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Marti cut a block of cheese into small cubes and then buttered some bread.
“Heidi!” He’d been so busy with the dragons that he’d forgotten about the
cow. Grabbing his coat, he walked down to the river. She stood among the
tall grasses growing along its banks, chewing away without a care in the
world. Three dragons squatted by her feet, their tongues lapping the water
while hitting her cowbell with their tails.
Marti snuck up behind them, took off his coat and dropped it over their
heads. They squealed, scaring Heidi. She jumped backwards and let out a
loud moo. Marti wrapped the coat around them, gathering it and the dragons
with his arms. “Calm down, girl. Follow me.” He struggled to grab hold of
the end of the rope looped around Heidi’s neck. After making sure he had a
tight grasp, he led her to the cottage. The bell clanged back and forth,
in rhythm with the dragon’s tails wagging under the coat. He couldn’t help
but laugh.
An old, bent willow caught Marti’s attention; its shadow waved back and
forth, yet no breeze blew. Sensing something sinister and dark, he
stopped. “Who’s there?” No one answered. “Come Heidi. Let’s get you back
to the cottage.”
No sooner
did the door shut behind him when the dragons escaped from under their
cloth prison. To his surprise, he saw four more dragons sitting in the
middle of the table eating the cheese and bread he’d cut for Gretel and
Crispin. Wondering how they managed to get inside the cottage, he glanced
over to see an open window. He shut it and made sure the lock caught.
“I see
you’ve found the berries!” Purple and red pulp, smashed all over their
faces and horns, also coated their bellies. Globs of yellow butter stuck
to their chins. Marti chuckled. “I’ve never seen such a funny sight as you
babies.” They flew around his cottage, landing on his down pillow and
blanket and making a sticky mess. He caught one and dropped it inside the
door leading down to the cave. Each time he opened the door to put a
dragon inside, the others, who were now aware of the door opening and
closing, flew up and tried to escape. By the time he’d put the last dragon
in and securely shut the door, Crispin and Gretel knocked.
“Look at
the mess, Marti. What happened?” Gretel came in when Marti opened the door
and picked up bits of bread and cheese from the floor.
“It was the dragons. I found seven more of them. Four of them came home by
themselves. They seem to have eaten all the cheese and bread and the
surprise I had for you, juicy strawberries and blackberries. Stay here and
I’ll be right back.” Marti disappeared through a door, unnoticed before by
the children.
Gretel looked at Crispin. He shrugged his shoulders and the two of them
cleaned up the mess.
Marti came back a few minutes later with another bowl of fresh berries and
several containers of yogurt, a new block of cheese, and another crusty
loaf of bread. “Eat up. We’ve got a long evening ahead of us. There are
still six more dragons out there, including Jago and Rosenwyn, who I’m
sure, will be the hardest to catch. By the way, did you either of you see
or pass anyone on the way here?” Marti’s thoughts went to the shadow he’d
seen earlier by the tree.
“No, I
didn’t see anyone.” Gretel thought back.
“I saw a
man.” Crispin volunteered the information.
“Did you
recognize him, Crispin?”
“No, but
he looked scary. He was really tall and he wore a black cape. He looked
like he was wearing knight’s armor.” Crispin struggled to find the right
words to describe it. “I think it’s called a breastplate. This one had
carvings on it.”
“What
sort of carvings?”
“It had a
dragon with a sword shoved right through its neck. Who was that man,
Marti? His eyes looked evil.”
“I’m not
sure, but I’ve seen a stranger in the village, wearing a black cape and
he’s been asking questions about our dragons.”
“Our
dragons? Sword in the neck? Is it a bad man, Marti? Is he going to hurt
the dragons, or us?” Gretel ran to Marti and threw her arms around his
waist. She buried her face into his side.
Crispin
picked up a handful of berries and ate them. Once again juice dribbled
from the corners of his mouth onto his shirt.
“Nobody
knows about our dragons, except Quirin. William and Helga think they’re
birds, or midges. Maybe it was Quirin that I saw. Maybe he’s come to get
them.”
Marti put
his hands on Gretel’s head. “Come on, children. It’s probably nothing.
Let's fix your supper. We must concentrate our efforts on finding the
others.” |
