The old rickety Warden’s Covered cart made its way along Route One’s rough stony surface, two things the Council had not managed to deliver, a new cart for the Wardens and road repairs. Marc, bouncing about on the front seat next to Matt, who was driving, was more than his chatty, excitable self, largely due to a touch of nervousness which he would not admit to.
‘It’s good to be out on a job. I’ve been pretty bored since my promotion, ‘spect a bit of an anticlimax. Sounds exciting, this job, another dragon's egg eh? Wow, what luck.’
There was no answer from his friend who was concentrating on negotiating the road ahead, keeping their mule from injury, a strong possibility on such a surface as this.
‘And, having Madam Gwen with us, cor! That’s really special.’
Still no word from Matt who was not only busying himself with driving but also deep in his own thoughts. It sounded to him that his young companion may have not fully grasped the seriousness of the mission and if that was the case then it was his fault, being the senior officer, for not clearly explaining everything before they set out. He looked upon Marc more as a younger brother than colleague. He was having second thoughts about a number of things now. Maybe bringing Marc along wasn’t such a good idea after all? But then they would be short a vital member of the team and he was good at his job. Maybe the youngster had grasped the importance of the situation and his chatting was simply a touch of nerves, why not, he was nervous about this trip himself and, he’d bet Milo felt the same way? Only a fool would not be apprehensive. Marc continued his talking, not bothering whether or not anybody was actually listening to him. He knew the score alright, he had to talk, it was the only way he could stop his teeth destroying themselves with their chattering.
As they turned a bend in the road Marc, without thinking, yelled,’There’s the farm!’
‘Yes, Marc, thank you, I can see it.’ Matt didn’t want to dampen his young friend’s spirit and tried to sound casual hoping it hid his own anxiety.
‘Nearly there,’ Marc said, bouncing on his seat.’
Nearly there, thought Gwen, inside the covered cart, the feeling of dread growing in her stronger by the mile. What are we in for? What have I done? What right have I got to drag these fine Peeps out here on a suicide mission. Her mind was in turmoil for the first time in her life. Looking across at Milo, sitting there keeping himself to himself. He’d hardly said a word since picking up Marc. She wondered what he was thinking as he sat there. Him, the tallest of the group, being half a head taller than an average Peeps. Stockily built of the warrior class, his second name being Bardin, which means ‘Battleaxe’. How appropriate, for one of action before thought. A quiet but friendly soul, loyal. Brave, uncomplicated but not simple by any means. His complexion? Not easy to read behind the Dark hair, eyes, and beard.
Then there was the youngest of the group, Mark Adler, his name synonymous with an Eagle, he was certainly sharp eyed, that’s for sure. He was eager to please too, alert, loyal and trustworthy, a close friend of Matt. He had a fresh-faced appearance, fair hair and blue eyes. He had two characteristics that stood out, talkativeness and naivety but he was very dependable. And then there was the leader, Matt Xander, whose name meant Defender of All. What about him? He was without doubt the thinker of the group, often quiet for long periods of time deep in thought, friendly once you got to know him and he let you in. He too was very loyal, high principled, fair, selfless, courageous. Protective of his good friend young Marc acting very like an older brother. She hoped with these the task ahead would be achievable but there was the nagging doubt about it being the right thing to do bringing them on such a mission as this? There was also the omen she had had earlier but not mentioned to the others, that of death ahead. The cart came to a stop. They were at the gates of Mo Underwood's farm.
The afternoon light was starting to fade and night was waiting to take its place. None of them had ever visited the Underwood farm before and were a bit surprised by what they saw. It had only been unoccupied for a few days but already the place looked like it needed rebuilding, so much damage could not have happened naturally through simple abandonment over such a short time. They all knew it, or suspected it. Mo’s farmstead, his home, had been ransacked, torn apart and not by the storm.
‘There doesn’t appear to be much left here to search,’ Matt said more to himself than anyone.
‘I’m not so sure, it’s still worth a look and besides it’s too late to start back now. It’ll be dark soon. I think we’d better stay here the night. There’s still some cover, then we can start out again in the morning fresher.’ Gwen, without discussion, had taken charge and was planning ahead already. Everyone would need their wits about them more than ever now and, to continue their quest immediately would be foolhardy to say the least. She knew she was right by the fact that no one put up any argument at all. ‘So, let’s get at it shall we? I have a feeling that they, whoever, didn't get what they came for. It looks to me like they got frustrated the longer they searched,’
‘I don’t know how you can tell that, Gwen, it’s all a mess.’ Matt wasn’t questioning Gwen so much as seeking to understand how she arrived at her deduction.
‘Let's just say I have a strong feeling about it. Trust me.'
‘What are we looking for exactly?’ Asked Marc.
‘The egg, of course!’ Snapped a tired Matt, the long drive telling on him now.
‘If they, whoever didn’t find ‘an egg’, maybe we need to look for something that could be a good hiding place for one?’ Suggested Gwen patiently, hoping to take the sting out of the moment. Milo and Marc took the upstairs as their search area while Gwen and Matt set to on the ground floor and outside yard. They searched high and low until there was not enough light to continue.
‘Come on boys, enough’s enough. We can’t see what we’re doing, best leave it till tomorrow.’ There was no argument here either as everyone was dog tired after what had been a gruelling day. Sleeping arrangements were agreed up, Gwen would sleep in the barn, which strangely enough hadn’t sustained anything like the damage the house had and the rest would use the covered cart which was reasonably comfortable, while stationary. The question on everyone's mind as they lay down to sleep was, ‘where could Mo have hidden the egg?’
