The Dragon's Game

by James Erith

  ‘Archie! Close your eyes!’

  But the hypnosis was already set.

  Say farewell, child, the snake said, its forked tongue flickering in and out of its mouth. The snake bared its long, yellow fangs millimetres from Archie’s face. One nip is all it takes to extinguish your entire world.

  Its long, sharp, bloodied teeth made to bite him, but instead of doing so, a wave, like a gigantic hiccup rolled down the beast.

  ‘WAKE UP, Arch! Wake up!’ Isabella yelled.

  Another spasm washed over the beast.

  Isabella ran at Archie trying to wrestle him away, but the tail rounded and smashed her into the wall. She groaned, motionless. Old Man Wood, creeping up on the other side, followed her, but the tail twisted round and beat him to the ground.

  As the beast opened its mouth, another spasm shuttled through the beast.

  Now it coughed then thrust its head agonizingly into the air, twisting, groaning, shuddering, trying to inspect its body.

  The spell broke.

  Archie collapsed. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked, looking up at the writhing snake in front of him.

  Old Man Wood limped forward and pulled him up and out of reach.

  Gorialla Yingarna twisted as if doused in acid, convulsing, withering.

  Together, they hobbled as fast as they could towards the stairs, Archie collecting his knives as he went.

  ‘The tablet! We can’t go without it!’ Daisy cried.

  ‘Then,’ Isabella said, ‘one of us is going to have to slit the damn thing open.’ She dabbed at a laceration on her head. ‘Leave it to me.’ But seeing blood over her hand, Isabella’s head swam and, filled with dizziness, she tripped landing prostrate on the floor.

  The beast unravelled and advanced.

  ‘Bells, MOVE!’

  Isabella shivered, too shattered, too gone.

  ‘Bells!’ Daisy yelled. ‘What are you doing?’

  Isabella summoned her reserves and hobbled, on her knees, towards the steps. As the snake sprang, its jaws shutting on the torn rags of her trousers, Archie flashed another knife between the beast’s eyes.

  Daisy pulled her away as the snake collapsed in a heap on the floor in front of them.

  Huddled on the steps, the four looked on in shock, in silence as the beast twisted and writhed, white phlegm foaming out of its mouth, its eyes conversely shut then bulging, red veins throbbing as if they might, at any moment, explode.

  ‘Top tip,’ Archie said, his breathing shallow and his heartbeat racing. ‘Don’t ever eat old people’s coats.’

  Daisy sat Isabella down and draped her good arm around her. ‘Bells. Stop shivering, hun. It’s going to be alright. You hear?’ She ran a hand over her brow, inspecting her wound. ‘It can’t hurt any of us anymore.’

  Daisy’s pale face tried to smile. ‘We’ve just got to figure out how to get the tablet out, that’s all.’

  They watched as the reptile lying in front of them decayed as if it was bathing in a bath of acid.

  Daisy leaned in, squinting. ‘As I thought,’ she said. ‘Weenie toadstools.’

  ‘Toadstools?’

  For a minute Archie wondered what Daisy was talking about, but then, little by little, multi-coloured toadstools began popped out from out of the beast’s scaly skin, covering it like a pin-cushion.

  ‘It’s nothing less than our old friend Havilarian toadstool powder,’ Daisy said, ‘I never thought I’d be happy to see that stuff again.’

  62 LEO

  The beast surveyed them with its hypnotic eyes for one last time, a voice of terrible laughter echoing in their heads. Then, a strange, green goo belched out of its body; depositing filthy embryonic material, like stinking slime, that slurped onto the floor behind it.

  The toadstools quickly multiplied, the sound of decay like water splashing in a metal basin.

  A giant, light-green and white-striped toadstool sliced itself out of the great body of the snake followed by three more, glowing and angry. They throbbed menacingly, growing fast, the beast shrivelling up before their eyes until it was little more than a flimsy sack.

  ‘How fitting’ Old Man Wood said slowly, ‘that this Prince of Darkness, should die from poison of his own making. It is the death it alone deserves.’

  As soon as the beast posed no possible further threat, they hobbled over to Gus’ body.

  For a little while, their thoughts were entirely lost as they looked at his face, still bearing his happy smile.

  ‘Gus,’ Isabella said, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘Thank you. No-one in the world ever did a braver thing.’

