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At their first iant squirrel, h about fabulous creatures to see at first glance that he was looking at a Scottish brownie, and those were as essential to dragons as the ht that fed them

‘You should have seen the fuss they kicked up! Just for a few chanterelles!’ Sorrel guiltily lowered her voice when she saw the sleeping Slatebeard ‘As if every ed to the in her bros ‘And why? Because they look like walking mushrooms thes? They should be glad I don’t just eat them all up!’

Slatebeard opened his golden eyes and uttered a grunt of amusement ‘Sorrel,’ he murmured ‘I feel sure a brownie voice akeeven in the Land of the Moon’

‘Too true, you can’t get away from them anywhere!’ The tinyhis sleepy eyes, answered to the na He was a homunculus, probably the last of his kind, now that a monster called Nettlebrand had eaten all his eleven brothers The alche, and was the only kind of father he had ever known, ret It isn’t easy to be an artificially-h to have such unusual beings as dragons and brownies as your friends

‘I take it you’ve been having trouble with the fungus-folk again?’ he asked Twigleg sharply, as he climbed up Ben’s arm and sat down on the boy’s shoulder

‘So?’ snapped the brownie ‘Fungus-folk! Mouldy -men! All those little creatures would drive any brownie nuts! You ought to have a ith your parents about it,’ she told Ben ‘Why notthe lines that MÍMAMEIÐR will take in only fabulous creatures who at least stand shoulder-high to a dog? And all the rest can stay where they are!’

‘Oh yes? Do I conclude that you’re saying I don’t have any right to be here, either?’ asked Twigleg, annoyed

It had taken the hoirl, and even after knowing her for two years now, he so Ben used to assure Twigleg that water-sprites and leprechauns were even one s co time Sorrel had been suspicious of the boy who had won Firedrake’s heart so quickly

‘Okay, okay,’ she muttered as she knelt down beside Slatebeard ‘As opinionated as ever Is every ho that there’s only one left’

She put a paw into her basket, which was full to the brius ‘This is a very special delicacy! I spent two hours searching for it, and I had to shake a dozen fungus-folk off s to pick it Brownies eat one every day when their fur begins to turn grey, so I’ood too! Yes, yes, I know you like ht best, but even Firedrakehim especially tasty flowers or berries Not that it’s easy to find those in the Hilance at Firedrake

Then she put the fungus down between Slatebeard’s claws, like a precious sacrificeabout Scottish ift how fond of the old dragon Sorrel was Brownies loved only one thing as i, large or s the colour, shape and flavour of her favourite varieties

Of course Slatebeard knew all this In the course of his long life, he had known three brownie coone to the Land of the Moon ahead of him, and he missed them very much It made him all the happier that not only Firedrake but Sorrel too had oodbye to him

‘This is really extraordinarily generous of you,his head to her ‘You have always been the ifted mushroom-hunter of all the brownies I’ve ever known! Allow me to eat your present for supper’

‘And I’d better have a ith those fungus-folk,’ said Ben He had volunteered to come and look after all the ius-folk Not a very clever idea, as it had turned out Ben’s adopted sister Guinevere had taken charge of the water creatures, and Ben now envied her Even fossegriian water-sprites who played the fiddle, couldn’t coression

But when Ben left Slatebeard’s cave to go over to the fungus-folk’s horass in front of him, which ith dew Mist-ravens owe their narey feathers, but also to the fact that they can make themselves invisible

‘Red alert!’ croaked the raven ‘Proceed to Control Centre! Quick march!’

Mist-ravens like a nificant and mysterious But they are also excellent scouts, and very reliable bringers of news This one had sounded distinctly happy, which lance of concern

Only bad news makes mist-ravens as happy as that

CHAPTER TWO

A Phone Call from Greece

It seereatest

source of excitereatest source of visual beauty;