Read The Runaway Dragon Online
Authors: Kate Coombs
The Runaway Dragon (26 page)
“Right, Cookie Ann.”
While the others were still eating and talking, Bain motioned to Meg. She followed him reluctantly along the edge of the forest till they came to a spot where a fallen tree cut across the field. “Have a seat,” Bain said, gesturing to the log.
Meg sat, but she refused to smile.
“What’s wrong?” Bain asked. “You have your friends
back, and Malison is gone for good. Aren’t you happy?”
“I’m fine,” she said tightly. “Just like you’re fine. You and your ladylove,” she added, though she immediately wished she hadn’t.
“I wanted to do something grand for her,” Bain said, looking thoughtful. “Something that would make her smile at me, not to mention something that would make a king sit up and take notice.”
“A king?”
“Meg, I stole the frobble for you.”
“What?”
He said it again.
Meg gaped. “You robbed a giant—for me?”
“Yes,” Bain said, seeming uncharacteristically awkward.
“That’s so—well, I can’t say it’s sweet, exactly, but it’s”—Meg scrambled for a word—“impressive.”
“It is, isn’t it?” Bain said, his confidence quickly restored.
“You’re saying you like me?”
Bain nodded.
Meg had never imagined, not really. She just couldn’t. A picture of Bain looking adoringly into Malison’s eyes popped into her mind. “I don’t believe you,” she snapped.
“Why not?” Bain was genuinely surprised.
“Because the day before yesterday, no, this very afternoon,
you were gawping at an evil sorceress as if she were the most wonderful thing ever!”
“I was under a
spell,”
Bain protested. “I was a puppy last time it happened!” He had to grin. “Puppies look at everyone that way.”
“I suppose.” Meg scowled, kicking the dirt. “I don’t notice things like Dilly does. I don’t think I’m very good at it. This romance stuff, I mean.”
“Who is?” Bain replied.
Meg brightened. “Really?”
Bain, who usually seemed a bit too clever for his own good, shook his head. “Nobody’s any good at it.”
“But those flowers and the minstrel songs that rhyme ‘dove’ and ‘love’ with ‘heaven above’—”
“They’re pretending,” he explained. “Everybody pretends, and sometimes it turns out all right.”
“Huh. So—there’s no bandit girl?”
“Nope.” Bain tossed his dagger high into the air and managed to catch it again without stabbing either himself or Meg. “Ever since last year, I’ve been thinking about you. Alya told me I was crazy.”
“Well, you are, a little.”
“Ha.”
Meg thought of something. “It’s not just because I’m a princess, is it?”
Bain caught her hand and pulled her to her feet. “Princesses are a lot of trouble.” He twirled her in a circle
Completely forgetting Master Deedle’s dancing lessons, she stepped on his toes. “But princesses who get through enchanted forests in one piece and defeat evil sorceresses without involving any armies and rescue their lost friends from the sky are worth the trouble.”
He let go of her hand and stepped back, his expression suddenly solemn. “What about you? I suppose the only reason you like me is because I’m a dashing bandit.”
“You’re not
that
dashing,” she informed him. “Especially when you’re under some dark-minion spell and staring all googly-eyed—”
“Leaving the past aside,” Bain interrupted, “I want to ask you a question.”
“Go ahead.”
Bain took a deep breath before he spoke. “May I court you, Your Most Unique and Royal Highness?”
Meg was starting to enjoy this. “Oh, probably. If the prime minister doesn’t throw you in the dungeon first.”
He smiled. “Fair enough.”
And with that understanding, they went off to find the others.
From the top of a tower somewhere deep in the enchanted forest, a song floated like green scum on the surface of a pond. Actually, the song sounded like a cross between an irate weasel and a laryngitic mermaid who’d eaten some bad fish, with maybe a handful of rusty knives and forks being scraped along a gravestone tossed
in for good measure. Most people wouldn’t have called it a song.
