The Runaway Dragon (4 page)

“Fourteen,” her father said.

“Nine.”

“Ten!”

“Very well,” said the queen. “Ten guardsmen. Two servants. And a lady-in-waiting and a wizard, of course.”

“Of course,” the king said. He turned a paternal eye on Meg. “Erm. You might want to take that scarf of yours. Just in case.”

“Yes, Father,” Meg said in her best dutiful voice. The magic scarf, which had been a gift from Gorba, was already lying on her bed waiting to be packed. And snoring just a little, the miniature lashes of its dozens of tiny closed eyes quivering. The thing was so sweet when it was asleep, Meg found it easy to forget how hard her scarf could bite when it got upset, or how loud it could shriek. On the bright side, it tended to get upset with Meg’s enemies. She grinned as she left her father’s study.

A day later, Meg had stopped grinning. Leaving the castle wasn’t easy, even with the king’s permission. The queen wanted Meg to take a carriage. A
carriage!
Meg was appalled. She was quite sure that heroes never rode off in carriages, especially not purple carriages lavishly trimmed with gilt curlicues. Had Great-great-grandmother Ameliana designed the carriage, too? Anyway, Meg wanted to ride a horse. After a very long
conversation (not an argument—the queen
never
argued), Meg’s mother finally consented to let Meg go on horseback, but only if she wore some extremely elegant riding skirts and let the guardsmen bring a wagon along for the luggage and tents and supplies. Meg secretly planned to bring sensible clothes to put on once she was well away from the castle.

Another day passed, with more preparations and details and deliberations than Meg could have ever imagined. She was starting to feel as if she would never begin her quest at all, that Laddy would be so far away she would never find him again. But finally the morning came when Meg and her companions were supposed to leave the castle. Meg went down to the courtyard, hoping for some sign that her quest was really taking place. She was pleased to find that several of her father’s guardsmen had already led out their horses and were busy checking their saddlebags and gear. “Good morning,” Meg called. The men smiled and greeted her in return. Ever since she had started studying swordplay, the guardsmen had been more inclined to treat her like a person instead of a princess. She knew a few of them by name—the old, grouchy one was Bumberson, the very handsome one was Frist, and the big blond boy with the quiet ways was Crobbs.

Then there were the two servants. Since Dilly was going, Meg had contrived to leave her rather useless maid behind. Instead, one man was being sent to cook,
while another would drive the wagon and help with the camp. At first Meg barely spared the wagon driver a glance, but then her eyes were drawn back to him. He was wearing a straw hat, but something about him …
Cam?
Was that Cam?

Meg marched across the courtyard to the wagon, which was beginning to fill up with bags and boxes. “Cam?”

The wagon driver turned around from loading the wagon. “Good morning, Meg.”

“What are you doing here?”

Cam shrugged. “I’m going to drive the wagon.”

“But I thought—what about your vegetables?”

“They’ll keep.” This from the boy who lay awake nights worrying about whether his bean vines had caught a cold.

“Huh. You told me you didn’t want to go on a quest. No adventures for you, you said.”

Cam smiled faintly. “True enough.”

“It’s not that I’m not glad to see you, but did you change your mind?” Meg didn’t think her old friend had changed that much over the last year. Janna’s brother was still brown with the sun, his hair the color of freshly turned dirt. He still spent most of his waking hours thinking about vegetables. Only now he wasn’t just the gardener’s boy—he was an assistant gardener.

“No. Don’t like adventures much.” Cam was also sounding more and more like Tob, the chief gardener.
Tob was practically a plant, Meg thought. Or an old tree, gnarled and silent.

“Then why are you coming?” Meg asked, knowing even as she said it that she sounded ungracious.

“Someone’s
got to keep you out of trouble.”

Meg had expected her parents to worry about her, and maybe Master Zolis, but Cam, too? Didn’t anyone think she was capable of handling herself if she ventured more than twenty feet from home? All Meg could think of to say to Cam was “Hmph!” She stalked back into the castle to see if anyone else was ready. Unfortunately, she discovered that her mother was having second thoughts about the whole thing. Meg escaped back outside, wishing Lex would show up.

