She remembered sitting in front of Aunt Tiffenbeth’s vanity the night before their travels began. Her aunt had gathered up Ellie’s long, curly tresses and captured them inside the snood. She’d then secured the elegant bag with many hairpins. The mirror reflected the image of a cultured young lady.
Tears welled up in Ellie’s eyes. “Bealomondore, do you think the wedding has already taken place? How many days have I been here?”
“Two weeks tomorrow.”
Ellie sat down on the curb and sobbed, burying her face in the crumpled snood.
Bealomondore sat beside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She stifled her crying and said, “It was only ten days”—she gulped down another sob—“until the wedding and coronation”—she pulled in quick breaths and hiccupped—“when I fell through the glass wall.”
He patted her with one hand and dug in his pockets for a handkerchief with the other. She took the offered hanky and blew her nose. Sitting close to Bealomondore lessened the disappointment of missing the only coronation and royal wedding that was likely to happen in her lifetime. But his sympathy reminded her how excruciatingly nice he was and how totally unsuitable she was to be his wife. She cried some more.
“Hey!” A child’s voice penetrated her despair. He repeated the trumpeted whisper. “Hey! You gotta get out of the street. Yawn and his gang are looking for you.”
Ellie sniffed and wiped her nose on the white handkerchief, then scoured their surroundings. She spotted Porky.
He waved. “Did you bring those daggarts?”
She nodded.
He gestured with his hand impatiently. “Well, come on then. The others are waiting in the apothecary.”
Tak butted her from behind, and Bealomondore helped her to her feet. She sniffed one last time and used her sleeve to wipe tears from her cheeks. Porky had already disappeared. Bealomondore offered his arm, which she took in exchange for a quivering smile.
He made a clicking noise with his tongue and winked. “That’s my girl.”
They entered the apothecary from the back. Cinder and Soo-tie sat on the floor playing a game.
“Where’s Porky?” asked Bealomondore.
Soo-tie looked up. “He didn’t want to come.”
Ellie exchanged a puzzled look with Bealomondore. The bond between them pronounced the oddity of the boy’s telling them to hurry and then not being there.
Laddin flew in the open door and landed on Bealomondore’s shoulder.
Both children squealed.
“It’s one of the ugly birds.”
Ellie felt Laddin’s immediate indignation and hurried to smooth over the offense.
“Indeed, Laddin would be a very ugly bird, but he is a dragon, a very handsome dragon.”
The children stood and slowly came closer. Both looked ready to flee should the dragon attack.
“He’s green,” said Soo-tie.
Cinder snorted. “Of course he’s green. Can’t you say something smarter than that?”
Soo-tie didn’t respond to the barb. “Do his claws hurt your shoulder?”
Bealomondore moved Laddin down into his arms. “No, he doesn’t want to hurt me. He’s a healing dragon, very important and very friendly. He’s agreed to heal your cuts and bruises from yesterday.”
Cinder put his hand over the bandage, now crusted with dirt. “Are you going to take the cover off? Won’t the blood run all over again?”
Ellie stepped forward. “Yes, we will take the binding off, but the wound should be scabbed over, so no blood. And when we are finished, I have daggarts to give you.”
Cinder’s eyes brightened. “Shouldn’t we have the daggarts first, in case we get all golly-wobbled and can’t eat after?”
Soo-tie nodded. “Sometimes looking at blood and sores and oozy stuff makes my stomach wanna hurl. We should eat the daggarts first so we don’t miss out.”
“If you have sensitive stomachs,” Ellie said as she maneuvered Soo-tie to take a seat on a bench, “then you should definitely not eat the daggarts first.”
“Right,” said Cinder. “ ’Cause then you’d hurl the daggarts. You want me to go first, Miss? I can show Soo-tie how to be brave.”
Soo-tie gave Cinder a mulish face. “And then you’d eat the daggarts while it was my turn. I’ll go first. I can go first, can’t I, Ellicinderpart?”
