The Land of Dragons

Chapter 20

Right after Chapter 19

WHAT? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?

These were everyone's first thoughts after Seb and Lewis revealed themselves, apart from Lando who just stared at them for ten seconds or so. After the first thoughts came the guessing of the possible reasons. For Max, a tiny worm of doubt began stirring inside his head.

What if it was really just a huge prank?

"Don't you dare to say that this whole thing was just a nasty prank!" he looked at them, anger evident in his voice.

"No, no, I promise it's not a joke. Unfortunately the Devils really do exist and they're exactly as bad as you've experienced." Seb reassured him.

Max's rage subsided as fast as it came.

"Wait, how do you know what happened to us?" Charles frowned.

"We have our sources." Lewis said with a knowing smile.

"But if it's not a joke, then what are you doing here? And what did you mean with that dragonrider-thing? Dragons don't exist!" Pierre blurted out, unable to hold back the array of questions in his head.

As he said the last sentence, Alex frowned, then understanding dawned on his face and he stared at the creature which had climbed onto the table ahead of him. Pierre saw him and his words echoed in his head.

Dragons don't exist... Or do they?

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is happening?" Lando looked around, trying to catch up on the conversation.

"Don't worry, we will explain everything but maybe we should eat first, you are surely hungry." Seb replied. Lando realised he was right. They hadn't eaten properly for three days and he was famished.

The little creatures stirred at the mention of food. One by one, they jumped on the table, using the heads of the youngsters as a starting point. Max shot an annoyed look at the green creature. Why couldn't it simply climb down?

As they found no food on the table, the creatures began whimpering, making a considerably annoying choir.

"Bring that bucket of fish here, Max!" Seb gestured to a wooden bucket near the wall. "You should feed them otherwise we will never get to supper!" he said clearly speaking from experience.

Max fetched the bucket and carefully lifted a dead fish, holding its tail. He held it as far from himself as he could and stepped a little closer to the green lizard. It leapt forward, snatched the fish from the Dutchman's hand and sat down on his chair, chewing cheerfully.

"Hey! That's my chair!" Max said. The crature glanced at him, finished the fish and jumped off from the chair, leaving the bones there for Max. Lewis brought another bucket and Max threw the skeleton into it.

Lando also grabbed a fish and threw it to the far side of the room.

"Fetch it!" he said.

The creature bounded away, a suspiciously mischievous look in its eyes. Lando realised his mistake.

"Oh, don't bring it here please! I meant go and eat it and leave it there!" he corrected himself hastily.

But it was too late.

The lizard held the fish in its mouth as it ran towards Lando with full speed. When it was close enough, it swung the fish and threw it at Lando. It hit the boy square in the chest, leaving a fish-shaped patch of lizard dribble on his hoodie. The culprit let out a funny giggle, seized another fish from the bucket and sat down to eat it.

Alex wasn't too lucky either. He simply dropped the fish in front of his creature, trying the same tactic as with his cats. However, this lizard was different. It leapt up onto Alex's lap, then to the table, and finally arrived in the Thai's hood. It sat down there, munching on the fish. Judging by the sounds, Alex was sure his hood was being drenched with fish slime and lizard dribble.

The red lizard of Charles had climbed back into his pocket while they had been talking. It had felt that Charles' wrist still hurt like hell and used its ability to lessen the pain to help him. The Monegasque held a fish in front of the lizard's nose protruding from the pocket and it began chewing on it. By the end, half of the fish was scattered on the floor. Charles wrinkled his nose at the smell.

Learning from the previous mistakes, Carlos simply put the creature on the ground.

"Go get some fish for yourself," he said. The lizard would go to the bucket, fetch a fish and eat it peacefully.

At least that was what Carlos wanted. The creature had other ideas.

In a minute, Carlos was richer with the experience of a slimy, half-eaten fish sliding down on his back inside his shirt...

Pierre grabbed a fish by its tail and held it out for the creature to eat. He was intent on not letting go of it, not wanting to try any of his creature's ideas. The lizard took the action as an invitation to a tug-of-war game and pulled at the fish with all of its strength. Then suddenly it let go, causing Pierre to lose his balance. As he took a step backwards, he almost stumbled over the bucket still half full of fish. Fortunately, he managed to regain his balance, although the bucket toppled over, much to the joy of the lizards. Sensing that they were all occupied, Seb rose from his seat.

"I think it's time for us to eat," he said and put the pot of soup on the table.

And it's time for them to finally reveal what on Earth is happening here, Alex thought.

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Hi, I'm very sorry for the long wait, I just couldn't get myself around to writing for the past few weeks :(

But anyway, I did it now, so hope you enjoyed it :)

Edited 14.04.2024