  ‘Hear, hear,’ Archie said. ‘And no one in the universe ever did a nobler thing either.’

  To their astonishment, Gus blinked and turned his head towards them.

  ‘GUS!’ they said.

  He swallowed, blinked for a long moment and, clearly in discomfort and with great difficulty, attempted to speak. The words struggled to form.

  They leaned in, waiting for him.

  ‘Gus. There’s no hurry, mate,’ Archie said, tears in his eyes, ‘Not now.’ He turned to his sister. ‘Bells, heal him — like you did with Old Man Wood?’

  Gus shook his head a tiny fraction. ‘Too … late,’ he croaked. ‘Goner.’ He smiled again, swallowing, closing his eyes.

  ‘No!’ Isabella cried. ‘I can; I can save you, Gus. Stay with us. Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep — understand?’ She thrust out her hands, but the energy she had used to save the others failed to materialise. ‘It’s not working,’ she cried.

  ‘Bad,’ he said. His eyes flickered down.

  Now that they looked, blood soaked his T-shirt.

  Archie knelt down and very gently prised the cotton fabric aside from the tear made by the beast. Archie stared up, his eyes wide. ‘Bad.’ He repeated, blood draining from his face. ‘Very,’ he mouthed.

  Focusing on Isabella, Gus said, ‘Tell Sue…’ he sucked in more air, ‘it … it was fun.’ He winced, the effort immense. ‘Tell her she’s … beautiful.’ He tried to smile.

  ‘Tell her … that her Leo’s waiting…’ he said, his blood-stained teeth trying to smile, his nose wrinkled in pain.

  His head remained still, but his eyes switched towards Daisy. They shut for a longer period, his breathing shallow, gurgling a little.

  Daisy could hardly bear it, swallowing, trying to hold herself together. ‘Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Gus, ‘she cried, tears rolling down her cheeks. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

  ‘No.’ He forced out. ‘Don’t … be.’ He smiled. ‘Nice … kick.’ He coughed. Blood bubbled in his mouth. ‘Fate, huh?’

  His breathing stuttered. He desperately tried to find air to funnel into his damaged body.

  He grasped Archie’s hand.

  Archie shook, his body heaving with despair. ‘You’re a bloody hero, mate,’ he said, forcing a smile.

  Gus sighed. ‘You, same,’ he breathed.

  His eyes now bore into Archie’s with a seemingly desperate look, as though, Archie thought, he was trying to tell him something.

  Archie leaned in closer.

  ‘Do it … for … Sue … promise … me?’ he croaked the final words barely above a sigh. ‘Look … after … her.’

  Archie held Gus’ hand, pulled it to his mouth and kissed it. ‘Sure, Gus,’ he said, tears streaming down his cheeks. ‘I promise.’

  Gus’ head sank back onto the cold cavern floor and as his breathing stopped and his eyes lost their light, and a death rattle made them realize that the big toothy grin had smiled for the very last time.

  A stunned, hollow silence hung in the cave.

  Isabella closed his mouth and pulled down his eyelids.

  ‘I promise you this Gus Williams. We will see you off properly, mate.’ Archie cried. As the moment of bitter truth passed, he wiped his eyes and laid Gus’ hand down on the earth.

  Seeing the tablet through the remains of the skin of the beast, Archie climbed over the slimy remains and prise
d it out, wiping the stone carefully on the remains of his jeans.

  He noted a flicker of metal by the dragon’s swollen leg. He bent down and collected the knives he’d thrown, slipping them back in the holster around his chest.

  Then, handing the tablet to Daisy, he picked up Gus and followed the others, who, arm in arm and without looking back, shuffled wearily up the stairs.

  63 WORKING IT OUT

  Out in the open, sunlight strained through wisps of low cloud threatening to break through the mist that clouded over the valley below them.

  They gulped in lungfuls of fresh air and shielded their faces from the glare. In due course they sidled over to a large flat stone by the side of the ruin where they fell, exhausted.

  Archie laid Gus’ body down, covering it with the remains of his coat.

  ‘We’ll have to leave him here, come back and sort him out when this sorry thing is done for good. I’m too exhausted to carry him an inch further.’

  Every part, from the tips of their heads to the nails on their toes, ached.

  No smiles, no cheers, no talking. Lost in private, despondent thoughts.

  ‘I don’t understand,’ Isabella said, at length. ‘How did the toadstool powder end up in the monster?’

