5. The Snake

Sikander Sandragon climbed up the trunk of a giant rainforest tree agile as a little desert-lizard, gripping the thick bark with his claws, half-jumping and half-flying up from one great branch to another, higher and higher. As he got near to the top the sunlight grew brighter, the branches smaller and weaker and at last they would no longer take his weight. Sikander leapt into the air, crashed through the last few layers of leaves and burst out into the sunlight above the jungle like a great dragony fish leaping out of a leafy green sea.

At last he was heading in a precise direction, sure of where to go and what to look for. He followed Rajah's instructions and headed south, skimming across the tree-tops, wasting no time to climb any higher into the sky. Crowds of parrots and parakeets scattered before him like so many handfuls of colourful gemstones thrown into the air. Sikander never stopped to look at these little birds nor to talk to them. Now that he knew where he was going he just concentrated all his energy in that direction.

By and by the forest below grew more and more hilly. Down in the valleys silver ribbons threaded through the green of the trees, streams tumbled into deep quiet gorges where the water was almost lost from sight. A crowd of big white cockatoos with bright sulphur-yellow feather-crests on their heads flew along beside him for a while and the Sandragon was tempted to stop and play with them. They were clearly not afraid of him and were excellent fliers, chasing one another left and right as they flew around the dragon, tumbling cartwheels in the air. But Sikander resisted the temptation – he had to reach his destination before nightfall or the Spysnake would be gone to a new secret location and Sikander would be back to square one.

Late in the afternoon the hills below dropped to a broad flat plain of dry yellowish-brownish earth with patches of woodland here and there. A huge mountain which seemed to be a single vast rock with vertical sides, rose in the middle of the plain. As he flew nearer, Sikander saw that the mountain-top had been flattened and terraced. Gardens and pools had been laid out there and were kept in perfect order. There was no-one to be seen in those gardens, but strong walls had been built all around them on the cliff-tops. Long banners of scarlet and gold flew from the battlements. The place seemed perfectly defended by the precipices all around and by the massive walls climbing still higher at the top, but as he circled this fortress Sikander wondered who was being defended, against whom, for there seemed to be nobody there at all.

Remembering Rajah's advice, Sikander turned away from the sinking sun and started flying east, away from the mountain, looking out for a lake and for the ruins of a royal city. The land below grew greener again, richer with forests, streams, rivers and ponds. But for several hours he saw no sign of a lake.

At last, as the sun was turning blood-red at the end of the day, the lake came into sight up ahead and far below, lying like a mirror fallen across the land. Woodland with great trees surrounded it on all sides but one, where he could make out the scattered remains of a once-great city. In places the walls of temples and palaces were still standing, overgrown by vast trees, garlanded with creepers, gripped by tall buttress-roots. The foundations of long gone ancient buildings could be clearly seen from the air and far off to the north Sikander could make out three giant human figures carved from the stone of a hill-side, one standing, one sleeping, one sitting quietly.

The dragon climbed higher over the deserted city and searched for the octagonal pool which the elephant had given him as a land-mark. He looked and looked and could not see it. He soared down to a lower level and flew a criss-cross search pattern across the ruins, hunting for the pool, but still had no luck.

Just as he began to get upset and angry, afraid that he would not find his snake after all, the angle of the sun changed and a reflection from the surface of the pool caught the Sandragon's eye. From high above, dying sun's light made the pool flash like a ruby mounted in an octagonal setting. Sikander stood on one wing, banked steeply round and dived down.

Coming to land beside the pool he saw that it had been built for bathing. Steps lead down each side of the octagon to the water, half-covered in broad lily-pads. A little way off to one side there stood a raised platform of stone, the top ringed with strange twisted spiralling columns standing at odd skewed angles. And beside this tall platform, a termite mound, twice as high as you or me.

Sikander breathed a blue-flamed sigh of relief – Cobra House at last, just as the shadows gathered and darkness settled all around. He walked slowly over to the mound of earth and looked for a door. None to be seen. He circled it once, then twice, blowing twists of blue flame to illuminate the earthen structure in the failing light of dusk. But there was no sign of a door at all. Sikander began to wonder if he had got the wrong place after all.

