The Golden Flight (26 page)
Authors: Michael Tod
Marguerite was on her way to choose which of the newly qualified scouts would be selected to be taken, by the dolphins, for the next Mainland Adventure. Hearing the W-wow, W-wow, W-wow of wing-beats overhead, she looked up as a swan, its feathers gleaming white, swept overhead and turned in a long glide to land in the lagoon and paddle over to where she sat near the edge of the black mud of the Zwamp. The bird was carrying a plant in its beak.
It walked up to her, spread its wings and lowered its head in an unmistakable gesture of thanks, then walked to the marsh-edge and pushed the roots of the plant into the mud where the stream ran into the lagoon, above the level of the highest flood tide. It lowered its head once again, then walked back into the water.
Marguerite waited as it ran across the surface and lifted into the air. She watched it circle above her and fly westwards, the sound of its wing-beats fading into the distance. Only then did she hop over to look at the plant the swan had brought but it was not familiar to her. It had glossy green leaves and hard round buds, one of which showed a trace of yellow where the sepals were just beginning to open.
Each day she made a point of visiting the marsh, and on the day when the humans were celebrating
their
Spring Sun-day, Marguerite found the gift-plant covered in a mass of gleaming golden flowers, brighter and more beautiful by far than the metal disk that Chip had spent so much effort in bringing to Ourland. She did not know the name of this plant so she decided to call it ‘Marsh Gold’.
As the island’s Queen, she could declare
this
day to be the squirrels’ Spring Sun-day. She went to find Burdock, the News-squirrel – her daughter would enjoy spreading the word.
As she passed The Wall the sound of happy young squirrel voices reached her ears. Marguerite climbed the crumbling brickwork until she could see, at the far end, her grandson Hickory, son of her son Oak and his life-mate Bluebell. Young Hickory was playing the part of Leaper in the Wall Game. He saw Marguerite and waved a paw, then greeted her shyly.
‘Hello, Marguerite-Ma-Ma.’ Then he turned away and started the chant –
‘I honour birch-bark
The Island Screen. Flies stinging
A piece of the sun.’
Marguerite smiled to herself. Some things never change, she thought.
###
This book,
The Golden Flight
, is available in print at
michaeltod.co.uk
as part of The
Dorset Squirrels Saga
in a single volume with
The Silver Tide
and
The Second Wave
.
Michael Tod’s latest non-fiction book ‘The Ferryboat - Finding a Credible God’ was published in 2012 and his latest fiction book ‘ Barefoot Summer’ was published in 2013. Both books are available in paper and downloadable formats.
Visit
michaeltod.co.uk
where you can find out more about Michael Tod, his background, his books and his poetry.
Table of Contents
