Annie stepped closer to the pit and leaned down to listen. “I’m sorry, that’s my fault,” she told Liam after a moment. “I should have been paying attention. I forgot that Audun said there was magic over the pit. I can hear it now. It’s odd, though; almost as if there are two tunes playing.”
“And it’s there to keep people out?” asked Liam.
“I guess,” said Annie. Sighing, she reached for the end of the rope. “I really hate this.”
The vines were heavy, but after a few tries Annie was able to push the rope over the edge. Because she was still touching part of the rope, the magic didn’t do anything, and it fell down into the pit, tugging the end that was tied to the tree.
“Wish me luck!” she said, trying not to show how frightened she felt.
“Just a minute,” said Liam. “You got the rope in the hole. Maybe if you hold on to this end, the magic won’t stop me and I can go down there now.”
Liam turned around to hold on to the rope and tried to step over the edge. Unfortunately, his foot couldn’t seem to go past the top of the hole. “It’s almost as if it has a lid on it,” Liam said, tapping his foot against what looked like open air.
“Then it really is up to me,” said Annie.
Liam looked worried. “I wish I was going instead of you.”
Annie laughed. She grabbed hold of the rope and started down. “So do I!” she told him.
As Annie descended, her feet were swallowed in darkness. Seeing her legs disappear was disconcerting, so she closed her eyes as she lowered herself down the rope. She could hear the melody of the magic, but it grew fainter even as an incessant pounding grew louder the lower she went. The dark behind her eyelids seemed to lessen as she descended, then disappeared entirely when she was only a few yards down. The pounding was louder now, making her heart beat with the rhythm.
Opening her eyes, she found that she was just below a layer of gray that turned black again now that she had left it. Within moments it was as dark as it had been before she entered it and looked like a ceiling painted black. The area she was in now was as bright as day, almost as if she was aboveground and not in a hole at all. She could look down all the way to the bottom, which didn’t seem quite as far as she’d feared.
Apparently, the pit that had looked circular from above was much more uneven inside. The wall she was descending was made of rock with bulges and crevices all the way down. At the base, the center of the pit was filled with water. Aside from some shade-loving plants and a few lost birds, there was very little down there except a long-tailed animal like those she’d seen in the trees, and a man pounding on wooden bowls covered with animal hides. The animal was dancing around the man, whose head was thrown back with his eyes closed. Annie doubted that either of them had noticed she was there.
The rope swayed as Annie lowered herself another few feet. Closing her eyes again helped, so she went down most of the way without seeing where she was going. Suddenly the drumming stopped. Annie opened her eyes and saw that the man and the animal were looking up at her.
“Who are you?” he called. “What do you want?”
“My name is Annie,” she said, dropping the rest of the way until she was standing on her feet. “I’m here to rescue you.”
“Why?” he asked. “I don’t know you.” The little animal jumped into the man’s arms and climbed onto his shoulder.
“You are the witch doctor Ting-Tang, aren’t you?” she asked. The man nodded and stood up. He was shorter than Annie; the top of his head reached her shoulders. His dark hair was almost as long as Annie’s and he had it pulled back into a ponytail. A necklace of seashells covered much of his otherwise bare chest and he wore a loincloth made of skin that looked as if it might have belonged to a spotted cat like the one she’d seen. His bright blue eyes were in sharp contrast to skin tanned a dark, warm brown. When he grinned, his teeth flashed white.
“I am Ting-Tang,” he said. “But my parents named me Arnold when I was born. You have the accent of someone from Treecrest. Is that where you’re from?”
“It is,” said Annie. Ting-Tang clapped his hands in delight. “I knew it! It’s been so long since I’ve talked to someone from my old home. Where do you live in Treecrest?”
“The castle, actually,” said Annie. “I’m Princess Annabelle. We need you to help my father, King Halbert, and my uncle, Prince Rupert. They are both very ill and none of the doctors or herbalists in the kingdom can help them. Some friends of mine told me about you. They’re here also, seeking your help for a problem of their own.”
