His presence woke up a Basilisk, a monstrous Cockerel. They return to Firedrake who was hidden in a cave. Ben ends up saving both Sorrel and Twigleg, who was captured as well. After trying to destroy any traces of their footprints, Sorrel gets kidnapped by the archaeologists. They end up landing near an archeaologist camp. But after hitting a storm that drives them off course, forcing them to land, they find themselves in Egypt. THey headed south toward the Mediterranean before turning east.

After reporting back about the Rim of heaven which Ben unfortunately spilled to one of the dwarves with Twigleg listening, Nettlebrand reveals that he has been hunting the dragons that hid in it for centuries and orders Twigleg to follow Firedrake on a raven. FIredrake wakes and Twigleg heads to the nearest source of water and contacts Nettlebrand by spitting into the water. After hearing from the dwarf of a silver dragon in his mountains, Nettlebrand sends Twigleg on a raven to find out if the dwarf was telling the truth. He is serviced by Twigleg, a manikin or homunculus, He is a very vile and cruel being that eats a lot of his servants when he is angry, most particularly ravens that he creates magically. Nettlebrand is a very large and dangerous monster that looks like a golden dragon. While he rests, one of the dwarves runs to the castle in that same mountain range, revealing Nettlebrand, the Golden One.

Firedrake sleeps while the sun is up and the dwarves wait for him to wake up. After Ben and Sorrel argue about turning East too soon or not, the three end up in a mountain range full of mountain dwarves. He and Sorrel decide to bring Ben along with them. Only able to fly at night, Firedrake wastes no time wanting to leave. After finding him and providing payment, Gilbert hands over a map leading to the Himalayas, marking dangerous areas along the way. Ben then provides Sorrel with human clothes so she may go find Gilbert while Firedrake stays hidden. Not long after landing at the docks of London, Firedrake saves orphan human Ben from dockworkers. Firedrake travel to London with his friend Sorrel, a forest brownie, to find Gilbert Graytail, a rat who specializes in making maps.

Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke