Free The Dragon's Lair by Elizabeth Haydon Page A

provisions, keeping his eye on the hole between the slats.
    As he watched, the neatly pressed sleeves of the innkeeper's shirt came into view.
    Ven held his breath.
    Then he could see the shoulders of that shirt as Mr. Whiting crouched down, staring at the wagon. His great hooked nose passed by the same hole Ven was watching through.
    Then his eyes, dark and menacing, bore into Ven's through the slats.
    The dogs screamed louder, their jaws slathering and foaming, as they threw themselves against the fence. Ven could see the wooden gate buckle, nearly opening. He heard Amariel gasp beside him. He rolled over to see her, white and wide-eyed, and clapped his hand quickly over her mouth.
    Suddenly the back gate of the wagon rattled. An even higher, more horrifying scream tore through the air as a streak of brown and black fur leapt from the ground.
    And hurled itself onto the children.

7
Leaving Safety Behind

    V EN THREW HIMSELF ONTO AMARIEL, LEAVING HIS BACK EXPOSED to the attack he knew was coming.
    He braced himself, keeping his hand over her mouth.
    And tried not to yell as he felt his back being gouged and scratched. He clenched his teeth, waiting for the bite, and closed his eyes.
    As something ran up his shoulders and through his hair, then disappeared into the sacks.
    Ven opened one eye. His face was right next to the merrow's. Her eyes looked like giant green marbles above his hand.
    "Was that a cat?" he whispered. "That felt like a bloody cat ."
    Amariel nodded.
    "Not a dog?"
    The merrow shook her head. Beneath Ven's hand on her face, she was trying to keep from sneezing.
    Ven let his breath out slowly. His back and neck were throbbing.
    "Sorry to have bothered you, sir," he heard Tuck say to Mr. Whiting. "Must have picked up a stray in town."
    "Harumph." Mr. Whiting coughed unpleasantly. "Be on your way, man. You're upsetting my dogs, and probably my guests."
    "My apologies again," said the forester. He clicked to the horses. The wagon lurched, then began rolling east again.
    Ven took his hand off Amariel's mouth. He lay still until he knew they were well out of sight of the White Fern, then sat up and ran a hand over his shoulder. It was bleeding slightly, and the gouges on his back stung.
    "Bloody cat," he muttered again.
    "Better than one of those dogs," said Tuck from the front of the wagon. Ven jumped again, having forgotten the forester's sensitive ears. "And better than you being noticed."
    "Well, that's certainly true," Ven said. "But I'm not looking forward to digging that thing out of the provisions. We certainly don't want it in the wagon."
    "Just to let you know, Ven, if you ever jump on me like that again and cover my mouth, I'm going to bite you," Amariel said.
    "I wouldn't blame you," Ven admitted. "But I was just trying to keep you safe."
    "Hmmph," said the merrow.
    The cat did not emerge before the wagon came in sight of the crossroads. Ven rose up on one knee and saw that Char and the others were waiting in front of the Inn, their belongings tied up in small cloth bundles. They were hiding in the shade of an enormous rosebush that Ven did not remember seeing before. He waved to the merrow to come next to him.
    "See those people?" he said, pointing. Amariel nodded. "Those are my other friends. See? There's nothing to be worried about. The tiny little girl over by the flowerbed is Saeli. She's a Gwadd, not human at all. Gwadd are an old race of people who love the earth and live in hilly fields, I think. Saeli's very nice, and she's also very shy. She can talk, but she has a very odd voice, so she prefers to speak in flowers."
    Amariel looked puzzled. "Flowers?"
    "Those anemones you saw in the windowboxes in Kingston, the pretty ones? Those were probably flowers." Ven pointed to wildflowers growing in the fields along the road. "Like those."
    "How can somebody speak in flowers?" asked the merrow.
    "It's hard to explain. Sometimes when she wants to say something, flowers appear at your feet, or a vine