Flitter Wood was burning. It was green and damp, but this could not protect it once the dragon’s fire had taken hold. Smoke billowed into the clearing and streamed upward as branches became flaming torches and hanging ferns withered and collapsed into ash. The lowest branch of the Nesting Tree was already being seared by the blaze beside it. Soon it, too, would be alight.
Leo could no longer hear the Flitters. He remembered that they had a secret escape hole at the top of their tree. Dully he wondered if they had used it to get away, or if they had been overcome by the smoke and heat and were even now lying inside their hollow, heaped in the ruin of their web, shrivelled like the ferns.
He felt as if he was in a waking nightmare. Nothing seemed real except the terrible, dragging ache in his chest as he struggled to accept the fact that Conker had gone, Conker was lost.
He stood helplessly staring, his eyes streaming, as Wizard Wurzle came tumbling out of the undergrowth from the direction of the stream, leading a jogging line of identical wooden buckets filled to the brim with water. The wizard gestured wildly and the buckets began throwing their contents at the flames. The flames sizzled and some died, but the blaze continued to spread.
Bertha galloped across the clearing, dodging through the line of buckets and hurdling burning branches to reach the place where Tye was still labouring to pull Hal free. Bertha’s back and legs were smeared with ash. Her eyes were red with smoke. She put her head to the branch that was still pinning Hal down and thrust it out of the way.
Hal crawled to his feet, grimacing with pain. He said something to Tye, and to Leo’s surprise Tye turned and ran swiftly across the clearing to the Nesting Tree, vanishing into the bushes behind it.
‘Stay here!’ Leo muttered to Mimi. He left the shelter of the hut and hurried to join Hal and Bertha.
‘Where’s Mimi?’ Bertha asked sharply as he appeared.
‘Behind the hut,’ Leo panted. ‘It’s better there – not too much smoke.’
‘That won’t last long,’ Hal said, wincing as Leo helped him to stand upright. ‘Get Mimi to the Gap, Leo! When you arrive at the tavern, tell Jolly what’s happened. Bertha, you go too.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ Bertha cried. ‘I’m not leaving you here to fight the fire alone!’
‘We won’t be fighting the fire,’ Hal said curtly. ‘Tye has gone to get the web from the Flitters. They abandoned the Nesting Tree a while ago, and they had the web with them. They’ll be at the edge of their territory by now. As soon as Tye gets back she’ll help me to the Gap and we’ll persuade Wurzle to come with us.’
‘But the wood… the Flitters…’ Leo heard himself croak.
Hal’s face was grey. ‘Thanks to my insistence on using that cursed mirror, and revealing our position, the wood will burn. Wurzle is doing what he can to slow it down, but he won’t be able to stop it. No one can stop it.’
Leo stared at him miserably. There was no point in saying anything. Hal knew as well as he did that the Flitters could live only in the ferny shade of their wood. Without it, they would die. Many of the trees would come to life again after the fire finally burned out. New shoots would spring from charred trunks and branches, and after a while new ferns might unfurl their tender stems from the blackened earth. But by that time the Flitters would be long gone.
The Flitters, and… Conker.
No one had mentioned Conker’s name, but his absence was like a dark emptiness reflected in Hal’s closed face, in Bertha’s red-rimmed eyes. Leo opened his mouth to ask about Freda, then shut it again. There was no need to ask. He hadn’t seen Freda leave, but he knew she had, and he knew where she’d gone. Freda had followed the dragon.
Tears burned in his eyes. He turned quickly away from Hal and Bertha, and his heart lurched. Smoke was rising from the roof of the hut. Flying embers had landed on the bark, which had begun to smoulder. And Spoiler was in there.
He ran unsteadily to the little shelter. Spoiler was shouting and beating on the door. Leo wrestled the bolt free. The door flew open and Spoiler fell out into his arms.
‘Oh, thank you, thank you!’ Spoiler babbled, clinging to him. ‘Oh, I thought I was going to die in there!’
Leo saw that Hal and Bertha were picking their way towards the hut, and suddenly felt embarrassed to have Spoiler clinging to him like a long-lost brother. He freed himself awkwardly.
‘It was the green dragon, wasn’t it?’ Spoiler gabbled. ‘The green dragon – not the yellow one?’
Leo nodded.
The man’s face sagged with relief. He ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture that was strangely reminiscent of Hal, and looked sharply around the clearing.
‘We’ve got to get out of this,’ he said. ‘Where are the others?’
Leo felt as if a hand was squeezing his heart. ‘Tye will be back soon,’ he managed to say. ‘The dragon took Conker. Freda’s gone after him.’
Spoiler’s jaw dropped. He looked honestly appalled.
‘What’s Mimi doing out there?’ Hal demanded, as he and Bertha reached the hut.
He pointed to the other side of the clearing. Leo looked around and saw Mimi standing there, wreathed in smoke and talking urgently to Wizard Wurzle. Still vaguely conducting the line of buckets, the wizard was shaking his head doubtfully.
