Chapter 6

Dragon's Rampage

Chris and Mrs. Brisby were walking back to Mrs. Brisby's home and they were silent. After they left Mr. Age's home they barely said a word to each other. Chris was mostly staring at the ground as he had his hands in his jean jacket for he couldn't get over what just happened back at Mr. Age's home. The way Mr. Ages looked at Chris it felt very unsettling to him. He thought perhaps that the old mouse preferred to have his privacy when it came to his home and work. He could see why because if a human being saw what was going on in Mr. Ages home the old mouse probably would've been experimented on.

Although, Chris was certainly surprised that neither his Aunt Beth, Uncle Paul, nor even Billy knew that an old mouse was living in an abandoned harvest tractor. Though Chris knew that his Uncle well enough to know that he was a very hard working person to even worry about what even lived in that tractor and it was pretty much the same thing for his Aunt. As for Billy he wasn't too sure about. He was after all a kid and he didn't know what Billy was thinking sometimes.

They then were walking on a big rock and a small ledge of it stretched out near a log and underneath them was a pond. Mrs. Brisby slid down it and then she pounced off it and she landed inside the log with a thud without the medicine slipping out of her hands and Chris did the same thing as her-although he almost fell into pond he managed to steady himself before a single skin on him managed to touch the cold water. They were then about to continue forward but they stopped abruptly when they saw something that really caught their attention.

Up ahead of them they saw a crow and Chris's brow furrowed in confusion when he saw that the crow was stuck in some red string. The crow was flapping his wings trying to get out of it but no matter what he did he managed to hit his head on whatever had a hard surface. Chris and Mrs. Brisby looked at each other and they had no words to describe what they were seeing at this moment.

Mrs. Brisby walked up to a hole that was made through the log and he motioned for Chris to follow her. Obeying her, Chris followed Mrs. Brisby and she climbed up the log and Chris then got a hold of a branch that was attached the log and he pulled himself up and was then atop the log.

They were then walking towards the crow. "What do you think this is all about?" Chris asked.

"I'm not sure," Mrs. Brisby replied.

As they kept walking towards the crow, they saw a whole bunch of red string tangled up everywhere on the log and around a branch. When they got close enough to the crow they looked down to find he was still trying to get out of the string while making frustrated noises.

"Is everything alright here?" Mrs. Brisby called down to the crow.

The crow stopped what he was doing and he looked up with his eyes widened. "What the…" He looked at Mrs. Brisby but when he saw Chris it looked like his eyes were going to come out of his sockets. The crow then screamed and tried to fly away. "Human! Help, the human's coming for me!"

Chris's eyes widened as he watched the crow hit his head once again on the hard surface. The crow placed his wings on his head and kept saying ow as he rubbed his head.

"Are you alright?" Mrs. Brisby asked the crow.

The crow looked up. "Quick lady, run for it while you got the chance! That human's going to hunt us down!"

Chris scowled at the crow and sighed. "Take it easy there; I'm not here to hunt anyone. I don't even hunt. Besides she's my friend."

The crow looked at Chris in astonishment but still in fear at the same time. "Oh… wait a minute why are you small? I thought humans were big? And how are you able to talk to me? Are all humans in different sizes? Can some of them understand animals as well?"

"Uh… it's a long story and that's a lot of questions you just asked me."

"We're sorry about that," Mrs. Brisby said to the crow. "We didn't mean to frighten you..."

The crow started to laugh. "Oh, you didn't frighten me, I was just sort of… working out." The crow laughed more as he had his wings crossed behind his head as Chris just looked at the crow a little weirded out, considering the crow did just freak out when he saw him. "You just broke my concentration, that's-"

"You look like you're all tangled up," Chris said as he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out his pocket knife and took the blade part of it out and this made the crow's eyes widen in fear again and Chris noticed. "Relax. I'm not going to cut you open like a Thanksgiving turkey. I'm just going to cut some of this string here."

Mrs. Brisby looked at Chris. "I'll help you."

Chris nodded and he and Mrs. Brisby started to get to work on helping the crow get out of the tangled up string he was stuck in.

"Oh… thanks," the crow said as he climbed up and this made Chris and Mrs. Brisby stop what they were doing and they looked at the crow. "I guess that's enough exercise for one day anyways. Besides, I'm after this really terrific string!" Jeremy hoisted himself up and sat down on the log. "I'm working on a love nest for two." The crow laughed again. "You two know what I mean?"

