Fight and Flight (Magic 2.0 Book 4) Page 24

  Martin made the three remaining rolls disappear, leaving him, Phillip, and Kneath alone between the dragons.

  “Now they have nothing to eat but us,” Kneath cried.

  “It was Phillip’s idea,” Martin said.

  Phillip said, “Be quiet.”

  Martin said, “Don’t try to deny it.”

  “Quiet, Martin,” Phillip whispered. “Kneath, my associate and I can just magic ourselves out of here if need be, and I promise, we’ll take you with us. But I don’t think that will be necessary. It’s dark. They can’t see us well. I don’t want them to hear us either, because they won’t try to eat what they don’t know is here.”

  The three tried to be silent, looking at the shadowy forms of the dragons. Time seemed to stand still. They heard shuffling sounds deeper within the cave, like something very large moving slowly. The sound continued and grew until the closest of the four dragons from the cave, and the only one they could see with any real clarity, turned around and shuffled back in the direction it had come.

  The forms of the four dragons mostly eclipsed the light from the main chamber. The men watched the indistinct mass recede into the dark.

  Martin whispered, “Four down, two to—” then shoved Phillip and Kneath backward until they all pressed up against the wall of the cavern. Neither of them had to ask why. Phillip had seen it first, but now that they were looking somewhere other than toward the gold vault, they could see the two dragons from the outside were following the others. Martin, Phillip, and Kneath pressed themselves hard against the wall and scarcely breathed as the behemoths ambled by. When they passed completely, Kneath staggered out into the middle of the passage and watched the dragons go. Martin and Phillip sat down on the ground and enjoyed the sensation of not being completely bottled in by dragons.

  As the last dragon rounded the corner and disappeared into the main chamber, Kneath said, “Well that’s just great. Now there are even more dragons in there with my gold.”

  Martin said, “Look at the bright side. Now all of the dragons are in one place.”

  32.

  Honor and Stretch arrived at the Bastards’ camp carrying two large baskets full of fresh scones. Honor had expected to find most of the Bastards still asleep, as it was well before midday, but instead found them all awake and huddled together, discussing the dragons. More surprising than the Bastards’ wakefulness was the fact that they now had three dragons, as they had only possessed two when Honor left the night before.

  Heel-Kick whined, “Why do I have to?”

  Kludge said, “We have to figure out how to ride these things if we’re going to use them against the wizards, and that won’t happen if we don’t start now.”

  “Yeah, but why’s it gotta be me?”

  “Because I’ve decided that you’re the best man for the job.”

  “But you’re much stronger than I am, and much smarter.”

  “That’s all true, Heel-Kick. And I would never ask you to do something that I wasn’t willing to do myself.”

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  “That’s why I’m not asking. I’m telling you, Heel-Kick, ride that dragon. Now.”

  “But what if it takes off?”

  “We’ll be happy. We want it to take off.”

  “But how will I stay on it?”

  Only Donnie said, “It looks like if you sit on its shoulder blades you might be able to hook your legs under its wings.”

  Pounder said, “Yeah, and the scales on the neck look big enough that you could get a handhold there. If you pull on one side or the other, it might even make the dragon fly that direction.”

  Heel-Kick gave them a look that said, You’re not helping. “How am I supposed to get all the way up there on its shoulders? And once I’m up there, how am I gonna get back down?”

  “You’ll think of a way, because if you don’t, I’ll help you.”

  “You will?”

  Yeah, I’ll just throw you up there, and then when you’re done I’ll grab your leg and yank you back down.”

  Heel-Kick looked at Kludge and pleaded, “But what if I get tired while I’m riding it?”

  Kludge said, “Don’t be a baby. It can’t fly forever.”

  “I can’t hold on forever.”

  “Then think of it as a contest between you and the dragon. You win by not falling off. Falling off would be very dangerous, because you’d land back down here, where you’ll have to talk to me about why you let our very valuable dragon escape.”

  Heel-Kick swallowed again, even harder. “But, Kludge, what if I can’t steer it? What if it just flies away and takes me with it?”

  Kludge said, “I’ll have someone else get on one of the other dragons and chase you.”

  Gripper stepped forward. “Enough of this stalling. Kludge, let me do it! I’m ready.”

  “No,” Kludge said. “I told Heel-Kick to do it.”

  “No you didn’t,” Heel-Kick whined. “You told Only Donnie to do it, and he said, I have a better idea, let’s have Heel-Kick do it.”

  Kludge said, “And I agreed with him. Now on you go!”

  The Bastards set about trying to keep the nearest dragon calm while Heel-Kick figured out how to climb on without dying in the attempt. Kludge noticed Honor, and left them to it. Honor sat down in the grass to watch, with Runt lying beside her.

  “Did you sleep well?” Kludge asked.

  Honor said, “Yes. Thank you for sending L.L. to watch over me.”

  “Lots of bad people in the world. Wouldn’t do to have them find you out there all alone.”

  “I’d always thought you and your gang were some of those bad people.”

  “Glad to hear it. We’ve worked hard to create a certain reputation. It’s nice to hear that it hasn’t gone to waste. How was Stretch’s baking lesson?”