“I’d love to help you, but I’m in a bit of a bind,” Ting-Tang said. “The villagers who brought me here won’t let me go. They said it’s such a long trip that they want to keep me here in case someone else gets sick.”
“Are there many sick people here? It isn’t the plague, is it?”
“Nothing like that,” said Ting-Tang. “If it were the plague, I’d have cured it long ago. No, it’s little things like toothaches, bunions, and boils. Simple stuff that drove me from my home in Treecrest in the first place.”
“How could things like that drive you away?” asked Annie.
“I grew tired of treating them, but that’s all people wanted me for. I was twelve years old when I came into my magic. I was so young that people didn’t trust me to take care of anything more serious than their minor ailments. After a while, I wanted to test my skills, so I ran away from home and signed on as the doctor aboard a sailing ship. Cut it out, Chee Chee!” he told the little animal as it climbed atop his head.
“What kind of animal is that?” asked Annie. “I saw more like him in the jungle near your home.”
“He’s a monkey,” said Ting-Tang. “He fell out of a tree when he was just a baby. I set his broken leg and raised him after that. He goes wherever I go now. As I was saying, I signed on as doctor on a sailing ship. One day there was a terrible storm and we were shipwrecked just off the coast of Skull Cove. When another ship found us, the others left, but I liked it here, so I stayed behind. I’ve been practicing my magic here ever since. Someday I’ll get it right.” He grinned and slapped his thighs. “That was a little witch doctor humor. I’m a little witch doctor, so …”
“I get it,” said Annie. “Are you as good as people say? My friend told me that a witch named Mudine thinks you’re wonderful.”
“I’m not only good, I’m the best! What’s wrong with your father and the prince?”
“We call it the creeping blue. It started out with their feet turning blue. They lost their appetites, too, then the blue slowly crept up their bodies. When it got higher, the pain set in. My grandfather died from the disease when my father and his brother were young.”
“Hmm,” Ting-Tang said, tapping his chin. “That’s very serious. Fortunately for you, I’ve actually treated the disease before. Successfully, I might add. So, how do you propose to rescue me?”
“We’ll climb up this rope,” Annie said, giving it a tug. “My husband is waiting up there and so is our friend Audun.” She stopped talking and turned around in surprise when the monkey started pounding on the drums while looking expectantly at Ting-Tang.
“Not now, Chee Chee,” said the witch doctor. “I’ll dance while you play later. I’m trying to have a conversation with this nice lady now.”
The monkey’s cheerful face fell when he stopped playing. Turning his back on Annie and Ting-Tang, he sat with his head down and his shoulders hunched.
“Tell me,” Ting-Tang said to Annie, “if your husband is up there, why didn’t he come down here instead of you?”
“Because magic can’t touch me,” said Annie. “I’m the only one who could get past your magic spell.”
“Oh, that! I guess I made it too strong. It wasn’t supposed to keep people out, just snakes. They were always falling over the edge into the pit. I hate snakes! Lizards, too, for that matter. Any reptile, really, although I don’t mind turtles.”
“Why are you down here?” Annie a
sked.
“Because of my drums,” said Ting-Tang. “They help me relax, but the tribe members say the music I make is annoying. You see, the day they came to kidnap me, they tied me hand and foot to a long pole. I’d had too much coconut milk the night before, so my magic wasn’t working very well. They were about to cart me off like a wild boar when I told them I would help them only if they let me bring my drums. When I convinced them that they needed my cooperation, they agreed and brought them along. Unfortunately, after listening to me play, they tossed my drums into the pit. I came down here after them, and found that the sound was better here than up above. When they still complained, I blocked the sound from leaving the pit. If I let you rescue me, my drums will have to come, too.”
“I think that can be arranged,” said Annie. “But how are you going to get them out of the pit?”
“Leave that to me,” Ting-Tang replied.
“Will it involve magic?” asked Annie. “Because if it does, I should probably go up first so your magic will work.”
