9781546280637

All the Teams did fly, with Zoe taking the place of the injured Zinza. Calda was on the wagon as Leader like he had been the night before, floating as he normally did, so as not to put more weight on the wagon. All the Teams made straight forward trips that night and the next.

With all the Mine Minders safely removed to their new temporary homes and still no attack from the Searchers, things settled into a workable routine at Dark Cave. Pog was still with them and the nightly supply flights continued without interruption for two more weeks, then things exploded!!

Searchers were everywhere and the Squitons and Wanderers were fighting to keep them at bay above ground but they were already starting to attack from below and this was the biggest threat.

The Fire Rings and Water Curtains worked very well but there were so many attacking at once, throughout the vast network of tunnels, that the whole system was becoming waterlogged and very hot. The Fartyfungaspinpoopa spell was a great success but it didn’t work well with water and fire mainly because no one could get through the fire and water to zap the Searchers with it but it was the best defence where the other defences were not in action.

The first major attack lasted four days and several attackers were destroyed, one way or another.

There were no losses from the Community. Then things went too quiet. Grace was worried that the strategy of the Enemy had changed. Were they going to send the Searchers further afield, as she had feared, and attack other Communities?

Three days went by. There were no attacks reported anywhere. This was not a good sign. It was giving the Searchers time to bring in replacements and move around to other areas. The Wanderers had found them near most of the Communities in the area. There had been some scary moments when some of the witches or wizards ventured outside their homes. It was as if the enemy were watching them and rather than risk any more losses they moved away and kept out of the reach of the Squitons and Wanderers. What were they up to? They were there to attack…but didn’t.

They disappeared altogether for a while but everyone knew that this was not the end. They had come for one purpose and one purpose only….they wanted The Others and one failed attack was not going to stop them. Grace feared the worst and sent messages to all Communities to be very aware and very careful as there was no telling what was about to happen. Something would break shortly of that there was no doubt.

Then there were sightings of Searchers in many different parts of the country and even in Wales.

This was a real worry but still no attack. Did they have some knowledge that the Mine Minders had been moved? Is that who they were looking for? They would want defenceless hostages that were valuable to the Communities. If they couldn’t break down the defences to Dark Cave, they wanted something to barter with. If they had found out about the moving of the Mine Minders, then HOW?

Moving them again would be pointless unless they were moved abroad and that was not really an option just yet as the Teams were so very busy with deliveries of food, as none could be gathered outside the Community homes for fear of detection. It was turning into a nightmare. If only they could have destroyed the Searchers on the first attack before the Enemy got wise to the defences and pulled back. If only they could be stopped.

There were a great many meetings and discussions and comings and goings by witches on brooms. The mail boxes were in constant use, keeping both bats and owls busy but no one came up with the answer. All the time they were talking and getting nowhere. The Searchers were increasing their army and moving further afield.

For days Calda had been in his cave as much as possible, studying his books, trying to find a way out of this mess they were in. He had some ideas and asked Grace to call a meeting. The tall wizard with his silky smooth voice and strange dress was one of the more clever of those with the power of magic but even he had found it difficult to find a solution to this problem.

“What can stop them? There has to be a way that will allow us to remove the threat of attack.

These attackers are not bright enough to destroy us on their own so if we could stop orders getting to them some how, we could wipe them out,” Calda said, to all at the meeting. “There are two options as I see it. Either we wait and all join in and attack them as and when they attack a Community OR we find and destroy the Enemy so that orders cannot get through to the Searchers.

We have no choice, we can’t sit and wait for them to select a Community and hope we get to them in time, also hoping that they only attack one Community and not two, which would weaken us considerably. This would also leave The Others alone here and just as vulnerable as the Community we have gone to save… I think we must go for option two and find and destroy the Enemy.”

He floated around thinking intensely before he spoke again.

“I have some ideas about where we might find the Enemy headquarters but I need to speak to the Wanderers to find out what they know. They move around so much that there is a good chance of us coming up with a target if we pool our knowledge. What does everyone here think. Should we vote on the decision?” He looked at Grace and then around at all those present, “We have to decide soon, we are running out of time.”

