'Oh my God,' thought Peter, 'the king's going to go absolutely spare. We're all going to get chucked out.'
Scrutinizing Gee Tee for what felt like a lifetime, while Peter and Tank looked nervously on, finally the king clipped the master mantra maker across the wing, and they both doubled up with laughter. Peter breathed a sigh of relief as the potentially awkward moment passed, turning into nothing more than larking about.
Backing off from Gee Tee a little, as he was the only one in his natural form, the king addressed all three of them.
"I'm glad you could all make it today. It's really good to see each and every one of you. I so rarely get any visitors, well... any that I look forward to seeing. But isn't there someone missing?"
Peter's heart skipped a beat, having known full well the king would ask, and was absolutely dreading having to answer.
"Umm... well... Richie had some... human stuff that she just couldn't get out off, I'm afraid. She sends her best regards."
Nodding knowingly, the king paused to think for a few seconds.
"Well, shall we start the grand tour?" he asked, flinging his arms open wide. "It's quite the place you know," he added, turning and heading back towards the spiral staircase. Following quickly on his heels, Peter went first, with Tank bringing up the rear, cajoling the old shopkeeper along. For his efforts, Tank was quickly shooed away with a flea in his ear, the master mantra maker letting him know in no uncertain terms what he would be transformed in to, permanently, if he tried to mollycoddle him again. Tank raced to catch Peter up, walking alongside him, just behind the king, as they reached the first floor.
"Here are my personal chambers. It's where I eat, sleep, keep all of my private belongings and bathe," announced the king wistfully, before continuing on up the staircase.
Glancing back over their shoulders, Peter and Tank watched as Gee Tee reached the landing of the first floor. Both knew better than to ask if he needed any help. Heading up after the king, albeit at a much slower pace in an effort to help the old shopkeeper, Tank leant across to Peter, and very, very quietly whispered,
"I don't think he believed you about Rich."
Peter leant back and replied,
"I don't know about him, but I didn't believe me."
Tank shook his head as he turned to check on his boss's progress up the stairs behind them, before wishing he hadn't, after the look the old dragon threw him.
Catching up with the king on the landing of the second floor, they waited patiently for Gee Tee to reach them. It didn't take long.
"This, my friends," announced the king, "is my private library."
As Gee Tee let out a long snort of flame, Tank quickly pushed Peter to one side, saving his friend from being scorched by the wicked looking jet, the king eyeing the three of them suspiciously.
"Anyway, as I was saying, this is my private library, and the finest repository on the planet, more complete than Rome's and with tomes, mantras and magical artefacts that they could only dream of."
Peter stood, amazed. Up until he'd met the king in hospital he hadn't realised that he'd even had a private residence, let alone a private library. Thinking back, it had probably been mentioned during his time at the nursery ring, and yes he had an eidetic memory, but there'd been so much information to process and store, it was easy to miss out the odd thing or two. A fleeting look at his friends showed that they were not the least bit surprised. Tank looked nonplussed, while the master mantra maker had a look of... hunger in his eyes. What was going on?
"Well, I'm sure you wouldn't be interested in viewing the library itself, so perhaps we should move on to the next level, and view some of the plant species in my arboretum?" said the king matter-of-factly.
A look of absolute horror crossed Gee Tee's face, with Tank going pale at the thought of missing out on the library, but barely able to contain his excitement about there being an arboretum. Just as the old shopkeeper was about to speak, he was interrupted.
"Just kidding," laughed the king. "Now the only rule I have is that you really shouldn't try out any of the mantras that are here. If there is one you want to test, bring it over and we'll try it together, as long as it's not something too dangerous. All the artefacts are quite safe, but I would ask you to be as gentle as possible with the tomes as some of them are really quite old."
Smiling at the king, Peter wondered exactly what he'd let himself in for, as Gee Tee shot off at an unbelievable pace, belying his age, clearly determined to make the most of this rare opportunity. Tank walked off after him casually, but Peter could tell his friend was almost as excited; the little skip in his step and the not quite beaming smile on his face told their own story.
Falling into step alongside the king, who, on noting the speed with which Gee Tee left them, had decided he just might need to be on hand rather quickly, just to... oversee things, Peter finally felt relaxed and happy to be there.
"It's good to see you again my boy," prompted the king. "I'm sorry I haven't been in touch to see how your recovery's been going, but things have been a bit... manic."
"I understand," replied Peter. "I bet you hardly ever have a moment to yourself, being in charge of... everything."
Letting out the biggest belly laugh in the kingdom, the two of them turned the corner into the library proper, to be greeted by row upon row of shelves, ninety feet high, that seemed to go on as far as the eye could see.
"It does often seem that way my young friend, but it does have its own rewards. I get to directly influence the future of our kind, leave my mark on history, and," he whispered quietly, "I get the finest charcoal imported directly from Japan. What more could any dragon wish for?"
Despite the fact that he was grinning broadly, Peter got the impression that the king really wasn't as happy as he claimed. It was nothing that he could put his finger on, more like instinct, or a gut feeling. There and then he vowed to himself to find out more should the opportunity arise.
Far off in the distance, Peter could just make out Tank, scanning a shelf of tomes intently, and could also hear Gee Tee's giant footsteps padding about from somewhere much further away.
Sweeping his arms in one long motion, the king indicated the library as a whole.
"Go and explore; we've got plenty of time, and not many dragons ever get the chance to wander through this place."
Not needing to be told twice, he turned in the opposite direction of Tank and set off down one of the aisles, looking up towards the top of the shelves as he did, dumbfounded at some of the things he noticed, even in that first aisle. There were plenty of rolled up scrolls bound with ancient pieces of twine, mixed in with dusty old books that looked as though they hadn't seen the light of day in centuries. Coming to an abrupt halt only a few yards into the aisle, he reached up as high as he could, and very, very carefully, pulled down a brown, ragged, dust encrusted book. On the spine of the book in gold italic, it read, 'Designs and mantras intended to aid in the creation of submersible crafts by Leonardo da Vinci.'
Blowing the thick covering of dust off the front cover, Peter began turning the delicate pages very gently. Page after page of drawings, sketches and writing flew by. There was hardly any space on the paper that hadn't been used. Writings and equations littered the margins, doodles danced around the headings, all of them wondrous. There were mantras that made things air tight, kept pressure at bay, and drawings of great mechanical arms that held all sorts of equipment, from nets to catch sea creatures, to intricate fingers that would pick up rocks and minerals. It was fascinating and he couldn't resist tracing his fingers over some of the drawings and the fantastic script, trying to imagine what it must have been like to work with someone as great as da Vinci. From an early age the young dragons were all taught about him with stories that amazed and astounded, not only about his dragon life, but about everything he achieved on the surface. He was one of the truly unsung dragon heroes. Brought out of his thoughts by the sound of Gee Tee stomping about somewhere not that far away, carefully he closed the ancient book, slipping it back into the gap that he'd taken if from. Slowly and steadily he continued to make his way down the row of shelves, ensuring that he looked at each and every book, as far as he could see.