Rat jumped out from behind the cabin and nearly knocked the wizard over with her affectionate greeting. She appeared to have lost her fear of the dragon, for she ignored Larkin as she rubbed up against the wizard’s legs.
Wizard Allard was scratching the animal’s ears as Larkin spoke. “That won’t work.”
“Why ever not? I can’t allow Patrik to go halfway around the world by himself, and I can’t sit home and do nothing to stop this war, so going with you seems the best option.”
The dragon’s eyes began to spin, their yellow lights looking like bits of captured star shine. “You can’t go because I can’t carry you both. I’m not big enough.”
“There is that,” the wizard said.
“And what about Rat?” Patrik asked.
The wizard ignored Patrik’s question and turned to Larkin. “Is there anyone else you know that might be willing to go with us?”
Larkin’s eyes spun even faster. “I don’t know. There is one dragonet that has been friendly to me, but I don’t know how she feels about humans.”
“Talk to her. Tell her about us and the war, and what it will do to the world,” Patrik said.
Larkin nodded his great green head. “I will, but I better get going. It’s almost sundown and I have to be there to sing in the moonrise. I’ll be back in the morning.”
Larkin stretched his wings, flapped them with wild strokes, kicking up dust and leaves. Patrik and his master covered their faces to keep the debris from clogging their eyes and noses. The dragon hunched down, pushed off with his forelegs, and was airborne.
“See you in the morning,” he hollered down to the two humans.
The wizard turned to his apprentice. “Well, boy, this is really something. We’ve got a lot to do. We’d best get to work.”
Patrik nodded, and then added, “What are we going to do with Rat?”
Chapter Seven
It was the question about Rat that delayed them the most. Redwing had been agreeable to the expedition saying that anything was better than sitting around listening to the elders day after day. Older than Larkin, Redwing was also larger, so it was decided that she would carry the wizard and their supplies. They used a couple of horse saddles, modified to fit the dragons’ backs to serve as harnesses for the long voyage. The dragons were packed and ready to go with the wizard’s scrolls carefully stowed away in a waterproof skin.
“We will need those scrolls,” Allard stated. “They’ll help guide us to the Singing Mountains,” not bothering to tell them that he had no idea how to get through the Valley of Death. “We’ll deal with that when we get there,” he muttered to himself as he rechecked the scrolls to make sure they were safe.
Patrik took one last look around, trying to determine if they had forgotten anything. Rat, appeared to have gotten over her fear of the dragons for she followed every step he took. Into the cabin and back again, loading and unloading, adjusting and readjusting their supplies, the animal never left his side.
“It’s almost as if she knows we’re going away,” he said to the wizard.
“There is that,” Allard replied.
“So what do we do with her?”
“What can we do? She knows how to hunt and where to find water. She’ll just have to make it on her own until we get back.” And then mumbled, “If we get back.”
They mounted the dragons, grabbed hold of the straps they had added to the saddles, and prepared to take off. Larkin flapped his wings, scrunched down for take-off, and let out a yelp of pain and surprise, stalling in mid-leap. On his back, with her claws dug into the dragon’s scales, sat Rat.
Wizard Allard coughed back a laugh. “I think she has decided to come along for the ride.”
“But we can’t take her,” Patrik said, alarm making his voice squeak. “She’ll fall off.”
“Not with the way she’s dug herself in, she won’t.”
Larkin turned his neck all the way around to stare at the animal. His eyes spun, and the cat cocked her head to one side as if she was listening. Larkin appeared satisfied with whatever passed between them, for he turned to face forward and said, “I’m ready if you are.”
“You’re going to carry Rat?” Patrik asked
“If it’s okay with her, it’s okay with me.”
“What if she falls off?”
“She won’t.”
Patrik wasn’t so sure and tried to push Rat off Larkin’s back. She hissed at him and dug her claws in deeper. He tried again, and this time she snarled and took a bite out of one of his fingers. He jerked his hand away and shrugged. “Don’t blame me when you fall off, cat.”
“Let’s go,” he said to Larkin.
