Twenty-one

There was so much to watch, we didn't know where to look first. Teams of seven dragons each were performing synchronized flying routines in the air above us. The group directly overhead did barrel rolls and flips, then climbed through the air in a giant spiral. On the way down, they went into flat spins and linked claws to form a star.

I never would have thought that watching dragons compete would be so much fun. The giants seemed to be enjoying themselves, too, laughing and talking across the heads of the dragons. I saw a red-bearded giant taking bets, jotting down figures on a piece of bark that had probably covered an entire tree.

Neither Eadric nor I had stopped looking for a green dragon. I saw a gold dragon, whose scales took on a greenish tinge when the light hit him right, but Eadric and I agreed that the color wasn't green enough and that he probably just needed a good polishing. We continued to look, but it had already come to seem like a hopeless quest. In a way, I thought it was just as well. I was a frog now and no longer had the bottle Li'l had given me. Even if I did find a green dragon, I doubted that any dragon would wait for me to find a container.

A squat blue dragon was strolling along a low stone wall that separated the fans from the athletes, urging everyone to stay well back. "Overheated dragons snort fire to cool off," he warned.

"What do they do in this event?" I asked Ralf.

"They run around the arena twice. Then they swim the length of the pool and fly around twice. Most of them end up at the flame-belching field afterward, letting off the heat they built up, but some of them can't wait that long and do it during the race." The little dragon had started to wiggle again, more violently than before. "I've got to go take care of something. You wait here and I'll be back in a few minutes."

"But Ralf," I said as he plucked us off with his claws and set us on the ground. Ralf ignored me. Turning tail, he flapped his wings and took off, heading toward the flame-belching field.

Eadric and I waited by the track, watching the dragons run past. When the first dragons left the pool and took to the air, we decided that we'd given Ralf more than enough time.

"So much for a few minutes," Eadric grumbled, peering into the forest of scaly legs.

"Maybe he got lost."

"Maybe he found something better to do than spend time with two frogs."

"Ralf wouldn't desert us, Eadric. He's our friend. Something must have happened. I think we'd better go look for him."

"Where do you propose we start?" he asked.

"That way." I pointed in the direction Ralf had gone.

"Fine," said Eadric. "Then follow me and stay close while I try to keep us from getting squashed."

Eadric wasn't always right, but I was learning to trust his judgment in certain matters. He'd lived as a frog longer than I and had learned all the tricks he'd needed to survive. If anyone could get us through a stomping herd of dragons, it was Eadric.

We hopped alongside the stone wall until it turned one way and we had to go the other. Venturing out into the open for the first time, I took my cue from Eadric, hopping when he did, waiting when he waited. We were approaching the first tent when a giant came along, weighed down with an armload of tent stakes. Stopping to adjust the load, he dropped one and it landed with a crash only a few yards away, sending up a swirling cloud of ash. It made a few dragons cough, but its effect on me was much worse. It made me sneeze.

Suddenly we were humans again in a place where humans were definitely not welcome. I froze, certain that we were more likely to be seen if we moved, but Eadric had other ideas. "I was afraid this would happen!" he said, grabbing my arm and yanking me toward the cluster of tents. "Come on! We've got to get out of here before—"

"Humans!" roared a short, fat dragon with dingy yellow scales and droopy ears.

"—a dragon sees us," Eadric finished, tightening his grip on my arm.

Although the yellow dragon had spotted us, he seemed to be the only one who had. The rest were looking around in confusion, which gave Eadric and me the chance to dart behind the giant's stake. It didn't help that we were no longer covered with Ralf's salve and that sweat was pouring off us. The heat demanded our attention and sapped our strength. Each step was an effort at a time when speed was our only ally, but even speed would not have been enough. No human can outrun a dragon. If we didn't want to be flame-brolled, our only chance was to hide.

The giant who had dropped the tent stake was still standing in the same spot, reaching for the piece of wood. He didn't notice Eadric drag me behind his hand as it closed around the stake. We were much bigger than we'd been as frogs, but we were still small when compared to most dragons and tiny compared to the giant, who could have held us easily in his hand.

I was so frightened, I couldn't get my feet to move, so Eadric had to pull me behind the stack of giants' baskets to hide us from dragon eyes. We used an old folded tent for cover when we heard the voices of the dragons grow louder. Rounding the mound of fabric, we found ourselves only a short distance from the standing tents.

We heard voices inside the first tent and had to pass it by. The next tent was also occupied, but the third tent appeared abandoned. Eadric and I slipped under the flap that covered the doorway and looked around. A low stone bench had been set up at one end. Crudely made, it looked strong enough to hold anyone, even the Dragon King. Someone had dumped a pile of robes in a corner of the tent, although I couldn't imagine why dragons would need them. Aside from a scattering of flower petals on the floor and lanterns hanging from the tent posts, the rest of the tent was empty.