Leo felt a spurt of irritation. ‘That girl’s hopeless!’ he said angrily. ‘I told her to stay behind the hut!’
‘Well, why should she?’ Bertha snapped back. ‘Why is it all right for you to come out and find out what’s going on, but not all right for Mimi? She’s obviously got an idea that might help, and wanted to tell Wurzle about it!’
Leo was just about to retort that he couldn’t imagine what Mimi would have to tell a wizard about putting out a fire when Wurzle shrugged, shook back the sleeves of his cloak and raised his hands uncertainly. As Mimi nodded vigorously, he began to chant and turn on the spot.
The buckets of water stopped in their tracks. A few fell over, spilling their precious contents on the ground. The fire roared and crackled. Sparks flew.
‘What’s he doing?’ Leo exclaimed. ‘The fire –’
‘He’s trying another spell, by the looks of it,’ Hal said slowly.
The light dimmed abruptly. It was as if the sun had been switched off.
Instinctively everyone looked up. The sky still visible through the smoke streaming through the hole in the forest canopy was no longer faintly blue, but darkest grey.
There was a clap of thunder. Then it was as if the dark sky had burst open. Rain poured into the clearing like water hurled from a gigantic, bottomless bucket. It beat on the burning trees, on the torn branches blazing on the ground, on the smouldering hut. It flooded the wilting ferns. It pelted on Hal, Bertha, Spoiler and Leo, who were standing rooted to the ground, open-mouthed with shock.
‘Lawks-a-daisy!’ Bertha squealed, flattening her ears against the downpour. ‘I knew Wizard Wurzle was clever, but I didn’t know he could make it rain! I didn’t know anyone could!’
‘I’d say Wurzle didn’t know it either until Mimi persuaded him to try,’ Hal said quietly. His face was quite expressionless.
Leo looked back at Mimi. Through the smoke and rain, he could see her dancing beside Wurzle, urging him on. Mimi’s head was bent, her hair was soaked and dripping, her shoulders were hunched, her eyes were closed… and her hands were clasped tightly together at the base of her throat.
And at last Leo understood what Hal had guessed before him. Mimi had retrieved the Key to Rondo from the Safe Place under the Nesting Tree. She was using the Key to make the rain, to save the Flitters and their wood. And she was using Wizard Wurzle to disguise it. Wurzle clearly thought the rain was all his doing. His movements were growing stronger and more confident by the moment. His hood had fallen back but he was making no attempt to pull it up again. His face was alive with astounded joy.
The burning trees seemed to lift their branches to the sky, bathing joyously in the deluge. The monstrous tongues of fire wavered, shrank, hissed and died in clouds of smoke. Gasping and choking, Bertha, Spoiler, Leo and Hal crowded into the shelter of the hut. But Mimi and Wizard Wurzle stayed where they were – two small, drenched figures capering in the rain. They should have looked ridiculous, but they didn’t. They looked gallant. They looked magnificent.
‘Tye’s back!’ Bertha exclaimed, peering through the window.
Without a word, Hal left the hut again. Leo watched him limp towards Tye, who was standing by the trunk of the Nesting Tree, staring at Mimi and Wurzle as if she couldn’t believe her eyes. Tye’s sleek black clothes were shining with water and the spikes of her hair were flattened to her skull. She had nothing in her hands, and was carrying nothing on her back. Leo winced. Did this mean that Tye hadn’t found the Flitters? Or did it mean that the web had been damaged or destroyed?
‘Where has she been?’ Spoiler asked, peering curiously at Tye over Leo’s shoulder.
‘That’s none of your business!’ Bertha said sharply, trotting to the door and nudging him roughly out of her way. ‘Leo and I are going out. You’ll stay here if you know what’s good for you.’
She trotted out into the rain. As he followed her, Leo looked apologetically back at Spoiler. The man gave a rueful grin, but the smile quickly faded, leaving his face woebegone.
Leo and Bertha were halfway to the Nesting Tree when they heard Mimi call something to Wizard Wurzle. They looked up in time to see the little wizard stop chanting and drop his arms.
The rain stopped as abruptly as it had begun. At the same instant, the darkness above the trees vanished, late afternoon sun streamed down, and a rainbow glimmered through the smoke still veiling the sky.
Wizard Wurzle sank down on an upturned bucket. He looked exhausted. His cloak was sodden, his hair and beard were dripping, but he beamed as Hal, Tye, Leo and Bertha converged on him.
‘I think that was enough, don’t you?’ he said happily.
‘You did splendidly,’ Hal assured him.
Wurzle’s thin chest swelled and his wrinkled face flushed with pleasure. ‘I don’t deserve all the credit,’ he said. ‘I had no idea I could make it rain. I wouldn’t have dreamed of trying it, if my young friend here hadn’t insisted.’
He looked around for Mimi, who had withdrawn a little as the others approached, and was watching them warily.
‘Mimi always has wonderful ideas!’ Bertha glanced meaningfully at Leo. ‘And a good idea is well worth taking a risk for, in my opinion!’