  “It was good,” Honor said. “He knows nothing about cooking, but he’s good at following orders.”

  “Yeah,” Kludge said. “That’s why he’s my best guy. He’s smart enough to shut up and do as he’s told without wasting a lot of time thinking about it.”

  “How did you catch the third dragon?”

  Kludge smiled an actual, genuine smile. “When we woke up, we found it here, sleeping like a baby next to the other two. All we had to do was tie it to a tree without waking it up.”

  They watched in silence as Heel-Kick ran up the dragon’s tail and back, leapt, and landed, straddling the dragon’s neck. He shouted, not in triumph, but in pain, then fell to the ground beneath the surprised dragon and crawled away as fast as he could.

  Kludge and the rest of the Bastards all laughed, and when Heel-Kick was safely away from the dragon he laughed as well, though obviously still in pain. Honor even managed a small chuckle, then asked, “Do you really think he’ll be able to ride it?”

  “If he can’t then it’s all pointless. I think what’ll happen is that the dragons will spend the morning bucking him off, and I’ll spend the morning threatening him back on. Later, when the dragon’s tired and sees it’s not gonna stop, we might start to get somewhere.” He glanced at Runt, who had followed Honor, of course, and sat obediently staring up at her. “You know animals. What do you think?”

  She watched as Heel-Kick again ran up the dragon’s back and again leapt onto its shoulders. This time he leaned farther back, and landed with an impact that looked painful, instead of excruciating. The dragon panicked and bucked, but Heel-Kick managed to get a hold of the dragon’s scales, as they’d discussed. The other Bastards cheered while he hung on for dear life.

  Honor said, “They’re animals. Animals can be trained. But I don’t know if you’ll be able to beat wizards with them.”

  “I don’t know either,” Kludge said, “But they’re the best chance I’ll ever
get.”

  “Why do you hate them so bad?”

  “They think they’re better than everyone.”

  “That’s not a reason to hate. To dislike, yes. But not to hate.”

  “They attacked your brother.”

  “That’s why I hate them. You hated them before.”

  A wizard named Todd had created a macro, the main purpose of which was to trap and force Kludge to do whatever Todd wanted, no matter how much pain it inflicted. The wizards who witnessed it working didn’t like talking about it. Kludge didn’t talk about it at all. Not directly. Instead, he said, “I don’t like feeling powerless,” and left it at that.

  It seemed to be a good enough answer for Honor.

  Kludge asked her, “Where’s L.L.? Did he stay at your farm?”

  “Yes. He’s watching the sheep.”

  “He should be here sleeping. He has to be beat. He didn’t sleep last night when he was supposed to be guarding you, did he?”

  “I don’t think so. When Stretch and I left, he was sleeping in the pasture. That’s fine. The sheepdogs really do all of the work anyway.”

  Heel-Kick still clung to the dragon’s neck. The other Bastards untied the dragon’s rope from the tree while Heel-Kick begged them not to. The dragon started walking slowly around the field, Heel-Kick wailing with fear the entire time.

  “Good,” Pounder shouted. “Now try pulling on one side of its neck or the other. See if it’ll turn.”

  Heel-Kick shouted, “Can’t!”

  “Why not?”

  “Already pulling back on both sides, hard as I can. Can’t pull harder on either side.”

  Only Donnie said, “Stop pulling back. That’ll make the dragon stop.”

  Heel-Kick cried, “When?!”

  Kludge shouted, “Heel-Kick, you stop pulling back on that dragon or I’m gonna pull back on you!”

  He turned to Honor and said, “When you’re threatening people, the words aren’t nearly as important as the tone of voice.”

  Heel-Kick stopped pulling, and the dragon started walking around the field faster. Then it ran two steps and took flight. The Bastards shouted in triumph, almost loud enough to drown out Heel-Kick’s terrified screaming.

  The dragon slowly circled the field, the loose rope dangling from its foot. Heel-Kick continued screaming the entire time. After a few moments, Heel-Kick pulled hard on the dragon’s neck. The dragon slowed to a hover, flapped its mighty wings twice to tread air, and landed. Heel-Kick went limp and fell to the ground, exhausted and sobbing.

  Kludge ran forward, along with the rest of the Bastards. Pounder retied the dragon to the tree while the rest of the Bastards hoisted Heel-Kick’s limp body above their heads and carried him around the field cheering while he quietly begged them to put him down.

  33.

  “You idiots,” Kneath yelled.

  “We’re not idiots,” Martin countered. The entrance of two new dragons into the treasure chamber had seemed like a sign that the three of them should leave the cave altogether. Martin and Phillip had hoped that some fresh air and quiet would help them think of a new plan, but Kneath started shouting at them as soon as they emerged.

  “I was better off before you showed up!”

  “That’s true,” Martin allowed, “but that doesn’t mean we’re idiots.”

  “There’re more dragons in there with my gold than there were before,” Kneath shrieked, pointing at the cave opening behind him.

  “Yes, I know. That’s what I meant when I agreed that you were better off before we showed up.”

  Phillip said, “Pointless.”

  Martin said, “Don’t you start in on me, too.”

