Dragon - Dragon Companion - Dragon - Dragon Companion Part 21
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Dragon - Dragon Companion Part 21

"Need a good fast-breaker," said the trapper, skillfully propping his heavy iron skillet over the hot coals. The rousing fragrance of smoked bacon wafted to the Dragon's nose and he was at once fully awake. After a pound and a half of bacon from Overhall's larder and fifteen large flapjacks from Clem's secret recipe, he declared himself fully recovered from his blasting.

When they walked upstream to examine the Dragon's handiwork, they were surprised and impressed. Not only had Furbetrance torn a long, deep, high-arching tunnel into the mountainside, but he'd rounded off all its edges, channeling the stream into a shallow, polished oval pool of bedrock, where once again it ran ice cold, cooling the air and making it fragrant.

"You share some of your great-grandfather's talent at building," Manda complimented Furbetrance, to his delight. Everyone paused at the sparkling pool for a long drink before they faced the entry into the mountain.

"I'll come last," decided Furbetrance, "and provide light for our going. The path turns rough all too soon, I'm afraid. It seems to be large enough to walk through once 1 shrink myself to your size."

They went two by two, Manda and Tom, then Clem and Momie, hand in hand. At first, Furbetrance's tunnel was easy going, level and smooth as a pavement. Their steps echoed and reechoed off the polished rock, so loudly that it wasn't until they reached its end and debouched into a rougher, natural cavern that they could stop and call out to Retruance that they were on their way.

"You've a long way to come, yet," shouted the imprisoned Dragon. His voice was clearer and louder now that they were inside the mountain and away from the sounds of moving water and wind. "I'm just fine, if a bit confined, 160.

Don Callander you know. I can hear you quite easily."

An hour passed and a second. Without the younger Dra-gon's flare behind them they would long since have become completely lost, as the cavern branched and rejoined, the stream parting and coming together again, sometimes like braids, in several separate courses.

Toward midmoming they reached the bottom of a water stair and the way became a difficult, cold, and wet climb, moving from rock to rock by leaps and bounds, sometimes having to wade knee deep through swiftly running water.

"Thank goodness for a stout pair of boots!" panted Manda on reaching the top of the rapids. She reached back to pull Momie up the last drop. They stood gasping for breath, waiting for the Dragon.

"It gets worse," said Clem, returning from a forward reconnaissance. "The ceiling gets lower. I had hoped it would get higher so we could fly."

"At least there don't seem to be any great waterfalls between us and Retruance or we'd hear them," puffed Tom. "Well, we'll have to find the way, one way or another."

They all gazed about in wonder as they continued. Here the cavern was low ceilinged and the stream wandered between what appeared to be an endless forest of stone trees, rooted in the rock underfoot and stretching up into the darkness above. When Manda commented on them, wondering how they grew, Tom passed the time explaining stalactites, stalagmites, and flowstone.

NOONTIME passed. They paused on a ledge beside the stream, now rushing along a polished, jade green channel as straight as an arrow. It made hardly any sound at all, but from in front of them they could hear the muted sound of other rapids.

"How do you explain that this morning we heard Retruance speak so clearly, but now his voice is all but drowned by the water sound?" Momie asked Tom.

"I don't explain it," said Tom. "I wonder if we've taken a wrong turn, however."

The thought bothered him until he realized there were places in the tunnel where it was so quiet you could hear yourself breathe and the sound of their clothing stretching and bending. Yet, round a comer and all of a sudden the roar of water might be almost deafening.

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In quiet spots, they paused to chat encouragingly with Retruance, who was invariably cheerful and encouraging.

"I've long since decided the trap I fell into was natural, not the result of any sort of magic," he commented. "Unfortunate, but not a fatal mistake, I say."

"I wouldn't know how to tell," said Tom, shaking his head, although the Dragon couldn't possibly see the gesture. "Think about how we can help you get free once we find you."

"I'm pretty well tied up," said his mount. "However, with your help and that of brother Furbetrance, I'll easily break free once you get here."

Shortly after they resumed their trek, now over rough, shattered stones beside the river course, they turned one of those unexpected comers to find themselves on the shore of a vast, underground lake, stretching as far as the eye could see to the left, right, and ahead, until it faded into the darkness. They couldn't see the far shore.

"Swim it?" considered Furbetrance. "That's good! Dragons are as at home in the water as in the air!"

He folded his wings tightly along his flanks, worked the spell that restored his size, and invited his friends to clamber onto his saddle. Once they were comfortable, he waded out into the inky waters. After a half dozen steps, he began to swim as the bottom dropped off steeply.

