Dragons of the Watch Read online

  The old man’s eyebrows lifted. “Fenworth? Fenworth is here?”

  “Yes, along with his librarian, Librettowit. Although by this time they may have returned to Amara.”

  “Oh, I hope not. Fenworth can help us dissolve the bottle around the city. He is quite a master of our trade. Not the Master, of course, but very knowledgeable in Wulder’s ways.”

  Two of the children managed a step forward with one leg. Cheers broke out among the others.

  The wizard stood. “All right, children. Listen to your wizard, and all will be well.” He pointed down a hallway on the side of the room. “I’m going to take the grownups down that hall and serve tea. As soon as you are able, follow along, and I’ll have cakes and daggarts and candied fruit for you.”

  “And punch?” asked Porky.

  “Definitely punch,” answered the wizard. “Now come along as soon as you’ve worked out your kinks, and don’t go into any of the rooms along the way. Come straight to the kitchen. You can’t miss it. It smells dandy, like roast and gravy, rolls and butter, cinnamon, licorice, and vanilla.”

  As he mentioned the spices, the scents floated through the room. Several of the children expressed their appreciation with a word: “Yum.”

  “Follow me,” said Wizard Pater.

  Bealomondore glanced into the rooms as they passed, seeing spaces that looked like the entryways to homes. Typical tumanhofer furniture declared the residents’ race.

  He stopped at the opening of a smaller door and pulled Ellie back to peer inside. Shelves lined a long, narrow storage room. Bottles of every size, shape, and color crowded every inch of the space. Some had twist tops. Others had corks. Some had rags stuffed in the opening. On the floor, dust covered bottles large enough to stuff a baby pig inside.

  Wizard Pater called from ahead, “I did say I have a few bottles, didn’t I? There really isn’t much to do as a hobby here in Tuck. Of course, maintaining Rumbard City is an onerous task, but I did have a spare moment here and there where I tried my hand at something different.”

  Ellie raised her voice to question him. “What do you have in all these bottles?”

  “Elixirs, music, scenery, letters, books, atmospheres from different worlds, flowers, mountains, bits and pieces of time. And one bottle of memories.”

  The wizard served their tea in a large dining room. Ellie thought the children behaved rather well considering how excited they were.

  Toady was fascinated by the old man and followed him everywhere, helping some and getting in the way more often.

  “How did you know what we were doing? How did you know if we were in bed on time? How did you know to feed Mr. Bealomondore and Miss Ellie when they first came? Did you know about Tak, the goat?”

  He showed them a flat bowl on a pedestal. “Come, Ellie and Bealomondore. This will interest you. Through this device, I can see the inhabitants of the aboveground city reflected in still water. This is how I’ve kept track of my charges. I can’t go myself, of course. But I send the essence of me to deliver supplies.”

  Ellie doubted they would see anything.

  Bealomondore scolded. “Don’t be such a naysayer. These men of Wulder can do amazing things by understanding the great mysteries of our Creator’s handiwork.”

  “Gather ’round,” called the wizard to the children. “Watch. It’s time for me to take the evening meal.”

  The wizard stood beside the large basin with his eyes closed and his hands held over the bowl, palms down. The scene within the water changed.

  “There’s the fountain,” said Cinder. “We’re seeing it just like we’re walking into the center of town.”

  “No one’s there yet,” said Laska. “But look! There’s our baskets and platters. They just appeared.”

  “The wizard did it,” said Toady, and she gave the old man a look of admiration. He didn’t notice, so she shrugged and went back to gazing at the changing scenery in the water.

  Porky leaned way over the rim of the bowl to see better. “Not as much food as there once was.”

  Laska had an answer. “There’s not as many children as there once was.”

  Toady tugged on the wizard’s sleeve. “Are you going to feed Old One?”

  The wizard did not answer. His pleasant expression remained unchanged. The children fell into silence as the reflection jumped from first one child, then to another. They also saw Yawn and two toughs walking with him and, lastly, several children playing in an alley.

