Then high above them came a loud whirr, and something blotted out the sun. Ellie cried out, Floriano gave a shrill whinny, and Marco looked around wildly. Before Marabel could move, much less call Bob Goblin on her bracelet, whatever was flying overhead landed with a whomp behind her.
“Book protect us,” she whispered. “Book protect us, because I’m not sure I can.”
old up there, folks!” It was Hotshot, and he sounded angry. They cowered as the dragon flared a huge flame over their heads. “That was a great landing,” he said. “I’m an expert in landing, if you’ll notice.”
“Expert!” Floriano muttered. “He nearly flattened us.”
The dragon turned to the unicorn. “You!” he snarled. “Big problem here. Frankly, you lied to me.”
“What?” Floriano nearly choked with indignation. “What are you talking about?”
“You deliberately sent me the wrong way. There’s no cave where you told me to look for it.” He shuffled closer, smoke billowing from his nostrils. They stepped back.
“You’ve already been to the cave?” Marabel asked. He must fly faster than a bird to have made that round-trip in such a short time.
“I tried,” Hotshot said. “The first part was easy for someone like me, with those incompetent guards. They should be fired, all of them.”
“You didn’t eat them, did you?” Marco asked.
“Or burn them up?” Ellie sounded horrified.
“No,” said Hotshot. “Would have attracted too much attention. I carried them back and popped them into your dungeon. No one will find them for a while—I left a ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door. Believe me, the guards will pay attention to it!” That might slow down the guards, Marabel thought, but her aunt Mab wouldn’t pay any attention to such a sign. And the thrennight was almost up!
Hotshot turned to Marco. “But what I want to know is, why did you tell me there was a beautiful vacant cave out there? I followed your directions perfectly, my friends, and it doesn’t exist. Crooked humans.”
“It does, too!” Ellie said. “We spent the night in it!”
“It’s a conspiracy,” Hotshot said darkly. “You’re all in this together. There’s no cave, and there never was any cave. Nobody there ever even heard of a cave, except for one that’s so small that even the elves who lived in it were complaining about the rent. I don’t see why I shouldn’t turn you over to the queen. Better yet, I should crisp you up right here.” He let a slender flame flicker out of his mouth.
“Wait,” Marabel said hastily. “You must have misunderstood Floriano’s directions.” But maybe the dragon was right. Maybe the cave really was gone. For all she knew, in the Barrens, even big things like caves disappeared. She was getting tired of magic. It was too unpredictable.
Hotshot said indignantly, “I’m an excellent listener. There’s nothing wrong with my hearing. Everyone knows that unicorns are liars. What you have here, folks, is a crooked unicorn.”
“He’s not crooked,” Ellie said indignantly. “Maybe he made a mistake. It isn’t like we were taking notes when we came here about which direction we went and when we turned, and things like that. You can’t blame Floriano!”
“I can blame whoever I like,” the dragon said. “When it comes to blame, my friends—”
Marabel interrupted him. “We can’t stay out in the open like this,” she said. “Anyone looking out a castle window can see us. Listen, Hotshot, Floriano had no reason to lie to you. Why don’t we show you in person where the cave is?”
“Show me?” the dragon sounded dubious. “I’m supposed to trot along after you, carrying these heavy bags, while you make your slow human way through the forest? Not Hotshot. I have better ways to spend my time.”
“Of course you do,” said Marabel. “You’re a very important dragon. So why don’t you carry us?”
“Just what I was about to suggest,” Hotshot said. This was obviously untrue, but it was fine with Marabel if he took credit for her idea, as long as they got away as quickly as possible.
“We humans can get on your back, and you can carry Floriano with your feet,” Marco said.
“I know, I know,” Hotshot said irritably. He lay down flat and stretched his wings to both sides. It was amazing how big he was. “Board by row number, please,” he said.
Ellie climbed onto the dragon’s neck. Marabel took her place right behind Hotshot’s wings, and Marco sat behind her. Marabel gripped the dragon with her knees. Fortunately, despite its shine, Hotshot’s skin wasn’t slippery, and the scales gave his passengers something to grip.
