The three Worms said nothing in answer, not that Roger could hear, physically or even mentally; But he had the distinct impression they understood every word that Mavis had said.
“You know, I think these creatures are actually very intelligent, Mary,” Roger whispered.
“Yes, just like Whales and Porpoises and such like, we have in our oceans,” she replied.
Mavis and the Erf-Worms were now deep in conversation it seemed; Though neither Roger nor Mary could work out how or what was being said by either exactly. It wasn’t the ‘normal’ sort of telepathy that Mavis had introduced them to. But then again, that had been in Inglishe, so maybe this was another type of telepathy, a giant Erf-Worm one, Roger thought.
The Worms raised their heads, one after the other, and gathered around the Dragon Queen, now encircling her with their long and massive bodies, as in some sort of vermicular homage. Then their telepathic conversation was at an end.
All three Trydras, the mightiest Minions of the Masters of the Core, had been defeated.
And now there were no more Minions, big or small, left at all. The cavern was littered with the smoking, burnt bodies of the thousands of smaller, Minion-worms, as well as the fuming carcasses of the three vanquished Trydra.
Mavis now sensed that the Enemy, the Fire-Worm Lords of the Erf’s Core, had no more reserves ready, as yet, to send in for further battle in the attempt to destroy her and her Egg. But she knew her time was running out.
“Thanks to the Erf-Worms, we have some respite, for a while at least,” she told them. “However, we can waste no time, who knows what the Core Lords may have planned?”
“And thanks to you too, Mavis! But what is this Enemy?” asked Roger. “You still haven’t told us that, you know. What’s going on here? Why are these vicious creatures attacking us?”
“Well, my young Sky Child, we now have some time for questions and time for answers, and Sky-Spirits willing, I will tell you more of what you need to know before I resume my imminent journey through the awaiting portals of my fiery death.”
“Oh, Mavis, I forgot. I’m really sorry. But is there nothing to be done to save you at all?” Mary asked her, longingly.
“No. Nothing, child, but it is just… well… nothing. For I am Spirit and I can never die!” she replied, mysteriously.
There was a moment’s awkward silence and then Mary piped up rather sheepishly.
“Well, before you do die, Mavis, is there anything you can do about all this smoke in here? It’s really hurting my eyes, and it makes it very difficult to breathe too, you know.”
For answer, Mavis turned her head toward the children and blew a cooling cloud of gentle blue-flame all about them. “This will keep the worst of the smoke at bay awhile,” she said.
The raw redness in their eyes at once eased and their chests also felt lighter too somehow; The magical properties of the blue-flame, was definitely making it easier for them to breathe. Roger also gallantly handed Mary one of his clean hankies and that helped too.
Being always the gentleman, he seemed to have an endless supply, Mary wryly observed.
“Now, I require a little time to recuperate and re-energize my supply of red and blue flame; We may well need them again. And by my reckoning I am not due to combust until well after the Dawn tomorrow; as is traditional with the passing of all female Dragons. So, we now have some of tonight to rest and recover, and to attend to your educations regarding the Under-Erf. And then you may both, forewarned and forearmed, make your way up to the surface safely with my Egg, and with plenty of time to get home.”
The two children were keen to learn more of the Under-Erf and the proper procedure for hatching a Dragon’s Egg and the correct rearing and education of a baby Dragon too. But before doing this she felt they should rest awhile first. And before they did that, Mavis had them swear their allegiance to her cause and that of her Royal Egg.
She had already had some words on this with Mary before, but this was now the time for their official induction into the sacred bond of the Dragon-Blood and their heartfelt swearing of unbreakable oaths.
“Now children, I will breathe the soul-blood of my spirit into yours and you must then swear your oaths of allegiance to the True Dragons for all time!” she solemnly told them.
The children stood up and obediently waited hand in hand before her. Both fully realizing this was a major turning point in their lives - it was in fact a momentous occasion and one they could never, ever have imagined happening before.
“Do you hold forever true to the sacred Dragon Oath, to always seek for the path of truth and harmony and that you will now serve and do all you can to save and aid my son?”
“We will, and we do!” they told her in emphatic unison. “And we’ll get Regor away to safety, somehow. We promise.”
The Dragon Queen nodded her satisfaction. “Well, that is done, and it is good, very good indeed, I would say; But now you must rest awhile, as I must do too, and you should nourish yourselves too with any provisions you may have brought with you,” Mavis told them.
Roger heartily agreed - feeling pleased he’d brought the biscuits and water flask with him.
“I will wake you in but two of your sky-light hours children, do not worry. There is time enough and then we will commence teaching you what you need to know,” Mavis told them, as she curled herself up to rest and recuperate as best she could.
Roger and Mary sat comfortably together, their backs against Mavis’s flank and so drank some water and nibbled at their biscuits. So much had happened to them in such a short time; They hardly knew what to say about it to each other.
One thing though was for sure. The World of Planet Erf was absolutely nothing at all like what they had been told and taught in school!
But while they were resting and recovering, with Mavis gently smoking and snoring away behind them, Roger raised himself from his uneasy dozing and now prodded Mary in the ribs.
“Oh, what on Erf is it, Roger? I’m still hurting and tired you know!” she moaned.
Roger then piped up about his worry that had been stopping him from getting any sleep.
“There’s just one thing.” he told her, having had a scary realization about this particular problem. “I don’t want to be bothersome or anything, b-b-but there’s something we really haven’t thought through properly, you know.”
“Well, what’s that?” Mary huffed at him, impatiently.
“Well, it’s, err, well, it’s just ...” Roger’s thoughts trailed away, and then in a quick rush, he shouted out loud his unspoken fear, his voice echoing strangely in the cavernous darkness. “Well, just how in the Dizzying Dirac’s are we going to get out of this c-c-cavern anyway, even if we were all as fit as f-f-fleas—which we’re not” he inwardly groaned, thinking of his poor fleas, “and we d-d-didn’t have to climb, crawl or jump or run with a D-d-dragon’s Egg, as well!” he finished, with a pained, apologetic expression on his sooty, bespectacled face.
Mary looked at him, a bit shocked, but she kept her tongue. She wisely realized that Roger had been having just as bad and unnerving and testing a time of it as she had, even more so really, considering how so very unused to the wild and unruly ways of Mother Nature he was.
Also, he did in fact have a very good point. Despite magical Dragons, deadly Trydra’s, Giant Rats and Erf-Worms, just how were they actually going to get back up to the surface, and then find their way through the Bad Wood at night and get home all in one piece?