Falling Through Portals

Dragon and Rider

Chapter 6

His head was the first thing to slam into the rock hard ground.

Momentarily blinded by stars, Percy rolled onto his side and groaned. He needed to get better at landing. He massaged his temples with his hands.

Percy opened his eyes and frowned. Sitting straight up, Percy's mouth hung open.

"What the-"

Percy stood and turned around in a circle. Pressing his hand against his head, Percy sucked in a breath.

He stood in the middle of a bright green meadow that was encircled by what looked like the walls of the inside of a volcano. As he gaped at it all people began coming towards him. But some of them were the size of dwarves. Upon further reflection, he realized most of them were that size.

"I think I might have hit my head a little too hard," Percy muttered to himself.

As they got closer he saw that most of these little people had long hair and beards, some were wearing metal armor and others in normal clothes. Normal was relative, they were wearing medieval clothes, so at least he fit in the time period.

Percy looked down to see a familiar brown bag at his feet. Reaching down he picked it up and looked inside.

"No way," Percy took out his orange camp shirt from inside. He looked up into the sky as if the portal could reopen and tell him how his things got there. Percy knew that he didn't grab the bag, so how did it get there?

"By the Insider Mithrim!" a throaty voiced man called to him, "What was that!" Percy looked over at the group of people. What did he just say?

"Sorry!" Percy shouted, "I uh . . . didn't mean to fall out of nowhere . . ."

Something about the little people made Percy think that they weren't just "little people," they were actual, live dwarves. Most of them were only four feet tall. A group of at least twenty of them plus some regular sized people gathered around him in a circle.

"Who are you?" One of them demanded. Percy turned to face the one that was talking.

"My name is Percy Jackson," Percy wasn't sure what to do.

Before the dwarf could answer there was a deafening roar that sounded above them.

Percy shrank and stumbled backwards as they looked up into the sky. The noise sent shivers down his spine and gave him the distinct impression to run as far away as he could. But the dwarves around him were smiling and gazing up at the clouds. After shielding his eyes he finally spotted what had made that noise.

High above, near the hole of the volcano thing, he spotted it. A huge creature with wings. The sun glittered off its back and reflected in a deep sapphire color. The sun shone through the membrane of the wings to be blue.

His heart raced and all of his muscles tensed. Percy reached feebly for his pocket to get Riptide, but didn't make it much farther. The creature dove straight towards him.

Percy screamed as the creature opened its maw and a jet of flame exploded in the air above him. Percy fell to his knees. The air became so hot Percy was sweating. Suddenly the creature dove to the side and landed next to them on the grass.

His whole body was shaking as he took in the creature. Lizard like body, wings, breaths fire, and covered in scales? It was a Dragon.

Percy was about ready to pass out.

He had faced dragons before but none where this majestic and . . . beautiful...

His heart was pounding in his chest as he watched the dragon. Some of the dwarves started walking towards the dragon, completely undaunted by the pyrotechnics display moments ago. Percy was examining the dragon and realized there was something on the dragon's back.