A prince riding through the forest on a great white charger heard the singing and made a face. “What is
that?”
he asked no one in particular. Being a brave as well as a curious young man, he rode in the direction of the noise to find out.
He followed the song until he came to a clearing, where he discovered a tall tower. The music stopped abruptly. “Hello?” the prince called. There was no answer. The prince rode in a circle around the tower, but it had no windows or doors.
“Is anyone up there?” the prince yelled, but no one replied. “Hello?” the prince said again.
A hollow voice filled the clearing. “Seeeek the magic swooorrd.”
“There’s a magic sword?” the prince asked.“Where?”
“In the heeaaart of the fooorrressst liessss the swooorrd.”
“Magic sword. Heart of the forest. Got it,” the prince said with a decisive nod. He spun his mount around, then spun it right back again, causing the steed to give a whinny of protest. “Wait. Is there a damsel involved?”
“Of coouurrssse.”
“Good. Thanks for the tip.” The prince urged his white stallion out of the clearing, back into the forest. The sound of hoofbeats soon faded away.
A contented sigh could be heard from the top of the tower. A face appeared at the window—a wrinkled old man’s face with a long gray beard (though not nearly as long as Spinach’s braid). Quorlock smiled. “Now, that’s more like it,” he said, leaning on the windowsill and looking out over the enchanted forest, a place filled with unidentifiable green-eyed creatures, a magic sword, various squirrels of questionable origin, the too-quiet body of a dead witch, a demon pit, a couple of changeable streams, a damsel in distress, a white stag, and a myriad of other mysteries.
PILOGUE
HE QUESTERS TOOK THE LONG WAY HOME
, skirting around the enchanted forest, which meant they had only two or three more adventures along the way instead of five or six. Even so, Meg ran into a helpful fish, a friendly bird, and a rather uppity fox, all of whom repaid their debts of honor with varying degrees of success and enthusiasm.
In time Meg’s bedraggled party arrived back at the castle in Greeve, where Meg had a joyous reunion with her parents and gave her mother an attack of nerves by telling her about the sorceress and the giant in great detail. Then when Meg introduced Bain—well! Despite Meg’s best efforts at diplomacy, Queen Istilda wandered about the court with her beautiful face pale and drawn for some time before she rallied and began telling everyone that Bain was really a prince in disguise. Needless to say, Bain was
not
thrown in the dungeon, although
unruffleable Guard Captain Hanak looked ruffled for at least twenty minutes when he heard the news, and the prime minister pouted for days afterward.
Lex settled back into his ever-changing house, which was made of blue glass when he arrived, to read his new books, a large mug of hot chocolate near at hand. Spinach moved into the tower where Meg had once been sequestered because it was where she felt most comfortable. Her hair grew to the exact length needed to reach from the tower window to the ground. However, Cam used the stairs when he came to bring her bouquets of vegetables and answer her many questions. Ever observant, Dilly noticed what Cam was up to within half a day. Whereupon she made a smug little face and said, “See?”to Meg.
Of course, Dilly and Nort sometimes went to the market together, bickering every step of the way, which caused Meg to make the same sort of face as Dilly’s, though she kept herself from saying “See?” out loud.
Dilly had gone far beyond saying “See?” when she had met Meg and Bain walking back along the edge of the enchanted forest with a look of mutual surprise about them. Her expressions of delight and horror were still ringing in Meg’s ears, as were Queen Istilda’s initial histrionics, King Stromgard’s gloomy speeches, and the courtiers’ gossip.
Meg listened to everyone, then went off to visit
Gorba. She discovered that the witch had learned to get along with her new kitten by the simple act of catering to Miss Mystery’s every whim. To Meg’s relief, Gorba was still an incurable romantic: she thought the idea of a semi-reformed bandit courting Meg was simply splendid.
Not long after the travelers returned, Meg found a quiet moment to give Spinach the picture in the pink frame and tell her what she and Lex had seen in the forest that night. “I thought so,” was all Spinach said, though her face said a lot more.
