The Dragon's Lair (22 page)

Ven looked to the west, then to the north, calibrating the boundaries.

"She's drawing a map," he said aloud, mostly to Amariel, Char and Ida. Tuck was already watching intently.

The areas that had appeared to be pits a moment before swelled with blue myrtle, taking on the resemblance of ponds. Ven looked east and saw one large one in the middle of a nearby meadow that closely matched its counterpart on the map. He kept watching, fascinated, as Saeli continued to call forth flowers and grasses in shades of blue, yellow, silver and green indicating copses of trees, wagon paths, and streams.

Finally, some tiny sprigs of heather emerged, tucked away beneath taller green grass that appeared to be a hillside. It looked like a soft purple shadow dotted here and there with tiny dabs of brightly colored wildflowers that Ven could not place a meaning to. He looked to the north, where a hill crested toward the morning sky, and saw that the topography looked exactly the same.

"Is that this hill?" he asked Saeli.

The Gwadd girl nodded excitedly.

Ven pointed to the purple shadow. "And what's this?"

Saeli stared north at the hillside.

"Hidden Valley," she whispered.

"There's a hidden valley in the lee of that hillside?" Tuck asked.

Saeli nodded again.

"Do you want to look for your family there?"

Yet another nod.

"It's on the way north to the foothills where the Nain settlements are," said Tuck. "We can head in that direction and see if we can find it."

The children piled back in the wagon as the highgrass grew rapidly again, blotting out any sign that the map had ever been there.

The journey now was less quiet, less reserved. Saeli seemed hopeful, almost happy, but Amariel was strangely silent. She sat in the back of the wagon and stared out behind her at the wake they were making in the highgrass.

By noon-meal they were in the shadow of the hillside, so they did not stop to eat, but passed apples and carrots around the wagon, sharing them with Tuck and the horses.

"So Ven, what's the chance that Clovis is right?" Char asked as they cleaned up the apple cores and carrot tops. "Maybe it
is
just superstition. Is it possible that the fires didn't come from a dragon at all, but from these bloody idiots burnin' the brush to clear out the farmland?"

"That's possible," Ven admitted. "I hope you're right. That might make the Nain problem a lot easier to solve for the king—too easy, I bet."

"Yeah, prolly," Char agreed.

Tuck cleared his throat. "I think we're at the edge of the purple shadow, are we not, Saeli?"

Ven turned to look at the Gwadd girl. Her tiny, heart-shaped face was shining, and the long, caramel-colored braid that hung down her back bobbed excitedly in agreement.

"Can we get there by wagon?"

Saeli shook her head.

Tuck sighed and let the horses bring the cart to a slow stop.

"All right, then," he said. "Anyone staying behind, or shall I shelter them?"

Ven looked around. The other children were shaking their heads, indicating they wanted to come, all except the merrow. She was staring placidly at the sky, as if she were thinking.

"Amariel? Are you coming?" he asked.

"I'd be happy to."

"Well, that's a change," sneered Ida. "You ain't been happy to do
anything
the entire time we've been away."

"Leave her alone," Ven said. He stood up and made his way to the back of the wagon, opened the gate, and held out his hand to the merrow. She allowed him to help her down from the wagon.

"Thank you," she said as she stepped into the grass.

"Whoa," said Char. "Are you sure she's all right, Ven?" Char had stopped trying to help her down even before they crossed the Great River, because Amariel had threatened to bite him.

Without thinking, Ven's hand went to his shirt pocket. He felt for and found the outlines of the Black Ivory sleeve and the jack-rule, heard the slight rustle of a handkerchief, then nodded, relieved.

"She's fine," he said, helping Saeli out of the wagon next. "Who else is coming?"

Clem, Char, and Ida climbed down. They followed Tuck and Saeli on an almost invisible path down the windward face of the hillside into its lee, the place where the wind did not touch.

The path Saeli was following switched back and forth in both east and west directions, crossing with other grassy paths that had Ven completely confused by the time they got to a fork in the pathway. He glanced down at Saeli and saw that the greengold high grass had subtly changed color to a soft purple, due to the heather that was now mixed into it.
This must be the purple shadow she drew for us in flowers,
he realized.

Finally, Saeli stopped directly at a place in the hillside that was overgrown completely with ivy. She knocked in the air as if she were knocking on a door.

The ivy shriveled before their eyes, looking now like a hanging curtain.

Saeli drew the curtain back, smiling, and held it open for her friends to enter.

One by one, they stepped through. As he did, Ven caught his breath.

Below them stretched a beautiful, lush valley dotted with bright patches of wildflowers in every possible color. The air beyond the ivy curtain was sweet, as if it had rained recently, and the perfume of flowers hung heavy in it. Trees, both great and small, grew randomly throughout the rich green grasslands. A silver-blue river trickled through the valley, sparkling and laughing as it went.

A shaft of afternoon sunlight filtered down from above, giving the little valley a drowsy feel.

Ven's mouth was open. He shut it as soon as he realized it, but still the sense of awe he felt was overwhelming.

"What an amazing place," he murmured. "No wonder you were sad when you were afraid it had been taken over by the humans."

Saeli nodded, looking relieved.

"Where does your family live, Saeli?" Clemency asked. "Can we meet them?"

The Gwadd girl giggled, then nodded. She pointed at the clusters of bright wildflowers dotting the valley.

"There," she said huskily. She pulled the curtain of ivy closed behind them, and immediately it swelled with moisture again, taking on its former appearance.

She led them down a winding path lined with pink primroses to the valley floor where the bright patches grew. As they got closer, Ven could see they were little shelters made of willow boughs woven through with many different kinds of flowers and plants, with arched doorways and windows. Each window had a flower box beneath it filled with growing flowers or plants of the same varieties.

