In Deep Dark Wood (5 page)
Authors: Marita Conlon-Mckenna
T
he young dragons were getting bigger and stronger everyday. Even Mia realised that they could no longer remain hidden in the glasshouse, for they were rapidly outgrowing the space it provided. They were constantly hungry too, and calling for more and more food.
‘They need to learn to hunt and provide some of their own nourishment,’ said Bella. ‘It’s not good for them to be cooped up like this. I caught Arznel and Oro fighting this morning, jostling for territory.’
Worried, Mia reached down and stroked Trig’s bumpy forehead. The young dragon still came to her the minute he saw her, snuffling against her, touching her gently with his head, looking for attention. In her mind he was the finest of them all. He might not be as big as the others yet, but to her he seemed more beautiful, better proportioned. The colour of his skin shimmered and changed in the sunlight from a dark, almost blackish blue to the palest soft blue, the colour of a
misty sky. The others chattered and chirruped and gave baby dragon roars every now and then, but Trig listened, taking in all that was said to him. His wing was healing, though it was still too soon for him to fly.
‘Soon we must leave, child. The dragons cannot stay here any longer. They need space to grow and fly and hunt. It’s dangerous for them here now. In Dragon Wood they will be safe. Dragons have lived there for many centuries. Tall trees and silver lakes and vast, grassy plains – there’s no finer place for them to grow into the fabulous creatures nature intended. Your world here is no place for them!’
Mia brought her face close to Trig’s and stared into his eyes. How could she bear never to see this young dragon again, or listen to Bella’s tales of magic and sorcery?
She knew that in the dark of night, Bella had already started to take the dragons out one at a time, letting them fly to test their growing wings. Several times in the past week, hearing the heavy, rapid movement of wings, she’d peeped out her bedroom window to see a nervous dragon lost in the inky sky, an awkward, black shape that seemed like some enormous bird struggling to keep itself up in the air.
‘Come with us, Mia!’ pleaded the old woman. ‘The work with the dragons has only begun. You are young and able and in time will be a powerful dragon keeper – and an even more powerful mage, knowing all the secrets of the old magic. I promise to teach you everything I know, pass on all the wisdom of my many years, and help you to learn the craft of sorcery. Come with me! Be my apprentice and learn all the
magic and dragon ways that I can teach you. I am old, and these dragons will need someone to comfort and care for them when I am gone. They already know and love you, magician’s daughter. Come with me and fulfil your destiny!’
Mia looked into Bella’s face. It seemed like every year showed in her worn, tired face, and she looked frail and vulnerable. Mia was torn. She didn’t know what to think, or say, or do any more. A part of her wanted to spend the rest of her life with Trig and the other dragons, learning the old woman’s secrets, becoming a magician, and yet another part of her just wanted to be an ordinary schoolgirl, growing up in Glenkilty and living a normal life with her family.
How had all this happened, that she had become so caught up with the old woman and lost touch with the real world? Perhaps she had read too many books and listened to too many stories, and somehow had led Bella to find her. The magic had overtaken her, her imagination guiding her to be here with Bella and the dragons. The whole thing was just so unbelievable that she couldn’t think calmly and clearly about it at all.
‘But what about my family, my Mum and Dad? I can’t leave them Bella, I love them!’
‘You will always love them, child, but you will not always stay their little girl. In time you will grow up, Mia, become a young woman and leave them anyway. Such is the way of life.’
An image of herself as a young woman flashed into Mia’s mind – standing alone, power and magic filling her, looking down on a kingdom which she ruled.
The old woman stared deep into her eyes. ‘You will have power, and knowledge of deep magic. Creatures great and small will bow down to your will and many will follow you, magician’s daughter, believe me! You want to come with me, child. I know you do.’
Uncertainty crawled around Mia’s brain, she felt the old woman was trying to control her thoughts and emotions. Instinctively, she looked away, concentrating on a small red robin that sat outside on the windowsill. Now she could sense Bella’s annoyance. In an instant, the old woman had disappeared and Mia watched with horror as a huge, black cat sprang up on to the sill. The terrified robin, in a useless fluttering of wings, was tossed to the ground, and the self-satisfied cat crawled through the window and rubbed itself against her legs.
Glancing down at the cat’s smooth, silky coat, Mia noticed the slightly raised marking on the cat’s forehead which resembled dragon’s wings, and realised that it was, in fact, Bella herself. Mia backed away, aghast, and watched as Bella changed back into herself again.
‘I don’t like interference,’ she said sharply.
Mia was scared. What if Bella turned her into something and refused to turn her back again? The sorceress was staring at her intently, waiting for her reaction.
‘When will you leave Glenkilty?’ Mia asked softly.
‘Tomorrow, perhaps, or the next night. When the wind is right and the moon is full, to guide us on our journey. You know we cannot delay much longer, child, or we risk the
dragons being discovered. Can you imagine what your newspapers and television and radio would do if they found out about them! No, it’s best that we leave for Dragon Wood and the castle as soon as possible. The dragons will be safe there.’
‘What about Trig? He can’t fly.’
