Page 43 of Miss Bennet's Dragon
That was it.
The monster’s head reared up higher than mine. Pairs of jointed legs waved in the air. The head had four fleshy horns, like a slug. They hunted through the air as the creature twisted.
The head swung to face me. And stopped.
Oh no.
“Run!” I shouted, dropping my muff and grabbing Denny’s arm. We pounded across the grass, Denny supporting me while layers of petticoats caught my legs. It was like running through a forest of laundry.
Too soon, I had to stop, panting.
The monster arrived where we had stood and nuzzled the ground.
“It is after me, Denny,” I said.
“What?Why?”
Because I was intriguing to dangerous animals, draca or otherwise? I had no idea why.
“I just know,” I said.
“All right,” he said with the calm of a true officer. “Run to the coaches. I will distract it if it follows.”
He gave me a little push, and I ran until, gasping freezing air, I reached the frightened people clustered by the coaches. The horses were tethered andwhinnying, too spooked to be handled. Lydia and Kitty were in the crowd, the only others from my family who came today.
The monster’s fleshy horns stroked and prodded the grass. Denny had run toward the river. He waved his arms and yelled, but the monster ignored him. I wondered if it could even hear.
The monster began to move, horns grazing the ground like a dog on a scent. The legs rose and fell in rhythmic waves. It followed the path Denny and I had run, then curved away from me, toward Denny.
I realized my mistake. It was not after me.
“Run!” I screamed.
Denny stopped waving so abruptly it was almost comic. I saw his courage become surprise, then concern. He sprinted away, but the monster’s churning legs blurred. It charged over the ground, fast as a horse. Sod and mud flew from the spear-sharp tips of its feet.
Like a dog pouncing on a mouse, the monster’s head reared high then pounded into the center of Denny’s fleeing back. He vanished under a writhing pile of chopping legs and armored shell.
Ladies screamed. People ran every direction. A handful of officers, led by Colonel Forster, ran at the beast. The colonel had a sword drawn, but no one else had weapons, the standard for dress uniform at society events.
I ran after them, convinced I was not in danger and terrified for Denny. Clothing flopping, I lagged far behind. But draca were said to fight crawlers. Even though our firedrake was a mile away, I thought—I shouted in my mind—help me!
The officers surrounded the beast, trying to penetrate the thicket of flashing legs. A man kicked and fell back, cursing, his trouser leg bloody. The colonel thrust with his sword, but the end skittered across the armor.
Yelling, the colonel pushed with both hands, and the sword point caught between two segments and sank in.
The monster’s head reared. A pair of olive-brown, serrated pincers two feet long opened and struck at the colonel. He backed away, but like lightning, the monster turned on another man. The pincers closed, catching the man’s calf. The bloody tips emerged from opposite sides. And still they closed, scissoring as the man screamed.
My view was blocked. The colonel’s strained face was inches from mine. He yelled, “Get away!” I nodded, and he turned back to the fight.
I was on the bank of the river, yards from the monster. I looked around, confused. Had I run all this way?
A sizzling wave was shooting across the water toward me, the wake tracing a path that vanished around the river’s distant bend.
The wave slammed into the bank, shattering a fringe of ice. A translucent, fish-like shape flopped onto the shore at my feet. It twisted, grotesque and squirming, then the translucent body tore. A creature pulled free, discarding the casing like a butterfly leaving a chrysalis. It called out in the pure tones of a bird.
It was a small quadruped draca, dripping in the mud. Glistening, it staggered on wobbly legs like a newborn calf. Riverbank leaves and dirt had stuck, but I saw the distinctive color. A roseworm, full-grown.
The segmented monster swung to face it, and for the first time the creature made a sound other than the clattering of its legs—a whining, whistling challenge.
