Noodles the Cockapoo Stands Guard, Page 3

The very next thing Noodles knew, he was startled to realize that he was completely wrapped in a misty cloud -- a cloud of fog. The room was gone. The window was gone. Even the bed was gone. He was just floating in a cloud of fog.

  Thinking quickly, he decided he must have passed through the interdimensional portal, the hole in space-time. Either that, or he was passing through it right now. He couldn't tell if he was moving or not. The fog didn't seem to be going past him forward or backward. It was just swirling in all sorts of patterns in every direction. He guessed that maybe he had just passed through the portal, and he was coming out now on the other side.

  A lesser dog might have been frightened, he realized, but Noodles was a very brave dog. For him, this was a chance to look for, and maybe find, the little boy. He started sniffing the air for the little boy's smell, turning this way and that, and each movement sent him tumbling in the fog like an untethered astronaut in zero gravity space. He kept sniffing. He was confident of his sense of smell. The boy had left enough clothes and toys behind that Noodles could be sure he would recognize the scent of the boy if he came close at all. Sniff, sniff. Tumble, twirl. Sniff.

  The sound of tinkling laughter sped through the air, out of sight to his right just below him, accompanied by the sound of giant wingbeats. As Noodles turned toward that direction to sniff and listen, the sound whisked by again, this time high and to the left, rapidly fading out of the range of the dog's hearing.

  That did not smell like a bird, Noodles thought. There was the sweet scent of a neatly washed little girl, but there was also a smell he didn't recognize. It was a bit like a snake or a frog or a lizard, something like a gekko or an iguana, but not exactly. He was pretty sure he'd never smelled that smell before.

  Again the package of sounds and smells swooshed by, barely within range of his senses, approaching in a crescendo and then fading quickly like a firetruck siren disappearing down a highway. Through all this he tumbled in the fog like a tumbleweed as he snapped his head this way and that to try to pick up the sounds and scents as they swooped by.

  Then a second flying creature could be heard, louder, slower, off to his left, definitely the same type of creature but not the same individual. And there was another smell with it, not a little girl this time. No, this was a boy. As Noodles struggled to make out the information before it disappeared, he heard the sound of the little boy laughing, and he heard the wingbeats change into the sound of something very big and very close, hovering in place.

  "Settle down there, buddy," the boy addressed the tumbling floating dog, using his best reassuring voice, but with a hint of laughter in his undertone. "Settle yourself down. Take it easy."

  Guided by the steady confident sound of the boy's voice, Noodles managed to right himself into a position more like a floating balloon or a kite, less like a windblown tumbleweed or an astronaut without gravity. Noodles blinked, and then opened his eyes very wide. The black circles in the middle of his eyes got very big, to let more light in, to let in every detail of the image, because the boy was now close enough for him to see. If Noodles' senses did not deceive him -- and they generally did not -- the boy was seated comfortably on a big garnet red saddle with yellow gold brocade trim, a saddle mounted atop a large sparkly iridescent dragon.

  The dragon sparkled in a fiery mixture of orange, red, and yellow -- the colors of fire. The dragon's wings must have measured twenty-five feet from tip to tip, and it had very large lilac blue catlike eyes. The black centers of the eyes were vertical slits, not round dots like people and dogs have. The colored parts of the eyes shimmered with a lot of nuanced shades of blue and purple and silver that sparkled and danced when he moved his eyes.

  Noodles didn't see colors exactly the same way that people do. He could see subtle differences in shades of blue better than people can, though, and he found the dragon's eyes very impressive.

  On the other hand, he couldn't see the nuances in the red and orange that made the dragon look, well, fiery. To Noodles all the colors of fire looked more like a lot of golden and coppery shades, so to him it looked more like a golden dragon than a fiery one. If the whole truth be told, generally speaking Noodles also couldn't tell red from green. Mostly they looked the same, and mostly they both looked like extended shades of yellow or brown. Still, he could see a whole range of shades of yellows and blues very well, and that was enough for him to be able to see that the dragon was altogether very impressive looking.

  It was a very odd-looking dragon, though, Noodles thought. Though he'd never seen a real dragon before, he was surprised by its appearance. It was put together like a combination of a big jungle cat, a giant hawk, and a flying lizard, all combined into one frightening, but apparently tame, beast.