∞
Their days and nights fell into a monotonous routine. They rose at sunrise, flew until dusk, set up camp, and repeated the process the next day. The first night out, they rigged a saddle and harness for Rat. With the cat securely tied into place, Patrik was silently relieved, and the days passed in a mind-numbing blur with little change except for the storms.
The only thing that relieved Patrik’s boredom was the thrill of flying. At first, the boy was too afraid to look, and kept his eyes squeezed shut. But it wasn’t long before his curiosity took over. He marveled at the way the world below him appeared. From the air, everything looked tiny and simple. Even the tallest trees seemed like toothpicks, and mountains mere molehills. Whenever the dragons caught an up current or a downdraft caught them, he whooped with joy at the sudden surge of power that bounced him around in the saddle like a toy boat in an eddy. It wasn’t long before flying each day became the day’s main goal, and when it was time to land for the day, he couldn’t hide the look of disappointment on his face.
Twelve days had passed as they flew over mountains and valleys, lakes and forests. They tried to determine how close they were to the Sea of Lights, but it was impossible.
“I just don’t know,” Wizard Allard said on the evening of their twelfth day. “According to the scrolls it takes almost a full quarter season to make it from the royal city to the shores of the sea. But that’s on horseback. There’s no way to judge how far we’ve come on dragon-back. No one’s ever done it. However, we must be getting close for the scrolls say that the sea starts where the Highlands end, and since we’re in the Highlands the sea can’t be that far away.”
It was storming again as they tried to set up camp at the end of their twelfth day of travel. Rat scrambled to get under the lean-to, but the wind kept ripping the stakes from the ground. A particularly violent gust caught the tarp and blew it into the fire. Patrik leaped for it, jerking it out of the flames.
“Maybe we should go on and try to out-fly this storm,” he hollered over the wind.
“Very dangerous for the dragons,” Wizard Allard shouted back. “The wind gusts are too erratic.”
While the two humans made camp, Redwing and Larkin left to hunt for food, and Rat was off doing whatever it is that cats do. Somehow, Rat always managed to bring back an extra rabbit for the stew pot, and Larkin had become particularly adept at finding edible grains and berries, pointing them out to Patrik so he could gather them for their evening meal. It puzzled Patrik that Larkin always knew where to find human food, and he questioned the dragon about it one day. Larkin merely shrugged his huge shoulders, and said, “I can smell them.”
Redwing, however, showed no interest in anything except hunting down four-legged prey. The red dragon had been an excellent addition to the expedition. She filled their days with stories about the dragons, their beliefs, and their habits. Older than Larkin, she had accumulated more dragon knowledge, and both Patrik and Allard listened in eager anticipation as she shared that knowledge with them.
In the evenings, she lit their fires for them, as Larkin still hadn’t learned how to flame. One blast of dragon fire started even the wettest wood, for which they were all grateful after a day of flying in the rain. So far three days out of twelve had been spent fighting the spring storms that came in from the Sea of Lights. The storms made flying not only miserable but also difficult as the gusts tossed them around like balls in a kitten’s paws.
Patrik tried again to stake down the tarp. This time he moved it back into the shelter of the trees. With the wind partially blocked, he was able to get the lean-to anchored, and Rat promptly moved in. The boy quickly joined her, pushing the large animal aside with a rough shove. “Move over, cat,” he grumbled. “All of us have to fit under this thing.”
Wizard Allard soon followed them carrying one of their packs. “It’s cold rations tonight,” he said, tossing the pack to Patrik. “Unless, of course, you want to try to cook something out there.” He pointed to where the dragons had started the fire.
“Not me,” Patrik replied, reaching into the pack for a handful of dried meat and a cold hard biscuit.
The fire sputtered in the rain, and both of them knew it wouldn’t last until the dragons got back. Shivering, they pulled out a couple of dry blankets from the pack, and curled up inside them. The smell of wet animal fur filled the lean-to, and Patrik did his best to stay far away from Rat. However, in the small shelter, it wasn’t nearly far enough.
“You stink,” he said to Rat.
The animal opened her sleepy eyes and stared at the boy as if she understood exactly what he had said. She held his gaze for a few heartbeats and then lowered her head and went back to sleep.