Satisfied that we were alone, Eadric wiped the sweat from his eyes. "I know it wasn't your fault that you sneezed, but can't you sneeze again and turn us back? We're cooked meat if those dragons find us, and they're not going to stop looking until they do."

"I can't sneeze on command any more than you can. Something has to make me sneeze." Afraid that I'd lose my nose or do something else just as awful, I wouldn't even consider making up a sneeze-inducing spell.

A muffled moan came from the pile of robes. Eadric and I jerked our heads around, but we didn't see anyone there. I started across the floor of the tent, moving as quietly as I could. When I heard the sound again, it was more of a whimper than a moan. Grasping his dagger with one hand, Eadric reached the pile first, tossing the top robe aside. Ralf lay curled up in a ball with his eyes shut, his scales a sickly blue.

"Ralf!" I said. "Are you all right?"

"I don't feel so good."

"You don't look so good, either," said Eadric. "You're turning a funny color."

"When did you start feeling sick?" I asked the little dragon.

"After I ate the bouquet Mama got when she won."

I didn't like the way his scales were taking on a yellowish tinge and his lips were starting to swell. "Then here's what we're going to do—"

"Get away from our son!" a voice growled behind me. I glanced back and saw Ralf's parents pushing through the entrance to the tent.

"Dad, is that you?" Ralf asked. "I don't feel so good."

"What have you done to him?" Snorty demanded, her eyes flaring red as she hurried to Ralf's side.

I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry and my throat felt tight. Even if I could get the words out, I wasn't sure how to explain what had happened before the dragons roasted me.

Eadric brushed past, shielding me from the dragons with his body. "Don't worry, I'll protect you," he whispered.

Grumble Belly snarled and lowered his head, his eyes narrowed. Smoke trickled from his nostrils, and the smell of boiled cabbage grew stronger. I gulped when I saw his muscles bunch beneath his scales. The huge dragon was preparing to charge. "You filthy humans won't get away with this," he growled. "I've always known that humans weren't to be trusted. You kill innocent dragons sleeping in their caves, steal their treasures and attack them when they're providing for their families, but I didn't know you were so low that you'd deliberately hurt children. When I get through with you, there won't be enough ashes to—"

"Dad, it wasn't them. I ate Mama's bouquet and now I feel sick."

The blue-black dragon's head whipped around to look down at where his little son rested. "You mean the humans didn't hurt you?"

"Of course not. That's Emma and Eadric. They're having problems with a spell."

"Grumblekins, look at him," whispered Snorty. "He's turning yellow."

I peered around Eadric and caught a glimpse of Ralf. The little dragon's scales were pale yellow, and the tip of his nose had turned gray.

"Find those humans!" shouted a gruff dragon voice from somewhere outside. "Wipe them out before they multiply! The things are worse than rats!"

"What's going on in here?" said the Dragon King as he thrust his head past the flap and trotted into the tent. "Good, you caught the humans. Have you found out how they got here?"

Snorty raised one brow ridge. "Through the entrance, I imagine. Ralfie says they're his frie—"

"Would you look at that!" interrupted her father. "A green dragon. So they do exist. Those two frogs weren't crazy after all."

"Dad," said Snorty, "that's Ralf, your grandson. He's sick."

I peeked around Eadric again. Ralf's scales had turned pale green, his swollen lips a deep emerald.

A voice shouted so loudly that it must have come from right outside the tent. "You go that way, Thunder Gut, and I'll go this way. They've got to be around here somewhere."

"Wait till I get my claws on them," growled another voice. "They killed my parents when I was just an egg. Humans don't deserve to live!"

I shrank away from the side of the tent as if they might see me somehow. The ground shook as they ran past, and ash puffed through a small tear in the bottom.

"Ooh," moaned Ralf. "I feel awful." His scales were deepening into emerald.

"Nice shade of green," said the Dragon King.

Ralf opened one eye and peeked up at his father. "Am I really green?"

Grumble Belly nodded. "But I'm sure it's only a temporary condition," he said in an overly hearty voice.

"You'll be back to blue in no time."

"I need to breathe into something," said Ralf, trying to raise his head.

"What's wrong, sweetie? Are you having trouble breathing?" asked his mother. Ralf moaned again, and his mother turned to her mate. "Grumblekins, we have to find the healer. This is serious."

"No, Mama," Ralf whispered. "I need to do it for Emma."

Suddenly, I understood. Despite his illness, Ralf was thinking of Eadric and me and our quest for dragon's breath. If he did what he proposed, we'd have everything we were looking for, but even so ...

"That's all right, Ralf. You don't have to do that. You just have to get well, and I think I know how to help you."

Ralf shook his head. "Not until I help you first. Do you have something?"

