Milner’s ‘ambulance’ flew for an hour, over hills and valleys and eventually reaching some mountains where they landed half way up one and just short of a cave. With the help of the Hippogriffs the Cabbage Dragon was laid down inside the cave and made comfortable by Lumus before he offered his profound gratitude to the Hippogriffs and then bid them farewell. This left Lumus with his patient and a somewhat tired and still a little bemused Owl.

“You’re most welcome to stay here tonight, my friend,” He said to the Owl. “It’s a long and complicated trip back, I think.”  

“I can’t leave now,” Said Olly, “Not as it’s getting interesting. Besides, I’m as curious as I’m sure you are as to how he got into this state in the first place.”

“Hm, there’s certainly a story there.” All this time the old man was fussing around the injured dragon, who they decided to call ‘Cabbage,’ making sure he was as comfortable as he could be. 

“A little supper, I think,” Said the old man more to himself than anyone else. “Then some shut-eye. We could be in for a long night of pure frustrating nothingness. He’s going to be asleep for some time, I’ve seen to that.” And so the long vigil began, through that night, the next day and the following night. The patient spent most of the first night and some of the following day fighting a raging fever caused by the infections he’d picked up as a result of his fight. In what was the height of his fever he rambled on and was seeming to relive his fight over and again. On the second day he was awake but still weak.

“Welcome my friend, to my humble little ‘place’, as I call it.

“W-where am I, w-what happened?”

The old man looked at him and with a kindly smile and in a quiet voice explained to the dragon all that had led him to be here, all except what put him in the cabbage patch to start with.

“I-I remember having a fight, they were trying to kill me, I had to defend myself. I-I think I may have killed them. I hadn’t meant to but they were coming at me all the time and I was trapped in between some rocks, at least I think that’s how it was?”

“And who were these ones attacking you and why?”

“I don’t know.”

“Where did you come from?”

There was a long silence when the only sound to be heard was the breathing of the dragon, heavy, laboured and he was becoming agitated as he tried to think.

“I-I can’t remember.” He said, not able to disguise a touch of panic in his voice. 

“It’s okay, my friend,” Said the old man, patting him gently, “In time you’ll remember. Don’t trouble yourself over it for now. You still need a lot of rest and I should imagine you’ll have an appetite by now so I’ll fix you something to eat.”

After he had been watered and fed and had his wounds redressed, Cabbage the Dragon settled down to rest and promptly fell asleep. He slept through the next day as well. 

“Well now, my fine friend, as you do not remember your name we have called you Cabbage, because we found you in the cabbage patch, trying your best to imitate, er, well, a cabbage. Sort of hidden in plain sight sport of thing, Quite clever of you. You have a well developed sense of self preservation for one so young, you are young, aren’t you?”

“I think I’m younger than I feel and Cabbage is just fine for now.”

“Splendid, splendid, already you are showing signs of recovery. “

“There is one thing,” Said Cabbage, after a moment’s thought.

“Good, another memory, splendid. What is that?”

“I don’t know whether it’s a memory or what, more like a dream.”

“Yes, yes?”

“I have this picture in my head, very clear too. It’s of two dragons dancing in the sky together, a very intimate dance too. It was, I think,’The Dragon Dance.’” 

“Are you sure of this?” Asked a very thoughtful Lumus.

“It’s very clear.” Said Cabbage. “Do you know of this?”

“I am familiar with something of this kind, yes.”

“It's a mystery to me,” Said the dragon. “But it was so vivid and quite beautiful.”

“Hmm?” The old man was now deeply in his own thoughts. What had he stumbled upon, he wandered. One thing he was sure of, it was something significant. He didn’t believe in coincidences. To start with he stayed with Cabbage most of each day for a week and then only some of the day for the next week, moving between His Place, the cave and his shack back at Connis Loop. He had to keep an eye on the town, he daren’t leave it for too long because, well because he couldn’t trust it. 