"What was that?" wondered Manda very softly. Something about the place made them fall unconsciously into whispers.

"What did you see?" asked Tom, who was busy tightening the harness that held their saddle arrangement to the Dra-gon's broad forehead.

"A ripple, circling about us!" Momie squealed.

"That's what I saw," cried Manda, throwing her arms about the Librarian. "There's something alive out there."

"Advantage of having a Dragon as a carrier," said Furbetrance, calmly. "It's just a cave fish, albeit a big one. He's curious, only. And fearful, too."

The shape in the water circled for some minutes. The Dragon plowed on, now walking on the smooth, gravelly lake bottom, now swimming when the water got deeper again.

A smaller, more rapid chevron of ripples crossed in front 162.

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of them. Furbetrance paused, one foreleg lifted.

"Hello!" he called cheerily. "We're friends, just passing through, you know."

A soft answer reached them.

"Who are ye? Who are ye, great behemoth of the deep? Have you come to destroy our home as you did the outlet? How hot your body is! We fear it, fear it, feara"

"No need to fear, friend fish," said the Dragon. "We won't harm you or your lake, believe me."

The ripples stopped abruptly and a dead-white fish head, round of snout, with long, flexible whiskers all about its lips, broke the glassy surface of the lake.

"It has no eyes!" exclaimed Manda, clutching Tom's arm.

"I've heard of cave fish without eyes and without color," Tom said, to comfort her fear. It was not easy, for the sight of the eyeless white fish head was unnerving.

"You must be related to the beast who fell into the Hall of High Columns," observed the fish, politely. "I feel your size and heat and it's similar to that beast's feel."

"He's my brother, Retruance," explained Furbetrance, setting his foreleg down carefully, so as not to make waves. "We intend to rescue him."

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed the blind fish, giving his head a sharp shake. "He's been disturbing our poor sprats for some time with his singing."

"He fell into the mountain by accident," Tom said, leaning forward to see the fish better. "He can't get free of the columns without help."

"Yes, we've seen that," answered the fish. "Unfortunately, we were not able to offer our assistance to him. He's like a fish in a net, tangled in those columns as he is."

"Have you bespoken him, then?" asked Tom.

"No. No purpose. We've felt sorry for him but knew we could do nothing for him, so we left him alone to expire in peace."

"Is he far from us now?" asked Furbetrance. "Far? I would say not. Only an hour's swim, against the current," replied the fish. "How long it would take you to get there, I couldn't say."

"But at least tell us what lies between, please," requested Manda. "Beyond this lake?"

The fish considered his answer. Several other blind fish gathered some distance away, slowly waving their white whiskers, sensing the Dragon from a safe remove.

"We've decided the best thing for us to do, to hasten your passage and the end of your turbulence," said the fish at last, "is to guide you to your brother. The way is an easy swim but rather complicated to tell in words."

"We'd be much obliged if you could do so," said Manda. "Perhaps we should introduce ourselves, friend fish."

"It would be nice to know your names," agreed the other. "We don't meet many outsiders, of course. I am Albiola Bespeaker. My people selected me to speak for them on such occasions as thisa-although, thankfully, such occasions are rare."

Furbetrance said, "My own name is Furbetrance Constable. On my head is Princess Royal Alix Amanda of Carolna, and Thomas the Librarian of Overhall. Behind them are Momie of Morningside, the princess's maid, and a fur trapper of Broken Land, Clematis."

"My honor!" cried the fish. "A princess royal! I learned about kings and queens and princesses in our school!"

After that it would not do but the entire shoal of blind fish would accompany the travelers on their way across the lake and up the river beyond.

"I thought at first, when you began to call him from outside, that the other Dragon had several voices," explained Albiola, swimming alongside, close enough to talk with the riders. "Comes from not seeing, you understand."

"You can't see, even under the water?" Manda asked, very curious about these cave-bound fish.

"In a way. It's more a matter of listening, although we're aware of light and dark. We remember, way back, when our people could see as well as anyone. But seeing is a lost art here under the mountain."

"A mighty long time ago, I guess," said Tom, and the fish agreed. "You live a most quiet and peaceful life, then. I don't imagine there're too many predators to bother you, Albiola?"

"None whatsoever, except for an occasional bear or wild-cat, wandered into the caverns by mistake and gotten lost. They're always hungry but they're also so noisy they're easy to avoid."

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Don Callander DRAGON COMPANION 165.

