"I'm not afraid of you. Dragon," the lead crow cawed raucously. "Come ahead!"
The Dragon drew even with the flight and bobbed his head carefully in greeting. His passengers clung to his harness and ears with both hands and saluted the lead crow with polite nods.
"On my head are, in order of preference," began Furbetrance, "the Princess Royal Alix Amandaa"
"I'm honored. Princess," said the lead crow, impressed despite herself.
"I'm truly charmed to meet you, also," replied Manda, when Clem had quickly translated the crow's words for her.
"I beg your pardon, however. I should be more polite," said the crow in Common Tongue. "I should bespeak you in your own language, as you don't know ours."
"I would love to learn Crow," said Manda, sincerely. "A princess and a queen-perhaps-to-be should know as many of her subjects' languages as she can, out of respect to them."
"I would be honored if you would allow me to give you some lessons in Crow," responded the bird.
"Wonderful!" cried Manda. "As soon as our current quest is fulfilled, come to Overhall and ask for me. We'll begin lessons at once."
Furbetrance introduced Momie and the two young men to the lead crow and they exchanged polite amenities. The crow, whose name was White Shoulders, seemed unim-pressed with a Librariana-she couldn't read, as it turned outa-but she knew of the breed of men who trapped fur animals. She approved of what they did for a living.
"Nasty beasts, the ermines, the stoats, the weasels, the minx. Steal eggs at the drop of a feather!" White Shoulders shuttered in revulsion. "It's splendidly ironic that they should end their days keeping some lady warm, come cold weather."
118 Don Callander Furbetrance tactfully waited until they all felt comfortable with each other before he broached the subject of the missing Dragon. The relatively short-ranging crows settled down in an oak copse standing by itself in the middle of miles of greening pastures, and the Dragon discharged his passengers nearby.
"We seek my noble brother, Retruance Constable," he began.
"Oh, yes, I know Retruance Constable quite well!" cried White Shoulders. "He flew this way quite often and often stopped to chat."
"Can you tell us of his whereabouts, now?" asked Tom impulsively. "He's been missing for weeks and we fear he has fallen into trouble of some sort. Lady White Shoulders."
White Shoulders cocked her head to the left and squinted at the man with dawning understanding.
"Ah, now I see! You're the new Dragon Companion! Your Dragon friend here did you an injustice by not using your tide."
"I am so very sorry," apologized Furbetrance. "It slipped my mind, entirely."
"No harm, though," continued the crow. "It's a very great honor to meet a Companion. Retruance Constable told me of you, when last he passed this way. Said to assist you if I were asked."
"He talked to you since he and I met?" asked Tom. "Then you've seen him since we last did."
They explained the entire matter of the missing Dragon to the crows, all of whom perched on limbs of the oaks and listened in uncharacteristic silence.
"Of course, Retruance Constable told me of the Lady Rosemary. I told him I had seen her fleeing from Overhall, but not seen her return. That's all I could offer him at that time."
Manda told of how the Librarian, the woodsman, and the Dragon had rescued the Historian's daughter.
At the end of the story White Shoulders sat on a branch near Furbetrance's head and considered matters quietly and seriously.
"No, I neither saw nor heard of Retruance Constable after his brief stop here," she said sadly. "Migrant birds might DRAGON COMPANION 119.
have seen him, but they're all in the Far North by now, or close to it."
"Can you think of anyone, bird, beast, or man, who might have heard word of the Dragon?" asked Clem. "For example, some rodents pass news over considerable distance through their connecting burrows."
"Unfortunately," said White Shoulders, shaking her black head, "we are not on the best of terms with rodents."
She shook her head again, more slowly. "No, I just can't think of anyone a"
A much smaller crow flew to White Shoulders's branch. They conferred in quiet Crow before the smaller bird flew away, shyly.
"My little friend there," said White Shoulders, "has just given me an idea worth exploring, I think. As you know, birds either stay put all year *round, like we crows, and the owls, or migrate north in summer and south in winter."
"We're aware of that," said Furbetrance.
"But my young friend reminds me that a certain breed of birds migrate east in summer and west in winter! The crossbeaks! They got into the habit centuries ago, my moth-er once told me, because they are so at cross purposes with each other and with other birds too."
