Emily Rodda - Shadowgate

He closed his eyes, dazed with relief.

It is safe. It is with me. Safe…

The roaring of the waterfall was throbbing in his ears. It seemed to be echoing. Louder, louder… how could it be so loud?

Lief opened his eyes.

The waterfall was filled with stars—stars twinkling on a bed of midnight blue. It was as though, by some miraculous trick of the light, the night sky was reflected in the foaming, falling water.

And then the reflection seemed to rush forward. Something burst through the veil of the waterfall, through the clouds of spray—something real, and gigantic.

Roaring, it hovered over The Funnel, its scales sparkling in the moonlight. Its mighty wings were like dark blue velvet pierced with light. Its eyes shone like stars. Every one of its claws was like a new moon, curved and gleaming.

Zerry screamed in terror. He rolled over and covered his eyes. Jasmine, and even Steven, shrank back.

But Lief crawled to his feet and stood with his head up, his hands on the Belt of Deltora, his heart beating wildly. So—the waterfall veils a great cavern in the cliff, he thought, steadying himself. A safe hiding place, indeed, for—

‘Greetings, king of Deltora!’ thundered the dragon. ‘At last you have come!’

‘Greetings, dragon of the lapis-lazuli,’ said Lief awkwardly. ‘I—I came when I could.’

The dragon swept gracefully to shore. As it settled on the rock, not far away from the companions, Lief realised that, despite its enormous size, it was smaller than the other dragons he had seen. Smaller, and more delicate-looking.

The dragon looked at Lief closely. ‘You are wet, and the poor, thin hide of your face is torn!’ it accused, shaking its own dripping wings. ‘What has befallen you, in this land of good fortune?’

Its gleaming eyes fell on Zerry. ‘This boy is one of mine!’ it growled. ‘I can smell it! Did he dare to do you ill, king? Shall I deal with him?’

Zerry wailed and clutched Steven’s arm. ‘I did not mean it!’ he gabbled. ‘I did not know! Fern said the Belt was of no value—just part of a Masked Ones’ costume, that Bess had given Lewin for himself.’

He wiped his nose on the sleeve of his jacket. ‘She said I should steal it if I could. She said there was a man at the Riverdale turnoff who fancied it, and would pay well for it. She said it was my chance to get away from old Plug and her lessons, and go home to Rithmere with gold in my pocket. She wrote a note for me to give the man, but he—’

‘The note said you were to be killed, you young fool!’ Steven growled. ‘If you had let Plug teach you to read, instead of spending all your time idling and thieving, you would have known that.’

‘This boy of Rithmere laid hands on the Belt of Deltora?’ thundered the dragon, baring its fangs.

‘The boy is not our enemy,’ Lief said quickly. ‘Our enemy is—’

And for the first time since he shouted for help at the lip of The Funnel, he remembered Laughing Jack. The dragon was sitting where the wagon had been. He looked quickly at Steven.

‘I had to force Nevets back, so I could come to your aid,’ Steven said. ‘Nevets and I cannot be long apart. We fight together or not at all. So Laughing Jack escaped. While I was still lifting you from The Funnel, he was up the hill and away. We will never catch him, or his poor beasts, now.’

Jasmine looked stricken.

Lief swallowed. ‘Could not Mellow and the bees give chase and—?’

They cannot work their magic again so soon,’ Steven sighed. ‘No—this time Laughing Jack has escaped the fate he deserves. But there will be another time. We will not forget.’

The dragon smacked its lips loudly, as if annoyed at being ignored.

‘I am famished,’ it announced. ‘If you will excuse me, king, I will go and fill my belly.’

‘You will not take humans, or their beasts, I hope!’ Lief exclaimed, suddenly fearful.

‘Unless you see a thin man driving four black horses,’ growled Steven. ‘You are very welcome to him.’

The dragon looked down its nose at them. ‘Do you take me for a savage?’ it demanded. ‘Whatever dragons of other lands may stoop to, the dragons of the lapis-lazuli would never dine on warm blood. Ugh!’

It shuddered at the very thought.

‘I beg your pardon,’ Lief said hastily. ‘But you will find little to satisfy your hunger, I fear. The land is poorly.’

‘I have sensed that already, king,’ the dragon growled, delicately smoothing the scales of its chest with one slender claw. ‘It seems that the Enemy took advantage of my sleep.’

‘He took advantage of all the dragons’ sleep,’ Lief said. ‘The evil thing that is poisoning your territory is called the Sister of the North. My companions and I are journeying to find and destroy it.’

‘Excellent!’ the dragon exclaimed, inspecting its claws one by one. ‘Before we leave, I will snatch a hasty meal in the Shifting Sands. It is not far, as the dragon flies, and no doubt Sand Beasts still thrive there. Ah, I well remember how they crunch between the teeth. Delightful!’

Lief exchanged glances with Jasmine and Steven. He cleared his throat.

‘I fear you cannot come with us to find the Sister of the North,’ he said. ‘It is deep in the territory of the emerald, in a place called Shadowgate.’

The dragon seemed to frown. ‘Indeed?’ it said. ‘We are very near the emerald border here, as it happens. But surely it will still take you quite a time to reach this Shadowgate?’

‘Yes, it will,’ Lief admitted ruefully.

The dragon was still looking at its claws. ‘Certainly, before I slept, I promised not to stray from my own territory,’ it murmured. ‘But surely Dragonfriend did not mean this to prevent me from aiding the king who awoke me.’

It looked up, straight into Lief’s eyes. ‘Especially if the king should ask me to aid him,’ it added.

Lief’s heart gave a great thump. ‘You would carry us to Shadowgate?’ he asked. ‘But what of the emerald dragon?’

‘What of it?’ The lapis-lazuli dragon yawned. ‘It may be dead, for all we know. Its territory was infested with the Enemy’s creatures. Any one of them would have destroyed it, if they found it sleeping.’

It sounded quite pleased at the thought.

‘So,’ it went on, its eyes sparkling. ‘Good fortune brought us together, king. And you should never turn your back on your luck. Do you ask me to break my vow, and take you to Shadowgate?’

Lief took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I do.’

15 – The Pass

And so, for the second time, Lief, Barda and Jasmine flew with a dragon. But this time was very different from the first.

It was not just that this time they were flying with a dragon who sang merrily as it flew. Or that this dragon seemed to glide through the air like a shooting star, with barely a beat of its wings.

It was not just that this dragon knew exactly where it was going because, unlike the dragon of the ruby, it prided itself on having learned about maps from the man it called Dragonfriend.

It was because, this time, they were not beginning a journey, but hurtling towards a journey’s end. Mingled with their thoughts about what might be ahead were their thoughts of what had passed—thoughts they did not wish to share.

Barda was cursing himself for allowing the Masked Ones to overpower him, when he caught up with them on the road to Purley. As a result of that failure, he had been useless to his companions just when they needed him most.

He scowled as he remembered waking in the caravan, with no idea where he was or what was happening. Kree had just arrived, and was screeching angrily at Steven’s horse. Filli was chattering in his ear. His companions were nowhere to be seen. He had gone in search of them, but by the time he reached the waterfall, all the excitement was over.