Dragonkeeper 2: Garden of the Purple Dragon Read Online Free PDF

only found slimy rocks. She came to the surface, gulping in air.
    Ping collapsed onto a rock, her legs too wobblyto support her. She pushed aside the Dragonkeeper’s mirror. Tears spilled down her face.
    Hua jumped onto the rock and tilted the mirror with his nose until it caught the sun’s rays. A beam of bright light reflected into the pool.
    Something floated to the surface. Something purple, spiky and lifeless. It turned around and around slowly, caught in an eddy in the middle of the pool. It was the body of the little dragon. Poor Kai. He should have lived for thousands of years, not a few months. Tears blurred her vision. She fell to her knees. The dragon’s body made another slow turn until its head was facing Ping. Two big green eyes blinked open. A red mouth opened wide and a squawk came out.
    Ping leapt to her feet. “Kai!”
    The little dragon paddled his big feet and easily escaped the pull of the water. But he wouldn’t come to her. He was staring at Hua.
    Ping waded towards him. “It’s okay,” she said. “This is Hua. He won’t hurt you. He’s a dragon friend.”
    Ping eventually managed to coax the little dragon out of the pool. He kept close to her, staring anxiously at the rat. Hua seemed to understand perfectly that Kai was afraid of him, and kept his distance. Ping, wet and shivering, tried to light a fire. The wood was dry enough, but her hands were trembling at the thought of what might have happened. She couldn’t make themrub a stick back and forth fast enough to make a spark. Hua came over to the fireplace and reared up on his back legs. Kai squawked in alarm. The rat’s fur seemed to stand on end and it looked blue, though there was no sunlight shining on it. He looked even bigger. Then a small glob of saliva shot out of his mouth. When the spitball hit the wood, it exploded with a loud pop and a flash of flame. The flame only lasted for a second or two, but it was enough for the wood to catch fire. Hua then sat down on his four feet, his fur flattened and dull. Ping couldn’t believe her eyes. Kai blinked in surprise, but moved closer to the warmth of the fire.
    “Hua,” said Ping. “What a remarkable rat you’ve become.”
    Ping put a pot of water on the fire and started to cook some of the lentils and grain that she had been saving for emergencies. After so many shocks and surprises, she needed something to eat.
    Ping realised she should have known that dragons could stay underwater for a long time. Danzi had survived underwater. She remembered him telling her that, if there wasn’t enough food to last them through winter, dragons could spend the coldest months hibernating in deep pools. Kai was only learning how to be a dragon. She had learned something too. Kai responded to the flash of light reflected in the mirror just like a dog responded to its master’s whistle. Danzi had told her that the mirror could be used as a signalto dragons, but she hadn’t thought of it in connection with Kai. If it hadn’t been for Hua, she might never have realised it. She flashed the mirror several times and Kai always came to her. She gave him dragonflies and an extra bowl of milk. He sat by the fire munching the insects, unaware of the scare he’d given her.
    Ping shared her food with Hua. She noticed how his claws were more dexterous than before. He could move his toes independently and pick things up with his front feet as easily as Ping could with her hands.
    “If only you could talk, Hua,” she said.
    The last time she had seen Hua he was close to death. His small body had been crushed by a blow from the dragon hunter’s club. Danzi had taken him to the Isle of the Blest to heal him with the water of life. If the rat could talk, he would be able to tell her what had happened to Danzi. Hua squeaked, but the story of his adventures over Ocean remained untold.
    Ping sighed. She had companions, three of them now, but the only sounds she ever got from them were squeaks, squawks and