Werewolf versus Dragon (4 page)

ULF ZOOMED OFF, FOLLOWING THE TRACK
along the base of Sunset Mountain, down to a wide lagoon that led out to sea. “The sea beasts,” he called.

On the far side of the lagoon, between the rocks, tall iron gates kept the sea beasts in. Running along the northwest shore were the marine facilities, deep-water docks, and the RSPCB speedboat and submersible.

Ulf pointed to a seven-headed hydra basking in the examination bay.

“The hydra was hit by a cruise liner,” he explained. “When its eighth head grows back, we'll release it.”

He sped along the side of the lagoon.

“Look! There's a razorjaw.”

Just out from the shore, a baby razorjaw was jumping through the waves, following them. It looked like a thin red shark with spines along its back. As they watched it, a larger razorjaw burst out of the water.

“That's the mother. She was rescued from fishing nets. She gave birth here in the lagoon.”

Inspector Black stopped his ATV and scribbled something in his notepad. “Interesting how the mother sticks so close to her baby,” he said.

“She protects it,” Ulf replied.

As they rode off again, the middle of the lagoon started to bubble and boil. A red flame flashed under the water. The Inspector's handlebars wobbled.

“Are you okay?” Ulf called.

The bubbling stopped.

“I thought the water just caught fire,” the Inspector said.

“That's the flaming squid,” Ulf explained. “It's
having its barnacles scraped. We've also got a petrified impossipus, two blind megamauls, and a pack of weed dogs. Sometimes we have mermaids, too.”

They rode on past the end of the lagoon and then higher and higher up a hill.

At the top, they stopped and looked out over a vast moor. Beasts were roaming in fields separated by electric fences.

“This place is
enormous
,” the Inspector said, amazed.

“These are the Great Grazing Grounds,” Ulf told him, riding down the slope.

“Open,” he called. A gate opened automatically, and they rode in.

An armorpod, a big beast with spines all over its body, rolled across the track, blocking their way.

“We'll have to go around it,” Ulf said, steering in a wide arc, giving the armorpod plenty of room.

The Inspector stopped his ATV, beeping his horn. The armorpod snorted, and a long trunk emerged from the ball of spines. The trunk slowly
stretched out and sniffed the Inspector. He jumped up onto his seat.

“Don't worry, it's a plant eater,” Ulf said. “Big but friendly.”

The armorpod sneezed, splattering the Inspector with sticky green mucus.

Ulf giggled, then twisted his ATV's throttle and rode out across the moor. “Come on,” he called.

The Inspector followed as a bouncing boogle sprang down the hill. It had eyes all over its body and a long tail coiled beneath it like a spring. It leaped straight over the Inspector, letting out a squeak, then dived into a hole in the ground.

“What's that stink?” the Inspector asked, covering his nose with his handkerchief.

“Fear scent,” Ulf said. “Boogles are incredibly nervous beasts.”

Inspector Black rode from the stench as fast as he could, straight into a pool of slime. His ATV's wheels spun and he skidded to a stop. Up ahead, an
Emperor slug the size of a car was munching on the leaves of a tree. The Inspector stepped off his ATV, his shoes squelching in the slug's slime as he pushed his ATV free.

Halfway across the moor, Ulf was waiting. He pointed to what looked like a field of boulders and bushes. “Over there's a herd of tankons,” he said.

Inspector Black pulled alongside.

“Where?” he asked. “I can't see anything.”

“They camouflage themselves,” Ulf explained. “Look closely.”

The boulders and bushes were moving.

Ulf and the Inspector rode on. In other fields there were long-eared jackalopes, unga-bungas, and a duck-billed sphynx. Ahead, the track rose up onto a long metal bridge that ran above twelve high brick-walled pens. These were the meat eaters' enclosures.

“We have to watch out in the next bit,” Ulf said.

Ulf and the Inspector rode up onto the bridge,
steering carefully. It had no sides to stop them falling off the edge.

The bridge clattered as they rode along it. They looked down on either side. Below, meat-eating beasts were growling and grunting, snorting and roaring.

“It's not a good idea to get too close, so we feed them from above,” Ulf said.

A pack of demondogs was gnawing on a pile of bones. They looked up, snarling.

“I hope they're not hungry now,” Inspector Black said.

A pigeon flew past, and the Inspector wobbled, nearly riding off the edge of the bridge.

“Mind the giranha!” Ulf called as a beast with the body of a giraffe and the head of a piranha stretched its long neck and snapped its jaws. It swallowed the pigeon, feathers and all.

“That was close!” Ulf said. “It could have eaten your head.”

They rode along the narrow bridge as carefully as possible, over the gorgon's enclosure. The gorgon was climbing to the top of a tree, its hair a tangle of writhing serpents. They sped over a swirling black hole that was screeching and sucking in insects, then a feareater with eyes that burned red with fire.

At the end of the bridge they carefully rode down the other side.