"I've heard of the breed," said Clem, "but not of cross-wise migration."
"They do it at the same time as the north-south movements, so nobody notices them moving across the current, as it were," the lead crow told him, chuckling. "But *tis true!"
"Where are they now, then? Let's see, they go east in summer?" asked Furbetrance.
"Yes. They have been passing through our north-going brethren for some weeks now," said White Shoulders. "If you will wait for an hour or so, I will send scouts out to see if any are in the area."
Although it was early evening, the travelers pitched their tents in the grove for the night. The crows showed Tom a tiny spring among a jumbled heap of stone nearby and Momie and Manda gathered dry, dead oak twigs for a cheery evening fire where Clem prepared their meal.
White Shoulders's flock settled in the trees above as twilight arrived, but no word came from the scouts. White 120 Don Callander DRAGON COMPANION 121 Shoulders joined them briefly for a supper of bread and cold meat before she went off to check her sentries for the night.
"Go to sleep, friends," she suggested. "There will be word by morning, I'm sure."
The five of thema-the young people sitting about the dying fire, the Dragon curled protectively around them, fire and alla-sat awhile, talking of this and that, mostly of the comparison between castle life and life in the wilderness.
"Not that I say this is true wilderness," clucked the trapper. "There is water and food here, easily to hand, if you know how to find it. I've been in places where even air was hard to find!"
Manda and Momie crawled into their tent, saying good night to the men. Tom and Clem decided to sleep in the open, as the summer's night was mild and dry, and soon they were sound asleep, too, leaving the Dragon and the crow sentries to watch over them.
The great beast seemed to sleep also, but the crows who, out of curiosity, came close to examine the strangers noted a tiny glint of red fire showing in the Dragon's slitted eyes. The very arrow tip of his tail swung back and forth slightly every once in a while, like that of a puppy in its sleep.
"THIS is a crossbeak," White Shoulders said, introducing them to a medium-sized gray bird whose bill crossed itself strangely, giving the bird an unhappy, contentious look. "He's agreed to help you."
"For a price," insisted the new bird, tartly.
"What price?" said Furbetrance, raising his eyebrows in surprise.
"I and my people will help you in return for undisputed rights to all the kingdom's mosquitoes and flying beetles. That's our proposal. Take it or leave it!"
"I don't see how we can give any one kind of bird unlimited rights like that," objected Manda heatedly. "All birds have rights, you should know!"
White Shoulders perched on Manda's shoulder and whispered in her ear.
"Oh, very well, in that case," said Manda to the crossbeak. "As Princess Royal I agree to your demandsa-providing that what you have to tell us is of assistance in our quest."
"Fair enough. Princess," said the crossbeak. "Ask me what you will."
They explained their interest in the movements of the missing Dragon, and when they had finished the gray bird sat in deep thought for a long while. Furbetrance cleared his throat with a burst of blue smoke, fearing the bird had fallen asleep.
"Yes!" cried the crossbeak with a start.
"Yes, what?" demanded his listeners.
"I've heard word of the Dragon flying west some days ago," the bird told them. "I didn't see him myself, mind you, but word of him passed up the line."
"There's nothing more you can tell us?" asked Tom.
"I'll have to check with my flockmates," snapped the crossbeak irritably. "It'll mean flying far ahead. Those who actually saw the Dragon have already passed this point."
"How long. will that take?" asked Manda. "We're in a hurry, in case harm has befallen the good Dragon."
"Less than a day," the bird assured her. "Check with my people tomorrow morning. They'll know if I found anything for you."
THE crossbeak fluttered off eastward more quickly than his kind usually flew.
"What changed your mind about the mosquitoes and beetles?" Tom asked Manda over breakfast.
"White Shoulders said it was a meaningless concession. The crossbeaks just want to brag about it, she said. Crossbeaks eat mostly nuts and seeds! She saw no harm in the concession."
"Well, we'll have to wait for the crossbeaks to report, then," sighed Furbetrance.