He looked around to see if there might be another temrite mound anywhere nearby, but no, this was the only one. With nothing to lose by trying, Sikander raised one sharp claw and tapped on the wall of the Cobra House seven times, as the elephant had instructed, then five times, then three, then one last time. Nothing happened at all. The Sandragon was about to give up hope when he remembered that the elephant had also given him a password, so he tried that too, and called out: "NAGA!"

To his surprise a large snake slid out of a dark crack-hole in one side of the mound. It flowed down to the ground, smooth and silent as a child's teardrop down, a splendid and terrible sight to behold. The snake was as fantastically coloured as a jeweler's dream, glossy black and fiery red, each colour outlined by a strip of glittering gold - such refined elegance as Sikander had never seen before.

The fabulous snake reared up before the dragon and stared at Sikander straight in the eye. In silence it flared a hood of skin about its neck threateningly. Sikander had never such an utterly cold and hard look in any animal before. It flicked out its forked tongue. In a low voice, as fierce and frightening as it was quiet, the snake whispered:

"So. You are here. Sikander the Sandragon. Far far away from the sand, searching and searching. But no sign of finding."

The snake's spiteful whisper hissed like a sword drawn from a scabbard in anger. Sikander was taken aback that the creature knew so much about him. He watched the snake as it swayed before him, as deadly as only a king cobra can be, then Sikander drew up the courage to ask his question.

"Please tell me, where can I find the Phoenix?"

"And why might I tell you that? Or anything else at all?"

"The King of Beasts and the Lord of the Forest both thought that you of all creatures would know. The Lion himself sent me to ask you, his Head of Intelligence."

Sikander hoped that the names of such important and powerful animals would make the snake more helpful, but the snake just sneered:

"King of Beasts, huh!
Lord of the Jungle, pah!
Do you imagine that they are the sires? That I am the slave?
Do you think I care in the least what they want?
What interest have I in answering your question?"

The snake stared at the dragon with pure and open disdain, then turned and glided away towards the octagonal pool.

Bats the size of foxes swished past overhead. A choir of frogs which had been croaking in the pool fell silent. Darkness fell faster. Sikander ran after the snake,

"What would it cost you to answer my question ? Let me know and I'll be gone."

"Out of my way, worm, I have no time to waste on you.
What would it cost me? What could you pay me to answer your question? You have nothing at all.
Get out of my sight, worm, before I lose my temper and kill you."

The snake's threats and insults stung Sikander. He saw that as things stood he would never find out the Phoenix's whereabouts from the Cobra. He had never threatened another creature before, but now that he had been threatened, and that there seemed no hope of getting any useful reply from the Spysnake any other way, the Sandragon blocked the snake's path.

The king cobra reared up again and stared at the dragon hatefully, hissing with anger, weaving tensely left and right.

"There is one thing I could offer you for the information I need." said Sikander quietly.

"Indeed. And what, pray, might that be?" asked the snake sarcastically.

The Sandragon brought his face closer to the snake, as though to whisper a secret. He breathed gently and the air flickered between smoke and flame beside the snake's head. Then ever so quietly the Sandragon said:
"Your life."

Faster than a whiplash the snake struck at the dragon and bit him on the shoulder. Then like lightning it shot away towards the darkness of the surrounding woods.

The Sandragon seemed to barely move, just tilted his head in the snake's direction, drew a breath, then blasted a roaring stream of blue flame across the snake's path.

The Cobra swerved, changing his path of escape, but with a second flare and a third Sikander laid a triangle of fire around the snake, with no way out. He stepped into the triangle of blazing fire and breathed gently again. Hemmed in by flames all round, the heat of the dragon's breath set the air a-quiver. The cobra hissed in fury but saw that there was no choice left, and so he spoke:

"Search under mountain deep
Search over mountain high
The Phoenix will never sleep
The Phoenix must never die

A pyre on the roof of the world
Harsh lament where rain is a stranger
A spark to set flames ablaze
Where cold freezes harder than danger."

As Sikander heard the snake's last words his head spun and he sank to the ground in a dead faint.

The poison from the snakebite could not kill him, but it knocked him out fast as a surgeon's needle. The last things the Sandragon saw before losing consciousness were the flames of his fire-trap, dancing and blazing, orange and gold, swarms of sparks shooting up into the black sky above.