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"Like the Thousand and One Nights!" he murmured

"Like the what?" asked Sorrel

"Thousand and One Nights," repeated Ben "They’re stories -- lots of stories -- about flying carpets and so on Some have djinns in them"

"Fancy that," ray and yellow and brown hurt her eyes She wanted to see trees She wanted to hear leaves rustling in the wind, not the eternal chirping of crickets At her insistence, Firedrake had already conposts, but neither had pointed the right way Ben had told her they wouldn’t and held theher crazy

"It h," she said "It must be the next time the road forks, don’t you think?"

Ben nodded "Yes, sure" Suddenly he leaned forward "Hey, Sorrel!" He pointed down at the ground in excitement "Look at that Down there See?"

The slopes of the dark hter than the sea in the roaned Sorrel "It’s them You bet your life it’s them"

"It’s who?" Ben leaned so far forward he almost fell off Firedrake’s back "Who, Sorrel?"

"Elves!" Sorrel hauled on the strap holding her "Firedrake!" she cried "Firedrake, fly higher! Quick"

Surprised, the dragon slowed down and looked around

"What is it?"

"Elves!" cried Sorrel "Look! The place is absolutely swarher, beating his wings powerfully

"Oh, no! cried Ben "Can’t we stay just a little lower? I’d love to see elves at close quarters"

"Are you out of your mind?" Sorrel shook her head sorrowfully at such human folly "No way! They could have love-arroith the a stupid little human, you’d be besotted with the next croe happen to pass No, no, and no again"

"For once, Sorrel’s right, younginside Ben’s jacket, with only his head looking out between two buttons "We can thank our lucky stars if they don’t notice us"

Disappointed, Ben looked down at the glittering swarroaned "The road forks just ahead Now of all tinpost there, too"

"I’ll have to fly lower or Ben won’t be able to read it," called Firedrake

"Lower?" Sorrel rolled her eyes "Oh, wonderful! Noith those glitterbugs swirling all over the place! Death caps and destroying angels, there’s going to be trouble"

Firedrake descended slowly, until at last he landed on the asphalt of the road

But when Ben tried to conpost, he saw that swarer than brimstone yellow butterflies, these elves were the color of the sand itself, with shiled and hun It made Ben quite dizzy to watch the trouble!"

A little group of the featherweight elves left the main swarm and fleard Firedrake They settled on his spines, his nose, and his horns So as they pinched their cheeks, tugged their hair, and pulled their ears

Twigleg drew his head in until only his nose was visible between the buttons of Ben’s jacket "Youngof the elves, Ben couldn’t hear thelittle creatures