"I think we should proceed to Ramhold, anyway," said Tom. "From what this crossbeak said, their news will reach us no matter where we are tomorrow morning. We know Retruance flew that way. We'll be getting closer by traveling ourselves in that direction."
"I agree," said Furbetrance, and the others had no objections.
Twenty minutes later they said good-bye and thank you to the lead crow, reminding her to come to Overhall for a feast and language lessons.
122 Don Callander "No thanks necessary," said the crow waving a wing negligently. "Fare you well, friends!"
"We should reach Murdan's Ramhold in an hour or two at most," the Dragon said. "If that's where you think we should go now."
"Ramhold it is!" cried Manda. "Besides, Talber may have some word, too, of our missing Dragon."
BUT Talber wasn't at the sheep station when they arrived, although his people made the travelers welcome and comfortable.
"The herds are on their way up into the mountains," said the Factor's aide, in charge while the Factor was away. "We're just finishing shearing. If you'll excuse me, I must return to that work."
"Of course," answered Manda. "We'll watch, if we may."
They spent the afternoona-after a big farm luncha-in the open-sided sheds watching the shearers clip the ewes and rams, relieving them of the thick wool of winter and making it more comfortable for them to bear the heat of summer.
The following morning just before dawn a crossbeak flew in at Tom's window and awakened him with the loud, rasping call of his kind.
"Wake up, sirrah! I've news from the crossbeak flock for you and'your princess."
"Come with me, then," Tom told him. He pulled on his trousers and marched across the hall to knock on Manda's door. She was already awake and, sitting on a bench beside the window, was combing her hair before plaiting it.
"The Dragon was last seen flying high on the south-facing slopes of Snow Mountains," recited the bird, perching on the top of the mirror before Manda. "He was a day and a half of moderate flight beyond Summer Pass road where it begins to climb."
"How far is that in miles?" asked Tom.
"I have no idea. I don't think in terms of miles," snapped the crossbeak.
"Probably Clem can tell us pretty well," said Tom. "Go on, good bird!"
"The wings of the great flock that came through that area two weeks ago say that they saw no sign of the Dragon. If DRAGON COMPANION 123.
he had continued westward, he would have been seen by them."
"So, Retruance flew at least as far as that, and either landed or turned south or north?"
"You've understood. Princess. If he had turned east or continued west, we would have had report of him, but he drops from sight after our sighting."
"Well, good!" said Manda. Turning to Tom, she said, "We're beginning to narrow it down."
They thanked the bird, offering it breakfast with the shepherds, but it refused indignantly, saying it preferred grass seed to table crumbs, and flew off to rejoin its flock.
"No one knows the south slopes better'n Talber," said the Factor's assistant over breakfast. "You ought to go to him, first, and let him tell you what to expect to the west. I hear it's bad country."
"A good idea, " said Tom with an emphatic nod. "It's not out of the way, and could save us much time searching."
"I don't say Master Talber knows everything about the area," warned the assistant Factor. "It's terribly wild for the most part. And vast! You could hide whole cities in a fold or a canyon there, or a half dozen Dragons."
ROCKY hillsides were awash with fresh white new-shorn sheep for as far as the eye cold see. Furbetrance circled quietly for several minutes before he spotted the small group of shepherds and their dogs following the vast flock.
As they came in to land, the shepherds waved in greeting, and the sheep pretended to be terrified and started to bolt.
The four sheepdogs were off with hardly a signal needed, to head off the stampede before it could get started.
"Sorry to be such a nuisance!" called Tom.
"Not a problem at all," Talber said, grinning, pleased to see them again and hear their news. "The dogs know what to do. The sheep are merely having springtime friskies."
When they had shared morning tea with the herdsmen, the rescuers told what the crossbeaks had said of Retruance.
"That land is certainly among the most desolate in the kingdom or anywhere, for that matter," Talber said. "In the old days outlaws fled there to hide. It's still called Hiding Lands. Come to think of it, Gantrells are not unknown there."
124.
Don Callander v "How do you mean?" asked Manda, looking up quickly.
"The sire of the present Gantrells, old Owen Gantrell himself, led the troops that chased down the outlaws, fifty years since. It brought him much favor with Eduard Nine, and made his family's fortune."