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‘But who’s going to look after you?’ he asked anxiously.
‘One of the she-dragons who aren’t expecting young! Or Shimmertail can do it.’
Shimmertail was her cousin, and he either sat out in the sun with the brownies or flew races with the other dragons. But yes – he certainly wouldn’t let Maia go hungry. And she had several she-dragon friends who didn’t have to make themselves nests just now.
‘I have only one condition,’ said Maia. ‘Of course I’d like best to go with you myself, but as I can’t’ – and she gently nudged one of the eggs with her nose – ‘do me a favour and take someone else with you. You say you sense fear and anger. That doesn’t sound good, and you have no idea what kind of danger Ben is in. You owe it to your children not to fly into it alone.’
Firedrake wasn’t sure what he thought of that idea. Presumably it was a foretaste of what Barnabas called paternal duties.
‘Alone? You know I never fly alone!’ he protested. ‘Sorrel will complain that we’re off to another new place, but of course she’s not going to miss her chance to come along.’ Sorrel… Firedrake looked around for her, but in the valley of the Rim of Heaven she went out mushroom-hunting even more often than in her old home. She would certainly have said, ‘Are you surprised, when there are so few mushrooms here? Quite apart from the fact that most of them growing in all this stony gravel don’t taste good.’
‘I’m not talking about Sorrel,’ said Maia. ‘I’m talking about another dragon.’
‘But it’s my friend in danger!’ retorted Firedrake. ‘I can’t ask one of the others to go travelling on that account. Especially not now, when most of them are expecting young!’
The dragon who had raised his head at the word travelling and was now looking curiously in their direction had not come from Scotland with Firedrake. Tattoo had been born in the Rim of Heaven, and was one of the dragons awoken from their moonless sleep by the stone-dwarves. His real name was Lhag Pa, which meant Wind in the language of these mountains. But everyone just called him Tattoo, because all those years under a shell of stone had left patterns on his scales as if someone had painted artistic designs on him. The stone-dwarves thought a plant growing in the dark that often left its traces on cave walls was responsible, although they couldn’t explain why only Tattoo had its patterns on his scales. Whatever the reason, the design of flowers, tendrils and leaves that covered him from his head to the tip of his tail made him look like the dragons you saw on precious Chinese porcelain. Firedrake thought that he looked fantastic, but Tattoo had to put up with a certain amount of mockery. It didn’t make his life easier that he was the youngest dragon in the valley of the Rim of Heaven (if you subtracted the years he had spent asleep under his coat of stone). Perhaps that was why he was looking forward to the arrival of dragon young even more than their parents were. Tattoo reminded Firedrake very much of himself: his restlessness, his hunger for change and adventure, his longing for what was distant and unknown, while the older dragons dreamed only of peace and safety…
Of course Maia had noticed which dragon he was looking at.
‘Yes, Tattoo would be a good companion,’ she whispered. ‘He has no nest to protect, no young to feed, and he is fast and clever. I’ve seen him several times even defeating Ryak and Bruk in their play-fights.’
Ryak and Bruk were two of the younger dragons who had come from Scotland with Firedrake, and they were always keen to show how strong and fearle
ss they were.
‘Are those two still playing battle-games, although I banned them?’ Firedrake suddenly felt very old. Maybe he had in fact grown up.
‘Don’t act as if that seriously surprises you. And it’s a good thing for Tattoo to show the others how strong and fast he is now and then. You know how often they tease him about his scales.’
Firedrake looked over at the younger dragon. Tattoo pretended not to notice, but Firedrake saw him prick up his ears. Dragon ears could give their owners away. And yes, Maia was right: Tattoo was not just fast, he was also clever, and he had patience when necessary, which was very unusual in such a young dragon, even if Tattoo didn’t yet know how important that quality was. In addition he wasn’t interested in being the most popular dragon around. Or the one who talked loudest. Or the leader. And he was not cruel to weaker people – a characteristic that Firedrake prized more highly than any other.
All the same… if Ben was really in danger, he himself wouldn’t have time to keep an eye on a young dragon.
‘Please, Firedrake!’ whispered Maia. ‘Who knows what Barnabas has dug up this time? You say he’s looking for a phoenix, but maybe he stumbled upon a less peaceful fabulous creature in the process! It wouldn’t be the first time!’
No, it certainly wouldn’t. Sometimes Firedrake thought that Barnabas attracted fabulous beings just as he himself did.
He glanced at Tattoo again. ‘He can be thoughtless.’
Maia smiled. ‘Oh, yes. You two really have a lot in common.’
Tattoo was still pretending to take not the slightest notice of what they were saying to each other. He was not a good actor! Finally he stood up and went to the mouth of the cave. Obviously he felt embarrassed about his own curiosity, and Firedrake liked that too.
He sighed.
‘All right,’ he said. ‘So far I’ve always regretted it when I didn’t take your advice.’
Maia let her head sink to the edge of the nest. ‘Really?’ she said quietly.
It would be so difficult to leave her alone. He felt terrible about his heart, torn between loving in two places.
‘Right. I’ll set off this evening,’ said Firedrake. ‘And I’ll ask Tattoo if he’ll come with me. I just hope this ache in my breast will be a reliable guide.’
By now the pain did indeed feel as if it were tugging at him. It was like having a fish hook in his heart.
‘The stone-dwarves say that dragons used to be able to find their riders over distances of thousands of miles,’ said Maia. ‘The scale will be like a magnet attracting you. After all, it’s a part of you.’
‘Attract you? Where to?’
