When Your Novel Strikes Back

by Heather Lawson

  Chapter the Eleventh – Party in the Dragon’s Den

  “Wow!” Ally said what everyone else was thinking.

  They were looking at a large cavern where four large dragons were resting atop four tall, flat platforms. They appeared to be napping. The knights slipped past the group and surrounded the dragons, drawing their swords as they did so. The group watched them as they silently lifted their weapons and then drove them into whichever part of the dragons they were closest to.

  “OW!”

  The dragon’s shouts echoed loudly all around them. One of them was screaming so loudly it was deafening.

  “Wait! Stop!” Ayesha shouted, holding out her hands and trying to get the knights to stop attacking.

  After a few moments, Ayesha succeeded and the knights stepped away from the dragons. A loud weeping could be heard now.

  “Are they… crying?” Ally asked, looking up at the beast.

  “Well you would cry too if someone had just stabbed you in several places!” the dragon closest to her snapped back.

  The dragon that had spoken was a rather tall and thin one, whitish gold in colour. It glanced down at them with utter distaste in its eyes.

  “What is the meaning of this?” it demanded.

  They could tell it was a female dragon, even though its voice was harsh and brutish.

  “We had nothing to do with this, it was all them,” Dan said, pointing to the knights.

  “They killed Duncan!” the dark grey dragon on one of the middle platforms wailed. “Duncan!”

  “Calm down Peter,” the pale grey dragon next to Duncan said, patting Peter gingerly on the back.

  “Why should he calm down Theo? He’s got every right to be upset about Duncan!” the female dragon snapped at the pale grey dragon.

  “Will you please stop snapping at everyone Deborah?!” Theo snapped back, little flames escaping from his mouth.

  “Hmph!” Deborah replied, turning her back on everyone.

  “Am I the only one who is completely confused by what’s going on?” Heather asked.

  “No, I am too,” Ally admitted.

  “Why don’t you just leave us alone? We haven’t done anything to you!” Peter shouted to the knights.

  “It’s the age old battle between knights and dragons!” one of the knights shouted back. “We must defeat you!”

  “Why can’t you just live in peace together?” Ayesha interrupted them.

  Both the dragons and the guards had had their mouths open, ready to shout back retorts to each other when Ayesha spoke, they turned to face her, mouths still open.

  “Uhh…”

  “Umm…”

  “Exactly, now everyone get along,” Ayesha said, folding her arms and nodding firmly, as though this solved the problem.

  “Everyone shake hands… and claws,” Heather said. “Do it.”

  Ally, Heather and Ayesha all watched as the dragons and knights shook hands, albeit rather reluctantly.

  “Good! Now everyone’s on the same page, no more fighting,” Ally said.

  “Hey!” one of the knights shouted.

  “What’s wrong?” Heather asked, turning to face the knight.

  He was rubbing his arm and glaring at the dragon named Deborah.

  “She poked me with her claw!”

  “I did no such thing!”

  “Yes she did, I saw her,” another knight chipped in.

  “You liar!”

  Heather hit her palm against her forehead, looking exasperatedly at Ayesha and Ally. They mimicked her action and then moved amongst the crowd of angry knights, trying to calm everyone down.

  “There is no way we will ever get along with these creatures!” the lead knight shouted. “We are leaving but we shall return and smite these unsightly beasts.”

  The knights turned on their heels and marched back out of the dragon’s den. Dan, Ayesha, Heather and Ally turned back to the dragons, who were settling back down on their platforms.

  “Wait, are you just going to wait for them to come back and attack you again?” Ayesha asked, stepping closer to the dragons.

  “It’s what we’ve always done,” Theo stated, resting his head on the platform. “It’s tradition.”

  “Well, why don’t we break tradition?” Heather said, stepping forward. “The King is holding two of our friends hostage and he won’t let them go unless you all die.”

  “Seems like you’re in a bit of a pickle then,” Peter said.

  “The thing is, we don’t want you to die,” Ally said. “We think you’re marvellous creatures.”

  “Really?” Deborah asked, perking up a little bit.

  “Really,” Ally said. “Will you help us get our friends back if we promise to help you get rid of the knights?”

  “That sounds like a good deal to me!” Theo said, standing up again. “Let’s do it!”

  “Alright then, here’s the plan,” Heather said, beckoning them all closer to her. “We’ll sneak into the castle, scare the knights and the King into leaving and then we’ll take our friends and go somewhere new.”

  “That sounds like a delightful plan,” Theo said.

  “Do we get to eat anyone?” Deborah asked.

  The others looked at her, raising an eyebrow as they did so.

  “What? I am a dragon after all.”

  “No, no eating anyone,” Heather said.

  “Unless they stab you again,” Ayesha pitched in. “Then feel free.”

  “Oh goody!” Deborah beamed.

  “Ayesha!” Heather turned to face her.

  “What? It’s only fair.”

  “How’d you work that out?”

  “The knights killed Duncan.”

  The group turned to look at the navy blue dragon that was still slumped lifelessly over its platform.

  “Duncan!” Peter wailed again.

  “Oh, now see what you’ve done,” Deborah tutted, rolling her eyes at Peter.

  “Give the guy a break, they used to play cards together every Sunday,” Theo said, patting Peter’s shoulder again.

  “This is getting too weird for me now,” Heather said. “And that’s saying a lot considering all the things we’ve seen in the past two days.”

  “Why don’t we just head to the castle now?” Ally suggested.

  “Sounds like a good idea,” Heather agreed. “How are we going to do this?”

  “You can ride us,” Theo said. “We’ll crash through the roof of the throne room, it’ll be fun!”

  “We get to ride dragons?” Ayesha said, beaming. “Guys, I officially love our novel.”

  Heather and Ally just laughed and climbed onto Theo. Ayesha climbed onto Deborah and Dan climbed onto Peter, who was still crying silently to himself.

  “To the castle?” Heather said, looking around.

  “To the castle!” Everyone shouted back.