Read Online Elodia's Dragon by Jerry Skell - Free Book Online

the pump lost pressure.
    "The pump’s gone Captain!" the first mate said.
    The wind slackened at last, the fury of the storm passed. The heavy waves continued another twelve hours before they too calmed. They climbed out of the cabin and saw the Wing was very low in the water. Her gunwales barely out of the water. Land was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter 15 Home
    E lodia was overdressed as she walked to Davida. She wore her red hooded coat. Spring came early to Bountiful and daffodils and tulips were breaking out everywhere. Elodia knew that the air was colder with altitude and she would need her coat. She climbed onto the dragon as Davida leapt into the air.
    "Can we remain unseen?" Elodia asked.
    "Running away are we?" Davida laughed.
    "I really don’t know."
    "Your tears will freeze if you keep that up," Davida said softly. Elodia wiped her tears on her coat sleeve when she heard the pop. Suddenly she was thrust into the airless void, the coldness painful. Then a second pop and she was over the coast. She loved flying. The air in her face. The clouds the passing landscape in miniature. They circled over the semaphore station Eli had spent the last two years at and the villages that dotted the coast. She flew over the little pond that was a source of many happy memories. Then they landed.
    There were no houses. Just burnt ruins everywhere she looked. The pungent smell of rotting fish no longer apparent. She walked slowly toward the village cemetery. She was startled to see a man standing there apparently waiting.
    "I know you," Elodia said. "Master Abner."
    "And you?"
    "Elodia."
    "Eli's Elodia?" She nodded.
    "Why are you here?"
    "I'm not sure, I was directed here."
    "I did that," Davida said sheepishly.
    "So you're the new dragon rider?"
    "Please tell no one. I don’t want to overwhelm Eli when he finds me. You can talk to Dragons?"
    "My grandmother was a dragon rider. Yes, I can talk to dragons. You're running away aren’t you? I will keep your secret Elodia. I take it Eli has not yet caught up with you?"
    "I don’t know. I'm so very lonely. Thought I would come home."
    They walked to the cemetery and Elodia knelt by her mother's grave, "Who buried her?"
    "Eli organized everyone, we all did. These whose name we knew have stones."
    Elodia saw on her mother's stone the name Davey. She broke into tears and Master Abner put his arm around her. "Eli brought Davey home. He buried him with his mother."
    "Why?"
    "You don’t know? He loves you, that's why. Your home is not here, it's with Eli, wherever he is." Master Abner took Elodia to the station and fed her lunch. Then he walked her back to her dragon, "Eli will find you Elodia."
    Mounting her dragon Elodia flew back to Bountiful.

Chapter 16 Still Afloat
    "W e're floating on our cargo. As long as we have no additional storms we will make it. Eli you and John see if you can rig a pump. The rest of you let's make sail."
    They busied themselves, grateful to still be afloat. It took fourteen hours before Eli and John managed to get the pump working. They both spent time in the water in the bilge to work on the pump. They then started the long process of pumping out. With all the added weight from the flooded bilge they only made about two knots.
    The ship had taken quite a beating and leaked even more than before the storm. The pump needed continuous manning as they took turns pumping. Early the next day they met another schooner. They borrowed a second pump and continued on.
    On the fourteenth day after the storm, land was sighted. Captain Bruce adjusted his course and late that day they sailed into a snug little harbor. Captain Bruce easily sold the cargo and they began the task of offloading. He then hired two more men to run the pumps while they discharged the cargo.
    The Wing was towed out to deep water and allowed to settle to the bottom. Captain Bruce paid off the crew.
    "What are your plans now?" Eli asked.
    "I'll build a new boat, Wing II. If you ever need work look me