As they neared him, the man stood up and dusted off his seat, brushing away the leaves and dirt his breeches had picked up from sitting on the ground. The breeches were white and tight-fitting, and he wore a shirt of some red material and over that a vest that was also white. His boots were neatly made.
"So you made it," he said. "I wasn't sure you would."
Cornwall made a motion backward with his head. "You mean down there?"
"Exactly," said the man. "The country's all stirred up. It was just two days ago. You must enjoy running your head into a noose."
"We knew nothing of it," said Cornwall. "We came up from the tower. The men down there took a different route."
"Well," said the man, "you got through safely, and this is the thing that counts. I had been pulling for you."
"You knew that we were coming?"
"I had word of you yesterday. A motley band they told me. And I see that they were right."
"They?"
"Oh, assorted little friends I have. Skippers-through-the-thickets. Runners-in-the-grass. All eyes and ears. There is not much they miss. I know about the horn and about the head that came rolling to the campfire, and I have been waiting most impatiently to greet you."
"You know, then, who we are?"
"Only your names. And I beg your pardon. I am Alexander Jones. I have a place prepared for you."
Mary said, "Master Jones, I do not like the sound of that. We are entirely capable—"
"I am sorry, Mistress Mary, if I have offended you. All I meant to offer was hospitality. Shelter from the coming night, a good fire, hot food, a place to sleep."
"All of which," said Oliver, "so far as I am concerned, would be most welcome. Perhaps a measure of wine or a mug of beer as well. The stench back there is still clogging up my throat. Something is needed to wash it all away."
"Beer, or course," said Jones. "A full barrel of it is laid in against your coming. Do you agree, Sir Mark?"
"Yes," said Cornwall, "I do agree. I see no harm in it and perhaps some good. But do not call me sir; I am no more than a scholar."
"Then," said Jones, "pray, hold your horses well. For this mount of mine is a noisy beast."
He strode toward the contraption standing on two wheels. He threw one leg over it and settled on what became apparent was the contraption's seat. He reached out and grasped the two handlelike projections extending above and backward of the forward wheel.
"Hold a moment, there," said Gib. "There is one thing you have not told us. With all the dead men lying down there, how come you are still alive? You are human, are you not?"
"I like to think I am," said Jones, "and the answer to your question is an extremely simple one. Folk hereabouts believe I am a wizard, which, of course, I'm not."
He balanced on one foot and kicked with the other. The two-wheeled contraption came alive with an angry roar, breathing out a cloud of smoke. The horses reared in fright. Oliver, who was riding behind Sniveley, fell off and scrambled rapidly on all fours to get out of the way of the lashing hooves.
The two-wheeled monster quit its roaring, settled into a rumbling, throaty purr.
"I am sorry," Jones shouted to Oliver. "I warned you to watch yourselves."
"It's a dragon," said Sniveley. "A two-wheeled dragon, although I did not know that dragons came with wheels. What else but a dragon would make that sort of roar and breathe out fire and brimstone?" He reached down a hand to Oliver and helped him scramble up.
Jones urged the dragon into motion, heading down the road.
"I guess," said Hal, "all we can do is follow him. Hot food, he said. I could do with some."
"I do not like it," Sniveley complained. "I like it not one bit. I am not one to mess around with dragons, even if they be domesticated ones, broken to the saddle."
The dragon speeded up, and they had to force their horses into a rapid trot to keep up with it. The road was not as deeply rutted as it had been coming up the gorge. Now it followed a plateau, running straight between stands of pine and birch, with only an occasional oak tree rearing up above the lesser forest. Then the road dipped down, not sharply, but rather gradually, into a pleasant valley, and there on the valley floor they saw the collection of three tents, all of them gaily striped and with pennons flying from their tops.
The dragon pulled up before the largest tent, and Jones dismounted. To one side was a table made of rough boards and beyond it cooking fires, with spits set above the fires and a huge beer barrel mounted on a pair of sawhorses, with a spigot already driven in the bung. Tending the fires and spits was a ragamuffin crew of brownies, trolls, and goblins, who were going about their work with a tremendous clanging of pans. Some of them dropped their work and ran to take charge of the horses.
"Come," said Jones, "let us sit and talk. I know there must be a deal to talk about."
A half-dozen of the trolls were busy at the beer barrel, filling great mugs from the spigot and bearing them to the table.
"Now, this is fine," said Jones. "We can have a drink or two before the food is ready. For, of course, it is never ready when it is supposed to be. These little friends of mine are willing workers, but most disorganized. Take whatever seat you wish and let's begin our talk."
Oliver scurried to the table and grabbed a mug of beer, dipping his muzzle into it and drinking heartily. Desisting, he wiped the foam from his whiskers. "This is proper brew," he said. "Not like the swill they serve in Wyalusing inns."
"Sniveley calls your mount a dragon," Hal said to Jones, "and while it breathes fire and smoke and bellows most convincingly, I know it is no dragon. I have never seen a dragon, but I've heard stories of them, and the descriptions in the stories are nothing like this creature that you ride. It has no head or wings and a dragon has both head and wings and, I believe, a tail as well."
"You are quite right," said Jones, delighted. "It is not a dragon, although many others than Sniveley have guessed it to be one. It is not a creature at all, but a machine, and it is called a trail bike."
"A trail bike," said Gib. "I've never heard of one."
"Of course you've not heard of one," said Jones. "This is the only one in this entire world."
"You say it is a machine," said Cornwall, "and we have machines, of course, but nothing like this. There are machines of war, the siege machines that are used to hurl great stones or flights of arrows or flaming material against a beleaguered city."
"Or a mill wheel," said Gib. "A mill wheel would be a machine."
"I suppose it is," said Hal.
"But a mill wheel runs by the force of flowing water," Mary said, "and the engines of war by the winding up of ropes. Can you tell us how this machine of yours runs?"
"Not too well," said Jones. "I could not explain it all to you. I could tell you some things, but they would make no sense."
"You don't know, then, how it runs," said Cornwall.