In front of them, the smaller dragon picked up the reptile and hurled it into the air. The
carcass thudded against the larger dragon's chest. Outraged, it charged.
"Now's our chance," Carole announced.
"What? No, wait!" Martin cried.
Carole plucked Runt from Zack's shoulders. "Head for that large rock dead ahead, Runt,
I'll meet you there."
Needing no encouragement, the pig scampered for the cover of the jumbled
shoreline.
She scrambled over the lip of the dam with the twins and Martin close behind, and
scuttled over to where Runt was waiting. "Quick, to the end of the shoreline!" Without looking to
see if the others were following, she started off in a crouch with Runt by her side.
Carole took a quick look to make sure the other dragons were still watching the fight,
before stepping out onto open ground. She zigzagged between boulders, making it three quarters
of the way across to the forest, before a spine-tingling scream reached her ears. Holing up behind
the next boulder, she peeked around it to see the challenger lying on the ground, bloodied and
beaten. Hovering above, the scarred dragon screamed, again and again. The challenger tried to
get airborne once more, but collapsed to the ground in a heap.
"Guess that's it for the small guy," Zack said.
"And our escape," Martin panted.
The large dragon folded its wings and with claws extended, dropped like a house.
However, instead of landing on the challenger, it swooped over to the abandoned carcass, where
it ripped out and swallowed a hunk of flesh. Then grabbing the remainder in one claw and
bellowing a final time, the brute flew off.
Making one final supreme effort, the challenger lifted its battered body into the air and
with its wings barely beating, slowly followed.
Lilly shook her head with amazement. "I thought he was going to be torn apart."
"Come on," Carole ordered, "we've only fifty feet to go, and the others haven't noticed
us yet." She bolted for the safety of the forest.
While scrambling across the uneven ground, Martin and Runt crossed paths and tripped
over one another. Runt kept his balance but Martin wasn't so lucky. He fell awkwardly, the pots
in his pack clanking noisily together.
At the noise, one of the smaller dragons raised its head and stared. With a roar, it sprang
into the air and raced towards them.
Carole was the first to enter the safety of the trees. Looking back she felt her blood turn
to ice. Martin was only a few dozen paces behind, but he seemed to be moving in slow motion.
He'd never make it.
She heard a huge inrush of air as the approaching dragon prepared to scorch him on the
spot. She saw Martin close his eyes. Watched him prepare for death.
The dragon's eyes vanished behind a ribbon of flame. Screeching in agony, it jerked
sideways, caught its jaw on a slab of rock and tumbled heavily to the ground, its huge body
coming to rest mere inches from Martin's back.
Letting out a terrified yelp of his own, Martin kicked into a desperate burst of speed,
raced through the vanguard trees and dove into the first clump of bushes he saw. Seconds later
the dragon, two of its three eyes already swollen shut, shook its head and staggered off to the
lake.
"Thought we were goners for sure," Zack whispered.
Martin wedged himself between the twins. "You did? I felt that guy's breath burning my
neck!"
"So what happened? Why'd it crash?" Martin tried to get at his canteen but his hands
were shaking so badly that he couldn't untie his pack. Lilly came to his aid.
"Beats me!" Zack shrugged. "We were too busy running."
Runt looked equally perplexed.
Little Flamer zipped through the foliage and landed on Martin's shoulder, chattering and
scolding like an angry red squirrel.
"About time you turned up," Lilly chastised, stroking his shimmering neck. The
dragon folded its wings and let out a satisfied puff of steam.
Carole joined them under the bush. "Better get going before the rest of that pack gets
curious," she said, before moving off in a semi-crouch.
Zack and his sister exchanged looks with Martin.
* * * *
"That's way too open!" Martin balked, surveying the field from the cover of the
bamboo-like forest. "We'll be spotted for sure."
"Come on, its not that far across." Zack stepped forward and sank ankle deep into mud.
"Eww!" He backed out quickly. "Great, another swamp."
Carole searched the sky again, before testing a clump of grass. It held her weight. She
hopped to another. It also held. "We'll cross on these."
"Through a swamp full of reptiles?"
"It's just a soggy field. There won't be any."