"Oh, I see," Mrs. Brisby said as she untangled a string from the crow's foot. "You have a girl."

Chris stepped on a string and held it and while he did he used his pocket knife to cut the string. "Bet she's a lucky one."

The crow lifted his foot up to try and get some of the sting off it. "Well, not really, I mean… I haven't found Miss. Right yet, but when I do-" the crow lifted his wings and this caused Mrs. Brisby to almost lose the medicine and so she had to go and grab it and while she did, she and Chris stood back while the crow was continuing to talk and he was doing it in a sing-song voice. "The whole world will hear us singing…."

The crow leaned back too far as he was daydreaming about a future mate of his and while he did he then tripped off the log and fell into the pond. Chris could easily tell that this crow really was a bird brain and this made him roll his eyes. However, he almost felt sorry for the guy.

The crow pulled himself back up by using the string and he was dripping from head to toe with water and he sucked in air as he tried to regain himself. "Excuse me, pardon me." The crow coughed.

"Well, you keep making all that noise and Dragon will hear you. If he hasn't already." Mrs. Brisby placed the medicine on a safe place on the log so she wouldn't lose it and got back to helping the crow out of the string.

Chris looked at Mrs. Brisby confused. "Why are you worried about-"

"Wouldn't you sing too?" The crow said as he shook the water out of his feathers and Chris grumbled in irritation that the crow interrupted him. "I mean if you felt-" the crow stopped shaking the water out of him and started to laugh as he dusted his wings and he then held on to the strings as he sat down like he was on a swing. "If you felt the call of the wild, but-"

"I would-" Mrs. Brisby all the sudden closed her mouth and then she started to whisper: "I would not, if I knew there was a cat nearby." She then bit into a sting that was around the crow's foot and the string broke.

"Okay, time out," Chris said as he used the time out sign with his hands and Mrs. Brisby looked at him as the crow was daydreaming again. "What's with you worrying about that stupid cat? I understand that the animals' main priority out here is to survive but why do you worry about Dragon? There's a very less chance that we'll run into him and besides there's other animals out here you could be worrying about at this moment."

Even though Chris wanted to admit what he said was true he wasn't too sure of himself. He's seen Dragon go a long distance to go do some hunting and the chances of running into him… he didn't know what would come of it but he hoped he wouldn't come across Dragon because that cat was ferocious like a tiger when it came to hunting. That cat was also hard to understand at some points and Chris could try all he wanted at what the cat was thinking but it never looked as though what he guessed what Dragon was thinking was correct.

Mrs. Brisby looked out to the field with a nervous look. "I don't know, Chris… I just have a feeling he's nearby somewhere. You never know where he could be. I think I can even get a whiff of him."

"But... but she's out there," the crow said, haven't listening to what Chris and Mrs. Brisby said and they both looked at him and they got back to cutting the stings. "Somewhere." The crow then stood up as Chris and Mrs. Brisby kept cutting the strings. "And when I find her I'll feel it, way down in my wishbone! I-" the crow's eyes widened all the sudden. "What cat?"

Chris sighed in annoyance that the crow wasn't paying attention and decided to answer the crow even though he was getting him a little frustrated. "Dragon, he's my Uncle, Aunt, and cousin's pet."

"What's a pet?"

"It's an animal you don't eat and you have as a friend… well most of the time."

"Look towards the house," Mrs. Brisby said as she was untangling a knot and Chris cut another string. "See if you can see him."

With a flap of his wings, the crow flew up causing Mrs. Brisby to yelp as she was pulled off the ground as she held onto the string, but she luckily got back on the log. Chris looked at the crow annoyed as the crow landed on top of a branch that was attached to the log. "Jesus, take it easy, you almost made her fall into the pond!"

As Chris was looking at the crow he noticed that the crow was looking at something in the distance with the bottom of his beak dropped skittish. He pointed his wing at what he was looking at. "Hey, there's a cat out there!"

Chris's eyes widened. Please tell me it's just another cat venturing nearby….

"Quiet," Mrs. Brisby shouted as quietly as she could. "Does he see you?"

"No," the crow said as he gripped the string tightly but then he laughed nervously. "Yes!"

"Okay, don't move," Chris said. "You move he's going to come near us."

The crow tried to smile at Chris but Chris could tell that the crow looked like he was about to have a heart attack. "Everything's fine." But when the crow looked back in the direction he was looking at his smile dropped. "He's headed right for us..."