  “No,” Phillip said. “I mean this conversation—it isn’t doing anything to get those dragons away from your gold, Kneath.”

  “But it’s making me feel a lot better,” Kneath said, nastily.

  Phillip said, “I suppose so. But it’s making my associate and me feel much worse, and if we start to feel too bad, we might just leave you to remove the dragons on your own. Do you really think you can do a better job than we can?”

  “So far it looks like it.”

  “All right then. We’ll leave you to it. Come on, Martin.”

  “Gladly.” The two of them started walking down the dragon-widened path that led out of the woods. Kneath followed and continued his tirade.

  “Oh, fine, then leave. Cowards. Run for it.”

  They kept walking. Kneath kept following.

  “Yeah, just go. Just walk away.”

  After a few more steps he said, “You’re really going to do it, aren’t you? You’re really going to abandon me here.”

  After a long silence, Kneath said, “You can’t just go.”

  The wizards didn’t slow their pace, or even turn their heads back to look at Kneath, but Martin said, “You told us to.”

  “But I never thought you’d actually do it.”

  “Why wouldn’t we?” Phillip asked.

  “Decency! Simple human decency! You can’t just leave me here to deal with a problem you created.”

  “And what problem is it you think we created, Kneath?”

  “I can’t get to my gold because there are dragons on it that’ll kill me if I try!”

  Martin said, “You couldn’t get to your gold because there were dragons on it who would kill you if you tried when we got here.”

  “Yeah,” Kneath said, “but thanks to you there are more dragons now.”

  Phillip said, “Being killed by six dragons isn’t much worse than being killed by four. It’s a minor change at best.”

  “Come on, guys, you can’t leave!”

  Martin glanced back and asked, “Why not? You haven’t given us a good reason to stay.”

  “I’m paying you!”

  Phillip laughed, then said, “We don’t care about your gold. It’s not even your gold, really. The wizard you knew as Merlin created it, and hid it here until the day comes that he needs it. What makes you think it’s yours? Because the cave’s on your land?”

  The walked in silence for several steps before it registered to Martin and Phillip that the question had shut Kneath up. Now they stopped walking and turned to look at him.

  “Do you own the land the cave’s on?” Martin asked, quietly.

  Kneath looked at the ground, and said, “It depends on what you mean by own.”

  Martin said, “By own, I mean own.”

  “If that’s what you mean, then no, I must admit that technically I don’t own the land. But it is mine.”

  “Are you saying that the king leased you the land?” Phillip asked.

  “No.”

  “Then how is the land yours?” Martin asked, his voice growing slower and quieter with each word.

  Kneath stood tall and puffed out his chest. “It’s mine because this is Wales, and I am a Welshman. Wales is the land of my father, and my father’s father. And that cave is set into the land of Wales, so that is the cave of my father, and my father’s father.”

  Phillip put a steadying hand on Martin’s shoulder, but Martin brushed it off and said, “Every person in Wales can make that same argument.”

  “And if that many people agree, it can’t be wrong,” Kneath said.

  “Do you intend to share the gold in that cave with every other person from Wales?”

  “Yes,” Kneath said. “Of course.”

  Martin stared at him.

  Kneath added, “A bit at a time.”

  Martin growled, “By buying things with the gold?”

  Kneath said. “That way only people who make things of value or provide a service I want get a share. It’s merit based.”

  Martin stared. Phillip shook his head. K
neath said, “You’re so smart, how would you do it?”

  Martin continued staring, but his face cracked into a wide smile. Then he muttered some Esperanto under his breath and disappeared.

  Kneath asked, “What’s he doing?”

  Phillip said, “Something rash.” A few long seconds ticked by, then a tiny point of silver light appeared where Martin had stood, barely two feet in front of Kneath. The silver dot quickly expanded into a large circle of silver light, surrounding what appeared to be some sort of magical passage to another place. Kneath saw many huts and a building he instantly recognized as Cardiff Castle. In front of the huts he saw a crowd, hundreds of people strong, all looking in amazement toward the portal, toward him. He also saw Martin, standing on the other side of the portal with his arms spread wide, his staff held high, and his back to Kneath, addressing the crowd.

  “Gold,” Martin said. “A cave full of it! More than all of you combined could carry. Each person here could walk out with their arms full, and there’d still be enough to make it worth going back for more.”

  Martin definitely had the crowd’s interest. One young man in tattered clothes peered around Martin and said, “I don’t see no cave.”

  “It’s at the end of this path. Only a short distance, then the cave itself is long and dark, but at the end, there is a large chamber that contains an unimaginably vast quantity of gold.”

  “How much gold?”

  “I just told you, an unimaginably vast quantity.”

  “But how much is that?”

  Martin said, “I can’t give you an exact figure. It’s unimaginably vast. Imagine the largest vastest amount of gold you can. More gold than that.”

  A wave of excitement shot through the crowd. The young man in the tattered clothes stepped purposefully toward the portal, saying, “Well then, what are we waiting for?”

  Martin said, “I need to warn you. There’s danger.”

  The man said, “I’ll be careful,” as he walked past Martin through the portal. He eyed Kneath, but didn’t stop or even slow down to do it. Once he passed Kneath, he broke into a run.