Dragon Rider (Dragon Rider 1)

“Oh, very clever, aren’t you?” Sorrel put the struggling Leadengleam back on the grass and leaned over the others. “So tell me how you knew we were here? Have we been stupid enough to land right on your doorstep?”

The four of them looked anxiously up at her. Stonebeard nudged the smallest of them. “Go on, Graniteface,” he growled. “Your turn now.”

Graniteface stepped forward hesitantly, fingered the brim of his hat, and looked uneasily up at the two giant figures facing him. “No,” he said at last, his voice trembling, “we live a good way farther up the mountain. But our scalps were prickling this morning. Usually they only do that when we’re near the castle.”

“And what does that mean?” asked Sorrel impatiently.

“Our scalps prickle when there are other fabulous beings somewhere near,” replied Graniteface. “Humans and animals don’t have the same effect.”

“Which is lucky,” sighed Leadengleam.

Sorrel looked suspiciously at the four of them.

“You said something about a castle just now.” Ben knelt down in front of Graniteface and looked inquiringly at him. “Do you mean the castle up there?” he asked.

“We don’t know anything!” called the fattest dwarf from behind his rock. “Not a thing!”

“Shut up, Gravelbeard!” said Stonebeard.

Graniteface looked at Ben like a frightened rabbit and hastily retreated to join the others. But Stonebeard took a step toward the human boy.

“Yes, that’s the castle we mean,” he grunted. “It makes our scalps prickle so hard it’s unbearable. That’s why we haven’t been there for years, even though the mountain where it stands has such a strong smell of gold it’s enough to lift the hat off your head.”

Ben and Sorrel looked up at the castle.

“Who lives there, then?” asked Ben, not liking the sound of this.

“We don’t know!” whispered Graniteface.

“No, no idea,” muttered Gravelbeard, giving Ben and Sorrel a nasty look.

“And we don’t want to know, either,” growled Stonebeard. “Evil things happen up there. We don’t want to know, do we, brothers?”

The four all shook their heads again and drew closer together.

“Sounds as if we should fly on as soon as possible,” said Sorrel.

“I told you we ought to avoid yellow!” Ben looked with concern at Firedrake, but he was still sleeping peacefully and had merely turned his head over on the other side. “We didn’t fly far enough south. But you wouldn’t believe me.”

“Yes, all right, all right!” Sorrel pensively chewed her claws. “Nothing to be done about it now. We can’t leave this place before sunset, and Firedrake needs to sleep all day or he’ll be too tired to fly tonight. Right.” She clapped her paws. “This is a good chance to stock up with provisions. How about it, boys?” She leaned down to the mountain dwarves. “Know where to find any nice tasty roots or berries?”

The four little men whispered to one another. Finally Stonebeard stepped forward, looking important, cleared his throat, and said, “We’ll show you a place, brownie, but only if the dragon will pick up the scent of the rocks for us.”

Sorrel stared down at the dwarf in surprise. “What good would that do you?”

Here Gravelbeard stepped forward, too. “Dragons can scent treasure,” he whispered. “Everyone knows that.”

“Really?” Sorrel grinned. “Who told you so?”

“It says so in the old stories,” replied Stonebeard. “Tales of the time when there were still dragons here.”

“There used to be lots of them here, lots and lots,” added Graniteface, sadly shrugging his shoulders, “but they all went long ago.” He glanced admiringly at Firedrake.

“My grandfather,” whispered Leadengleam, “my maternal grandfather, that is, he used to ride one. The dragon found him gold and silver, quartz and tourmaline, rock crystal, yellow lead ore, and malachite!” The dwarf rolled his eyes in ecstasy.

“All right,” agreed Sorrel, shrugging her shoulders. “I’ll ask the dragon when he wakes up. But only if you show me where to find something really tasty to eat.”

“Come along, then!” The mountain dwarves led Sorrel to a place where the mountain fell steeply into a valley, and they began to scramble expertly down the rock face.