“Quite so Calda. Thank you for your ideas which I am sure we all agree with and I think a show of hands will be sufficient to secure a decision. First can we vote on whether or not we accept Calda’s ideas. Raise your hands please.” All hands and paws were raised. The Viddy cats and Zoe were present.

“Now will you raise your hands in support of the first idea, of us joining forces with any Community that is attacked….when it is attacked.”

No hands were raised at all.

“Next, who agrees with a planned attack on the Enemy headquarters?”

All hands were raised.

“Very good and finally do we all agree that we need to have the Wanderers help to secure as much information as possible?”

Once again all hands were raised.

“That’s decided then. We attack the Enemy as soon as we have enough evidence of their whereabouts and in the meantime we continue to monitor the situation and defend as best we can.

Soltagin, as ‘Grand Leader of all Wizards’, can I ask you to make arrangements with the Wanderers?

I am sure they will help but the request will be better coming from you…..and you will know how to contact them quickly.”

Grace was looking concerned but confident that these were the right decisions to make. As everyone had agreed it made her task easier as leader of the Community.

“I will attend to it at once, Grace and report to you through Talik as soon as I have news.”

Soltagin was a wizard of few words, great powers and magical expertise, who allowed all the wizards to have a free hand in their work but who, at the same time, kept a close eye on everything that went on. He made few unnecessary comments.

It was only a few hours until Talik brought the message that the Wanderers were in favour of the steps to be taken and they agreed to work in any way they could to secure the whereabouts of the Enemy.

Things were, at last, moving in the right direction. They were taking the fight to the Enemy rather than waiting to be attacked. No fight at all would have been preferable. They just wanted to live as they always had, in peace. The fight was not of their making and they could not negotiate with the ones that were making the trouble. So attack, in order to survive, was their only option.

It was a cold and frosty night in mid December and the night flight Teams were out as usual with loaded wagons for various Communities. It was clear and dark. Zia was Leader on a load going some four hundred miles away, so they had made an early start and were almost at their destination by eleven pm.

They had delivered a load to the same Community only ten days before and had no problem finding the place in a hidden hole in the mountains of the Cumberland National Park in northern England. To describe the entrance as a hole is fair, as it wasn’t a cave but a slit in rocks several hundred feet up a sheer mountain side. Zia had communicated with the witches to tell them the wagon was nearing The Cavern Community. As the Team approached, sure enough, the rock peeled back to admit them, shutting behind them very quickly.

Inside it widened to allow entrance into a labyrinth of caverns with the most amazing stone walls, they glistened in the lamplight and took on shapes and shadows of their own, making it not scary but very beautiful. The witches that lived there were much younger and really quite good looking. There were no Wizards but they did have Mine Minders, some that had been sent up weeks before from the west country and some that lived there permanently and came from the coal mines of the north. It was a much more relaxed atmosphere than any other Community Zia had been in.

They passed through another rock door and were in the unloading bay where there was a welcoming committee of Mine Minders who set to work immediately unloading the wagon of general supplies and extra warm clothing for the winter. They helped Zia unharness the Team for a short break before they had to make their way back to Dark Cave with a half load of artefacts from the Cavern Community of deer antlers, eagle feathers, wild heather and rare herbs, all of which were used in spell and potion making.

There had been some reports of Searchers in the north but not this far up, so there was a fairly relaxed feel to the place which made a nice change to all the secrecy and planning going on in many of the Communities.

After their short but welcome break they started their long journey home. The cold was intense and the wind in the coats whipped the long coats of the team into ruffles and the frosty air made them glisten. They were enjoying the flight and raced along at a fast pace. Zia, however, was feeling the biting wind on his face and hands and his nose was running and red. His ears were tingling and his eyes were watering… even though he was well wrapped up. He had to be able to work the wagon and see and hear the Team so there were parts of him that had to suffer the cold.

