Dragons' Truth

Chapter 1

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What time is it?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “November seventh?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 A deep sigh.  The sound of a page turning.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “So what now?  Where do we go from here?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Don’t ask me.  This was your idea.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I didn’t know there would be real dragons.  I thought he was making that part up.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “But you believed the part about the treasure.  You know Larry, you can be a real dolt sometimes.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What about you?  You came with me!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I didn’t believe a word of it.  I’m just here because I didn’t want to face Mrs. Cravitz again without my homework.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well you’ve got to believe it now, don’t you?  Dragons.  Treasure.  Forget homework.  We’re going to be rich!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “If the dragons don’t eat us first, sure.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Shhhhh!  I think they heard us.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Heavy breathing.  The sound of a book closing.  The sound, something like giant sheets of leather sliding across each other, stirring dust their direction.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry is not the one who sneezes, but he is the one the dragon sees first.

• • • • • • • •

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Ghadshyk looked up from his book in a daze.  He had been reading for hours, completely immersed in another of Neal Stephenson’s masterful but exceedingly long novels.  He thought he’d heard a noise of some kind, but he didn’t see anything out of place.  He noticed that he’d been sitting a little wrong and was sore, so he put a bookmark in The System of the World and closed it, setting it aside.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 He stood up and stretched his arms and legs out, then unfurled his vast wings, stretching and twisting them to try to get the blood flowing through them again.  “I shall have to get some exercise in today; I’m getting pretty stiff lately,” Ghadshyk thought, letting out a little “Unnnnghh…” as he stretched his sore muscles.  He thought he heard another little noise, just as he had stretched his neck most of the way around.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I hope I don’t have rats in the walls again,” Ghadshyk mumbled to himself as he looked around for the source of the noise.  He tried to be as quiet as possible, in case it came again.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 And it did.  A tiny sneeze.  And Ghadshyk’s head spun around fast and he saw two tiny eyes staring at him from the top of his china cabinet, just before they disappeared behind his commemorative Star Trek Enterprise NCC-1701-B Collector’s Series Plate.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Hello, back there,” Ghadshyk began, “you’re not a rat, are you?  I hate rats.  They eat all my best crackers, and make nests in the heating shafts so the whole place stinks of rats when I fire the heater up in the autumn.”  As he spoke, Ghadshyk moved slowly and cautiously towards the china cabinet, watching for whatever was hiding to try to scurry away.  He knew his first reaction would be to try to smash it or breathe a fireball at it, but he restrained himself.  That particular collectible plate was virtually irreplaceable.  It had taken Ghadshyk over two years of hunting on eBay to find one in good condition, and he was not about to destroy it because of some rat.

• • • • • • • •

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “It’s coming this way!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Why did you have to sneeze?  Now it’s seen me!  What am I going to do?”  Larry looked about ready to wet his pants.  He could see the hole in the wall they had come in through, but when the dragon’s eyes had met his, Larry had jumped the wrong way.  Now his friend could surely get out, but if Larry tried for the hole in the wall he would have to run across eight feet of empty space before he was out of sight again.  He was done for.  The dragon was sure to kill him and eat him, now.  “You go on without me.  We shouldn’t both have to die!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Without another word’s encouragement, Larry’s friend was gone, just like that.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry was still staring at the empty spot where his friend had just been standing when the wall he’d been hiding behind began to move slowly away.  His peripheral vision just barely noticed the movement, but he was almost too afraid to turn his head, and it felt like an eternity before he was facing the direction of the movement.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry was face to face with a dragon.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Now he really did wet his pants.  The dragon’s head must have been ten feet high, but Larry could have reached out and touched the dragon’s snout, it was so close.  Suddenly the corners of the dragon’s mouth began to lift up, snarling at him.  The dragon’s eyes lit up, apparently happy to see such a feast.  The great beast’s expression continued its contortion, and suddenly the dragon began to let out a deep and hearty laugh, which Larry could feel blowing across him and reverberating within him.  Everything went black.

• • • • • • • •

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Ghadshyk reached out slowly and carefully to grasp his cherished plate without disturbing the creature lurking behind it.  He lifted the plate slowly up.  He did not want to startle whatever was hiding and have it run out of sight.  Ghadshyk wanted to get a good look at the thing that had invaded his home.  When the plate was finally out of the way, Ghadshyk leaned in close until his face was mere inches from the tiny creature.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Standing on two legs, wearing tiny clothes, hairless except on top.  Ghadshyk realized what had happened and a smile spread slowly across his face.  He had gotten himself worked up over nothing.  It wasn’t rats at all, but something far less insidious.  It was a human child, come in the wrong way through a hole in the wall.  And it had wet its trousers at the sight of him!

