Dragons of the Watch (31 page)

“Oh my.” Ellie took a moment to think of the many times she’d had cruel thoughts about her siblings. “None of my brothers or sisters would be alive today if wusstbunters flew from my mind.”

A fluttering noise caught their attention, and they both turned toward the back of the library. The dragons of the watch came into sight first, then Bealomondore and Tak. Orli flew to the armrest and perched next to Ellie.

She placed a hand on Orli’s back. “How do you feel?”

The answer came rapidly, and she had to concentrate to catch it all. The minor dragon had physically recovered, but emotionally, he was all atwitter. He told her his spiritual being had been assaulted and only because of his own negligence. He’d allowed Wulder to slip into a corner of his life where He was seldom thought of and seldom consulted.

The minor dragon reasoned that since he’d blocked out Wulder, Wulder wasn’t paying attention. With Wulder removed from the picture, then he, a lowly minor dragon, was in charge. The overwhelming weight of such responsibility had disabled him completely, befoozled him. He was paralyzed in a state of constant dither. He’d ignored his duties to the children and Old One. And humiliation had engulfed him, so he’d refused to tell all he knew to the newcomers.

“We’re the newcomers?”

With his eyes turned away, his shoulders signaling shame, and his head hanging so low that his chin touched his chest when he nodded, he looked so much like one of the high races, like one of her brothers when he’d been naughty, that she almost laughed.

“So what do you need to tell us?”

A rush of images almost knocked Ellie off her seat on the arm of Old One’s chair.

Dark tunnels. A key. Hidden closets. Bottles. A book bound in purple leather. A key. A gate. Dirty children. A sleeping wizard. Glass walls dissolving. A huge city decorated with colorful bunting. A key.

Ellie held her breath, but Bealomondore spoke, “You know the way out.”

Orli’s denial came swiftly, too swiftly for Ellie to understand his torrent of explanations. Bealomondore slowed him down with a series of questions.

“The key?”

“Opens door. Many keys, one door.”

“The tunnels?”

“Under city. Always been there. Old, very old.”

Bealomondore and Ellie looked at each other and said in unison, “The lost city of Tuck.”

“What’s this?” asked Old One. “I’ve never heard of any lost city.”

Bealomondore turned his attention away from the frantic minor dragon and addressed the old urohm. “Tuck is a legend, but many believe the legend is based on fact. Tumanhofers lived underground centuries ago. They built entire cities with elaborate tunnels and snug dens carved into the earth. Most were close to the surface and, once abandoned, collapsed, making odd valleys in the landscape. But the lost city of Tuck is said to remain intact. The underground tumanhofer city was not so deep in the earth, so it did not have tons of dirt weighing down on the ceilings. And rock walls supported everything.”

Orli forced his mindspeaking into the conversation, interrupting Old One.

“Yes, yes! Homes, tunnels, lightrocks.”
He bounced.

Ellie had never seen the minor dragon so excited. His usual calm made the other minor dragons seem exuberant. Some of them now wore befuddled expressions as they stared at Orli.

“Do we need the keys to get into the tunnels?”

Orli drooped, his previous enthusiasm zapped by the question.

Again, Bealomondore and Ellie responded with the same words. “Don’t worry. We’ll find it.”

Ellie’s head hurt. She’d been straining to get as much information as possible out of the dragons of the watch. The glimpses of their thoughts in pictures and the garbled string of words came at a rapid tempo. Bealomondore’s talent for mindspeaking shored up hers, but even with that boost, she deciphered little.

The colorful dragons perched in no particular order all around the rotunda—some in trees, some on shelves, one on a cushion on the floor, and the rest on tables. Not only did they all mindspeak at once, but they also battered her from many different directions.

Old One snored softly from his chair, a book open in his lap. Tak, too, ignored the fuss.

Ellie would have liked a nap, a rest, anything to get away from this mental bombardment. She glanced at her tumanhofer friend. Lines marred his forehead, showing concentration. He looked up, and an idea formed between them. They needed a break.

Bealomondore held up a hand and stood. “We need to meet some children who were hurt yesterday.”

The clamor in Ellie’s mind abruptly ceased. Most of the dragons tilted their heads, waiting for more explanation.

Ellie eagerly reported the progress they’d made. “We were able to talk with three children yesterday. Soo-tie, Cinder, and Porky went with us to the apothecary shop. Laddin, would you go with us to heal their scrapes and bruises? I kept a few daggarts for our tea, but I promised the children I would bring them more. We’ll deliver those too.”

Bealomondore put a hand on her shoulder.

“Before we go, we should ask some questions of the watch and see if we can figure out a system whereby we can communicate during a crisis.”

Ellie beamed at Bealomondore. He’d remembered when she’d forgotten.

