Dragons of the Watch - Donita K. Paul [39]
“Why?” The tall one sneered.
“Because you are a child. I am an adult. Your behavior is unacceptable. You will treat me with respect.”
Ellie didn’t like the tone of the laugh that spread through the captors.
“Maybe we’ll respect you,” said the tall one. “After we eat you.”
That pronouncement raised a round of snickering and wicked giggles.
“We gonna eat the dog?” asked the child at her feet.
“No, dummy. You’re supposed to play with a dog.”
“Tak is not a dog,” said Ellie. “He is a goat.”
Tall One looked at her with squinty eyes. “He better be a dog, or we’ll eat ’im. And if you give us trouble, we’ll eat you twice.”
“We could eat the bird,” said the vocal child now sitting on her toes.
“Stupid, we didn’t catch the bird.”
Ellie refused to inform them that the bird was a dragon.
The child below sniffed. “I wanted to hold the bird.”
Tall One threw a disgusted look at the whiny child, but answered with unexpected compassion. “You can hold the dog.”
Ellie felt the clamp of arms and legs loosen, and the child darted off to join the pile on Tak.
Ellie wondered if Tak would come through this encounter with wild children without harm.
“You be nice to Tak,” she admonished the children in general.
One of the boys pinched her.
“Ouch!”
“You shut up.” He glared at her from just an inch away. “We’re going to wrap you up in ropes and drag you to our fort. Then we’re going to hang you. Then we’re going to eat you.”
“Can we do all of that before bedtime?” asked a familiar voice from the Tak pile.
“Sure we can,” said the boy, twisting the bit of Ellie’s flesh he held between two fingers. “We’re the bad guys.”
Ellie put on her most intimidating big sister face and growled at the six-year-old. “You need someone with a stiff brush to scrub the dirt off of you. And that same someone might put a bar of soap in your mouth if you aren’t careful. I don’t like your tone of voice. I might just be the one to teach you some manners.”
“Are you going to do that before or after we eat you?” he asked with a sneer.
Ellie pasted a sweet smile on her lips. “Before.”
The children tied Ellie’s hands together with one of her own stockings. After several attempts, they had another stocking, hers, tied around her head as a blindfold. She could look down and see through a gap in their handiwork, but she didn’t feel any obligation to tell them.
The boys pushed and shoved her through the street. She recognized some of the planters where Tak had nibbled a snack, which clarified which street they marched her down. She could hear higher voices, and she assumed they were girls, talking baby talk to the goat. She could just imagine the disgusted looks Tak was bestowing on the silly children.
She became aware of Airon’s presence and received the reassurance that the dragon followed and would return to tell Bealomondore her exact location.
Where is he? she asked.
The image of Bealomondore swashbuckling with an impressive sword came to her mind.
He went to get a sword? That’s insane. These are children. He can’t spring on them and dispatch six-year-olds at the point of his sword like soldiers from an enemy army.
She listened. The thought formed in her mind.
You tell him he is not to scare these little children with a sword.
“There’s the bird,” yelled one of the children. “We’ll catch you, bird! You’re doomed to be bird stew.”
Ellie wondered why the children always threatened to eat whatever they caught. “Are you children hungry?”
“Nah.” Ellie recognized the voice of Tall One. “We get food, but we never eat anything fun.”
The statement made Ellie smile. Maybe daggarts would work in softening the attitude of her captors. Of course, a few obstacles stood in her way. She’d have to escape. She and Bealomondore would have to find the ingredients and an oven.
She got pinched again. “Don’t you smile!” She recognized this voice too. The pincher shoved her forward. She stumbled, but so many hands held on to her that she didn’t fall.
“You