Good old Crobbs melted back into Hanak’s troop of guards. Everyone soon learned that it was best not to talk to him about squirrels. The guardsmen held a memorial service for their lost companions, which Meg and her friends attended, sitting in the back.
There was some talk about Lex coming up with a squirrel-rescuing spell, but so far, he was still experimenting on mice.
When Meg introduced Bain to Master Zolis, the swordmaster offered to teach him swordplay. Bain responded to this signal honor by saying, “I don’t need any lessons,” to which Master Zolis replied that he would be happy to show the young man otherwise. Much to Meg’s amusement, Bain and the swordmaster were pretty evenly matched. In fact, both men seemed pleased to have encountered somebody worth sparring with. Bain
ended up teaching several of the students on Master Zolis’s long list of eager pupils.
Bain also taught Meg how to dance without stepping on his toes, a task Master Deedle had despaired of. Meg retaliated by teaching Bain every single one of Mistress Mintz’s eleven curtsies. When that lady found out, she fell into a state of permanent dismay, having never managed to acquire such an impolite thing as a sense of humor.
Weeks passed, and Meg wondered how her runaway dragon was getting along. Was he truly well hidden, out there in the mountains beyond the enchanted forest? Was he getting enough goats to eat? Was he burning any villages, or taking up any other bad habits?
Then one afternoon Meg heard people screaming and running. She ran to the window and caught a glimpse of sunlight flashing on red-and-gold scales as Laddy buzzed the castle.
Thbbbbbhbt!
Meg heard in her head.
Meet me on the roof!
Meg called to her dragon.
Next she hurried to tell Hanak about her guest before her father could get into a dudgeon. The levelheaded guard captain agreed to explain things to the archers and calm the courtiers. That settled, Meg stopped by her chambers to retrieve a very important sheet of parchment before she ran up four flights of stairs to perch on the castle roof beside Laddy.
Did you miss me?
he asked.
Of course! Tell me everything.
So Laddy told her about flying with eagles, experimenting with dragon magic—
I can make myself invisible now!—
exploring hidden canyons, and spying on the kingdoms on the other side of the mountains.
I hope you’re eating right
, Meg said.
Mountain goats are good, and so are deer.
Any sausages?
Laddy smiled a long toothy smile.
Once. But I left a gold coin to pay for them.
Good boy.
Have you thought about it any more?
he asked.
Your name? Yes.
Meg was prepared this time. She pulled the list out of her pocket and began to read.
Sorgalorn?
No.
Hainlesek?
No.
Trelenariane?
It was hard to say that one.
No.
Fantastanoff?
That’s ridiculous
, Laddy said.
All right. How about Drackslither?
Too snaky.
Aurumgelve?
Meg suggested.
No.
Crimsontail?
Mmm—no.
Teethslicer?
That sounds like slicing up teeth
, Laddy said, trying not to seem disdainful.
Merenol?
A wizard’s name. You’re not very good at this, are you?
I’m trying
, she told him.
What about you?
I have one idea.
Why didn’t you say so?
I wanted to hear yours first.
Laddy laughed in her mind.
Fine. Go on, then.
Fireshine
, he said cautiously.
Oh!
What do you mean, “Oh”?
Laddy sounded worried.
I mean “Oh, that’s perfect”!
Meg told him.
You look like fire when you fly.
I can make fire, too.
It really was perfect. So Meg and her dragon, who wasn’t exactly her dragon anymore, sat on top of the castle and talked until the sun began to go down. Laddy showed her how he could become invisible, and Meg told him all of the castle gossip. She had the cook send up three trays of sausages for a snack partway through.
When the day was almost gone, Laddy—Fireshine—lifted off the roof, a dragon made of flame in the last light of the setting sun. The fire faded into darkness as he flew away south to make sure his gold was still waiting for him in his mountain lair.
Quests don’t always turn out like you think they will, Meg thought as she ran down the stairs to see if Master Zolis had taught Bain a lesson today, or the other way round. Even so, she decided, going on a quest and coming home again was just as good as she had always thought it would be.