Tiny Dragons 1: The Sky Dragons (5 page)

Chapter 7: Dragon-Sized Hearts

Alana could not bear to watch as James ever-so-delicately pressed his fingers against the window and began to lift it.  Herman was directly under the window, trying to get the lid free, and all it would take was for the assistant to look up and see James for the entire plan to be ruined.   

James looked pale and sweaty as he worked the window, at first getting it up just a little bit, but then enough so he could stick his fingers under the frame and move it another inch. 

Mister Six was on the ledge next to him, bent down impatiently waiting for the window to get open just a little bit more so that he could squeeze through.  Alana had no idea what she was supposed to do once the cat was inside the cabin, but she felt certain of one thing, it would become plain soon enough.

The window stopped moving
and James's face contorted with effort, straining as much as he could to get it unstuck without making any noise.  At that same moment, Herman had finally pried the lid from the snake's cage and was using a long wooden spoon to push the creature back while he delicately reached in to retrieve the loose skin. 

The sorcerer bent down to the cauldron and closed his eyes to take a long, deep breath of it, and said, "Almost ready.  Soon, I will possess all of the powers of the ancient world and no
one will be able to stop me."

The window wiggled upwards a little more and Mister Six stuck his head through the opening,
using his body to help James lift, bracing himself against the window's wooden frame.  Finally, they got it open just enough for the cat to squeeze himself through, pouring through the narrow opening with a series of feline twists and turns until Mister Six was inside the cabin, and had not been seen.   

"You did it!" Alana whispered, covering her mouth with her hands in excitement.  She leaned up to chance a look at Star.  He looked miserable on the floor, completely tied up, unable to move or speak.  He was just lying there with his eyes shut, waiting for the worst to happen.

Mister Six jumped up to the highest shelf along the walls and inspected the contents, passing by the jars of butterflies and worms, then stopping at a large container of buzzing green insects labeled "Locusts."

They looked like oversized grasshoppers, and as soon as Mister Six quietly slid their glass lid off, they immediately
jumped out of the jar and began bouncing around the shelves.  Mister Six ducked out of their way and leapt to the next shelf, flying past the sorcerer's head just in time to reach a rectangular tank with nothing inside it but a piece of fake wood.  Or so it seemed.  Mister Six paused in front of the tank and hesitated as he reached up to move the lid, touching it several times and retreating before finally knocking it back far enough open it.  The cat immediately sprang out of the way as a long, slithering lizard popped its head out of the tank and began flicking its tongue all around.  The reptile was called a Gila monster, Alana knew it because she'd read about them, and it slowly climbed out of the tank to reveal all of the shiny, pink spots on its beaded skin, its long claws tapping against the tank's glass surface. 

Mister Six jumped to another shelf and then another, releasing creature after creature, until finally, the insects and reptiles and winged
things were all beginning to come down the walls, toward the sorcerer and Herman. 

Alana felt someone tap her on the shoulder and cried out in terror, but James instantly covered her mouth and said, "Be quiet!"

"What are you doing over here?" Alana said.

"Mister Six pointed me this way.  I guess he wants us together."

"What do we do now?" Alana said.

James looked up through the window at the slowly, silently advancing army of
slithering creatures and said, "My guess is your dragon is too big for Mister Six to get out by himself.  That's where we come in."

"How?" Alana said.

James shrugged and said, "We have to go in and get him."

"In there?" Alana asked hoarsely.
  "With all those…things?"

James looked
through the window again, his eyes widening at the sight of the scary-looking Gila monster, but he did his best to keep cool and he said, "You can stay here.  I'll go get him."

"No," Alana said.  "I'm not leaving him alone.  I'm going with you."

"All right.  Now we just have to wait for the signal."

Mister Six was sitting on the highest shelf now, watching the scene unfold beneath him.  Herman had finally pulled the last of the snakeskin out and managed to get the lid back on, and the sorcerer had finished stirring and sniffing his foul potion.  Herman stood
triumphantly with the loose skin in his hand, but as he opened his mouth to announce his achievement, he froze in place.  All of the black and green and speckled things were nearly on top of them, and about to pounce.  "Boss?" Herman squeaked.

"What is it?" the sorcerer grumbled.  "Do you have my snakeskin..." the sorcerer's voice
vanished just as a large vampire bat extended its wings directly over his head and released a deafening screech.  At that sound, all of the creatures leapt from the walls and aimed their fangs, claws, and stingers at Prospero and Herman. 

"Now!" James shouted.  Both he and Alana forced the cabin's front door open and grabbed Star, rolling and pulling
the heavy dragon across the bare wood floor as Herman and the sorcerer ran around screaming in terror.  The bat was in the sorcerer's hair, pulling it out in long, white fluffs.  The Gila Monster had Herman cornered, snapping its jaws angrily as a dozen black worms crawled down the walls, about to drop down the inside of his shirt. 

James and Alana had to use all their strength to
heave Star through the door.  They immediately began pulling on the cords of the net but it was no use.  The net was too strong and wrapped around him too tightly.  "We need scissors," James said. 

As if by magic, a pair of old rusty scissors came sliding across the floor toward the door, followed by Mister Six.  The cat yowled at James to pick them up and he fit them inside the section of net covering Star's mouth.  The dragon was looking at them with wide, pleading eyes and James said, "We've got you, buddy.  We're not letting anything happen to you.  Just stay still."
  Mister Six quietly pulled the cabin's front door shut, leaving the two men inside with all their squiggly attackers. 

Herman was yelling for the sorcerer to help him, whipping his wooden spoon at the Gila monster like a lion tamer, but the sorcerer
was too busy trying to yank the bat off of his head and pluck a fat, hairy spider from his shoulder. 

