Keeper of the Phoenix (7 page)

“Is that what you call it?” Taine growled.

Gwaam hunkered down lower in his basket.

“Don’t blame him.” Ash rushed to the phoenix’s defence. “It’s not his fault.”

“Yes, it is, it’s all his fault,” Taine said before stomping into the barn.

Ash followed close behind. “What are you doing?”

“If we’re going away, I have to let the pigs out into the field,” Taine said.

“Is that wise?” Ash asked. “What about the snow?”

“The field looks fine. Besides, I can’t leave them in the barn. They’ll die of starvation in here. At least they stand a chance out there.”

The boys herded the pigs out of the barn and into the nearby field. Rhyll strode out of the house carrying a fine oak bow and a quiver of crimson-feathered arrows.

“Where did you get those?” Ash asked.

“Papa made them for me. After what we saw today, I think we’re going to need weapons.”

“Is there any food?” Taine asked.

Rhyll showed him her knapsack. “I took what I could find. A few oranges, some bread, a square of cheese.”

“Is that all?”

Rhyll shrugged. “Papa was going to trade this week’s pork for some more supplies. That’s why he was in town, remember?”

Taine groaned. “Never mind the pigs going hungry,
we’re
going to starve for sure.”

“Maybe I can collect some food from my house,” Ash said. “I sure hope Ma and Trip are all right. Let’s go.”

As they walked to Ash’s house, they passed through a landscape that looked as if a fire had ravaged it. Houses were blackened and iced and the leaves of the few trees that dotted the countryside had been frozen off. Flowers and grass were greyed like ash. Lifeless. The further they travelled from the village, the less blackened everything was, but it was still grey and eerily silent.

When they arrived at Ash’s house they saw the snow was patchier. Hope flared in Ash’s chest.

Perhaps Ma is safe, he thought.

But when he looked over at the garden, he saw Amelia, frozen like a black statue where she had been standing. She was leaning back with one hand held up to the sky, a mask of terror gripping her face. Sick with fear, Ash ran over, intent on freeing his mother.

“Please don’t,” warned Gwaam. “Remember, the snow is poisonous. If you try to cut her out, it will catch you in its grasp.”

“I can’t leave her like that. She looks so afraid.” Ash held his head in his hands. He couldn’t bear the thought of losing his mother. She was all he had left.

“This is not the way to help her,” Gwaam said. “We must get to the wizard and defeat him so his spell over your village will be broken. You only have seven days to save them. When the sun sets on the seventh full day after the snow, their hearts will be frozen forever and they will die.”

“Seven days!” Rhyll gasped.

Taine threw his hands in the air. “Oh, this just gets better and better. Not only do we have to find an evil wizard and defeat him, now we only have seven days to do it. We don’t even know where he is.”

“I know where he is,” Gwaam said. “His castle is in the north of Krell. I can take you there.”

“How can we defeat a wizard powerful enough to destroy an entire village?” Ash asked Gwaam.

“I will help you,” Gwaam said. “Each day I grow bigger and stronger. You have to trust me when I tell you we
can
do this.”

“I sure hope seven days makes you really, really strong,” Taine said. “Because at the moment, looking at the size of you and of us, we’ve got no hope.”

“Right now hope is the only thing we
do
have,” Ash said. “We’re going to have a battle on our hands to free our friends and families, all right. But standing around talking about it isn’t going to fix the problem. Are you with me?”

“I’m in,” Rhyll said. “No question.”

Taine shuffled his feet in the dirt. “I’m not sure about leaving the valley, Ash. I’ve never been away from home before. What if it’s dangerous out there?”

“I’m scared too,” Ash said.

“I never said I was scared,” Taine protested.

Rhyll rolled her eyes. “You as good as did.”

“We can’t stay, Taine,” Ash said. “The danger is here already, in Icamore. And if what Gwaam says is true, there will be more danger coming. But you know what? I’m ready for it. People need us and we’re the only ones who can help. What do you say?”

“I’m in,” Rhyll said again.

Taine glanced at his sister. “I guess I can’t stay here by myself. That would be pretty pathetic.”

“I knew you’d see it my way.” Ash grinned as he hugged his friend.

With great difficulty, Ash walked away from his mother. Then, remembering Trip, he whistled loudly, hoping he hadn’t been frozen too. At the sound of his master’s whistle, Trip stuck his head out from under the blackened house, whimpering.