‘Aah!’ said Bella, sighing ‘Your favourite. Trig is a weakling, and besides, as you say, he cannot fly yet. How would I manage him along with the seven others? No, I will have to leave him behind.’
Hope swelled in Mia’s heart. ‘Let me mind him, keep him safe here with me,’ she pleaded. ‘I’ll look after him, Bella, I promise.’
‘Child, you know little of dragons. Trig would never survive here on his own. He is not a pet, like that little barking dog of yours. Trig is a dragon, one of the most complicated and rarest of creatures and, as you know, the blues are the most difficult to raise and train. Without the others, and left to survive in this modern world of yours, I’m afraid that Trig will die. It may take a few weeks, longer maybe, and I know those will be hard weeks for you as you are fond of him, but I’m afraid he will die.’
Mia didn’t know what to say or do. Bella couldn’t mean it, just leaving Trig to die like that, pretending he didn’t matter. Mia wouldn’t stand for it!
‘Take him with you! Take him to the castle too!’ she pleaded. ‘You can’t just give up on him, he’s such a beauty.’
‘How can I take him?’ the old woman shouted angrily at her.
‘I have seven other dragons to mind, young dragons who have barely learned to fly and who have a long journey ahead of them. Do you want me to abandon them for the sake of one who is already weaker and injured and may not survive anyway?’
Mia shook her head.
‘Come with me, child!’ cajoled the old woman. ‘You can carry Trig safely. He would travel with you, I know he would!’
Mia didn’t know what to say. She suspected the old woman was manipulating her, using her love of Trig against her, but at this moment she felt she had no choice but to go.
‘If I go with you, you must promise me that you’ll let me return home when I want. Do you promise?’ she insisted fiercely. ‘I’m only going to help you with Trig and then I’ll come back to Glenkilty! Promise that you’ll set me free then!’
The old woman glanced down at the floor furtively.
‘Promise!’ insisted Mia, forcing the woman to look her in the eye.
‘Aye, I promise,’ said Bella slowly, her blue eyes seeming sincere and truthful.
Mia took a long, deep breath. She wasn’t sure exactly what lay ahead, but she couldn’t deny the stirring feeling of excitement that rippled through her at the thought of being an apprentice magician and dragon keeper, even if it were only for a short time.
‘Come, Mia, there is much for us to do before the moon has completed its full circle and our journey begins.’
M
ia gazed up at the moon, which hung like a giant yellow cheese in the dark sky. She was confused by all that Bella had told her. She didn’t want to leave her family, but what about Trig? There didn’t seem to be any way out at all and she felt scared and weary just thinking about it. A part of her wished that she could climb into bed, fall asleep and wake the next morning to find that Bella and the dragons were gone.
She felt tense and nervous and didn’t know what to do. She paced up and down her bedroom, trying to feel brave and excited and spirited, instead of sick and scared and weepy. She wanted to run away and hide. She wished Rory was there, but he was at the cinema with some school friends and wouldn’t be home for ages.
Granny and her two best friends, Daisy and Ivy, were downstairs, playing cards and chatting. She’d sat with them for a while, sharing some of Granny’s sponge cake.
‘You look done in, Mia, pet!’ Granny had remarked, and suggested that she go to bed early.
‘The teachers make them work far too hard in school nowadays,’ said Daisy Donovan. ‘The child looks like a little white ghost after all that homework!’
Mia could hear their comforting voices below in the sitting room as they chatted the evening away.
She looked around her bedroom, loving every bit of it, her soft, squashy bed, her pine chest of drawers, so overloaded with clothes she could barely open or close them, the narrow corner wardrobe, her desk and chair and her shelf of books and knick-knacks. All ordinary and normal and wonderful. How could she leave them? She lay on the bed, waiting.
Rory came in. She heard his footsteps on the stairs. He pushed open her door to tell her about the film and say goodnight. She was tempted for a moment to tell him everything, but instead she rolled over on her side and pretended to be asleep. She waited and waited till she was sure her brother was sound asleep in his own room.
Bella had told her to come before midnight. Slipping on a pair of trainers and a tracksuit, she worked up the courage to creep across the landing, down the stairs and into the kitchen. Jackie looked up expectantly from her bed in the corner. Mia went quickly to the biscuit tin and bribed the dog with a chewy treat. Turning the key in the back door, Mia let herself out quietly into the moonlit night. She gasped. Bella was already standing there at the door amidst her mother’s pots of daffodils and tulips.
‘I knew you’d come, child!’ she said, hugging her, and keeping her scrawny arms around her as they made their way back through the gap in the hedge.
The old house lay still and dark, most of the furniture and bric-a-brac already removed.
The dragons were quivering nervously with anticipation, and Mia was soon caught up in the excitement of what lay ahead and the great journey they would make together.
‘Here, child!’ said Bella. ‘This is for you!’
Mia found herself being wrapped into a huge, feathered coat, her shoulders and arms being eased through enormous armholes.
‘It’s a flying coat, Mia! Rare and precious.’
