Stuck in the Land Of Dragons

CHAPTER EIGHT

Theo was taken aback.

"Locksharti? The boy who went beyond the border and was never seen again?"

"Yep, that's me. Now let me tell you my tale of woe." Locksharti began to tell his 'tale of woe.'

"T'was a dare. My friend Joe. He dared me to go beyond the border and bring something cool back. Well, I went in alright. I was an adventurous young lad. So I had just gone past the border, when I see this shiny silver thing. It had red on it and two buttons: 'on' and 'off'. Well, before I took it back, I decided to press the 'on' button. So I did, and this silver portal thing came. I stared at it. It was mesmerising. Then something pushed me into the portal and I dropped the portal opener into a lake. The portal closed and I was stuck in this land full of these flaming," He whacked a tiny, insect-like dragon that was buzzing around him with his book. "dragons! Anyway, you've got the way back, my boy, so now I - we – don't have to live here anymore. So, where is this portal opener?"

"Um, well, I brought my friend here and we got chased by some dragons. He got so scared he opened the portal again and jumped right through with the opener in his pocket," Theo said sadly. Locksharti was lost for words.

"But- you have to- waited all these years..." He spluttered. "Well, we must find another way to get out of here. I've been working on a theory for what feels like a century, yes, I must get back to it..." And Locksharti turned his back to Theo and Willow and bent over a piece of paper that he pulled from the book. Willow looked at Theo quizzically. Theo turned and started to walk away, so Willow followed.

"How did you know who that man was?" Willow asked.

"Mum and Dad told us this story. 'Once there was a curious and disobedient boy called Locksharti. He decided one day that he would cross the border. He did just that and was never seen again," Theo recited the story he knew so well. "He said he felt like he had been here for a century. Well Ahigo says that his grandfather told him that story when he was little, so this guy is ancient."

The pair found themselves in front of their cave, so they went inside. Kala bounced up to them. Willow picked her up and nuzzled her face. Kala turned pink and started purring. Bellisca looked up from the table and smiled at them.

"Back already? Did you get chased by some stingers?" She asked. "It's stinger season, your father and brother ought to be careful; I should've warned them."

"No, we weren't chased by stingers," Willow said. She turned to Theo. "They're these little bee dragons that sting like a million needles." She turned back to her mother. "We saw this man on a deck chair-" "You saw a man?" Bellisca squeaked.

"Yeah," Theo said. "He said his name was Locksharti, you know, the boy who crossed the border and was never seen again? Yeah, well that was him. He told us that he found the portal opener and then got pushed through the portal by who-knows-what and then dropped the portal opener into the lake."

"Oh my goodness. I thought that was a legend. I thought we were the only people here," Bellisca gasped.

"Yeah, me too. He said he was working on this theory to get us out of here." At that moment Thyrin and Wickley opened the cave door and came in carrying a weird looking horse.

"Lunch!" Thyrin said as he dropped it on the table.

"Me and Dad killed this big salacker by ourselves. It's enough for lunch and dinner," Wickley puffed out his chest proudly.

"Well, Wickley did most of it," Thyrin said as he ruffled his son's hair. "He trapped it with a rope trap. Then we both killed it by-"

"Darling, spare us the details, we want to eat," Bellisca said smiling at her husband.

"Theo, tell Daddy and Wickley what happened to us today." Willow shoved Theo. So he began his story about meeting the old man.