Chapter 11
“O h, shi–” Paige started when the swipe of his paw sent her running.
The dragon trundled after her. He stepped on the bottle, spraying a thick stream of antidote on Devon.
“Ohhh, nice shot, Paige!” Dewey cheered from the deck. “That should do it. He’s starting to come out of it.”
The tiny dragon stuck his head through the door. “You did it! You. Oh, shi–”
The dragon’s roar cut off the rest of this statement. Paige darted around the room, trying to avoid him.
“Run, Paige! Quick! Get out here.”
“I’m trying,” she shrieked as she switched her weight from side to side, trying to figure out which direction she could go to avoid him. The dragon pounded his four legs down in a wide stance.
Paige straightened and dove forward under his belly. She slid halfway down the dragon’s length before she slowed to a stop.
“Damn it.”
She kicked her feet and clawed at the hardwood, scrambling toward the door. With the edge clutched in her hands, she tugged herself to her feet, climbing on top of the bottle. She raced down its length and dove out the door.
“Let’s go!” Dewey said, sailing over the railing.
Paige raced toward it, slamming against it before her eyes went wide. “Dewey! I can’t! It’s way too high!”
“Paige!” Dewey shouted, his eyes wide. He pointed behind her. “Look out!”
The dragon slammed the massive door open and stepped onto the deck.
Devon stumbled forward, coming out of his paralysis. He wiped the blue liquid from his eyes. They went wide, and he stumbled back a step, avoiding the massive paw of the dragon.
Paige swung her leg over the railing and climbed over. She hung on to it tightly as she tried to figure out the best way to drop to the ground far below her.
“Jump, Paige!” Dewey shouted.
“Uhhhh,” Paige moaned as she chewed her lower lip. She flicked her gaze back to the dragon approaching her.
Devon raced toward the railing, his jaw deforming as his skull transformed. He dove toward her, grabbing her with arms that transformed into dark skin. Wings sprouted from his back as they fell, and he flapped them hard.
They landed a few feet away, with a soft thud . Devon’s wings retracted as he returned to his human form.
“Come on!” Dewey said, fluttering above them. “He’s right behind us.”
Paige scrambled to her feet, glancing at Devon, who struggled to stand. “Come on.”
She tugged him upward as he winced, flexing his back muscles. “My wing’s still not healed. That flight did not help.”
“No time to complain,” Paige said with a quick glance over her shoulder. “We’ve got incoming.”
They raced headlong through the streets of the town. The large dragon flapped its massive wings and sailed toward them.
“Dewey!” Paige called as they skidded around a corner. “Get over here!”
Dewey swung around and flapped his wings hard to speed toward them. He flew into Paige’s arms. She pulled him closer to her before she ducked inside another hut. Devon hid just inside the doorway, doubled over and panting for breath.
“This is no time to rest, Muscles! We’ve got to get out of here before he slimes you again,” Dewey said.
A shadow crossed the ground as the dragon sailed overhead in search of them.
Paige jabbed at the nose of her glasses and shook her head. “There’s no way he can run. Let me see your back.”
With a wince, Devon tugged up his stained and soaked T-shirt. A large gash sliced across the left side of his back, angry and red.
“This looks bad.”
“The slime probably made it worse,” Dewey said.
“Well, great,” Paige said, flinging her hands in the air. “What are we supposed to do about that? We can’t let him get slimed again, but he can’t run.”
“I can run,” Devon puffed out. “I can…” He blew out a long, pained breath. “Run.”
“Oh, yeah, sounds like it. You can barely say the word ‘run,’ let alone do it. We need to find a place to hide until you can make it out of here.”
“Hate to be Dewey Downer, but here’s the problem with that,” Dewey said. “In about thirty minutes, this whole village is going to wake up from its siesta. Then there will be Slimers running around everywhere. Do you think we’ll be able to casually walk out of here then?”
“He’s right,” Devon said, with another grunt of pain. “We have to go now.”
“How?” Paige asked.
Devon winced as he straightened. “I’m fine.”
“Yeah, right. You can barely breathe. The last time you told me you were fine, you passed out, and I had to drag you through the halls of the castle to your dad. I can’t drag you through the village with Slime Dragons wandering the streets.
