“Kinky.” Kami got him to bend over, hands on his knees, then climbed to stand on his back. Thank goodness he’d been eating like a little piglet, because a month ago, he would have collapsed.
“Okay, I’m gonna pull it.”
Mercury squeezed his eyes shut. He could feel Kami yanking, the weight on his back going from toes to heels.
He didn’t know how long that box was, but knew without a doubt Kami would fall and there wasn’t anything about it because his hands and legs were in the gunk.
As Kami pulled, a great rumbling began to vibrate underneath his hands and feet.
“Kami? Kami? This isn’t good.”
“Just a second, I almost got it.”
“No, really, this is really—” Something began to move. The floor. He thought the floor was moving, but Kami wasn’t falling.
Something was weird. There was a strange grinding sound, and then a wild roar, and then there was a sharp, furious growl.
“Now look what you’ve done, you two are idiots!”
“Well, hi, grumpypuss!” Kami stepped down off of his back, and Mercury opened his eyes to find themselves in a completely different room.
“What happened?”
“I pulled the box; it was booby trapped.”
“Yes, you idiots, and now you’re trapped in here with me!” A skinny, very scabby-looking dragon lay there on the floor, wrapped around what looked to be a massive hoard.
“Hi?”
It was drier in here, not quite so gross, and there were stones just everywhere—stones, jewels, and gold. Weird.
Kami tilted his head. “So did you get stuck in here because you were trying to steal the hoard, or did you get stuck in here because you were protecting it?”
“I was stuck in here because I was protecting it. You’re stuck in here because you’re idiots. But at least you’ll be tasty to eat.” The dragon snapped its teeth at them, but he was so thin. So dull in his colors, his scales a rusty orange, almost. Was he supposed to be red?
Mercury shook his head. “Nope. That doesn’t work for me. I don’t want to be eaten. Kami?”
“No. No, I’m thinking no on the eating.” Kami sniffed a little bit. “I love all the stones though. There’s some good ones in here.”
“You can’t have my stones.”
“I was looking for the one in the box. Is there one in the box, right?”
“No, there was one in that box. It’s now with me. It’s mine.”
Kami looked at Mercury, who shrugged because he wasn’t sure what to do to convince the dragon who was stuck in a prison with a horde and nothing to eat that they needed to take his stone.
We could offer to take him with us.Kami said.Maybe that way he would give us one stone in exchange for freedom.
That’s a good idea. I’m sure if I rested up a little bit more, I could take him and the horde and you back home since I know exactly where I’m going.
Okay. I’m going to try to convince him to let me look for the stone in his hoard first, and then we’ll offer to take him back.Kami’s shoulders went back and up, his chin lifting like he was ready to start battling.
Mercury stood behind his shoulder, only a few feet away, ready to defend and help if necessary.
“What’s your name?” Kami asked. “I’m Kami, and this is Mercury.”
The dragon puffed out a little bit of smoke. “I wish you hadn’t told me that. It’d be way easier to eat you if I didn’t know your names.”
