"Can't you watch where those big feet of yours are going?" Hope asked in exasperation when Whittle tripped for the third time and his hand jerked hers as he struggled to remain standing.

"I can't very well see my feet when they are invisible, your highness," Whittle pointed out patiently, not adding that Princess Hope was familiar with the island, whereas he had only arrived a few hours ago and found it difficult to keep up with her rapid pace without occasionally stumbling over an unexpected object.

Princess Hope seemed to know what he was thinking. "I am sorry to rush so, but we must reach the garden, dig up whatever roots we can find, and return to the others before this spell wears off," she explained as they hurried across a meadow that was dotted with the dry bones of some large creatures.

"Are those dragon skeletons?" Whittle asked and was embarrassed when the girl laughed at his question.

"Nay!" Hope said, then added more seriously, "Those poor creatures were cattle. The monster has killed them all and picked their bones clean. As he will ours if he ever gets the chance. Now do you understand why we must make haste? It is folly to be out in the open when Garreth's son is on the hunt!"

Garreth must have been the dragon that Chester had been so protective of, Whittle thought. The one that had drawn the red dragon away from their balloon and Alanna had believed a 'good' dragon. Deciding that questions about such matters should wait until they were safely back at the shelter, he walked silently on through the woods, his hand held tightly in Hope's grip.

"Quiet now!" Princess Hope ordered, though Whittle hadn't said anything since she had laughed at his ignorance. "We are almost to the garden. We may be invisible, but the dragon can still hear us if we make noise."

Whittle had nothing to say anyway, though he did mutter to the young princess as they stepped out onto the dirt and she pulled her hand free from his, "Meet me at the tree behind us when you are done digging vegetables, your highness. Or we may never find each other again."

"Call me Hope!" the girl whispered back. "There is no royalty on this island. Everyone is equal. You can start here. There should be a few carrots left. I am going to move down a few rows to where the beets were planted. A most vile tasting root," she said with obvious disdain, "but it will fill the stomach."

Whittle could see the small imprint her shoes made in the dusty ground as she walked away from him.

Before he could begin digging an unexpected movement out of the corner of his eye caught Whittle's attention. The hair on the back of his neck stiffened as he turned and saw a red dragon flying directly toward them. He opened his mouth to call out a warning and then laughed at himself for having forgotten that he and the princess were invisible. His amusement turned to apprehension and apprehension to dread as the dragon flew on toward them. As it began a downward plunge he came to life . Ripping his cloak from off of his back he sprinted toward the spot where the small shoeprints had stopped. He almost tripped over Hope as she knelt digging up dirt in her search for vegetables.

"Keep this over you and don't move!" he hissed, as he threw his cloak, brown side up, on top of the girl. Then he ran as fast as his long legs would carry him toward the woods.

With an angry hiss the dragon flew after him, its ugly orange claws open to snatch up its prey. With a mighty leap through the air Whittle landed near the same bush Hope had hidden in earlier that day and rolled into the shuddery where he lay hoping the dragon wouldn't have the wits to realize where he had gone. He could hear it lumbering about the edge of the garden as it searched for him. Whittle lay still as a mouse, praying the Princess was doing likewise. How good was Prick's cape anyway? Would the piece of cloth provide enough camouflage to keep the girl safe from detection? Perhaps he had best try and lure the beast away from the garden before it discovered the girl hidden under the brown cloak.

Whittle peeked out from between some limbs and was shocked to discover that the dragon's claw was inches from his face. Could he sever the limb before he, himself, was killed, he wondered, his hand moving down to the sword that hung from his side. What did it matter what happened to him as long as his family and the village were saved from destruction?

Before he could act the dragon let out a long hiss and took to the air.

Fearing Hope had been discovered Whittle crawled out from under the bush, his hand on the hilt of his sword, ready to draw it and attack the beast if it were threatening the princess. The dragon, however, was already flying away. Had it taken the princess? How was he to know, with her still invisible? She could be clasped in its ugly claws and he wouldn't be able to see her.

He ran out onto the garden and looked around for the cloak. When he didn't see it his heart sank. Then a hot surge of anger rushed through him and he vowed he would search down and destroy the monster who had carried off the beautiful young princess.

Whittle did something he normally didn't do. He swore, quite audibly.

It was then a brown form rose from the ground. Without thinking Whittle ran toward it and grabbed the princess up in a bear hug. Then, embarrassed at his impertinent behavior, he let loose of the girl and said with a shaky laugh, "Well, your highness we have learned a very important thing about dragons today."