As they were nearing home he saw a sight he had never witnessed before and it made the rest of him freeze as well. There was some thing or someone flying some way off but he couldn’t make out what it was.

He called to the Team to look and asked if they knew what it was but they all said the same, that whatever it was, it wasn’t anything they had seen before. That was enough to spur the Team to greater speed but they couldn’t out-fly whatever it was. Zia didn’t know what to make of it so he contacted Grace with the news and gave her a full description of their unwanted companion. He could see now that this figure was what looked like someone riding on a ...dragon!!! It was just that, but the figure was covered in a great black cloak and no head or face was visible. It was only three hundred yards from them now and gaining on them with no trouble.

Grace sent a Blocking spell to prevent it coming closer but it flew right through it and was now side by side with the wagon and a terrified Zia and an alarmed Team. It did nothing but fly and then Zia was receiving a message from someone….it was from the figure on the magnificent dragon telling him to continue on his journey home and not to be concerned. Then Zia saw the eye of the dragon .… it was round and blue!!

“Melanda is that you?” Zia asked still very shocked and shaking.

“Yes, my friend it is and I have come with my master wizard Dillan to help at Dark Cave. Sorry if we frightened you but we had to check you out first.”

The hood was thrown back to reveal a smiling face of a young, rather mischievous looking wizard with the same yellow teeth as Calda and Talik but with very pale blue eyes. He looked very weird and Zia found it hard to return the smile. He gave the news to Grace who was very relieved.

“Greetings Little Folk Leader,” laughed Dillan. “I saw you when you visited the Bog Community in Ireland and as we are more or less immune from the dangers you are facing I thought that we could come and offer our help if it is needed. I should have sent a message to Grace but I tend to do things on the spur of the moment and here I am. Do you mind if we travel alongside you and your team?”

“Urrr. No. Of course not but I had better send communication to Calda. I assume you know him,”

Zia said, at the same time as trying to get in touch with his wizard tutor.

“Yes, I know him very well. He’s my uncle. A grand chap who I am very fond of although he will most likely give me a real telling off for not asking his permission to come but I can always turn around and go back. I just thought that with Melanda here, being such a good flier, that we might be able to do something to help in finding the Searchers with you,” Dillan said earnestly.

“I am getting a message from Calda.” advised Zia, “He says to tell you that when you arrive at Dark Cave you’re to leave your dragon at the Station and go straight to his cave and in the mean time he will talk to Grace.”

Zia didn’t tell Dillan that Calda sounded rather cross. That was up to the dragon-riding wizard to sort out with his uncle!!

They arrived home in very good time and it caused great excitement among the witches and wizards, waiting to attend the Team and wagon, when the dragon and Dillan flew in behind the Team. The great dragon took up a great deal of room and refused to be ‘reduced’ so he had to be accommodated in the recreation hall which he had to enter through the roof as he was too big to go through the tunnels. He was delighted with the pool as the water made him feel at home. It wasn’t a bog but at least it was wet!!

Dillan was taken to Calda’s cave and the team and Zia went for a meal and then to their beds.

Zia was thinking that tomorrow could prove to be very interesting with the new members of the Community to learn about. What would they be able to do to assist in the fight against the Enemy?

There were no dragons, that he knew of, any where other than Ireland, so maybe they had special abilities that could be put to good use. He was trying to think what they could be but his eyes drooped and he was soon fast asleep and dreaming.

Nip came bounding into his room when it seemed he had only been asleep for a short while. Zia still felt very sleepy and did not appreciate being woken, even by his best friend, in this manner.

“Go away, Nip. I’m tired and need my sleep. See me later when I wake up on my own.” Zia turned over to go back to sleep.

“No. No. You have to get up. It’s time to get up. You will soon have to take the Team out.” Nip was laughing and trying to pull the bedclothes off his friend. “Come on, get up!!”

“What time is it? It can’t be time to get up. I’ve only just gone to bed.” Zia was trying to pull the covers back and not feeling at all amused by the antics of Nip.

