When the Old Strike Back

Belinda and Carola, both unarmed, stand off to one side watching.

At that moment, who should wander into the cave but the old man! "You called me with the charm," he says, "and now I'll save your life as I promised."

The Dragon roars with laughter. "What are you going to do, hit me with your walking stick? No wait, I know, flail me with the toothpick you use to clean your dentures! Even better... kick me with your artificial leg!" And the berating continued.

After some ten minutes of insults and laughter the old man finally speaks. "You talk too much." Then the old man looks into the Dragon's eyes, a deep, intense stare.

"Now what?" says the Dragon. "You going to hypnotize me?"

But the old man says not a word. He simply stares for the longest time. And then his body begins to tremble.

"Move out of the way, old man," says Fred to the old man. "You're obviously sick, get out of the way before the Dragon eats you up in one bite!"

But the old man does not move, in fact, he stands shaking and trembling as if he hadn't heard a word.

Astra is about to shove the old man out of the way when the trembling becomes so intense that the old man's skin falls off! Besides the great gasp no one says a word. The old man stands, a mess of muscles and a body of bone, not moving but for the internal tremors. The moist mucous membranes flitch and flinger and begin to twirl about like vipers coiled and ready to strike. Fred wants to vomit, Astra looks away. Belinda and Carola begin to inch away from this particular cavern. The Dragon simply stares.

The writhing mass of hard and soft tissue whips and wails and then leaps onto the Dragon's snout! With a thwack that sounded like whiplash the Dragon flinches its neck backwards, but to no avail, the Old Man (?) or whatever he/it was is firmly attached to its great big snout. The Dragon thrashs about, clawing at the living membrane trying to hurt it, kill it, to at least get it off of and out of its mouth.

The two dragon-servants scream and flee down one passageway while Fred and Astra scream and flee down a different one. Whatever ungodly thing is in that chamber, no one, not from any civilized world should ever have witnessed it.

Even as they run they hear a roar coming from that chamber, yet it is one mixed with the sound of liquid gurgling.

1. Fred & Astra...
2. Belinda & Carola...
3. the Dragon...
4. the Old One...

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