Free The First Dragon (Chronicles of the Imaginarium Geographica, The) by James A. Owen Page A

asked Fred. “It is primarily an airship now, after all.”
    “No,” Kipling replied. “They’re here to work.
    “I once had the opportunity to visit the Saint of the Northern Isles, back when I first became a Caretaker,” he said as he reached into his coat pocket, “and he gave me these. I’ve been saving them all these years for just the right occasion to use them.”
    The others looked at his outstretched hand. There in the palm were a dozen kernels of corn.
    “How long was he in th’ fire?” Uncas whispered to Quixote.
    “Hush,” said Laura Glue. “What are they, Rudy?”
    “Magic seed corn,” he replied. “If you plant them, they grow into a crop of corn that, when eaten, ensures that you have only good dreams when you sleep, and never bad ones. I have often been plagued by night terrors, and considered planting a little garden out back. But I’m glad I saved them, because they have one other use.
    “If you feed the seed corn to any creature with cloven hooves, it will be able to fly. The Christmas Saint used them on reindeer, but they’ll also work . . .”
    “On goats,” Laura Glue finished for him. “That’s brilliant!”
    “Meh,” said Elly Mae.
    ♦  ♦  ♦
    “I’ve already aligned the mechanisms from the Zanzibar Gate,” Shakespeare explained as the other conspirators got settled aboard the Indigo Dragon . “I’ve set it to go to the same place Bert said that the others were going to, and I have faith it will work. But after that,” he added, choking back a sob, “you’ll be on your own.”
    “How can you set the device to the right time and place?” asked Laura Glue. “I thought only Rose or Edmund could do that without a trump.”
    “Actually, it’s because of Edmund that I can,” said Shakespeare. He showed them the bronze plate he planned to insert into the mechanism of the gate. “We know from what Bert told us that they are no longer in the future, but in the past,” he told them, “and Edmund found a way to tell us where.
    “When Jules asked me to examine the time travel possibilities of the Sphinx that Poe had in the basement,” he explained, “I opened it and found this plate. I didn’t know what it meant then, but I know now. And it will take you to them. This I believe.”
    “There’s one more thing,” Jack said. He handed Fred a box wrapped in oilcloth. “It’s the Serendipity Box. Laura Glue has never used it, nor has Quixote, or Kipling. It’s your fallback, for when you are in real trouble. But,” he added, “I hope you won’t need it.”
    It took only a few minutes for them to sail the Indigo Dragon to the outer island where the Zanzibar Gate stood, and only a few minutes more to prepare for the crossing through time. Shakespeare installed the bronze plate on the control device, then stood back with Jack and Argus and looked at the small company. A Valkyrie, a badger Caretaker, his father the squire, the legendary knight, and Kipling. “That’s everyone, I think,” Jack said.
    “Not quite,” said Laura Glue, looking around in the darkness. “Where’s—”
    “I’m already here,” Madoc said as he stepped out of the trees and climbed onboard the ship. As he approached, the gate began to glow.
    “I wasn’t sure you’d do it,” said Quixote. “You seemed very supportive of the Prime Caretaker’s decision.”
    “I learned the art of diplomacy in Alexandria,” said Madoc, “and I know when to use it. But there is a time to talk, and a time to act. And we are going,” he finished, winking at Laura Glue, “to get my daughter.”
    “You’re the best of us all,” Jack said to the small company as his eyes welled with tears, “and you are the last children of the Archipelago. Be strong. Be brave. And never forget . . .”
    “Believing is seeing,” Fred said as the small craft lifted up into the air. “Don’t worry, Scowler Jack,” he added as the ship disappeared through the gate. “We got this.”

The speaker