Chapter 7: Here There Be Dragons

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Stan asked as he and Ford crept. a little closer to the sleeping dragon.

The creature was about the size of Stanford's house. It was coiled into a tight ball in an indent in the ground. Its sides rose and fell rhythmically. Every time it exhaled the ground vibrated under them. Who would have suspected that dragons snored too?

"There's no such thing as a bad idea," Ford said distractedly. "Only ideas with unpleasant results."

"See, that's where you and I differ. That is exactly what I define as a bad idea," Stan whispered back.

"Isn't it beautiful," Ford said as he slipped a little farther forward to get a better look at the creature.

That was actually true. Even Stan who was a little distracted by the saber like claws and sharp teeth, couldn't help but agree. The dragon was sleek and powerful like a mix between a serpent and a wildcat. Its scales were an iridescent purple that shifted in color slightly depending on the angle. It was both terrifying and awe-inspiring.

"I must get some of its scales," Ford muttered softly to himself.

"Sixer…" Stan said nerviously.

It was too late, Stanford was already making his way slowly down the incline that lead into its nest. Stan sighed and followed behind him. Once they were about ten or so feet from the dragon, Stanford started picking up scales from the thick moss that lined the ground around the dragon. Since it hadn't woken up yet, Stan crept a little closer to get a better look at it. It was actually kind of cool to be this close to a real live dragon.

A glint of something yellow caught his sight and he edged forward to get a better look. Just under the edge of the dragon's paws was a beautiful gold necklace, its circular pendent was inlaid with diamonds, rubies and some sort of orange crystal. The gems made it look like there was fire flickering over the surface of it.

He had to have it.

Stan slowly crept closer, taking great care to move as silently as possible. Once he was right beside it, Stan took a moment to observe and plan how to get the necklace without waking the beast. Since it was laying on moss he could probably press the moss down and pull it out fairly easily. He crouched down and slowly eased it out. He had to clamp down on the noise of excitement that almost left his throat when he succeeded.

He clasped the necklace around his neck and had started to turn to go back towards Stanford when he spotted another glint of gold a little ways away. He glanced back at his brother for a moment before moving towards it. Suddenly his foot struck something solid and curved. Stan nearly fell over but managed to regain his balance.

He looked down to see what he had stepped on. It was the dragon's tail. Stan let out a series of curses before he felt something shift beside him. He slowly looked up to find that the dragon's eyes were open. They were a very beautiful burgundy, like rich wine, he noted in a detached sort of way.

The moment was broken when the dragon let out a low growl. Stan spun on his heel and yelled for Ford to run, scrambling up the embankment as the dragon lunged for him and narrowly missed. The ground shook from the force of the blow. He glanced to his right and noticed that Ford was struggling but making steady progress. Fortunately for his brother, the dragon was focused solely on Stan at the moment.

Stan weaved out of the way of another strike and slide back downhill a little. He was now right under the dragon's head. He froze up for a second, entranced like a mouse before a serpent. The dragon drew its head back and…

A rock bounced off the side of its snout hitting just under its eyes. When the dragon turned to look for the offender, Stan managed to make the final scramble up the bank. Heading in Ford's direction as fast as his legs could carry him.

"Thanks for the save," Stan panted when he caught up to his brother.

"No problem," Ford said, equally breathless.

They made it into the trees which greatly slowed down the dragon. Stan glanced back to see how far it was behind them.

Suddenly the ground dropped out from under him. Stan let out a yelp of surprise as he began to roll really fast. There was an abrupt painful jolt and he came to a stop. He heard a groan and tilted his head to get a glimpse of his brother laying sprawled out beside him.

"That could have gone better," Stan said with a grunt, trying to get back up to his feet.

"On the contrary I think that actually went surprisingly well," Ford replied.

Stan quirked an eyebrow at him. His brother looked something like a scarecrow right now. He had twigs sticking out of his clothes, backpack and hair. There were scratches and bruises all over his arms and a small crack in the right lens of his glasses. No doubt Stan looked just as bad.

"By 'it went well' you mean we're both still alive," Stan grumbled, reaching up to pull a twig out of his ponytail.

He was beginning to regret keeping his hair long. It got tangled in everything. He glanced up the large hill they had just rolled down. Actually it was so steep that it was really more of a cliff. It was dotted with a nice mix of thorn bushes, rocks and trees.

"I'm surprised the dragon hasn't come down after us yet," Ford said, choosing to ignore Stan's comment.

Stan glanced up at the sky warily.

"Yeah… let's get moving before it has a chance to change its mind."

When Ford didn't respond Stan glanced over and saw, to his annoyance, that Ford had his journal out and was trying to sketch the beast. An involuntary shutter went down his back at the sight of the book.

"Now is not a good time, Sixer," He said keeping his voice low.

"Now is the best time," Stanford responded absentmindedly. "I create my best drawings when the creature's still fresh in my mind."

Stan looked up as a shadow passed overhead.

"A nice drawing is going to be rather unimportant if we get burnt to a crisp," He pointed out, feeling his heartrate increase.

Why didn't he bring his gun with him? Oh, right, because someone thought he would get trigger-happy and kill some rare specimen. Frankly he was a lot more concerned about one of the rare specimens killing him.

