Alex Bell - Fighting with fire

Lex was utterly horrified. Not only was Jeremiah going to kill the dragon but he was going to win the Game, as well. It was the most awful worst-case scenario imaginable. The scene seemed to slide down into slow motion as Lex sought desperately for a way out of what was about to become a complete disaster. Then, suddenly, a plan came into his mind. A desperate, last-measure plan.

Lex swung his bag off his back and reached inside to get the Sword of Life. He would pierce the dragon’s skin with the blue blade, thereby giving back all the life stored within it. This would make Jeremiah think he’d lost, and would hopefully give the dragon enough strength to fly out of the mine, taking Lex and Jesse with it. There was no time to think about the fact that he would be giving years of life away to a dragon, rather than keeping them for himself.

Lex dropped the glow-canary and pulled the sword out of his bag. This caused one of the smoked trout to fall out on to the floor with a wet-sounding slap. There was no way the dragon could possibly have heard that sound. And yet, one moment it was thundering towards Jeremiah? who now looked quite pale with fear but was drawing back his sword regardless? and the next the dragon spun round on the spot as fast as its huge bulk would allow, an eager look in its almost-blind eyes. It turned back at the same time that Lex threw the sword, blue blade first.

It shot through the air, straight and fast, and buried itself in the dragon’s heart. Lex had never felt so awful or guilt-ridden in his life as he did when the dragon crumpled to the ground with a grunt. Jeremiah threw his own sword down in a rage, clearly believing that Lex had just succeeded in slaying the dragon. For a long, horrible moment, Lex thought so, too. Perhaps that wasn’t the real Sword of Life at all, but a mere replica. Perhaps he had just killed the dragon for real.

But then, slowly, its scales started to change colour. From pale grey, they deepened into an emerald green? all except a single stripe running down the dragon’s back, which remained grey. The three humans stared as the dragon stirred. It got back to its feet, shook itself once, and then lumbered on towards the smoked trout as if nothing had ever happened. It didn’t even seem to feel anything when Lex pulled the sword from its chest? and there was no wound left behind. The green scales just closed up over it. Meanwhile, the dragon gobbled up the trout will all the enthusiasm and excitement as if it had been the most delicious thing it’d ever tasted. Then it pranced about in front of Lex with all its new strength and vigour. Its eyes had lost their white sheen and were now a vibrant amber.

‘You idiot!’ Jeremiah crowed smugly. ‘You stabbed it with the wrong blade!’

‘No,’ Lex replied, ‘I didn’t.’

‘The challenge of this round is to kill it, not give it back more life!’

Sword in hand once again, Jeremiah was striding back towards the dragon with a purposeful air Lex didn’t like the look of one bit. He and Jesse both stepped in front of the dragon? not that that made much difference, for the beast was far too big to be shielded by humans? but the gesture was startling enough that it temporarily stopped Jeremiah in his tracks, just the same.

‘Get out of the way!’ the nobleman said. ‘That thing’s a killing machine. It’ll have both your fool heads off in a minute!’

‘Oh, don’t be such a galloping twit!’ Lex snapped. ‘Can’t you see it’s tame? It probably never hurt a human in its life!’

Even now that it was no longer old and drooling, the dragon did look quite absurdly friendly. Especially now that it was nuzzling the back of Lex’s head with its snout. Not to be deterred, however, Jeremiah said, ‘What about all those mining deaths, then? They closed the mine down and left all that gold here just because they felt like it, did they?’

‘No, it was the fire-bunnies.’

‘Fire what? What the heck are you talking about?’

Lex stared at him. ‘Surely you’ve seen them? This mine is full of hundreds and hundreds of fire-breathing rabbits!’

‘Oh, that’s rich, even for you!’ Jeremiah sneered. ‘Surely you can’t expect me to fall for that! Just how stupid do you think I am? Fire-breathing rabbits! I never heard anything so ridiculous in all my life! You’re making it up to throw me off my guard, and then you’re going to slay that dragon yourself and win the Game!’

Lex glared at him. ‘If I was going to make something up, believe me, I would come up with something much more convincing than fire-bunnies! They’re far too ludicrous to be made up! I’m telling the truth! Just look at my burnt trousers!’

‘Nothing you say is going to convince me,’ Jeremiah said firmly. ‘Now, stand aside or risk getting your head chopped off!’

Then the idiot drew back his sword arm and prepared to throw…

But then there was a familiar rumbling sound. Lex and Jesse exchanged a horrified look, whilst Jeremiah stood staring around stupidly.

‘What’s that noise?’ he asked.

‘The bunnies are coming,’ Lex replied.

From the sound of it, there were even more of them this time than there had been last time. Their stampede was causing bits of dust and gravel to fall from the walls and the ceiling, and the water of the lake to ripple. There were only two entrances into the cavern. Lex had entered through one, Jeremiah through the other. At almost the exact same moment, hordes of ferocious fire-bunnies poured in from both entrances. Their eyes were angry, red and bloodshot; they were slavering from the mouth and blowing fire through their nostrils. Jeremiah screamed and Lex couldn’t blame him. That was not the way bunnies were supposed to look at all.

They were surrounded. Trapped. There was no way out of the cavern with still more bunnies pouring in from both entrances towards them where they stood in the centre of the room.

Presumably, the dragon was safe from the rabbits. After all, they’d had more than a hundred years to eat it and hadn’t done so. Possibly they could not bite through its scales. But, unless they got out of this room, and quickly too, the three humans were all going to be eaten alive.

Lex looked at the dragon and the bunnies and the ceiling? his mind working faster than it had ever worked before. And? suddenly? he knew what he had to do.

‘On to the dragon!’ he shouted. ‘Now!’

Then he grabbed his bag and the glow-canary, turned on the spot, and dragged himself up on to the dragon’s back, gripping scales the size of dinner plates to climb the animal like he would a rock wall. He sat down right behind the dragon’s neck. Jesse quickly followed and so did Jeremiah. The dragon seemed quite happy to have the three humans sitting on its back and, indeed, the beast was so large that it probably didn’t even feel their weight. But that alone did not make them safe. Already, the rabbits were swarming towards them and, once they reached the dragon, there was nothing to stop them from climbing up it after their prey, just as the humans had done. There must have been close to a thousand fire-bunnies in the room by now but, clearly lacking a single aggressive bone in its body, the dragon seemed quite unconcerned by all the rabbits swarming towards it, and it was quite clear that it wasn’t even thinking of attacking them. Which meant they had to try to escape. But getting a dragon to fly upwards is not as easy as getting a horse to trot forwards, as Jeremiah was already finding out. Sitting at the back, clinging on to Jesse, the nobleman was shrieking, ‘Fly, you stupid beast, fly!’

Which, unsurprisingly, had no effect on the dragon whatsoever. But Lex knew something that would. He opened his bag and fumbled desperately for the last remaining trout, as well as the fishing rod he had spotted in there earlier. Finally, he got them both. The rabbits were climbing up the dragon as Lex hooked the fish on the end of the line and then threw it up into the air as far as he could.