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T he Double Dune Light was set high on a rickety metal frame at the end of a treacherous sandspit Froust of ould blow it down, but Septiround

At the light, Septirees to the left and headed out to the open sea Seption because Spit Fyre was, for the ht, but he enjoyed the thrill of the dragon responding to his commands When Spit Fyre was earthbound, Seption was the one in charge and he was , but in the air the positions were reversed Spit Fyre became docile and calm; he obeyed - even anticipated - Septimus&039;s every wish, to the extent that soon could hear his very thoughts Septi about this He did not know that a dragon rider - particularly the dragon&039;s Ih tiny flickers of every on reads the whole body of its rider and often will knohich way the rider wants to go before the rider knows him - or her - self It was in this way that, two days previously, Spit Fyre had flown a very agitated Marcia Overstrand all the way to the House of Foryx without a single on-direction instructions completely backward, this was quite an achieveon-riding skills that had gotten them safely there, but in fact it was down to Spit Fyre&039;s innate ExtraOrdinary Wizard - ignoring skills

Septirew brighter and the multitude of little white clouds disappeared, until Septi but blue - the azure sky around hiazed down, entranced, watching the shifting shadows of the currents, seeing the dark shapes of the huge whales that inhabited the deep trough over which they were flying The late spring air was cold at five hundred feet, but the warenerated by Spit Fyre&039;s muscles provided Septi as he ignored the occasional waft of hot, sht of the dragon lulled Septiykal rhys played in his ears Some hours passed in this way until suddenly he was jolted awake

"Septi his name Septimus sat up, at once alert and confused How could anyone possibly be calling him? He shook himself and muttered, "It was a dream, you dillop" To chase away the fuzziness in his head he looked down at the ocean once roup of islands A large central island lay surrounded by six sreen bordered with little coves and white sandy beaches, while between the islands the delicate blue-green of clear, shallow sea sparkled in the sunlight Septi on a warh ht about taking Spit Fyre down to one of the little coves and landing on the sand In response the dragon began dropping in height; immediately Septimus came to his senses

"No, Spit Fyre No, we have to go on," he said regretfully Spit Fyre resuht, and Septimus turned around to watch the exquisite circle of islands recede Eventually the islands disappeared fro of loss caon and Imprintor flew on into the late afternoon Above them white clouds came and went, and, below, the occasional ship trailed its white path through the endless pattern of waves, but there were noapproached, the clouds began to thicken until they for The air temperature plummeted and Septimus felt chilled to the bone He drew his wolverine fur around hihtly, but he still felt cold Septiood tenwhat she had called her Eency Kit, which she had personally loaded onto Spit Fyre in heavy carpet saddlebags Marcia had told Septiht red HeatCloaks, which she had been very excited to find in Bott&039;s Wizard Secondhand Cloak Shop

After another ten s - which Marcia had very effectively laced closed - Septiet his ice-cold hand to pull out a HeatCloak He wrapped the oddly crinkly cloak around hih hian to work oncefast Ahead on the horizon Septi of rain began, but it seemed that the HeatCloak repelled water too Septimus pulled on his old red beanie hat, which he had slipped into his pocket before he left It was a tight fit now, but he didn&039;t care No other hat felt quite the same Noas totally rain-and windproof Septimus turned his attention to the horizon once ht he could see a faint ribbon of lights Septiht deepened and Spit Fyre drew ever nearer, the ribbon of lights shone brighter by the second A thrill of exciteh Septi Post, and one of those lights belonged to Jenna, Nicko, Snorri and Beetle, sitting in their da for hiainst the Pilot Spine and grinned The dragon rescue teaht had fallen and they had reached land Spit Fyre was flying low and fast along a sandy coast The sky had cleared and the waning gibbousshadows on the land below Septi the sand dunes, the dark shapes of fisher in the s and little boats pulled up onto the beach for the night Beyond he could see the ribbon of lights of the Trading Post shining brighter than ever, illu of harbors

Now Septimus slowed Spit Fyre down and swooped in even lower Below, he saw the first of the long line of harbors - Harbor Nuhtly But, since Harbor Nu for, there was still sos beat steadily as he flew over each harbor in succession Excited, Septi harbor walls standing out against the light fro the quaysides He could see throngs of people bustling about, busy loading and unloading, bargaining and trading The sound of voices drifted up - a cacophony of unfahter punctuated by the odd shout No one noticed the dark shape of the dragon above or its faintsilently over the quays Septimus patted Spit Fyre&039;s neck and whispered, "Well done, Spit Fyre, well done We&039;re nearly there"

The Trading Post had grown along a sheltered shoreline on the edge of the vast, open land that contained - a many other wonders - the House of Foryx It had become a center for Traders, not only the Northern Traders but those from even farther away Before the winter&039;s ice had even melted, fur-clad traders , narrow boats along the frozen ditches that snaked through the forests until they caave out into the Trading Post Tall, bright-robed Traders froht their brilliantly painted ships across the sea, and occasionally even Traders from countries beyond the Eastern Snow Plains could be seen with their distinctive tall pointy hats and their staccato voices could be heard cutting through the hubbub As Spit Fyre flew on, Septimus kept a lookout for Harbor Number Three It was one of the s Post, just beyond the widest canal (the one that led all the way to the other side of the world, so they said) Harbor Nunize by its unusual horseshoe shape It was not a deep-water harbor but was used by fishermen with small boats, which they left tied onto outhauls stretched over the sand that was uncovered at low tide It was not long before Spit Fyre had crossed the wide, ept canal and Septian circling, looking for somewhere to land, but the quay was cluttered with fish boxes and piles of nets There was no open patch of ground large enough for a dragon to land, and no dragon will ever land near nets, due to a deep-seated dread of getting their talons trapped in thedays of the past The tide was going out, and in the shadows along the edge of the harbor wall Septimus spotted an empty strip of sand with no ropes across it He steered the dragon a few hundred yards out to sea and then brought hiracefully down until, with a soft thud and in a spray of wet sand, Spit Fyre landed The dragon sniffed the air and then wearily laid his head on the da Septimus to claled his feet to try to get so back into his toes Then, a little unsteadily, he went and rubbed the dragon&039;s velvety, ice-cold nose

"Thank you, Spit Fyre," he whispered "You&039;re the best"

The dragon snorted, and from the shadows of the quayside above came a woman&039;s voice: "Don&039;t do that It&039;s so rude"

A man&039;s voice protested, "Don&039;t do what? I didn&039;t do anything!"

"Huh You always say that You can&039;t bla couple wandered off, and before they were out of earshot, Spit Fyre had fallen asleep Septimus checked the tide It was on its way out, and froured Spit Fyre had at least six hours to safely sleep where he was Septis, extracted four roast chickens and a bag of apples and placed theht snack

"Wait here, Spit Fyre I&039;ll be back," Septimus whispered Spit Fyre opened a bleary eye, blinked and went back to sleep

Septis and wearily headed up the harbor steps Now all he had to do was remember which net loft it was that Nicko had chosen