Connis Loop was a place with a mind of its own and was the ‘resting place’  for every kind of villain imaginable. That is to say it was a place where they came to rest between ‘jobs.’ The town was built quite by accident many years ago by a bunch of lost settlers, in search of a better life than they had. Goodness knows what that was when compared with Connis Loop. It was always a mystery to Lumus, who, being a wizard himself, was able to manage most of the excesses of the town but not all. He felt he couldn’t complain too much though as he was a fugitive too, having been chased out of his last dwelling place. Unjustly, he thought, He had complained that there were far too many wizards there to do any good. And he’d said so, obviously too many times. So he left, by mutual agreement, he says, and made his home here in this little settlement tucked away in and nestling at the end of a valley surrounded on three sides by mountains. He was respected, mostly, by the majority of the towners and often called upon to assist from time to time with various problems from health issues to advice. Overall it worked quite well but he felt he still needed somewhere, away from the town, where he could simply be himself. This little cave on the biggest mountain overlooking Connis Loop, Mt. Connis, served his purpose admirably. It was too far up the mountain and too hazardous a climb for anyone other than a regular climber. Just perfect for him. Especially as he knew and used an easier route not of common knowledge.

Olly stayed virtually all the time with Cabbage, an arrangement the old man was very happy about. This gave the curious Owl plenty of opportunities to get to know her new friend better and, hopefully, find out more about his background. Both she and the old man knew there was something special about this dragon. This was no ordinary dragon, of that they were certain. This dragon had an air about him that suggested he had moved in pretty high circles in the dragon world, maybe even royalty but this last point was nothing more than a wild guess, a feeling she and the wizard shared.

For weeks this arrangement continued as Cabbage grew stronger by the day until he was fit enough to leave. The three of them discussed where he could or should go and it was here that another little nugget of information came to light. He couldn’t go back to his lodge as he had been banished, or that’s what Cabbage maintained. He couldn’t remember any of the details, only that he couldn’t ever go back. Another odd thing was happening too. While he’d been here recovering his colour was undergoing a subtle change. Where his scales were a rusty red they were beginning to show something else, a touch of blue was evident, only a touch but it was there nevertheless. There was clearly more to this dragon than they first thought. But, the immediate problem was, where can he go? There was talk of dragons in the far north and sightings had been reported of dragon activity to the south west but nothing substantial to go on, no details. Dragon hunting had been outlawed recently so there wasn’t the same level of danger there but still, where does one put a dragon? Not an everyday sort of problem.

Olly stayed less and less by Cabbage’s side, as he got stronger. She took the opportunity to go out for a fly around from time to time and it was after one of these flights she returned all excited.

“You’ll never guess what I’ve just found. Absolutely ideal for our purposes, er, sorry, for Cabbage.”

“And what might that be?”

“A cave, just made for Cabbage and not far from here. In fact it’s just a wee bit further up. I’m sure it’d do perfectly for Cabbage.”

The old man looked at Cabbage who returned the look and then both looked at Olly.

“Show us this marvellous thing.” Said the old man.

Ten metres above the old man’s cave was another cave, this one much bigger and semi-hidden by bushes and rocks. 

“This looks nice.” Said Lumus. “Ideally suited to you, Cabbage.”

Olly was fluttering about still buoyed up by having found the place.

Cabbage wasn’t so enthusiastic. He just stared at it in silence, a far away look in his eyes.

“What’s the problem, Cabbage, don’t you like it. We can always look for somewhere else?” The old man detected a sadness in the dragon’s demeanour, a sadness that wasn’t there before, as if he was remembering something and it was painful.

“Oh, it’s fine,” He said eventually. “I’m sure I’ll settle down just fine in it.” He wasn’t sounding too confident.

“What is it, Cabbage? You thought of something, didn’t you, a memory perhaps?” The old man and the owl waited but Cabbage wasn’t forthcoming with any more information.

“Okay then,” said the old man, “we’ll get you settled in and then we can have a spot of supper and maybe chat a while. Sound okay to you?”

“Fine by me.” Said Olly, who then received a withering look from Lumus.