  Archie scratched a now-soft hair-spike. ‘A sensational volley, I believe,’ he said, winking at Daisy. ‘It was in Old Man Wood’s coat,’ he said. ‘We noticed it when trying to find the Resplendix Mix healing potion when you’d knocked yourself out?’

  Even now, Daisy chuckled at the thought of it.

  ‘Talking of Resplendix Mix’, Archie said, ‘Look at my arm. It’s raked.’ Three angry red cuts ran in neat lines from his elbow-join to his wrist.

  ‘You think that’s bad?’ Daisy said. ‘Check this out.’ She removed the torn clothing around her shoulder to reveal a long, deep laceration.

  Old Man Wood sidled over and whistled. ‘Oh dear, that’s not good young’un. It’s weeping. I’m sorry, I can’t believe I didn’t bring Resplendix Mix for you. I’ll sort you out, just as soon as we get back home.’

  ‘Did you drop your coat when the animals ran off?’ Archie said, addressing the old man.

  ‘Now, then. I’d draped it over the back of one of those fabulous unicorns,’ Old Man Wood said. ‘That terrible heat. Those poor animals, how courageous they were. But even brave animals can succumb to cunning means.’

  ‘Gus must have found it on his way through the labyrinth,’ Archie said. ‘But how did he even end up in the labyrinth? I mean, we found it, but only by mistake.’

  Daisy cleared her throat. ‘Kemp and Gus fought. Kemp won. I thought Gus died, but instead, he must have fallen through the hole—’

  ‘But we’d have seen him,’ Archie said. ‘Or he’d have been trampled to death.’

  ‘Maybe he’d been hidden?’ Isabella volunteered.

  ‘Hidden?’

  ‘Maybe the beast was saving him for later?’

  They dropped the conversation and looked out over the strange wispy sky, grateful that the fog had cleared on the hilltop, sunshine threatening to break through.

  ‘Bells, you’re going to have to tell Sue,’ Daisy said. ‘Tell her everything.’

  ‘I know,’ she said forlornly, dreading it already. ‘To be honest, I think it would be better if we’re all there – give his sacrifice the gravitas it deserves.’

  Archie wanted to get off the subject. ‘I’m sorry about Gus, but not so sorry your coat was gobbled up,’ he said to Old Man Wood.

  Old Man Wood raised a hand in acknowledgement. Then, groaning loudly, he pulled himself into a sitting position. ‘Time to get on, my little heroes.’

  They helped each other up and, linking arms, shuffled on.

  Old Man Wood supported the two girls, in much the same way as he’d done when they escaped from the cave, stopping now and then for rests.

  As they went, the clouds parted, and shards of golden sunlight beamed down upon them, a kaleidoscope of colours enveloping them like a prism.

  They said nothing, drinking in the glory of the light, the beauty of the sky and the rich colours of the hill that fell away into the white cloud.

  Each one submerged in their thoughts, of coming to terms with the terrible end of Gus and Gorialla Yingarna and slowly turning their thoughts to the final task that lay ahead.

  ‘Look at that!’ Daisy said, pointing towards the cottage some way down the hill.

  They stopped to admire a rainbow that arched overhead, one end seemingly finishing smack in the middle of Old Man Wood’s vegetable garden.

  ‘Flood, followed by a rainbow, ‘Isabella said. ‘Straight out of the Bible.’

  ‘Yes, indeed,’ Old Man Wood said. ‘Mother Nature’s gifts are indeed complex and curious.’

  ‘I don’t mean to be rude Old Man Wood,’ Archie began, ‘but I’ve been meaning to ask you something.’

  ‘Ask away, littlun.’

  ‘Well, it’s a bit weird,’ he began, hesitantly. ‘But … I think you’re, you know, well, are you, like, Adam from the Creation story?’

  ‘Funny you should say that,’ Isabella said, ‘but I’ve been thinking he’s more like Noah from the flood story.’

  Old Man Wood scrunched his eyes together. ‘Hmmm. I suppose. I might, or mightn’t be,’ was all he said, unhelpfully. The furrows on his mud-encrusted forehead deepened.

  ‘He’s definitely Old Man Wood,’ Daisy added. ‘That’s the most important thing.’