Soo-tie’s pleading face turned to disgust as she looked into Ellie’s eyes. She closed her eyes for a brief moment and wagged her head back and forth. When she again looked at Ellie, she displayed a play-acting air of extreme patience.
“You’ve been crying again,” said Soo-tie. “I told you you’d better not cry. Crying gets you in big trouble.”
Sitting beside the dirty child, Ellie managed not to wrinkle her nose against the soured smell of her clothes. She hugged the child, bringing her close in a hearty embrace. “Where I come from, children are allowed to cry.”
Soo-tie didn’t resist the hug but leaned toward Ellie. “But you’re a grownup.”
“Grownups are allowed to cry as well.”
“Do you cry a lot?”
“No, I live a very happy life. There isn’t much to cry about.”
“Then why are you crying here? Is this an unhappy life?”
“I missed an important celebration.”
Soo-tie moved away and looked at Ellie with big eyes. “Birth day?” She said it like it was two words. “Our birth day should come pretty soon.” She looked at Cinder for confirmation. “In a week or two. Right, Cinder?”
Cinder rolled his eyes. “We just had the birth day.”
He also said it as two words. Ellie raised an eyebrow at Bealomondore. He shrugged. In the time that Ellie and Bealomondore exchanged their bewilderment, the children had come together to better yell in each other’s faces.
“We didn’t just have a birth day,” said Soo-tie. “You don’t know nothing.”
“I know more than a sissy girl, and you cry at night when no one is listening.”
Soo-tie pulled back her arm, made a fist, and hit Cinder in the face. The blow knocked him over backward. “You’re dumb,” she yelled. “That birth day was months and months and months ago.”
“Oh,” said Ellie and started forward.
Bealomondore put a hand on her arm. She knew he wanted to watch how the children interacted. He noted their expressions, and she pictured a canvas with the two facing each other and ready to fight. The image formed in her mind. She had to dismiss it to concentrate on the real drama in the apothecary.
Ellie thought Cinder would spring from the floor and tackle Soo-tie. Ellie stepped closer to the angry children and spoke loudly. “How old are you going to be?”
Neither answered. Cinder stood and faced Soo-tie, their noses nearly touching and their faces screwed into fierce expressions.
“I said, ‘How old are you going to be?’ On your birthday, how old?”
They answered in unison without breaking eye contact. “Six.”
Bealomondore rested against a large wooden barrel. “How old were you on your last birthday?”
“Six,” growled Cinder.
Bealomondore seemed pleased with the answer. “So that means on this next birthday, you’ll be …”
“Six,” said Soo-tie.
“Nah!” Cinder challenged. “Can’t be.”
Soo-tie’s face lost some of its ferocity. She relaxed her defensive stance. “That’s not right, Cinder,” she said. “If we were six on our last birthday … that was a long, long time ago.”
“Yeah!” said Cinder, still holding on to his belligerent tone. “So long ago, you don’t even remember. That had to be the birth day for being five, ’cause this time we’re gonna be six.”
Soo-tie walked away from her antagonizer and stared out the huge window at the front of the store. Ellie saw her fingers twitch as if she used them for counting.
The child sighed and turned to face Cinder.
“When Ellicinderpart asked me how old I am, I said six. You said six too, Cinder. How can we have the birth day to be six if we are six?”
Cinder’s cantankerous attitude melted. He frowned in confusion. Irritation slowly replaced the puzzled look. “What does it matter?” He flapped his arms up and let them slam against his sides. “Nobody asks us. It’s not something we have to know for sure like some important things.”
Soo-tie nodded toward Ellie and Bealomondore. “They asked.”
“Yeah, but they’re just dumb grownups.”
“What’s more important than knowing how old you are? I think that’s important.”
Their voices were getting louder.
“Lots of stuff,” Cinder said.
“What?”
Cinder put his hands in his pockets. “Your name’s important, and we know our names. Knowing when there’s food at the fountain. That’s important. Going to bed before the moon’s all the way up. Lots of stuff’s important.”