Floriano squealed as the dragon tightened a clawed foot around him. “I can’t breathe!” he cried.
“If you can talk, you can breathe, believe me,” the dragon said. “Would you rather I dropped you? I’d be glad to do that. Just say the word.”
Hotshot launched into a speech. “Welcome aboard DragonFlight 1313, nonstop to Cave. This is Captain Hotshot speaking. In the unlikely event that we need to gain altitude, the air will get thin. That means you’ll faint, and you’ll probably fall off. No refunds. In the event of a water landing, swim. Don’t bother trying to fasten your seat belt because there aren’t any. No smoking on board except by the captain.” He puffed smoke out his nose and chuckled. “A little joke,” he said, and then went on. “Due to the shortness of our flight and the lack of flight attendants, there will be no cabin service, so I hope you’re not hungry. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight, okay?”
The dragon extended his long, batlike wings and rose with a lurch that nearly threw off his passengers. The jolt made Marabel bite her tongue. She dug her knees into the dragon’s sides even harder and clutched the nearest scale.
They rose rapidly above the tops of even the tallest trees. Marabel kept her eyes squeezed shut when they tilted into a turn, as the dragon responded to Floriano’s shouted directions. After a few minutes she cracked her eyelids and peered down. She gasped and tightened her grip. Everything was so far away, and Mab’s castle was rapidly shrinking behind her.
On their way to the castle, she had concentrated so hard on surviving and on reaching Marco in time that she hadn’t really noticed her surroundings. Now she saw that despite the horror stories everyone in Magikos told about the Desolate Barrens, the realm was beautiful. The bright moonlight showed majestic trees lining the roads, and small villages that looked bustling and prosperous. They passed over a line of dwarves on their way home from work, singing as they approached a cozy-looking cottage. A group of ogre children played in a meadow, their long, skinny arms and legs making them look like spiders. Tiny lights danced in a field; at first she thought they were fireflies, but then she realized that they were moving in complicated patterns to a very definite rhythm. A fairy dance? she wondered, but they passed over the lights before she could see more.
A few minutes later, they crossed a wide, deep crack in the ground. As Marabel realized that it was the chasm around the giants’ mountain, the mountain itself rose in front of them and Hotshot banked steeply to the right. As they curved around the peak, Marabel caught sight of one of the giant children standing in the doorway of their towering house, looking up at them, her mouth hanging open. She squawked, “Mama!” And then they crossed the chasm and left the giants far behind them.
It had taken days to get from the giants’ home to Mab’s castle on foot, and now they had retraced that path in mere minutes. Flying really was the only way to go, she decided.
They were close to home now! What a welcome Marco would receive! Their father would be so proud of Marabel for rescuing him, and for the way she had outwitted and outfought all the dangers they’d encountered. When she showed him the gleaming metal sword, he’d understand that there was something special about her, something that turned wood to steel and gave her courage and skill. She couldn’t wait to see little Malcolm, Maisie, and Maria, and of course Lucius.
“Turn left here,” Floriano called up to Hotshot.
“Left? You told
me to turn right after the giants’ mountain! No wonder I couldn’t find it!”
“No, I didn’t! I said—”
Marabel stopped listening. She turned and looked over her shoulder at Marco, who was grinning with delight as he gazed down at the landscape far below them.
“Isn’t this amazing?” she asked.
“Best thing ever,” he agreed.
It was dark now, except for the light of the stars and the full moon, and the only way she could tell they were passing over a village was by spotting a group of houses with candlelight shining through the windows. Was this Cornelius’s village, or a different one? Which one was Cornelius’s home? Marabel wished she could tell him and his mother how successful their quest had been.
Marabel leaned forward and tapped Ellie on the shoulder. She pointed at a bridge where someone was reading a book by torchlight. The reader was sitting under what looked like the troll gate. Ellie looked back at her with a smile.
