The Dragon's Apprentice

by Linda McNabb

  **

  It was dark when they arrived by the fork in the road. The moon wouldn’t be up for an hour or so yet and they saw the small group of men already gathered just off the road in a small gully. Healer Chilton wasn’t there yet and Toby and Sanelle joined the misfits.

  They were all muttering amongst themselves while they waited. Some were saying it was foolish to try and steal a dragon, but were obviously desperate for coin or they wouldn’t be there. It was a clear night and it didn’t look likely to snow for some time but it was also cold. Toby cringed as he stood in a deep drift of snow and sank up to his knees.

  They only had to wait a few minutes before the sound of a wagon drew them all out of the gully. The healer lifted the flap and pushed them all in. Toby had to keep close enough to Sanelle for her hand to rest on his shoulder or back. If she let go now he would be in real trouble, stuck in the middle of a wagon full of thieves and cut-throats.

  Healer Chilton drove the wagon up the west side of the castle on a little used track that led past the castle and on up to the ruins of an old castle on a small hill. The healer had obviously bought some information about the castle because the west wall was the least guarded as it backed onto the rubbish heap. The smell could be awful if the wind was in the wrong direction so the guards tended to miss that part of the courtyard wall as they did their rounds. Who had told the healer to come here?

  “Over this way.” Healer Chilton pointed to some trees and Toby wondered if they were going to climb the trees and jump over the wall. The healer didn’t appear to have any rope to scale the wall, and once inside how was he intending to carry Klel out?

  “Sanelle, look!” Toby whispered, shocked and horrified to see that an old metal gate, sealed off years ago, stood partly open and allowed them access directly into the large courtyard where Klel’s shelter was.

  There were no guards in sight and Toby knew then that stealing Klel was a real possibility. Everyone froze as the lantern of a patrolling guard came into sight but to Toby’s horror the guard missed out the west wall completely.

  “We’ve got to do something,” Toby hissed at Sanelle.

  “What, like this?” Sanelle asked and suddenly the sky was full of exploding coloured lights.

  “What is it?” Toby asked over the booming noise of the explosions.

  “Mother calls it a light-show, it’s her special trick. It won’t hurt anyone but it will get their attention.” Sanelle leaned close to his ear so that he could hear.

  All around the courtyard heads appeared at the windows. People started coming out of every door and the courtyard was filling fast.

  “We’ll come back tomorrow,” Healer Chilton said with a scowl and headed back towards the gate.

  Toby allowed himself to be pushed out the gate and then he and Sanelle moved off into the shadows. Everyone else piled into the back of the wagon but Healer Chilton kicked them out.

  “There’ll be people out on the roads with this in the sky. I’ll not be caught with the likes of you lot sitting in the back of my wagon,” he told them. “I’ll leave the wagon here. Meet here the same time tomorrow night.”

  The thugs and thieves melted into the darkness, shown up every few seconds against the white snow by the lights that still exploded so prettily in the sky. Toby and Sanelle slumped down by the wall of the castle and watched them retreat.

  “They could have done it you know,” Toby commented as she let go of his shoulder and he saw her make the sign she had made earlier to undo her spell.

  “I know.” Sanelle looked as worried as he was. “We have to get him out of there.”

  “We’re going to steal Klel?” Toby asked in an amazed voice and then they both jumped as the solid metal gate banged shut just a few feet from where they sat. Healer Chilton obviously had inside help.

  “No, we’re going to set him free,” Sanelle corrected him.

  “Do you have to turn that off?” Toby pointed to the lights in the sky.

  “No, it lasts for about half an hour and then just fades away,” Sanelle replied and then pointed up the hill, away from the castle. “What’s that?”

  In the flashes of light Toby saw she was pointing up towards the old castle, abandoned nearly thirty years ago.

  “The old castle. The king thought it was too small so he had a new one built,” Toby replied and then yawned. It had been a long day.

  “We’ll spend the night up there and come back to set Klel free in the morning,” Sanelle told him. She was obviously used to making decisions and Toby didn’t have the energy to argue.

  “Look.” Toby pointed over at the wagon. “He didn’t even unhitch the poor horse.”

  They released the horse and Sanelle fed it an apple from the bag of food in her pack.

  “Is there a well up at the old castle?” Sanelle asked and Toby nodded. “We’ll take him up there for a drink, he looks like he could do with one. That healer ought to be ashamed at treating an animal this badly.

  They walked the horse slowly up the hill and stopped in the front courtyard of the ruins to look back down on the castle. The light-show was still exploding high above the castle and there appeared to be no standing room in the courtyard. On top of Klel’s shelter, Toby could see the pale golden outline of his friend, snout raised to the sky and obviously enjoying the show. The moon was just rising and Toby stared at it, seeing that it was over half full; time was running out for Sanelle’s mother.

  “Hold on Klel. We’ll come and get you in the morning,” Toby whispered, a cloud of mist rising from his breath, then led the horse over to the well.