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S eptimus slept on, and the sun reached its reen satof being Watched began to filter through even to Septiot to her feet and slipped away
The heat was sloaron blood, and as his circulation began to quicken, his tail started to throb with pain The dragon let out a long, low groan, and instantly Septimus ake and on his feet
"Spit Fyre, what is it?"
As if in reply, Spit Fyre suddenly twisted around, and before Septimus could stop him, he had his tail in his mouth
"No! No, Spit Fyre Stop, stop!"
Septirabbed hold of one of Spit Fyre&039;s nose spines and pulled as hard as he could "Spit Fyre, let go, let go!" he yelled as he struggled to wrench the dragon&039;s curved fangs out of the carefully wrapped HeatCloaks, to no effect
"Spit Fyre," Septio of your tail Now! "
Spit Fyre, as not feeling quite his nor - and did not like the taste of his tail at all - let go Much relieved, Seption&039;s head away "Spit Fyre, you must not bite your tail," he told hiarded his bandaging atteether, looked up and met Spit Fyre&039;s stare
"Don&039;t even think about it, Spit Fyre," he said "You et better if you keep biting it Corabbed hold of the large spike on the top of Spit Fyre&039;s head and pulled him away fro and shoving to get the dragon&039;s head to a safe distance from his tail once more
"Good boy, Spit Fyre," said Septi down beside hiet better soon I pro stream of water into Spit Fyre&039;s mouth "Go to sleep now, Spit Fyre," Septimus told him and, to his surprise, Spit Fyre obediently closed his eyes Septimus felt hot and sticky after his exertions with Spit Fyre&039;s tail The sea looked cool and inviting and he decided to dip his toes in the water He sat down on the edge of Spit Fyre&039;s rock and, unaware that Spit Fyre had opened one eye and was regarding him with some interest, he undid his laces, pulled off his boots and thick socks and wiggled his toes in the war of freedo beach toward the water and across the line of fire of the sea, watching his feet sink a little into the sand as he waited for the next tiny wave to meet his toes When it did, Septimus was surprised at how cold the water felt He waited for the next wavelet and, as he breathed in the clean salt air, he felt, for a fleeting moment, indescribably happy There was a sudden flash of movement behind him
Septimus spun around
"No, Spit Fyre!" he yelled The dragon had his tail fir Septimus raced back across the sand, leaped onto the rock and proceeded to drag the dragon away froon, Spit Fyre," Seption&039;s jaws off the now-shredded bandage "You et better, and then" Septimus was about to say, "and then we&039;ll be stuck here forever," but he stopped He re Aunt Zelda used to say - that, once spoken, things coed it lamely to, "and then you&039;ll be sorry"
Spit Fyre didn&039;t look like he was about to be sorry for anything He looked, thought Seption&039;s bad-tempered stare, Septimus bound up as left of the tattered HeatCloaks and stood on guard while he tried to figure out what to do He wished that Beetle and Jenna would come back; he could do with son of the his tail, and he had to do it now - he didn&039;t think the tail would survive many more attacks like the last one He ain, and then, keeping a firan to think
Septimus remembered an incident with Beetle&039;s ressive creature that Beetle had never taken to - had also had trouble with its tail after a vicious fight Beetle&039;s ly bound up the tail, only for the cat to do exactly what Spit Fyre had done - over and over again Mrs Beetle had had more patience than Septihts before Beetle insisted she get some sleep and promised that he would watch the cat Beetle, however, was not as devoted as his mother He cut out the bottom of an old toy bucket and stuck the bucket over the cat&039;s head so that the creature had to wear it in the manner of a bizarre necklace But the bucket had solved the problees around its tail, as it was unable to reach its head past the sides of the bucket Mrs Beetle was horrified when she awoke and saw her beloved cat with a bucket on its head, but even she had to admit that Beetle&039;s idea worked well She had spent the folloeeks apologizing to the cat while the cat studiously ignored her But the tail healed, the bucket caht that orked for a gruon - but where was he going to find a giant bucket?
Septimus decided he would just have to make his own bucket He took a leather cup fro, cut out the botto the sea Spit Fyre very fir trouble, he laid the small, almost crescent-shaped strip of leather on the sand and perforroly and avoiding the risk of collapse, which can so often happen with an over-enthusiastic Enlarging Spell Eventually he had a piece of leather about ten feet long and four feet wide Now ca the Enlarged sheet of leather across the sand; Spit Fyre lifted his head and eyed hiaze and held it, then very formally he said, "Spit Fyre, as your Ion looked surprised but, to Septi the dragon&039;s obedience would last, so he quickly set to work He wrapped the unwieldy piece of leather around the dragon&039;s head and Sealed it along the line where he had cut it a few minutes earlier When his Imprintor at last released him from his command and stepped back to view his handiwork, Spit Fyre earing what looked like an enormous leather bucket on his head - and an extre watching Spit Fyre, he beca Watched
"Septimus"
He spun around There was no one there