Chris cursed in his head and if it was actually Dragon the crow was referring to he hoped that Dragon had his eyes fixed on something else. The last thing he needed was to be a cat's chow.

"Don't panic," Mrs. Brisby said trying to be calm with the crow. "Fast or slow?"

Chris could hear some wing flaps in the distance but he tried not to worry about it as he was trying to get the strings cut and loosened. He was trying to stay calm but he could feel his forehead sweating.

"Medium." The crow paused but then sounded panicked. "Make that fast. Very f- I have to go now! Excuse me, I really…"

The crow was then freaking out as he was trying to fly away but he was remained stuck in the red strings. Chris and Mrs. Brisby tried to help the crow more but when they did the crow almost knocked into Chris and Chris yelped as he dove out of the way and Mrs. Brisby ended up getting her ankle caught in one of the red strings as the crow kept trying to fly away and the string started to swing Mrs. Brisby out of control until it eventually came to a stop and Mrs. Brisby hung upside down like she was a bat.

"Will you settle down!?" Chris said as quietly as he could but the crow wouldn't listen.

The crow was then trying to pull on a string that was stuck to the branch he was on a little bit ago and he shouted: "Break!"

Mrs. Brisby managed to get out of the string that was tied around her ankle and she then jumped towards the string that the crow was trying to break loose and she bit into it and the string broke and as soon as it did, the crow rolled on its back and he almost fell off the log but he luckily caught himself on the log in time and he pulled himself up as quickly as he could as he was still freaking out.

The three of them then stopped what they were doing as they could hear something coming towards them under the log and it was echoing. They all looked down towards the inside of the log to see that something was approaching them at a fast rate. A very fast rate.

"Oh my goodness," the crow said weakly.

When the figure got really close, the crow screamed and tried to fly away but of course, the string held him back and it ended up getting him hanged upside down over a little bit of the log as he was still panicking. Chris and Mrs. Brisby looked to what it was the crow saw and what they saw was not what they were expecting. Hopping away was a rabbit.

"It's a rabbit," Mrs. Brisby said with a smile, and the crow then started to laugh.

Chris had to admit, it was kind of funny and he started to laugh as well. "Oh, my god! You got yourself worked up over a rabbit!" Chris then stopped laughing.

Mrs. Brisby then bit into the string that was causing the crow to hang upside down and the crow hit the ground by its back as he continued to laugh. "You should've seen yourselves!" The crow continued to laugh as he flew up and landed on the log. "You two were scared stiff! A rabbit! I knew it all along!"

At this point, Chris and Mrs. Brisby were not finding this amusing anymore for as they both knew the crow was the one that was freaking out. "Will you hush up?" Mrs. Brisby said.

"Admit it! You were both scared." The crow said as he continued to laugh.

"For Pete's sake," Chris said as he and Mrs. Brisby were trying to cut more of the red string. "Will you shut up and stand still so we can get you out of this?"

"If I had actually been near a cat, I'd be sneezing my brains out. See, I'm allergic to caaaaa… I'm allergic to… mfffff."

Chris and Mrs. Brisby were staring at the crow confused as to what was going on for they could see that the crow was now sneezing. As the crow was trying to say he was allergic to cats, Chris then noticed a gray looking paw on the log and it looked like… a cat's. Chris then gasped when he saw Dragon's face and he had his eyes locked on the crow. When the crow tried one last time to say he was allergic to cats he all the sudden sneezed in Dragon's face, which caused Dragon to now have the crow's saliva on him.

The crow looked at Dragon and smiled nervously. "Excuse me, pardon me."

Dragon all the sudden roared in the crow's face and Chris swore to god it sounded like an actual dragon's roar. The crow screamed in fear and tried to fly away while Chris and Mrs. Brisby hid behind a branch but Dragon grabbed hold of the string that was attached to the crow but before Dragon could do anything, Chris jumped towards the sting and since it was being pulled by Dragon at a tight force, Chris managed to cut through it with his pocket knife and when he did, the crow flew away and the string that Chris cut through landed on Dragon's face.

Chris's heart started to pound wildly when he saw that Dragon was staring directly at him and Mrs. Brisby. If Chris was taller than Dragon at this moment he wouldn't have had a problem with him but since he was about the size of a mouse compared to Dragon's humongous size there was absolutely no way that he could easily pick him up and toss him away like he usually did. Chris's hands were starting to sweat and shake as he watched Dragon lick his chops and was slowly approaching them. Even though he was feeling nervous he wouldn't let Dragon get to him. If he could deal with Dragon in his normal size then he could see no reason why he couldn't do the same in a small size.

