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Professor Greenbloom held his breath. He could hardly believe what he had just heard.
Growling angrily, Nettlebrand turned and marched back toward the well out of which he had clambered. Just before the dragon reached it, the professor dropped to the sand and crawled away as fast as his knees would carry him, to take shelter among the ruins of the wall around the well shaft. At the rim of the shaft, Nettlebrand stopped to look back at the tents, his red eyes surveying the sand he had churned up.
“I’ll find you, Greenbloom-human!” the professor heard him growl. “I’ll find you, and next time you won’t escape me. But now for the silver dragon.”
With these words he forced his body back into the well, his spiny tail slipping down the dark hole after him. A splash and a snort rose from the depths — and Nettlebrand was gone.
Barnabas Greenbloom sat there by the ruins of the wall, thunderstruck.
“I must warn them!” he murmured. “I must warn Firedrake and the others about that monster. But how? And who, for heaven’s sake, told Nettlebrand, the Golden One, about the djinn?”
19. The Signpost
On the fourth night the country over which Firedrake was flying became more mountainous, just as the professor had said it would. Below the travelers lay a wild and rocky landscape bathed in moonlight. The ground looked like a crumpled gray cloth. The cliffs rose higher and higher, some of them piercing the sky like thorns. Ben watched in amazement as they passed over towns that clung to the steep slopes, their pale mud-brick fortifications rising toward the moon.
“Like the Thousand and One Nights!” he murmured.
“Like the what?” asked Sorrel.
“Thousand and One Nights,” repeated Ben. “They’re stories — lots of stories — about flying carpets and so on. Some have djinns in them.”
“Fancy that,” muttered Sorrel. She was tired of rocks and sand. All this gray and yellow and brown hurt her eyes. She wanted to see trees. She wanted to hear leaves rustling in the wind, not the eternal chirping of crickets. At her insistence, Firedrake had already come down twice to land by signposts, but neither had pointed the right way. Ben had told her they wouldn’t and held the map in front of her nose, but her impatience was driving her crazy.
“It must be the next one, though,” she said. “It must be the next time the road forks, don’t you think?”
Ben nodded. “Yes, sure.” Suddenly he leaned forward. “Hey, Sorrel!” He pointed down at the ground in excitement. “Look at that. Down there. See?”
The slopes of the dark mountains by the roadside were shining brighter than the sea in the moonlight.
“Oh, no!” groaned Sorrel. “It’s them. You bet your life it’s them.”
“It’s who?” Ben leaned so far forward he almost fell off Firedrake’s back. “Who, Sorrel?”
“Elves!” Sorrel hauled on the strap holding her. “Firedrake!” she cried. “Firedrake, fly higher! Quick.”
Surprised, the dragon slowed down and looked around.
“What is it?”
“Elves!” cried Sorrel. “Look! The place is absolutely swarming with elves!”
The dragon immediately rose higher, beating his wings powerfully.
“Oh, no! cried Ben. “Can’t we stay just a little lower? I’d love to see elves at close quarters.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Sorrel shook her head sorrowfully at such human folly. “No way! They could have love-arrows with them and then, being a stupid little human, you’d be besotted with the next crow we happen to pass. No, no, and no again.”
“For once, Sorrel’s right, young master,” Twigleg backed her up. He was nestling inside Ben’s jacket, with only his head looking out between two buttons. “We can thank our lucky stars if they don’t notice us.”
Disappointed, Ben looked down at the glittering swarm.
“Oh, no!” Sorrel groaned. “The road forks just ahead. Now of all times! And there’s a signpost there, too.”
“I’ll have to fly lower or Ben won’t be able to read it,” called Firedrake.
“Lower?” Sorrel rolled her eyes. “Oh, wonderful! Now, with those glitterbugs swirling all over the place! Death caps and destroying angels, there’s going to be trouble.”
Firedrake descended slowly, until at last he landed on the asphalt of the road.