“No magic, but I will use the extra vine you have lying there.” Ting-Tang’s fingers flew as he undid the last length of vine from the rope that was lying on the ground. Wrapping the middle around his waist, he tied the ends to his two drums. “I’ll go first. See you on top!”
Ting-Tang held out his hand and said in a soft voice, “Chee Chee!” The little monkey turned to look at him. Seeing the outstretched hand, he perked up and ran to Ting-Tang, who set him on his shoulder. As agile as a squirrel, the little witch doctor scurried up the vine rope with his drums dangling from his waist and the monkey clinging to his neck.
Annie stood below, watching him. As soon as Ting-Tang reached the black ceiling, it fizzled and disappeared. The melody of the magic was gone, as was the light that had brightened the bottom of the pit. Sunlight reached only one side now, leaving the rest in deep shadow.
Once Ting-Tang had clambered over the edge of the pit, Annie started up. She cringed when a snake slithered over the edge and fell past her, twisting and turning in the empty air.
“Ting-Tang was right,” she murmured when she heard another one land behind her. “Snakes do fall in here a lot. If he’s so afraid of snakes and lizards, I wonder what he’ll think about getting a ride from a dragon.”
CHAPTER 11
Hand over hand, Annie climbed up the rope using the wall of the pit for toeholds when she could. She looked up now and then to see how much farther she had left to go, and was nearing the top when she saw Liam silhouetted in the bright daylight behind him. Annie was only feet from the edge when he reached down and pulled her up the rest of the way.
She blinked and her eyes adjusted as she looked around. Liam was beside her and Audun was there as a human again, standing next to Ting-Tang. Annie was about to ask why they were just standing there when she realized that they weren’t alone. At least twenty spear-carrying men surrounded them.
The fiercest-looking man pointed at Annie and said, “What fools would bring a girl on a raiding party?”
Annie wasn’t sure, but it looked to her as if the movements of the man’s mouth didn’t match up with the words coming out of it.
“They aren’t here to steal from you,” said Ting-Tang. “They came to rescue me.”
“They came to steal you, you mean,” said the man. “You’re our witch doctor now.”
Annie decided that he must be the headman if he was doing all the talking.
Ting-Tang shook his head. “I’ve told you before, I’m not staying here forever. I’m happy I was able to help your tribe, but I need to get back to my hut. I have other patients coming to see me. These people came looking for me because they need medical assistance.”
“They look fine to me,” said the headman, although his mouth looked as if it was saying something much longer and more involved.
“We came to get help for my father and my uncle,” Annie told the man. “They are both very sick and will die without Ting-Tang’s help.”
“Why should that matter to us?” said the man. “We do not know these people. If it is your father, he is already old. He has probably lived longer than most of our people do.”
“My wife needs help as well,” Audun told them. “She is expecting our first child and is very ill.”
“A baby!” said the man. “That is different!”
“The people of the tribe treasure children because they have so few,” Ting-Tang whispered to Annie while the tribesmen talked among themselves.
“What’s with their mouths?” Annie whispered back. “Why don’t they match up with their words?”
“I cast a spell so I could understand them and they could understand me,” said Ting-Tang. “I think it works rather well, don’t you?”
“We have decided that you may leave on one condition,” said the headman. “After the baby is born, you must give it to us.”
“I’m not giving my baby to anyone!” Audun declared.
“Then you may never leave,” the headman told him.
“This is ridiculous,” said Audun. “I felt bad about scaring your women and children back at your village. I hoped you might be reasonable about letting us go now, but apparently I was wrong. We’re taking Ting-Tang back with us and you can’t stop us or keep us here.”
The headman opened his mouth to say something, but the air around Audun was already shimmering. When he turned into a full-size dragon, some of the men shouted and ran away, but the rest raised their spears, ready to fight.
“Hold your breath!” he shouted to his friends.