” Paige wagged a finger at him. “So, unless you are sure you can make it into the jungle, we’re not going. ”
“Make up your mind, Paige. We can’t stand here all day.”
“I can do it,” Devon insisted. “Let’s go.”
He took a step toward the door when his knee collapsed and he fell to the ground.
“Wow, you’re a wimp,” Dewey said, shaking his head. “You are deceptively fit. All those muscles really suggest you’re far more capable than you are.”
“That’s not helping,” Paige said, shaking her head. “He’s never going to make it to the town limits like this. Is there anything we can do to help the pain in his back?”
“I could mix up some slime…the good kind. But we’d need to find ingredients.”
“What are the chances they have them here?”
“One hundred percent. This is a dragon town. They’d all know how to make a simple pain reliever and keep the ingredients stocked. Some of them may even have a batch made up for emergencies.”
Paige nodded. “Okay, let’s try to find the kitchen in this place and hope they have everything you need. We’ll get him dosed up and make a run for it. Devon, stay here, don’t move.”
“That was unnecessary. The dude literally can’t move.”
Paige rolled her eyes as they walked through a living room with a giant sectional couch. She stared at a large storage cabinet with glass doors as she wandered past.
“Are those board games?”
Dewey buzzed over to the furniture piece and studied it. “Yeah. Wow, they’ve got a nice collection.”
“They’re huge!” Paige said as she craned her neck to stare at the stack.
“You could probably walk around on the board,” Dewey said. “I can. My siblings hated it. I’d run across the Monopoly board and mess everything up.”
Dewey flew away from the cabinet, signaling her to follow.
“You played Monopoly?” Paige asked as the flooring turned from hardwood into massive tiles.
“Not anymore. My family gets too angry. And my sister burned up the board once when she went bankrupt.”
“Wow, that’s dangerous.”
Paige made her way around the large island as Dewey flew around overhead. He grunted as he tugged a cupboard open and retrieved the smallest bowl from a set. He lugged it to the island and plopped it down before flitting around to retrieve other ingredients.
“Do they have everything?” Paige asked as she climbed the rungs on a stool like a ladder and scrambled on top of the island.
“Yep,” Dewey groaned. “Whew. This is a workout. Most of these ingredient containers are as big as me.”
“Look at the bowl!” Paige said. “You could probably fit inside it, and it’s the smallest.”
Dewey winced as he picked up the measuring set.
“What’s wrong?”
“Well, they have measuring sets comparable to their size. Which is big. So, I need to do my best to estimate this for Devon’s size. What do you think he weighs?”
“Umm, two hundred pounds?”
“Really? With all the muscle?”
“I don’t know!” Paige exclaimed, throwing her hands out to the sides.
“I’ll go a little heavy just in case.”
Dewey used his paws to measure instead of the massive measuring spoon set. He grabbed a whisk and tossed it in the bowl. “I’m going to need help with this.”
Paige grabbed ahold of the handle and ran around the bowl in circles to stir.
“That’s good. That should do,” Dewey said after a few rotations.
Paige dropped the whisk. “I’ll empty a water bottle, and we’ll use that to give this to him.”
“Perfect.”
Paige retrieved a half-filled bottle from her pocket and dumped it into the large sink on the end of the island before she returned to submerge it in the slime.
“Okay, ready.”
Dewey took the container from her as she climbed back to the floor. They made their way back to Devon.
Dewey thrust the pain reliever toward him. “Here you go, buddy. Drink up.”
“Thanks, pal. I appreciate it.” Devon grabbed the bottle and downed it.
“Should work in just a few minutes.”
Paige glanced out the door, drumming her fingers on her forearm. “Any sign of our friend?”
“Why do you always say that?” Dewey asked. “He’s not our friend.”
“It’s a figure of speech. Okay, fine. Any sign of the dragon who slimed Devon?”
Devon sucked in a breath as he wiped at his mouth. “Haven’t seen him.”
“Good. Whenever that stuff kicks in, we’ll make a run for it and hope we clear the village without spotting him.”
