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For once, even Ralick had no answer, but Silver, who had been trotting round and round the hole in a restless way, started whining and pawing at it. She barked excitedly.

"What's the matter?"

Copper put out her arm to stop her, but she was too late. Silver jumped into the hole and disappeared.

"Silver!" Copper rushed over, swiping at the thick green cloud that obscured her view. "Silver!"

On the inside edge of the deep hole was a whole flight of steps spiraling down into the green.

From way below, Copper heard Silver barking and calling.

"It's a well. That's the only way, Ralick. I think we're going to have to go down too."

"Tell me you're joking," squeaked Ralick. "We don't know what's at the bottom. It might be dangerous."

But Copper was already sitting on the rim of the well and feeling for the first step with her toes.

"It's the only way. Granite will find us soon if we don't. If Silver says it's okay, then it's okay."

"You trust her?"

"Yes. Absolutely. She's a wolf."

"Did you ever read that story called 'Little Red Riding Hoo—' "

"Shush!"

Copper began her descent, holding on to the rough edges of the well with her fingertips. Once inside, the green light engulfed her. It glowed and was bright, but when it surrounded her, she couldn't see through it, so she made her way down blindly.

Copper counted as she went lower and lower. "One hundred and six, one hundred and seven," she chanted.

The air changed: gradually it grew fresher and clearer, and she guessed she was getting close to the end. At one hundred and sixteen, the walls disappeared and she was walking down steps with no sides. "One hundred and twenty!" She stepped onto the floor of a vast cave.

The first thing she noticed was the green vapor. It was different down here, a thick band of it, moving across the cave from the corner, coiling out toward the stairs like a long
fat snake. Copper took three steps toward it and stopped. The vapor was coming from a dragon.

"Oh, Ralick! A dragon, a real dragon!"

The dragon was the size of a baby hippopotamus, curled up asleep, with its long spiked tail wrapped around its body and under its chin. Its skin shone like a fish, silver and blue and green, and was scaled like a fish too. Two spiky wings were folded neatly against its sides.

It lay on a nest of moss, and as it breathed in and out, something metallic clinked softly. Turquoise smoke trailed from the dragon's large nostrils, floated down over the nest, seemed to be sucked through the moss, then emerged a brilliant green color and gathered into an emerald cloud above the dragon's head. Every few minutes, the cloud whirled away across the room and up the well steps as if the well were a chimney.

So this was where the strange green vapor was coming from.

"Reminds me of something," said Ralick. "Dragons, wells, Aunt Ruby . . . Does any of that ring a bell?"

"Glinty! Yes! Aunt Ruby's brother dropped her dragon down an old well. Could this be Glinty? If Aunt Ruby is a Rocker, it makes sense, doesn't it? She didn't drown because there wasn't any water in the well. And maybe the Rockers put up that grid so she couldn't get out! I wonder if it flies."

"Hope not," said Ralick.

"I'll creep past her—that looks like a gap in the rocks over there," said Copper. "I can feel fresh air coming in."

They crept past the dragon.
Clink chink dink,
the nest sang as the dragon shifted in her sleep.

"What's in there?" said Copper. "It looks like moss, but—"

"Who cares?" said Ralick. "Let's get out of here!"

But Copper tiptoed up to the nest to investigate. Beneath the woolly covering of moss, something glittered and shone. Copper pushed her hand in and brought out a handful of gold coins.

"What are you doing? She'll wake up!" squeaked Ralick.

"It's gold. Ralick, gold—it's
that
gold, isn't it? The gold coins Great-Grandfather Ash was supposed to have taken. The missing gold!"

"Well, dragons do have a habit of collecting gold," said Ralick as if he knew a great deal about dragons. "But why cover it in moss and make this green vapor stuff?"

"It could be a smoke signal," said Copper thoughtfully.

"A signal?"

"Yes—to Aunt Ruby, of course! Glinty's been sending this smoke signal to Aunt Ruby all these years, trying to tell her where she is. Aunt Ruby wasn't here so she never saw it." Copper's voice was getting louder and louder. "I just know I'm right. And dear Glinty's never given up hope."

"Shh! I've just about given up hope of getting out before this dragon wakes up," growled Ralick. "Come on."

"But why this elaborate business with the smoke and the moss? That's a mystery."

"Who cares. Come on!"

"I'll take these coins with me," said Copper. "I'll show them to Granite. Proof that we've found the missing money and that Great-Grandfather Ash didn't steal it."

"That's not proof," said Ralick. "Where's the missing ancestor? Where're his bones? The wooden tools he was exchanging for the money?"

Copper shrugged. "I don't know. I just know he was innocent."

She tiptoed past the dragon toward the wide crack in the rock where the night sky showed. Silver was waiting for her.

All around them it was still. The night sky was the deepest navy blue, as soft as velvet, and the stars twinkled feverishly.

"Phew!" said Copper. "Safe!" She took three steps forward, then . . . "OH!"

Her foot slipped from under her and she fell: what she'd thought was shadow was nothing—just space! She was falling. There was nothing to hold her, nothing to save her.

"Help!"

25. The Truth About Great-Grandfather Ash

The instant she fell,
Copper felt something catch at her coat and hold her fast. Her legs dangled dangerously in black nothingness, scrabbling to find a ledge or foothold, but something had stopped her drop into the void.

"Silver!"

Copper felt Silver's nose in her back. The wolfs great jaws were clenched tightly on the hem of her coat. If Silver opened her mouth, Copper would fall. Very slowly and firmly, Silver took one careful step backward, pulling Copper up just enough for her to grab a jutting stone and haul herself onto the snowy ledge.

