth approved.
“Necessary thinking, if we want Wyrmroost to survive,” Henrick said. “This sanctuary is a wild place under the best conditions. We already have enough enemies. We can’t afford to lose our credibility.”
“Are we getting close to Dromadus?” Kendra asked.
“Almost there,” Henrick said. “This way.”
Kendra and Seth followed Henrick to the edge of the meadow. They rode through some small trees and came out into a field. At the far side of the field, Kendra saw a grove of sequoias towering in the moonlight.
“That has to be it,” Kendra said.
“I believe so,” Henrick replied, eyes on the sky.
Kendra looked up too, scanning for dragons. She saw only stars. The moon was slowly disappearing behind another cloud.
They hurried to the redwoods. The grove included perhaps fifty trees, spaced widely apart, with little undergrowth between them. Deep, jagged grooves marred the rough bark of the thick trunks.
At the center of the grove they found a clearing. Toward the center of the clearing a pair of what looked like cellar doors were flanked by large stones. The upright stones had flat surfaces that carried several inscriptions. Kendra could not read some of them. The rest repeated a single word: WELCOME.
“I see a lot of ‘welcome,’” Seth said. “What does the rest say?”
“Probably the same invitation in various languages,” Henrick said. “I can’t read them all. But enough to guess.”
Kendra dismounted and approached the stones. “I can read these.” She touched the legible words. Each “welcome” looked like English to her, though she knew several were being translated by her fairykind abilities.
“‘Welcome,’” Seth said, touching one that Kendra could read. “And this. And this. This too. And this.”
Some of the inscriptions Seth indicated looked like gibberish to Kendra. As a shadow charmer, he could read some languages that remained foreign to her. But she knew that some of the languages she understood were illegible for him.
“Impressive,” Henrick said. “Between the
two of you, you can decipher most of the languages of the magical races. Highly unusual for mortals.”
“What if the stuff we can’t read is the fine print?” Seth asked. “Welcome . . . to dinner. You are the main course.”
“The simple welcome message is ominous enough,” Henrick said. “One of the first rules of Wyrmroost is to let sleeping dragons lie. Don’t stir up trouble with the most powerful predators in the magical world. Dragon lairs are never inviting. And yet this one has a clear invitation.”
“Like a spiderweb welcoming the flies,” Kendra said.
“You get the idea,” Henrick replied, looking around. “You two came to see Dromadus. We appear to be unobserved.”
“Are you coming with us?” Kendra asked.
“My presence would reduce your chances for help,” Henrick said. “Your vulnerability makes you more appealing. And inside the lair of a dragon, if he decided to kill you, there would be nothing I could do to stop him.”
“Would the dragon freeze you up?” Seth wondered.
“I can hold my own against a dragon,” Henrick said. “I can still move and speak. Otherwise I would be an unfit gamekeeper. But the presence of a dragon is not comfortable. My preference is to run.”
Kendra took Seth’s hand. “I guess it’s just us.”
“And me,” Calvin chirped from Seth’s pocket. “I’ve never met a dragon.”
“Don’t be surprised if you get frozen with fear,” Seth said.
“That’s never happened to me before,” Calvin said. “Either I’ll find out I’m as brave as I suspect, or I’ll have a new experience. Good either way.”
“It might help if the dragon doesn’t notice you, Calvin,” Henrick said. “They can concentrate their intimidation on a target.”
The alcetaur crouched, grabbed one of the heavy, wooden cellar doors, and heaved it open. A dim stairway yawned before them.
“Nothing creepy about that,” Seth said, peering down. “Just an old basement in the middle of a forest. Where a dragon lives.”
“What about Mendigo?” Kendra asked.
“I don’t think the puppet can help you or harm you in this matter,” Henrick said.
“Mendigo, stand guard with Henrick,” Kendra said. She smiled at her brother. “Shall we?”
“Ready to fly into the spiderweb?” Seth asked.
“Let’s not think of it like that,” Kendra said.
“Jump into the cooking pot?” Calvin tried.
“Not that way either,” Kendra said. “I’m not sure we need a comparison. Walking into a dragon’s lair is bad enough.”
“Amen,” Henrick said. “Keep your wits about you. Be polite but show no weakness.”
“Did you hear the polite part, Seth?” Calvin asked.
“I know,” Seth snapped.
“You’re the boss,” Calvin said brightly.
Kendra looked back at the horses. “Thanks, Glory. Thanks, Noble. Good job back there.”
The horses bobbed their heads.
“Stop saying good-bye,” Seth said. “You’re jinxing us. We’ll see them in a minute.”
“Henrick, do you have any paper?” Kendra asked. “Maybe we should write a quick will.”
“Come on,” Seth growled, pulling his sister forward as she laughed at her own joke.
Dromadus
Kendra and Seth walked down, down, down. Soon all Seth could see was blackness. Glancing back, he could barely make out the moonlit door. Then even that disappeared. Another step. Another. With one hand sliding along the wall, he blindly trusted that the stairs continued.
“Can you see?” Seth asked.
“Yeah,” Kendra said, her hand giving his a reassuring squeeze. “Dim, though.”
“Should I get out a flashlight?” Seth asked. “Or does that make us too obvious?”
“It would make us pretty obvious,” Kendra said.
