In Deep Dark Wood Read Online Free PDF

door to Mia.
    Mia stepped across the threshold, realising that she was taking far more than just one simple step by coming back to visit The Elms. By doing so, she was accepting all the old dragon keeper had told her and showing a willingness to listen and learn.
    The hall was chilly and she shivered, hoping that she had made the right choice.
    ‘I came to help you,’ she said simply.
    ‘Welcome, Mia!’ said the old woman, holding her close. ’Come, child, there is much to be done. I was just bringing fresh water and bedding for them. You can give me a hand.’
    Mia carried two enormous jugs of water into the glasshouse, filled the stone bowls placed on the ground and then helped Bella to carry in bales of straw from the back garden.
    A swell of chattering and high-pitched calling greeted her as she brushed the fouled straw into a heap in the corner, then shovelled it into black bin bags. Yuck! Dragons could be very smelly creatures. Opening a fresh bale, she spread the clean straw out on the ground, watching as the animals tossed about in it and moved it into hidden corners.
    ‘Nothing like a nice fresh bed,’ she said aloud, wondering if the dragons could understand her. Two of them jumped down, landing close beside her, sniffing curiously.
    ‘They have a very well-developed sense of smell,’ stated Bella. ‘They’re trying to remember your scent. That is one of the ways a dragon can tell the difference between a friend and an enemy.’
    Mia hoped that the creatures considered her a friend, because looking at their sharp claws and pointed teeth and their lashing tails, she certainly would not like to be an enemy.
    As they worked, Bella pointed out each dragon, calling them by name and telling her about them.
    ‘Arznel, he’s the strongest and the bravest, mark my words. That’s a female, Rana, she’s as loyal and good-hearted as they come. A willing dragon is always easy to teach.’
    Mia spent the whole afternoon working, while at the same time trying to listen and take in all the old woman was telling her. When the late afternoon sun flooded into the glasshouse, it became almost unbearably warm. Raising her arm to wipe the sweat off her forehead, Mia knocked against an enormous potted plant which she tried in vain to steady. From far above came a screaming, whirring sound, as one of the dragons fellwith a thud onto the ground in front of her, giving a mew of pain.
    ‘Oh, I’m sorry!’ she said, rushing forward.
    The dragon seemed smaller than all the others, his muscles less developed. His skin was bluish-green. He lay cowering fearfully and trembling with shock. Mia bent to help him.
    ‘What have you done, Trig?’ sighed Bella, exasperated. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve fallen again!’
    The small, almost-blue dragon seemed to hang his head in shame at the old woman’s words.
    ‘He’s hurt,’ said Mia, defending the poor creature. ‘It was all my fault!’
    Bella came over beside her, crouching down to inspect the damage, tut-tutting and shaking her head.
    ‘It could be a wing. I need to examine him properly, and he seems to have to damaged a tailbone too. Here, help me move him into the kitchen where I can get a better look at him!’
    Mia bent down, unsure of how to lift an injured dragon, and wondering if Trig would bite. The dragon looked up at her steadily, making no objection as she pulled him ever so gently towards her, trying not to touch the small cut she could see on his side.
    ‘That’s it,’ said Bella, leading her out to the kitchen while at the same time patting the dragon’s head. ‘There, there, Trig, Mia and I will heal you.’
    The old woman spread a thick towel on the kitchen table and gestured to Mia to ease Trig down gently onto it.
    Mia watched as Bella ran her hands all over the blue-greenskin of the dragon, stretching his good wing wide open as the creature lay still, mewing weakly every now and then. Then she touched the injured wing, showing Mia the spot where his