Chris brought his hands up near Dragon. "Nice kitty… nice pretty kitty…"

"Chris, what're you doing!?" Mrs. Brisby said.

"Here, Dragon," Chris whistled like he was trying to get a dog's attention and he tore off a stick that was attached to the log and he was trying to get the cat to pay attention to it as he moved it in random directions and to his relief, Dragon was eyeing it. "Go fetch, go fetch!" Chris threw the stick towards a random direction and he hoped that Dragon would go get it, however Dragon just looked to where the stick landed without going to get it. Chris gulped when Dragon looked back at them. "Damn it, why can't cats be like dogs sometimes?"

Dragon growled and Chris could tell that Dragon was now in full hunting mode. As if both knowing what they were thinking, they ran, but before they could get far, Mrs. Brisby grabbed hold of Timmy's medicine and then she and Chris doubled back, ducking under Dragon as he pounced and then he tore a branch in bits. Chris jumped to a nearby rock but Mrs. Brisby, on the other hand, tripped over a red string and when she did, she dropped the medicine. She went after the medicine and as she did, Chris saw that Dragon was staring at her.

Chris gasped and he cupped his hands near his mouth as Mrs. Brisby was trying to get the medicine from out of the pond. "Elizabeth, look out!"

Mrs. Brisby looked up in shock at Dragon and Dragon roared as he jumped off the log towards her but just in time, Mrs. Brisby jumped into the water and Dragon instead broke some of log making it smack into the water. Chris watched in shock as Mrs. Brisby was trying to swim away from Dragon and he knew that Dragon would eventually grab hold of her if he didn't do something. Chris jumped to another rock and he was close enough to Dragon that so much so he jumped onto him. "Sorry, Dragon."

Chris then cut Dragon a little bit on his back and Dragon yowled in pain and dark red blood started to spread on his back. Dragon growled at Chris when he saw him and Dragon tried to get Chris off him. Chris screamed as Dragon was trying to get a hold of him.

"Chris!" Mrs. Brisby shouted.

But then, to Chris's surprise, the crow was flying towards him and Dragon and the crow then started to pull on Dragon's tail. Dragon stopped trying to get Chris and he looked up at the crow as he snarled. The crow got a handful of Dragon's tail fur as he pulled too hard and after he did, Dragon tried to get him and as he did, Chris fell off him and screamed and he then plummeted into the rapid rivers created by Dragon. Chris popped up for a breather and when he did he realized that he didn't have his pocket knife and he searched around him desperately for it.

"The string," Chris looked up and he saw the crow flying towards him and Mrs. Brisby. "Quick, grab the string!"

Wasting no time, Chris and Mrs. Brisby grabbed hold of the string that was still attached to the crow before Dragon could snatch one of them. They all flew up into the branches but as bad luck would have it, the string got tangled in a branch and it caused Chris and Mrs. Brisby to knock loose. Mrs. Brisby managed to grab onto a branch but Chris didn't manage so. Chris screamed as he fell and he looked to see that Dragon had his mouth wide open and Chris could tell that it was going to be the end of it. But before he could plummet down into Dragon's mouth, he landed on something. Chris breathed in shock and when he looked to see who caught him he saw that it was the crow.

"Hang on tight," the crow said and Chris obeyed.

Chris looked to where he saw Mrs. Brisby and he saw Dragon chasing her up the tree and Dragon managed to break a lot of branches as he did so. Chris watched in fear as Mrs. Brisby scurried across a tree branch and she was close to falling into the water but she caught herself in time and she pulled herself up and when she did she looked down and she looked frightened of what she saw. When Chris saw what she was looking at he gasped when he saw a waterfall near a mill.

Chris then saw Dragon was approaching her very hungry and then he leaped at her as Mrs. Brisby looked back at him in fear and shock, but Mrs. Brisby jumped backwards and she fell down towards the waterfall. Dragon instead got a hold of the tree branch Mrs. Brisby was on and when he did, the tree branch snapped, sending Dragon down towards the waterfall as well and then, he and Mrs. Brisby were underwater.

A/N- Chapter 6 everyone! Yes! Six down... more to go! XD