“Well if you get up now and have a shower and a meal it will leave you with about ten minutes to get to the station before your shift starts. Honest, Zoe sent me to wake you.”

“Ohhh, I can’t get up and I can’t take out a Team…. I’m just too tired.” Zia put the pillow over his head in defiance.

“You get up and I will fetch your breakfast, the whole works, pancakes and syrup, eggs and sausage with fried bread and tomatoes, then tea and toast. Do wake up Zia. Please.” Nip wasn’t going away and finally Zia turned over and sat on the side of his bed.

“I’ll get you back for this. You’re supposed to be my friend. OK I’m up, are you satisfied now?”

Zia said rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“Don’t get back in bed will you? I’ll be back in ten minutes. Hurry. Get dressed.” and Nip darted out of the cave and went to get Zia’s breakfast.

It seemed for all the world as though he had only just arrived back from the trip to the Cavern Community and……and the dragon and Dillon….he had forgotten about them. Now he would be too late to see them before he had to leave, if what Nip said was true.

At last he was awake enough to focus on his watch and sure enough it was the time, in fact long past the time, he should have got up. With a groan and much effort he prepared himself for work and had just sat at the table to do his boot laces up when Nip came in with a loaded tray of food.

“Sorry I was longer than I said but everyone is busy talking about the dragon what’s-his-name and Dillan. I brought you some blackberry juice to start with. Here, and if you eat this lot you should be set up for the day…or rather the night!! Are you feeling better now?” Nip said, placing the tray on the table and putting the juice in front of Zia.

“Thanks, Nip. I don’t know that I feel any better. More awake perhaps but still tired. I’ll be OK when I’ve eaten,” and he tucked into the food after drinking the refreshing juice.

Once at the Station Zia was wide awake and feeling fine. There was, as always, much activity and bustle with wizards and witches, Teams and wagons, plus piles of goods still being loaded.

Zia went to the office to speak to Pog and find out where they were heading tonight. He hoped he would have a shorter journey so that he could be back early and maybe have a chance to speak to Melanda and Dillan but there was work to do first.

“Where am I going tonight, Pog? I didn’t have a chance to look at the roster when we came back this morning and I have slept ever since!!”

Pog looked up from his desk and winked at Zia,

“Got a nice trip for you tonight, you’re to do a quick pannier trip of just a hundred and fifty mile round trip with Zoe and five other team Members. The Wagon wont be necessary as its a light load but the items are important and you will have four stops, so you will be needed to direct the team and unload quickly at each drop. How does that sound?”

“Well it will be a change but its not straight forward is it? Have you got the route mapped out for me?” Zia reached and took the envelope from the Leader behind the desk.

“If you make good time you will be back by three a.m. But take care of the load and make double sure that the items are delivered to the right Communities. The team will be carrying new potions and spells, plus .…some wands and urgently needed repellent. A new one that the wizards have invented to ward off the Searchers,” Pog explained.

At least he would be flying with Zoe, that was something. She always made the trips easier somehow. Although all the Team members were his friends, he just felt more able to talk to Zoe.

When Zia got back to the loading bay Zoe and the team were waiting, already to take off. Zia pulled on his warm jacket and hat then they flew up into the sky where Zia went to ‘small size’ and tucked himself into one of the panniers on Zoe’s back. Compared to the recent very long night flights he had done this one was much better. He and Zoe could chat as much as they liked. He had time to look about him and rest in the pannier, once the Team were on course.

All the deliveries were to communities in Cornwall and it was a round trip to familiar places, so it seemed no time at all before they were on the homeward leg. It was over some open moorland that Zoe thought she had seen something unusual and told her small passenger to look down to where she pointed with one of her paws. Sure enough there was something there. Zia’s eye sight was very good and he now had night vision. This allowed him to realise that what they could see was five Searchers with someone or something, that was most surely, not one of them.

“Do you think they have taken someone hostage?” Zia asked Zoe, realising what it could mean if they had managed to get some captives from a Community.

