Page 88 of Fiendish Delights
I tried harder. Nope: I still couldn’t see anything - but I still pretended that I knew exactly where he was referring to. ‘Do you think she’s inside there right now?’ I asked.
‘Possibly. Dragons are nocturnal so she’s probably sleeping.We’ll have to tread very carefully. If she feels threatened, she’s liable to roast us alive.’
I jerked slightly then nodded. ‘Let’s get a bit closer, call out and see if we can wake her up,’ I suggested. ‘Entering her lair unannounced while she’s snoozing would be a very bad idea.’
Hugo nodded agreement and we crept forward. After about thirty metres, I finally saw the lair’s entrance. Hugo was right: that had to be the spot. ‘There’s not much shelter here,’ I said. ‘It’s open ground between this slope and the lair. We could do with a barrier if she decides to use her fire on us.’
‘Good point.’
‘Maybe we could use a few blasts of earth magic and build a barricade here. It won’t shield us if she goes in for a full attack, but it might buy us a few precious seconds if we need them.’
Hugo toed the ground. ‘There’s a slight dip here. This would be a good spot.’ He squared his shoulders as he gathered his powers then with perfect precision tossed out several low-key shots of magic to twist and manipulate the ground.
I watched his face for several seconds then I matched his efforts. It wasn’t easy to control each magical burst, even with all the spider’s silk coursing through my system, but I remembered everything Hugo had taught me about using a gentle touch.
Before too long our combined efforts had forced a metre-high barrier into existence. It wouldn’t hold for long and I sincerely hoped it wouldn’t be necessary, but it was a sensible precaution.
Hester’s muffled voice drifted up from my pocket. ‘What’s going on? Is there a dragon out there? Can I come out?’
‘No,’ I snapped. Hugo looked at me. ‘You know what they’re like,’ I muttered. ‘They’ll only annoy the dragon and cause more problems than we can handle.’
‘Oy!’ Hester yelled.
‘I won’t cause problems,’ Otis added from the other pocket.
I ignored them and looked at Hugo. ‘Let’s do this.’
He nodded grimly. ‘Let’s hope it works.’
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. Yep. I started in a low voice. ‘Hello?’
Hugo joined in. ‘We won’t come inside unless you invite us,’ he called out. ‘But we’d really like to talk to you.’
I spoke more loudly. ‘We’ve met already. Down in the old graveyard? Before Christmas?’
Hugo leaned in to me. ‘Do dragons know what Christmas is?’
I shrugged. There was a sudden deep rumble from beyond the dark hole that led to the lair. I froze. ‘Of course I know what fucking Christmas is,’ a distinctly Welsh voice snapped.
A belch of white smoke was ejected from the lair and I grabbed Hugo’s arm without thinking. ‘Don’t worry,’ he whispered. ‘We’ve got this.’ At least one of us was confident.
‘Give me the egg,’ I said to him. ‘I was starting to establish a rapport with the dragon the first time we met. It makes sense for me to take the lead from here.’
Hugo turned his head away. ‘No, I’ve got this. It’ll be fine.’ He stepped out from behind our makeshift magicked barrier. ‘Stay there.’
Of course I ignored him. As the dragon’s purple snout inched out of her lair, I joined him. His jaw tightened. ‘I told you to stay over there.’ Each word vibrated with anger.
‘Since when have I ever done what you told me to?’ I demanded. Hugo didn’t answer. I hadn’t really expected him to.
There was a second belch of smoke before the dragon’s head emerged. She blinked at us lazily, as if she were completely unperturbed by our visit, but I sensed that she was a coiled spring more than ready to unleash her very worst if we made a single wrong move.
Despite the danger, I still felt awe. She’d been wondrous to behold in the graveyard but that had been night time; now, with daylight glinting off her shimmering purple and green scales, her beauty was extraordinary. ‘Wow,’ I whispered. I couldn’t help myself.
The dragon inclined her head an inch in acknowledgment then padded out and revealed her whole body.
Hester, unable to contain her giddy excitement any longer, threw herself out of my pocket. ‘Hi!’ She zoomed straight for the dragon, ignoring my lurch as I tried to restrain her. ‘I’m so pleased we could meet again! I’m Hester. It’s a real honour to be here.’ She curtsied several times in mid-air while the dragon regarded her curiously.
‘You are a very strange little creature.’