“When do you think the dragons will be back?” he asked the wizard, hoping it would be soon for their great size would help to block the effects of the fierce storm.
“Not for at least another sunmark. They haven’t been gone all that long, and they need at least two sunmarks to hunt and eat.”
Patrik stifled a groan as he shivered from the cold. His blanket was beginning to get wet, and he was still hungry. He looked over at the fire and this time allowed a groan to surface. It had gone completely out and without Redwing’s help, there would be no way to restart it.
Wizard Allard had promised both dragons that he wouldn’t use his magic at all, not even if it was a life-threatening emergency. It was one of the stipulations Redwing had asked for before agreeing to join the expedition. She believed, and the wizard had found himself agreeing with her, that any magic use would turn Skyhawk against them. And since there was no way of knowing exactly where the great white dragon lived, Allard had agreed not to use his magic.
Cold, wet, and miserable, the three huddled close together, trying to warm each other with their bodies while avoiding the numerous leaks in their lean-to. “A promise is a promise,” Allard muttered, “but by the dragon’s flame, I am sorely tempted to magic a fire. I am so cold I can’t feel my toes anymore.”
Exhausted from fighting the cold and his hunger, Patrik began to doze off when an angry scream tore through the twilight. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and he bolted to his feet. Wizard Allard stood right beside him as they strained to see through the driving rain.
“What was that?” Patrik shouted over the wind.
“A Highland prowler. Look at Rat.”
Every hair on the animal’s body stood at attention, making her look like an overstuffed toy. She curled her lips back into a snarl and bolted out of the lean-to.
“Rat, come back!” Patrik hollered after the charging animal. But she ignored him the way she usually did.
“Do something,” he yelled at the wizard. “She’s going to get herself killed.”
“There’s nothing I can do,” he shouted back. “And even if I could, I promised not to use my magic, remember?”
Two sets of screams now ripped through the growing darkness. Patrik searched the dim light, trying to see any sign of the cat through the rain and the darkness. The wind lessened making the shrieks and the snarls sound even louder. He clenched his fists to his sides, wanting to do something to help Rat, but knowing there was nothing he could do. He glanced at the wizard and saw a frown of frustration crease the man’s brow.
The screams, snarls, and hisses seemed to be moving farther away for Patrik couldn’t hear them as clearly as before.
“Do you think she’ll come back?” he asked.
“If she survives.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s never encountered her own kind before, and she’s only half Highland prowler to start with. Even though she’s as big as one, she doesn’t have the fighting skills of one that has been raised in the wild.”
Patrik collapsed back under the lean-to, drawing his knees up to his chest. Although Rat irritated him like an itch you can’t reach, he knew he’d miss the animal if she disappeared. More than that, though, he didn’t want her to come to any harm. It was one thing for her to leave and join her own kind. It was another to think of her injured and dying all alone in the forest.
“There’s nothing we can do, boy,” the wizard said, sitting down beside him. “We have to wait and see what happens.”
“I hate waiting.”
“Most people do.”
They didn’t have to wait long for the dragons to return. A flurry of wings announced their arrival, and they created their own windstorm that threatened to blow away the lean-to once again.
Patrik gathered the soaking firewood, and it wasn’t long before Redwing had a blazing fire lit in spite of the drowning rain. “Where’s Rat?” she asked as she turned from lighting the fire.
“Out there,” Patrik replied, pointing in the direction the cat had taken. “A Highland prowler came around, while you were gone and she took out after it.”
“That’s not good, is it?” Larkin asked.
“No, it’s not,” Patrik said, shaking his head.
“Can we help?”
Patrik looked at the wizard, who slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. Unless you can track them through the dark.”
“Of course we can,” Redwing replied. “Our sense of smell is much stronger than yours. Show me which way they went, and I can follow them from there.”
“I’m coming with you, then.”
“Now, boy…” began the wizard.
“I’ll be safe. I’ll ride on Larkin’s back. No animal, not even a highland prowler is going to attack a dragon. And if she’s injured, she will need my help. What if they find her, and she can’t jump onto Larkin’s back? Or what if she’s bleeding? She’ll need someone that can patch her up.”