Dragons & Mermaids

Chapter IV

We met at the water hole around ten. Sarah had a stop watch with her and was timing Ashley, who was under water, holding her breath in her mermaid form.

“Boring.” Tyler said.

“Ya bring ya PSP?” I asked.

“No.” he answered.

“That stinks for you, bro.” Fred said, chuckling.

            Ashley popped her head up out of the water.

“How long?” she asked. She was wearing the clip I gave her last night. Sarah hit her stop watch and said.

“Thirty minutes.” she reported.

“I can hold my breath for half an hour?” she asked.

“Either that or you can breathe under water.” I said.

            I was leaning against the lone tree at the hole and had my arms crossed across my chest.

“Oh, darn. I wanted to drown you and now I can't.” Kayla said.

            We all laughed at her, because we knew that Kayla was joking.

“Oh, you bullies.” she said.

“Well there's nothing, nuuuaaathing to do.” Fred said.

“So where's Adam again?” Kayla asked.

“In bed, he was out cold when we came to his house. Sleeping like a baby.” Lamar said.

“Well, he did chug a lot of lugs last night.” Ashley said, waving her tail, gracefully above her head. I guess she was trying to act like a real mermaid.

“Don't you gotta get the hang of the tail?” I asked.

“Yes, Dad.” she said, going under water again.

            I was serious today. My dragon contacted me last night and said that his hunting activities were drawing the attention of the kingdom game hunters. They found a buck skeleton mauled in the forest and brought it to the King. They thought it be some kind of vicious monster and went out hunting for it. They wouldn't find him. I looked up in the sky and saw his figure in the sky, high enough to be mistaken for a hawk or eagle, but my main concern was finding another food source for him while the deer population could rebuild and the hunters would leave the forest which served as his hiding place. The King had a fifty thousand gold piece reward for the hunter who brought him the head of the beast. “I wonder what the skeletal structure looks like.” Liana said.

“Sure, I'll get an X-ray machine and have her in her mermaid form to see the skeleton of a mermaid or we'll cut her open and observe it.” I said.