�Right Salee, to Quoke!� ordered Zani. A very rumbly �Yes, sire,� came from the head dragon, who was presumably Salee. The sound the black dragons made as they flapped their wings was tremendous. All the creatures though they would be deaf by the time they got to Zani�s lair, presumably what he had called �Quoke�. As the dragons got into a steady pace the noise of their wings became just about bearable. The black dragons were heading into the darkest clouds, and then they saw it. It was on top of a floating piece of grass, and was like a sort of castle. On the turrets were evil goblins with little arrows with poison inside, if a poisoned arrow hit you, you were dead in 15 minutes.
The castle was a dark sort of dingy grey, not very welcoming. All the animals shivered to think they would soon be living in there and there were a few more grumbling and, �Why didn�t William just let her to die?� Annabel wished she could curl up and disappear.
Her mother saw her sad face and comforted, �Don�t listen to them. They�re just a bunch of slums. They don�t know what they�re talking about, and anyway, we�d never let you get hurt.�
Sticking out of the grass floating in the sky was a sort of runway. Underneath the grass was lightning, and at this moment it was destroying a small grass hut.
�Oh no!� squealed the voice of a small elf, �I left teddy in the house! Teddy�s burning! Teddy! Teddy!� he burst into tears. The black dragon he was travelling on was a 65 year old female, and had a marshmallow heart.
�Aw, don�t cry, me deary, I�ll by ya� a new teddy!� she comforted, and the little elf stopped snivelling and meekly said, �Thank you.�
�WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT BEING KIND TO PRISONERS, GERALDINE?� roared Zani.
�Well, this poor little elf�s lost his teddy, I wouldn�t like to lose my teddy, and I�m sure you wouldn�t,� replied Geraldine.
�WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT KEEPING TEDDIES, BEING SOPPY, BEING STUPID, SOUNDING LIKE MY MOTHER AND ANSWERING BACK, GERALDINE?� groaned Zani. It sounded like he�d been through this before.
�Sorry, sire,� mumbled Geraldine.
Annabel thought she quite liked Geraldine, and smiled at her. Luckily Geraldine saw Annabel and waved frantically.
�GERALDINE!!!!!� screamed Zani, and made Annabel jump.
�Sorry sire,� sighed Geraldine. All this time they had been flying, and now all the dragons lined up in single file and shot up the runway. Just as Annabel thought Salee would crash into the doors that lead into the castle, they flung open. All the dragons piled into a hall. When they were all crammed in, the doors slammed shut. The creatures now saw that it was two goblins that had magically opened the doors. They bowed to Zani, and scurried up some rusty stairs.
The hall was very large and was dimly lit by odd torches hung up on the walls. There were rats scurrying on the dirty tiles. All across were stairs, made out of lead. It had no windows and was very spooky, because you could hear each others breath and you imagined you could hear your heart going, �BAD-UM-BAD-UM-BAD-UM�.
Zani reached out and took a torch from the wall. He lowered it under his face making half of it spookily light up.
�This is Quoke,� his voice was hardly a whisper and as he spoke he waved his fork around the room. A chill ran down Annabel�s spine. �The grass that this castle is built upon, and the lightning below it, is kept up in the air by slaves who turn a great wheel. That will be your new job,� smiled Zani, wickedly. There was a groan from the crowd.
�Don�t you think that�s a bit hard on them, sire��� said a voice from the crowd. It was Geraldine.
�GERALDINE!!!� raged Zani.
�Sorry,� she said.
�Geraldine, you�re getting on my nerves, so you take all the humans and their pets to cellar number 4,� he picked a key out of his cloak and handed it to Geraldine.
�Salee, you take goblins and gnomes and elves, and things like that,� he gave Salee a key.
�Now come on, everyone,� explained Geraldine, �I�m going to show you where you will be sleeping.� Zani was still talking and giving out keys as they all trudged up some creaky stairs.