I shoved my hand into my pouch and grabbed the bottle. Yanking out the stopper, I knelt beside Ralf and held the bottle to his nose. He puffed a few gasping breaths, filling the small container, then lay back, his eyes half closed.

"What did you mean when you said you could help him?" Ralf's mother asked as I shoved the stopper back into the bottle and tucked it in my pouch.

"I know a spell for tummy troubles. I read it in a book of magic."

Ralf's father snorted. "A spell! What are you, some kind of witch?"

"A witch in training, actually. I won't try the spell unless you want me to, so it's up to you."

The old king scratched his head with a claw and looked confused. "There's something I should tell you, something about dragon smoke. It's on the tip of my brain. If only I could remember."

Ralf groaned again. Clutching his tummy, he curled up into a tight little ball.

"Not now, Father!" said Flame Snorter. "If she can help Ralfie ..."

"Do you want me to try?" I asked. Ralf's mother nodded and the little dragon's father frowned, but no one objected. I pointed my finger at Ralf, hoping the spell would work on dragons as well as humans. "Here goes," I said.

Soothe the aching tummy,
Quench the belly fire,
Calm the quaking stomach,
Douse the pain so dire.

As I lowered my finger, the room seemed to throb with a light so bright that I had to squeeze my eyes shut and cover them with my hands. There was a hissing sound like steam escaping from a cook pot, and Ralf sighed.

"Was that it?" said his father. "I expected a lot more."

"How do you feel?" I asked Ralf, but his color was already returning to its normal shade of blue.

Ralf blinked up at me and smiled. "I feel better. Thanks."

"Sorry about the fire dousing. It was part of the spell and I was afraid it might not work if I left that out."

"It doesn't matter," said the little dragon's mother. "As long as my baby feels better. He's too young to have a real fire yet anyway. When he's a little older, I'll start feeding him gunga beans and hot flami-peppers. That'll get his fire going."

"Mama! I'm not a baby anymore. And you know I don't like flami-peppers! You're not really going to make me eat them, are you?"

"Every day. And no more flowers for you, young dragon. You'll eat normal dragon food and nothing else. Have I made myself clear?"

"Yes, Mama," said Ralf.

"He's not the only one who eats things he shouldn't," I said, glancing at Eadric.

I'd grown used to the constant din outside the tent as the dragons scoured the area for us, only now it seemed to be getting louder. When I listened, I could make out one word above all the rest. Humans sounded like a name for evil when shouted by an angry mob of dragons. We were in serious trouble.

The Dragon King peered nearsightedly at Eadric and me and shook his head. "I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I think you two had better hide for a while. I'll try to head everyone off, but I can't help you if they find you. Even though you've done my family a mighty big favor, there's only so much I can do. Too bad you're humans, that's all I can say."

"What if they weren't humans?" asked Ralf. "What if they turned back into frogs? Then they could leave the tent and no one would notice them. You can do it, can't you, Emma?"

"That's a great idea, Ralf, but there's only one problem. I have to sneeze if we're going to turn back, and I don't know how to make myself do it."

"Isn't there some other way you can change? You fixed me with magic. Why don't you fix yourself?"

"When I fixed you, I used a spell I'd read in a book. I don't know any spells that would change me back."

"Then make one up," said Ralf. "Witches do that kind of thing, don't they?"

"I'm not very good at making up spells yet. They never turn out quite right."

Grumble Belly pointed a sharp claw at my chest. "You mean you'd try your magic on our son but not on yourself?"

I glanced from dragon to dragon, hoping that at least one of them would understand. "It's not that I don't want to. I just can't." I swallowed hard when the adult dragons' eyes began to glow red and pink smoke trickled out of their nostrils. The temperature in the room seemed to be rising as swirling smoke filled the air and the smell of boiling cabbage became overpowering.

"I think you'd better try, Emma," said Eadric. "You don't have much of a choice."

"What about you, Eadric? I know how you feel about my spells. Whatever happens to me is going to happen to you, too. Are you sure you want me to do this?"

"I'm willing to risk it if you are. We've made it through so far, haven't we?"

I took a deep breath and nodded. "All right," I said with a halfhearted smile. "Just don't expect any great poetry."

"About that smoke," said the old dragon.

Flame Snorter glared at him. "Not now, Father. Give the girl a chance."

"This is important. I remember what I wanted to tell her, and it's something she'd better know. Young human," he said, turning to me, "do you see the dragon smoke in this tent? There's a lot more now than there was a minute ago."

"Yes, but—"

"Dragon smoke is pretty powerful stuff. We have our own special magic, and so does our smoke. After you've been breathing the smoke the way you have, if you try to cast a spell on yourself, it will change your magic, one way or another. Just thought I'd better warn you."

"What do you mean?" asked Eadric.

