Thanks to Livinginfantasy and zankoku_na_tenshi for reviewing Clover's Curse and not getting annoyed with my pestering messeges.
A reminder, just in case you've read my previous chapters and have forgotten anything: Clover is running from a mob leader named Brutus who wants to kill him.
Also, I feel like I wrote this chapter in a bit of a rush, which is why I'm not very happy with it. If you could give me some tips on how to make it better, that would be greatly appreciated. I'll review anything you'd like me to if you review this chapter for me. Even if this is the first chapter you've read of Clover's Curse, editing help is strongly desired. Thanks.
Inspirational Songs: Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns and Roses, Welcome to the Jungle by Guns and Roses and Feels Like the First Time by Foreigner.
Chapter Five: Into the Dragon's Den...Literally.
It was around noon that I finally made it out of the woods and was walking the Niveous Mountain Pass. Hiking through the Oakwood Forest and then trudging along the mountain pass made my legs sore. It was the most exercise I’d gotten in my life. My feet hurt, but I kept going because I wanted to get to the stupid cave before dark. The trail I was walking on wound all the way around the mountain, and supposedly I was going to find the giant cave soon, or so Dewey said.
I couldn’t deny that it was beautiful up here. I was walking high up over the trees, and the dense forest stretched out for what seemed like miles and miles. I could see that Shelton was a just little cluster of houses plopped in the middle of a tiny clearing in the seemingly never ending green canvas of trees. I was amazed at how oblivious the townspeople seemed to be of what a miniscule place they lived in. I also couldn’t believe that I’d been so ignorant of the fact that there was life outside Shelton. Meeting that brat, Ivory, proved it. She had to come from somewhere, but where? I knew she wasn’t from town because everyone knew each other there, and I’d never heard of her.
I scanned the range of trees as I walked, but I couldn’t find anything but the tiny speck that was Shelton in the endless forest. Finally, my eyes spotted another little clearing in the distance. It was way farther than Shelton, and way farther than the mountain. I couldn’t tell, but it looked like a ranch or something. A farm, maybe? Could that be where Ivory came from?
And then I was pissed off at myself for caring. Why should it matter to me where the nit-wit was from? I tightened the pack on my shoulders and continued along the pass.
As time passed on, I got more and more ticked off. Not at Ivory or even her stupid horse. I was mad at Dewey. Oh yeah, you’ll find a really big cave, he’d said, you won’t miss it, trust me. Well, I’d trusted him, and I’d been walking for more than five freaking hours! I mean, he had to have known about that farm I saw earlier, why didn’t he send me there instead of a damn cave?
I kept on going, even though I felt the urge to run back to Shelton and crawl into bed. But I couldn’t do that because, for one thing, I was homeless, and I was apparently a target for an assassination by a mob leader named Brutus.
As I dragged myself along the steep, rocky path, I was beginning to think that Dewey was playing a sick, practical joke on me, or that he really was crazy. Either of the two theories would have made complete sense.
Just when I was about to give up and cry, I ascended up a lofty, back-breaking pathway (without tripping, to my surprise) and came into view of a dark void in the face of the mountain. I sighed in relief.
“Finally!” I exclaimed. Munchie was perched on my head, enjoying the surroundings. But when the cave came into view, he dashed down my shoulder and back into my pocket like he was scared.
“What is it, Munchie?” I murmured.
He stayed hidden in my pocket. I couldn’t believe it. He was scared of a little cave.
“Are you serious?” I chuckled, “You’ll go running towards a four hundred pound horse but you’ll hide at the sight of a little cave?”
I felt him twitch, and I took that as a yes.
“Oh come on,” I snorted, “What’s the worst thing you can find in there? Spiders. Oooh, scary.”
I continued to laugh at him as I headed towards the opening, but then I stopped abruptly when I heard a low, echoing rumble come from the shadowy depths of the cave. It sounded a lot like a growl. And it sounded like it came from something big.
I didn’t know what to make of it, so I just stood there and stared at the opening like an idiot.
The ground began to thump and vibrate like a giant was walking the earth. If you’ve read this far, you can probably guess that I fell over. I landed with a sharp thud on my butt and it hurt a lot.
“Ow!” I gasped. For a wild second, I randomly thought that this was how Ivory must have felt when she fell off her horse.
But the thumping and vibrating kept getting louder and closer, and that banished all other thoughts. I could only stare at the dark abyss that the noise was coming from.
When you’re scared, time seems to stretch on forever, even if it’s really only like five seconds. That was what I felt like at that moment, because nothing could have prepared me for what emerged from the darkness.
