Flight of fancy

Ariel awakened me from my reverie about Willow. “Time to go” he said and marched out of the clearing the way we had come. “We will not get to the blind spring tonight so we must find somewhere for you to shelter for the night He picked his way carefully through the rocks until he came to an overhang, camouflaging the mouth to a cave. “You will be warm and dry in there” he said, nosing me forwards. I went in slowly allowing my eyes to accustom themselves to the dimness. A pile of heather on the floor covered by an animal skin would make a comfortable bed. On a ledge at the back of the cave I found a jug of spring water, a cheese wrapped in sweet chestnut leaves and some apples / a feast indeed, which I promptly shared with Ariel.

Hanging on the wall at the entrance was a bunch of dried grass through which someone ha threaded some of the purple flowers I had seen growing near the cave entrance. Obviously this cave was used by travellers on a regular basis and someone took care of it, for the floor was spotless and the food fresh. Ariel left me to settle myself down for the night and he went to find a resting place outside. I made myself comfortable on the pile of heather and wrapped my cloak around me. After all the excitement of the day I soon drifted off into a deep and dreamless sleep.

I awoke early and stretched my stiff limbs. Walking to the cave entrance I could see the sun was just about to rise and I stood watching it as the sky gradually changed colour from a pearly grey suffused with pink. The sun, a glowing dark red, slowly rose over the trees and all around me hidden birds struck up a chorus of greeting. I found that the unseen guardian had replenished my food and water stocks. This time there was a small round loaf of brown bread and a dripping slice of honeycomb. Ariel told me to take my time eating breakfast and then we would be off on another day of adventure.

I had thought that Ariel was quietly eating his breakfast not far away when he suddenly came rushing up to the cave mouth. "Come on, we've got to go", he shouted as he came closer. "If we don't hurry up we'll miss the boat". "Whatever are you talking about, Ariel?" I asked. "Take the wings out of the bag le Enchanteur gave you and put them on, we've no time to lose". I am getting to used to all these sudden changes of direction and did as I was told, knowing that Ariel would fill me in on the details as we went. I fumbled around in the little bag for what seemed like ages before finding the little wings and attaching them to my shoulders - I couldn't reach round to my back and hoped that that would do instead. I climbed on to Ariel's back and we rose into the air almost immediately.

We flew over woods and fields, profusions of flowers everywhere until at last we came in sight of the coast. As we came closer we could see that there was a ship showing pirates' colours at anchor off a small rocky cove. "Is that where we are headed?" I asked Ariel. "It is indeed, but they are just casting off the anchor. I think I will have to fly with you on to the ship". So we flew out over the cliff edge. However are we going to land safely on the ship's deck, I wondered to myself. Again Ariel had picked up my thoughts. "Easy", he said. "Take out the little anchor that is in your bag and drop it down to the ship. Our mates on board will be able to hold it steady so that we can land safely". "Ahoy there, travellers flying in", he called. To my astonishment people started pouring on to the deck and straining their eyes to see us. I let drop the little anchor and watched the tiny golden thing disappear down below us towards the outstretched hands. Somebody caught hold of it and held it fast and we slowly descended towards the deck and landed safely. From the glances cast in our direction it was obvious some of the crew members thought there was some weird magic afoot and even more obvious that some of them were even more surprised to see a flying donkey.

And that my friends, is how Ariel found himself on board the Calabar Felonway with me...... I’m not at all sure how the donkey secretary will take to the news of one of her donkeys on a ship!