The sun rose on a conundrum, ‘An egg is an egg and looks like an egg, except when it doesn’t.’ This was the thought that had kept Matt awake for most of the night. From arriving at the farm until sleep time they had combed the entire place and found nothing, nothing remotely like an egg, let alone a dragon’s egg, they were huge, you couldn’t miss it. He and Mark had seen a cracked one over three years ago, it was massive. He couldn’t stop thinking about this, about how could they possibly miss something so big, unless…?
Gwen was up and about, looking over the barn again, ready to admit that she may have been wrong about the egg having not been found but, if the Darkness had found it they would all know about it by now. No, it had to be here somewhere. Her train of thought was interrupted by Matt’s voice,
‘Gwen, good morning to you!’
‘Well it’s certainly morning, I’m not sure about the good bit though. It would be very good if we had found what we came for but not such luck.’
‘Hmm, I’ve been thinking.’
‘And, what has the thinker of the team come up with?’
‘Just how big is this egg we’re searching for?’
After only a moment’s silence, ‘Of course!’ exclaimed Gwen. ‘How foolish of me, we’ve been looking for something that would be almost impossible to miss. Haystack - needle, get it?’
‘For once,’ said Matt, ‘your riddles make sense. We’ve been looking for a massive egg. It does not have to be big.’
‘Precisely,’ said an excited Madam Gwen, clapping her hands in a gleeful childlike manner.
‘Steady on there, Gwen, we haven’t found it yet.’
‘No, but now I’m sure we will!’
‘What gives?’ asked Milo, entering the barn. ‘What's the excitement, have we found it then?’
‘Yeah, have we, have we?’ added Marc, who was on the heels of Milo.
‘Morning boys. Matt here has come up with an idea, one that requires us to change our focus a bit. It may mean the search will take a little longer but if he’s right and all my senses say he is, it’ll be well worth it.
‘Okay,’ said Marc, ‘So what are we looking for now, not an egg?’
‘Oh yes, an egg but not a huge egg but a much smaller one.’
‘Oh that’s just great,’ Milo was not impressed. ‘Next you’ll be saying look in a place where you wouldn’t expect to find it.’
‘You’re getting the idea, my friend.’
‘Do you mean like a table lamp in a barn?’ Asked Marc.
Everyone looked at the young Warden, then at each other and then at where Marc was looking, at a spot across from where they were all standing. All eyes focused upon a pile of junk in the corner, on a bail of hay. In the middle at an angle askew to the vertical stood a table lamp, nothing special about it at first glance but, upon closer inspection it wasn’t difficult to see that this lamp was odd, its parts didn’t appear to match too well. Something was fundamentally wrong with it but what? The upright part was okay apart from being slightly bent in the middle. The shade wasn’t to everyone's taste maybe but it obviously fit in with the rest of the owners general decor, something was definitely wrong with it the more one looked at it.
‘Clever Mo,’ said Gwen eventually, ‘hiding it right under everyone’s nose. Don’t you see it? I must admit it took me some time.’
The others kept staring at the lamp until three voices uttered together, ‘The bulb!’
‘The bulb!’
It was almost a race ro be the first to examine the item such was the sheer joy, or relief of finding it yet as soon as they reached it there was a reluctance to pick the thing up in case of the possibility of being disappointed at finding it not to be what they were looking for. The honour was left to Gwen who gingerly picked up the table lamp and immediately felt a tingle run through her body. There was no mistaking the fact that she was holding the dragon’s egg, though if anything it had the appearance more of a pineapple than an egg, a glass pineapple of a delicate light green hue. And, though it was relatively small in size it was much heavier than it looked. The more she handled it the more convinced she became that this was no glass object but crystal.
‘Crystal?’ the others exclaimed.
‘Crystal’, affirmed Gwen.
‘B-b-but,’ started Marc.
‘Nothing should surprise you where dragons are concerned. Now we have to get this to the mountain.’ At that point there was a loud rumble of thunder and the barn was lit up from the outside by crackling lightning.
‘D’yuh think ‘IT’ knows?’ Asked Milo.
‘I’m sure of it, now come on, we’ve got a long road ahead of us. We do not know what awaits us on that road so we must be sharp, ready for anything.’
‘We’re ready,’ said Matt, getting the nod from the other two as he spoke.
‘Isn’t there some other route we could take?’ Asked Milo.
‘There’s the old Route One but it hasn’t been used for years, not since the new one was opened.’
‘And besides,’ added Gwen, ‘The Darkness knows where we are at any time. But, I do feel that with the egg in our possession I don’t think we have too much to worry about.’
‘You think so?’ Asked marc.
‘Oh yes,’ Gwen was back to her old confident self. ‘Let’s be on our way, shall we? With that they got all their gear together and packed it away on the cart, Gwen Sitting inside with Milo and Marc upfront beside Matt, who was driving. The rain was now coming down heavily and the wind was beginning to stir. It wouldn’t be long before they were in a full blown storm similar to the one when they first set out. ‘Was it only yesterday?’ thought Gwen, so much had happened since then.On the road every mile was torture, stinging rain hitting the faces of Matt and Marc like tiny spears, the road surface being turned into a quagmire making progress treacherous with each passing minute, Matt feared for Max, their faithful Mule in these conditions. He had a big strong heart but would it be enough for this trip, he wondered? He hoped, he prayed.
