Rain & Fire by Chris D'Lacey Page A

the open window and, aided by G’reth, flies to Bergstrom’s rooms. David, having overcome Gwilanna, follows with Zanna and Gretel. Gretel, by now, has swapped her loyalties to become Zanna’s dragon.
    At Rutherford House, where Bergstrom lives, Zanna discovers that the young natural dragon, whom she calls Grockle, has been born without fire. She is upset by this, even more so when he turns to stone in her arms, and totally distraught when she finds out that David suspected this might happen, but failed to warn her.
    Zanna disappears, refusing to speak to David. Although he tries to find her, he has no luck. The days pass and eventually, just before David is due to go to the Arctic, the contract from the publisher arrives.
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    â€œSign,” Lucy urged him.
    But Liz raised a hand. “Wait. Have you read through this?”
    â€œSort of. It’s just … legalities and stuff.”
    â€œExactly. You ought to know what you’re signing. Perhaps Henry could check it for you?”
    â€œIt’s all right,” said David. “It’s just boring blurb. Don’t spoil my big moment. Pen, someone?”
    Lucy grabbed one off the countertop and handed it over.
    â€œSigned … David … Rain,” David muttered, scratching his name on the line marked “author.”
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    David has no time to do anything further — his ride to the airport is about to arrive and he therefore asks Liz to mail the contract to the publisher for him.
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    Liz picked it up off the kitchen table. For a moment she stood there reading a chunk, then she began to quickly flick through it. At the final page, she stopped and stared. “Lucy, you know that pen, the one David used to sign his name. Does it leak?”
    Lucy drew a few lines with it, on her hand. “A bit, yes.”
    â€œAs much as that?” Liz turned the page around.
    From the lower curves of David’s signature, three long trails of ink had formed.
    Lucy tilted her head … and shuddered. “They look like Zanna’s scratch.”
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    Was Lucy right to shudder? What effect will these lines called “the mark of Oomara” have on Zanna and onDavid? Will David find the secret of Gawain’s fire tear, as he wished? And if so, will he live to regret it?

    The mark of Oomara

    David makes it to the field trip, with Zanna by his side again, and continues writing his book. Things are beginning to get more and more complex and confusing for him, though, as he realizes that once again, his writing is mirroring real life. This leads him into questioning his beliefs about the world and his role in it, especially when something called a fire star becomes more and more apparent in the sky, and this portal is due to open a way between worlds.
    David has been writing that Gwilanna is determined to raise the natural dragon, Gawain, from a mountaintop on an island in the Arctic called the Tooth of Ragnar. This mountain is where Gawain cried his fire tear and turned to stone in ages past. Guinevere, the woman who caught his tear, had allegedly agreed totrade it with Gwilanna for a daughter. However, the trade never took place.
    The child, Gwendolen, was brought up by Gwilanna, but eventually turned her back on the sibyl and went to live among the bears, earning their love and respect. Gwilanna has always hated the bears for this, and is therefore prepared to use them selfishly for her own devious ends.
    David writes that Gwilanna has promised to heal a bear named Ingavar, who has been shot, if he will retrieve a certain polar bear tooth for her. David carries this talisman around his neck on a cord. Gwilanna tells Ingavar to kill him when he has succeeded.
    David’s story finally comes to a head when he and Zanna are faced with Ingavar at a trading post in Chamberlain. Fortunately, Ingavar is tranquilized and taken away to “polar bear prison.” The tooth, however, is lost in the melee, but is picked up