chapter 12

Trapped

Back at the campsite, Burdock’s eyes widened when he saw the small tribe of baby dragons. “My, my!” He chuckled. “This is a very pleasant surprise! More little furnaces for me! It will be more of a challenge to get them back home, but what a boon for business when I do.”

“What do you mean?” Twig asked. “You’re taking them back to the Hill?”

“Of course. Certainly you don’t think I would come all this way for nothing.”

“But why?”

Lily piped up. “You want to hurt Char, I know it! You can’t take him with you. We nearly died getting him back here! This is where he belongs, with other dragons like him.” She looked at Twig with questioning eyes. Char was not with the other dragons. Twig shrugged and decided to keep quiet. But his eyes said, I don’t know where he is!

Burdock slunk around the campsite and poked the dried-grass beds with a stick. “Humph,” he continued. “All these dragons belong where I say they belong. And I say they should be at the Burrow of Smelting, working for a living. I can make quite a profit using all these little fire-breathing creatures . . . to make all sorts of goods. They’ll be a good asset for the community, not to mention my pocketbook.”

“What do other Guild members say about this?” Twig asked.

“Other Guild members are clueless. I’ll be running things.”

He glared at Twig. “And you . . . you were the one to use the dragon for your own benefit!”

“But I didn’t know that Char would become so sick. When I saw what it was doing to him, I stopped. I had to get Char home!”

“When you stole that creature out of the Guild prison that night, I couldn’t believe my bad luck. I had made plans! And you put a glitch in those plans. But that’s why I followed you to this forsaken place, so that I can keep things just the way I had planned them!”

Twig was furious. The day had become a nightmare. Not only was Burdock, his only enemy, here on his island, he was kidnapping Char and returning him to the Hill!

“You’re not taking Char, Burdock!” Twig replied angrily. “Or any of the baby dragons! Not if I can help it!”

“Well, it seems there isn’t anything you can do to stop that from happening.” Burdock smiled, turning to Basil. “And where is our little fire-breather?”

“He’s right where we want him, Uncle,” Basil replied.

“What? Where’s Char?” Twig shouted.

“Basil, why don’t you take us to him?” Burdock smiled. He looked very suspicious.

“Certainly, Uncle. He’s . . . this way,” Basil coaxed, and pointed through the bracken and weeds up a sandy slope. The baby dragons stood rooted in place, their faces quizzical.

Lily and Twig scooted between the vegetation, anxious to find Char. They suddenly came to a little clearing and stopped. Dense foliage and brambles surrounded them.

“Now!” they heard Basil shout, and in seconds they were tangled in a net, struggling and thrashing. A moment later Basil and Burdock had tied their paws. They were prisoners.

“Well done, my boy!” Burdock exclaimed. “I never cease to be amazed at your achievements!”

“I just kept all of Lily’s weavings and made them into this. They were such jerks. Thought I was sleeping all the time. Doesn’t take much to set a trap!”

“And now?”

“Now we take them to a special place. They know all about it. We were trapped there ourselves on our first day. They’ll be there long enough for us to take the dragons and go.”

Basil and Burdock dragged and prodded Twig and Lily to the giant sand pit beyond the dunes. They pushed them down the slope, with their paws still tied behind them, and the two plummeted down the sandy sides, head over tail. They landed in a heap at the bottom of the pit.

“Oh dear,” Burdock exclaimed. “You’re right, Basil. That is quite a deep pit. And it looks quite difficult to escape from it.”

“We had a tough time of it,” Basil replied. “It took all of us, piled on each other’s shoulders, to get out. They won’t have that.”

Twig pointed to the little shrub where Lily had thrown her lasso. “The rope is gone!” he said grimly.

Burdock turned to his nephew. “You have our special friend in a safe place?”

“Yep! I tied him with a leash. He’s all set to go.”

“All right. We gather supplies, and the rest of the dragons, and then we take off. I figure we can take our time; these two will be in this pit for quite some time. In fact, who knows if they’ll ever climb out?”

“Good-bye!” Basil called, laughing. “Don’t let the sea hawks get you!”

Twig and Lily struggled, rolling in the sand and trying to squirm out of their bindings. It was no use; they were tied tightly with strong honeysuckle and greenbrier vines. The greenbrier cut into their paws and wrists, and gagged their mouths.

Lily’s eyes were full of panic. Even though Twig couldn’t understand her muffled squeaks, he knew exactly what she was thinking: What do we do?

Twig tried to speak through his gag, too, but it was useless. Poor Char! he thought. They’ll make a prisoner out of him. We need to think of some way to get out of here! And if we don’t think of something soon, we may be stuck on this island forever!