Soo-tie returned to Ellie’s side. She took Ellie’s hand and led her back to the bench. Her shoulders drooped as she sat on the bench and scooted back. “I want Laddin to heal me.”
Ellie squeezed the rough and dirty hand of the child. “He’ll be glad to help.”
“And when he’s finished with the bloody stuff, can I ask him to do one more thing?”
Ellie took Soo-tie’s grubby arm and started to remove the bandage. “I’m sure if you ask nicely, he’ll try.”
“I want him to heal all of me so I can be seven and then eight and grow up.”
Ellie felt tears pushing behind her eyes. She kept her head down so Soo-tie wouldn’t have to lecture her again about not crying. When she could speak without giving away her emotions, she said, “We will all work to make that happen, Soo-tie. Not just Laddin, but the other dragons, Old One, Bealomondore, and me.”
Ellie hauled a cushioned chair from the front of the apothecary to the area behind the counter. She curled up to wait, drawing her knees up under her chin and wrapping her arms around her legs. She kept her eyes on the two sleeping children.
After Laddin healed their scrapes and bruises, he informed Ellie and Bealomondore that the children needed milk and sleep. He couldn’t do anything about the milk, but he would see to their rest.
He sat first in Soo-tie’s lap. The girl had no idea what the green dragon intended. She talked softly to the small creature, gently stroking his wings. She yawned and continued to jabber even more quietly. In the end, she curled up on the floor and fell asleep.
Cinder snorted. “Girls! Soo-tie’s all right for a girl, but even she gets squashy.”
Ellie whispered her question. “Squashy? What’s squashy?”
“You know, soft, sappy, tired.” He pointed at the sleeping girl. “Run out of go, way before it’s time for bed. We haven’t even had noonmeal.”
Bealomondore stood and went to Soo-tie. He covered her with a large linen towel that had been hanging next to the sink. Laddin hopped onto his shoulders as he straightened. Tak moseyed over and lay down beside her. He shifted a bit, then closed his eyes.
“Is it my turn to hold the dragon?” asked Cinder.
“I suppose it is,” said Bealomondore.
Cinder sat cross-legged on the floor. Bealomondore handed Laddin to the boy and went to sit with Ellie. When he sat close to her side, she resisted the temptation to enjoy his being so near and wiggled away just a bit. Then she immediately started thinking about something else. She didn’t want that special bond they had to give away why she was resisting his charms.
Cinder stroked the top of the dragon’s head, between his ears. “You’re an ugly thing.”
“That was rude,” said Ellie.
“I tend to believe,” Bealomondore said, “that the dragons have every right to believe we are ugly.”
Cinder’s head jerked up. He looked affronted but then broke into a grin. “Maybe you, being a tumanhofer, is ugly. But not me. I’m a fine-lookin’ lad.”
Bealomondore laughed, but Ellie wondered who had said such a thing to Cinder. Could it be he remembered what a parent or grandparent said centuries ago? The whole idea saddened her. These children needed adults, needed to be praised for their good deeds and trained not to hit each other and yell.
Soon Cinder had succumbed to Laddin’s influence. The boy stretched out on the floor with only his arm for a pillow. Daggart crumbs stuck to the corners of his mouth and his chin. He looked vulnerable.
“And dirty,” said Bealomondore.
“You’re listening to my thoughts again.”
“Not on purpose.”
“Well, maybe you should, on purpose, not listen.”
Bealomondore put his arm around her and pulled her closer. “Doesn’t it happen to you? I relax, and suddenly I’m thinking alongside you, as if we were enjoying a pleasant conversation.”
“Yes, it does.” Ellie did her best not to think about how comfortable she was with his arm around her. “I’m worried about Porky.”
“See? I was just thinking about the boy. And you say, ‘I’m worried about Porky.’ ”
“Well, what do you think happened to him?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve thought about going out to look for him.”
“I think you should. It just seems to me that he was eager to have the daggarts. He wouldn’t have gone off and missed his chance. Plus he had some injuries from yesterday as well. And he would want to see Laddin up close.”