“You have amazing eyesight,” Calvin said. “I see pretty well at night. But this looks like the darkness in the middle of darkness, where, from the highest mountain, under a starless sky, all horizons are black, and light has never touched. But we’re beneath the mountain, in the deepest cave, where—”
“We get it,” Seth interrupted. “It’s really dark.”
“You can almost take a bite out of it,” Calvin said.
“What do you see?” Seth asked.
“It’s so black that I’m kind of imagining faint shimmers of color,” Calvin said. “Like when you close your eyes too tight for too long. Oh, wait, my eyes were closed. It doesn’t make a difference!”
“I was asking Kendra,” Seth clarified.
“Just more stairs,” Kendra said. “They go as far as I can see. A long, straight staircase. Rough steps, carved out of the rock.”
“Is it narrow?” Seth asked.
“Pretty narrow. Not much bigger than the entrance. Hugo could touch the ceiling.”
“There must be another entrance,” Seth said. “A dragon wouldn’t fit.”
“Unless he goes in and out in human form,” Calvin said.
“Good point,” Seth agreed. “Kendra, tell us if you see anything interesting.”
“Are more stairs interesting?” she asked.
“Barely,” Seth replied.
They descended without speaking for a time. Seth was quietly glad to have Kendra’s hand to hold.
“I see the bottom,” Kendra reported.
“Tell me when we get to the last step,” Seth said.
About forty steps later she started warning him. “Five more, four, three, two, last one.”
“What does it look like now?” Seth asked.
“A roundish tunnel cut through the rock,” Kendra said.
“Not like a natural cave?” Seth asked.
“No,” Kendra said. “Like it was drilled. Or burrowed. It looks too even.”
They walked forward in darkness. Seth kind of shuffled in the hope that his toes would bump against any unseen obstacle.
“The ground is smooth,” Kendra told him. “I see a door! The tunnel ends at a door. Old, thick wood, like the doors at the entrance.”
Eventually they stopped. Seth heard Kendra pull the door open.
“More darkness,” Calvin said. “With the door closed, do you think it is even darker in there?”
“I think we’ve reached the limit,” Seth said.
“This is big,” Kendra said. “Huge. Not a tunnel anymore. I can’t see the far side. A big cavern. High ceiling.”
“Could a dragon fit?” Seth asked.
“Yes,” Kendra said, leading them through the doorway.
“Do you see a dragon?” Calvin asked.
“It looks empty,” Kendra said.
“I’m getting out my flashlight,” Seth said. Keeping hold of Kendra’s hand, he used his other hand to open his satchel and root around. He took out a flashlight and switched it on. The light seemed extra bright after the prolonged darkness. It was a good flashlight with a strong beam, but even so, it barely illuminated the far side of the vast cavern. A large rock pile littered most of the room, a jumble of dusty stone, perhaps the remnants of a cave-in. There was no dragon in view.
Seth swung the flashlight beam around the cavern. There was no other apparent exit. No doors or caves.
“Is he even here?” Seth asked.
“Maybe he’s gone,” Kendra said. “It looks abandoned. Maybe there’s another room.”
“Can he walk through walls?” Seth asked.
“A secret passage?” Kendra wondered. “Hello?” she called. “Dromadus? We need your help!”
They listened to the silence.
“This is a bust,” Seth said. “That’s what we get for listening to a dusty old knight who sat in the same room for a thousand years. Should we be surprised he’s
not up to date?”
The rock pile shifted, boulders scraping and rolling. Startled, Kendra and Seth both skipped away from the disturbance. The huge head of a dragon craned up from the rubble, nostrils flaring. The head looked cunningly hewn from rock, the top all knobby, a few tendrils dangling like whiskers from the stony mouth. Seth spotlighted the head with his flashlight. The sudden dust in the air made the beam of light look almost tangible.
This head was bigger than Celebrant’s head. Seth tried to imagine the size of the body attached to such a head. It had to fill much of the room, entirely buried in rocks.
“Why would the Somber Knight send you to me?” the dragon asked in a gentle, resonant baritone, dark eyes blinking.
“You almost gave me a heart attack!” Seth shouted. “Are you Dromadus?”
“Such is my fate,” the dragon responded. “I did not mean to alarm you. Lying quietly can be a useful way to discover the intent of intruders. I believe you mentioned the Somber Knight. At least he fits your description. What is his interest in me?”
“We’re the new caretakers of Wyrmroost,” Kendra explained. “He thought you could help us.”
“The Somber Knight has never taken much interest in dragons except to kill us,” Dromadus said. “Why would he want me to advise caretakers?”
“Celebrant is a caretaker now too,” Seth said. “He has been attacking Blackwell Keep. The Somber Knight wants to save the sanctuary.”
“As do you, I suppose,” Dromadus said. “I removed myself from the affairs of wizards and dragons long ago. I will not raise fang or claw against a dragon, least of all the Dragon King.”
“We just need information,” Kendra said. “Celebrant has the scepter from Blackwell Keep. We need to find the other one. It won’t harm the dragons. It will just protect us.”
“And the Somber Knight believes that I know the location?” Dromadus asked. “Why would a defeated old dragon know such a precious secret?”
“You were friends with the wizard who founded Wyrmroost,” Seth said. “He might have told you.”
“Archadius established Wyrmroost,” Dromadus said. “The first and greatest wizard. Others helped him. Archadius and I had a friendship of sorts, though in the end he despised me. I am a popular dragon to hate.”