  According to the basin, the wizard checked in at the library. For a moment they saw the back door. An instant later they saw Old One’s kitchen, where a basket of food appeared on the table.

  “Well, then,” said the wizard, breaking the silence in a loud voice.

  Ellie jumped in response to the sudden noise. The picture in the basin had been mesmerizing. How could Wizard Pater stand here and see up there? How could she and the others see it as well? The experience amazed her but also made her a little nervous.

  Bealomondore’s arm tightened around her. “Don’t be afraid, Ellie. This wizard, like Fenworth, leans on Wulder’s understanding, not his own.”

  I’m not really afraid. Well, maybe a little. But he could decide to do bad things with this trickery, couldn’t he?

  “Yes, and I’ve met wizards who have turned their gift of knowledge to their own selfish pursuits. Fortunately, there are not many wizards, and fewer wizards who choose evil.”

  The children had surrounded Wizard Pater and were pelting him with too many questions for him to hear and answer.

  He held up his hands and commanded. “Silence.”

  The children’s mouths still moved, but not a peep could they utter.

  “Very good,” said the wizard, smiling. “We shall have a question and answer period before bed. Then Miss Ellie will read one of my interesting books. After a good night’s rest, we’ll hunt for the bottle of memories.” He put his hands on his hips and with good humor continued, “It would seem I may have accidentally included a bit of my memory in the bottle because I have no clear idea of where I put it.”

  He led them to his throne room, and the children sat on the floor. He pointed to Toady first and released her voice. She asked her question, got an answer, and the wizard moved on to another child.

  Ellie thought about how good his method would be for handling children in a classroom or even her own large family around the dinner table. The thought instantly made her think of her little brothers and sisters. Her heart ached to hear their voices. Hopefully she and Bealomondore would leave Rumbard City and the lost city of Tuck soon.

  Bealomondore woke to the smell of baking bread and frying bacon. He looked around the room where he’d slept with several other boys. The tumanhofer beds were the right size for him, and a comfortable fit for six-year-old-sized urohms. Several were still asleep, but three had deserted the bedroom.

  Bealomondore got up and checked the closet, hoping to find fresh clothing. The cupboards were bare. But thankfully, from the sounds and smells coming from the kitchen, the pantry was well stocked.

  A few minutes later, he entered the kitchen through the dining room. He greeted Ellie and Wizard Pater and the two girls who helped with the cooking, then voiced his concern.

  “I thought there would be more children at the tables.”

  Wizard Pater brandished the fork he used for turning sausages. “Some have finished eating and already embarked on the quest for the bottle.”

  Lisby looked up from buttering biscuits. “The bottle has a stick figure man on it with his head in a cloud. That is the symbol for memories.”

  Bealomondore nodded. He could see how that would represent someone with a cloudy memory.

  “Of course,” explained the wizard, “not all the memories are gone, just those pertaining to urohms and Rumbard City.”

  Ellie’s smile was extra bright this morning. “When we open the bottle, people in the neighboring villages and countryside will remember long ago, when the urohms
first came and the time they spent building.”

  The wizard winked at her. “And the glass bottle around the city will dissolve.”

  Bealomondore took the warm biscuit Lisby offered him. “Thank you, pretty girl.” She giggled and he turned to Wizard Pater. “Is there any trick or ceremony that needs to be done?”

  “No, just take out the cork, and let the liquid evaporate into the air. It’s gradual, but that’s better for the populace who are doing all the remembering. Don’t want to rush something like that.”

  “Of course not.”

  Bealomondore settled at the kitchen table to have breakfast. He asked about clothing and learned that the wizard had no stores of that type. Tuck was deserted when he found himself the sole inhabitant.

  The morning passed comfortably. He and Ellie strolled through the well-lit tunnels of the unique city. They admired the architecture and visited home after home with an eye out for a bottle marked with a man whose head hid in a cloud.

  The children searched as well but soon lost interest and occupied their time with a few toys left by tumanhofer children. Most of these were broken, and the wizard stopped his inventory of the bottle closet to patiently mend them.

