Mimi blinked in shock. ‘Yes, I-I am a Langlander,’ she stammered. ‘How did you know?’
‘I did not see it at first,’ the dragon said, gazing at her in fascination. ‘But when you spoke just now, and your eyes flashed, you reminded me of a Langlander I once knew. She was dear to me. I called her “Spark”.’
Colour flooded Mimi’s pale face. ‘What was her real name?’ she asked.
‘I cannot speak her true name!’ the dragon exclaimed, looking shocked. ‘She would never betray mine to a stranger. If you are truly her kin you should know her name! You resemble her. She is small, even for one of your puny kind, but she is brave and beautiful. When we met, I thought she must be a princess, but she said she was not.’
‘Lawks-a-daisy!’ Bertha whispered to Conker, her eyes very wide. ‘That’s exactly like that Langlander tale, “The Dragon and the Princess Who Wasn’t”, that my mother used to tell my brothers and me! This must be the same dragon!’
‘Could very well be,’ Conker muttered back. ‘What a stroke of luck! Let’s just hope that Mimi has the sense to play along with –’ He broke off, clearing his throat nervously, as the dragon glared at him.
‘Dragon, there are a lot of Langlanders,’ Leo burst out. ‘Mimi can’t possibly guess –’
The dragon snorted. ‘Spark is not someone any member of her family could forget. She told me that she was not like others in her clan. She had run away to Rondo because in Langland she was considered an “ugly duckling” who did not behave as a young lady should.’
‘Oh!’ Mimi gasped. ‘Aunt Alice!’
Alice! Leo thought in astonishment. Hal’s aunt – the one who played the harp, and was always in trouble, and ended up shocking the family by marrying a man who ran a travelling music show. Hal said Mimi was very like her. But I don’t think Hal knows Alice ever came to Rondo. She must have sneaked in, and then sneaked back, and never admitted it to a soul.
The dragon was nodding with pleasure. ‘So you are kin to Spark!’ she said. ‘This is wonderful! I have thought of her so often, and hoped that she found happiness at last. It is long, so long, since we flew together in the Rondo skies. We were both very young in those days. Tell me, how does she fare?’
Mimi bit her lip. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said reluctantly. ‘But you know… maybe Alice – Spark – told you… Langlanders don’t live as long as people in Rondo do.’
‘Ah,’ the dragon murmured. ‘I understand. Spark is sleeping with her ancestors.’ And into the golden eyes came an expression of great sadness.
‘But she was happy – very happy – in her life,’ Mimi went on eagerly. ‘And I’m sure – I’m positive – that coming to Rondo helped her find the way to do it, just like it’s –’ the colour in her face grew painfully bright, but she raised her chin and went on’ – just like it’s helped me.’
‘I am glad of it.’ The dragon regarded Mimi thoughtfully. ‘It is strange, Kin of Spark, that you should come to me at this time of sadness in my life. Perhaps it is an omen that in the end all will be well.’
Mimi nodded, clearly not trusting herself to speak.
The dragon lifted her head. ‘Well, by the stars, this changes everything!’ she said. ‘Now I can show you a way to leave this place. It is a way I could not allow a stranger to –’
She broke off, eyeing Conker. ‘Can you vouch for the good conduct of your friends?’ she asked Mimi abruptly. ‘Can they be trusted?’
‘Well, really!’ exclaimed Bertha, tossing back her ribbons.
‘All but the big one in women’s clothes,’ Mimi said, jerking her head at Spoiler. ‘I can’t vouch for him. He’s no friend of ours.’
‘He has to come with us anyway,’ Leo said loudly, as Spoiler moaned in terror.
‘Explain!’ snapped the dragon. Smoke drifted from her jaws as she turned her golden eyes on Leo.
‘We’re not supposed to let him out of our sight,’ Leo said, feeling his face grow hot. ‘Wherever we go, he has to go too.’
The dragon regarded him curiously for a moment, then nodded. ‘Keep him close by you, then,’ she said. ‘If he makes a wrong move I will kill him. Follow me.’
She turned away and began lumbering towards her lair, her spiked tail making a stealthy sliding sound on the rock.
Mimi, Leo, Bertha and Conker moved out of the cage. Spoiler stayed where he was, biting his lips and shaking his head.