‘And in mine,’ Tye said warmly. Her eyes, fixed on Mimi, made it clear that she knew exactly what had happened, and that she, at least, heartily approved.
Mimi relaxed a little. She was still holding herself very straight, but her wary, defensive expression softened.
‘I couldn’t just let the wood burn, if I could do something about it… safely,’ she said, speaking directly to Hal.
Hal hesitated, then gave a brief nod.
‘The web –’ Leo began.
‘I have it,’ Tye said, and casually touched her belt. Leo saw that a black silk bag hung there, beside the smaller bag of Strix dreams and the jewelled dagger. His eyebrows shot up in astonishment.
Tye smiled. ‘It is as light as air, and fine as spider silk. It takes up very little room, but the Flitters tell me that when unrolled it will be quite large enough to cover the queen’s castle and the hill on which the castle stands, with some to spare.’
‘Naturally, naturally,’ said Wizard Wurzle a little impatiently. ‘That was what we asked for, wasn’t it?’
Hal glanced over his shoulder at the hut. Spoiler was standing at the door, a lonely and rather pathetic figure. Satisfied that he couldn’t overhear, Hal turned back to the others.
‘The dragon attack has changed things,’ he said. ‘Now we can go to the queen’s border and see conditions there for ourselves while it’s still light. If we use the flying rug, we’ll be there well before sunset. I imagine Whitebeard is on his way to us right now anyway. He will have seen the smoke and the storm and he’ll want to investigate. Wurzle, will you come with us? We may need protection.’
‘Why – why, certainly!’ Wurzle stammered.
‘But… I don’t understand, Hal!’ Bertha cried in confusion. ‘You said that if we arrived too soon it might make the queen suspect –’
‘She won’t suspect a thing,’ Hal interrupted in a hard voice. ‘If we appear at her border now she’ll assume we’ve come for Conker, won’t she? In fact, she’s probably expecting us.’
His face tightened as Mimi and Bertha both drew sharp breaths. ‘We can’t save Conker, of course,’ he went on doggedly. ‘He’ll be a prisoner in the queen’s smoke by now. If we went in after him we’d soon be under her power ourselves. Not enchanted, perhaps, because of –’ he glanced quickly at Wizard Wurzle’ – because of the protective spells I wove around us when I defeated the queen in the Dark Time. But certainly we’d be prey to her chains, her cages, her dragon, and anything else she cared to throw at us.’
His mouth twisted in a humourless smile. ‘No doubt she’ll think we’ll risk it, but of course we won’t. We’ll pretend to shilly-shally. We’ll get all the information we need, right under her nose, and she’ll never guess what we’re really up to. Conker’s capture has provided us with the perfect camouflage.’
His voice was very cold, and Leo felt a chill. How could Hal talk so ruthlessly about using Conker’s loss as a disguise for spying on the Blue Queen?
The answer was written in Hal’s grim face, in his haunted eyes. Hal was cutting off his emotions, suppressing his grief and his guilt and pressing on, doing what he felt he had to do.
A shadow fell across Leo’s face and he looked up in sudden panic.
Hovering above the clearing was what looked like a gigantic bird. It took a few, terrified seconds before Leo realised that it was the flying rug. Master Whitebeard was peering over the side with his telescope to his eye.
‘Good,’ said Hal, raising his arm to signal to the old man. ‘Bertha, will you get Spoiler? He’ll have to come with us. I’m not letting him out of my sight till this is over.’
‘I really think Spoiler’s harmless, Hal,’ Leo ventured to say as Bertha trotted away. ‘He’s as keen as we are to stop the queen making the Great Potion.’
Hal gave another bitter smile. ‘I think I know my dear brother better than you do, Leo. He’s succeeded in making you feel sorry for him, I gather, but he must not be trusted. He’s capable of doing anything that he thinks will further his interests.’
He watched the rug begin its slow, careful descent through the blackened trees. ‘Tye, you’d better leave your bag of Strix dreams here,’ he said. ‘The Safe Place under the Nesting Tree is free now, I believe.’
Bright colour rose in Mimi’s cheeks but she said nothing.
‘Surely Mimi and Leo should have first use of the Safe Place,’ Tye said cautiously.
‘No,’ Hal answered curtly. ‘Mimi and Leo will be taking all their possessions with them.’
He turned to Leo and Mimi, who were gaping at him. ‘When we arrive at the border, we will find another Safe Place for… anything valuable you’re carrying,’ he said. ‘I’ve agreed that you can come with us, but for my own peace of mind I need to know that if things go badly tonight you can at least escape quickly. Everything you need must be close at hand. Do you understand me?’
Mimi and Leo swallowed and nodded.
‘Now, please go and find Conker’s pack,’ Hal went on without changing expression. ‘He took it with him when he and Freda went to rest, so it should have escaped the fire. Whatever supplies it still contains will have to be enough for us tonight. We’re leaving at once.’