The feathers felt soft and warm around her, feathers of every shape and size. She tried to guess the type of birds they had come from as she touched the shining blue-black feathers that covered her forearms, the grey seagull feathers that ran across her shoulders, and the soft, downy layers of pale white and silver that rippled along her midriff. Owl, thrush, sparrow, magpie, rook, blue-tit – she recognised many of them. Others were rich with strange colours and the exotic hues of birds that had never crossed the shores of her native land. It was magnificent.
‘It’s beautiful, Bella,’ she said, caressing it. It fitted her perfectly, covering her whole body.
‘Not many people have experienced flying, Mia. This makes you truly special,’ announced the old woman. She then slipped on a feathered coat of her own. The colours were
darker, the plumage stronger, making her thin face and beady eyes look even more birdlike.
The dragons shoved and pushed each other anxiously, Bella moved amongst them, issuing commands in a low voice. Trig shuffled over beside Mia. The silence was suddenly disturbed by the urgent ringing of the front door bell. Bella looked startled, and in a flurry of temper went out into the hall.
It was after midnight when Rose Murphy discovered that Mia was neither in bed nor anywhere in the house. In a panic, the old woman woke her grandson and they rushed outside. Luckily, her two friends had not yet left and were sitting chatting in Daisy’s ancient Mini that was parked in the driveway. Rose was glad that she had already confided in them her misgivings about Bella Blackwell.
Rory raced out into the back garden, calling Mia’s name, while the three old friends marched purposefully up the driveway to Bella’s house.
‘I’m sure and certain Mia is here!’ proclaimed Rose, ringing the doorbell.
‘Open the door, Bella!’ she demanded. ‘I know Mia is there with you! Give me back my grandchild this instant!’
‘The poor child must be bewitched,’ insisted Ivy Harrington, as the three elderly women stood on the front steps of The Elms, hammering at the wooden door.
‘We must stop this Bella Blackwell woman,’ added Daisy Donovan, her fat cheeks flushed with temper. ‘Who does she
think she is, stealing away your granddaughter, Rose?’
Both Daisy and Ivy had become very agitated, knocking again and again and peering in through the broad, front bay window of the old house.
‘Let her find somebody else!’ said Rose angrily. ‘Mia is my grandchild!’
Much to their surprise, the heavy front door began to swing open, but there was no one holding it. They could see into the empty hall. They stepped cautiously inside, but there was no sign of Mia.
Bella suddenly appeared. She wore a strange coat which was layered with hundreds of fine, multicoloured feathers.
‘A flying coat!’ gasped Ivy.
Rose stood firm, facing the enemy. ‘Give me back the child, Bella Blackwell, and that will be the end of it!’ she demanded, her eyes flashing. ‘She is entrusted to my care by her parents and I’ll not let you harm her.’
Bella Blackwell moved menacingly towards them on her scrawny, birdlike legs. ‘Then you should have kept a better eye on her, shouldn’t you, Grandmother?’
Rose stared into Bella’s eyes, reading the hatred there.
‘Always the three of you together – I’m sorry that I cannot entertain you,’ she cackled wickedly and flew up in the air, up towards the ceiling just above their heads.
Rose grabbed a firm hold of the coat, sending two or three feathers floating to the ground. Bella laughed.
‘Rose, Daisy dear, and Ivy, I do declare that I’m sorry we cannot sit down and be civil and have a nice cup of tea and a
chat, but you know, I really must … fly!’
‘MIA!’ screamed Rose Murphy at the top of her voice, the sound filling every corner of the old house.
But before Rose had a chance to repeat her granddaughter’s name, Bella’s spell took hold of her and she found herself lying … stiff and thorny, covered in green leaves and fragrant pink blooms. Daisy had become a broad bush in full flower, and Ivy was transformed into a creeper, her tendrils curling along the ground, beside her friends.
‘MIA-A-A-A!’ It was her grandmother’s voice calling her, searching for her, trying to rescue her.
The seriousness of her predicament suddenly struck Mia and she tried to rush out into the hall, and call her granny’s name. But no sound would come from her lips, no matter how hard she tried to shout and scream, and her legs would not move. She stood mute and still and miserable as Bella dealt with the three old women in her own way.
The sorceress returned, her coat flapping, her eyes like black coals.
‘We must go immediately!’ she said sharply, ignoring the tears that welled up in Mia’s eyes. Petrified, the young girl followed her out through the open doors of the glasshouse and into the moonlight. Trig clung nervously to the inside of the huge pocket of Mia’s coat where Bella had placed him. He looked squashed and uncomfortable, but did not protest.
Arznel and Oro had already taken to the sky and were
circling impatiently over the house, black shadows crossing the moon. One by one, the others followed nervously.
‘We are ready, child. Time to be gone! Fly!’
Mia felt the old woman’s long fingers clutch her wrist and pull her up into the air, her feet lifting off the ground. Terrified, she looked down as her familiar world fell away below them – the grass and flower beds and bushes and roofs of the houses spinning dizzily away from her, as her arms and body moved in the unfamiliar rhythm of flight.