“That’s too many reasons for a selfish young urohm to wander off.” Bealomondore stood. “I’ll go scout around, pick up our noonmeal, and come back after I check the fountain to see if he shows up for his midday sustenance.”
Ellie nodded. Bealomondore leaned over and kissed her cheek. “You mustn’t worry, Ellie love. You are the perfect tumanhofer lass for me.” He turned and walked out the back door.
Bealomondore ducked into the closest alley quickly. He was more concerned about Porky than he wanted to admit to Ellie. He had spent their hours with the injured children trying not to reveal his anxiety. More than one scenario that would explain Porky’s absence ran through his thinking. None of them were pleasant.
He went to the fountain first, knowing he would have to return when the sun shone straight above the city. His assumption was correct. Porky did not play among the few children gathered near the fountain.
Bealomondore sought out the places he usually avoided, places he knew often attracted the gangs. In each case, he didn’t find Porky. At the third spot commonly used as a playground, he noticed something else besides the absence of the missing child. Fewer hooligans than usual gathered in their rough bands.
In all, he guessed half of the children were missing. He stopped to scrutinize this small collection of the mob. They played, but no one seemed enthusiastic about the games. No fights broke out. Commonly, losers attacked the winners, or winners drove home their victory by bludgeoning the losers.
He shook his head at the memory of one conflict he’d observed. Two children rolled on the ground, each with a death grip on the other. Ellie hadn’t witnessed this type of vicious attack and therefore didn’t realize the immensity of the task she’d taken on. Since the children had become increasingly uncivilized over a century or more, a few daggarts and some etiquette lessons were not going to change them overnight.
Another thought occurred to him. These children left behind were the more placid of the horde. He wouldn’t call them gentle by any means, but they were not the instigators of cruel mischief.
Had someone taken the more unruly six-year-olds?
Had the wizard come out of hiding and snatched them up?
Had he loosed the wusstbunters on them?
More than likely, the wizard had nothing to do with this. After all these years of detachment, why would he return?
Had the worst of the bad children forged an alliance to plan an attack?
What terror could these permanently six-year-old hooligans conceive?
/> Whatever it was, it would be outrageous, reckless, and bound to cause destruction to property and probably people. Ellie would not like that. She would want him to stop it if at all possible. He sighed.
Now he wanted to find Porky and the missing children. On the battlefield he’d learned that a smart soldier knew where the enemies were and what they were up to. He’d had Det to help him, and between them, they’d saved their unit more than once. He couldn’t depend on Det at the moment since he was off doing the rounds of the watch. Bealomondore didn’t think he had time for the dragon to rejoin him.
He didn’t know where the brats were lurking.
He didn’t know the extent of the danger Porky had fallen into.
He could use some basic knowledge of the territory he sought to invade.
He could use reinforcements.
He wanted clear direction.
And now, he wanted his sword.
A rustle of wings announced a minor dragon’s approach. Amee dived from above the empty shops and businesses, coming straight at Bealomondore. Her black and white scales blurred into gray. Whatever her mission, it was urgent.
Bealomondore glanced at the children playing and noted that they seemed unaware of Amee’s approach. He ducked into an empty building, out of sight, and waited for the minor dragon to join him.
As soon as she landed, Bealomondore’s mind filled with her chatter and flashing pictures. Porky had been caught by the bullies. They wanted to know where Ellie and Bealomondore would meet Porky, Soo-tie, and Cinder. So far, Porky had not told. Amee showed Bealomondore the location of the dismal building Yawn had chosen as a jail.
The temptation to go get his sword wiled its way through Bealomondore’s thinking. But Ellie would have a fit, and truthfully, the prospect of inadvertently hurting one of the children turned his stomach.
Once she’d delivered her message, Amee waited patiently for him to decide his course of action. He pondered only a moment more.
“Gather the rest of the watch. I’ll go see what I can do immediately about Porky’s sticky situation. Bring Laddin, too, when you come. I predict it will be impossible, but try to keep Ellie out of this. She should guard Cinder and Soo-tie.”