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Ghadshyk couldn’t help but burst into jovial laughter.  He hadn’t so scared a human child in centuries.  Not since Merle had set him up down here, he realized.  Ghadshyk had simply forgotten how frightening his appearance could be to those who didn’t know any better.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 When Ghadshyk finally stopped laughing, he saw that the human child had fainted.  Ghadshyk carefully picked up the child and replaced his collector’s series plate to its stand.  He delicately carried the child to his kitchen and set its unconscious body on the cutting board by the sink.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Putting on his reading glasses to see the tiny buttons and laces better, Ghadshyk cautiously peeled off the tiny human’s soiled clothes.  He had to use just the sharpest points of his claws to grasp the miniature closures, so he was extra careful not to tear holes in the fragile fabric of the more fragile skin of the child.  After a few minutes, Ghadshyk finally had the boy – he could see now it was a boy – out of his wet clothes.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Before dealing with the clothes, Ghadshyk lightly lifted the boy up and rinsed him off with a gentle spray of water from the tap, turning him over to be sure he became properly rinsed.  Then he patted the boy’s unconscious body dry with his softest hand towel and set him back on the cutting board.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Looking at the boy’s miniscule garments lying beside him on the counter, Ghadshyk decided they were too small to be put in his washing machine.  He washed them by hand, right there in the kitchen sink.  Now soaked but clean, the dragon dried the tiny clothes by laying them out flat on the counter and blowing the tiniest line of fire his mouth could muster, back and forth just above the clothes.  He flipped them over and repeated this, careful not to singe them with the hot air as they dried.  Soon, the clothes were as good as new.

• • • • • • • •

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry woke up to find the dragon’s enormous claws trying to work the buttons on his shirt.  Larry screamed.  The dragon jumped back with alarming speed, pulling its deadly hands back from his chest in a flash.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 A great, deep, gravely voice boomed forth, “Now don’t go wetting your pants again!  I just got them clean!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry couldn’t understand it.  The dragon could talk!  It was talking to him!  Larry screamed again.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Calm down, boy.”  This time the dragon’s voice was lower, but it was still the biggest voice Larry had ever heard.  “I don’t want to hurt you, just calm down.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry’s life flashed before his eyes.  It didn’t take long – he was only twelve years old – but it ended with remembering sneaking in with his friend.  With seeing the dragon perched on what appeared to be a mountain of gold and jewels and other treasure.  With the dragon’s menacing snarl just feet away.  With Larry being such a coward that he had peed his own pants and fainted.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Stop screaming, boy,” the dragon took off its glasses and remained a fair distance away, speaking in its least menacing timbre, “I was only trying to button up your shirt.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry realized that his pants were clean and dry.  He was sure he’d wet them, but now they were dry.  So either the dragon was telling the truth or… maybe this was all a dream.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I don’t know how you got in here, but you’ll have to go out the same way.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You… you washed my clothes?”  Larry mumbled feebly.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What was that?” the dragon asked, “You’ll have to speak up, boy.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You washed my clothes.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well I’ve already said that, now haven’t I?  You’re going to have to pay more attention, boy.”  The dragon sighed, and a great hot wind crossed Larry’s body.  It blew the unbuttoned halves of Larry’s shirt apart briefly.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Hey!” exclaimed Larry, looking down, “My shirt is unbuttoned!  And where are my shoes?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I tried to explain that too, boy.”  The dragon grabbed the shoes from the other side of the swimming-pool-sized kitchen sink and dropped them next to Larry.  “I had simply not finished redressing you when you suddenly awakened and began screaming.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry buttoned his shirt indignantly.  “I don’t see why you had to take off my shirt if I only peed my pants.  What are you, some kind of giant pervert?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 The dragon was aghast.  “What in the…?  How dare you?!  You break into my home and I have the decency to clean you up after you soil yourself instead of just swallowing you whole, which I’m sure you were going to accuse me of wanting to do next, and this is the thanks I get?  Perhaps I ought to have gone with my first reaction to seeing you, and just blow you away with a fireball, eh?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 The dragon spit out a fireball that looked ten feet across.  It roared across the room, passed within just a few feet of Larry and exploded into the colossal sink.  Larry could feel the heat of it as it passed by, like a sunburn on just one side of him or like standing too close to a bonfire.  This time, Larry was too scared to scream.  He just stood there, frozen, staring at the terrifying beast.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Go on.  Finish getting dressed.  And put your shoes on.  You’re getting out of here before you make me angry.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry didn’t want to see the dragon get angry, and dropped flat on his butt to tie his shoes.  He was so nervous he accidentally tied two of his fingers into the laces of his left shoe on the second attempt to tie it.  The dragon put its glasses back on and leaned in.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Oh, relax.  I’m not going to hurt you,” the dragon tried to be soothing as it helped Larry free his fingers, “there’s no need to be so nervous.”  The dragon tied Larry’s shoes perfectly as he sat stunned and stared, stupefied.  “Just try to show a little respect, boy.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry nodded silently and stood up.  The dragon’s hand descended on him and closed around him, lifting Larry from the cutting board.  As the dragon walked back into his den the hand flattened out, palm up, so that Larry was riding atop it, watching in awe as the ridiculously oversized home bobbed around them.  The china cabinet loomed, and suddenly was under him.  Larry was eager to avoid enraging the dragon, but at the same time, didn’t want to leave so soon.  He’d only just begun his adventure; how could he tell the guys he just left like this?

