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Chapter 12

Nothin to see here

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"You idiot I told you to be quiet!" Angie spat. "Here's the plan. I'll tie him up and then we'll make a run for it. Towards the sunset - just keep going straight."

As she spoke the rustling came closer. Then I felt hot breath on my neck.

"On...three," Angie mumbled. "One...two..."

There was a huge roar and I scrambled away, feeling the heat of the flames as they disentigrated the small hollow where I'd been a minute ago, and hopefully not where Angie was now.

"Three!" she screamed.

I whipped around to see vines shooting up from the ground, Angie running, or should I say tripping, backwards through ferns, waving her arms like a madwoman. Her bow was nowhere to be seen and half her cloak seemed to have been burned up.

The monster roared, spreading its wings and breaking through the thin green ropes Angie was summoning as they snaked around its legs. It leaped over the log and marched powerfully towards Angie.

Time seemed to slow down. I scanned the forest floor and laid eyes on the bow, which was between me and the dragon. I sprinted forwards, almost in slow motion, and snatched up the weapon. Luckily the arrow was still holding tightly onto the string; I wouldn't have been able to put it on in time.

I raised the bow, positioning myself close to the ground, and pointing the end of the arrow at the beast that was almost on top of Angie. "Duck!" I screamed.

She whipped around and dropped to the ground before the arrow shredded the air where she'd been half a second earlier. She rolled under a bush as the dragon looked up at me and got speared right between the eyes.

The shrieking was like nails on a blackboard. Or, should I say, it was a pterodactyl screech, spewing tongues of fire into the air with the sound. I let go of the bow and clamped my hands over my ears, dropping to one knee.

The dragon clawed at the narrow shaft, splintering the thin piece of wood and causing shards to jut out of his face. He screamed again, stumbling to the ground and crushing a small cluster of dogwood trees.

Angie slowly stood, keeping her eyes on the still reptile. She took careful steps towards it, hands up and ready. "I think you killed it." She picked up a huge rock bigger than I could even dream of holding and tossed it at the monster. It rolled into it, but there was no movement.

I picked up the bow and quiver that was not far away, carried it over to Angie with shaking hands. "Here's your bow."

She smiled. "Your skill for a bow hasn't changed, I see."

I shrugged. "My dad's all about that stuff. You know, weapons and martial arts."

She nodded. "Good to know. You're gonna need it here. Glad we won't have to take the extra time to retrain you in that category." She glanced towards where the sky was turning a deep orange color. "Dang, it's later than I thought. Let's get a move on. Oh, and thanks."

I laughed shakily. "Yeah, anytime. Glad I could help."