He didn’t want to startle the witch, so he swam around the wreck quietly, wondering how to find her. At the squared-off back of the ship he found the window that he’d seen in Wave Skimmer’s bowl of water. He peered through the window, trying to see the dim interior, and suddenly there she was, staring back at him with eyes like dark, bottomless pits. The witch’s pale, green skin looked taut and ageless, but it was her cloud of nearly colorless hair and her horrifying eyes that made her look so old.
“What do you want?” Nastia Nautica demanded.
A jellyfish undulated past Audun, trailing ribbonlike tendrils behind it. Squinting her eyes in annoyance, the sea witch pointed a finger at the creature. The tendrils flailed and began to tie themselves in knots while the jellyfish wobbled in agitation.
Unable to bear the creature’s agony, Audun hoped that distracting the sea witch would make her leave the jellyfish alone. “I’ve come to trade something for a musical instrument that you have in your possession. I have something I believe you would like.”
“What musical instrument?” asked Nastia Nautica, turning back to Audun and letting the jellyfish get away. “I have lots of them. I’m a very musical person.”
“It’s called the Sea Serpents’ Flute.”
“Really? Now why would a dragon want to torment a sea serpent until it flees? Is it anyone I know?”
“I doubt it,” said Audun. “Are you interested in making a trade?”
“What do you have? That flute is one of my most prized possessions. I won’t let it go for just . . .” When Audun held up the covered egg, Nastia Nautica leaned out the window saying, “What’s that? Unwrap it and let me see.”
Audun was reluctant to unwrap the egg. After seeing what the witch had done to the poor jellyfish, he knew that she liked hurting living creatures. But he had been sent to get the flute and he wasn’t going to go back without it. Gritting his teeth, Audun slowly unwrapped the egg, revealing the distinctive mottled shell.
Nastia Nautica gasped. “Is that what I think it is?” she said, crawling halfway out the window. “Give it to me! I have to see if it’s alive.”
“The instrument . . . ,” said Audun.
“I’ll get it! Just let me see that egg!”
Audun would have held on to the egg, but he was taken by surprise—the sea witch snatched it from him, and shook it hard. Placing her ear against the egg as she retreated into her wreck, she listened for a moment, then chortled with glee. “I’ve finally got it! Now that little witch will learn a lesson she’ll never forget.”
“About the trade . . . ,” said Audun.
The sea witch sneered at him. “You’re a fool, dragon. You should never have given up the egg so easily. Here’s your trade!” Holding the egg with one hand, she made circling motions with the other and a dark, solid- looking bubble formed on her palm. Audun was backing away when she hurled it at him. The bubble exploded, its force flipping the dragon head over tail all the way to the bed of seaweed.
As a black fog dragged at his mind, he thought about Millie. She’d never let magic stop her and neither would he. Shaking with the effort, Audun fought against the darkness, willing it away until he was able to raise his head from the silt of the ocean floor. Looking around, he spotted Nastia Nautica swimming in the opposite direction with the egg clutched in her hands. He would have to follow her, but first there was something else that he needed to do.
Audun was angry. The sea witch had taken something he wasn’t even sure he wanted to give up. Knowing it was a living creature that she would probably mistreat made it that much worse. And for all he knew, she might have swum away thinking that she had killed him.
Audun didn’t have time to find his way through the witch’s ship to the room where she kept the flute, so he decided to use the window. It wasn’t big enough for a dragon Audun’s size, but he drew away from the wreck, tucked his wings tight against his body, and used powerful strokes of his legs and tail to propel him through the water and smash through the window frame, splintering the wall around it.
In an instant Audun flipped open the lid of the trunk he had seen in Wave Skimmer’s image. What he hadn’t seen in the image, however, was the nest of sea snakes writhing in the bottom of the trunk.
The snakes hissed and stared up at the dragon with their cold eyes.
“I don’t have time for this,” Audun growled, as he reached toward the trunk. The sea snakes might be venomous, but they would break their fangs before they’d ever pierce his scales.
“Ordinarily, we wouldn’t say anything,” said one of the snakes, raising its head above the rest, “but you’re one of the great ones and worthy of our respect.”
“The sea witch has cast a spell on us,” added another. “We must stay in this chest and guard the flute. Please don’t blame us if we can’t let you have it.”
“What if I set you free?” asked Audun, his talons poised over the chest.
The snakes shivered in ecstasy at the thought. “Can you really do that, Great One? Do you really have the power? We would be forever grateful if only you could help us!”
“Just watch me,” Audun said, as he turned around. Dragging his tail in front of him, he swung it around with a whump, pulverizing the chest and sending the sea snakes flying around the room.
“We’re free!” cried a snake. The other snakes cheered.
Audun plucked the flute from the shards of splintered wood while the sea snakes gathered around him. The flute was bigger than he had expected, but he was still able to fit it in the pouch under his wing. Squeezing back through the hole where the window had been, he turned to follow the sea witch’s scent through the water.
“What about us?” asked the snakes. “What should we do now?”
