Dragon Rescue Read Free Page A

over the peaks, frequently dumping sheets of rain to the accompaniment of lightning flashes and rolling thunder.
    Hello! he thought. There are people of some sort living on the middle mountainsides, I see.
    He was about to shout to Furbetrance, in case he’d missed the round, stone huts perched precariously just at the timberline, when he saw his brother dive toward them.
    He’s seen them, Retruance decided.
    He began a more moderate descent, dropping as he did so through a heavy layer of wet, gray clouds that masked his view of the tiny native village and the other Dragon for several minutes.
    Now where could he have got to? he wondered, not seeing the younger Dragon when he himself finally emerged from the mist.
    He pivoted into a tight circle and dropped closer to the treetops, sensing something was wrong.
    Unless he’s gone through the pass to the other side. No, he was definitely headed for a landing when last I saw him!
    Retruance wove back and forth on the strong updrafts, flying not far from the tiny village, ducking in and out of the lower clouds. A small crowd of people were clambering along a goat path above the village, going around the shoulder of the mountain that edged the water gap.
    As he banked to follow them he heard their excited shouts.
    “We’ve snared the child snatcher! Hooray! Hurry!”
    Women’s voices came, also, saying, “Now be careful, Lofters!
    Snagged he may be, but hot is his breath, recall!”
    “Snagged!” cried Retruance. “For Pete’s sake! They’ve got old Furbetrance fairly netted down there—like a plump pie pigeon!”
    If it hadn’t been so dangerous, the scene might have been comi-cal, for poor Furbetrance had flown headlong and heedless into a net knotted of tough ropes stretched from side to side across the riverine pass. When he’d hit the strands, he’d flipped head over pointed tail several times, trapping himself in the ropes and binding his wings tight to his sides.
    “He’s lucky the net’s holding him up,” thought Retruance aloud,
    “or he’d have had a pretty bad fall into yonder river!”
    He landed, unnoticed in the excitement, on a narrow ledge several dozen feet above the dangling Dragon. He considered an immediate charge on the natives, flames spurting and fearsomely bellowing, but he hesitated. How to get Furbetrance down? The trappers must have some idea how to disentangle the Dragon...perhaps.
    lf l do it, I might drop him. Where he hangs it’s much too narrow to get our wings spread!
    He slid to a landing behind an outcrop of gray stone to watch the action. It occurred to him that these mountain men might possibly have some idea of Arbitrance’s whereabouts. Otherwise, why would they have gone to the trouble to set up a Dragon-sized snare? It could only be a trap for a full-grown Dragon.
    Scantily clad Lofters easily climbed the sheer walls of the gorge, uncoiling great loops of heavy rope as they went. In a surprisingly short time they moved into position above the writhing Dragon, and began to jockey their lines into place to support the Dragon’s tremendous weight once the net was cut loose.
    “Hi, Dragon!” a loud voice hailed. “If you stay still and hold your fire, we’ll get you out of this fairly quickly. Agreed?”
    Furbetrance, who’d been trying unsuccessfully to twist his head about to blast through the twisted netting, realized suddenly that, were he to do so, he would plunge into the raging river far below. Sensibly, he ceased his struggles and nodded agreement.
    “I’ve little choice, I see,” he said. “No flames and no biting, then.”
    The mountain men expertly lassoed the trapped Dragon’s head and both wing tips in such a way that, when the net was suddenly cut loose from its moorings, the Dragon’s heavy body merely swung with majestic slowness to the left and came to rest in a narrow green strip of alpine meadow halfway up the wall of the gorge.
    The rest of the villagers quickly whipped their lines about the