Fablehaven: The Complete Series (177 page)

The dragon made a melodic humming that Seth took for a chuckle. “You disrupted my plans. Perchance I should return the favor.”

“We don’t taste good,” Seth warned. “Kendra is bonier than she looks, and I don’t bathe much.”

“How about a game,” the dragon proposed. “I shall round up the rest of your party. There were six others, I believe. I will devour the four dullest, and find a use for the others as servants in my lair.”

“I think not!” called a stern voice. Seth turned and saw Gavin striding from the woods. He had previously seen him only in a photograph.

The dragon looked up. “A third speaker, nearly as youthful as the others. Neither light nor dark. I could sandwich you between the other two. What sadistic human sent younglings to Wyrmroost?”

“Kendra, Seth, get in the knapsack,” Gavin commanded.

The dragon hooked a claw into the strap and flung the knapsack away. “Unacceptable.”

Opening his mouth wide enough to show his molars, Gavin began to shriek and squeal in what sounded like magnified dolphin chatter. The dragon responded in louder tones, a cacophonous symphony of tortured string instruments. They screeched back and forth several times before the dragon turned her blazing gaze back to Kendra and Seth.

“You have a unique protector,” the dragon acknowledged. “I had no idea that dragon brothers persisted in the world. Out of respect for his singular status and surpassing eloquence, I will spare you and your friends. Enjoy your reprieve. Do not linger here.”

The dragon sprang skyward, vast wings unfolding. Seth raised an arm to shield his eyes from the brief windstorm. Once aloft, the dragon passed swiftly out of view, heading back toward the larger meadow.

Gavin jogged over to them. “You all right?” he asked Kendra.

“I’m fine. This is my brother.”

“I s-s-s-suspected,” Gavin spluttered.

Kendra grabbed Seth by his upper arms and shook him. “What are you doing here?”

“Easy!” He shrugged away from her. “What did you think? That I wandered off into the woods at Fablehaven to pout? Give me a little credit. I stowed away. Good thing I did. Don’t you get what happened? Together we’re a dragon tamer!”

“I was impressed,” Gavin said. “You were looking Nafia in the eyes and speaking naturally. None of the others would have been capable of that. I watched for a moment before speaking up.”

“How are the others?” Kendra asked.

Gavin winced. “T-T-Tanu took a hard fall. I think it knocked him out. Warren was gored. He got hung up on the antlers of a peryton right at the start. It d-d-dragged him quite a ways. Sorry I lost track of you for a while. I was trying to help him.”

“Will he be all right?” Kendra asked.

“He’s hurt, but he’ll recover.”

“What did you tell the dragon?” Seth asked.

“I just talked tough. They think it’s cute. And of course I used my claim as a dragon brother. I told Nafia you were all here under my protection.” Gavin looked Kendra up and down. “You must be cold.”

“I wasn’t feeling it before,” she said. Her arms were curled up against her chest. Seth could see her shivering.

Gavin trotted over and retrieved the knapsack. “Get inside and find a change of clothes. Things are b-b-b-bad enough without you catching pneumonia.”

Kendra nodded and climbed into the knapsack. Seth closed the flap.

“Should we go find Warren and the others?” Seth asked.

“You read my mind.”

Chapter 20

Griffins

They found Warren concealed underneath the tangled deadfall where Gavin had left him. Kendra was still changing her clothes inside the storage room. Dougan, Gavin, and Seth heaved rotten limbs out of the way. Looking up at Seth, Warren gave a wan smile, the right side of his shirt soaked dark with blood. “Looks like the cat’s out of the bag,” he muttered.

“You knew about Seth?” Dougan asked.

“I might have caught wind of his presence.”

Gavin crouched, examining the wounds in Warren’s shoulder and upper chest. Warren winced when Gavin fingered the sodden fabric near one of the punctures. “Ugly,” Gavin said.

“Sharp antlers,” Warren gasped. “Not a very impressive way to go. Stabbed by a deer. Don’t put that on my tombstone. Blame the dragon.”

“You’ll be all right,” Dougan assured him, his eyes less confident than his voice.

“Where’s Tanu?” Warren asked.

“Big guy took a spill,” Dougan said. “Lost consciousness. Mara and Trask are trying to revive him.”

“What stopped the dragon?” Warren asked.

“Gavin spoke to her,” Seth said. “He used dragon talk. It was freaky. He calmed her down and sent her away.”

“Seth and Kendra were holding their own,” Gavin approved.

“Sorry to be the weak link,” Warren muttered. “The deer gored me and kept on running. I was spitted on those antlers for a long time. Long enough to really notice, you know? To think about it.”

Trask and Mara came jogging down from higher on the hill, led by Tanu. The brawny Samoan glared at Seth. “What are you doing here?”

“You missed me during your inspection,” Seth replied.

“Perfect,” Tanu muttered. He dropped to his knees beside Warren. “Sorry I’m late.”

“Heard you banged your head,” Warren said.

Wearing an embarrassed grin, Tanu smoothed a hand over his thick, dark hair. “Don’t know what happened. Must have tripped and hit a rock.” Tanu produced a knife.

Warren grimaced as Tanu began to cut away his shirt. “I feel sorry for the rock.”

Tanu shrugged. “It smacked me pretty good. I’ve never been knocked out before. Thick skull.” He slashed away a wide section of fabric.

Warren eyed the knife. “You’re not dizzy or anything?”

“I do my best work dizzy.” Tanu ripped away another portion of the bloody shirt. He set aside the knife, rummaged in his satchel, fished out a small bottle, uncapped it, and took a sip.

