Chapter 26

Sabotini’s Lair

I turn the scale over; it’s got a strip of silvery metal attached to the back of it and I slip my left arm through. The metal tightens, locking my arm in place. Hope and fear spin together in my chest. This thing is small, will it really protect me? And what price will the Fae ask?

I shake the feeling away. The Fae want me to succeed, the queen desperate for her eye to be returned. And I’m not leaving without Alice.

I check the room for a weapon and find a jewelled dagger about the length of my forearm. It’s not much, but it’ll do.

Creeping out, I head down the corridor, each scuffed footstep sounding double loud against the crackle and pop of the flaming torches. At the end, on the left, a huge archway looms from the shadows. I move into the wall and slide along.

My breathing comes quick and shallow, my heart booms in my chest. I inch forwards and my eyes widen.

The archway leads to the biggest room I’ve ever seen. I’m not even sure you can call it a room. It seems to have no roof and stars twinkle overhead. The wall opposite must be a least two football pitches away. This place is massive, filled with piles of treasure bigger than a house. A weird undulating landscape of gold and jewels with pathways snaking through, all clustered round a smooth black pool that ebbs and flows like oil. Limbo. Hope ripples through me.

Alice.

A gust of wind ruffles my hair, the beat of wings and a dragon descends from the black above. My heart hammers against my ribs. This must be Sabotini. I’ve read so much about dragons, seen so many pictures but none of it does her justice. She’s totally awesome and mega scary. Black scales glow golden in the reflected light. Her wings are huge and deep red, with ridges evenly spaced throughout. She folds them away across her spiked back and makes a deep sound in the back of her throat.

“A disturbance. An imbalance.” Her voice is soft and velvety, the sort of voice I could listen to all day. Nothing like the harsh tone I’d expected. She cocks her head, first one way then the other, as if listening to the darkness. “We cannot have this.”

She dips a claw into the pool and starts to mutter strange words.

Heart in mouth I slip into the cavern and tiptoe across to the nearest mound, lay myself flat and crawl up. The coins crunch a little under my weight, but I keep going, hopeful she’s too focussed to notice.

Sweat beads on my forehead, my chest tight. I reach the top and peek over. The mound flattens out to my left and dips down into a crater like a volcano. A volcano of treasure. The coins at the bottom have a huge, dragon shaped indent in them. This must be where she sleeps. Dragons always sleep with their most prized possessions. Romalesque’s eye must be down there somewhere. My gaze flicks to Sabotini. She’s still muttering words in a strange language that rises and falls like music.

I scan the crater, not even sure what I’m looking for. If the emerald is the size of an eyeball, then it’ll be almost impossible to find in here. I can see cups and jugs, ornate daggers like the one I’m holding, chains, necklaces, bracelets.

I gasp. There’s a sword sticking out from the coins, buried almost up to its hilt. The handle is gold with a bird’s talon shaped into the end of it, and inside the talon, a sphere. Grey clouds seem to swirl inside it, they move in bands of different shades like those on Jupiter.

“Minas,” I whisper, barely able to control my excitement. Garvey’s words come back to me.

Only Minas, forged by Lodinitus could slay a dragon and that sword has been lost for many an age now.

And I’ve found it.

Sabotini stops muttering, leans forward, and plunges a claw into the pool of black. She moves it back and forth as if feeling for something, then grunts and heaves, holds her claw up high and stares at what she’s found. My heart stops beating before pounding even more.

Alice is dangling limply from the dragon’s claw.

I swallow heavily, feel the heat of threatened tears in my eyes and force down a sob.

Sabotini’s voice is like a velvet covered knife. “You should not have been in there little one.” She turns and I drop flat to the coins, my breathing heavy. “I will deal with you later, there is one more who should not be there. One more like you.” She makes a throaty growl that sends shivers down my spine. “One who has been there many a year.”