"Then what do you call that!?" Martin pointed to tuft of grass in the middle of which sat
a puny but very plump lizard.
Lilly giggled. "It looks like a bloated gecko."
"Swamp geckos, cool!" When Zack leaned in for a closer look, the lizard belched a
fireball that nearly engulfed his face.
"Will you never learn?" Lilly sighed. "What if that thing had been fanged and
poisonous?"
"What's it need poison for?" Zack patted his eyebrows.
A swarm of insects dropping towards the marsh were suddenly engulfed by hundreds of
tiny fireballs. "Does everything around here barbeque?"
"It won't be so bad," Carole said. "I'll nudge 'em aside with my staff. Let's move."
The sheer number of lizards, plus Little Flamer's knack for swooping low to first trigger
and then dodge fireballs, made the crossing a lot slower and a lot more hazardous than Carole
had expected. They were still very much in the open when a booming roar shook the ground.
Scrambling for cover, they plowed through the remaining grasses, scattering geckos and
unleashing a frenzy of flames in their wake.
Once within the safety of the bamboo-like trees, Lilly and Martin helped extinguish
Zack's rucksack, while Runt and Carole scanned the sky for signs of pursuit. A short while later
they were looking out from the far side of the forest. What she saw gave Carole little cause for
celebration.
The ground dropped to a small plateau, flat as a pancake, beyond which the mountain
rose almost vertically, to vanish within a haze of smoke and cloud. The plateau was absolutely
barren, without even a hint of ground cover or sheltering rock. To make matters worse, a huge
gash was spewing out a river of lava. The valley would soon be awash in a sea of molten
rock.
"Monsters behind and lava in front. Great plan Sylphwood."
"Would you just shut up Martin. I need to think."
"Ret reet."
"I know, I know, I see it."
"What?" Zack said.
"The vortex."
"Out there?"
Carole pointed towards center right of the mountain. "Maybe a mile away."
"Ground level?"
"More or less."
"We can't go out there!" Martin argued.
"Yes we can! We won't get a another chance at that vortex."
"And what about the dragons? "
"The lava
is
moving very fast," Lilly added.
"Right, if the dragons don't get us, the volcano will."
Carole rubbed her forehead. "Martin, all you've done since we got here is bellyache.
We're all in the same boat, but you don't see Zack or Lil complaining. "
"Are you all right, Carole?" Lilly said quietly.
"How could anybody be alright in this place? Let's go!"
"Come on Runt." She began sliding down the hill.
After a few tentative steps, Runt grunted and trotted onto the plain.
"You three. Get moving!" Carole ordered.
The heat was almost unbearable. Carole, who'd surreptitiously begun to glide, was
finding it difficult to breathe. The anger she'd been battling for hours was threatening burst out of
her. It was all she could do to not scream at the others.
The lava, though it had reached the valley floor, didn't seem to be slowing any. "Pick it
up!" she directed.
"Lava shouldn't be...so fast." Zack huffed. "Ground's level."
"Heat must be... helping it along," Martin wheezed.
"Vortex?" Lilly said, breathlessly.
Carole fought to relax her vision enough to see the swirling tunnel. "Dead ahead. Don't
slow down."
Runt was maintaining a dogged pace, though his skin gleamed and his tongue hung
limply out of one side of his mouth. Martin was grabbing at his side, and Lilly's hair was
plastered across her face. The lava was fast approaching. If that rolling fire reached the vortex
first...
Carole bit her tongue to keep from screaming. Her friends were doing all they could, and
yelling wouldn't help matters. But it was going to be close, really close.
A prickly sensation gripped her neck. She looked back over her shoulder. A dark mass
was soaring over the treetops behind them.
"Where tunnel?" Zack rasped. "Lava's almost here!"
As if in answer, a challenging roar echoed across the plain.
"Drop your gear and run for it!"
Lilly, Zack and Martin shed their packs and sprinted away. Carole also dropped her
rucksack, but instead of joining her friends, she wheeled to face the approaching dragon. When it
bellowed again, she brandished her staff like a sword, screamed a challenge, and charged.
