TWENTY-EIGHT
IN FOUR hours the questers reached the first cave, which was uninhabited. Prilla heard low snap-crackling. After a few minutes, Rani and Vidia heard it too. Fire! Kyto!
And Kyto heard them. Fairies don’t make much noise, especially when they’re barely speaking to each other. But they breathe. He heard their breathing.
They climbed a crack in the rock leading to his cave. The temperature rose as they climbed. Rani was dripping sweat, and all her leafkerchiefs were soaked.
Halfway up, Kyto’s smell reached them, and they almost fell off the mountain. He stank of hundreds of years without a bath or a toothbrush.
The fairies peeked over the rim of his ledge. He saw their wide-eyed faces. The balloon carrier bobbed a few inches above the ledge.
Prilla would have felt sorry for him if his face hadn’t been so cruel. He was the size of a small elephant, and she doubted he had enough room even to turn around. His skin was scarred and chafed from pressing against his bars.
At second glance Prilla saw they weren’t bars. He was confined by roots, Never Bimbim tree roots, which dropped over the cave opening and anchored themselves in the rock at the cave’s edge. These remarkable roots are impervious to fire, and the more they’re pushed against, the more they resist.
Although Prilla couldn’t tell, Kyto didn’t quite fill his cave. There was room in the back for his meager hoard.
A Never raven flew by, about ten feet from the cave. Kyto exhaled fire and roasted the bird in the air. Then he inhaled powerfully and sucked it to him. It stuck in the roots, but he yanked it through with his teeth and ate it whole.
Rani thought, He’ll cook us before we say a word!
Prilla wished she had a talent for dragons. If only she knew how to tame him!
He glared at them. “Go away, unless you’ve come to free me.” His voice was low and raspy from smoldering for six hundred years.
The questers exchanged frightened glances. Finally, Rani found her voice. “We c-can’t f-free you. We’re n-not strong enough.”
“Then go away.”
The fairies ducked just in time. A jet of fire barely missed Prilla’s ear.
Rani had to calm herself before she could find her voice again. “We’ve c-come to t-trade. If you help us, we’ll give you three things for your hoard. B-beautiful things.”
“Show them to me.”
Rani reached for the balloon carrier.
“Dearest,” Vidia hissed, “don’t be a fool. He’ll inhale—”
“—them.” Rani nodded. “Er, I’ll d-describe them, K-Kyto.”
He hid his excitement when she was through. There were only two golden hawk feathers in dragon hoards anywhere. His would be the third. Double cigar holders and mermaid’s combs were rare too. His hoard would finally join the top rank of dragon hoards.
“Give them to me, and I won’t eat you.”
The questers ducked below the ledge.
Rani called out, “D-don’t eat us!’
“Then give them to me!”
“N-not unless you help us,” Prilla called.
Rani said, “We’ll t-take the things b-back home and stop b-bothering you.” She paused, then added, “We’ll p-put them on d-display.”
Display them! They belonged to him! Kyto belched a ball of fire. “What do you want?”
Rani stammered her way through telling him about Mother Dove and the egg.
“Show me this egg.”
They had to stand on the ledge to do it. Terrified, Prilla and Rani climbed up.
Kyto noticed that Rani had no wings.
Vidia reached into the carrier and lifted the egg onto the ledge. She started to climb up, but thought better of it. If he flamed, let the others get crisped.
As soon as Kyto saw the egg, he knew he could restore it. He pretended to consider.
Please, Prilla thought, please be able to do it. Please save Mother Dove. Please don’t kill us.
“Give me the things for my hoard...” Flames played around his lips. “… and I’ll fix your—”
“—egg.” Rani said she’d give him one hoard item immediately. Then, after he had restored the egg, she’d give him the other two. “Which do you want first?”
“The feather.”
Vidia looked for it in the carrier, but she didn’t see it. She moved things aside and still didn’t see it. “Where...”
Prilla and Rani climbed down and helped her look. No feather.
“It must have blown out,” Rani whispered.
Kyto heard. He was enraged. Bumbling fairies! He sent a fireball over the ledge where they were. It missed them by inches and singed Prilla’s hair.
It took several minutes before Rani recovered enough to speak. “We still have the c-comb and the cigar holder.”
“Three items. You said three items.”
“Please, Mr. Kyto,” Prilla begged. “Mother Dove needs her egg.”
He didn’t answer. He didn’t care if Mother Dove lived or died.
Rani wiped the sweat off her nose. “We do have something else.” She picked up her wings and held them to her chest. “Something more extraordinary than a golden feather. A pair of jeweled fairy wings.”