“It seems to me that you have two choices,” said Audun, glancing at the little faces clustered at the splintered window. “You can stay here and let the sea witch know how you feel about being locked in a chest, or you can go back to wherever it was you came from and get on with your lives.” Audun could hear them hissing among themselves as he swam away.
Following a scent through water wasn’t much harder than it was to follow one through air. It helped that the amulet made breathing underwater so easy. Sea creatures gawked at the blue and white dragon as Audun coursed back and forth, tracking the sea witch. Her smell was slightly sour and distinctive enough that he didn’t confuse it with other odors.
Moving as silently as possible, Audun followed the sea witch into a cave. After only a few yards, the cave narrowed into a tunnel that headed downward before abruptly changing direction and angling up. He moved more cautiously as the tunnel became so narrow that he feared he might get stuck, but it soon widened into a high-roofed chamber. The tunnel had been dark, but the chamber was filled with a pale green light that seemed to come from green stones embedded in the walls. Strange plants and animals grew in the cave, but any creature that could move fled when it saw Audun.
The dragon had gone only a few feet into the cave when he saw the sea witch. She was crouched beside the egg, which had already begun to crack. I’m too late, he thought, certain that the baby bird would drown if it hatched here, at the bottom of the sea.
A hole appeared in the shell and the baby’s yellow beak poked through. More cracks appeared and the baby emerged, its beak opening and closing as if it were gasping.
Audun rushed farther into the cave to try to save the baby bird but slowed as he realized that the hatchling was growing rounder and fatter. By the time Audun had taken three steps, the baby that had started out smaller than a human boy’s fist was as big as Audun’s head. Three more steps and the bird was twice that size. It was soaking up water just as its siblings had at the oasis, but with water all around, this baby was doing it much faster.
“You’re going to kill it!” Audun shouted.
Nastia Nautica whipped her head around, making her hair swirl behind her. “So you followed me. And I thought my sharks would be fighting over your carc
ass by now.” The baby bird continued to grow as Nastia Nautica swam back and forth in front of Audun, blocking his way. “It might die, it might not. It will soak up some of the water; the rest it will turn into air. What difference does it make as long as it does its job before it dies?”
The little bird burped and a bubble floated out of its mouth. Suddenly, the sea witch darted forward and ripped the amulet from around the dragon’s neck. With a flick of her fingers, she encased the amulet in a bubble and sent it shooting out the entrance of the cave. Sneering at the dragon, the sea witch said, “You’d better hope that the bird doesn’t die until it empties this cave or you’ll die with it. What a dilemma—save the bird and you die, or let it finish soaking up the water and filling the cave with air and you live, for a little while at least.”
Audun knew just how long he could live on the air in his lungs. It was enough to let him get to the surface, if he left right away. “You can’t do this,” he said, and watched the precious air bubbles trickle past his lips.
Nastia Nautica laughed. “I can do what ever I want, and you won’t be able to stop me. You’re going to be too busy sucking up air,” she said, pointing at the ceiling where the water level had already dropped.
Audun growled at the witch as she swam to the side and let him pass. He was picking up the baby bird when Nastia Nautica backed into the cave entrance, saying, “You really aren’t very bright, are you? I wanted this cave empty of water so I could use it as a cell for a little thief who thinks she can get away with stealing my pearl. Do you see those green stones in the walls? They give off light, but that isn’t all they do. They wipe out any magic used around them, so neither my prisoner’s spells nor your magic will work down here. I bet you didn’t know that your amulet stopped working the moment you entered this cave. You’ve already used up most of your air! Once again, you’ve helped me out through your stupidity. You’ll be my test case. If the cave will hold you, it should hold my little prisoner as well. Oh, and by the way, you won’t be able to get out even if you can breathe underwater. Not after I do this!”
With a flick of her tail, the sea witch turned and darted down the tunnel. A moment later, Audun heard the rumble of stones falling as she blocked off the entrance to the cave.
They were trapped! Now Audun would never see Millie again and . . . He took a deep breath of the air at the top of the cave and tried to calm himself. The baby bird made a chirruping sound and waddled a few steps closer. The little creature didn’t seem to mind being underwater. His body was so big now that his head looked like a tomato resting atop an enormous pumpkin and his legs were two little twigs that probably couldn’t have held him up if he had been on dry ground.
Bending his neck until his eyes were level with the bird’s, the young dragon said, “How are you doing, little fella?”
“Mama!” said the bird, gazing at Audun with a look of adoration.
Audun jerked his head back. “I’m not your mother. My name is Audun and I’m going to rescue you.”
The little bird bobbed its head up and down as if in agreement. “Mama!” it said again.
Audun was about to protest, but he felt a growing tightness in his chest. The air in his lungs was almost gone. If he didn’t do something soon, he might actually die down here. Glancing up, he saw that the water level had dropped by a third. While the baby bird continued to swell, Audun swam above the water and took a deep breath. The air smelled like fish and seaweed, both of which Audun liked. At least he could breathe while he tried to think, but he still didn’t have long. If they didn’t go soon, the baby bird would be too big to fit through the tunnel even if it wasn’t blocked. And the sea witch was bound to discover that he’d taken the instrument and freed the snakes. He was sure she’d come back then, but if Audun had his way, he and the bird would both be long gone.