Ting-Tang looked confused and didn’t respond right away, but Annie and Liam took deep breaths and held them as Audun puffed poison gas at the tribesmen. A moment later, the tribesmen were all gagging. Ting-Tang was, too, and his little monkey had collapsed on the ground.
Audun thought for a second and said, “Light breeze, please!”
A breeze strong enough to ruffle the leaves sprang up, carrying away the remnants of the gas. When it was gone, Annie and Liam started breathing again, but the others were suffering from the effects of the poison. It hadn’t been enough to kill them, but it had made them all very nauseous.
“Climb on my back,” Audun told Annie and Liam.
“What about him?” Annie asked, gesturing to Ting-Tang, who was still vomiting.
“I don’t want him on my back if he’s doing that,” said Audun, “so I guess I’ll carry him with my talons.”
“As sick as he is, I don’t think he’ll care either way,” Liam declared.
“Don’t forget his monkey!” called Annie.
As soon as Annie and Liam were settled on Audun’s back, he picked up Chee Chee with the talons on his left front foot and Ting-Tang with the talons on his right. The drums still hung from the witch doctor’s waist, and they banged together as the dragon took off. None of the tribesmen looked up as Audun rose above the trees and turned toward the coast.
“I followed the rivers here before, but this time I’m going straight back,” Audun said over his shoulder.
“You can do that?” Liam shouted.
“Once a dragon has gone somewhere, he can find the location again,” said Audun. “The more a dragon visits it, the stronger the connection. I should find Ting-Tang’s huts pretty easily this time.”
They were flying over the jungle with the ocean in the distance when Ting-Tang started thrashing around. “Stop that,” Audun shouted, giving him a shake. “I’m taking you home. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”
“You mean you aren’t taking me back to your cave to eat me?” Ting-Tang shouted back.
“Oh, gross!” said Audun. “I’ve never eaten a human in my life. I don’t know anyone who has, either. Humans smell funny and I’m sure they taste worse. Ice dragons eat fish and some meat, not people! Stop wiggling or I might drop you!”
Ting-Tang stopped moving, although he did turn his head to look at Audun. “You’ve really never eaten anyone?”
“Never!” said Audun.
“My wife would never forgive me if I did.”
Millie was standing outside the huts, waiting for them when they landed. She looked relieved to see them, and went running up to Audun before he’d even closed his wings. “I was so worried,” she cried. “You left without telling me you were going!”
“You were asleep and I thought you needed your rest. I scratched a note for you in the dirt. See—right there! Oh, I guess you walked all over it. You can’t read it now. I’m sorry you were worried, but we were gone only a few hours.”
“You were gone half a day! I was here all by myself and I didn’t know what was going on.”
“You weren’t by yourself,” said Audun. “Clarence was here. He was tied up in a hut.”
“There’s no one here but me,” Millie told him.
“Didn’t you look in the other huts?” asked Liam. “Clarence was right here.” Liam went into the hut where he’d left Clarence tied up. He came back out a few seconds later. “He’s gone. I found the rope, but Clarence and that wooden mask are missing.”
“He can’t have gone far,” said Audun. “I’ll see if I can find him.”
“Don’t go yet,” Millie told him. “Let’s hear what the doctor has to say first.”
Ting-Tang had already taken Chee Chee into the bigger hut. When Annie peeked inside, the witch doctor was cradling the little monkey in his arms. Chee Chee was clinging to him, whimpering and shivering. Looking up, Ting-Tang saw Annie. “Your dragon friend really frightened him.”
“I’m sorry,” said Annie, “but we had to leave in a hurry. I’m sure Audun wouldn’t have used his poison gas if he could have thought of any other way. Would you be able to talk to us now? We have to leave for home as soon as we can.”
The witch doctor nodded as he set the monkey in a basket made up as a little bed. “I’m grateful that you helped me return home. I would have gotten away from the tribe eventually, but they weren’t going to let me go without a fight, and that’s something I try to avoid. If an upset stomach is the worst thing that happened, I think we all got off lightly.”