Leo felt a surge of exasperated pity. He went back into the cage, grabbed Spoiler’s arm, and tugged.
But Spoiler clung to the cage bars, refusing to move. ‘It’s going to kill me!’ he wailed. ‘You heard it. The girl told it – told it –’
‘You’ll be fine if you behave yourself,’ Leo said, hoping that this was true. ‘And you’ll be in much worse danger if you stay here. Just keep close to me. I’ll look after you.’
It occurred to him that it was absurd to be promising to protect Spoiler, who was so much bigger and stronger than he was. But Spoiler swallowed, nodded, and at last allowed himself to be led from the cage.
‘I don’t know why you bother, Leo,’ growled Conker, who had waited for them while Mimi and Bertha cautiously followed the dragon.
Leo didn’t know either, really. He loathed having Spoiler so close to him, clutching his arm. The man reeked of stale hair oil and old sweat. His eyes were bloodshot, his nose was running, and his teeth were chattering. His Dame Dally bonnet clung to the back of his head, its frills flapping in the wind.
‘Oh, my heart and lungs, it’s going into its lair,’ Conker muttered.
Leo looked up and saw the dragon disappearing into the mouth of the great cave. Blackness swallowed her golden gleam until all that could be seen was the spiked tip of her tail. Then that, too, slid into the darkness and vanished from sight.
Mimi and Bertha hesitated, looking back. Conker hurried to join them. Leo followed, dragging Spoiler along with him.
A musky smell drifted from the cave mouth. Bones, picked clean, littered the ground in front it.
Conker chewed his moustache. ‘I’m not too sure about this,’ he said, tightening his grip on Freda’s limp body.
‘Yes, well, I must say that following a dragon into her den isn’t my idea of sensible behaviour,’ Bertha agreed. ‘I thought she was going to help us find a way down the mountain.’
‘She is,’ Mimi said positively. ‘The way must be inside the lair – that’s why she couldn’t show it to strangers.’
‘Why do you wait?’ called the dragon, her voice echoing eerily from inside the cave.
‘We’re coming!’ Mimi called back, and darted forward. Bertha sighed and trotted after her. Conker set his lips, and followed.
‘I’m not going in there,’ Spoiler whined, digging in his heels.
Leo felt a surge of resentment. Why did he have to be burdened like this? Why was his stupid conscience making him try to help this man who wouldn’t even try to help himself?
‘Move!’ he said angrily, hauling at Spoiler’s arm. ‘Move or I’ll leave you here. Then you’ll be eaten for sure.’
Spoiler groaned. His shoulders slumped. He let Leo pull him on, through the cave mouth and into the shadow.
The cave was warmer than Leo had expected, and the musky smell was very strong. The rock floor was littered with small dry bones that cracked unpleasantly underfoot.
At first he couldn’t see anything, but as his eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light, he could make out the shapes of Conker, Bertha and Mimi moving in front of him and the great bulk of the dragon leading them on. The walls and roof of the cave were shrouded in darkness, but he had the sense of being in a vast space. Every footstep, every stumble, every gasping breath echoed, so that his ears were filled with whispering sound.
They moved deeper and deeper into the cave. No one spoke. Then the dragon stopped and turned her head, her long neck twisting like a snake. Leo saw her white fangs glimmering in the darkness and his heart gave a sickening leap. Spoiler’s fingers dug into his arm.
‘Is the one who is not to be trusted secure?’ the dragon hissed.
‘Yes,’ Leo called back. His voice sounded hoarse and strange. Yes… yes… yes came the echo.
‘Then wait where you are,’ the dragon ordered.
She turned again and moved on, quickly disappearing into the darkness. Leo could hear the slithering of her tail and the clicking of her talons. Then there was a loud scraping of rock that filled the cave with rumbling thunder.
‘Lawks-a-daisy, what’s happening?’ Bertha squeaked.
The rumbling sound died away. Leo felt a soft, cool draught of air on his face.
‘Come forward,’ called the dragon. Forward… forward… rumbled the echo.
Everyone began to move again. Leo could hear Spoiler’s panting breaths beside him. The arm he held felt heavy, like a dead weight. The draught of air on his face grew abruptly stronger, and suddenly he became aware of the huge bulk of the dragon rising directly ahead. It had been crouched, motionless, waiting for them.