  Old Man Wood stopped and sat down on a fallen tree branch. He eyed each one of them slowly and smiled. ‘Well, if you must know, the thing is, the Noah story has always been a genuine mistake. You see, I was on this great big boat with a huge storm brewing, and some strange-looking man kept on yelling at me if I was someone or other, and so I screamed back, “NO! – Ah, I’m afraid I can’t hear you.” And of course, the man didn’t hear and, as the story was passed down, I ended up being called No-ah – though of course, the language was different. And then this daft man drew up a family tree with No-ah in it. Madness the lot of it. And that wasn’t even the REAL flood.’

  His laugh boomed out over the quiet valley where, for the first time in ages, high, excited twitters of birdsong registered in their ears.

  They walked on aware of little animal faces running into the path and looking at them before scurrying off.

  For the stunned children, the penny had finally dropped that this blundering, loving, caring, great, great Grandfather many, many times over, or so he claimed, was beyond extraordinary, beyond the comprehension of both the ancient and the mystical.

  And, what’s more, he possessed a magic branchwand from the original Tree of Knowledge that was contained in an ear-stud.

  The difference was that this time, however crazy his stories, they absolutely believed him.

  64 SOLOMON’S WARNING

  ‘Hull-oo!’

  They stopped in their tracks and peered through the dim, white cloud that surrounded them.

  ‘Archie! Is that you?’ the voice said.

  ‘Er, yes,’ Archie replied. The children and Old Man Wood turned to one another, a look of confusion on their faces.

  ‘Archie, Daisy, Isabella?’

  ‘It’s Solomon,’ Daisy whispered.

  Solomon heaved himself over a fallen bough and hurried over.

  ‘Goodness, gracious me! You did it; you came out!’ he exclaimed, recoiling at the sight of them. ‘By all the Gods, you need urgent attention – all of you. Can I offer a shoulder – or two? I’m afraid there is no other alternative.’ They rearranged themselves so that Old Man Wood supported Daisy, while the other two spread their arms around the headmaster’s shoulders.

  As they slowly found a rhythm, Solomon continued. ‘I’m not sure you’re in a fit state to talk, so let me do that,’ he began. ‘We’ve been beside ourselves with worry, but I’m afraid you’re not out of the woods yet. Let me describe what’s been going on. Our not-so-friendly Commissioner has gone a little, how do you
say, AWOL.’

  Archie glanced up. ‘What?’

  ‘Absent-With-Out-Leave, dear boy,’ Solomon said. ‘I’ve been picking up the lingo from the soldiers. Stone’s got it into his head that he has to stop you – and stop you at any cost. When I heard gunshots and his appalling manner on the radio, the soldiers and I concluded that he may have already put a bullet in a couple of his men. Luckily, I managed to persuade Dickinson that you need protecting – not detaining – and he’s gone on ahead with his men to intercept him.’

  They stepped over a broken branch, Solomon busily helping each one. ‘Stone’s plan is to burn the cottage to the ground so that you come running out. He doesn’t even realise you’re not there.’

  ‘The cottage! What about Mrs Pye?’ Archie said.

  ‘Yes. Mrs Pye as well,’ he said. ‘He’s taken hold of a flamethrower. Wretched, beastly thing — I’m don’t think I’ve ever witnessed such a destructive and unpleasant implement of war.’

  ‘The other tablets are in the cottage,’ Archie said, an edge of panic in his voice.

  ‘Well then, let’s hope Dickinson sticks to his word and gets that man out of the way before he manages to wreak havoc.’

  ‘Sir, Have you seen Sue?’ Isabella asked.

  ‘Sue? No, I’m afraid she fell rather early on. We were separated. We planned to get closer to the ruin,’ Solomon said. ‘But I haven’t heard from her since, and I’m quite sure none of Stone’s units stumbled into her. I guess that she returned to the cottage.’

  Shortly, Solomon couldn’t contain the question any longer and asked. ‘I take it were you successful in sourcing the tablet?’

  ‘We wouldn’t be here if we weren’t,’ Isabella said, wincing. ‘But, I’m afraid to say, it came at a great price.’

  ‘I can see that by the astonishing mess you’re in,’ he said, looking at their injuries. ‘We’ll get you patched up as soon as we get things straightened out with Stone.’

  ‘Actually, I’m not talking about us. You see, Gus Williams showed up.’ she said. ‘Gus saved us. In fact, it’s probably more accurate to say that Gus single-handedly saved the planet.’