Dragon Rider

Dragon Rider Page 61

Sorrel chuckled. “No, don’t worry. Nothing but moonlight, that’s all he needs.”

“Ah, moonlight.” The rat nodded. “Interesting source of energy, that. I’ve tried building moonlight batteries. Never got them to work yet, though.” She turned to look at Ben, who was asleep near the mouth of the cave, still exhausted after his adventure with the giant roc.

“You’ve got a human with you, too?” she whispered. “My uncle only mentioned you and the dragon.” Pointing at Twigleg, she added, “He didn’t say anything about that little creature, either.”

Sorrel shrugged her shoulders and twirled the propeller of Lola’s plane with her paw. It whirred around. “Those two just sort of came along,” she said. “We have a bit of trouble with them now and then, but they’re not so bad really. The little one’s a homincolossus.”

“Homunculus!” Twigleg corrected her and bowed to Lola Graytail.

“Ah,” she said, examining him from head to foot. “No offense meant, but you look like some kind of toy human.”

Twigleg smiled shyly. “Well, in a way you’re right,” he said. “May I ask how far you’ve gotten with surveying and mapping these parts?”

“I’m almost through,” replied Lola, smoothing her whiskers. “Just dropped in here to write up my records for today.”

Sorrel looked at her in surprise. “Then you know your way around here?”

“Of course.” The rat twitched her shoulders. “I know every dratted stick and stone in these parts by now.”

“You do?” Sorrel ran over to Ben and shook him.

“Wake up!” she whispered into his ear. “Wake up — there’s someone here who can show us the way to the monastery!”

Ben turned over sleepily and blinked at Sorrel. “What is it? Who’s here?”

Sorrel pointed to Lola. The fat rat took a step back, for safety’s sake, but she put her paws on her hips and stared the human bravely in the face. Ben sat up in surprise and looked down at her.

“Where did this character spring from, then?” he asked in amazement.

“This character? You see before you Lola Graytail,” said the rat, insulted.

“She’s that white rat’s niece,” hissed Sorrel. “Gilbert sent her here to survey the terrain for him.” She pulled Ben’s sleeve. “Come on. Let’s discuss the rest of it outside the cave, or we’ll wake Firedrake.”

It was still uncomfortably hot outside, but the temperature was bearable in the shade of a large boulder near the mouth of the cave.

“Get out the map,” said Sorrel.

Ben did as she said, opened it, and showed it to the rat.

“Can you tell us where we are?” Sorrel asked Lola, holding her breath in suspense.

The rat padded over her uncle’s map looking at it closely, her brow wrinkled. “Let’s see,” she murmured. “Yes, that’s clear enough.” Raising her paw, she tapped a place southeast of the Indus. “You’re here, among these mountains, in what I call the Rocky Valley.”

“We’re looking for a monastery,” explained Ben. “It’s on a mountainside overlooking a wide, green part of the Indus valley. A large place with a lot of buildings, and banners fluttering in the wind.”

“Hmm.” Lola nodded and looked at the boy. “Yes, I know it. Good description. Been there before, have you?”

“No.” Ben shook his head. “I saw it in a djinn’s two hundred and twenty-third eye.”

Lola Graytail’s jaw dropped. She gaped at the boy for a moment. “Really?” she said at last. “Well, like I said, I know the place. Full of monks with bald heads. Little monks and big ones. Very friendly human species, monks. Really hospitable. But their tea is something awful.”

Ben looked at her hopefully. “Can you take us there?”

“Sure.” Lola shrugged her shoulders. “But my plane will never keep up with the dragon.”

“I daresay it won’t!” Firedrake reached his long neck out of the cave, yawned, and looked down at the fat rat curiously.

He gave Lola such a shock that she suddenly sat down. “He … he’s bigger than I expected,” she stammered.

“Actually he’s about average for a dragon,” Sorrel told her. “Some come bigger, and some come smaller.”

“Firedrake, this is Lola,” explained Ben, “Gilbert Graytail’s niece. Isn’t that a wonderful coincidence? Lola can show us the way to the monastery.”

“Coincidence! That’s a good one!” muttered Lola, still unable to take her eyes off the dragon. “It’s all your fault that I’m in these mountains at all.”

“You’re right,” said Twigleg. “It’s not a coincidence at all. It’s a disposition of providence.”

“A what?” asked Sorrel.

“A preordained meeting,” said Twigleg. “Something that was bound to happen. I can only call it a good omen. A very good omen.”

“Oh.” Sorrel shrugged her shoulders. “Call it what you like, as long as Lola can get us out of here.” She looked up at the sky. “We ought to set off as soon as possible, and we should keep the moon-dew for emergencies. So we’ll fly at moonrise, right?”

Firedrake nodded. “Do you know Rosa Graytail?” he asked Lola. “She’d be your aunt.”

“Of course I know her.” Lola hopped off her uncle’s map so that Ben could fold it up again. “Met her once at a family party. First time I ever heard of dragons.”

“And what about here?” asked Ben, leaning forward in suspense. “Have you seen any dragons in these mountains?”

“Here?” Lola Graytail shook her head. “Not so much as the tip of a dragon’s tail. Though I’ve flown all over these mountains, believe you me. I know why you ask. Gilbert told me. You’re looking for the Rim of Heaven. I can only say I’ve never seen any such place. No end of white peaks, of course. But no dragons, no sign of them at all.”

“Tha-that must be wrong!” Ben stammered. “I saw the valley. And a dragon in a huge cave.”

Lola Graytail looked at him incredulously. “Saw it! Where?” she asked. “In your djinn’s eye? No, take my word for it, there are no dragons here. Monasteries, shaggy cattle, a few human beings, that’s it. Nothing else at all.”

“There was a misty valley enclosed by a rim of white peaks and a wonderful cave!” said Ben.

But Lola only shook her head again. “There are hundreds of valleys here and so many white peaks you’d go crazy trying to count them. But dragons, no. Sorry. I’ll be telling Uncle Gilbert so, too. The Rim of Heaven doesn’t exist, and there’s no hidden valley of the dragons. It’s nothing but a pretty fairy tale.”

38. The Monastery

It was just about midnight when Firedrake reached the river Indus again. Its waters glittered in the starlight. The river valley here was wide and fertile, and even in the dark Ben could make out fields and huts. High above them stood the monastery, clinging to the steep slope of a mountain on the other side of the river. In the light of the waning moon, its pale walls shone like white paper.