Not knowing what else to do the boy patted her back awkwardly. "Don't worry, Alanna," her friend muttered. "Didn't you hear Dagu? You know all you need to know to become a successful sorceresses."

"It's not that!" the girl said, raising a tear drenched face. "There's evil in the air. Can't you feel it?"

"The only thing I feel is a beastly cold wind!" Clayton grumbled from where he sat on the bottom of the basket, his back resting against the finely woven fibers, his legs drawn up into his arms. "I should of stayed in me own room where I was warm and there was plenty of food."

"Quiet!" Whittle whispered, his head cocked to one side as he listened. "It's the same voices we heard in the woods, Julian. Only they're very faint. Is that what you mean, Alanna?"

"I don't hear anything, Whittle, I just sense it."

"Timon hear it too," the young fairy announced with a shiver. "Voices on the wind, far away still, but growing closer."

"It be an evil force, set out to do great harm!" Obil declared darkly. He was sitting on the edge of the basket gazing downward. "Once before Obil heard voices on the wind. Just before a great storm that cast our people into the waves!"

"I hear it now!" Julian said, his voice filled with dread, his face pinched. "It's them all right. That's why the wind has become so cold. It's full of Avery's enslaved spirits. They're hunting us, just like they did in the woods!"

"Hush, Julian, you're frightening Alanna!" Whittle advised as the girl's eyes widened and she pressed more closely to Julian. "Spirits can't hurt us, Alanna."

"No, but they can take us to them what can!" Clayton said harshly as the wind suddenly switched direction and picked up force.

"Obil not afraid, but he has duty to protect King Jakin's son!" Obil announced and before the young fairy knew what was happening the captain of his father's guard had grabbed the king's son, pinned his wings to his side, and flown down to dart through a small opening in Julian's backpack.

"Do something, Whittle!" Julian cried as the wind howled and the basket they were in swung wildly back and forth.

Whittle thought of the flutes hanging from his belt, but knew instinctively that the foe they were confronting would be unaffected by his music.

A darkness that shut out the nighttime sky settled about them and a numbing cold crept into the wind that was blowing them swiftly off course. Whether they were being taken prisoner, or merely played with in some sort of cruel cat and mouse game, Whittle didn't know. He did know they must do something quickly, or his quest would fail and Randam and all that lived there would be destroyed. He ran over in his mind everything he could recall of Dagu's hurried instructions.

Frantically he turned the lever as the old wizard had instructed him, hoping to shut off the heat and cause the balloon to sink earthward, but it did no good. He turned the lever almost entirely open hoping to rise upward, but still the wind held them in its grip, blowing them across the sky at an alarming speed.

"Try Dagu's wand, Alanna," Whittle exclaimed, holding onto the sides of the basket with both hands as it pitched wildly back and forth. Alanna looked up from where she lay huddled next to Julian and shook her head.

"Pretty colored lights aren't going to do any good against evil spirits, Whittle!" she sobbed.

"Let me try, Alanna!" Julian begged, though they were in such darkness now that it was difficult for his friend to see the hand the boy held out toward her.

While the girl fumbled in her skirt for the wand she had placed deep in her pocket Whittle bent down and found Todd's walking stick.

"Hold this in your other hand, Julian," Whittle instructed, pressing the old bent piece of wood into his brother's free hand. "I won't let you fall out," he promised, grabbing his brother's belt with one hand and the side of the basket with the other as a sudden guest of cold wind sent them rocking wildly back and forth.

Alanna managed to get to her feet and grasp hold of one of the ropes that held the balloon to the basket. With her other hand she reached out and lay her hand over top of Julian's.

"Two would be wizards are better than one," she said with an attempt at levity and then, lifting the boy's hand skyward, but away from the overhead balloon, she muttered a few words under her breath.

The results surprised them all and brought an oath from the man who lay curled up on the floor.

Whittle watched the rainbow of colors as it parted the darkness, climbing higher and higher into the sky to burst with a loud bang into a fountain of flowing lights.

"Might as well have announced to old Avery 'Here they be'!" Clayton moaned.

The trail of lights had opened a path for the balloon and it rose swiftly upward, out of the darkness into a new softly flowing current of air.

Whittle turned down the lever, lest they continue to raise too high into the nighttime sky and lose the favorable wind that was now blowing them toward the moonlit pillars where he had been told the dragon dwelt.

"We did it!" Julian shouted, his joyful leaps rocking the basket nearly as wildly as had the cold wind that lay like a dark river below them.

"I expect we had a little help, Julian," Whittle said, recalling Dagu's instruction to set off his lights if they needed assistance. "In any event, we seem to be headed in the right direction now. Though the pillar seems very far away and the wind isn't carrying us nearly as swiftly as it did when we started out."

"Good old Dagu, make an extra gust to push Timon and his friends safely away from Cedric," the young pixie, who had been allowed to leave his place of confinement once his guardian was sure they were safe, voiced what everyone already suspected.

"As for me, I'll not be in any hurry to get to this dragon's island you're aiming for. In fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd set this contraption down and let your old friend off. That's a good fellow, Whittle!"

