Chapter Five
When we got to the first cells, I looked at the prisoners inside. None of them were Cloud or Averna.
“None of these are what I’m looking for,” I said.
“OK we will look at the others,” he said, so we continued on down the hall. When we got to the other cells, I saw Averna.
“I would like this one,” I said pointing at her. He opened the cell and pulled her to her feet. He then put her in chains and pulled her along as we went to the next cells.
I didn’t see Cloud and asked, “Are there any more prisoners.”
“Nope, but one was sold to the people who work for a dragon up in the mountains,” he explained. Not good, I thought.
“Well I’ll just take this one then,” I said.
“What will you pay for her?” he asked. I dug around in the bag that I had stolen. I took out five pieces of gold.
“How about this?” I asked. He took out a calculator and calculated how much that was.
“Yes that is a good price,” he said. I handed him the gold and he handed me Averna.
“Thank you,” I said and led her up the steps.
When we came out of the stairwell, Ector saw us and waved us over.
“What did you get?” I asked. “Did you get any swords?”
“Yup, I got three okay swords,” he said, showing them to me.
“They will have to do,” I said. Turning to Averna I asked, “Do you know us?”
“Of course I don’t know you evil slave traders,” she said angrily.
“Averna you know us,” I said gently.
“How do you know my name?” she asked.
“Can’t tell you now, lets get out of here,” I said. Then we got together our things and walked out the gate. After we were out of sight we ditched our trading clothes.
“I do know you!” she exclaimed. “Rudlin is it you?”
“Yup the one and only,” I said. She hugged me and then she saw Ector.
“Ector, you too,” she said and hugged him. She sat down. I could tell she was tired.
“Are you OK?” I asked.
“Yeah, I’m just really tired,” she said.
“We should probably get some rest,” Ector said. It was turning night.
“OK but tomorrow, first thing, we will go up Dragon Mountain to save Cloud,” I said. Then we settled in for the night.
When I woke up, I noticed that Averna and Ector were leaning on my shoulders. I didn’t move. They should have a little longer to sleep. I closed my eyes and opened them when someone shook me awake.
“Rudlin, Averna, wake up,” Ector said. Then I realized that Averna was leaning on my shoulder. I jumped up quickly, and she fell on the floor.
“Oww! What are you doing Rudlin?” she asked. Then she realized what had happened and her face turned red.
“Come on we have to save Cloud,” Ector said.
“R-right lets go,” I said grabbing my sword and putting it on my back. Then I helped her up and we were off.
We finally made it to the mountain at about the middle of the day. We sat down to take a break.
“I wish we brought some food,” I said. I was starving.
“We did I traded for it here,” Ector said handing me some bread.
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner?” I demanded with my mouth full.
“Because you didn’t ask,” he said. I groaned. Why does he always do this?
“Averna do you want some?” I asked.
“Sure,” she said. I gave her some out of the bag of bread. We rested a little before we started to hike up the mountain. I knew that there would be some monsters that we would need to get past to get to the cave. I was determined to save Cloud though.
As we went up the mountain, there were a lot of monsters, like a wolf that stood on its back legs like a human. There was also a snake that was huge with legs. We hid if we saw them coming so we didn’t have to fight them. We just hiked all day, and when it was finally nighttime, we were all very tired. We sat down and ate some bread before going to sleep. Then we heard a wolf howl. It was very hard to fight them off if they attacked us.
“We should probably take turns watching tonight,” I said.
“Good idea,” Ector said.
“Yeah, you take the first watch,” Averna said.
“OK fine. I’ll go first,” I said. As they fell asleep, I settled in to wait for this long night to end.
When I woke up no one was kidnapped. They were already awake, so I sat up.
“Can you pass me a piece of bread?” I asked.
“Sure,” Ector said, passing me a piece. As I ate, I heard some leaves crunching. I turned in that direction, but there was nothing. I turned away, but then suddenly, a wolf jumped out and chomped down on my right arm. Pain shot up my arm! Its grip tightened and I grabbed my knife. I stabbed it in its neck, and, after a struggle, it died.
“Are you OK?” Averna said concerned.
“Yeah, it’s just a scratch,” I said through clinched teeth.
“That’s what everyone says,” Ector said as he examined the wound. Then he wrapped it in some cloth tightly.
“Come on, we should get moving,” I said, standing.
After about two more hours we finally saw the cave opening. It was big and looked empty, but that didn’t fool me. I knew that there was a dragon in there.
“How do we get in?” Averna asked.
“We should wait until night fall to sneak in,” I said.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Ector said.
“I know because I came up with it,” I said grinning. Ector and Averna groaned. Then we started to wait for night.
(Photo of Dragon Mountain)
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