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Go on, get off.”  The dragon tilted his hand a bit, to encourage Larry to step off it.  “I need you to show me how you got in here, so I can seal up the entrance.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry reluctantly slid off the giant finger onto the top of the tower-like china cabinet, realizing that as soon as he was gone, he was gone for good.  “But what if I want to come back?”  Even Larry was surprised that he asked.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Why,” the dragon paused, but just for a moment, “you’ll have to use the front door.  If you decide you want to risk being burned alive again, and are sure you won’t soil yourself, come by again tomorrow.”  The dragon grinned his fearsome grin.  “After school, of course.  No more playing hooky, boy.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Wh… Where’s your front door?” stammered Larry, feeling ashamed.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “1009 South Wilson.  I’ll be expecting you.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You…  You mean my friend has been living across the street from a dragon all this time and didn’t know it?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I guess so.”  The dragon’s massive shoulders shrugged.  “But you can’t tell him about me.  Not a word.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “But he was here with me.  He saw you, too!  I have to tell him something.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “No.  Don’t tell him anything.  Just bring him with you tomorrow after school.  But for now, just show me how you got in so I can close it up.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 The rest went by in a blur.  Larry showed the dragon the hole in the wall he’d crawled through and then said goodbye.  The climbing and crawling and darkness between the dragon’s home and daylight had seemed much more intimidating before Larry’s conversation with a real live dragon.  By the time he reached the surface, he was just dying to tell someone about it all.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You made it out!  Finally!”  His friend helped Larry out of the storm drain that marked their initial entrance, asking, “What happened?  You’ve been gone almost an hour!  I was scared you were dead!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Too scared to come see for yourself, I guess.”  Larry brushed as much of the dirt and dust from the tunnels off him as he could.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well… You know.”  Larry’s friend gulped audibly.  “I was sure you were a goner.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Obviously I did okay on my own.  No help from you.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Look, I’ve faced my share of dragons…  I just … ”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “You what?  You just wanted to run away like a little girl, right?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Hey!  You were about to wet your pants back there, and the dragon was headed right for you!  It’s not like I have an enchanted sword in my backpack or something!  What else was I supposed to do?  I thought you would be right behind me as soon as you had the chance, but before I was too far away I heard that thing roaring!  What happened?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I’m not going to say.”  Larry turned and began walking in the direction of home.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What?”  His friend followed along close behind, “You’re not going to say?  That’s insane!  You just faced down a dragon and lived to talk about it.  You have to tell me what happened!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Nope.  Not a word.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Come on, Larry!  Give me something!  I set out here for an hour waiting for you!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Look.  After school tomorrow…”  Larry stopped in his tracks and faced his friend, then seemed to change his mind and continued walking away,  “No.  No, you don’t deserve it.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “What?  After school tomorrow, what?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Well, if you’re really nice to me, maybe I’ll tell you.  Ask me again tomorrow at two o’clock.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Uggghhh!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry and his friend went back and forth like that all afternoon.  His friend would ask him what had happened, or what he was planning, and Larry would deny him.  The next day at school, it continued in the halls between classes, and in notes as they ignored their teachers.  His friend would try to trick him into giving up some tiny detail, but Larry never fell for it, never said a word.  His friend was in agony by the time two o’clock rolled around and the final bell rang.

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Okay, it’s two.  Now will you tell me?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 Larry was already walking in the direction of his friend’s house.  “No.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “After all that, you’re not going to tell me?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I said that if you were nice I’d tell you, now what have you done that was nice?  You’ve been pestering me all day!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “I gave you my pudding at lunch!  And then I bought you an ice cream, too!”  Larry’s friend was walking backwards, just ahead of him, so that he was facing Larry as he thought of all the things he’d done.  “I let you copy my Geometry homework, and the answers on the test in History!  What else could I have done?  Carried you on my back to school?”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “That would have been pretty nice.”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “Come on, Larry!  You’re being ridiculous!  You’re a foot taller than me, and two years older!  You’d probably break my back!”

Permalink for this paragraph 0 “There’s only one way to find out, I guess.”  Larry pretended he was going to try to jump up onto his friend’s back, but his friend moved out of the way too fast for him, and darted towards his house, now just around the corner.  “You’re going the wrong way,” Larry shouted after him.