The Witches of Holmwood 6 /7

Moggy sat in the sunshine on the kitchen doorstep, washing behind his ears, as the whole family walked to the woods for their trip to Wales. Abigail and Frosty were waiting in the wishing clearing as they arrived.

“Get a move on you lot,” shouted Frosty, “How you find it possible to walk about in this heat I’ll never know.”

“If the new witches come along would they be able to see us,” Jennifer Jane asked Abigail.

“New witches in your world? Are you sure?”

“I must say they look like the real thing,” said Dave, “but I’m not really sure.”

Mary and Abigail began chatting, so Jennifer Jane and her dad relaxed and admired the scenery during the flight.

At last the cloud flew lower and Megan’s cave came into view. Megan was having a snooze outside her cave and looked up with a yawn as the entire Bell family and Abigail, helped Frosty unload the consignment of dragon food from the cloud and carry it just inside her cave.

“I wish I’d thought of charging people to see this egg,” she said, “I’d have enough treasure to set up the baby for life when it became old enough to move to it’s own cave.”

Everyone went back into the cave and admired the egg. Some earth had been dug from the cave floor and the egg was lying in the hole, the top of it being just level with the ground.

It was a lot bigger than Jennifer Jane had expected, but then she supposed that an animal that was going to grow up as big as a carthorse would have to be roughly as big as a large dog when it was born.

“A baby dragon has to be kept warm at all times before hatching and also for the first few weeks of its life.”

Megan put her head into the cave and started talking in a bored monotone, ‘rather like a tour guide in a country house at the end of the season,’ thought Jennifer Jane.

“The depression in the ground keeps out drafts and allows the parent to lie down without crushing either egg or baby. Feeding is fairly simple, as the infant will eat practically anything and has no need for crunchy bits until it is nearly adult,” Megan declaimed, “when it does grow up, it is customary for both parents to give him, or her, a gift of treasure to keep in its own cave. In this world that is no problem at all, as there are very few dragons and there is an excess of treasure available.”

Megan yawned again and went back outside into the sunshine. She kept one eye open, as her visitors climbed back on the cloud and then went back to sleep as they flew off.

“I don’t think she means to be rude,” said Abigail, “but I suppose it must be tiring laying an egg that size and then having so many people coming round to admire it.”

“How long will we have to wait before it hatches?” asked Dave.

“I don’t really know,” said Abigail, “I suppose I could look it up in a reference book in the library, but I don’t think there’ll be any need. I’m quite sure Cyril is more than excited enough for the rest of us and will let us know soon enough when it happens.”

“Has mum spoken to you about the witches who’ve come to live next door? asked Jennifer Jane.

“Yes, it sounds most peculiar, I don’t know of any organisation of witches in your world. They all stayed at the Witches’ Home when the worlds were split up. I’ll pick up my broom on the way back and come over to meet them. I suspect you might find it interesting.”