The Griffin's Feather (Dragon Rider 2)

Oh yes, Firedrake knew him so well. The many months they had now spent at different ends of the earth hadn’t changed that. How could he pretend to him? Well, he’d have to. Because it was to protect him. The dragon and his rider… There were nights when Ben’s longing to be with Firedrake would hardly let him sleep. Even on those precious days that they did spend together, he could never entirely forget that the next parting was near. ‘It’s the price you pay for friendship with a creature so different from yourself,’ Barnabas had told Ben one evening, when he found him outside the house, staring eastwards longingly. ‘You will always need human beings, and Firedrake will always have to hide from them. But that makes your friendship all the more valuable.’ Barnabas was right, of course, but all the same it was hard for Ben to reconcile himself to not seeing Firedrake more often – even though he had never told the dragon so. The flight from Nepal to Norway was too dangerous for him to risk it without a good reason.

‘Barnabas asked me to tell you that we’re soon going to have a very special visitor.’

Ben leaned against Firedrake’s silvery chest. It was wonderful to feel the dragon’s warmth and strength behind him.

The dragon said nothing as Ben told him the bad news from Greece.

‘I’m sure Barnabas will find a solution,’ he said, when Ben had finished.

‘Oh yes. We’re probably going to look for a phoenix feather.’ Ben was glad he didn’t have to look Firedrake in the eye.

‘A phoenix feather? I thought they set fire to everything they touched.’

‘No, not this sort. Twigleg read somewhere that they are… are very good for Pegasus eggs.’

Heavens above. Ben wished the earth would swallow him up. He was such a bad liar.

But fortunately Firedrake’s mind was on Slatebeard slowly dissolving into stardust, and he didn’t sense his dragon rider’s uneasiness.

‘Good,’ was all he said. ‘Phoenixes are helpful creatures. I’m sure they will be useful to you. And I look forward to meeting a Pegasus.’

When something rustled b

ehind them, Firedrake put his paw protectively out to Ben, but it was only Sorrel coming through the trees.

‘What’s a Pegasus? Does it eat brownies?’

If it had been up to Sorrel, there would have been no one in the world but dragons and brownies. She shook her head, unable to understand why the Greenblooms were trying to save all the beings whose right to exist was disputed by the human race. But as Firedrake helped them, so did she.

She’d been mushroom-gathering again, of course. Ben was sorry to see that she had three bags full of them slung over her furry shoulders. Sorrel was stocking up with provisions for the journey.

Firedrake gently laid his muzzle on Ben’s shoulder. ‘We’re setting off in three days’ time. Slatebeard says he wants to say goodbye before he gets even weaker. Dragons like to be alone when they look death in the face. Unlike brownies,’ he added quietly. ‘They can never get enough company when they’re leaving this world.’

Three days. It would be full moon in three days’ time. The best time for silver dragons to fly.

‘It’s strange to think that Slatebeard won’t be here when I next come to see you,’ said Firedrake. ‘He’s always been around, ever since I can remember. He was already a young adult dragon when my grandmother was a child. Such a long life. A time probably comes when it’s been long enough. I think he can’t wait to turn his back on the world.’

Ben just nodded. He felt ashamed that the tears rising to his eyes had nothing to do with Slatebeard, but with having to say goodbye to Firedrake yet again. Would he ever do it without such a heavy heart? Without this terrible feeling that he was losing a part of himself ?

Of course Sorrel didn’t notice any of that. Forest brownies aren’t exactly sympathetic by nature. She was fully occupied spreading out her finds on the forest floor in front of them.

‘Take a look at that!’ she said. ‘Not bad for one afternoon, is it? Three chanterelles, two hedgehog mushrooms, four forest lamb mushrooms, two saffron milk caps, a porcino and an orange birch boletus!’

‘She likes MÍMAMEIÐR much better than the Rim of Heaven!’ Firedrake whispered to Ben. ‘She’s far from impressed by the fungi of the Himalayas.’

Sorrel cast the dragon an irritated glance. ‘So are you grateful for the sacrifice I’m making? No! Sorrel, why don’t you stay in MÍMAMEIÐR? Sorrel, I could manage just fine without you. Huh!’ She packed the mushrooms away in their bag as carefully as if they were fragile glass. ‘Dragons need brownies. That’s how it’s always been, that’s how it always will be, spiss giftslørsopp!’ Sorrel had added the names of some poisonous Norwegian fungi to her rich stock of curses. ‘Even if that’s why I have to live on guchhi morels. I really can’t think why you humans consider them such a delicacy,’ she added, glancing at Ben.

Dragons need brownies… and dragon riders need dragons, Ben felt like saying.

He hated it when he felt so sad. But he consoled himself by thinking that at least it was much better than back in the days when there was no one he could long for.

‘What do you think?’ Firedrake whispered to him as Sorrel, with a cry of delight, picked a slimy yellow fungus off the bark of a pine tree. ‘Why don’t we see whether the Draugen are going to have one of their water-horse races?’

Ben was sitting on Firedrake’s back before Sorrel had put her new treasure away. ‘If Barnabas or Twigleg ask where I am,’ he called to her, ‘tell them we’ll be back in a couple of hours’ time!’

‘Twigleg?’ Sorrel looked up at him, frowning. ‘Oh, lopsided liberty caps!’ She spat, and picked a spider out of her brown fur. ‘He ought to be glad I haven’t wrung his scrawny neck yet. Do you know he’s been showing the nisses my best mushroom-hunting spots, just because they like to feed chanterelles to their children? Nisses! Why can’t they be satisfied with fly and midge grubs?’

‘Sorrel,’ said Firedrake sternly, ‘have you forgotten that Twigleg risked his life for us?’