The tap-tap-tapping on his window got Lumus Milner, town recluse’s attention. Unhurriedly he walked over to the window and upon drawing the small sack curtain aside revealed his friend Olly, looking all agitated and breathless.

“Olly, nice to see you, come on in and rest awhile, you look like you need it.”

“No time to rest, Lumus, there’s work to be done, big work of the medical kind.”

The kindly old man in the monk’s habit, held his hand out to the owl in a consoling manner only to be abruptly rebuked.

“No, no, not me, We have a massive emergency on our hands, possibly the biggest in the town’s history, and dare I say, a potential disaster. You need to be quick and come to Throwback’s cabbage patch, bring your gear. Hurry.”

Lumus knew his friend Olly well enough to know that she was referring to something very important. She wasn’t one given to dramatics. Not without good reason.

“Well,” said Lumus, “What are you waiting for, lead the way.?” 

Quite a gathering had congregated around the cabbage patch by the time the Owl and the Old Man got there. Without a word they parted, making way for the Old Man to get through. He slowly but confidently approached the injured beast, which watched him carefully but unafraid, such was the powerful calming effect Lumus had with anyone or any beast suffering injury. He seemed to instil confidence in his patience without saying a word.

Taking a close look at some of the injuries and running his hand over the areas, very gently he made up his mind upon what action was required. He started talking to the beast, very quietly, nobody else could hear what was being said but basically he was using soothing words, if they had heard any of it they wouldn’t have understood it, he was using a language they had never heard before. The effect his words were having on the patient was very evident for all to see. The beast was calming down more by the minute until it was in a state of unconsciousness. Lumus dressed the wounds as best he could but insisted that his patient needed moving and as soon as possible. His next statement had the most dramatic effect.

“Of course, our patient being a dragon will give us one or two logistical problems.”

“A Dragon!?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. A dragon. What did you think it was?”

Olly, feeling a little embarrassed because she should have known this, being the wise one. Clearing her throat she said.

“So, Lumus, how do we move a dragon?”

There followed a long silence before the old man spoke again. 

“I think I may have to call for a spot of help on this one but it will have to be done at night when no one can see, save any alarm or foolish questions. In the meantime see our friend here is watered but not fed and I shall return tonight with help. Okay, above all, do not disturb him, He needs lots of rest because tonight is not going to be particularly easy for him.” That said he was off to the town leaving Olly to organise the cabbage patch with all its onlookers.

The light was fading fast, heralding the arrival of nighttime, the barn was settling down, everyone had gone their own ways to their various habitats and all was silent in the cabbage patch. One individual wasn’t settling down though. Olly was listening intently to a sound that wasn’t familiar to her. It was coming from the hills and was getting louder though in itself it was not a particularly loud sound, more of a felt sound, coming in rhythmic waves, and there was a musical quality to it. She had never heard the like before and was on red alert. The strange sound stopped abruptly right above the barn and all was silent again. She strained her long ears trying to hear something, anything but there was nothing for some minutes until there came the sound of shuffling from outside, just beyond the barn towards the cabbage patch. She hopped onto the barn window frame and looked out and nearly fell off when she saw what was happening in that cabbage patch.

Below Lumus was organising a group of animals into two teams, one at the head and one at the rear. He looked up and, seeing the owl, beckoned her down but emphasised the need for quiet in doing so. She landed on the fence that surrounded the patch and stared, her wide Owl eyes at their widest.

“Olly, these are my friends from over the mountains yonder, they don’t like noise so if you be as quiet as possible that would be fine.”

The Owl didn’t say a word, just kept on staring mezmerised.

Once the old man had got the animals in position and secured the dragon's to a sling attached to the feet of the beasts he turned to his friend the Owl and noticed she was still sitting there, staring and looking obviously puzzled, well, obvious to Lumus that is.

“Olly, you look confused, it’s not like you. Are you okay?”

It was as if she had just woken up, with a little jump. 

“Oh, sorry, Lumus. Er, what are those?” Indicating with her wing pointed at the beasts.

“Oh, Olly, haven’t you ever seen a Hippogriff before?”

“I haven’t seen anything so mixed up as that before, I mean, they’re, well, mixed up some, aren’t they? I mean, the two halves don’t fit. I mean, they have the head and beak of eagles as well as wings and then their back ends are those of a horse. You do come up with some weird stuff at times, Lumus.”

The old man chuckled quietly to himself before saying.

“Olly my very good friend, your eyes are not deceiving you, what you see are indeed very fine specimens of one of the most noble, loyal creatures in all of creation. These friends of mine are going to help us carry our patient to another location where he will be safe and where we can attend to his wounds better. Now then, if you’re coming with us you had better ready yourself.”

“If I’m coming with you? You just try to stop me.” 

“That’s the spirit. Let’s be off and stay close.”

The old man climbed on the back of one of the leading pair of Hippogriffs and they all rose into the air in one smooth, silent movement. With Olly flying just a little to the right of the old man’s shoulder the unlikely looking sky train set off.