‘This is the way,’ the dragon said. ‘We have never used it, for it is far too small a burrow for us, but I have been told by a friend I meet while hunting fish that it leads to the sea. We keep it blocked to prevent unwanted visitors from entering the lair, but I have opened it for you.’
‘It’s a Gap!’ squeaked Bertha. A Gap… a Gap… a Gap shrilled the echo.
The great shape of the dragon moved uneasily. Leo saw the neck twist as the beast looked over her shoulder at something behind her. Then he saw the glint of fangs as the huge head turned back to face Mimi.
‘We say farewell here, then, Kin of Spark,’ the dragon hissed. ‘It would please me if one day, when Rondo is at peace once more, you could come back and tell my young one stories of Langland, like those that my true friend Spark once told to me.’
‘I’d like that,’ Mimi whispered. ‘I’ll do it, if I can.’
‘And perhaps, if the omen proves true, my mate will be with us, to hear the tales for himself,’ said the dragon quietly. ‘We can only hope.’
The entrance to the Gap was a dark crack in the back wall of the cave. Mimi and Conker passed through it easily, but it was a tight squeeze for Bertha, and Spoiler, bolting after her, became stuck halfway. He kicked and yelled, his head and shoulders in the Gap, the rest of his body, thickened enormously by the bulky Dame Dally skirts, in the dragon’s den.
Furious and swearing, Leo put his shoulder to Spoiler’s vast behind and shoved until the sweat popped out on his forehead. Nothing happened except that Spoiler’s screams grew more frantic, and his kicking shoes connected painfully with Leo’s shins.
The dragon made a disgusted huffing sound. ‘Move aside, Young Guardian,’ she ordered. ‘Come here and stand by me.’
Leo did as he was told, absurdly pleased to have been given a name. The dragon turned slightly. As she did, Leo saw what she had been concealing behind her. It was an almost flat nest of round stones lined with leaves and grass. In the centre of the nest was an egg thickly speckled in green and gold. It was as large as a melon, and across its top was a jagged black line.
As Leo stared, fascinated, there was a scratching sound from inside the egg, and the black line widened.
The dragon snarled. Leo jumped guiltily and glanced around to meet angry golden eyes.
‘I-I was only looking,’ he stammered. ‘It’s – it’s hatching.’
‘Yes,’ hissed the dragon. ‘The noise made my little one curious to see the world outside the egg, no doubt. It is time for you to be gone.’
She turned a little more, and swished her tail. The tail thudded into Spoiler’s bunched-up mass of skirts, batting him effortlessly into the Gap.
‘Go now,’ the dragon said, as Spoiler’s howls echoed through the split in the rock.
The back of his neck burning under the beast’s golden glare, Leo scuttled to the Gap entrance. He took a step into the crack and then impulsively turned back.
‘Thank you for helping us,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry we disturbed you. I’m sorry – about everything.’
‘Possibly I will be sorry too in the hungry time to come, when I think of the easy meal I allowed to go free this day,’ the dragon replied, with what Leo could have sworn was a touch of grim humour. ‘It seems unlikely to me that you puny beings can defeat the witch of the north, whatever Kin of Spark thinks, and whatever the omens say. And by your expression I think you agree with me, Young Guardian.’
‘No,’ Leo lied, fighting down the sinking feeling that returned every time he remembered the contents of the heart-shaped box. ‘What we have to do is hard, that’s all. But we’ll do it in the end – we have to! People are depending on us.’
He knew he was talking as much to himself as to the dragon. Perhaps she knew it too, because she tilted her head and regarded him ironically.
‘Then I wish you well,’ she hissed. ‘But I warn you – do not open that silver box in the open air again. If the scent of dragon’s heart comes to me on the wind I will not be able to resist its call. And if it leads me to you a second time I may not be feeling so generous. Kin of Spark is safe from me, perhaps, but I cannot promise the same for the rest of you.’
Leo nodded, turned, and pushed his way blindly forward. The last thing he heard was the sound of the great rock rolling over the entrance once more. Then the swirling grey nothingness of the Gap had swallowed him up.