  Bealomondore sent Orli and Det back to inform Old One about finding the underground city. Some of the minor dragons returned to Rumbard City to perform the duties of the watch.

  After hours of roaming from one house to another, visiting closed stores, and locating the public records building, Bealomondore and Ellie returned for noonmeal.

  Wizard Pater had not bothered to prepare their food in the kitchen, even though he said cooking breakfast had been a pleasant experience. He didn’t relish assembling meals three times a day, every day, by that method. Instead, he handed them meals in baskets and on platters just as he had always delivered while they were aboveground.

  As they ate, Bealomondore became quiet.

  “What’s wrong?” Ellie asked. “You’re shielding your thoughts. That makes me nervous.”

  “I don’t want you listening to me worry. I had expected Wizard Pater to reach in a hollow of his robes and pull out the bottle. It never occurred to me that he would have misplaced it.”

  “Tuck is a not as big a city as Rumbard. And I don’t mean in size. It never housed as many citizens as the city above.”

  “It is still a sizable amount of territory to search. Once we’ve been through it in this perfunctory manner, we will have to do a second, more meticulous search.”

  “Or … we could possibly find it on the first round.”

  “Oh, it’s good to hear you being optimistic. I believe I’ve accused you of pessimism. I apologize. Today I’m the naysayer.”

  Wizard Pater returned from his distribution to Old One and Yawn’s gang. Although he’d only been in the next room, he appeared tired.

  “I shall take a nap. The mental exercise of my duties tires me.”

  Ellie stood and hugged the old man. “We’ll try to keep the children quiet so they won’t disturb you.”

  “No need for that, dear girl. If they suddenly go quiet, you’ll know I took the matter in hand.”

  He waved as he wandered out of the dining room.

  Ellie said, “I like him.”

  “He’s very different from Wizard Fenworth.”

  “How?”

  “Fenworth is much older.”

  Ellie’s eyes widened, and Bealomondore laughed.

  “I know it is hard to fathom, but I think Fenworth might have been around when Wulder created our world.”

  “Really?” Her voice squeaked.

  “No, not really. He is just terribly, tremendously old.”

  Hours later, after more unrewarded searching, Bealomondore and Ellie sat in a small room off the dining room and discussed whether or not some of them should go check on Old One.

  Bealomondore didn’t want the group split up. “He’s managed without us for centuries.”

  Wizard Pater came out of his rooms. “I had the most pleasant dream.”

  They turned their attention to him.

  “Don’t we have a child named Cinder?”

  “Yes,” said Ellie.

  “In the dream, Cinder found the bottle.”

  A scuffle interrupted the wizard. The noise came from the hall. A moment later, Yawn appeared in the doorway, his arm wrapped around Cinder’s throat. “Well, he didn’t.”

  “Let go of that boy,” commanded the wizard.

  Yawn complied, looking surprised, as if his arm had loosened its grip of its own accord.

  Cinder stumbled over to Ellie.

  “I found it, Miss Ellie, but he has it now.”

  “And I’m going to keep it. You were going to leave me and my gang in the city. Alone! Well, now we’ll leave you to rot down here. I’m gathering up my people and walking out of here. I’m going to shut and lock the door when I do.”

  “How long have you been down here?” asked Bealomondore.

  “Just this afternoon.” He made a face at them all. “We’ve been spying, and we’re good spies. Nobody caught us. We could have kept on spying forever, and you stupid people never would have known.”

  “Do you want to go with us?” Ellie asked. “You could come live here. We have good beds, and you could help us search for the bottle.”

  “I told you I have the bottle. Don’t you listen?”

  “You said you have the bottle, but I haven’t seen it. And I don’t see a place where you could have put it away. You don’t have pockets, do you?”

  “Of course I’ve got pockets.” He lifted up his shirt and dug in a side pocket to his pants. He pulled out the bottle and held it up. “See?”