“Nothing has been reported. No one is missing as far as I know. I don’t think they have spotted us so lets get back as quick as we can and report what we have seen. Maybe this is important.” Zoe darted forward at a great speed and all the Team followed. The forward movement had sent Zia stumbling backward and sat him down most ungraciously on his bottom in the pannier. He didn’t try to get up until they landed at the Station. In fact, he contacted Grace and Calda to tell them in advance what had been seen and where.

Calda had immediately contacted the Wanderers and Squitons and sent them to investigate. With one Zoedledoodle already injured there was no way that the Teams were to be allowed to go out looking, certainly they must keep high and not be tempted to fly lower should they see anything suspicious. The Enemy were evil and as there had been so little contact with them in many a decade it wasn’t known quite what they were capable of doing. Which made the fight against them even more complicated than it should have been. No, it had to be left to the Wanderers and Squitons to find them…..unless…….Melanda and Dillan!!!……could they help? That is, after all, why they were here. They came to help if they could, knowing that dragons were feared by all that got on the wrong side of them. So if Melanda went out and did find the Searchers, could he put enough fear into them and the Enemy to send them back to whereever they had crawled out from?

Calda had to talk to Grace right away and get her reaction to his thoughts. He found her in the witch’s laboratory stirring a large pot of green liquid.

“Hello, Calda. And to what do we owe this unexpected pleasure? Do come over here and see what I am working on. Its so exciting and I think it is near perfection….Oooooo, I do hope it works!!”

“I must speak with you, Grace I have an idea that could help us a great deal. Can we discuss it in private?”

Several of the witches working around the various tables looked up and made hissing and gurgling sounds of displeasure.

Calda quickly added, “Not that any witch here couldn’t be trusted with anything I say but I would feel foolish if you thought my idea was totally unworkable.”

The hissing stopped and there were one or two sickly cackles and toothless grins passed around between the witches. Calda felt they had accepted his explanation but they could be a very temperamental and oddly sensitive group when something upset them. Grace had to keep a tight rein on some of the more unpredictable ones in order that there be no unwarranted spells cast.

“Come. Come with me. We can go to my cave. I have finished here for today.” Grace waved her wand and the table she had been working on became tidy and spotless. Her ‘infant’ spell was bottled and labelled and floated to a place on the shelf in the corner without her raising her hand…apart from to wave the wand that is!!

Once in the privacy of her cave, Calda told of his thoughts and Grace added hers until they were both so excited that they were shaking with cackles and squeals.

“Oh! That will work, it will, it will!!! Hee! Hee! Hee!!! So clever, so brilliant. What a team we are. What a team!! Hee! Hee!” Grace was more animated than she had been for weeks….well months really…in fact, since she had done her incredible demonstration broom ride with Zia.

“We must talk to Melanda and Dillan right away. They will know if our wonderful plan will work. We must go and see them right away. Will you go to the pool, Grace? Melanda can’t get any where else he’s just too big. I will have to contact Dillan and as soon as I find him I’ll bring him with me and we can meet you there, if that’s OK,” Calda said, thinking ahead as to where he might find his nephew.

“Yes. Yes. I will make my way to the pool right now. We don’t want to rush too much and make anybody think we are up to some thing until the plan is perfected. Away with you. Go now. Don’t say a thing to anyone except Dillan. Go, Go.” Grace gave Calda a somewhat rough push toward the entrance of her cave.

Once on the other side of the big black curtain, Calda floated easily through the tunnels and nodded politely to anyone he met, wishing them ‘good day’ and other such niceties as he thought would dispel any thought of him being in a hurry. He found Dillan talking to Zia at the Station.

They seemed to be getting on very well indeed.

“Well I suppose you could ride him if he….” Dillan broke off in mid sentence as he saw Calda enter. “Oh! Hello, Uncle. I was just telling Zia that….”

“Um mm…Err…never mind that just now…I need to talk to you, Dillan my boy. Ummmm Errr…. will you come with me please? You can finish your conversation later…Yes, ...you can talk to Zia again, in a while.”

Calda was never stumped for words and it was very noticeable that he was trying to hide something and failing miserably.

