He scanned the whole cavern in a slow 360-degree turn, desperately looking for any hint of a tiny clue as to just how they could get out of this infernal place. His best and only friend, Mary Maddam, in this unexpected adventure, now turned into a serious quest, was wounded and still in pain from her long fall down the underground slope. He gulped and felt even iller, realizing that without him she’d be done for.
And that led to but another concern becoming a deadly skin-crawling fear too. Just how was Mary expected to climb up the cliff and get through the blanket of cloud hanging above them and then make her way up the long dark, smoke-filled slope, that hopefully led them to eventual freedom and escape on the surface? How on Einstein’s Erf was she going to do that?
Not to mention they had to do it with a monster of a Fire-Worm Lord, old Mad Morgrave, the King of the Core, literally hot on their tails, well, at least on Mavis’s the Dragon Queen’s. But Roger was pretty sure, that once Morgrave had caught up and dealt with wounded Mavis, it wouldn’t be long before he’d be right after them too.
Roger had a zillion and one questions he wanted to ask but knew there was no time left. Mavis had made it clear, they had to get back up to the surface and take her last Dragon’s Egg with them, with no ifs ands or buts; The fate of the whole of the Under-Erf and maybe even more, depended on it. Which meant… everything depended on him!
Mary looked over at Roger with concern on her strained and sooty face, she could tell Roger was getting more and more agitated, every relentless murky minute that passed on by.
“Can you see any way we can get out from here yet, Roger?” she asked him hopefully.
“Fraid not,” he replied rather tersely, his brow knitted in concentration. “Look here, Mary, just how bad off are you? Erm, well… what I mean to say is, you climbing that cliff there’s going to be a tall order, you know … and, well, what with your sprained ankle and… and…” His words faded away, drying up in his mouth. Mary was giving him a decidedly black frown of her very own.
“Oh, don’t be all soft belly and boiled blather, Roger,” she scolded him, “I’ll do my best, O.K. And what choice do we have anyway, eh? We’ve got to figure a way out of here, right? Simple as that I’d say. Mavis reckons Morgrave will be here sometime during tomorrow and we need to be long gone by then, even if it is the middle of the night right now.”
“And also, do not forget, my dear children,” Mavis calmly telepathed, interrupting their argument, “this, my last Dragon’s Egg, is the True Dragons only chance of ever redressing all the terrible wrongs perpetrated by these Core Lords for a thousand years. Therefore, somehow, a way must be devised for you return to the surface immediately.”
“Sorry, I do understand Mavis, I really do,” Roger replied. “But… what happens if… if… if Morgrave gets to you, then kills… I mean, then… goes after us… What do we do then?”
“Do not fear, my young Skyling, I am not as defenseless as I seem,” Mavis replied coolly. “I will guard your rear and I will also monitor Morgrave’s approach. I will do everything in my power to delay his arrival and aid your escape and so assist your rescuing of my last Egg. And you will find you have good friends, as soon as you reach the Tree King’s roots that is. The Tree above us, you know of as the Smoking Tree.”
“All right, Mavis. Fair enough; But that still leaves us with the tricky little problem of just how we go about this rescue, doesn’t it? You haven’t got any spare dragon’s magick or such; you know… something up your sleeve… or… under your wing, have you?” Roger asked her, feeling increasingly frustrated and afraid.
“My most powerful magick, right now, rests in yourself Roger… in you and in Mary here,” Mavis answered him softly. “Your courage, compassion, intelligence and humanity, these are what will rescue us all one day I believe. And these are the magicks you must use most now!”
And with that said, it quite naturally and tacitly fell to Roger, once again, to somehow work out a clever scientific solution for their immediate seemingly insolvable problem.
Just exactly how were they getting out of this smoke-filled Cavern, with an injured girl and a Dragon’s Egg as well, and do so before their brutal enemy, the Mad King Morgrave, escaped and hunted them out for the final kill?
And, not to mention too, before the Egg’s wounded mum, Mavis, a thousand years old Dragon Queen, imminently died, naturally exploding… and so killing them all, anyway!
Roger walked carefully around the dingy, minion-corpse-littered Cavern, while quietly, Mavis watched him from her heavily lidded eyes, very weary from all her recent exertions, but keeping a close eye on his movements and being ready to protect him with another blast of her blue flame if needed, just in case King Morgrave suddenly attacked again.
Roger walked and carefully studied some of the rock formations that were still standing here and there; Then he began doing some intricate, tricky geometric calculations in his head. Raising his arm out and extending his thumb up to get a bead on various angles and distances. He then paused a while and then scratched at his head deep in thought, then he frowned some more and began quietly muttering to himself. Then he started pacing around the Cavern and then all around the reclining Dragon Queen again.
And then he suddenly stopped in his tracks, staring directly up at Mavis, the now bemused Dragon Queen, who looked back at him with a dragonish smile of puzzlement on her noble face at all his strange and serious-faced antics.
“O.K. Mavis, you’ve said you’re too weak to move any of these rocks, and any of these fallen stalagmites too, right?” he asked her, “but what about… well, are you strong enough… to move yourself, at all?”
“Yes, Roger, I think I can just about manage that!” Mavis replied, with a tinge of sarcasm.
A huge grin spread over Roger’s soot-soiled, bespectacled face. “Then, Eureka!” he cried, yelling with joy at the top of his voice. “Eureka, Eureka, Eureka! By good old Dizzy, Dozy Diogenes, himself, EUREKA!”
“Oh, I think he’s got it!” Mary laughed up at Mavis, then smiling at him admiringly said. “So, what is it?” she asked, “what do we do then, Roj? How do we get up the cliff an’ up that slope an’ back up to the surface? How?”
“We walk!” said Roger, grinning from ear to ear. “We walk up!”
Mary looked at him dumbfounded.
Then very patiently, he explained to Mavis and Mary, and telepathically too, as he did so, showing them exactly how he intended to get up to the slope above that led to their freedoms, both Roger and Mary - and the precious Dragon’s Egg too!
“It’s quite easy when you know how, you know!” he quipped, feeling extremely relieved, as Mary and Queen Mavis beamed at him, both mentally sending him their congratulatory and very admiring thoughts.
“Very well done, Roger! That’s an excellent idea!” Mavis warmly telepathed to him.
“Oh, it’s so simple, Roj! How clever you are!” Mary happily agreed.
He had found the way out. And truth be told, he felt proud of the sheer simplicity of it too. The answer had come to him in a flash of inspiration, as he’d been busy dithering, calculating and whimsically wishing for a set of stairs to just magically appear. They sort of had!