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Ebb Tide

The Dragon Boat flely over the flooded eance behind As the stors and, a little out of practice, landed back on the water with a bump and a ing tightly to the dragon&039;s neck, were soaked

Boy 412 and Nicko were knocked off their feet by the landing and sent sprawling across the deck, where they ended up in a tangled heap They picked theh of relief There was no doubt in his mind - boats were not meant to fly

Soon the clouds drifted away out to sea, and the lis held up to catch the wind as she sailed thehtedfar across the water Aunt Zelda watched the scene, a little disheveled fro with a pile of saucepans

The Dragon Boat was reluctant to return to the teht of being shut away underground again She longed to turn around and head out to sea while she still could and sail away across the world with the young Queen, her new Master and the ExtraOrdinary Wizard But her new Master had other ideas He was taking her back again, back to her dry, dark prison The dragon sighed and hung her head Jenna and Marcia nearly fell off

"What&039;s going on up there?" asked Boy 412

"She&039;s sad," said Jenna

"But you&039;re free now, Marcia," said Boy 412

"Not Marcia The dragon," Jenna told him

"How do you know?" asked Boy 412

"Because I do She talks to hed

" &039;Oh, yes&039; to you too She&039;s sad because she wants to go to sea She doesn&039;t want to go back into the temple Back to prison, she calls it"

Marcia kne the dragon felt

"Tell her, Jenna," said Marcia, "that she will go to sea again But not tonight Tonight we&039;d all like to go hoh, and this tion&039;s neck and landed with a bump on the deck But Marcia didn&039;t care; she didn&039;t even coon Boat sailed serenely across the Marra a lookout, was surprised to see a s boat in the distance It was the chicken boat, floating out with the tide He pointed it out to Boy 412 "Look, I&039;ve seen that boat before Must be so down here"

Boy 412 grinned "They chose the wrong night to come out, didn&039;t they?"

By the ti and the water covering theshallow

Nicko took the tiller and guided the Dragon Boat into the course of the sub the Roht The lowed a luminous white as the moon shone upon it for the first tion Boat inside All the earth banks and the wooden roof that he had built had been washed away, leaving the tall pillars standing clear in the brilliant ht

Marcia was astounded "I had no idea this was here," she said "No idea at all You&039;d have thought one of the books in the Pyraon Boatwell, I always thought that was just a legend"

"Aunt Zelda knew," said Jenna

"Aunt Zelda?" asked Marcia "Why didn&039;t she say so?"

"It&039;s her job not to say She&039;s the Keeper of the island The Queens, urandmother and all the ones before theon"

"Did they?" asked Marcia, amazed, "Why?"

"I don&039;t know," said Jenna

"Well, they never told me, or Alther come to that"

"Or DomDaniel," Jenna pointed out

"No," said Marcia thoughtfully "Maybe there are sos it is better for a Wizard not to know"