General Fiction posted July 17, 2024 Chapters: 2 3 -4- 5... 


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Ohmie and the silver and red dragon
A chapter in the book Ol' Silver and Red

Ol' Silver and Red, ch 4

by Wayne Fowler


In the last part Ohmie (Prince Waynard) leaped aboard Ol’ Silver and Red and rode the dragon into his lair, deep into the center of a mountain. The entry shaft was nearly a vertical drop ending at a horizontal tunnel barely large enough for the dragon.
Search and rescue parties from both Calandria and Spewlunkia began their work. Princess May and Prince Shauconnery sneaked their way into Calandria’s party.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Chapter 4

    Exiting the cave, the dragon would have to walk past the point of the upward shaft because he couldn’t wing his way to the top in the virtually airless tunnel, even though the climate was moderately fresher as it turned upward. Exit required walking beyond the upward shaft to an underground, mid-mountain pool. Underneath the pool was a river of water leading to the bottom of the lake at the north side of the mountain. It was difficult going, but not impossible for the dragon to flow with the current into the lake, then to rise out of the lake’s water with air-sucking fury.

    Return by that route was impossible – not just hard, but impossible. First, the dragon wouldn’t be able to find the hole in the lake’s bottom. Second, he would be unable to find the river’s route from the lake’s bottom into the mountain’s core. Third, even if he did find those places, he would never have the strength to make the journey against the current with no air to breathe. After flying around, dragons grew too tired. They needed to drop into their rest, not climb or fly into it.

    But Ohmie knew nothing about dragons, save that they stunk.

    The dragon went to sleep as soon as he reached the lair. And true to dragon lore, the nest was a glittering, gleaming, heaping pile of gold and jewels. Ohmie slipped from the dragon’s neck as judiciously as possible, taking nearly an hour for each fraction of an inch of movement. Sliding across the iron-hard scales, he was certain the dragon couldn’t feel his presence, but to err would be to die. He didn’t want that.

    Once down, Ohmie had to be as careful as he had been while atop the silver and red dragon. Walking on the pile of gold was like walking on a sand pile, only the gold coins tinkle tinkled with each uncertain step, wanting to cascade and avalanche their way down the slope with each movement. Ohmie learned that he more-or-less had to roll himself down the gigantic pile.

    Finally, he got all the way to the ground, still walking on gold coins strewn about the surface of the cavernous cavern. He got the startlement of his life when he looked up to the dragon to see that his eyes were open. Fear froze him in place. After several watchful moments, he finally figured out that dragons, at least this one, apparently slept with his eyes open. The beast blinked occasionally, but never moved or appeared to focus. Ohmie noted that the only light in the room emitted from the dragon’s eyes, about as bright as two candles each.

    All Ohmie had was his knife, but he didn’t even really have that, not daring to remove it from the dragon’s neck for fear that the extraction would awaken the beast. Desperately searching, he saw, barely within reach on the pile of jewels and gold, was a ruby, diamond, and emerald-studded silver dagger. He could cause the weapon to drop into his hands by burrowing jewels from under it, but couldn’t guarantee the entire mountain of riches wouldn’t surge and avalanche downward, bringing the silver and red dragon along with.

    The largest diamond he’d ever heard of glimmered directly into his eye, reflecting the dim dragon-eye light. It was easily and noiselessly removed from its setting that would have needed adjustment if ever worn again. The diamond was mounted on a bedecked tiara, probably a Queen’s crown. Not wearing his pocket garments, Ohmie cheeked the banty-hen-size stone, tucking it neatly into his jaw as he would a giant piece of rock candy if he was still young enough to enjoy such delights. It was time to find his way out, time to escape before it was too late. For the briefest instant Ohmie considered perching upon a rock to think.

    A short distance from the dragon Ohmie found total darkness. Since the nest was in the room’s center, or so Ohmie felt, the way out could be in any direction. It could be close, or far. It was impossible for him to judge distance during the descent. Virtually blind, Ohmie dropped to all fours, crawling and creeping his way about the floor, feeling the ground for evidence of a path by its smoothness and indentation. It was a very long time before he had any confidence in his decision. He was quite certain that he’d circled the dragon a number of times, and couldn’t be sure that the packed path he’d found wasn’t one of his own making. Nevertheless, he followed it, hand-over-hand. Gradually he felt better and better about it being the exit, hoping it was the only one, and not the longer one of several. But then he hoped it was one of several and that the dragon would use one of the others should he decide to leave the lair.