Ten
Leaving the baby desicca bird on the floor of the cave, Audun slipped down the tunnel to see if it was truly blocked. He was able to get past the point where the angle of the tunnel changed direction, but only a few feet farther he ran into a plug made of boulders. Knowing that the sea witch’s word was worthless, he tried to use his magic to move the boulders aside. Try as he might, he couldn’t budge even the smallest pebble. He was still trying to make the boulders move themselves when the sea snakes arrived.
“What are you doing?” asked the first snake to wriggle through a crack between the boulders.
“Trying to get out,” said Audun.
Another snake appeared, and another and another until a mass of squirming bodies filled the water around Audun and he couldn’t see his talons in front of his face. “Why don’t you go between the rocks like we do?” asked one of the snakes.
There were too many snakes to tell them apart, and the way they kept sliding over and around one another would have made it impossible, so Audun didn’t even try. “I’m too big. Now get out of my way so I can see what I’m doing.”
“We want to help you,” said a snake.
“How can you . . .” Audun stopped when he began to feel the tightness in his chest. Knowing that he didn’t have any air to waste, he shuffled backward until he reached the cave behind him. By now the baby bird was nearly as big as he was and the water level was so low that the dragon had only to stretch his neck to breathe. When he dropped his head again, the water around him was once more filled with sea snakes.
“Why are you here?” he asked them.
“To help you,” said one.
“We have to,” said another. “We tried to go home, but the witch’s magic won’t let us.”
“We have to protect the flute, no matter where it is.”
“You have the flute, so we have to stay with you.”
“What can we do to help?”
Audun sighed. He knew that a magic compulsion could be very strong. Even if his magic was working, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to break it. If he didn’t want the snakes getting in his way, he’d have to give them something to do, although he doubted they could really help him. “Why don’t you go see how many boulders the sea witch put in front of the opening?”
“We can do that!” said a snake, and they all turned and swam into the tunnel in one apparently solid mass.
“Are you all right, little one?” Audun asked the baby bird. He couldn’t see its legs at all now under its grossly engorged body.
“Mama!” cried the baby bird, rocking toward Audun.
The dragon looked up as the first sea snake returned. “How many boulders did you see?”
“A whole lot!” said the snake.
“Can you give me a number?” Audun asked. “You can count, can’t you?”
“What does that mean?” asked another snake.
“Never mind,” Audun said. “You just stay here and keep your eyes on the bird. Don’t let anything happen to it.”
“But we need to stay with you!”
“Not this time,” said Audun. Rising up on his toes, Audun filled his lungs with air until he couldn’t hold any more. After giving the baby bird a gentle pat, he backed down the tunnel so his tail would be toward the boulders. When he reached the plug, Audun moved his tail to the side, rested his weight on his front legs and kicked hard with the back ones. One kick shifted the boulders, making debris swirl around him. It took two more kicks before the boulders shot out of the tunnel, startling a school of orange and white striped fish.
Some of the sea snakes had followed him despite what he’d said. They cheered, writhing in joy. “Now you can get out!” said a snake, twining around his ear.
“Not yet,” Audun said, and he hurried down the tunnel. There was very little water left in the cave when he arrived and Audun wasn’t sure he’d be able to get the bird out, but when he touched it, the water in its belly sloshed around, changing the bird’s shape enough that he thought he might have a chance.
The bird was so big now that Audun could no longer get a grip on it. Instead, he rolled it toward the tunnel, letting the littl
e bit of water left in the cave support some of its weight. When he reached the entrance to the tunnel, he had to push and squeeze, pinch and shove the bird through the narrow opening. He thought the bird was stuck at the point where the tunnel changed direction, but a little more pressure on one side and its round, spongy body squished through.
Audun was relieved when the baby bird popped out of the tunnel like a cork out of a bottle. Although he was no longer afraid that the bird might drown, he was worried about what would happen to it out in the ocean where the volume of water was so huge. He didn’t have much air left himself, after working so hard to get the bird out of the cave.
There hadn’t been enough space in the tunnel for the sea snakes to help him much, but once in the open ocean they gathered around, waiting to be told what to do. “You can help me push it to the surface,” he said.
With the snakes pushing alongside him, Audun was making good headway when the fish with the pointed face appeared from the direction of the sea witch’s wreck. Audun wasn’t afraid of the fish, but he could already feel the tightness in his chest from lack of air.
“Shark!” hissed the snakes, moving away from the bird to place themselves between the dragon and the fish.
“I know you want to protect me,” said Audun, “but I need some of you to push the bird to the surface while the rest go find my amulet. It’s a piece of gold on a chain that the sea witch took from me.”
“We can find it,” the snakes replied, and a moment later half of them were swimming back toward the bottom of the sea. Audun watched to make sure that the remaining snakes were indeed pushing the bird, albeit more slowly, before he turned to face the shark.
“Why are you here?” Audun asked, trying to ignore the tight feeling in his chest.
“I’m hungry,” said the shark. “I want to taste that thing you were pushing. Get out of my way or I’ll eat you instead.”