Beside many of the houses were smaller patches of the same kind of flowers. Once Saeli came into view, those patches peeled back, and small, heart-shaped faces appeared, smiling broadly.

"Look at all the
Gwadd
," Clem whispered excitedly to Ven, who nodded in agreement. "I've seen Saeli bring flowers around herself a few times when she's nervous—the others must have seen us coming and hidden in plain sight."

The way magic does
, thought Ven.
I must draw this as best as I can for the king. He would love this place
.

He turned to the merrow, who was standing beside him.

"Sometimes when you talk about all the bright colors under the sea, the anemones and the coral reefs, I imagine something like this," he said. "Do those things look anything like this?"

"Not really," said the merrow placidly. "But this is pretty."

Ven's brows drew together. He patted his pocket again, but the rustle was still there.

"Are you feeling all right?" he asked, concerned.

"Of course," said the merrow. "Just fine."

Beyond the valley were rich green fields. Cows of all colors and sizes mooed pleasantly in the pastures as they grazed on the grass, the bells around their necks emitting a soft tinkling sound. Jagged rows of corn of every height swirled in random patterns, choking with what appeared to be weeds. Unlike the neatly manicured rows of pale yellow and brown back in the human farming settlement, however, the kernels that peeked through the silk at the top of the dark green leaves were golden and warm like the sun.

With a harsh cry, Saeli leapt forward and began running in the direction of a tiny shelter made of white dwarf birch twigs. From the fresh mound of white blossoms outside the shelter a tiny old woman emerged, bent over at the waist with age, but still rosy-cheeked and bright-eyed. Loose curls from her silver hair had escaped the bun in the back of her head, and she hurried toward Saeli, her arms open and her skirts flying. They embraced in joy, then Saeli waved the others to come over.

As they approached, she spoke in her odd, deep voice.

"Betula Nana!" she said happily, pointing to the old woman.

"That's her grandmother," Clem whispered.

"Does she have parents?" Ven asked.

Clemency shook her head. "But she does have a little brother." She scanned the flower patches, then pointed to a towheaded youth with chubby cheeks and little waterfalls of hair hanging from every place on his head. "I think that's Cecil."

"Cecil?" Ida asked.

"Cecil Bean," Clem said.

"Poor kid," Ida said.

"Hey, at least he knows his real name," Char muttered. "Better than you or I could say, Ida."

"I've been told my real name's pretty at least," said the colorless girl, watching the Gwadd swarm around Saeli. "You're named after burned food. That's swell."

The little white-haired boy ran over to introduce himself.

"Hi," he said in his own version of Saeli's strange voice which was vaguely squeaky. "We're glad to meet you. Thank you for bringing Saeli home."

"It's our pleasure," Ven replied.

"Auntie Hepatica is going to make tea at her house," Cecil continued, pointing to a shelter decorated with gorgeous purple flowers unlike any others in the valley. "You are all invited to come."

Ven looked at Amariel, who generally disliked being around a lot of people.

"Is that all right?"

"Of course," the merrow replied.

Ven patted his pocket again.

"Then, yes," he said uncertainly to Cecil, who giggled and ran off after all the small people scurrying toward the purple shelter. He waited until Char, Clem, Ida, and Tuck had followed Cecil, then went over to Amariel and took her by the elbow.

"You're making me nervous," he said quietly. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yes, fine," said the merrow.

Ven sighed. He wasn't certain what was going on, but he took Amariel by the arm to lead her toward Auntie Hepatica's house. When she didn't pull away, he grew even more worried, but had no idea what to make of it.

The tea in the house of the Gwadd was charming. The little people were hospitable even if they were shy, and offered plates piled high with ripe strawberries, sweet whipped cream, raspberry tarts and other summer fruits and vegetables that the companions agreed were the best things they had had to eat since leaving the Crossroads Inn.

"This is how milk should taste," Clem said, sipping a frothy glass. "I don't know how to explain the difference between this and what we had last night, but that just tasted wrong somehow."

"So did everything else," said Ida. "The corn, the cheese—it wasn't spoiled, I don't think. I dunno. It was weird."

Saeli was deep in conversation with her grandmother. The joy had left her eyes, and her face was sad again. When they paused, Ven interrupted gently.

"What is going on, Saeli?" he asked. "Why are the Gwadd all hidden away here, rather than in the lands where the humans live now?"

Saeli posed the question in the Gwadd language to her grandmother, who turned to Ven and smiled sadly.

"Once all of these lands were ours," she said. Her voice was rough and aged, but she sounded very much like Ven's own grandmother.
I guess everyone ends up sounding like a Gwadd eventually, he thought
. "We lived and farmed this part of the Wide Meadows from the First Age, when we came to this island, fleeing the floods that had destroyed our home across the sea. But lately the humans have come. I'm not sure they even knew we were here, because they do not tend the land as we do. They just moved in, and took over the place we had loved for centuries."

"Why didn't you fight for it?" asked Ida, amazed.

Betula Nana chuckled. "Spoken like a Big person," she said. "Look at us—with what would we fight, even if we knew how? No, we had no choice but to retreat here, to this secret place which has been our haven all our lives. The Big Ones have burned the high grass, have undone everything we have done, have only planted the Oldest Sister, not the other two—"

"Oldest sister?" Ven asked. His head was itching.

Betula Nana nodded. "The corn is planted first, followed by beans, then squash between the rows," she said, pointing at the fields beyond the valley. "They are called the Three Sisters. They sustain each other, the earth, and us. But the Big Ones do not know that. They do not care for the earth, and its children, properly."

"Is that why their food tastes strange?" Clemency asked.

Betula Nana shrugged. "I would imagine," she said in her croaking voice. "When we farmed that same land, it gave to us in the same way it now gives to us here. The Gwadd love the earth beyond measure."