The dragon arrowed towards her like a missile. She waited until the last possible
moment before pivoting ninety degrees and dashing away. Flames licked her heels, but the
dragon's fire missed its mark, and its claws scraped harmlessly across barren rock.
Her friends were almost to the vortex. Runt would lead them home.
The dragon came at Carole again. Once more she charged, knowing that this time she
wouldn't be able to dodge its flame. The beast was too big, too fast. In a fit of desperate fury, she
swung her staff and screamed.
A bolt of lightning blasted through the air. Her hands went numb. For a moment, she
couldn't see. And then the dragon pulled up, and Carole ducked beneath.
The dragon spun after her, but its charge was intercepted by a golden blur that came
streaking across the plain.
Little Flamer flashed past the beast, spitting fire directly at its eyes.
The dragon retaliated with fire and claw, but Little Flamer was already spitting a fiery
stream directly into its ear.
Carole raced towards the vortex as her companions vanished into it, only yards ahead of
advancing lava. Without breaking stride, she scooped up her pack and vaulted over the lava.
For one brief moment she felt as though her body would burst into flame, but then the
vortex grabbed hold and sucked her into its cool gray interior.
The ride was as wild as the last time. She shot out the other end and stumbled onto the
ground, utterly exhausted. Scattered around her lay her friends, gasping for breath like beached
fish.
"You made it!" Lilly finally said. "I was so scared, Carole. I thought that dragon..."
"Not this time," she wheezed. "Thanks to Little Flamer."
"Unhh, let me sleep." Carole rolled over, trying to ignore the wet, snuffly nose. "Come
on Runt, I'm beat." The pig continued licking her face and grunting insistently, until she gave up.
"All right already, I'm up." She pushed herself to her knees and stared into total darkness. "Aw
Runt, couldn't it have waited 'til morning? I ache from head-to-toe."
"Reet, rit wriit reeet!" Runt's snorts were hushed.
"What do you mean?" Adrenaline surged through her body. Instantly, the remaining
grogginess was banished from her mind. She whispered, "Are you sure? I didn't feel a
thing."
"Reet!"
"When?" The enveloping darkness had become menacing. She reached out until her
fingers closed firmly around her staff.
"Reet rit."
"What about the others?" She extended her free hand, accidentally poking Runt in the
snout.
"Ret!"
"Sorry." Though he was only inches away, Carole couldn't even make out his
shape.
Close by someone moaned softly.
"Lil, is that you? What's the matter?"
"Don't feel well," she mumbled sleepily.
"I guess she didn't puke this time," Carole said. "That's something, anyway. How'd the
boys manage?"
"Reet ret!"
"What do you mean they're not here?"
Runt let out a sigh.
"They should know better than to wander off alone. Especially after what we've just
been through."
"Rit reet, ret."
Carole's stomach lurched. "You sure?"
"Rit."
She worried her bottom lip. If they'd been left behind that was one thing, but if they
were lost somewhere out there? Her stomach twisted half a turn more. "I don't like the feel of this
place, at all."
Runt pressed into her side.
"Why don't you test the air. Maybe they're not too far off."
"Reet, reet."
"Well do it again. Please."
Runt sniffed and snuffled.
A wailing cry sounded in the distance.
"What was that?" Lilly sounded very much awake.
"Don't know and I don't think we want to know."
"Carole? Where are you?"
"Over here."
"Where? I can't see a thing."
She snagged Lilly's big toe. "Right here."
"Ow, not so hard! Where's Zack and Martin?"
"Haven't a clue. We three made another leap. I'm not sure about the boys. Runt can't
smell them."
A second cry echoed in the dark. Lilly scrambled closer, bumping heads with
Carole.
"Ouch!"
"Sorry. Was that a werewolf?"
"Doesn't sound like one. But I think we should find shelter, just in case. Runt?"
The pig sniffed the air currents again, and this time grunted with satisfaction.
"Good work. Come on, Lil."
"But what about the boys?"
"Us stumbling around in this dark isn't going to help them."
"Isn't that what we're about to do now?"
"No, we're stumbling away from whatever's making that noise. If Zack and Martin are
out there, they're probably holed up somewhere safe and sound."