“Right,” Dewey said. “The last thing we need is that guy breathing down our necks.”
“Or one of us getting slimed again.” Paige shifted her weight from side to side, jabbing at her glasses as she flicked another gaze to the skies outside. “Has it been long enough yet? Do you feel better?”
“Geez, Paige, impatient much?” Dewey asked.
“Sorry, but yes, I’m a little impatient. I would very much like to escape from a village filled with Slime Dragons who would eat us.”
Dewey puckered his teal lips. “When you put it that way, sure, it sounds urgent.” He shifted his gaze to Devon. “So, how you feeling, pal?”
Devon wiggled his shoulders and rolled his neck around. “Not half-bad. I probably could make it. That’s fast-acting stuff.”
Dewey winked and poked a finger at him. “You know it. Okay, let’s get out of Dodge.”
Paige inched out of the doorway and scanned the skies. “Looks clear. Let’s go.”
Dewey perched on Paige’s shoulder as she scurried from their hiding spot, hugging the wall of the domicile. “Which way?”
“Ummm,” Devon said, shifting his gaze from left to right.
“Not you. You’re terrible at directions. Dewey, which way?”
Dewey wrinkled his nose. “I was afraid you were talking to me. Hold on, I’ll fly up and look.”
“Be careful,” Paige called in a hushed tone as he fluttered up in the air. He spun in a circle before he descended.
“No sign of Slimer, and the village entrance is that way.” He poked his finger in the general direction. “It’s not too far.”
“Good,” Paige said as she sucked in a steadying breath and pushed herself away from the wall, then hurried across the street.
She darted from hut to hut, using them as shelter while making her way in the direction Dewey indicated.
“Paige, wait up,” Devon called, slamming into the side of a hut as he caught up to her.
“What’s wrong with you?” Paige asked, crinkling her forehead.
“Nothing. I feel great.”
She studied his dark eyes for a moment before she straightened and poked a finger at him. “You’re high.”
He chuckled, covering his mouth as he struggled to stop himself.
Paige snapped her head to Dewey, giving him an irked glance. “You did it again.”
“Sorry! I was working with a handicap. I had to guesstimate everything!”
Paige pressed her lips together in a thin line and shook her head. “At least it’s not me this time. You have a terrible habit of doing this stuff to me. Let’s hope it’s not far to get out of here, and he can stay on his feet.”
“Shouldn’t be too much further,” Dewey promised. “Just around this corner, down a side street, into the main street, and then run for the wall.”
“Oh, is that all?” Paige said with a roll of her eyes as she slid along the hut and peered around the corner.
“Paige, Paige,” Devon whispered in a loud voice.
“What?” Paige asked, twisting to eye him.
“I think your red hair is really pretty.”
Paige heaved a sigh, returning her gaze forward. “Come on.”
“Wow, Casanova is even flirtier when he’s high.”
Paige grabbed Devon’s arm and tugged him along behind her as she darted down the narrow side street and peered around a hut onto the main road. “I see the entrance. Let’s make a run for it.”
Devon nodded, his head bobbing up and down over and over again. “Wait, wait.”
“What now?”
“You are so–”
Paige clamped a hand over his mouth. “Shut up. Don’t speak again until we’re out of here. Let’s go.”
She grabbed his arm and tugged him toward the stone dragon-flanked opening. A shadow passed over them. Paige’s heart skipped a beat as she glanced up to find the dragon sailing overhead.
“Oh, great. That’s just perfect.”
She picked up her pace, trying to reach the cover of the trees and hoping the foliage hid them.
“Faster, Paige!” Dewey shouted from her shoulder
“I’m trying to go faster, but Devon is like a dead weight. Run, Devon!”
Devon picked up his pace, his feet stumbling around before he splatted face down on the road.
“Get up,” Paige grunted as she struggled to pull him to his feet.
The dragon made another pass over top of them before he dove down toward them.
“Crap,” Paige said as she got Devon back onto his feet. “Come on.”
They started toward the opening in the wall again when air blasted them as the dragon swooped past. He landed between them and the exit. With his teeth bared, he growled. Green-tinged saliva dripped from his fangs.