    Ohmie had no idea how long dragons slept. This one hadn’t been seen in his lifetime that he was aware. Did that mean he had slumbered for nineteen years? Or had he been busy ravaging and plundering elsewhere? Had he been biding his time, letting this region recover wealth and glory from his last pillaging? Ohmie hoped dragons slept at least long enough for his escape.

    It didn’t.

    Ohmie heard the dragon’s rumbling. He heard tinkling of gold and silver against jewels. He felt the faint stirring of the air as the dragon stretched his wings. Ohmie had no idea how far he’d crawled, or how much farther he had to go. He’d been in the narrow tunnel for days, he felt. He knew it was a very long time by how thirsty he was. He’d had nothing to drink since before jumping atop the dragon. He began to reconsider the smartness of that act now that the diamond in his mouth was as dry as the dust in his hands.

    How smart was it to attack a dragon with a knife, even if it was the only weapon at his immediate disposal to defend his … his what? He wasn’t sure. Princess May had been in the room, and was certainly at risk of harm. She was wearing jewelry, and she was young and beautiful. Those three were known dragon targets. And Ohmie loved her. He just that very moment realized the fact. He loved her deeply. The very thought of losing her, or harm coming to her sent him into a fury, the sort of fury that had compelled him to leap onto the silver and red dragon, his dagger at the ready.

    The dragon let out a mountain-trembling roar. Ohmie felt the rocks shudder, felt them coming loose from one another, dust and pebbles falling from the rock ceiling. He understood then why the trail was rife with dust and loose stones where it should have been worn smooth. The dragon roared again, this time scaring him witless, though he would never admit to it in public. Though he would admit it freely to anyone else having heard the terrifying peril themselves.

    Caution to the wind, though there wasn’t even a slight breeze, Ohmie picked up his pace, crawling faster and faster, first hand over fist, then in a forward crouch, and gradually picking it up to an all-out run. During a couple of strides he felt as if the barometric pressure lifted a degree or two. It was only for two, or at most three long running strides so he didn’t have a lot of time to analyze the input. But he had more time to understand it as he galloped full tilt into a pool of water that seemed to have no bottom. No sooner had he swallowed his second mouthful of murky sludge that he suspected might be sorely contaminated with bat droppings and who knew what else than he was joined by the silver and red dragon.

    Joined wouldn’t exactly be the word Ohmie would choose were he telling the tale. The dragon barely fit into the mouth of the pool by himself. The sight would be as if a horse decided to bathe in a galvanized number ten washtub. There was no room for a man to even stick his arm out from the pool between the dragon and the rocky sidewall. The fit was so tight that the beast’s dive dragged Ohmie down the depths with him, leaving chunks of Ohmie’s skin and flesh all along the way down.

    Ohmie began to prefer being thirsty. Going from his previous dire thirst in fear of death to drowning were extremes sufficient to stop his pounding heart. It wouldn’t be until the hole widened, releasing Ohmie, that he felt the excruciating pain of his loss of hide. But he didn’t have long to reflect on the damage. The dragon’s increased speed through the depths created a suction effect, pulling Ohmie down even further. His craving air crescendoed.   
 

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Image courtesy lyenochka and Flightrising.com

Ohmie: 19 y.o. Prince Waynard's nickname. He is mentoring Prince Shauconnery and Princess May after falsely declaring Waynard deceased. Ohmie is a Prince (but not heir to the throne) of neighboring Spewlunkia.
Prince Shauconnery: the youthful heir of King Herb in Calandria
Princess May: 16 y.o. firstborn of King Herb
King Herb: King of Calandria, the land within which Ol' Silver and Red has claimed for centuries.
Blado: friend of Prince Waynard (Ohmie) from the land of Spewlunkia
King Jear: King of Spewlunkia, Ohmie's father
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