She lay panting with the snow cold against her cheek, listening to the booming of her heart. Silver pressed her wet nose against Copper's face, and she wrapped one arm round Silver's neck and buried her face in her fur.

"One inch from falling into a ravine," she whispered. "Just one inch away. Oh, Silver, I nearly fell. Thank you."

She couldn't move, but lay there holding tightly to the
stone, scared to let it go in case she slipped backward. As she grew less frightened, she realized it wasn't a stone she was clutching. Under the snow Copper could feel something thin and circular. She sat up and dusted off the snow, digging with her gloved hand. It was half an old wooden wheel with a metal rim, the sort that might have been on a cart.

"They told me Great-Grandfather Ash had a cart," she whispered to Ralick. "But this ledge is too narrow for any cart. If he was carrying the stuff along the top of the cliff..." Copper peered into the impenetrable blackness above. "Imagine, imagine wheeling a cartload of gold up there! Maybe the wheel jammed against a stone and the cart went over and he fell over too and died—how terrible."

"Dangerous," grumbled Ralick. "Ravines, narrow ledges, dragons .. ."

"The poor man . . . Then later, Glinty must have gone down, collected all the gold coins and brought them up here. I bet the remains of the cart are down there, right at the bottom of the mountain, and his remains too."

Copper stopped, imagining the awful fall. The crash, the fantastic sight as the gold coins scattered all over the mountainside. The cry as Ash tumbled—it was too horrible. Nervously she crawled toward the rocky wall.

"We must get these coins to Granite! Before Cedar wakes up and sees my note, because then he'll dash up here, putting his big feet in it and making a mess of it all."

She looked at her watch. It was six o'clock in the morning. Soon the sun would rise; already the sky was less black.

"Let's go then," agreed Ralick. "Before this wolf cub eats me alive."

Copper took a few careful steps along the narrow ledge cut into the side of the mountain that spiraled up toward the Rock. It was very slippery.

"I can't see the edge," muttered Copper. "The shadows make it look so odd. It's dangerous. I wish we were home and safe already. I wish, oh, that I was anywhere other than here."

"Be brave," whispered Ralick.

The gold dragged down her pockets like lead weights as she climbed. The wolf cub was hot and hard on her chest. Her legs felt leaden and stiff. She kept thinking about Great-Grandfather Ash and his terrible fall. She was horribly aware of the black space beside her and how easy it would be to follow him down there. She clung to the mountain's side as if held by a magnet.

"Just one foot placed wrongly and I will fall into the dark and be nothing," she whispered to Ralick.

"Then watch where you're treading," said Ralick.

"I'm scared. It's as if that massive black emptiness down there is pulling me over. It wants me to fall. Granite wants me to fall. He'd like me to disappear forever. This was my chance to get things finished; get myself completed. He knew this would happen. He wants me to fall!"

"But I don't," growled Ralick. "Cedar doesn't or Aunt Ruby. And you've still got to save Amber. Remember that."

"I can't go on," Copper moaned, clutching the rock. "I can't move."

Silver stopped suddenly, ears pricked, hackles raised. Copper crouched beside her, resting her hand on her neck as they both listened.

"What is it?" whispered Copper.

The darkness of the ravine was so close, so dense around her that Copper felt she was going to suffocate. She dug her fingers into the cracks in the mountainside, clinging on. "It might be the ghost of Great-Grandfather Ash," she whispered. "Or Granite's men, come to push me off. Ralick, I'm so scared. I'm so scared."

The noises were coming from the cave behind them.

"The dragon woke up," gasped Copper.

They heard slow dragging footsteps as the dragon crossed the cave floor, nails scratching on the rock, tail swishing from side to side. The animal stopped at the cave mouth, blowing and wheezing. Suddenly there was a whoosh as the creature leaped out and soared into the air.

Copper stared into the darkness but couldn't see anything except a flash of silvery green. Then the slow, heavy
shluff shluff
sound of beating wings filled the air as the dragon flew toward them.

"She's coming!"

Copper cowered against the wall, squeezing herself flat against the hard rock. She closed her eyes, at every moment expecting the dragon's sharp claws to dig into her back.

She was right above them. The noise of her flapping leathery wings filled her head, a snort of warm air whooshed as she breathed out, like a hair dryer flying by, snow swirling
and floating. Then cold air whipped over her cheeks and just as suddenly, the dragon had passed by and was gone.

"Copper! Copper!"

Someone was calling her. Someone was calling and she recognized that voice!

26. Brother And Sister

Silver bounded ahead,
disappeared round a rocky outcrop, then came rushing back again, yelping and showering snow everywhere. Seconds later a familiar figure loomed out of the darkness.

"Aunt Ruby!"
Copper ran to her and flung her arms round her.

"There, there," hushed Aunt Ruby. "You dear thing. Here I am, just like you ordered. Oh, those birds, you've no idea. The pigeon was so naughty and went off flirting, that's why I was so long. Look at you. Oh, give me a kiss, darling girl."

Copper rested against Aunt Ruby as if she were a cushion and breathed in her aunt's scent hungrily. "I'm so glad to see you. I nearly fell off the cliff. I've been so scared."

She held on tightly as the dragon flapped noisily above them, sending snow whirling around their heads.

"Stop that, Glinty! Stop!" cried Aunt Ruby, holding on to her hat, but she was smiling. "She didn't frighten you, did
she? She came to meet me; after all these years she hadn't forgotten. I told you dragons were faithful animals, didn't I?"