"And what is that, pray tell?" she asked in a cool, but unoffended voice.

"Why, we have learned that wizards' spells do not work on them, of course!" he said grandly.

"I have learned a very important thing too, Whittle," the girl said almost shyly.

"And what is that?" he asked, not sure he wanted to hear her response.

"I have learned that you are a very heroic young man," she said with admiration. "When my father hears how you put your own life at risk to save mine, he will surely knight you for your bravery."

"I have no wish to become one of King Ryan's knights!" Whittle snapped, then, realizing that the girl wasn't to blame for her father's knights terrorizing his village, he added more kindly. "We had best get out of the open, hadn't we, before the beast comes back? What made him take off anyway? He was inches from me when he suddenly lost interest."

"It wasn't so much that he lost interest, as that something new caught his attention," Hope said, her cool voice making the boy painfully aware that he had offended the princess by his remark about not wanting to be knighted. "There was a man at the edge of the woods. When he saw the dragon he ran away, but he was too late. The dragon had already spied him."

"Clayton!" Whittle muttered. "I had forgotten about him. I suppose I'd best go and see if he is all right. You go back to the others, your highness, while I see if I can track him down."

"I told you to call me Hope. And I don't take orders from peasants," the girl said firmly. "Or anyone else, for that matter. I will go with you to see about this friend of yours."

"Clayton is no friend," Whittle explained. "He did me a favor and I was duty bound to take him with us when we escaped from Cedric the Great."

"You escaped from a wizard?" she asked, his offense forgotten by this new piece of information. "So you weren't sent to rescue me at all," she added as though to herself.

"It is a long story, your highness , and now is not the place to tell it. My brother will give you the full tale when you return to the shelter."

"Nice try, young man, but I am not leaving you until we find this Clayton, or learn that he has been carried off by the dragon. He ran off that way!" then, realizing that Whittle couldn't see what way she was pointing, the girl groped for his arm, then found his hand. "Come," she said. "I will show you."

The feel of her hand in his was both comforting and vexing. Comforting because it was soft and warm, vexing because she refused to return to the others where she would be safe from the dragon.

"You can come out, Clayton," Whittle said, bending down to put his lips near the opening lest the dragon were within hearing.

"That you, Whittle?" the man asked, lowering his hands and peering in Whittle's direction. "Did you kill the monster then?"

"I don't know where the dragon is, Clayton. But I don't see him about. We're in no immediate danger. Come out, and I'll take you to the others. There's safety in numbers, as they say."

"I ain't coming out until I know that beast is gone," the man said stubbornly. "The brute near had me, it did. If I hadn't found this here old log I'd be sitting in his tummy and he'd be thinking what a fine breakfast he'd had."

"More likely he'd of fond you tough chewing and you'd have given the poor beast indigestion," Whittle said dryly. "Come out now, or we will leave you here to fend for yourself."

"It's all right," Hope said. She was standing behind Whittle gazing toward a high precipice. "The dragon is entering his cave. Do you see, Whittle? It's up on the side of the cliff to your right. I used to sleep there until the beast discovered it."

"You climbed that each night?" Whittle asked in amazement as he took in the cliff's rugged steep surface and the distance to the dark opening in its side.

"Only once," she admitted. "After that I took the path. You can't see it, for it's well hidden. In fact, I doubt either Garreth or his son are aware of its existence."

"What's that?" Clayton had crawled out of the log and was gazing up at the cliff. "There's a path, you say? To the dragon's cave? I fancy that's where he keeps his treasure then? You've seen his horde, have you?" he asked, looking around to address the young princess. His frown deepened and his narrow eyes became even narrower. "Where you gotten off to?" he asked. "Left poor Clayton to starve or be eaten by the monster has you? That's the thanks I gets for trying to help others, it is!"

"We're still here, Clayton," Whittle told him. "Julian has made us invisible, though I fancy the spell won't last much longer. It doesn't matter, though. Magic doesn't seem to work on dragons. At least not this dragon."

"Well I could of told you that!" the man said with a touch of pride. "I learned that when I was an apprentice for the Great Cedric. Dragons got different eyes and different brains than other creatures. They ain't so easily fooled."

"I suggest we stop talking and get back to the garden. Since the dragon has gone into his cave it should be safe to dig up a few vegetables," Princess Hope told them briskly. "I don't know about you two gentlemen, but I, for one, am ravenously hungry."

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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