When Audun woke the next morning the sun was already up and the sand was uncomfortably hot. As he flew over the desert, the light reflecting off the sand made his head hurt, but he’d already used up an entire day helping the children and didn’t want to lose any more time.
Audun’s head was pounding when he finally saw an oasis, small, yet with a glint of water, and an islet of stunted trees. He licked his dry, cracked lips, but despite the pain in his head and his ever-growing thirst, the young dragon was reluctant to land for fear that the oasis was either a mirage or a trap. The water looked so tempting, and the shade so inviting, however, that Audun circled the oasis, high enough that anything on the ground would have difficulty seeing him, but low enough that he could see if something moved.
When the oasis didn’t disappear and he didn’t spot anything dangerous, he flew down until he was close enough to see an ant waving its feelers from the tip of a nodding leaf. Audun settled to the ground and sniffed the water. It smelled as clean and pure as it looked, so he took a chance and sipped. The water was warm, but delicious. As it trickled down his throat, he gave up all caution and submerged his head, taking one enormous gulp after another. Fortunately for Audun, the pool of water was small and he had emptied it before he drank enough to make himself sick.
With water in his belly and the shade of the trees cooling his back, Audun would have been happy to stay and rest, but he knew that his blue and white scales would stand out against the gold and green of the oasis and were sure to frighten away the bird he had come to find. Spreading his wings again, Audun took off. Perhaps he’d find a desicca bird at the next oasis.
For the briefest moment Audun wondered if the desicca bird might not exist and if the king and his councillors were just trying to get rid of him. He might have given the thought serious consideration, if his grandmother hadn’t promised to help him. Even if she wasn’t happy with his choice, he knew that she would never betray him in such a way. And certainly Owen would have had no reason to lie. If the boy said the bird existed, Audun was sure that it did.
The sun was still high in the sky and Audun was beginning to feel thirsty again when he spotted something flying in the distance. Because it didn’t move quite like a bird, Audun grew curious and swerved in its direction. As he drew closer he realized that it was a man riding on a magic carpet—the same bald-headed wizard he’d seen making the mosaic talk. Intent on following a pair of vultures, the wizard didn’t seem to have seen Audun.
The young dragon watched as the man gestured at the sky. A small, dark cloud appeared overhead, scudding just above the vultures. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot from the cloud, forking to strike both vultures at once. Stunned, the birds tumbled to the ground. The wizard gestured again and sand rose into the air, shaping itself into a braided net which scooped up the birds and hauled them onto the magic carpet. Not caring to see what the wizard would do next, Audun turned and sped back the way he’d come.
The wind was beginning to pick up when Audun finally spotted an oasis even smaller than the first. As he spiraled down toward it, he saw a fat, yellow-brown bird with a bald head tottering awkwardly through the meager foliage surrounding the tiny pond. It looked just like the bird in the image that Frostweaver had shown him.
Not wanting to frighten the creature, Audun swerved away, but it was too late. His shadow had fallen on the desicca bird, which looked up in alarm. A moment later, the bird took off, flying away on broad, sturdy wings strong enough to support its chunky body. Audun followed the bird, hoping it would lead him to its nest, but instead it veered into the increasing wind. Soon the wind was so strong that Audun had to fight for every inch, yet the desicca bird was able to fly into it with no apparent difficulty. When the stinging sand made his eyes tear despite their inner lids, Audun turned his head away and struggled to gain altitude, hoping to climb above the storm.
Afraid that the wind might tear his wings before he could escape, Audun strained to get above the blowing sand until he was so high that the air was thin and he had to fight to breathe. The golden cloud roiled and churned below him as he fought to stay above the storm. When the wind finally died away, Audun spread his wings to their fullest and let himself glide down to the hot sand.
Too tired to move, Audun lay on his side, dragging air into his aching lungs. He was still there when the sun went down, letting the night bring its welcome chill.
As the sun came up, Audun raised his head and groaned. Another day of searching. Another day of little to drink and nothing to eat. At least now he had seen one of the birds. He even had a good idea of where he should start looking.
The storm had changed the face of the desert, erasing dunes here, creating new ones there. Once again Audun took to the sky, looking for the oasis where he had seen the desicca bird. He found it more quickly this time, for now he knew where to look. The precious patch of greenery and water had been ravaged by the storm, but not destroyed. Audun was certain that this was where the bird would appear. All he had to do was wait.