"And ultimately they will starve to death, I reckon," observed Clem. "That's the way of the wild."

"Actually, we often manage to show them a way out, when they get hungry enough to be reasonable," said the fish. "It's much the same as helping you find your Dragon. It benefits us all to cooperate, don't you agree?"

They entered a broad, slowly flowing stream on the far side of the lake. It flowed through an underground canyon of its own. The walls were lapped by the water on each side, and the ceiling was far, far above, lost from sight. Here the Dragon could have flown, but it seemed easier to wade up the sluggish current, following the ripples of their sightless guides.

The voice of Retruance sounded clearer and closer than ever. Tom asked him to release a burst of flaming gas as a beacon but after three tries, he told the Dragon it was no use. They could see nothing, not even a reflected glow.

"But I feel you are very close," said Retruance, cheerfully. "Keep up the good walk, old friends!"

"We come to a shallow cataract ahead," Albiola soon told them. "Around a sweeping curve. We won't go much farther with you but it's a short way beyond the cataract to the Pool of Columns where your friend is captive."

The cataract rose like a shallow stair before them, curving, as the fish had said, gently to the right and out of sight.

"We could swim up the cascade, of course, with much danger and exertion, but once you reach the top, you'll sense the pool and the Dragon," Albiola said, shortly. "If you wish, we can continue."

"Not necessary, I believe," said Furbetrance. "We'll find the way."

"Is there anything we can do for you and your people in return?" the princess asked, politely.

"I can't think of a thinga-except leave as quickly as you can. Your vibrations disturb our sprats, as I said, and they shoot off in all directions. It doesn't hurt them so much. Actually, they enjoy it. It provides them an excuse to skip school."

"Youngsters are the same everywhere," commented Tom with a chuckle. "We're very sorry to have caused any trouble for you, Albiola."

"Not really trouble," said the blind fish, waving a fin in farewell. "Speak well of us when you get aboveground. And leave us to our dark peace thereafter, we pray."

The ripples and flashes of white scales disappeared. Carrying the young people, Furbetrance quickly climbed the watery stairs and rounded the comer, lighting the way with a thin stream of fire as they went.

"Ho! I can see your light!" called Retruance suddenly. "You're only a mile or so away now."

He ended his sentence with a bright yellow jet and they could see him at last, hanging in midair.

The stalagmites that filled the center of the pool were smooth and straight, looking like huge marble spears. With the light from the two Dragons' flares the travelers could see, across the wide, shallow pool, columns of swirled, pastel-colored stone randomly scattered about, rising forty or fifty feet into the air, tapering to rounded points high above.

In the middle of the pool the spears were crowded quite close together, and where they were thickest, jammed down among a dozen of the closest-set, hung Retruance Constable, his great leathery wings held fast, a bit like a fly impaled in the jaws of a Venus flytrap, Tom thought. "Poor Retruance!" cried Manda. "Are you hurt?" "Uncomfortable, but unhurt. Princess. Nothing broken, bent, or breached, thank goodness! Took some hard blows in the ribs when I came down, but that will pass once I can move about a bit. Hello, everybody! Welcome to my bed of nails!"

Furbetrance maneuvered himself under the trapped Dra-gon and stood in the shallow water staring up at Retruance, puzzling out their next step.

"We at least have the advantage of light," said Momie. "I'd hate to be working in the total darkness."

They all agreed. The problem was how to lift the trapped Dragon from the spires.

"Is the hole in the roof open still?" asked Tom. "Yes," answered Retruance, curving his long neck upward. "I would say so. Yes, I can see it as a spot of light when I look up. If I could just flap my wings a few times a"

"While you're wishing, wish for magic to help us," sighed Manda.

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"There are other ways," Tom claimed. He leaned forward to speak to Furbetrance, "Can you take off in this space?"

"No reason why not," replied the Dragon. He had found a part of the pool only inches deep.

"Fly above Retruance and hoist him off the spears, enough to free his wings. Then we'll either go straight up though the hole in the roof, if it's big enough, or retrace our steps to the desert."

"I can do it, but you all had better wait for us here,"

Furbetrance decided, after giving it some thought. "My brother is half-again as heavy as I. It'll take all my strength to lift him."

"Put us ashore over there, where it is fairly dry, then,"

said Manda. "We can wait for you there and be out of the way, too."

The Dragon lowered his great head to the shelving beach to one side of the pool. They easily hopped ashore.

"Now for it!" cried Furbetrance, taking a deep breath.

"Be back in a few minutes!"