Unveiling itself from the shadows, a giant burgundy dragon came out of the cave. Its reddish purple scales shimmered subtly when it crossed into the sunlight. I noticed that it had ornate diamond and ruby embellishment on its forehead perched right above its large black eyes. The dragon looked very beautiful. And very pissed.
I also noticed how sharp its claws were on all four of its legs.
Another thing that fear does is freeze you in place. The dragon’s head was just a foot away from mine, and all I could do was stare in shock. I could see the steam emanating from it’s nostrils as it exhaled. It narrowed its shiny obsidian eyes at me in anger.
Ever heard the saying ‘never wake a sleeping dragon’? Turns out, that’s exactly what I just did. And I thought my luck couldn’t get any worse.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps coming from the other direction. They sounded urgent, like the person was running, whoever it was. If it was Dewey coming to tell me that he forgot there was a fearsome dragon in the cave he sent me to, I was going to give him Hell for the late notice.
It wasn’t Dewey. The guy that came into view from around the pass was someone I’d never seen before. If I’d ever seen this guy in my life, I was pretty sure I would have remembered him.
He was wearing a ruby red tunic over ruby red pants and a ruby red cape. Yes, a cape. He was also wearing white gauntlets, white boots, and a white belt that holstered a sword on his waist. He had olive tan skin, shiny black hair, and dark brown eyes. I guess you could say he was a pretty good looking guy, but I’m no expert in that department. He was very…imperial-looking. He definitely wasn’t from anywhere I knew.
The guy skidded to a stop when he spotted me and the dragon. First he looked at the dragon, but not like he was scared of it or anything, more like he was confused. And then he looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. He whipped out his sword and pointed it at me threateningly.
“Stay back!” he ordered. He had a faint Spanish accent.
Who the heck was this dude?
The dragon growled again.
Then we all heard more footsteps coming from the same direction. A lot of them. The guy looked back at the path without putting down his sword. The dragon also turned its head in the same direction intently. Who else could be up here?
Five more guys came from around the bend, but they didn’t look like friends of the guy in red, judging by his mystified expression. They were all big, bulky, and totally decked out in black. I knew who they were automatically.
Brutus’ henchmen. How did they know I was here?!
“There he is!” the guy in front shouted, pointing at me.
I didn’t need any other confirmation than that. I scrambled to my feet immediately and scooted myself away from the scene as far as possible, which wasn’t very far; the path stopped at the cave, a dead end. And if I ran into it, they’d follow me, and the dragon would follow me, and the guy in the cape would follow me, too. I was backed up against the cliff face, terrified.
Surprisingly, the guy in the cape wasn’t paying attention to me anymore. He was facing Brutus’ men, his back to me and the dragon, with his sword held out at all five of them. The guys didn’t move, but not because of him; they were staring in horror at the enormous dragon behind him. It snarled menacingly and they all jumped back. The guy in the cape didn’t even flinch. I had to hand it to him, he was brave. Or stupid.
He turned his head around and looked the dragon right in the eyes like it was a human being. His sword was still aimed at Brutus’ lackeys.
“No, Carmen!” he commanded, “Go!”
Carmen? First it was Fiona the beast, and now Carmen the dragon. Why couldn’t people get normal pets, like Munchie the hamster?
Anyways, Carmen shook her head wildly as if she were protesting.
“Do you want to get turned into kibble?” cape-guy shrieked. The words sounded funny in his Spanish accent.
Carmen rumbled.
“I’ll be fine!” Cape-guy insisted like he could understand everything the dragon was roaring, “Why do you have to be so stubborn all the time?”
Carmen the dragon actually rolled her eyes. I was officially freaked out.
“Go now!” the guy repeated, “I’ll find you!”
Me and Brutus’ men watched the exchange between man and dragon with bewildered eyes.
She whimpered one last time before she sprinted to the edge of the mountain, spreading out her wings, preparing for takeoff.
In the split second of time it took before she flew off, I looked from Cape-guy to Brutus' lackeys and back to Carmen, thinking that the dragon was my only way of escape from this mountain. I found myself running towards her, even though my mind was screaming dumbass, dumbass, dumbass!
So, like the dumbass that I was, I charged after the dragon and jumped onto her back just as she leaped off the cliff.
Either Carmen was totally unaware that I was clinging to her back, or she wasn’t scared of a gangly sixteen-year-old kid, because she didn’t do anything to acknowledge the fact that I had come along for the ride.
***
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