A new dune had formed close to the oasis. Landing halfway up, Audun inched backward so he was partly buried in the concealing sand, yet could still see everything that happened near the water. As the morning wore on, the sand became hotter, until Audun felt as if he were roasting alive. To his surprise, however, the spot between his back and his wing wasn’t hot. In fact, it was the only spot that was comfortable.
It occurred to Audun that it might be the effect of the never-melting ice that he had stuck in his pouch, so he took it out and held it against his forehead, easing the ball of pain that had been forming between his eyes. Even without the ice, however, the area between his back and wing felt fine, so he reached in the pouch once more and removed the rest of its contents, including the square of woven frost. Although he’d assumed that he was meant to use it to keep the egg warm, he wondered if it would also work to keep him cold.
After returning the ice to his pouch, Audun spread the square over his back. Within a minute or two he began to feel cool all over. Comfortable now, Audun shifted back and forth, letting the sand cover him until only his head was free. He waited through the heat of the day, dozing now and then, and was rewarded for his patience when something flew past his face. The desicca bird had returned.
Audun kept perfectly still as the bird landed at the edge of the pond. It looked fatter than he remembered it and was even more ungainly as it waddled into the water. Stretching its neck, the bird’s throat convulsed and, to Audun’s surprise, a fountain of water gushed out, mixing with the water that was already there. As more and more water emerged from the bird, its sides shrank until it was as thin as the first image that Frostweaver had shown him. When it was finished, the desicca bird waddled out of the pond, which was now considerably larger.
Audun’s stomach churned as he thought about what he’d just seen. He had drunk water from a pond just like that only the day before. It had tasted fine then, but the thought that it might have come out of a bird’s stomach was revolting. He was trying not to gag when he noticed that the bird had gone to the base of a dune on the far side of the oasis and had begun to preen its feathers, leaving them with a glistening sheen that seemed to glue them together. When it finally seemed satisfied, the bird turned to the dune and began to dig, scrabbling at the sand and shooting it out behind in a constant stream. It continued to dig until its body was buried in the sand, yet it didn’t show any sign of stopping. When it had completely disappeared into the dune, Audun realized that the bird was creating a round tunnel as wide as it was tall.
Although the bird was out of sight, sand continued to shoot out of the tunnel. When it stopped, Audun expected the bird to emerge, but at least five minutes passed before he saw movement and then it wasn’t the bird at all, but a mottled brown and gold egg, rolling out of the tunnel as its mother pushed it from behind. The bird emerged only long enough to place the egg beside the water before returning to the tunnel. Twice more it brought out an egg, and each time Audun thought about rushing down to grab one, but curiosity made him stay where he was, waiting to see what would happen next.
When the last egg had rolled to a stop beside the water, the desicca bird tapped it with her beak once, twice, three times. Suddenly the egg began to rock wildly back and forth. A crack appeared in its side and a sharp yellow beak appeared. As the first baby emerged from its shell, the mother tapped the second egg, eliciting the same response. The third egg was a disappointment, however, for despite the mother’s tapping, the egg remained motionless and no baby bird appeared.
Audun was mentally kicking himself for not taking one of the viable eggs before they hatched when he noticed that the babies were following their mother into the pond. Scrawny and yellow, the freshly hatched chicks staggered into the water and plopped down. While their mother stood beside them, chirruping softly, the babies sat patiently, gazing at each other and the new world around them. Audun wondered what was going on. Then he realized that even though they weren’t visibly doing anything, the chicks were growing plumper. It wasn’t until he saw the waterline receding that he understood what was happening. The chicks had hatched from the eggs of a bird that carried water in her body and could deposit it at will, and now they were absorbing the water she had brought.
That’s one way to give your babies water in a desert, thought Audun. And that’s why they’re seen only near oases. They don’t come to the oases. They make them!
The two chicks were as round as snowballs when Audun’s gaze returned to the last egg. He was going to have to visit another oasis in the hope that a second desicca bird might come along. And if none came . . . The remaining egg rocked slightly and Audun gasped. The baby inside was alive after all!
Moving carefully, Audun crept out of the dune, hoping the mother desicca bird wouldn’t notice the sand trickling down the slope, or the continued rocking of her egg. She was still absorbed in examining her hatchlings so Audun dashed down to the water’s edge, pulled the square off his back, and threw it over the egg. Picking it up in his talons, Audun leaped into the air, climbing high with powerful beats of his wings. The desicca bird squawked, but Audun was already far away, with the egg clutched to his chest.
Twice in two days he had stolen something from a mother bird. The first time he had felt triumphant. This time he couldn’t help but feel guilty.