"Come on," He said, tugging at Stanford's arm as the creature circling above the trees let out a roar.

Stanford jerked his arm loose from Stan's grip and resumed sketching, tongue sticking slightly out of his mouth. He did however oblige Stan slightly, by getting up and starting to slowly amble farther into the trees.

Stan glanced back just in time to see the dragon circle around low at such an angle that he got a very good look at it. Shit, they just made eye contact. The dragon didn't roar this time, instead it began to glide swiftly and silently toward them. Stan's pulse pounded frantically in his ears and his breath came in fast shallow gasps. Now in flight mode, he grabbed Ford's wrist and began to run as fast as he could, half dragging, half leading his brother.

He heard Ford yell something at him, but he didn't register it. It felt like there was cotton in his ears, all he could hear was his heart. The dragon roared again, no longer trying to be silent now that its prey was on the run. It began crashing through the tree tops trying to get at them. There was a loud crack and….

The bullet whizzed narrowly by him, glazing his cheek. Stan picked up his pace. Fuck! At this rate they were going to get him. He needed to get somewhere with more cover. His gripped tightened on the briefcase that was the source of all this trouble. Was it really worth it? It was too late to think about that at this point.

He stumbled over a loose root and nearly went down, but pure adrenaline forced him back up.

Who knew what they would do if they caught him. The thought made him run even faster, pushing his aching burning muscles to keep moving.

There was a small cave ahead. Stan angled toward it.

He dove into the open doorway, pulling the door shut behind him. He leaned against it, trying to quiet his breathing as the thudding of footsteps and the shouting of voices grew louder.

"Stanley!"

The door was shaking as someone tried to get through…

No… That wasn't the door. He was pressed up against cold stone and someone was shaking his shoulder.

"Stanley?" The voice questioned, quivering slightly.

Stan blinked. His brother was in front of him, face pale. Stanford's glasses were askew and there were thin red lines on his face from running into branches. His eyes were wide and fearful. One of his hand was on Stan's shoulder.

When Stan managed to finally focus on him, he saw Ford's shoulders relax a little. They tensed up again as a roar rang through the air and the cave wall rattled. That's right. They had been escaping the dragon before he…

"Stanley, please let go of my hand," Ford said, interrupting his thoughts.

Stan glanced down and realized he had a death grip on his brother's wrist. He quickly released it, wincing as he saw there was a bruise already forming.

"Sorry," He muttered.

There was probably no way he could make this worse.


Stanford rubbed his wrist absently. A pins-and-needles sensation started as circulation returned to his hand. No doubt it would swell if he didn't get ice on it soon and with that dragon outside it was going to be a while.

Fortunately the cave that Stan had lead them into was small enough that the dragon couldn't fit inside and deep enough that the flames couldn't reach them, so they could wait it out. That was assuming the dragon didn't just decide to wait outside for them. He didn't really know how long a dragon's attention span was.

But that wasn't what he was really focused on right now. Stanford watched silently as his brother slid slowly down the cave wall to the floor. His legs were shaking hard and his breath was still fast. He wouldn't look at Ford.

Stanley had been acting strange all week. When Stanford had come home from talking with Fiddleford about Bill, he had found Stanley just sitting in his car, rather pale and twitchy. He wouldn't tell Stanford what was wrong, but all week he kept watching Ford warily like he was expecting him to snap at any moment. He also did not seem to be sleeping well, judging by the dark bags that had formed under his eyes.

Stan was still shaking, so Stanford moved closer and sat down beside him, grimacing as the rocks dug into his tailbone. He rested his back against the cave wall and stared up into the darkness above them.

"Sorry for not listening to you when you told me to wait to draw the dragon. I get a little excited sometimes and forget about the danger."

Beside him Stan gave a little grunt, then sighed.

"I'm really sorry about going crazy on you there. Didn't mean to hurt your arm like that. I'm also really sorry about waking the dragon in the first place."

"I forgive you," Stanford said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

He cracked a little smile.

"I guess that makes us even."

He really did want to know what had happened to Stanley though. Partway through their escape from the dragon, he had started acting… strange. He wouldn't respond to Stanford. It wasn't as if he was choosing not to even, it was more like Stanford had somehow ceased to exist for him. He couldn't be heard anymore. When they were in the cave Stanley had leaned hard against the wall, still gripping Stanford as if his life depended upon not letting go, his eyes were focused on something Stanford couldn't see. When Ford had tried to rouse him by shaking him, Stanley looked like he was about to sock him for a moment.

He really did want to understand what was happening with his brother. He just had no idea how to go about it.

They sat there in silence for a while. Gradually Stanley stopped shaking and his breathing evened out.

"So how are we gunna get out of here?" Stanley finally asked. "I'd wager that beast is still waiting outside the cave."

"We could risk it I suppose," Stanford said. "Or we could venture farther into the cave and hope that it leads out…"

"Well, I don't want to waste my time wandering in no cave," Stanley said getting up.

He walked swiftly to the entrance before Stanford had a chance to say anything. There was a loud roar and jet of flame nearly singed off his ponytail. Stan retreated quickly.

"Ya know… I think I'm in the mood for some spelunking."