The person who seemed to be
the most put out by the Python incident was Kroll, the groundskeeper.
“Ah suppose y'all thank it's aisy to transplant evergrains,” he
complained when told two more habitats had been destroyed. “As
though ah wasn't havin enough trouble with them cactus. Wizards!”
He still hadn't forgiven them for what had happened to the first
Plant and Earth habitats. The fact that there were new, larger ones
did not weigh with him. “And that there Dalfgan putting his statues
rat in the middle of ma water lilies!”
The statue was not in the
water lilies, but on the turf between the Sun and Moon habitats.
Kroll took it personally when his landscapes were messed up. “Wild,
trampling thangs!” he had said when the Plant dragons had taken
refuge from the fire in his marsh garden. He had not wanted it to be
used as a habitat, but Aiden had talked him into standing a pillar in
the marsh and balancing the miniature moon there. A Moon dragon would
stay in the air and not bother his prize lilies.
“I just wish I hadn't gone
home before he came alive,” sighed Spiderdog, walking around the
statue, imagining it moving. He tried to do a handstand and
tipped over.
PonytailGirl was turning
cartwheels, coming down in unexpected places, “I don't!”
BlazeDragon, with his head
and hands on the grass in a careful triangle, slowly lifted his legs
to vertical. From this upside-down position he spoke, “I wish I
could have watched ShockWave fight it.”
“That would've been
something like!” agreed Bending Chalice. He and Spiderdog tried
handstands at the same time and collided.
“Y'all gonna be somethin
lak if you land on them flahrs!” Kroll grumbled. “Git along wit
cha!” He always told them to “git along” and they never did.
They always sweet-talked him.
“The marsh is looking
good, did you get more horsetails?” asked PonytailGirl, doing a perfect cartwheel.
Spiderdog achieved a handstand and popped up straight again. “Oh let us stay," he said, "we want to help you put them in.” Mollified as always, Kroll
dug into his jacket pocket for peppermints and caramels (slightly
squashed).
While they were still
working in the bog (two of them fell in) Dickinson came over. “What
do you think Kroll?” he asked. “Dalfgan wants to put the Metal
habitat where the Cold one was. We can't have it where Torbin wanted
it; there's a Fire habitat there now.”
Kroll shook his head, “Ah
don't know where Dalfgan gets his ideers. We've got that there large
Plant habitat rat close. Don't he know Plant and Metal are
opposites? If you Boost one to help it, then the other will be held back.”
“True! I'll tell him to
put it on Second then. You know what else? Since that explosion, he
doesn't want to transport in any metal shards. He wants to use
artificial ones. I don't know...Torbin was so set on real ones."
Kroll watched as Dickinson
walked off, headed for the Colosseum. “That's a hem set-out,” he
said, shaking his head. “Artificial shards! What next?”
The last group of eggs to
get was Metal. Torbin had been the Metal Dragon Master, and he had
insisted on Metal eggs from the Tull Caverns, and metal shards from
the same place so the hatchlings would feel at home. And he had
wanted Mine eggs from the Mines of Dramoria. Dickinson was determined
to do it. Everyone else thought Torbin was crazy, but Dickinson
thought he was the cleverest of them all.
The wizards were nervous
because the Tull Caverns had a reputation for being dangerous.
Visitors reported loud crashing noises, and no one knew what
creatures lurked in the deeper tunnels. The parents were nervous
because it was going to be hide-and-seek in the dark, with the
wizards' staff orbs for light. Dickinson was nervous because everyone
was depending on him, and he was only a journeyman. The children were
the only ones who were were happy. They liked Dickinson, and they
liked flashlight hunts in the dark.
The trail to the caverns
went past a black pool and up a steep hillside before burrowing down
a narrow tunnel. The first chamber was a soft blue rock, from which
several galleries went off in different directions. They followed one
that led down to a large cavern with hard rock formations and the
beginnings of metal inclusions. The drip of water and the sound of
their footfalls echoed off the high ceiling and far walls. Suddenly
the stillness was broken by a rumble and a roar. Whether it was the
roar of rock falling or of an animal, no one could tell.
“Earthquake!” cried
Dalfgan, “The whole place is unstable. We should leave.”
“We can't,” Dickinson
objected. “We need to go on. We've just gotten to the metal
shards.”
“I'll go with you,”
offered BlazeDragon. “Slameg the Singer beat time with his tail.
Maybe there are dragons here using their tails.”
“That's just a legend,”
said Dalfgan. “Dragons can't really do music.”
Dickinson insisted however,
and BlazeDragon, his dad, Dravin, Sam, and Franklin went on with him while the
others waited. Franklin sent reports to Dalfgan as they went. They
came to a point where the tunnel split. Fluorescent lichens
illuminated the walls of one branch and Dickinson chose that way. As
they walked, a clanging began and became steadily louder. The
fluorescence became brighter too. Abruptly they came out on a high
shelf overlooking the largest cavern of all. Below them were
stalagmites and flowstone formations and large metal shards sticking
out of the rock, and wandering around in it all they saw several large Metal
dragons hitting the rocks with their heavy tails. CLANG! CRASH!