Lex was not a very complicated person. Take one dose of powerful magic and a cup of hot chocolate, then add the personality of a puppy, and that was Lex. It was hard to believe when you saw him that, with the exception of one very old wizard on the Isle of Skape, Meg’s friend was said to be the best wizard in the known kingdoms. Of course, it was also hard to believe that a wizard would be named Lex. But that wasn’t really his name at all—he had informed her that wizards kept their true names a secret. Meg had long ago given up guessing what Lex’s name must be.

When Lex did finally arrive, he zoomed through the gates on what appeared to be a magic carpet. The gate guards ran into the courtyard after him, shouting. Meg
emerged from her hiding place and waved both her arms. “Lex! Over here!” At which point he crash-landed two inches in front of her.

Meg was too pleased to be bothered about a mere brush with death. “I thought you got rid of your magic carpet!”

Lex stood up, coughing and slapping dust from his black clothes. His rooster’s comb of red hair was even more rumpled than usual. “I bought a new one from a mail-order catalog. Well, it’s used, actually. The catalog said the previous owner was an elderly wizard who only took it out on Sunday evenings.” He lowered his shaggy brows. “But I’m not so sure. It’s kind of unpredictable.”

Meg felt her scarf loosen from her shoulders and float away. It circled the magic carpet, which lifted itself from the stones of the courtyard and circled, too, creating a kind of figure-eight effect. The scarf waved its deep blue fringes. Meg couldn’t tell if it was threatening the newcomer or welcoming it, since she didn’t speak cloth.

Lex tipped his chin toward the guardsmen and the horses and the wagon. “It’s a lot of bother, isn’t it?”

“Too much,” Meg agreed glumly. Then she brightened, struck by an idea. “We could just take the carpet and hunt for Laddy!” She examined the carpet again. It was dark green, covered with mysterious markings in deep rose and gold. More important, it was big enough to carry two or three people without any trouble.

The young wizard was shaking his head. “I told you, it’s unpredictable.”

Meg’s scarf flew back to her shoulders, apparently sulking.

“What do you mean, unpredictable?”

“I’ve taken the rug out a couple of times: around Crown, over to see Gorba, and across the Dreadful Moor.” Lex sighed. “It got cranky and dropped me in the swamp. I had to walk clear home.”

The rug ought to get along well with Meg’s magic scarf, then. She never knew quite what the scarf would do. It gave a whole new meaning to the word “flighty.” Still, Meg’s hopes for an easy answer were definitely dashed. “So why did you bring the carpet at all?”

Lex looked sheepish.

“To make a grand entrance?” Meg guessed.

The young wizard smiled. “Always.”

UARD CAPTAIN HANAK INTRODUCED MEG AND
Lex to Lieutenant Staunton, who would be leading Meg’s escort. The lieutenant looked as if he polished his hair with the same stuff he used to polish his boots. Staunton was so eager and formal and
blinky
that Meg knew she was in for a rough time. Or too smooth of a time, to be precise. Meg could picture herself facing a big purple monster, sword heroically in hand, and then Staunton would tap her on the shoulder, clear his throat, and say, “Now, Princess, you really
must
let me take care of that for you.”

Of course, all she said was, “It’s so nice to meet you.” Statesmanship again. Meg swore silently to herself that if things got bad enough, she was going to find something a little less statesmanlike to do about it. For the moment, though, she was determined to grit her teeth and get out of the castle.

Introductions over, Hanak asked how they planned to find the dragon.

“Lex has a spell,” Meg told the guard captain.

Lex held up a thin coin-sized object that shimmered red and gold in the sun.

Hanak peered at the jewel-like object. “Is that a dragon’s scale?”

“One of Laddy’s, to be exact,” Lex said.

“Laddy?” Staunton repeated.

“The dragon’s name is Laddy,” Meg told the lieutenant.