Inspector Black was trembling.

Ulf switched his headlight on, lighting the way into the Dark Forest. He weaved between trees, jumping his ATV over tree roots and fallen branches. The Dark Forest was his favorite bit—it was where Tiana lived.

A stranglasnake dangled from a branch, hissing at the Inspector as he passed underneath. Inspector Black bumped along behind Ulf, glancing around nervously. From the trees came the sounds of forest beasts: hoots and squawks, howls and screeches.

In the shadows, Ulf could see the sparkles of fairies. “There have always been fairies in the forest,” he explained.

“And there always will be,” a little voice said.

Ulf looked up as Tiana flew from the trees and landed on his handlebars.

“What are you doing here?” she asked.

“I'm showing Inspector Black around the beast park,” Ulf told her.

Ulf slowed down and looked back. The Inspector's hat had caught on a branch and he'd stopped to retrieve it. As the Inspector reached up to grab it, a tree crab pinched him on the nose.

Ulf and Tiana giggled.

Then, all of a sudden, the ground shook and they heard a trumpeting roar.

“You'd better get out of here,” Tiana said, taking off into the air.

The Inspector was clutching his hat. “What was that noise?” he asked.

“That's the biganasty,” Ulf said. “We don't want to get in its way.”

Branches crunched and snapped as a beast crashed among the trees behind them. Ulf twisted back the throttle on his ATV.

“Come on, I'll show you a shortcut,” Tiana said, flying ahead.

Ulf and the Inspector followed Tiana's sparkles down a long dark trail. They passed the swamp where the swamp monster lived. The black water was bubbling and swirling. They rode up steep banks and down deep hollows, the fairy whizzing ahead of them, guiding them through the Dark Forest.

At last they came out into the sunlight. Ahead of them, beyond the paddock and the freshwater lake, was Farraway Hall.

Ulf skidded to a halt. “Thanks, Tiana,” he said.

“I'll see you later,” the fairy replied, circling his ATV. “I'm off to collect primrose oil.” She smiled at Ulf, then shot past the Inspector back into the forest.

The Inspector took out his notepad. “So fairies do exist,” he said.

“Tiana's my friend,” Ulf told him.

Ulf stood up on his foot bars. He rode around the lake, across the paddock, past the bulltoxic, and back toward Farraway Hall.

“Open,” he called. The gate opened, and he rode into the yard.

“And that must be your giant,” the Inspector said, pulling up behind.

Orson the giant was dragging the lifeless body of the dragon out of the operating theater toward the incinerator.

“That's Orson,” Ulf explained. “He works here. He handles the larger beasts.”

They rode around to the courtyard and parked the ATVs in the vehicle bay.

Dr. Fielding came out to meet them. “Did you see everything you needed to?” she asked the Inspector.

Inspector Black stepped off his ATV. His legs
were wobbling. Mud and mucus were dripping off his pants, and his hat was squashed.

“Most educational,” he said. He took out a handkerchief and wiped the mucus from his coat sleeve.

Ulf started checking the Inspector's ATV for damage.

“Before I go, I have a couple of questions,” Inspector Black said to Dr. Fielding. He opened his notepad and flicked through the pages. “Did you say you saw
two
dragons on the radar last night?”

Ulf listened.

“Yes,” Dr. Fielding said to the Inspector. “A mother dragon and her baby.”

“Dr. Fielding, if I wanted, let's imagine, to capture an adult dragon alive, how would you suggest I go about it?”

“You'd have to get it onto the ground first,” Dr. Fielding said.

“And what would a mother dragon do if I shot its baby out of the sky?”

“She would follow it down.”

The Inspector tapped his pencil on his notepad. “Then I put it to you that our beast hunter was not after the baby dragon at all, but was in fact after the mother. I believe he shot the baby so he could capture the mother dragon alive.”

Ulf was looking up from beside the Inspector's ATV.

“Dr. Fielding, does the Ring of Horrors mean anything to you?” Inspector Black asked.

Dr. Fielding's eyes widened.

“I have heard rumors that our beast hunter is planning a Ring of Horrors, and so I suspect he has taken the mother dragon alive.”

“But that's—”

“Rumors, Dr. Fielding, merely rumors at this stage. Though we ignore them at our peril.”

Ulf stood up. “What's the Ring of Horrors?” he asked.

The Inspector looked Ulf in the eye. “It would curdle your blood if I told you.”

He took a little knife from his coat pocket and sharpened his pencil.

“Dr. Fielding, I think we should speak alone,” he said.

“Ulf, please will you take a crate upstairs for me?” Dr. Fielding asked. “But—”

“Please, Ulf. It's in the kit room.”

Ulf walked toward the yard, then peered back around the corner of the house, trying not to be seen. “Dr. Fielding, we must find this criminal before it's too late,” Inspector Black was saying. “I will search the crash site for clues. I suggest you step up security here.”

