Jenna and Spit Fyre were airborne. As the breakaway party of RatStranglers headed across the boatyard below them, Jenna guided Spit Fyre toward the small golden plaque set into the wall above the arch at the entrance of the Dragon House. Spit Fyre was flying beautifully, his wings beating against the air slowly and with great control; he responded to Jenna's every command. Soon the dragon was hovering in front of the plaque, nice and steady, as though he understood exactly what Jenna wanted him to do. In front of him the disc of gold was dull in the chill, damp air, but below him the RatStranglers were now running single file between the two tall-masted ships. They were nearly to the Dragon House.
"Ignite!" Jenna yelled at the top of her voice. "Ignite, Ignite, Ignite!"
Nothing happened. Afraid that there was indeed more to the Ignite, Jenna was horrified to see the spiky-woman RatStrangler emerging from between the tall ships, brandishing a large plank studded with nails. She was heading toward the sleeping head of the Dragon Boat.
"Please, Spit Fyre, please. Ignite!"
And then Jenna felt Spit Fyre shudder. From deep within the dragon, a subterranean rumble began. It started in the pit of his fire stomach, gathering force until it burst through the fire valve and shot into his great, thick dragon windpipe. Jenna felt the wave of it travel up his neck. Spit Fyre coughed as if in surprise, instinctively flared his nostrils and a great rush of gas came shooting out.
"Ignite!" yelled Jenna at the top of her voice. With a tremendous whoosh, the gas Ignited. The jet of flame leaped forward and enveloped the golden disc, and for one awful moment Jenna was afraid that the heat of the flame would melt the gold, for the disc glowed and shimmered so that it looked almost liquid in the red light. And then, far below her, Jenna heard a great yell of surprise from the RatStranglers. She glanced down to see if they had reached the Dragon Boat, and to her amazement, all she could see was the great expanse of stone of the Castle wall.
Spit Fyre had done it! The Dragon House had disappeared as though it had never existed. Once again it was Sealed behind the Castle wall as it had been ever since the time of Hotep-Ra.
Jenna threw her arms around the dragon's neck. It was hot, almost too hot to touch, but she did not care. "Thank you, Spit Fyre, thank you. I will never, ever complain about cutting your toenails again. I promise." Spit Fyre snorted, coughed out more superheated gas, and another great plume of Fyre sent the RatStranglers ping for cover. It also set fire to a pile of paddleboats that Rupert Cringe had brought in for repair.
Jenna and Spit Fyre flew back to the collapsed trawler. Jenna guided Spit Fyre down beside the smashed-up remains of the boat, and keeping his wings outstretched for a quick takeoff, the dragon waited for Wolf Boy to take his place behind Jenna.
"Excuse me, Your Majesty," came a familiar voice beside Jenna's left foot, "could you budge up a bit? Then Dawnie and I can squeeze in behind you."
Jenna knew that voice. It always seemed to turn up when she least expected it. She looked down and there, as she had guessed, was Stanley - ex-Message Rat, one-time Secret Rat. Current position: fugitive from the RatStranglers.
"Come on then, Stanley, quickly, before the RatStranglers see you." Jenna leaned down to help Stanley up.
"I'm not getting back on that - that thing," said the small fat rat who was with Stanley.
"But, Dawnie dear, it's our only hope."
Suddenly the clamor of the RatStranglers changed.
"She's over there," said the shrill voice of the spiky woman. "She did this. She should answer for it. Now."
"Now, now, now!" the chant began. "Now, now, now!"
"They're coming this way," said Wolf Boy. "Quick, Jenna. Leave the rats if they don't want to come. We've gotta go."
Jenna reached down to grab Stanley's paw.
"Don't leave me, Stanley!" wailed Dawnie. She launched into a superb tackle and brought Stanley down by the ankles.
"Dawnie, let go!"
Jenna hauled up the two squabbling rats, one in each hand, and placed them firmly between two large spines behind her, one behind the other. A moment later Spit Fyre was airborne, followed by a hail of trash can lids and a nasty-looking plank with nails stuck in it.
Two hundred feet above the Castle, the squabbling continued. "I hope you realize you nearly had us both killed, Stanley."