Now the dragon called back to his passengers, “Prepare for landing!”
“Prepare how?” Marco shouted.
“Hold on tight!” Hotshot yelled. He flew lower and lower until they were barely above the ground, which whizzed by at a terrifying speed. From below, Floriano gave a panicked whinny. The dragon bent his wings to slow them down but they were still going awfully fast when he dropped Floriano. And then, with another whomp, he landed.
Ellie slid off the dragon’s neck, followed closely by Marabel and Marco.
Floriano appeared from the other side of the meadow, limping slightly. Marabel expected him to complain, but instead, he held his head high and pranced as well as he could. “What an adventure!” he said. “Wait till I tell that stupid donkey. Now I see why my cousins the hippogriffs talk about flying all the time!”
“What’s a hippogriff?” Ellie asked Marabel.
“A horse with wings,” she answered. “I think most of them live in the same land as those centaurs.”
“So where’s this cave?” Hotshot broke in. “I’m starting to think you made it up so I’d let you out of the dungeon.”
“No, it’s close,” Marabel said. “It’s just over…” She broke off and looked around. Where was the cave? “If only we had some light!”
“Stand back,” the dragon said. They leaped away as he pursed his lips, and like someone spitting out a melon seed, he popped a little flame from his mouth. It landed on the tip of a pine branch, which burst into flames. Marco managed to break the branch off the tree without getting burned, and with this blazing torch to light the path, they made their way to the cave entrance.
“I hope he likes it,” Ellie whispered to Marabel.
“Me too! If he doesn’t, he might take us back to Mab’s castle.”
“Or burn us up right here.”
That was something that hadn’t occurred to Marabel, and she hurried to catch up with the dragon.
“As you can see,” she told him, “this is an up-and-coming neighborhood. There’s a road nearby that’s convenient to shopping, and you have running water right outside your door.”
“I’ve got to be honest, it sounds like it’ll be damp,” the dragon said.
“Oh no! It’s dry as can be. You’ll see.” She crossed her fingers for luck.
“Here we are,” Floriano called. Marabel held her breath, hoping that the dragon would fit, and after he ducked his head and squeezed his shoulders together, he did.
After an agonizingly long minute, the girls heard, “This is huge. HUGE!” They exhaled deep sighs of relief as the dragon went on, “Here’s the perfect spot for my piano! And my treasure will fit nicely in this side cave. If I put my table over here…”
The girls high-fived. Success!
Marco grinned. “Phew! I didn’t know that riding a dragon would be such hard work.”
Marabel realized that she ached all over, especially her legs and her back. “We have to keep going,” she said. “Mab’s army’s been gone a long time and may already be there. Mab will probably get there soon herself. I want to arrive before she does.”
“We can’t leave tonight,” Ellie said. “We’re all exhausted. I don’t want to go stumbling over rocks and roots in the dark, and it will be hard to find the opening of the tunnel at night. We have to wait until daylight.”
“We have a torch,” Marabel reminded her.
“That would make us visible to anyone looking for us,” Marco said. “Anyway, that torch won’t last all night.”
As though it had heard her, the torch flickered and went out.
Marabel had to agree reluctantly that they were right.
They were so tired that the voices of Hotshot and Floriano discussing color palettes and granite countertops versus marble didn’t keep them awake. Marabel slept deeply for the first time in days. Tomorrow they’d be home.
Only a few hours later, Marabel sat up with a start. She’d heard a twig snap.
She held still, barely daring even to breathe. Something rustled in the woods. It moved cautiously, but took such long strides she knew it had to be something very tall. A giant?
In the early light of dawn, Marabel found her wooden sword. The rustling continued, one step after another. Then it stopped.
The sky grew even lighter, and now she could make out, between herself and her sleeping companions, what appeared to be a tall stump with long, crooked branches.
The stump moved again, and extended itself a little upward.
With a yell of “Magikos!” Marabel sprang forward and grabbed the thing. She held the edge of her sword against it. “Don’t move or I’ll cut off your…” Was that its head?