“How about some of that for me?” Warren carped.

Tanu squinted and clenched his teeth, then shook his head briskly. “You don’t want this stuff. This is to clear me up, sharpen my senses. Trust me, you’re going to want things dulled.”

“You’re the doctor.”

Tanu scrabbled through his satchel again. “Not strictly speaking.”

“Right, well, you’re the medicine man.”

“Try some of this.” Tanu poured a small amount of potion onto a cotton ball, then wafted it beneath Warren’s nostrils.

“Whoa,” Warren said, going slightly cross-eyed. “That’s more like it.”

Tanu leaned forward and began meticulously applying a paste to the puncture wounds.

Kendra pushed open the knapsack’s flap. Gavin stooped and gave her a hand up.

“How’s Warren?” Kendra asked, emerging.

“He should be all right,” Tanu said. “We’ll have to rest him in that knapsack of yours, and get out the unicorn horn.”

“Will it heal him?” Seth asked.

Tanu shook his head. “The horn doesn’t heal. It only purifies. Keeping the horn in his grasp should prevent infection and counteract any toxins.”

Kendra nodded. “How about you?”

Tanu shrugged. “I have a little headache. My pride took the biggest hit.”

“
Your
pride?” Warren griped, his speech slurred. “I was vanquished by a deer!”

“A giant magical flying deer with fangs,” Seth said, parroting a description Gavin had shared earlier.

“That sounds a little better,” Warren conceded. “Seth is in charge of my tombstone.”

“Don’t speak,” Tanu soothed. “Relax. Breathe. You need to rest.”

Gavin and Kendra had wandered away a few paces. Seth joined them. His sister glowered at him. “What?” he asked.

“You shouldn’t be here,” Kendra snapped.

“How about thanks for saving—”

“Gavin would have saved me. That’s his specialty. Look at Warren. He’s a wreck and we’re barely getting started. I don’t want you dead.”

“N-n-not to interrupt,” Gavin said, “but Seth may very well have saved you, Kendra. I’m not sure I would have made it to you in time. Nafia was in hunting mode. She would have struck quickly.”

Kendra rolled her eyes. “Seth doesn’t belong here. He hitched a ride uninvited. Wyrmroost is a death trap. Whether I die or not, I don’t want him getting killed.”

“I don’t want to get killed either,” Seth said agreeably. “I’d much rather live. Partly because I know you’d write ‘I told you so’ on my gravestone. Believe it or not, I don’t want
you
to die, either. I know what it feels like to bury you, and I’d rather not go through it again.”

Kendra folded her arms and shook her head. “I’m glad you helped me. I am. Too bad Grandma and Grandpa are going to kill you.”

“We’ll have to make it out of Wyrmroost first,” Seth responded. “Please, one crisis at a time.”

“Did you two know that holding hands would make you dragon tamers?” Gavin asked.

Seth shook his head. “No, but it kind of makes sense. I’ve been thinking about it. At Fablehaven, when Ephira was attacking us, as long as I touched Warren, he shared my immunity to fear.”

“When I faced the dragon, my mind was clear,” Kendra recounted, “but I couldn’t make my mouth move. I was paralyzed. As soon as Seth touched me, I was free.”

“And I wasn’t scared or frozen,” Seth said, “but the dragon had me mesmerized. I couldn’t think. Except, when the dragon glanced away from me, and said she would kill us, some instinct made me grab Kendra. Half to comfort her, half to get comfort. I didn’t want to die alone. Then all of a sudden I could think clearly.”

“Amazing,” Gavin said. “I’ve never heard of anything like it.”

“I’ve never heard anything like you speaking the dragon language,” Seth chuckled. “When you first started, I thought you’d lost your mind.”

“It made me self-conscious to have you guys watching,” Gavin said. “I know how I look. And how I sound. Like a demented rooster.”

“A demented rooster who saved our lives,” Kendra said. “Thanks.”

Gavin shrugged. “That’s why I’m here.”

“Know what makes me mad?” Kendra said. “I could talk to Chalize. I was frozen, but I managed to speak. And I talked to Camarat too. But with Nafia glaring down at me, my jaw would not work.”

“Chalize was young, and I was distracting her,” Gavin explained. “Camarat wasn’t pushing us very hard. Dragons can deliberately exert their will to dominate us. The older ones are better at it. With Nafia, you got a full dose of dragon terror. But when you were holding hands, it didn’t seem to bother either of you.”

“I felt fine after we held hands,” Seth said. “But I was still worried she would eat us.”

“She might have,” Gavin confided. “There are no guarantees with dragons. Flattery is good for the young ones. The older ones prefer spunk and personality. Most of the time.”

Trask came up to them. “You three all right?”

“We’re good,” Kendra said. “Except it’s hard to make my brother feel as guilty as he deserves when he saved my life.”

Trask nodded. “Seth will have to deal with the consequences of joining us. I can’t say he made a wise choice, but there’s no way to undo it, so we’ll make the best of his presence. Tanu has Warren stabilized. We better load him in the bag and move out.”

Kendra tossed Trask the knapsack.

“There’s a hermit troll in there,” Seth said. “I think he’s lived in there a long time. He seems pretty nice. His name is Bubda. We’ve played a lot of Yahtzee. He wouldn’t pose a threat to Warren, would he?”

“Thanks for the tip,” Trask said. “Hermit trolls aren’t usually much trouble. They’re scavengers. They mostly want to be left alone. I’ll have a chat with this one, size him up. Bubda, you say?”