Adventures in Curse Breaking: Dragon Treasure

Search and Rescue

Sarah sat up with a pounding heart as Bill moved to wake the other girls. Across from her lay the boys' empty sleeping bags.

Sarah hurried to get dressed as Penny rubbed at her eyes and Merula whined and burrowed down into her sleeping bag.

"Do you know where they went?" Penny asked.

"No idea," muttered Bill, as he tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for the others. "They were both gone when I woke up."

After she'd dressed, Sarah pulled the dragon armor out of her bag that Rakepick had given her and buckled it on. Bill eyed it distastefully. Sarah also hadn't liked the idea of using anything associated with Rakepick, but the armor was specifically designed to protect against dragons. It'd be stupid not to wear it. She just wished she had some for the others. 

"You don't think they got into a fight, do you?" asked Penny. She gave Sarah a worried glance. 

"What, over Spellman?" scoffed Merula. She finally got out of her sleeping bag, her hair even more disheveled than usual. "Please. She's not worth it."

"If they've gone off looking for the egg by themselves, I'll kill them," Bill muttered. "Now, hurry up! We've got to find them before something scaly does."

Sarah pulled her hair into a high ponytail as she followed Bill out of the tent, Penny and Merula trailing after them. 

They congregated around the remains of last night's campfire, staring at the enormous plains helplessly, a few dragons perched on the nearby cliffs leading up to the mountains. 

"Should we...split up?" asked Penny. 

"No, under no circumstances," said Bill. "I'm not losing any of the rest of you." He glanced about the vast area desperately. "Charlie!"

Sarah pulled his arm. "Don't yell." She gestured toward the nearby dragons, watching them curiously. "We don't want to do anything to irritate them."

Still, a moment later, she called, "Barnaby!"

"Here." A minute later, they spotted him climbing up the hill. Sarah had to resist the urge to run to him. She didn't want to look like scampering prey in the eyes of that nearby Longhorn. She also didn't know if she wanted to hug him or hit him for wandering off. 

"Where've you been?" asked Bill. "Where's Charlie?"

"Dunno," said Barnaby. "When I woke up, he was gone. I figured he went on a walk or something, so I went to go look for him."

"Don't do that!" said Penny. She sounded as if this was the first breath she'd let out since they'd left the tent. "You could have been scooped up by a dragon for all we knew."

"I didn't go far."

"Just don't wander off again," said Bill. "Now listen, everyone. We've got to find Charlie. Now. Which direction is he most likely to have taken?"

"Well, presumably, the dozy git decided to go after the egg himself just because he knows a thing or two about these ugly beasts," said Merula. 

"If that were true," Sarah muttered, "he'd probably start off with the least aggressive dragons, hoping he wouldn't have to face the stronger ones alone." Still, she could hardly believe Charlie had wandered off willingly. Surely he knew how dangerous that would be. 

"So, the Welsh Greens?" said Barnaby. 

Sarah nodded. "There's a group of three or four of them down that way," she said, pointing to the East.

"Right. Come on, then," said Bill, setting his face determinedly as he led them down the hill. 

Before long, they found a mother Welsh Green guarding her nest. She batted her wings threateningly if they got too close, but she didn't seem eager to leave her eggs. Careful not to make any sudden moves, they searched the area, but found no sign of Charlie. 

"Guess we better move onto the next nest," said Bill. 

"What about the egg?" asked Barnaby. "Should we check this girl's nest?"

"The egg's not important right now," said Bill. "All we need to worry about is finding Charlie."

"We'll never find him at this rate," said Merula. 

"If only we had some way to get in touch with him," said Penny. 

"Hang on," said Barnaby. "Did you hear that?"

They all listened. After a moment, Sarah thought she heard the faint sound of someone crying out.

"Charlie." Bill led them toward the sound, moving as quickly as he dared without provoking any dragons. 

They came to the edge of a large chasm. Over a hundred yards across, the other side of the chasm looked down at them. there was a hole in the gray wall of the chasm, large enough to be a dragon's lair. 

"Help!" It was definitely Charlie's voice calling from inside the cave. 

"We're coming!" Bill called. He looked around wildly for a way to cross the chasm. 

"There," said Merula, pointing to another cliff on the right side of the chasm. There was a protrusion in the rock's face, forming a sort of walkway that looked as if it led all the way to the other side. 

They made their way over to it. The nature-made walkway was barely wide enough for them to walk single-file. They made their way along it slowly, refusing to look down at the chasm below. At times, the walkway was so thin, they had to turn sideways and inch along with their backs against the chasm wall. Once, Penny's foot slipped. Barnaby had to grab her by the shoulder and push her against the wall to prevent her from falling. 

Finally, the passage began to broaden as it curved toward the far side. When it was wide enough for them all to stand together comfortably, the became bathed in dark, gray clouds and couldn't see. 

"Ugh," said Penny. "Where'd all this fog come from?"

"This isn't fog," said Merula. For once, her voice held no trace of sarcasm. "It's smoke."

Sarah waved her wand, causing the smoke to vanish. In it's absence, they could now see the dragon standing before them.

It stood nearly fifty feet tall, with blackish-brown scales and eyes of bright orange that rolled in its rage. Smoke fumed out of it's nostrils, not entirely hiding it's six-inch long teeth. 

"Norwegian Rideback," said Sarah and Barnaby together.