SMACK!
“Look at that,”
Dickinson hissed. “They're hitting the shards!” At one end of the
chamber was a smooth flowstone shelf holding eggs. Lots of eggs of
different kinds; white with hexagonal copper spots or gray with blue
swirls, lightning bolts, or wavy stripes. “A nesting chamber!”
While they waited for the explorers to come back, Tessa and Vander sat the other children down in a corner to practice their flutes. "I just felt we were going to be waiting around a lot today," Tessa explained, when PonytailGirl asked why she brought flutes. "You need to be really solid on the themes for different dragons."
Dalfgan got bored and pulled out his astrolabe. It was a ball of interlocking rings that pivoted around a white crystal. “Now this,” he told the others, “captures time. I invented it to save the extra days from leap years. You know, leap years are a myth. The extra day has to come from somewhere.”
Dalfgan got bored and pulled out his astrolabe. It was a ball of interlocking rings that pivoted around a white crystal. “Now this,” he told the others, “captures time. I invented it to save the extra days from leap years. You know, leap years are a myth. The extra day has to come from somewhere.”
“Leap years-” began
PonytailGirl. She was interrupted by Franklin's voice coming from
Dalfgan's orb inviting them to come see the nest. They were busy for
a little while picking eggs and carrying them out with the anti-grav
nets that Bixby had developed after watching PonytailGirl struggle with the Water egg. (We can make an island float, why can't we make
an egg float?) It was like walking around with helium balloons.
After the eggs were stowed
they went to the Mines. Tessa brought the flutes again. Another dark pool was at the mine
entrance, and through the archway they could see a wide stair going up. The surrounding
rock was red. “There is a lot of iron here,” said Dravin.
“Iron dragons are
extinct,” said Dalfgan. “In the past. Humph. Living in the past. There is a lot of iron
though. I wonder if I can bring one back.” He got out
his astrolabe again.
Dravin had been in the mines
before and knew the layout. “There are Metal and Cold
hybrid dragons here," he said. "Two kinds, Mine and Steel. They like it here because of
the cold.”
“Brr,” said Rudna,
“You're right about the cold. We do need cloaks. Let's get these kids wrapped
up.” They split into two groups under Dravin and Dickinson, and
went off in different directions.
Dalfgan remained at the
entrance, experimenting with the astrolabe. He hunted around looking
for a rich spot of iron ore, powdered it, and sprinkled it on the
astrolabe. After several tries, he was able to suspend the powder in
his staff orb, and stand the astrolabe in the middle. A loud CRACK
sounded simultaneously with a flash of red light. A tiny view of a
reddish dragon in the orb grew so fast he dropped his staff. Before
him stood a full-sized Iron dragon, tossing its horns and growling. Dalfgan
turned and high-tailed it up the closest tunnel, yelling. The dragon
followed him. Up the tunnel and across an open chamber, and down
another tunnel they went.
As they burst out into
another cavern, Dalfgan was relieved to see an underground river.
Hoping the dragon wouldn't cross after him, he raced to the water,
where he saw a silver log lying halfway across. He took a flying
leap, landed on the log, and nearly fell into the water as it moved. Hastily doing a water-walking spell to get to the other side, he turned and looked back. The log was not a
log. It was a Quicksilver dragon! Now he had two dragons chasing him!
He turned and fled up another tunnel.
Dravin and Dickinson met at
the bridge to the back entrance of the mines. Both groups carried
nets with blue or gray eggs. Mohs insisted on carrying the ones Yogo had found. As they started over the bridge, they heard a commotion coming from a large arch behind them, and rushed to get across. Dalfgan shot out, followed by two
dragons. “This way, Dalfgan!” called Dravin.
Dalfgan ran onto the
bridge. As he reached the center, the dragons followed him on. Their
weight was too much for the bridge and it collapsed, tipping them all
into the lake below. Rudna and Yogo ran to move the water currents and get Dalfgan away from the dragons. "Flutes!" exclaimed PonytailGirl.
"No!" yelled Tim, "that won't help! Get a net!" He and Bixby tried to throw one out to Dalfgan.
"Yes flutes!" ordered Dickenson. "The Metal theme!" As the deep rhythmic sound of the Metal theme filled the cavern, the big Iron and Quicksilver started moving in time to it, stopped thrashing, and swam away.
"No!" yelled Tim, "that won't help! Get a net!" He and Bixby tried to throw one out to Dalfgan.
"Yes flutes!" ordered Dickenson. "The Metal theme!" As the deep rhythmic sound of the Metal theme filled the cavern, the big Iron and Quicksilver started moving in time to it, stopped thrashing, and swam away.
"Works every time," said Dickinson. "The flute is a heavy metal instrument."