“Sorry to drag him away, Zia, but it is important,” he added.

“I have work to do now, anyway. I’ll see you some time…maybe at dinner…OK, Dillan? Bye.”

Zia went about his work amused and very curious as to what it was that Calda had to say that made him so nervous and tongue tied.

Once at the pool, where Grace was already sitting leaning on her knobbly stick and deep in conversation with Melanda, Calda relaxed and became keen to explain to the huge dragon and his nephew, what was on his and Graces’ minds but Grace beat him to it and was soon going into detail as to what it was they wanted to discuss she then asked questions about their powers and abilities and whether they always worked together or could they work alone. Not that it mattered who asked the questions or told of their plan BUT it had been HIS idea after all. Calda felt rather ‘put-out’.

They mumbled and planned and finally seemed to agree that they had something worth telling the Community about. Grace was to call a meeting for that very day….in fact for as soon as she could get everyone together around the pool, which was not the normal place for important meetings but seeing that Melanda was very much part of what was to be discussed, it would have been very impolite to hold a meeting somewhere that he could not attend. The meeting had to be here, around the pool.

Within an hour all were gathered, talking together, trying to guess what the meeting was for, until Calda called for silence and their attention.

“I don’t want to raise any false hopes but we,” and he indicated Grace, Dillan and Melanda,

“have come up with a defence plan for your approval. We will tell you all about the preliminary plans we have thought of, then the meeting will be thrown open for discussion and for you to add anything that you think we have missed or that you think may enhance the chance of the plan succeeding.”

This was a great moment. Up until now there had been no sign of a set plan, just ideas for new defences and ways to find the Searchers and Enemy headquarters but never had there been a thought-out plan to work on….until now…..hopefully!! The mood of everyone around the pool was suddenly lighter….the optimism could be felt rising.

It had been a time of frustration and worry that had pulled the spirits of the community to the lowest they had or could ever be. The feeling of helplessness was not something that any witch or wizard was used to but because the Community had other more vulnerable beings that they were responsible for, they couldn’t think just as a coven of witches and wizards would. Consequently they had found it very hard to work around the problems that were there mainly because .…. they shared their home with The Others.

There were one or two side ways glances and raised eye-brows .…by those that had them!…. but not a sound was made, all eyes were on the area from which Grace was talking.

“The plan we have come up with will be open for discussion and questions. It is only an outline that will still need much work so that we can be reasonably sure of success. You will have probably guessed, Dillan and Melanda feature greatly in it. As we know, Irish Dragons, and especially the Bog Dragon, have even more powers than the Welsh Dragon, which we don’t have access to anyway. We have been fortunate to have Melanda and Dillan, offer to come and help us and because of that we feel we can now have a positive hope of victory over the Enemy. We propose that we allow the Searchers to enter the Dark Cave .…..after they, supposedly ‘scare off’ all of the witches and wizards. Let them find The Others and report back to the Enemy.”

There was a pause from Grace and a gasp from the audience. Raising her hand she continued,

“Don’t worry, we won’t allow them anywhere near The Others but just allow them to know where they are. Then, while most of them ‘think’ they are standing guard over the Lowest Level, and while we are guarding them, we will allow one Searcher to make its way back to the Enemy with our Squitons following their trail, some way off,… aaaannnnd! Theeeen….the Wanderers behind them.

This way, we are confident that because we will make it impossible for the Searchers to actually reach The Others and because we will then know where the Enemy headquarters is, we will be able to do whatever is necessary to eliminate the Enemy there. Without instructions from them the Searchers will be helpless against us. They are so low in intelligence that they could not survive alone.” Grace was trying, not too successfully, to control her excitement as she spoke.

“Where does Melanda come in to this? So far it seems as though what you propose could have been done on our own, weeks ago,” Talik said, no doubt feeling a little hurt that he had not been let in on the plan before now.

