10 Ch10-The Riddle

CHAPTER 10 THE RIDDLE The tiny fairies closed in around Drake. "Who has entered our forest?" one of the creatures asked. "My name is Drake," Drake replied. "My name is Kiora, and we are the wood sprites," the fairy said. "What are you doing here?"

"I am on my way to see the Spring Dragon," Drake explained. "I need her help. Her Dragon Master, Breen, brought me here. But Breen just disappeared. Can you help me find her?" The wood sprites grouped together and talked in low voices. Then Kiora flew in front of Drake's face. "We can help you," she said. "But first, you must pass a test." "There sure are a lot of tests in the fairy world," Drake mumbled. Kiora put her hands on her hips. "We can go away, you know. Do you want to find the Dragon Master or not?" "Yes, I do!" Drake said quickly. "What is the test?" "You must find a flower in the forest and bring it to us," Kiora answered.

"Any flower?" he asked. Kiora shook her head. "No. One special flower. Listen." The wood sprites began to chant at once. "Find a flower the color of the sky. With a cherry for an eye. It has more petals than the legs of a horse. But fewer than a spider's legs, of course!"

Drake tried to remember all the clues. Color of the sky. Cherry for an eye. More than four petals. Fewer than eight petals. "I'll find it," Drake promised. Drake jogged through the forest, followed by Kiora. He looked around for flowers, but he couldn't imagine finding any in this dark, spooky place.

Flowers need sunlight to grow, Drake thought. I need to find a brighter area in this forest... Soon he came to a clearing in the woods where colorful flowers bloomed. Drake ran to a patch of blue flowers and knelt down. "Color of the sky," he said. "And look, they have bright red centers. Just like cherries. These must be the flowers in the riddle! Now I just have to count the petals."

One, two, three, four, five, six, he counted to himself. "This is it! Six is more than four and less than eight. That was easy!" "But that is not the right flower," Kiora said. Drake frowned. "But it has a red center like a cherry. Six petals. And it's blue, the color of the sky." "Is it?" Kiora asked. "Of course the sky is—" Drake started to say, but then he looked up to see the pink sky overhead.