"If you're a friend to dragons, it'll make your magic stronger, but there aren't too many dragon friends around. If you're like most humans and wouldn't mind using your magic against us, you might lose your magic altogether. If that happens, I don't think you'll be leaving here alive. My family will try to help you, but those fellows outside aren't feeling too friendly. It's your choice, so make it a good one. Once you cast your spell, what happens next will be out of your hands."

I was frightened. Trying to sneak past the other dragons wasn't much of an option. I didn't want to die, and I didn't want to risk losing Eadric, who would do his best to protect me and end up getting himself killed. I didn't want to lose my magic, but the more I thought about it, the more I felt that I wasn't about to lose anything. I never had used my magic against dragons, and I had no intention of starting. Wouldn't that count for something?

When I tried to talk, the words seemed to stick in my throat. I tried again, and they came out sounding funny to me, as if someone else was saying them. "I have to try the spell."

"All right," said the old dragon. "It's your decision."

I closed my eyes so that the dragons wouldn't distract me. It took me a minute to come up with something that I thought would work. When I was ready, I took a deep breath and said,

I wish I might,
I wish I may,
Have the form
I want today.

Please let me choose
Which it will be.
No Longer human
Make it froggy.

The pink smoke seemed to be drawn to me, swirling around me in an ever-thickening cloud. Eadric and the dragons faded from sight and everything grew silent, leaving me alone in a world of shadows. Despite the heat, a chill walked up my spine and I shivered. With Eadric at my side, I had felt braver and more able to face whatever came, but now ... I tried to tell myself that everything would be fine. I had sworn that I'd never use my magic to hurt anyone, and as far as I knew, I'd never done anything worse than make a sea monster lose his teeth. Even then, he'd had another set coming in.

Something whispered at the edge of my hearing. I dug my nails into my palms and held my breath, straining to understand it. The sound came again, louder and more distinct. It was a voice, but it didn't belong to a human and it spoke no words that I could understand. Another voice joined in and then a third, and before I knew it, a chorus of voices surrounded me. They grew louder until suddenly they stopped, leaving me in silence once again.

Flashes of light broke through the smoke, red and yellow in a bed of dusky pink. This is it, I thought. The dragons are going to turn me into charcoal. I think I even forgot to breathe. Arrows of light with no beginning and no end shot through me as if I was no more substantial than a shadow. I heard soothing music and screams of terror, I tasted blood and sugar, smelled the stench of decay and the perfume of wildflowers. The arrows were cold and hot, they itched and burned and soothed ... and then they were gone.

I felt light-headed and as fresh and full of energy as if I'd just stepped from an invigorating swim in a cool mountain stream. My senses seemed sharper, my thoughts clearer. I knew that I'd turned into a frog, but I also knew that something bigger and far more important had happened to me. Whatever it was, I was no longer the same person I'd been just minutes before.

The smoke was almost gone when the noise of the Olympics returned. It was loud and harsh, yet I welcomed it as proof that everything was all right.

"Would you look at that!" exclaimed the Dragon King. "I should have known it would turn out like this after the way you helped our Ralfie!"

"You have a funny sort of glow now, Emma. I can see it when I squint my eyes real hard, like this," said Ralf, squeezing his eyes into little silts.

"When you said that her magic would be more powerful, how much of an increase did you mean?" asked Eadric.

"That depends on the person," said the Dragon King, "but it's usually quite substantial."

Although I didn't know what to say, Eadric didn't have the same problem. "That's just great!" he said, shaking his head. "You made some mistakes with your magic before, but I can imagine what you'll come up with now!"

A dark red dragon with jagged brow ridges lifted the tent flap and stuck his head inside. "Has anyone seen a pair of humans?" When his eyes fell on the Dragon King, he ducked his head, murmuring, "Sorry, Your Majesty. Didn't mean to intrude."

"Hmph," said Gargle Snout. "See that it doesn't happen again. And take your search for humans elsewhere. There aren't any here."

The red dragon bowed and backed away, muttering apologies. When the flap had fallen closed, Eadric said, "I think we should leave before anything else happens."

Ralf rubbed his eyes and stifled a yawn. "I'll take you to find your sword—"

"You certainly will not!" said his mother. "You're not going anywhere with your friends now. You can hardly keep your eyes open, and I don't—"

"Mama!" wailed Ralf, his face crinlding.

"Don't worry, son," said his father. "I'll take your friends wherever they need to go. You listen to your mother, and I'll come see you when I get back."

"You don't mind?" the little dragon asked. "Because it's kind of far."

While Ralf gave directions to his father, I tried to think of a good reason for not going with the big dragon. I knew and trusted Ralf, but his father was intimidating even when he was trying to be friendly. I was opening my mouth to make some excuse when Grumble Belly picked us up, plopped us behind his neck ridge and trotted out of the tent.

"Goodbye!" yelled Ralf as the tent flap closed behind us.

"Goodbye!" I called back, but we were already airborne.