Mythics: the search for Avia

Chapter 12: The belly of the beast

A long 30 minutes later Scarlett, Jack, Lucas, Alex, James and Zack stood in front of a yawning cavern, the entrance to the tunnels.
"Where's the dragon?" Asked Lucas.
"In there." Scarlett pointed to the pitch black opening. As she did so, a rumbling sound, almost like a giant breathing, came from the cave.
"..." they stood there for a moment, not wanting to face the beast but then Scarlett took a step forward, "Come on guys. Let's go."
As they stepped inside it was fairly dark and Scarlett had to pull out some glowing dust to light the way.

A few feet in they heard a scream.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh what the heck was that?!!!"
Shrieked Alex.
"Shhhh!" Scarlett shushed him, "the dragon will hear you!"
More grumbling came from deeper within the cave and everyone paused until it settled again.
"What's the matter?" Asked Jack.
"Something touched me!" Said Alex in a panicked whisper.
"What was it?"
"I don't knoooowwwww!" He whined. "It felt all squishy and slimy!" He made a yuck face in the dim light they had.
"Oh my gosh!" Screamed Lucas. "I just felt it toooo!"
Feeling uneasy, the friends made a circle, back to back, trying to identify the source.
"Over there!" Exclaimed Jack pointing and Scarlett held the handful of glowing dust near where he pointed. The sudden light revealed a small green lizard like creature that looked like goo with eyeballs.
"Pascal?" Said Scarlett and the small lizard blinked at her and crawled closer.
"You know this thing?" Questioned Jack, incredulous. Scarlett nodded to him and turned back to Pascal.
"What are you doing down here? Do you want a ride?" Scarlett asked, extending her free hand towards the creature.
"Don't do that it might bite you!" Alex protested.
"What, are you scared?" Scarlett teased him and he turned red.
"N-no..."
Pascal took the extended hand as a gesture of apology for dismissing him previously and crawled up Scarlett's arm to sit on her shoulder.
"Can you help us? We have to get past the dragon that is in these tunnels." Scarlett asked.
"Why are you asking the lizard?" Scoffed James and Scarlett glared icy daggers at him. Wisely, the boys backed off.
Pascal nodded at Scarlett's question, leaned his head forward and they continued.

A bit farther in the group stopped again.
"Time for a break y'all." Said Scarlett, passing out small bags with snacks in them that she had packed earlier.
"Sweet! Snack time!" Lucas said sitting against a nearby stalagmite.
"Here." Scarlett tossed a vial towards Jack and he caught it with lightning quick reflexes.
"What's this?" He asked, sniffing it.
"Just trust me." Scarlett told him and winked.
He uncorked it and down the reddish liquid.
"Thanks." Jack said.
"Yeah, thanks for the snacks!" Piped up Alex.
"Don't mention it." Smiled Scarlett.

While finishing up their small meal, James went to sit down on a nearby rock. It moved.
"What the-?!" He shouted in surprise.
As he watched it moved away towards an even bigger rock... which was moving as well.
"Guuyyyys?!" James called.
"What is it?" Zack asked.
"Um, that rock moved..."
As the group watched the rock started moving again. It rose to an incredible height and two blazing yellow eyes appeared in the center.
"I-I think we found the dragon..." Lucas sounded faint.
"Alright guys," Scarlett summoned her scythe, "Get ready for a fight."

"Oh boy." Said Alex and leapt out of the way as a huge black tail flew towards him, smashing rocks everywhere.
The dragon was barely able to clear the large cave ceiling and it was pitch black with yellow eyes.
He changed to his wolf form to dodge another tail attack while dust gathered in his thick fur.
"Cover me!" Scarlett yelled to Jack as James flew her up to where the dragons face was. Jack unsheathed his sword and started hacking away at the dragons feet, earning him its attention. Scarlett pulled the bag of sleep powder Grandmother Tina had given her and prepared to throw it into the dragons face.
At that moment, the dragon roared causing Scarlett to drop the powder bag and James to drop a couple feet out of the air.
"We need that bag!" Shouted Scarlett as it dropped out of view. As the bag fell, Alex ran forward and jumped up, catching the bag in his jaws.
"Good catch!" Scarlett exclaimed as she and James landed. She patted Alex on the head and took the bag from him.
"Now what do we do?" Asked Zack.
"Hmm..." Scarlett thought hard. She looked over to where Jack as still distracting the black beast. "Ok! I've got an idea!"

"Here dragon dragon dragon!" Called Lucas waving his arms. Scarlett's plan was good, to lure the dragon to a spot where it was too big to fit and get it stuck, then put it to sleep with the powder.
The winged lizard took Lucas's bait and quickly followed him. "Crap crap crap crap!" Shouted Lucas as he ran, the dragon right behind him.
The others were waiting for him at the cave's bottleneck where the dragon would get stuck.
He could feel the dragons hot breath and a horrible thought flashed through his mind, "I'm not fast enough."
"No, you can do it, Lucas!" He silently urged himself and transformed to his lamia form. It was much faster and he found himself having to wait for the dragon to follow through all the stalagmites and stalactites.
"You can't catch me now!" Lucas smiled to himself and slithered to the meeting place.

"I think I hear him." Said Alex who was back in human form.
"Ok, get ready guys." Scarlett signaled Jack and James who were waiting to attack if anything went off plan; Zack and Pascal were waiting in safety behind another stalagmite.
The pounding of the dragons footsteps were heard before they saw anything but sure enough, a moment later they turned the corner, the black beast hot on Lucas's tail...literally.
"Grrraaaaaoooooorrrr!" The dragons roar pierced the air as it got stuck in the small opening.
"Now!" Screamed Scarlett and she shot forward, exploding the whole bag of powder in the dragons face.
"Graarrrrr......" the dragons roar turned softer as it drifted away into a deep sleep.
"How long will that last?" Asked Zack.
"A couple days or so." Scarlett answered him.
"Wow, that must be some strong stuff." Remarked Zack and Scarlett nodded in reply.
"So which way should we go?"
"I'd say deeper in till we find an entering point to the castle." Answered Scarlett. "Also Pascal can help navigate." The green lizard hopped up to Scarlett's shoulder again and they continued even deeper into the caves.