Dragons of the Watch - Donita K. Paul [113]
A squeal resounded through the hallowed halls of Old One’s literary institute. “I found it! I found it! Come see. There’s buckets of food here. Buckets!”
Wizard Pater had provided plenty of food. Enough for the children to have seconds. Usually he avoided giving them desserts, but a beautiful cake, iced and decorated with pictures of the minor dragons, sat on a shelf directly behind the buckets of food in the broom closet.
“And where’s my broom?” Old One groused.
Ellie pointed to the wall behind the big door. “Right here.”
He growled and stomped back to his rotunda.
After noonmeal, Ellie had her new family sit in the children’s area and pulled out the many pillows hidden in a cupboard.
“These are for you to keep,” she said. “Find a place and that will be your place to sleep.”
“Nah!” objected Cinder. “We don’t sleep during the day. That’s for babies.”
“I didn’t say we were going to have a nap. I’m going to read to you, and I want you to be comfortable. We’ll sleep tonight, but you can claim your space now.”
The children accepted the brightly colored cushions and scrambled to get the best spots.
Bealomondore watched with amazement. He couldn’t decide what attracted the children to a particular location as superior to another. The disputes became violent, and he had to step in and negotiate peace several times as the young tyrants zeroed in on one site and then another. Ellie scooted up close to Bealomondore and whispered in his ear. “Sit on this side of the room, and I’ll sit on the other while I read.”
“Why?”
“Your presence will keep them under control.”
“What if they squirm and wiggle?”
“Just touch them.”
He couldn’t resist teasing her. “With the point of my sword?”
Her exasperated look pleased him. She had more appeal than any society damsel he’d ever met.
She patted his arm. “Your hand will be sufficient. Just lightly touch them.”
Ellie crossed the room, crawled into a huge rocker, and opened the book she had left there. Bealomondore noticed that Old One had parked his huge frame in a chair near the entrance of the children’s area.
“Quiet now, so you can hear.” She opened the book, and from the first sentence, her voice captured the room.
Bealomondore found the story she’d chosen to be enchanting. The tale was not a legend he was familiar with. The urohm characters fought an evil monster to free their children from its cave.
He never had to settle any of the children. Her audience listened without stirring. After the heroes brought home the rescued children, Ellie read from a children’s poetry book. One by one, the listening children fell asleep.
When she looked up and saw the quiet room, she closed the book, slid off the chair, and with a signal to Bealomondore, tiptoed into the main library. Old One stood and followed her. Even he seemed to understand the need for quiet.
The old librarian settled in his favorite chair. Orli flew in and settled on the back of his chair, close enough to wrap his tail over Old One’s shoulder.
“You two had better be careful,” said Old One.
Bealomondore scrunched his forehead as he turned his attention to the librarian. “In what way?”
“You’re getting too close to that wizard. He’s treacherous, not to be trusted.”
Bealomondore didn’t understand Old One’s suspicion. “He’s provided food for the citizens of the city all these years.”
“Because he had to, not because he wants to.”
Ellie sat on a stack of books she had cushioned with a blanket. She folded her hands in her lap and gave her full attention to Old One. “Why is that? Surely if he arranged the situation of Rumbard City being isolated in a bottle, he could free us. Why shouldn’t we get close to him in hopes of persuading him to break the bottle?”
“He’s trapped as well.” Old One shifted uncomfortably, as if the conversation bothered him. “He has to keep us alive. We are his only hope of being free himself.”
Bealomondore sat beside Ellie and put an arm around her shoulders. “Do you mean we