“Look, they must have missed the spot where Trip was hiding.” Rhyll pointed to a section of cottage that hadn’t been affected by the black snow. “That was lucky.”

“It sure was,” Ash agreed. “Come on, boy, don’t be afraid. You can come out now.”

Looking uncertain, Trip climbed gingerly out into the open, his tail between his legs.

“Come on, it’s safe,” Ash said, encouraging him. “I suppose we should get going,” he added, trying to ignore the frozen figure of his mother. “Gwaam, which way?”

“To the north.” Gwaam gestured in the direction they needed to go.

“But it’s almost night,” Taine said, looking worried. “I don’t like the dark.”

“Night-time is the perfect time to travel,” Gwaam replied. “Zadoc’s Seekers are unrelenting. Trust me, we’ll need as much cover as we can get to hide from those creatures.”

The phoenix’s remark, and his tone, made goosebumps rise on Ash’s arms. “Double-time then,” he said as he rubbed the chills away. “The sooner we get a move on, the sooner we help our families and friends.”

“When can we stop?” Taine grumbled. “My feet hurt.”

“When we reach the top of this hill,” Ash said.

“Yes, yes,” Gwaam murmured from the basket Ash carried. “Keep heading this way. That’s it.”

The friends had been walking all night, finding their way by the light of the moon. As they travelled further from their home and the sun began to rise, they could see the landscape around them was normal. No black snow covered the ground. Trees grew tall and green and birds fluttered merrily.

It took hours for the trio to trudge across the desert sands that ringed their valley. It was hard going and eerily quiet, for no one lived in the desert.

At least, Ash thought as he walked along, the landscape isn’t frozen here.

They commenced their journey through the bleak Olono Ranges around mid-morning, climbing up and over many hills until they reached the summit of the last and tallest mountain.

“Where are we heading exactly?” Taine asked.

Ash frowned. He wasn’t quite sure himself. “We’re heading north,” he said, studying the position of the sun in the sky. “Is that the way we should be going, Gwaam?”

“For now, yes,” Gwaam said. “Wizard Zadoc lives in the north-east of the kingdom you call Krell. That is where I escaped from. It’s a much faster journey flying, I can assure you. Once we’re over this mountain we can head east.”

As Ash trudged over the dirt and stones, he glanced down. To his left was a sheer drop into a ravine. To his right, a wall of barren grey cliff. With such a narrow path to follow, there was little room for error.

“Now might be a good time to tell us why you came to Icamore,” Rhyll prompted.

“I did not choose your village,” Gwaam said. “I was simply evading two of Zadoc’s Seekers, which he sent after me when I escaped from his castle.”

Up ahead, Trip stopped, whining uncertainly.

“What is it, boy?” Ash pushed his hair from his face to see better. His breath caught in his throat.

“What’s the hold-up?” Taine demanded.

“Shush!” Ash pointed.

Ahead, the narrow path flared out into a platform of craggy rock overlooking the valley below. At the rear of the ledge sat a cave, its dark mouth yawning wide and black. Just beyond the cave, blocking the path that continued up the hill, lay an enormous sleeping dragon, its long tail curled around it’s body. As it slept, the dragon drew deep rasping breaths, like air being forced through a blacksmith’s bellows, each breath shooting coppery flames from its nostrils.

“Is th-that a giant li-lizard?” Taine stammered.

“It’s a dragon,” Rhyll whispered. “They’re in Mother’s book too. So they do exist.”

“Great,” Taine muttered. “I’m so glad we’ve discovered that. This would never happen in Icamore.”

Ash couldn’t help a snigger at Taine’s comment. “It’s huge,” he said, trying to take it all in. He’d never seen a dragon before. He wasn’t sure he wanted to see one right now either. It looked very, very dangerous. “What are we going to do?”

Rhyll was the only one who didn’t seem to be worried. “You boys really should read more. I tell you, the world is filled with strange and mysterious creatures.”

“Which I’m just now beginning to realise.” Ash eyed Gwaam sitting in his basket.

“I want to go home,” Taine whimpered. “Can we turn back? Please?”

“We can’t go back,” Ash said.

“We have to find a way around,” Rhyll said.

“There
is
no way around,” Taine said. “That thing is blocking the entire path.”

The dragon lifted its massive head and opened its eyes.

“Quick, before it sees us!” Ash whispered.

