Chapter 27

Conversation on the back of a dragon was severely limited for two main reasons. The first was the wind seemed to rush the words past at an alarming rate. The second and decidedly more unpleasant reason was the urge to lose his breakfast every time he opened his mouth. The dragon had grossly understated the bumpiness of the ride. The air currents pushed them up and down unsteadily beating the dragon in a swirl of motion that turned Prince Orin quite green after the first fifteen minutes. He felt every bone jarring buffet of the wind rattle him to his very teeth.
Once over mountains, the dragon’s glide evened out, but the land still seemed dizzyingly far below. The plain below them was a sheet of gold and nothing else.
“Can we land for a little while?” Orin shouted at the dragon. Pylon let out a maow that Orin interpreted as a second vote. Snult immediately began a descent. As they reached the plain of grass, Snult dropped the cat from his claws and Pylon landed gracefully. Snult settled in the grass and his passengers slid off.
Pylon was already licking down the fur that had been ruffled from the trip. He lifted a paw distastefully. The ground was slightly slushy from too much rain, but the sky was clear and bright. The dragon began to shrink and landed on Masonae’s shoulder.
“Awful wet down here, isn’t it?” Snult said. “I’m hungry. Bring on the meat.” Masonae gave him some of the leftovers from last night.
Prince Orin tried to plan their next move, but instead found himself concentrating on not spilling his guts out. He lost the battle and bent over in a heave. He straightened up and saw that the other two seemed to be having no problems except for an extremely bad hair day.
“Pardon me,” Prince Orin said. Masonae held out a piece of bread but he shook his head. “I feel better already,” he said.
“Are you ready to continue?” Brother Hricks asked. Prince Orin looked at Snult who smiled in a knowing and toothy grin.
“Perhaps we could walk for a bit.”
They plodded their way through the tall grass and Prince Orin’s stomach truly began to settle.
“So dragon,” Orin began.
“Dragon has a name.”
“Snult,” Orin corrected himself.
“Do dragons only have one name? Or do they change them? I mean like Snult, Knight Slayer or something like that, Brother Hricks asked.”
“How about Snult, I’m Going To Eat You If You Don’t Stop Writing In That Stupid Book?”
“That’s a little long, I think,” Masonae said trying not to smile.
“Most of the time I feel like Snult the Underappreciated.”
“I thank you for getting us over the mountains,” Prince Orin said.
Snult just shook his head. “You’ve got to say it before it’s asked for.”
“Well, I… I’d like to thank you in advance for helping us, Snult. Do you have any idea where this tree is?”
“Not really. There really aren’t any trees around here in Kansia.”
“This place has a name?” Brother Hricks asked.
“Everything has a name, even if you give it one yourself.”
“Did you name it?”
“Nope. Somebody else did, a long time ago. Otherwise I would have called it something like Plainland. Or Boring as All Get Out.”
“Where are the people who live here?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I haven’t been here for over a hundred years, so my information is slightly dated. I do remember there weren’t a whole lot of trees though, and it looks like that hasn’t changed.”
“Your Highness, I think I’m sinking,” Brother Hricks said. Sure enough, he was up to his knees in muck one second, and gone the next.
Masonae tried to grab him, but only got a mud bath for his trouble. Prince Orin drew his sword.
“We must save him!” He began to dig through the mud with his sword. A few swiped showed the entrance to a narrow tunnel, but the dirt filled in as fast as he could dig.
“I am so not going down there,” Snult said as he clung to Masonae’s neck.
“We can’t leave him,” Masonae said as he jumped high, and landed feet first into the hole, disappearing quickly. The dragon let out a terrified squeak as they were swallowed up. Prince Orin glanced around in a panic. He was about to be left alone on a plain with no sign of life except grass while his companions were gulped in by the ground.
He took a deep breath, pulled his sword to his body and followed Masonae down the hole. He slid down in a rapid pace, slaloming back and forth against the walls of the tunnel. Thankful he could breath, he tried to catch himself against the sides, but found them too slippery for a purchase. He could see nothing in the pitch black of the tunnel, but could feel that the tunnel was now made of stone, rather than the mud which could collapse in on him.
The bottom of the tunnel gave out on him and Orin found himself falling for a moment before splashing into a pool. He sputtered to the surface to see a soggy Hricks helping Masonae onto a ledge by the side of the pool. He swam over and the two of them helped him out. Snult was on the side, huffing and puffing a cloud of steam. He let out a sneeze of fire and gave himself a final shake.
Masonae stared up at the hole in the ceiling, as if waiting for something else. Prince Orin inspected it as well. There was no way they were getting back up through that thing.
“Too bad there’s no wood to start a fire. At least it’s rather warm in here,” Brother Hricks said, wringing water out of his cassock.
“Pylon?” Masonae finally said. Finally, Prince Orin understood. The giant cat hadn’t followed them down. He was still up there.”
“I don’t suppose Snult, that you could--”
“Oh don’t even think about it. I couldn’t get back up there if I tried. A dragon needs space to fly. Pylon’s a big boy. I’m sure he can manage on his own.”
“But he’s alone,” Masonae said. He looked as if he were about to cry.
“Yes, but I’m sure it will be easy to find him once we get back to the top,” Prince Orin said firmly though he had no idea how they were going to accomplish that task.
“More strange men!” A voice called their attention to a small pale woman dressed in white silk.
“Hello, mistress, we’ve landed here—”
“Did you also kill dragons?”
“Yes. We’ve killed many dragons,” Hricks said. “He’s a prince on a quest.”
“Oh, well, I don’t know about quests, but if you’ve killed dragons, you have to come with me.”
Not knowing what else to do, the party followed her through a hole in the cave wall and through several enjoining caverns.
“More strange men,” she said to every woman she met. They tagged along. By the time they arrived, still dripping at their destination, they had collected at least twelve women. Orin smelled a combination of peppers, eggs and onions emanating from a pan placed over a large cooking fire. A man with a large spoon looked up from his dish and stared at them with a look that started with startlement, then moved to furiousity, and finally glazed over with a grim determination.
“What are you doing here?” His words dripped with venom, but he wasn’t directing them to Prince Orin. He was staring at Masonae.
“Hi Dad.”