No time to brood.”
“OK,” said Tom, before Emily could reply. “Bags I do berries.”
“No chance. You always eat as many as you save!” his Dad teased him.
Emily began to feel better. Perhaps her mother was right about Tom. She heaved a deep sigh, her huff smoky in the cold air. “I think I’ll go to bed and read Alice’s book,” she said. “Come on, Tom, it’s getting cold out here.”
Their parents smiled at each other as the young dragons disappeared.
“They’ll be all right,” said Gwen.
“And I reckon the others got away just in time,” said Duncan thoughtfully. “There’s going to be a frost tonight. Winter’s here!”
“And earlier than usual! I think these last foraging days might be important, if our food’s to last. Emily and Tom have bigger appetites these days, and we used up such a lot of food when the others came for meals.”
“It might be time to try that roots idea that Oliver told me about,” said Duncan thoughtfully as he banked up the fire with turf to keep it burning gently until morning.
His wife snorted. “I don’t think a bit of digging will cheer the kids up. Better think of something more exciting if we’re to survive the winter!”
Chapter 2
Foraging
Emily woke late the next morning and crawled out of her heather wondering why it was so quiet in the cave. She was relieved to see that her porridge was keeping warm on the fire, so she hadn’t been forgotten, even though there was no sign of the rest of the family. It was a still, cold morning; the sun had not yet risen, and the hillside below the cave was white with frost. The stream sounded unusually loud in the frosty air. She huddled closer to the fire as she ate her porridge.
“Good, you’re awake at last!” said a voice from behind, making her jump, and there was Gwen, with Lily riding on her back. “Lily got herself all over porridge this morning. She needed a good wash!”
Lily giggled. “’Tikky!” she said. “You certainly were!” her mother agreed, putting her down.
“Where’re Dad and Tom?”
“They went down to the loch. Some idea that Duncan had. They said they wouldn’t be long. I’ll put some water on for tea when they come back. Do you want the rest of this porridge?”
“Yes please!” said Emily. Her mother passed it over, thinking again that her children’s appetites were growing far too fast. They needed more food! For some reason there had been fewer rabbits on the hills this summer, and they had to be careful not to take too many fish from the otters’ loch. This early frost was bad luck; it would have driven all the snails into hiding. She went into the cave for some nettles, feeling rather worried. Their pile of wild oats was getting smaller too.
As Emily finished her breakfast, she spotted Tom and her father flying back, and shouted a greeting. Lily danced up and down, waving. Gwen came out to make the tea.
“Any luck?” she asked.
Duncan poured mugs of tea and sat down near the fire. “Show them, Tom.”
Tom opened his front claws and showed them a collection of small greyish-white roots.
“Yuk, what on earth are they?” Emily wrinkled her nose, but Gwen looked delighted.
“Des was right!” she said.
“What are you talking about?” said Emily, beginning to feel annoyed. She didn’t like the feeling that she was the only one who didn’t know about a secret, especially if Des was involved.
Duncan finished his tea in a noisy gulp, and decided to explain. “Remember that big round root that Des brought back from the castle? He said it was called a ‘tattie’ and was food that Humans cook.”
“We roasted it in the fire,” Emily remembered. “It was good! But these aren’t tatties!”
“No chance of finding tatties round here. At that castle they’re nearer Human places, and Des said he went foraging at night and dug some up on the edge of a field. Risky of course, but you know Des! Before he left he told me that he had heard about some wild roots like tatties from an old Traveller. Burdock’s one plant that has good roots, and that plant with silvery leaves and wee yellow flowers that grows all over. Well, we found a patch of that this morning, and dug some up. He was right!”
Gwen was looking thoughtful. “I don’t know what they’d taste like roasted, and we might lose them in a fire – they’re so small. But we could add them to stew, to make it more filling. Can we get some more?”
“Lots, if we all dig. It would be easier without this frost, but the sun’s coming up, so the ground might melt a bit. Let’s not waste the daylight.”
Tom proudly led the way down the valley a few minutes later. The patch of Silverweed was in one of the open glades that dotted the woodland not far from the loch. There were areas of scraped earth where Duncan and Tom had been busy earlier, but they set to work, digging into the frosty ground with their sharp talons and loosening the earth round the roots. It was quite hard work and the children were given the task of collecting the roots that were unearthed and piling them on the two square cloths that Ellen had given to Gwen as a goodbye present. The other family had collected quite a lot of useful Human items on their travels; if you held the cloth by its four corners it made a good bag for carrying the roots back to the cave. Even Lily trotted to and fro carrying one small root at a time.
As the sun rose higher the ground became easier to dig, but the dragons got a good deal more grubby in the process. When Lily tripped and fell with a loud wail in the muddiest patch, Gwen called a halt.
“We can’t put much more in the bags without losing them on the way home,” she said. “I’ll take them back to the cave with Lily, clean her up and make the broth. You two have a break. See if you can find any more of the plant on the way to the loch. And have a wash while you’re there!”
“I’ll carry on,” said Duncan. “Don’t want to waste a good digging day. See you later.”
Tom and Emily had quite enjoyed digging. It was fun clawing up the earth and finding the white hidden roots. And they had found a lot, in a very short time. “Good for Des! He really is brilliant!” Emily said as they set off towards the loch.
“Pity they’re no good raw,” said Tom, who had tasted one and spat it out in disgust. “I could do with a snack right now.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” said Emily, pointing ahead. “Beech nuts!”
There was a lot of open beech-mast on the ground around the beech tree, and they crunched happily. Then Tom flew up to the branches, and found a lot more nuts still attached to the branches. “We’d better remember where this is!” he called down. “These would be easier to collect than roots, and nicer too.”
“It will make Mum happier,”