“You don't think he would come here, do you?” Dr. Fielding asked.

“I suspect he may come for a fighting beast. From
what I see, you have plenty here for him to choose from. Perhaps your giant could make sure all the enclosures are secure.”

“I'll see to it right away,” Dr. Fielding said. “And I'll carry on checking the files. They may contain a clue to the beast hunter's identity.”

“Good thinking,” the Inspector said. “Keep me informed if you find anything. If he's as clever as I think he is, you could
all
be in trouble.”

“What do you mean?”

“This person, whoever he may be, is clearly no common poacher, Dr. Fielding.
We are dealing with a master criminal.
”

The Inspector's shoes squelched as he walked to his car. His trouser legs were still tucked into his socks.

“Be on your guard!” he said, getting into his car. He started the engine, and Dr. Fielding opened the entrance gates. Inspector Black waved as he sped off up the driveway.

The huge iron gates clanged shut.

“
TWO LITTLE DRAGONS FLYING IN THE SKY
.
Baby goes BANG! Mummy goes bye-bye.”

Druce the gargoyle was singing from the rooftop of Farraway Hall. His voice sounded croaky and out of tune.

Ulf glanced up. “That's a rotten song, Druce,” he said.

The gargoyle gurgled, flapping his arms and wings. He looked up and sniffed the air. Black smoke was drifting in the sky, coming from the incinerator chimney.

“Bye-bye, dragon,” Druce gurgled. His mouth
drooped sadly and he turned to stone.

Ulf turned away. He saw Orson's legs sticking out of the door of the feed store and ran to talk to him.

“Orson, what's the Ring of Horrors?” Ulf asked.

The giant was taking a nap. He was leaning against a mound of grain, snoring. Beside him was a half-empty barrel of apples. There's nothing a giant likes more than a belly full of apples and a little snooze after a morning's work.

Ulf heard Dr. Fielding's voice. “Calling Orson. Calling Orson. Orson, are you there?”

Orson's walkie-talkie was flashing on his belt.

Ulf unhooked it. “Hello, Dr. Fielding. It's Ulf here,” he answered.

“Is Orson with you?” Dr. Fielding asked.

Ulf tugged the giant's ear. “Dr. Fielding wants you,” he said.

“Mmm, lovely apples,” the giant mumbled. Orson opened his eyes and stretched his huge arms. “That's better,” he said, taking the walkie-talkie in his fingers.

“Orson, please can you secure all the enclosures and bring the biganasty in from the forest.”

“Is there trouble?” Orson asked.

“It's just a precaution,” Dr. Fielding said. “And remind Ulf to take a crate upstairs.”

“Right you are,” Orson replied.

“Over and out,” Dr. Fielding said.

The walkie-talkie crackled, and Orson switched it off. “Better get back to work,” he said, standing up. He ducked his head and stepped into the yard.

“Orson,” Ulf called, following him to the kit room. “What's the Ring of Horrors?”

Ulf watched as Orson knelt by the kit room door.

The giant reached in and pulled out a thick rope. “Now, why would you want to know about a thing like that?” Orson asked.

“Inspector Black says the beast hunter is planning a Ring of Horrors.”

Orson tied the rope into a lasso. He laid it on the ground. “The Ring of Horrors was banned before I
was born,” he said. “It's evil. Wild beasts are taken from their homes and chained up. They're thrown into a deep round pit—that's the ring. Then they're made to fight to the death.”

Ulf was shaking. “That's horrible,” he said.

The giant placed a huge hand around Ulf's shoulders. “It's humans that do it,” Orson told him. “Not good humans like Dr. Fielding, but bad ones—rotten ones. Great crowds of them, gambling their money on which beast will kill the other.”

“The Inspector says the beast hunter has taken the mother dragon alive,” Ulf said.

“Then we'd better save her,” Orson told him. “And when we do, I'll show the beast hunter the size of my fist.”

He stood up and threw the lasso over his shoulder. Ulf felt glad that Orson was around. He watched as the giant headed through the gate into the paddock.

Orson turned. “Aren't you supposed to be taking a crate upstairs?” he called.

Ulf quickly stepped into the kit room. He grabbed a flashlight from a hook on the wall, then picked up a dusty old crate from the floor. It was full of junk. He carried it across the yard, heading toward the side door of Farraway Hall. In the flower garden at the back of the house he could see sparkles. “Tiana!” he called.

The fairy came flying over. “Where are you going?” she asked.

“I promised Dr. Fielding I'd take a crate upstairs,” Ulf told her. “Come with me, will you?”

“No way,” Tiana said. She started flying back to the garden.

“Please,” Ulf called.

“It's creepy upstairs,” she called back.

“But I need your help with something.”

Tiana hovered in the air, thinking. “If I come with you, you have to go in first.”

Ulf smiled. Tiana didn't like going upstairs. Upstairs was where the ghosts lived.