  "Please don't consider me impolite for not sniffing noses with you," Noodles tried to say to the dragon. It came out sounding more like a long string of "woof, woof, woof." It was a varied and lilting set of "woof woof" syllables, but it was not understandable speech. He just couldn't seem to get the hang of actually speaking. Realizing yet again that he couldn't really talk, he ended with one last half-hearted "woof" that trailed off into silence. He looked up at the boy.

  "Permit me to introduce myself," the boy said. "I'm Jae Vaughn, Prince of this Kingdom by the River." The boy paused to let that idea sink in, but the dog didn't know what to make of it, so he just continued looking at the boy, uncertain whether or not to wag his tail yet.

  "Of course," the boy added after the pause, "being prince doesn't give me much actual power while I'm still a boy, and my father the king is still in charge of everything." He laughed. "Still, I'll be grown up someday," he added. "My dad will retire when he's sure I'm ready to take over, but not until he's absolutely sure. He looks forward to spending some time fishing, so he tells me I'd better pay attention to my studies and get on with it."

  The boy grinned with good-spirited resignation to his destiny. Work hard as a boy, so he could be well prepared to work even harder as a grown-up king: Such is the duty of a good prince.

  As the dog continued to look at the boy, he started to wag his tail very slightly, very hesitantly. Just then the sound of the little girl's laughter came into range again. Just like before, it swooshed by quickly, barely within range, disappearing as fast as it had come.

  The boy's dragon jerked a little, as if anxious to be away in pursuit, but the boy held it steady until it calmed down again.

  "That's princess Jesse Lynn," the boy told the dog, his voice full of happiness, pride, and affection.

  "Well, she isn't really a princess yet," he added, backtracking a bit.

  "She's still Lady Jesse now, I guess. Lady Jess. Her Ladyship Jesse Lynn. She won't be a princess until after we're married. And we have to grow up before that can happen. Still, she's my girlfriend. We all think of her as a princess. Anyway, Jess and I are just out here riding our dragons together. We play hide and seek in the fog. It's great fun. Do you want to play too?"

  Noodles couldn't believe his ears. Did he want to play with the boy? Of course he did. His tail wagged by itself before he knew it. He wasn't sure how he could run in the clouds, but he was ready to try it. Play with a real boy! Yes, he wanted to play, thank you for asking.

  "Come on," the boy said, grinning and laughing as he swooped close to the dog and grabbed him up, cradling Noodles in one arm. "You can ride with me on Fire Tiger." He slipped Noodles out of his arm straight down in front of himself on the saddle, almost on his lap, and off they went, flying through the clouds at a speed so fast it seemed to border on recklessness.

  Fire Tiger, the dog thought in admiration as they flew off after Jesse Lynn. That was a name. Here was a boy who knew how to name an animal. Noodles felt a bit embarrassed, imagining having to introduce himself as "Noodles." Then again, there was no real need for him to worry. Anything he might say would probably just come out as "Arf, arf," or "Woof, woof." Ma
ybe, the dog dared to hope, the boy would give him a new name. Granny wouldn't have to know about it. It would just be a nickname, for use in this cloudy dimension only.

  "Of course, it isn't all fun and games here," the boy said, filling him in on the situation as they flew along. "There have been some attacks along the border recently. They -- the wizards, sorcerers, that crowd -- fly in over the mountains. I know you can't see the mountains through these clouds, but there are mountains over there." He made a sweeping gesture off toward their left.

  "Oh, don't worry about bumping into the mountaintops," the boy continued. "Fire Tiger flies by echolocation, like a bat. It's like the sonar submarines use. Sort of like radar. The point is, don't worry. Flying around like this isn't as dangerous as it might seem. Not that you seem too afraid! No, you seem to be quite a stalwart little dog."

  At that Noodles noticed his tail wagging involuntarily again. He wanted to lick the boy's hand, but decided it might seem too forward, this early in their acquaintance. Also he would have had to change position to reach the boy's hand; and he wasn't entirely confident of his ability to stay balanced in a stable position on the back of a dragon, when the dragon was making sudden turns and dips while flying by echolocation near mountains in a dense swirling fog.

  What Noodles did do was let out a little involuntary whine of affection. The boy quickly patted the dog's head, giving it a little tousle before drawing his hand away again. The dog sighed with contentment.

  Fire Tiger swooped suddenly left and dipped in a banking maneuver, changing course without warning to fly toward the barely audible sound of Jesse Lynn's tinkling laughter. Wow, Noodles thought, this dragon is good! He'd heard the little girl even before Noodles had!

  Chapter 4