"I'm afraid not, Clayton," Whittle said. "Much as I'd like to be free of you, I'm not going to take the chance of going down and finding myself trapped by Avery or his evil spirits. I don't know if the voices were after us, or our transportation, but I know I'm not going to risk falling into their clutches a second time. We'll stay up here and in the current of wind as long as it's carrying us in the right direction."

"Besides, Clayton, don't you want to look for the dragon's hoard?" Julian teased. "It will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams!"

"Hush, Julian!" Alanna ordered. "There are some things we don't joke about. Nothing good ever came from taking what belongs to a dragon. I for one wouldn't touch a dragon's hoard for all the riches in all the earth's kingdoms."

"You really think this dragon of yours has treasures stashed somewhere on the island, Whittle?" Clayton asked with feigned indifference.

Whittle shrugged. "Ask Timon or Obil," he advised. "They can tell you."

"Well, Timon never see treasures, but King Jakin, Timon's father, tell him all about it. Very big mountain, he say, full of shiny gold and sparkling jewels."

"That's enough, Timon," Whittle said, not liking the new light that shone out from behind Clayton's narrowed eyes. "We're not after treasure, just a dragon's claw."

"Dragons very hard to kill, young master," Obil said soberly. "And Chester not like it if you hurt old Garreth."

"Whose Garreth?" Julian asked.

"Dragon who carry off princess, of course," Timon's bubbly laughter lightened everyones' mood and brought a smile to Whittle's face.

"If the princess is still alive she'll be the greatest treasure of all. Imagine what her father would give to get his daughter back home safely!"

"We'll not seek any reward for rescuing a young maiden in distress, Clayton," Whittle said firmly. "But if it means saving my village from destruction, I'll personally escort the princess back to her kingdom and present her to the king myself."

Julian broke into laughter. "I'm sorry," he said as he saw everyone staring at him. "It's just the idea of Whittle in the company of a princess. Why, he gets tongue-tied talking to the village milk-maid."

"I've matured a bit since we left home, Julian," Whittle said somewhat miffed at his brother for pointing out one of his shortcomings. He had never claimed to be good around people, and especially giggling, doe-eyed girls who whispered about you behind your back, pretending to like you one minute and snubbing you the next.

"You know it's awhile until we reach the island," Alanna said, not amused by Julian's teasing. "I suggest we try and get some sleep. There's no telling what we'll find once we get there, or when we'll have another chance to rest."

"That's a good idea, Alanna," Whittle said, ashamed that he hadn't thought of it himself. "I'll take the first watch. Julian the second, Obil the third, and Clayton the last."

"And Timon!" the young fairy cried angrily. "Don't forget Timon."

"Of course not, young prince," Whittle hastened to assure, "I meant Obil and Timon, of course!"

Timon nodded as if satisfied and then with a big yawn flew down to disappear into Julian's backpack.

"Wake me once we get over the water, Master Victor," Obil advised. "It be very dangerous to approach certain parts of the island."

Whittle didn't think they had much choice in the matter. They would have to land where the wind took them, but he nodded and turned his attention to watching the sky and the stars that gradually grew dimmer as dawn approached.

Whittle had dozed off, his head resting on his arms which were crossed on the rim of the basket, when he awoke to an angry buzzing in his ear.

"Not wise to fall asleep on watch!" Obil said severely. "Already flying over big water. Should be lower, so dragon not see us approach so easily. Big red dragon on side of ship very visible. If Garreth or young dragon see, they think is another dragon and want to fight."

"What's all the fuss?" Julian asked sleepily as he awoke and rubbed his eyes. "You sound like an angry bee, Obil," he muttered getting to his feet and joining his brother's side. As he gazed out past Whittle his jaw dropped and his eyes popped wide open. "Great Hoppy Toads!" he cried, pointing a finger out toward the land they were approaching. "Looks like we're too late, Whittle. I would say that's your princess down on the beach, and it looks to me like she's about to be eaten by our dragon!"

Dragon's Claw Book One
Price $12.95  
    by Charles M. Clark
(Browser Readable E-Book on CD-ROM contains Music & No Sound Options)

FROM THE BOOK STORE

Prince Adam returns home to find his father, the King, gravely ill, some say dying. Feeling unprepared for the duties of kingship, and unhappy about a proposed marriage between himself and a rather plain princess, Adam makes a plea to the Powers that be for guidance and help. Adam then falls into a deep sleep and awakes in an unfamiliar land full of sinister foes and wild men. Yet it is one of these wild men that takes Adam under his wing and teaches the young prince what it takes to be a real leader. Charles M. Clark has written this book for older children and teens, but older folks enjoy it as well. All Antelope Publishing's fantasy books are browser readable and come on CD-ROM. The CD-ROM contains TWO books. One book with music and special electronic enhancements, and one book without, for times when a quieter read is desired. For more information about browser readable e-books CLICK HERE

The Making of a King
Price $9.95  
    by Charles M. Clark
(Browser Readable E-Book on CD-ROM contains Music & No Sound Options)

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