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Chapter 7

     We climbed the rocks, leading the horses by their reins. The cave loomed over our heads at least 20 meters high. Any moment now we would be confronted by the Dragon Keeper.
     We approached slowly. I told Danny to keep behind me; if the dragon keeper saw him first he may be in danger. I kept a keen eye on my surroundings, watching for any sign of the keeper. We got much closer then I thought we would before he appeared.
     He jumped out of a bush on the right. As he came into view, he sent a green fireball heading my way. Knowing it was time I stopped and quickly began to chant the spell. The fireball was about halfway to me when I messed up. I forgot the order of the last words!
     Danny had heard me practice it often enough and reminded me quickly. I knew that it was too late to repeat the whole chant so I decided not use the mantra and just cast the spell.
     This proved difficult as I didn’t know what the spell was supposed to accomplish. Just as I could feel the heat from the fire it went out. Somehow I had managed to complete the spell.
     Danny and I breathed a sigh of relief together .The dragon keeper grumbled. He was wearing a royal blue tunic over a spotless white shirt. He had on crisp brown pants and a round hat with an oversized feather stuck in it. The hems of his clothes were lined with colorful gems. He looked quite upset at my success.
     He marched right up to us, grumbling the whole way over. As he stood it front of us I noticed how short he was. His head didn’t even reach above my shoulder, though the feather in his hat did. He stopped in front of me, looked up, and demanded, “Where did you learn that spell, lady?”
     I looked down at him a little shocked. “Why, I was told the words from a friend of mine-”
     “Not the words!” he interrupted, “The spell! The spell, where did you learn that spell?” He looked up at me with his large eyes open as far as they seemed they could go. I looked at Danny over my shoulder. He was trying hard to suppress his laugher.
     “I didn’t learn it anywhere. I – well, I just did it. That’s all.”
     The little man looked at me suspiciously. Then he turned and walked towards the cave, grumbling the whole time. I grabbed my horse and followed after him. He disappeared inside. I halted my horse outside the opening and began unpacking our gear. Danny came up beside me and did the same.
     “What was that all about?” he asked me in a low voice. I gave him a shrug.
     “I don’t know. Come on.” With that I shouldered my gear and lead the way into the cave.
     The cave led downward and curved to the right. The walls and floor were perfectly smooth, even a bit shiny, like it’s been polished. We walked down into it, deeper and deeper, until the light from the opening faded and we were left to feel our way through the dark. Danny walked with one hand on the wall and the other on my shoulder. I let him guide me through the dark.
     It didn’t last long however, there was a glow coming from around the next corner. We rounded this last corner and stood in a large chamber filled with yellow light. The ceiling seemed a mile high and the far side, at least twice as far. The light came from torches burning high overhead and it reflected off of gold that was heaped on the ground.
     All across the middle of the floor were towering masses of scales. Dragons. There must have been ten in there, all of different colours, and of all different sizes. Some of them were so large that they almost reached across the chamber. Others were so small that the piles of gold towered over them. We stood motionless staring at the magnificent beasts before us.
     “Keeper?” I called out. One of the dragons stirred but did nothing. Out of some shadow, the little man came and walked towards us; still mumbling to himself.
     “Are you sure you someone didn’t teach you that spell?” he asked me once again, gazing at me with those freakishly wide eyes.
     “I’m positive. We really need-”
     “Could you do it for me again?” He interrupted.
     “No. Not right now, we really need a flight to Palengon. It’s very urgent.”
     “Oh yes, yes. I understand. Where did you say? Palengon? And is that all you’ll be carrying? Are you taking the horses too? That would be very costly,” he asked looked between Danny and me.
     “The horses,” I told him, “Are part of our payment. The rest is in this bag.” I took a large sac from Danny’s pack and handed it to the short man. He opened it up and began to hop around a little. He seemed very excited.
     “This is good! This is good! I’ll have Sarith fly you to Palengon. She’s young and fast. She’ll get you there really fast.”
     “Thank you” Danny said. The dragon keeper ran off into the shadows again, only to reappear moments later. He ran swiftly over the gold, not making a sound, to a fair sized purplish-blue dragon. He said a few words to her and she rose. After a bit, he managed to get a harness onto her, which would give us something to hold onto. With a little help we climbed aboard and tied our gear down.
     “Ready?” asked the little man. We nodded. He jumped down, gave the word and Sarith flew off up the tunnel.