The Dark Lord of Derkholm by Diana Wynne Jones

Author:Diana Wynne Jones [Diana Wynne Jones]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2013-08-12T04:00:00+00:00

cales came back the following morning, dangling two protesting hampers of geese and accompanied by a snowy, gliding echelon of daylight owls. Perched between the saw-edges on his shoulders, and looking rather the worse for it, was Derk. Shona screamed with delight and ran out from among the trees. As soon as Scales had tossed the hampers down – honk, yatter, SCOLD! – and made a rather heavier landing than he nowadays did, Shona hurried to help Derk tenderly down.

“Oh Dad! You’ve lost weight! And you look chilled to the bone!”

“Only more or less cut in half. I don’t recommend dragon riding,” Derk said. “Thanks, Scales. Can I offer you a Friendly Cow?”

“No thank you,” Scales rumbled. “I told you. I hunted on the way, for the first time for three hundred years. I had forgotten both the pleasure of it and what skill it took.”

Derk turned as Kit and Don came bounding up, with Blade hurrying in the rear. They had all three hung back a little because they were fairly sure they were in for a scolding. But Derk beamed at them all. “You seem to have been coping rather well. Great doings. And whichever of you asked those dwarfs what they were doing did a really smart thing.”

“That was me,” said Don. “But Blade asked too. Anyone would. It was pretty queer.”

“You’re right,” said Derk. “It was pretty queer. Scales came and told me about it and then we flew out to ask them some questions. Then we had to go back and send Elda and Callette to Mara. It’s been a busy night. Why isn’t Barnabas here? I thought he was supposed to be helping you.”

“We didn’t really tell him you were ill,” Shona confessed.

Blade simply stood there, grinning increasingly widely as he realised that Scales could not have eaten those dwarfs after all, not with Dad there. Derk looked at him, wondering why he was so quiet. “What happened to the dwarfs in the end?” Blade asked, to make absolutely sure.

Derk laughed. “We gave them a change of destination – Scales’s idea – and sent them to Derkholm. We told them, quite truthfully, that it’s the Dark Lord’s Citadel. They were quite pleased because it wasn’t nearly so far to go.” This more or less set Blade’s mind at rest, although he felt slightly dubious when Derk turned to Scales and said, “I suppose you’ll want to be off looking for the rest of the dwarfs with tribute now?”

“I shall help you get these murderers into their barracks first,” Scales replied. “I can’t see how you would get them there without a dragon to drive them.”

“I expect I’d have thought of something,” Derk said comfortably. “But I would be very grateful for your help.”

They got ready to march, accompanied now by the whole flock of geese and with the owls riding on the bundles piled on the spare horses. Shona willingly gave up riding Beauty. Beauty and Pretty were so pleased to see Derk again that they nuzzled around him and became quite a hindrance.

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