She turned a serious face to the gathering of the watch. “Several times we’ve needed you. Would one of you be able to locate the others in an emergency?” She felt the consensus among the dragons. They were capable of the task but hesitant for some reason. She plowed on. “Could you arrange for at least one of you to be with us at all times?

Silent tension spread across the rotunda. Ellie turned to Bealomondore.
What’s wrong?

“I’m not sure.”
He studied the eight dragons for a moment.
“I think they’re having a conference, deciding what to do.”

Do you hear them?

“Not really, just a hum.”

Can’t you ask Det or Laddin what’s going on?

“They aren’t open to my mindspeaking. It would seem that there is some watch protocol that we have abused.”

Old One snorted, and Ellie jumped. Still sound asleep, he wagged his head back and forth, mumbled, then settled down again.

At that moment the giant of a man reminded her of her somewhat
scrawny Gramps. “I don’t like leaving him alone with those wusstbunters showing up.”

The minor dragons flew into the air, circled the huge round skylight, then came to rest in a line across one table.

Orli addressed them, and Ellie knew Bealomondore heard the same words and received the same pictures.

As newly appointed leader, he would negotiate the duties. The others had chosen him because he was the oldest, and if they were to go somewhere dark, he would already be in the lead since he was the only one who glowed.

Both Bealomondore and Ellie thought the reasoning behind the choice amusing, but they refrained from laughing. Ellie refused to look at her friend lest she giggle.

Orli stated that the number of the patrol watch would be reduced to four, the chosen minor dragons touring an established part of the city. They had marked off each territory roughly, according to the points of the compass.

Laddin would stay with the tumanhofers. Orli would stay with Old One. The two remaining dragons would pursue information about Tuck and the keys and any means of escape.

Orli finished his announcement with pictures of gloom. He did not think the extra activity would yield any results. They would all live in Rumbard City until the end of their days.

Soosahn hobbled across the table, imitating a very old man walking. He tottered on his rear legs and even held one front leg out as if he used a cane. His yellow and orange scales flashed in the sun. Laughter filled Ellie’s head.

With her eyes opened wide, she looked at Bealomondore for confirmation.
Am I hearing the minor dragons laugh?

“Yes, isn’t it a merry sound?”

She giggled, then laughed out loud.

She heard Orli’s admonition not to wake Old One. He needed his naps.

Bealomondore took her arm and guided her out of the rotunda and to the children’s area. They packed a few daggarts in a cloth bag and went outside, followed by seven dragons and a goat.

Laddin flew ahead of Ellie and Bealomondore as they made their way to the apothecary shop. Tak tagged along, examining flower boxes and piles of debris along the way.

“Someone cleans up,” said Bealomondore.

Ellie surveyed the street. “They don’t do a very thorough job.”

“Consider how long it has been since adults were in charge. The accumulated trash is minimal.”

“Maa.” Tak had stopped beside a mixed pile of leaves, paper, and cloth. He looked at Ellie, then lowered his head to nose through the mess.

Bealomondore changed directions to investigate. “What did you find, Tak?”

The goat caught hold of something in his mouth and pulled it out of the pile.

Ellie gasped. “Oh! My snood. I’ve never gotten to wear it. I’ve never had a snood before. I’ve never even worn one.”

Tak brought her the intricately netted bag that would have adorned her hair on special occasions. She would have worn it with her day dress when she and her aunt did the promenade. Tak carried it in his teeth and gave it up readily when she reached for it.

She turned it over in her hands. “There are only a few little snags. I can mend it.”

She remembered sitting in front of Aunt Tiffenbeth’s vanity the night before their travels began. Her aunt had gathered up Ellie’s long, curly tresses and captured them inside the snood. She’d then secured the elegant bag with many hairpins. The mirror reflected the image of a cultured young lady.

Tears welled up in Ellie’s eyes. “Bealomondore, do you think the wedding has already taken place? How many days have I been here?”

“Two weeks tomorrow.”

Ellie sat down on the curb and sobbed, burying her face in the crumpled snood.

Bealomondore sat beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

She stifled her crying and said, “It was only ten days”—she gulped down another sob—“until the wedding and coronation”—she pulled in quick breaths and hiccupped—“when I fell through the glass wall.”

He patted her with one hand and dug in his pockets for a handkerchief with the other. She took the offered hanky and blew her nose. Sitting close to Bealomondore lessened the disappointment of missing the only coronation and royal wedding that was likely to happen in her lifetime. But his sympathy reminded her how excruciatingly nice he was and how totally unsuitable she was to be his wife. She cried some more.

“Hey!” A child’s voice penetrated her despair. He repeated the trumpeted whisper. “Hey! You gotta get out of the street. Yawn and his gang are looking for you.”

Ellie sniffed and wiped her nose on the white handkerchief, then scoured their surroundings. She spotted Porky.

He waved. “Did you bring those daggarts?”

She nodded.

He gestured with his hand impatiently. “Well, come on then. The others are waiting in the apothecary.”