  The wizard took a step forward and spoke quietly. “Be still.”

  Yawn froze, triumphant grin on his face, bottle held aloft.

  Cinder charged forward and tackled Yawn’s arm, trying to pry the bottle from his clenched fingers.

  “No need for that,” said the wizard.

  “I can get it,” answered Cinder. “He’s letting loose.”

  “I doubt that he could let loose in that short of time. It takes five minutes to even begin to move.”

  “I—,” Cinder grunted.

  The force of his struggle caused the stiff Yawn to wobble.

  “I almost”—Cinder grunted again—“got it.”

  His breath came out in a whoosh as he slipped the bottle out of Yawn’s fist.

  Just as he turned to show his prize, Yawn fell forward. He toppled like a statue, falling against Cinder, knocking the boy forward and sliding down to hit the ground. The bottle flew up in the air, sailed halfway across the room, and landed at the feet of Bealomondore and Ellie.

  The sound of shattering glass told the rest of the story.

  Ellie jumped to her feet and ran to Yawn, then knelt beside him to see if he’d been hurt.

  Wizard Pater passed her on the way to the broken bottle. “We must hurry. No time to lose.”

  “He’s not bleeding,” Ellie announced, then realized that only Bealomondore seemed interested. He called for Laddin.

  Stooping beside the leader of the gang, Bealomondore felt the boy’s head for a bump. “Yawn couldn’t put out a hand to break his fall. Our bodies’ instinctive reactions save us more than we realize.”

  Ellie heard Bealomondore call Laddin again and realized that both this time and the first time he’d been mindspeaking. Perhaps when the message was loud, it should be called mindshouting.

  Bealomondore must have heard her frivolous thought. He winked at her.

  Aloud, he said, “Laddin’ll be here very quickly, and though he can’t reverse the wizard’s still command, he can check for injuries and keep bruises from forming.”

  Wizard Pater came to them with the shattered bottle in a cloth he’d also used to wipe up the liquid. “We must get to the surface and to the bottle before this dries, or all is lost.”

  “We can’t leave Yawn!” Ellie clasped the stiff hand of the young gang le
ader.

  “We will, indeed, leave the rapscallion,” said Wizard Pater. “The dragons of the watch will take good care of him until I return.”

  “When do you plan to come back?” asked Ellie as Bealomondore lifted her to her feet.

  “Only you and Bealomondore will go through the wall at this time. With the bottle broken and the liquid rapidly evaporating, we can only send two safely through the glass.” He started for the door that led to the great hall and the entry to the subter. “Listen carefully as we walk. I have instructions for you, and it is imperative that you remember.”

  Ellie and Bealomondore kept pace with the wizard’s long legs. The children ran in order not to be left behind.

  “Some of the contents of the bottle fell on your shoes and lower garments. Do not wash them. Put them away someplace safe until you have contacted Wizard Fenworth. He may be able to reconstitute the substance and engineer our escape. The residue on your apparel will also help you move through the glass.”

  “Why were we able to come into the bottle without any special liquid?” asked Bealomondore.

  “Ah! Don’t you know that it is always easier to get into a predicament than to get out of one?”

  They passed into the tunnel through which the stream flowed. The wizard turned away from the route they’d taken to get to Tuck.

  Ellie pointed over her shoulder. “Shouldn’t we be going that way?”

  The wizard answered without pausing. “We’d be walking back to the center of the city, and then we’d have to walk out of it again. This way is shorter. We’ll climb the steps to the surface a few yards from the glass wall.”

  They had neglected to grab the lightrocks. Without them, they had only the glow given off by embedded globes along the walls and down the center of the tunnel ceiling. Ellie could see the others vaguely. Tak’s white coat gleamed blue as he passed under each lit orb.

  Ellie worried about the children. “Be careful of the stream.” That only covered one of her concerns. “You’re to stay with Wizard Pater after we leave, and we’ll be back for you as soon as we can. Be good for him. Use your manners. And never come down to this part of the subter without an adult. You could drown in that river.”