“The problem is that although we may then know where to attack the Enemy, we don’t know what plans they have already under-way and whether or not any more attacks are planned on other Communities before we can eliminate the Enemy. For all we know there may be more than one place they work and give orders from. If we thought that the first place we encounter the Enemy was the only place they were, then, you are right, we could and should have used this plan before but we know so little about where the Searchers come from, how many there are and how they get their orders. It would have been foolhardy to attack and maybe weaken ourselves, only to find that there are other groups of the Enemy just waiting for us to make a mistake and then POUNCE!!.

There must be thousands of Searchers out all over the land, from the reports we are getting.

Therefore what we are doing at the moment has convinced those in charge that they will not be able to reach The Others with the defences we have in place. MEANING that they will have to take prisoners from other Communities to get enough leverage to barter for The Others. If, however, they think they have found them, undefended and THAT brings the Enemy out to see their prize……

THEN we can attack. With the force of Melanda and our own strengths…we should then have a good chance of winning the freedom to live as we always have and be rid, forever, of the threat from the Enemy but we must know that we have destroyed them ALL or the threat will remain.”

The Others were looking less than impressed and more concerned than ever. If the plan went wrong then what would happen? How long would all this fantastic plan take to put in place? Lord Tupol put these questions to Grace. She replied feeling that she should not have to explain herself but she had agreed to questions and discussion!!

“I did say that this was only an outline of a proposed plan. Maybe you are not all aware of the abilities of Melanda, therefore I shall ask him to tell you and demonstrate just what he is capable of. I think you will agree that against him, the Wanderers, the Squitons .… and us…the Enemy, once exposed, would stand very little chance of survival. Dillan, Melanda will you please tell everyone just how you can help us.”

Dillan stepped forward and smiled his confident yellow smile at everyone,

“There are very few dragons left anywhere and none more powerful than Melanda. He has fought great battles in the past and is eager to help with yours. He can breathe fire for one hundred metres and fly for six weeks without having to land. He can demolish buildings with his tail. He is virtually indestructible as he has a ‘rebound shield’ against any weapon or known spell…yes ANY weapon, ANY spell. He can become totally invisible or change colour in an instant and he has a vast and varied ability to use spells. He has agreed to demonstrate some of these for you.”

Melanda looked most impressive and more than a little frightening with his great size and when he demonstrated his great roar, just to set the scene, everyone, including Zia, jumped.

He then went on to raise his head through the roof and throw a great plume of fire into the night sky, catching a tree on fire as he did so and putting it out just as quick with a jet of water from little horns on his forehead. Then he turned bright orange…adding a few multi coloured patches, just for effect, before disappearing before their eyes and producing that fearful roar again from nowhere and then from a different direction.

“Enough. Enough for now, thank you, Melanda,” said Grace keen to stop him before he demonstrated his demolition abilities.

“I hope that has convinced you just what a great asset we have before us in Melanda and Dillan.” Grace looked very pleased with herself and went on, “I would like you all to think about what you have seen and heard here and come up with any suggestions that may help or improve the plan. We will meet here again tomorrow morning at ten o’clock.” She stood and left without further ado.

“Wow! That was quite something Melanda, I never knew dragons were so magical. Invisible. Just fancy becoming invisible, WOW!!” Zia was so taken aback that he couldn’t stop himself repeating what he had said, “And changing colour like that. I think that’s incredible and…….”

“Come on, Zia. I want you to give me a hand at the Station. There is work to be done. The Teams still have to go out you know!!” Pog was standing next to Zoe and laughing at Zia for looking so astounded.

“Errr… Oh! Right, OK, yes I’m with you, lets go,” and Zia was forced to think about work and getting the wagons away for the night flights but he was still very excited about having a Bog Dragon to help with their problems. He was wasting no time sorting out the Teams when Pog came out with a list of what was to go where. The wizards were loading the wagons. In no time at all the Teams were ready for take off, making a start on another very busy night.

Calda was taking out a team on his own tonight, travelling north. Zia was heading for Wales to Pit Bridge Community where he hoped he would meet Wilhelmina again. Even better was the fact that Zoe was back in his team. Pog was off to the east with his team.