I wait, my heart thumping against the coins beneath me. A scraping noise and then the murmured language starts again. I hazard a glance. Sabotini has turned away to face the black pool again.

I raise myself up slowly and stare at Alice. She’s completely still, her braids hanging down over her face, covering it. Hope drains from me like water in a colander.

No!

I blink. Did she just move? I stare until my eyes are sore, fighting the urge to blink when it happens again. Her fingers twitch slightly.

Butterflies flit in my stomach.

She turns her head slowly, as if waking up and her braids fall to one side. There’s a lightness in my arms, like a weight I didn’t even know was there just disappeared. I clamp my lips shut to stop myself calling out. All I want to do is run to her, but that’ll get us both caught.

I wet my lips then gently ease myself up over the edge of the coins and work my way down the slope, my gaze flicking from Alice to Sabotini and back again. As I reach the bottom, Alice raises her head, and our gazes meet. A sleepy smile creeps across her face.

I shake my head, put a finger to my lips then point behind.

She turns and freezes, seeing the dragon for the first time. Her gaze snaps back to me. I put my hand out, palm towards her. “Stay still.” I mouth. Her eyes widen further. I put my hands together as if in prayer and mouth, “Please.”

Alice lays her head down on the coins, her eyes facing me. I point towards Minas, and she gives the tiniest of nods.

The coins tinkle and crunch as I step slowly towards the legendary sword, my footsteps loud in the silence.

Silence?

My mouth goes dry. Sabotini’s murmuring has stopped. I don’t have much time. Heart pounding, I head towards the sword as quickly as I dare, am almost there when a gust of wind ruffles my hair, making the skin on the back of my neck crawl. I know what’s coming next. The beat of wings, the crunch of claws digging into coins.

“And what have we here?”

Every muscle in my body is tight: an elastic band stretched to breaking point. Minas is only an arm’s length away. It may as well be on the moon.

I turn, bringing the scale-shield up to my chest.

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Swallowing to push the tightness from my throat I call out. “Well met Sabotini, first of her kind.” My eyes flick to Alice, but she’s gone. A lightning bolt of hope jolts through me and I force my gaze back to the dragon.

She’s stood on the edge of the pile of coins next to mine. Her emerald-green eyes watch me, seemingly playful and I wonder where Romalesque’s eye is. Her head is like a T-Rex, but with gnarled and twisted horns. Rows and rows of sharp teeth, each the length of my finger fill her mouth.

She tilts her head to one side. “So, you know of me.” Her eyes blink, the inner lids moving sideways across them, like a cat. “But I do not know you.”

No way I’m telling a dragon my real name. I bow. “My name is Bradley Baggins.”

Sabotini clacks her teeth and makes a noise in the back of her throat that might be laughter, disgust, or just a big chunk of phlegm. “I feel I have heard that name somewhere before.”

Sweat rolls down my back but I smile. “I think not. Had I met the mighty Sabotini before I would remember.”

She narrows her eyes, and in the back of her throat, a small fire ignites. I pull the scale-shield closer, stand tall and face her. Wherever Alice is, I hope she’s safe.

Sabotini spits each word out. “Why. Are. You. Here?” Smoke billows from her nostrils. “Why is there a disturbance in Limbo?”

I shake my head. “I know nothing of this mighty Sabotini. I come seeking the eye of The Fae Queen.”

“And you have found your death.”

She opens her mouth wide. I push the shield forward and shut my eyes. All I can think is that I’m going to die here. All I want is to get Alice and go home.

The roar of the fire comes first, a hiss and crackle. I tense my arm, ready for the pain. Instead, a pleasant warmth shimmers around me. My eyes snap open.

I’m inside a bubble of fire. It flows over me and around me. The heat is warming, like being in the park on a summer’s day. Distorted through the roiling flames, Sabotini’s fangs loom large, the jet of fire from her mouth continuous.

“Arrgghh.” Her jaws clamp shut, the jet stops and the bubble dissolves into shimmering rainbow light. “Fae magic,” she mutters. “How DARE you bring Fae Magic into my lair.”