The others leaped to their feet, and a puff of flame came out of the cave. Ellie’s eyes widened.
“Cornelius!” Marabel cried.
o that truly was a dragon flying over the village!” Cornelius said. “A splendid sight, but alas, none would believe me when I reported it. I’m pleased that I’ll be able to tell them back home that I spoke truthfully. Dragons are rare indeed near our village, especially lately. Most villagers are glad of this scarcity, since the fire breathers cause mischief wherever they roam. But I have always yearned to see one.”
“Don’t tell them quite yet, will you?” Marabel asked anxiously. She dropped kindling on the glowing coals she had found in the cave.
“Never fear, my lady,” Cornelius said. “If I were to speak on this with my compatriots, I would tell them that Sir Hotshot is a dragon of rare wit and benevolence and must be spared their wrath.”
“Thank you,” Marco said. “He’s not really that bad, once you get to know him.”
Marabel smiled to herself. That was so Marco! He’d been kept imprisoned by a fire-breathing reptile for almost a thrennight, and he still managed not to hate Hotshot.
Marco started to add a big log to the fire, but Marabel stopped him. “It’s too soon—you’ll put it out,” she said.
“You’ve learned a lot of things on this trip!” Marco said. “I wonder what Maggie will think when she sees you working!”
“Were you looking for us when Marabel found you?” Ellie asked Cornelius. “Or were you just trying to get a closer look at Hotshot?”
“At first, that was my motivation,” he admitted. “I desired to examine the creature from closer up, and if possible, to converse with him. A dragon must have much wisdom to impart!”
Marabel knew that if she looked at Marco, she’d burst out laughing at the thought of Hotshot saying anything wise, so she kept her eyes fixed on Cornelius.
“What do you mean, ‘at first’?” she asked.
“As I was making ready to depart my village on a voyage of discovery,” the ogre said, “a visitor arrived with a warning.”
“What kind of visitor?” Marco asked.
“A faery. One well known to us as a mischief-maker, who likes to lure unsuspecting people and beasts into his realm.”
“Wait a second!” Marabel broke in. “Is he tall? Does he have a pointy beard and a curl
y mustache?”
“Does he wear blue-and-purple robes?” asked Ellie.
“Does he have a—what do you call that thing?” Floriano turned to Marabel. “You know, that thing made of glass?”
“A mirror.”
“A mirror, right,” Floriano said. “And can he change into a beautiful unicorn when he wants to?”
Cornelius, looking bewildered at the barrage of questions, answered, “He is much as you describe, and is, in addition, a fair shape-shifter. As for mirrors, I know not whether he possesses one. Like all faeries, he owes no allegiance to the queen or anyone else. His sole motive in telling us about your escape is the delight he would find in causing you grief. In addition, he seems to hold some grudge against our friend Sir Floriano.” He bowed in the unicorn’s direction.
“It’s got to be the same guy,” Marabel said. “So what did he want, Cornelius?”
“He told us that word was trending on Flitter that some prisoners of the queen had escaped, and that furthermore, the queen’s great dragon had vanished at the same time. He asked if any of us had seen these fugitives.”
“You didn’t tell him anything, did you?” Marabel asked anxiously.
“Never fear, my lady! When you came to our village, you were going toward the castle, not away from it, the way escaped prisoners would do, so none suspected that you might be the ones the queen was seeking. And since none else in the village believed that in truth a dragon had overflown us, none told the faery that such a beast had been near.”
“Phew,” Marco said.
“But I knew that what I had seen was in truth a dragon,” Cornelius continued, “and since the prisoners were said to include two young maidens and a blue-and-gold unicorn in their number, I was most hopeful that it was indeed you and that I would find you.”
“I’m so glad you did,” Marabel said.
Cornelius looked sheepish before he went on. “Now that I have confirmed that it is this fair company that attends the great beast, I would ask a boon.”
A boon, Marabel knew, was a favor. “What kind of boon?” she asked.
Marabel and the Book of Fate Page 15