They slipped into the cave. The dragon sniffed the air then roared so loudly that dirt and rocks from the cave roof pattered down on them. Ash urged the others deeper into the darkness. Looking back, he saw the dragon lower its head to sleep once more.

Crunch! Crunch!

“What’s that noise?” Rhyll said, peering into the depths of the cave.

“Keep still,” Ash said. “You’re making too much noise. You’ll wake the dragon again.”

A sound, like birds chirping, came from the darkness – at first low and soft, then more insistent.

“What’s that?”

“I don’t know, but it’s spooky in here,” Taine said. “What’s your idea for getting us out of this, Ash?”

“Um, probably wait until the dragon goes,” Ash said. “Maybe it hunts at night. Then we can sneak out and make a run for it.”

“That sounds like a decent plan,” Gwaam said.

“Unless it decides to hunt
us
,” Taine said.

Crunch! Crunch!

“This ground is really rocky and bumpy,” Taine said. “I keep bumping up against boulders.”

The sound came again, followed by more chirping.

“Stop moving,” Ash hissed.

“I didn’t,” Taine hissed back.

“Me either,” Rhyll said.

Trip growled.

“Who touched my hand?” Rhyll said.

“Not me,” Taine said. “I can’t see anything.”

“Hold on,” Ash said. “I’ve got an idea.”

Ash ran outside and plucked a branch from a nearby tree. He tiptoed over to where the dragon slept. He couldn’t believe he was so close to a dragon! As he tiptoed forwards, he tried to steady the wobbling of his knees. Despite his fear, he admired the sheer size of the creature and the beauty of its green scales as they flashed in the sunlight.

Please don’t wake up, Ash chanted silently. Please don’t wake up.

Ash saw the giant creature’s sides heave in and out as it breathed noisily in its sleep. Whenever it breathed out, a lick of flames burst from its nostrils. Ash lowered the branch until it was near the dragon’s nose, making sure he didn’t touch it. The dragon breathed out. Orange flames pulsed over the branch, almost igniting it but not quite.

Ash moved the blackened, smoking branch closer to the dragon. Its nose twitched, but it didn’t wake. On the next breath, the flames from the dragon’s nostrils ignited the branch. Ash felt a rush of triumph. He gave a little air punch of joy then snuck back into the cave, the burning branch held high.

“Does this help?”

Taine groaned. “Oh, I wish you hadn’t done that.” He pointed towards the back of the cave.

Ash looked around and saw rows of green eggs the size of watermelons stretching far back into the inky cave.

“Dragon eggs,” Rhyll breathed.

“Hundreds of them,” Ash added.

While they’d been stumbling blindly in the dark, they had disturbed the eggs, treading on some and kicking others. Baby dragons clambered out from the broken shells. They waddled over to the torch and stared at it, mesmerised.

“Aren’t they adorable?” Rhyll said.

“Not if they grow into
that
.” Taine nodded towards the mother dragon still sleeping outside the cave.

Rhyll kneeled down for a closer look. “That one is yawning.”

“Best to keep your distance, I think,” Gwaam warned Rhyll.

A baby dragon was opening and shutting its mouth, blowing out a pungent hiss of air as it did. Soon a miniature choir of yawning, hissing dragons surrounded Ash and his companions. Trip stepped back gingerly, not at all certain of the strange creatures.

“They look harmless.” Rhyll laughed as she stroked a dragon’s head. The creature’s eyes glazed with contentment before it suddenly opened its mouth and blasted fire at Rhyll, setting the end of her hair alight.

Rhyll screamed and beat frantically at her hair. “Put it out! Put it out!”

“Shush!” Ash said.

Ash and Taine rushed to extinguish the flames. Smoke rose up from the singed tips of Rhyll’s hair. The smell of burned hair stained the air.

“I told you so,” Gwaam said smugly from the safety of his basket.

“Thanks a lot,” Rhyll mumbled as she felt her smoking hair, checking it wasn’t alight any more.

“You should keep your voices down,” Gwaam said. “Dragons are very protective of their young. You don’t want her waking and finding us in here.”

“I think he might have a point,” Taine said.

Soon other baby dragons were shooting fire at them, hot orange flames bursting from their tiny mouths. Trip barked and charged at the dragons, but they shot flames at him too, sending him scuttling away.

Ash glanced at the mother dragon outside on the ledge. She stirred in her sleep. “Stop, Trip.” He collared the dog. “Stop that right now.”