I throw my shoulders back and stand tall. “You were friends with the Fae once, with Vesterharjle.”

Sabotini snorts sending black smoke curling upwards from her nostrils. “Once, yes. But his daughter, this Romalesque, she is no friend to me.”

“Nor me,” I say.

“You hold her token, you do her bidding. But what you don’t know is that Fae Magic weakens with every moment it spends in my lair. That shield,” she grunts, “will not keep you safe for too long.”

Fear snakes through me. Gotta think fast. “It is true that I am cursed by the Fae, but as I said, I am no friend to them. I have access to Romalesque. If I were to return her eye she would trust me more. Perhaps then we could work together to bring peace?”

Her green eyes narrow and she tilts her head to one side. “You must think me stupid.”

“Not at all, oh mighty one.”

“And after your curse is lifted, after you can go home, you would return here and do my bidding?”

“I give you my word.”

She makes the coughing noise in the back of her throat. “Peace? I want war, little human, and I will have it.”

She opens her mouth wide, and the flames ignite before shooting towards me. They hit the shield and flow over me, the heat more intense this time. My skin tingles and sweat catches in my eyebrows. I tense my arm, lock the shield in place and look behind me. Minas is right there.

I step backwards until the bubble of fire surrounds both me and the sword. Throwing the jewelled dagger away I grab the clawed hilt and pull. To my surprise the sword slides easily from the coins.

Sabotini stops breathing fire. “Put that back,” she bellows. “Now!”

“No.” I take a step towards her.

“Then die!”

The jet of flame surrounds me once more, the heat so intense now that it stings my skin, the acrid smell of singed hair filling my nostrils. I scoot backwards towards the edge of the coins, careful not to trip and fall. Maybe I can dive over, get out the way. At least for now. Anything is better than standing waiting to die.

“Eat this,” Alice yells. Jumping onto the ledge of the opposite bank of the coin crater, she pulls her arm back and flings Barnabus’ Iced Bun through the air, straight into the jet of fire. It explodes in a cloud of smoke and Sabotini stumbles backwards, the flame shooting vertically upwards before she clamps her mouth shut, cutting it off.

The coins crunch as Alice sprints over to me. “I’m glad I didn’t eat that bun! Come on. Quick.”

Forcing my stiff legs to move, I follow her towards the opposite side of the crater. My heart jitters as I throw a look backwards.

Sabotini has disappeared.

Alice reaches the edge first, leaps over and rolls down to the floor. I’m almost there when a gust of wind blows me from my feet. The air is knocked from my lungs as I land heavily, the shield slides from my arm. I wrap my fingers around the hilt of Minas then roll onto my back as a shadow looms.

Cold fills my bones.

Sabotini stands over me, one claw raised. The talons are brutal and beautiful. Rainbow colours crawl across them as they sway gently from side to side. My eyes widen. On the smallest claw is a ring of silver, and set into this, a deep green gem.

The eye!

“Yes.” She whispers. “There it is. And there it will stay.”

I grab the hilt of Minas with both hands and as she brings her foot down, roll, bringing the sword upwards.

A scream echoes around the cavern, vibrating my insides. Sabotini’s toe lands next to me with a sickening thud. Off balance she stumbles towards the edge, towards where Alice jumped down. The dragon stares at me wide-eyed, her two front legs bicycling in the air, then totters and falls.

“Alice!” I yell.

“I’m ok.” Her voice comes from over to my left. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. Let’s get out of here.”

“What about the eye?”

“I got it.”

“Nice! Let’s move.”

I shoot a glance over to where Sabotini fell. She’s struggling to right herself.

We don’t have long.

Laying Minas flat on the coins, I swing the Angelmere bag from my shoulder. A jet of Flame shoots into the air, the heat prickling my skin. I think of the iced bun, open the bag, pull the bun out and throw it towards Sabotini. It sails over the edge and hits a stack of coins on the other side, then explodes in a puff of smoke. The coins wobble before dropping, bringing the whole stack down with them, burying her.

