covering my head, my heart pounding. Then I got to my feet and looked in the direction the wind had gone.
Clinging to the spire of rock over the cave mouth with all four claw-feet, its tail wrapped around the spire for balance, wings outspread, was the flame dragon, with the sun dazzle-bright behind it.
“Hello, dragon,” I said, shading the sun out of my eyes to see it better.
It shook out and folded its wings like a man shaking rain off an umbrella and stared down at me.
“Can you understand what I’m saying?” I asked it.
It kept staring.
Like a guard. It had brought me here. “Dragon,” I shouted. “Why’d you bring me here?” Did it want me to find my locus magicalicus? And why should it care if I did? What if it wanted me for something else, and I just didn’t know what, yet. Would it letme leave again, once I’d found my locus stone?
It had to let me leave.
Testing, keeping an eye on the dragon, I moved slowly to the edge of the doorstep and lay on my stomach, ready to slither down to the first step.
On the spire, the dragon half-opened its wings and clenched its claws, ready to pounce on me.
Right. I eased myself back onto the doorstep. I couldn’t leave yet, anyway. Not until I found my locus stone.
I spent the entire day digging through the piles of stones. Lothfalas , lothfalas . No light, no luck.
Just before sunset I checked my knapsack for something to eat.
All of the biscuits were gone.
I’d been wearing the knapsack all day; how had the rats gotten into it? Cursed thieves!
Kicking stones out of the way, I went out to the doorstep. The flame dragon was gone from the spire above the cave mouth. I sat down on the edgeof the step. The snow in the tin cup had melted down to water, which had a skin of ice on it now that the sun was setting and the air getting colder. The half-biscuit was still in my coat pocket, but I’d save it for later. I ate the last of the cheese and drank the water and stared out at the sky, burning flame-red behind the mountains where the sun was going down.
A bundle of black rags fell out of the sky and landed on the step next to me. No, not rags, a black bird.
“Hello, bird,” I said. It hopped onto my knee, cocking its head to look me over with its yellow eye. Its feathers were ruffled; it’d come all the way from Wellmet. A quill was tied to its leg. A note from Nevery written on thin paper.
----
Boy, when you receive this letter you must return at once to Wellmet. Respond to inform me that you have received this and are coming.
In haste,
—N
----
Return at once to Wellmet? But I hadn’t found my locus magicalicus yet. And the flame dragon wouldn’t let me leave.
As I was rereading the letter, another black bird flapped down to land on my knee; the first bird hopped off with a squawk. The second bird had a letter-quill, too.
----
Conn, if you have sent a letter I have not received it. The situation in Wellmet has changed; you are needed here as soon as possible. You will need at least ten days to travel back down the finding spell, and even that may be too long. Hurry. Wait outside the city, send a bird with message that you have arrived. Write to say you have received this.
—Nevery
----
Drats. I couldn’t go back to Wellmet without my locus magicalicus.
I rummaged inside my knapsack until I found a few biscuit crumbs, all the thieving rats had left.
“Here, birds,” I said, giving them the crumbs.
I couldn’t write to Nevery to tell him I wasn’t coming yet, because the rats had stolen my pencils and paper.
Leaving the black birds to peck at the crumbs, I read Nevery’s note again, squinting to see the letters in the gray light. The situation in Wellmet has changed , he’d written. What did that mean, exactly? It couldn’t mean Arhionvar had arrived in Wellmet, because sure as sure he would’ve said if it had.
I thought about it while the sky darkened to black and the stars lit up like
Clinging to the spire of rock over the cave mouth with all four claw-feet, its tail wrapped around the spire for balance, wings outspread, was the flame dragon, with the sun dazzle-bright behind it.
“Hello, dragon,” I said, shading the sun out of my eyes to see it better.
It shook out and folded its wings like a man shaking rain off an umbrella and stared down at me.
“Can you understand what I’m saying?” I asked it.
It kept staring.
Like a guard. It had brought me here. “Dragon,” I shouted. “Why’d you bring me here?” Did it want me to find my locus magicalicus? And why should it care if I did? What if it wanted me for something else, and I just didn’t know what, yet. Would it letme leave again, once I’d found my locus stone?
It had to let me leave.
Testing, keeping an eye on the dragon, I moved slowly to the edge of the doorstep and lay on my stomach, ready to slither down to the first step.
On the spire, the dragon half-opened its wings and clenched its claws, ready to pounce on me.
Right. I eased myself back onto the doorstep. I couldn’t leave yet, anyway. Not until I found my locus stone.
I spent the entire day digging through the piles of stones. Lothfalas , lothfalas . No light, no luck.
Just before sunset I checked my knapsack for something to eat.
All of the biscuits were gone.
I’d been wearing the knapsack all day; how had the rats gotten into it? Cursed thieves!
Kicking stones out of the way, I went out to the doorstep. The flame dragon was gone from the spire above the cave mouth. I sat down on the edgeof the step. The snow in the tin cup had melted down to water, which had a skin of ice on it now that the sun was setting and the air getting colder. The half-biscuit was still in my coat pocket, but I’d save it for later. I ate the last of the cheese and drank the water and stared out at the sky, burning flame-red behind the mountains where the sun was going down.
A bundle of black rags fell out of the sky and landed on the step next to me. No, not rags, a black bird.
“Hello, bird,” I said. It hopped onto my knee, cocking its head to look me over with its yellow eye. Its feathers were ruffled; it’d come all the way from Wellmet. A quill was tied to its leg. A note from Nevery written on thin paper.
----
Boy, when you receive this letter you must return at once to Wellmet. Respond to inform me that you have received this and are coming.
In haste,
—N
----
Return at once to Wellmet? But I hadn’t found my locus magicalicus yet. And the flame dragon wouldn’t let me leave.
As I was rereading the letter, another black bird flapped down to land on my knee; the first bird hopped off with a squawk. The second bird had a letter-quill, too.
----
Conn, if you have sent a letter I have not received it. The situation in Wellmet has changed; you are needed here as soon as possible. You will need at least ten days to travel back down the finding spell, and even that may be too long. Hurry. Wait outside the city, send a bird with message that you have arrived. Write to say you have received this.
—Nevery
----
Drats. I couldn’t go back to Wellmet without my locus magicalicus.
I rummaged inside my knapsack until I found a few biscuit crumbs, all the thieving rats had left.
“Here, birds,” I said, giving them the crumbs.
I couldn’t write to Nevery to tell him I wasn’t coming yet, because the rats had stolen my pencils and paper.
Leaving the black birds to peck at the crumbs, I read Nevery’s note again, squinting to see the letters in the gray light. The situation in Wellmet has changed , he’d written. What did that mean, exactly? It couldn’t mean Arhionvar had arrived in Wellmet, because sure as sure he would’ve said if it had.
I thought about it while the sky darkened to black and the stars lit up like
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