Night of the Ninth Dragon by Mary Pope Osborne

Author:Mary Pope Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Published: 2016-07-26T04:00:00+00:00

“We have to go, Jack!” said Annie. She grabbed him and pulled him away. “Bye! Thank you, Cafelle! Thanks, Kee!” she called back to them. “Thanks for everything!”

“But I don’t understand,” Jack said to Annie. “What do we do with these stones?”

“Use our imaginations!” said Annie.

“But how, exactly?” said Jack.

“Don’t worry! We’ll figure it out. We have to hurry! Come on!” said Annie. And she took off running through the forest.

Jack looked back at the hut. Cafelle and Kee had gone inside.

“Hurry, Jack!” called Annie.

“Darn,” said Jack, annoyed. He crammed his stone into a pocket of his jeans and ran after the others.

Jack caught up with everyone at the footbridge. Annie picked up Oki and carried him across the stream. The queen helped Arthur into the back of the cart. The king trembled as he drank deeply from the leather flask. Again, Jack worried about running out of the healing water.

When he finished drinking, Arthur lay back on the hay and closed his eyes.

“We must hurry,” Guinevere said quietly to Jack and Annie, “or all will be lost.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” said Jack.

“Keep him warm,” Annie whispered to Oki. She put the puppy next to Arthur, and the little dog cuddled against the king again.

“On to Munith Mor,” the queen said. Then she hoisted herself into the back of the cart.

Jack and Annie climbed onto the drivers’ bench. Annie picked up the reins.

“Hike!” she said.

In the failing light, the yoked oxen began lumbering up the road toward the distant mountain peaks.

“Hurry!” Annie said, shaking the reins.

But the oxen kept their slow pace as the cart creaked and bumped over the rough ground. How will we ever make it to the mountain, find the gold dragon, and return to the castle before dawn? Jack wondered. And what does Cafelle expect us to do with the red stones?

“We need more information,” he said to Annie. “We should have learned more about the stones.”

“We had to hurry,” said Annie.

“I know, but you lack patience,” said Jack, quoting Cafelle.

“Well, you don’t act quickly enough,” said Annie. “And you worry too much.”

Both of them were silent for a moment.

“Read the riddle again,” said Annie.

Jack pulled out his notebook and read: “Moon so bright.” He stopped.

“Keep going,” said Annie.

Jack read the next line: “Munith Mor night.” He paused again.

“Keep going, keep going!” said Annie.

“No! Let’s discuss each line,” said Jack.

“But we know what those lines mean,” said Annie. “Plus we need to think about the whole riddle.”

“The way to figure out the whole riddle is piece by piece, line by line,” said Jack. He looked back at his notebook. “Moon so—”

Jack’s reading was interrupted by a gasp from Annie. He looked up. “What?”

“Wolf pack!” she whispered.

In the distance, three horsemen in black cloaks were riding across a burnt field, heading toward the road.

“Oh, man.” Jack’s hands shook as he stuffed his notebook into his pack. He looked back at the queen. “Invaders ahead!” he said.

Guinevere nodded and covered the king’s face with his ragged cloak. Then she slumped down in the hay beside him and tucked her golden hair under the hood of her own cloak.

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