“I’ll kill you mortal, you and that aberration I pulled from Limbo.” Her snarl is muffled but still it cuts through me like her claws would.

Heart racing, I take the bag and try to wrestle the end of the claw into it. Dread sneaks up and taps me on my shoulder. The toe is so big, it won’t fit. It’s like trying to get your sleeping bag back into its cover. Then the bag expands around the toe, swallows it whole and shrinks back to normal size. A grin splits my face and I pull the string tight, swing the bag onto my back, grab Minas and sprint to the edge nearest the door. The bag feels slightly heavy for the first time, but more like it’s got a can of drink in it than a dragon’s toe. I hope I get to keep this thing; it’d be ace for school.

A clash and rattle behind me and coins start to rain down from above. One coin catches my shoulder and I wince. Gonna be some bruises if I ever get out of here.

I throw another desperate glance backwards.

Sabotini stands, open mouthed, knee deep in treasure. It’s straight out of a comic book. I hurl myself over the edge and roll down the slope of coins, a jet of flame passing narrowly overhead.

Alice is waiting for me at the bottom, bouncing on the soles of her feet. “Which way?”

“Over there.”

We run through the archway and head down towards where I saw Palgamor. Sabotini’s footsteps crunch on the coins, her snarls of hatred sending waves of panic through me.

“I hope you’ve got a plan,” Alice says breathlessly as we sprint down the corridor.

“Trust me.”

A scrape and snarl behind makes us both looks back. My stomach flips. Sabotini is crawling through the archway into the corridor. We’re almost there, just a few more steps.

“Where are you going, little ones?” Sabotini opens her mouth, and the flame ignites. I grab Alice and yank her into the room as fire fills the corridor.

Alice spins, wide-eyed. “Omg. OMG!” Her hands close into fists and she takes a deep, shuddering breath. “What now?”

“The mirror. It’s a way out.”

“Where’s the other one?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think we need another this time.”

“Why?”

“Because Palgamor gave me a shield through it.”

“And you didn’t leave? You stayed?”

I shrug. “You’d have done the same.”

The room shudders as Sabotini’s footsteps come nearer and nearer.

Placing my hand on the mirror I push on the glass, but nothing happens. The vibrations in the floor get stronger and stronger, the dragon closer and closer. Heart pounding, I push again. “Come on. Come on!”

The mirror only shows the terrified reflections of me and Alice.

She places her hand next to mine on the glass. “What’s wrong?” Her voice is high and tight.

“I don’t know. Palgamor said to return here.”

Darkness rolls across the room in a wave. We both turn. Sabotini’s head is just outside the arched entrance. There’s nowhere left to run.

I don’t know if dragons can smile, but if they can, it’d look something like Sabotini now I reckon. “You came so close. But close is not good enough.”

I lift Minas with both hands, and stare at her.

Pressure on my shoulder, a grip hard as iron. Two pale arms are sticking straight out from the mirror, one hand on my shoulder, the other on Alice’s. Suddenly we’re yanked backwards and land on a soft, red carpet. My head snaps up. A jet of fire is heading straight for me.

Alice yells something I don’t hear properly.

Flinching away, eyes squeezed shut, I hold Minas up, hoping beyond hope that the magic in Lodinitus’s sword will protect us both. But for the second time, there’s no pain. My fingers dig into the soft, woollen carpet. My brain does somersaults in my head.

And I laugh, ‘cause I don’t know what else to do, my fear evaporating like steam.

The fire is contained within the mirror, not reflected, but actually inside it. And then the image fades and I see myself and Alice sprawled on the floor, Romalesque and Palgamor stood arms folded behind us.

Alice’s reflection grins at me. “So, that was pretty cool, right?”

I push myself up. “Yeah. Kind of.”