“I see,” Staunton said stiffly.

Lex continued his explanation. “I can use this scale to find the nearest place the dragon touched down. And that’s south.”

“The creature isn’t likely to be there still,” Hanak observed.

“No,” said Lex, “so
then
we go to the next spot. And the next. Like visiting towns along a road. Until eventually he stays put …”

“… and we catch up with him,” Meg concluded.

“Good,” Hanak said, satisfied. “Princess Margaret, I’m sure you understand that Lieutenant Staunton and his men will protect you on your journey.”

“Of course.” Meg made herself smile at Lieutenant Staunton. “How nice.”

“Therefore,” Hanak continued ominously, “though I see you’re carrying your sword, I would very much appreciate it if you would refrain from fighting.”

“But what if—” Meg began, unconsciously reaching for her sword.

“And
from haring off into the wilderness unaccompanied by your guards.”

Meg sighed. It was going to be like that, was it? She wasn’t just being guarded against outside threats; she was being guarded against her own supposedly foolish ways. She winced, picturing the conversation the guard captain must have had with her father. “Yes, Captain Hanak. I understand.”

Hanak bared his teeth in his own version of a smile. “Very good. If you’ll excuse us …”

“Princess,” Staunton said with a half-bow.

Meg nodded regally, but as soon as Hanak and Staunton went off to finish their preparations, she scowled.

“It won’t be that bad,” Lex told her.

“We’ll see,”
Meg said, feeling nearly as ominous as Hanak. If Lex weren’t coming along, her parents wouldn’t even have let her go, and now they had assigned her an official minder—one who was plainly determined to keep her from having any actual adventures.

Not quite an hour later, the company of questers really did leave. The king and queen came out to see them off, along with pretty much everyone else in the castle. “Now, daughter,” said King Stromgard, “make us proud.”

“Yes, Father.”

“Did you remember your handkerchief?” Queen Istilda asked.

Meg managed to produce a handkerchief, and it was even still white.

“Take mine as well.” The queen gave Meg her own handkerchief.

“Now, don’t get out of sight of your guardsmen,” said the king.

“Yes, Father.”

The king turned to Staunton. “You’ll take good care of my girl, won’t you, Lieutenant?”

“My men and I will defend her to the death,” the man responded.

The queen blanched. “Surely not death!”

“Bandits, swamp ghosts, nefarious wanderers, ancient evils.” The king ticked things off on his fingers. “And don’t let any dragons eat you. Not even that red-and-gold beast of yours.”

Meg started to protest that Laddy would never eat
anyone
, then decided this last bit must be a joke. “Yes, Father.” Meg hoped the king was finished, but he wasn’t.

“Lex?” King Stromgard said, giving the wizard a look.

“I’ll protect her, too, Sire,” Lex promised. “But you left out a few things. What about cursed graves, witches (not Gorba, the other kind), and ordinary dangers
like wolves and lions, also falling rocks and sudden storms?”

“Quite right,” said Stromgard. “Watch out for those, too.”

“I think I’ll just go lie down,” the queen said faintly. “Goodbye, dear.”

“Goodbye, Mother. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Goodbye, Father!” Meg said. And they started out of the courtyard at last. The castle folk let out a cheer. Meg’s heart lifted despite her worries. There was something exhilarating about the idea of
setting off.
Guardsmen and fussy fathers aside, Meg was finally going on a quest.

The traveling party made a modest yet noticeable procession. First came Staunton, resembling a statue called
Heroic Guardsman on Horseback.
Next came four slightly less heroic-looking guardsmen, including Nort. After that came Meg herself, wearing her magic scarf, with Dilly and Lex on either side of her. Behind them came the wagon, with Cam driving it and the cook sitting beside him. Five more guardsmen brought up the rear.

Meg looked sideways at Lex. She had already asked him if he would help her with her magic during the journey, but he hadn’t really answered. She brought it up again as they began to canter past the city of Crown. “Lex, when we camp for the night, why don’t I do a little spell, and then you can sort of critique it.”