"Hurry!" Alana said. 

James quickly snipped the net around Star's head and front legs, assisted by the dragon's pushing against the frayed strands to rip them apart.  Just as James fit the scissors into the netting binding Star's hind legs, they heard Prospero shout, "Where is my dragon?"

"Here!" James said, putting Alana's hand on the scissors.  "Keep cutting until he gets loose."  James stood up
just as the cabin's front door opened.  The sorcerer was glaring down at him. 

James was not nearly as tall as Prospero, but
he put up his fists anyway and said, "You touch either of them and you'll answer to me."

Alana called out her brother's name in fright but Star nudged her with his nose and said, "Get me loose so I can help."

"Okay," she said nervously.  "I'm not very good at cutting, though."

"You'll be fine," Star urged.  "Hurry up."

The sorcerer looked up and down at James and his outrage turned to cruel amusement.  "You?" he said.  "Really?  I'll answer to you?  Are you kidding me?"

James didn't say anything, he just held his ground, keeping his hands up like a boxer
, ready to fight. 

"I mean, maybe in a few years, but right now?  Wow, that's funny."  The sorcerer's face turned dark and he said, "Get out of my way boy
, before I decide to add you as an ingredient to my cauldron."

Mister Six sprang forward, landing on the sorcerer's bony ankle beneath his dirty robe and sank his fangs and claws into the exposed skin.  Prospero threw his head back and howled in pain as James ran up and kicked him as hard as he could right between the legs.  The sorcerer's eyes crossed momentarily as he dropped to his kne
es like a sack of heavy grain and let out a quiet, high-pitched noise that sounded like, "Eeep."

Alana
nearly had the last cord cut and it was enough for Star to kick himself free.  The dragon slowly got to his feet, his legs wobbling from being tied up for so long. He stumbled around the porch and said, "Thank you.  Both of you." 

"We have to run!" James shouted. 

Mister Six came barreling out of the cabin at full speed, taking off toward the edge of the woods where he stopped and spun in circles to urge the other three to hurry after him.  Star stumbled off of the porch and tried to keep up, but when Alana tried to pull him along, he said, "Just keep running.  I'll catch up." 

Alana looked back and saw both the sorcerer and Herman come out of the cabin,
turning to see where they went.  Prospero pointed a crooked finger at her and shouted, "There they are!  Get them!"

James forced Alana and Star to run as fast as they could, pushing them through the woods to catch up with Mister Six until they came to a
clearing with nothing but a few bushes and tall, swaying grass.  The moon was bright and full overhead, covering the forest in a kind of silvery, dim blue light.  There was nowhere to hide.  "Oh, great job, Mister Six," James muttered.  "You led us right out into the open."

The cat looked up at James with mild annoyance, but his tail did not move.

Star staggered sideways in the grass and collapsed, unable to keep running.  "My legs are too stiff to run and I can't feel my wings," he moaned.  "You guys keep going.  I'll be fine.  Just leave me." 

"No way," James said. 

Alana bent down over the dragon and covered him with her arms, "We're not letting them get you again, no matter what."

The sorcerer and Herman emerged from the trees and stopped
at the sight of the group.  They began to walk slowly toward them, with Prospero folding his long fingers together in the center of his long robe as he said, "Well, well.  Play time is over now, kiddies.  You've all interfered with my plans enough for one evening."

Alana, James, and Mister Six all stood in front of Star,
refusing to get out of the way.  The sorcerer stopped just a few feet away from them with Herman at his side and said, "Hand the dragon over and I'll let all three of you walk away."

"Actually, I was thinking if the two of you turn around and go back home, the three of us will let
you
walk away," James said. 

Prospero smiled thinly, showing them the full range of his stained
, greenish brown teeth.  "Do you honestly think a little girl, a muddy cat, a puny dragon, and a scrawny little punk such as yourself have a chance against me, Prospero the Sorcerer?"

His voice was loud and clear in the night, and as if to answer, a cool wind blew against the children's backs, followed by the sound of something large touching down on the grass behind them.  "Perhaps," a loud, regal-sounding voice said
over their heads, "I might help them even the odds."

Alana turned around and gasped at the sight of Lady Moon, standing tall
above them.  Her elegant, sparkling blue face was dark with anger as she looked at the sorcerer and Herman.  "The two of you have bothered my kind for long enough," she said.  She lowered her large head over the children and stared Prospero directly in the face, "From now on, these children are under my protection from you as well.  If you ever come near them again, or bother any of my dragons, I will make sure you regret it.  Do you understand?"

Prospero and Herman nervously nodded, unable to even move in the face of such a terrifyingly large and angry dragon.  Lady Moon nodded slowly and said, "It would be best if you left now, before I can no longer control my temper."

"Yes, your majesty," Prospero said quickly.  "Anything you like."

"
First of all, thank you," Herman said stupidly.  "Uh, thank you for not eating us, or doing anything else bad."

"Go," Lady Moon said.  "Now!"

Both the sorcerer and his assistant ran into the woods then, tripping over one another as they crashed through the branches and bushes and tangles of thorns, running until the sound of Prospero yelling at Herman to carry him was nothing but a distant echo.

"Well, all of you stand up and let me look at you," Lady Moon said. 

Star pushed up from the ground and stood next to Alana.  She put her hand on his neck and stroked his skin, as glad to see him okay as she'd ever been for anything in her entire life.  James stood next to his sister, looking up at the huge dragon in amazement.  Even Mister Six got in line.  The mud was dry and caked onto his fur now and looked very uncomfortable, but the cat still sat up very straight when facing the dragon.   

Lady Moon
looked curiously at the cat and said, "Sir He-Who-Runs-In-Shadow, it is a pleasure to see you once more."