The way Cosmo’s sister explained everything to me, it was simple. I just needed to wiggle into the cave, locate Giganto’s mouth and put the packet with the spell attached to it into his mouth. Then I could leave. Of course, this left out the details, like how I was going to do this without waking him, how I was actually going to reach his mouth and get the packet into it, again without waking him, and how I was going to escape before he turned me into ashes. All righty then.
The dragons did give me a small magical version of a flashlight so I could see what I was doing. They also gave me a small shoulder bag containing not one, but three packets with the shrinking spell attached. “Don’t worry about giving him too much. We would much rather have him small than large – he is a very dangerous fellow as he is!” Cosmo’s sister told me as she handed it to me. “And also, these contain an ingredient that will make him unable to use his magic after a few moments, so all you have to worry about is his fire.”
I think I must have whimpered here, because she turned to another dragon for a brief discussion. Then she turned back to me and said, “We will put a small protective spell on you. I say small because there is little we can do if he decides to blast you with fire while he is still large. That amount of fire is not something we can really protect you from without bulky equipment. However, the spell we are using for you will protect you from his fire once he shrinks.”
“How long will it take him to shrink?” I asked.
“The spell will start to work as soon as it comes into contact with him. If he swallows it, he will shrink fully within ten minutes. If he does not, the process will be much slower, and if he does not absorb enough of the spell before he spits it out, it will stop working and he will stop shrinking. Your best bet is to get it far enough back in his mouth so that he will swallow it before he knows what is happening. Oh – and he will no doubt wake up very quickly once he begins to shrink. You might want to make a hasty exit.” She patted me on the back encouragingly. Cosmo wound in between my legs – a trick he had learned from my cat Isadore before Isadore had abandoned us for the safety of Jon’s house. Cosmo was a bit large to do this well, and he was about to knock me over when his sister picked him up and held him. “You are staying right here this time, little one. I am not about to let you run off to help. I think everyone will feel better if we know you are safe.”
I nodded enthusiastically, and then reached over to give him a hug. He whined slightly and I felt a tear leak down my cheek and dampen his scales. “Cosmo, I can’t do this if I’m worried about you. This time, you need to let me do the saving, okay?” He complained, but settled down in his sister’s arms. I gave him a kiss on his snout and managed to growl out a much practiced phrase in dragon, telling him to be good. He wiggled again, and his sister handed him off to someone on the other side of the Door before he could change his mind about cooperating and escape again.
“Are you prepared?” she asked me. “I am sorry that I need to ask this of you. You have done far more than even most dragons would be willing to do…I do not know how we can ever repay you.” She shook her head.
“Let’s just finish this for now. It needs to be done, and I’m the one.”
She nodded and put the flame resistance on me, followed by a camouflage spell. I made sure I had the little light and the spell packets and we set off for the blocked opening to Giganto’s sleeping cavern.
When we rounded the corner of the cavern we were in and I saw the huge opening blocked by an equally huge stone I almost turned around and ran. I remembered how large Giganto was. I remembered how incredibly intense his flames had been, even behind the magical barrier of the Door.
I drew in a shuddering breath, and then another, because the crack I was supposed to slide through was small enough that I was going to have to become very skinny to get through it. I hoped my head wouldn’t get stuck.
I could hear the rasping snores coming from the cavern. At least he was still asleep. I needed to get this done quickly, before he began to wake up.
I tapped Cosmo’s sister on the arm and whispered, “I’m going now.” She nodded, patted me on the back again, and I began wiggling through the crack.
I fit through, but only just. On the other side it was pitch black. There was a little light leaking in through the crack I had just squeezed through but it didn’t go far in the enormous cave. I could see an area that was even darker in the middle of the cavern- this must be Giganto. His snores were echoing off the walls and the whole place resounded with them. I crept along the wall as quietly as I could, feeling for potential hiding places. I needed somewhere to duck when he started to shrink and woke up, preferably somewhere that would block the flames.
I was careful with my little light – I definitely didn’t want to wake up Giganto with it. I moved slowly and soon found an outcropping that would work as a shield. There was even a small niche behind it to squeeze into.
I couldn’t put it off any longer. I had to do what I had come to do. I began to move towards the sleeping dragon. I could see now that he had his back to the opening and to me. His massive tail was curled around him and his wings hung limply at his sides. He seemed to be deeply asleep. I edged around him, keeping to the walls as much as possible.
Finally I was at his front. Up close like this he seemed to be larger than ever and once again I almost turned and ran. Only the idea that things would probably be worse for everyone if I did run kept me going. Leaving this fellow free to escape and wreak more havoc was not an option. I looked at him carefully.
Giganto slept with his mouth open. This was possibly the best news I had had all day. Not only that, but there was a rock near his head which, if I could climb up on it, would let me all but drop the packet into his open mouth, right onto his tongue. He’d eat the thing before he ever knew what hit him.
As quietly as possible I edged around his huge head (I’ve been in smaller cars) to the base of the rock. Up close, he smelled of burnt things. It wasn’t a nice clean campfire smell like Cosmo had, but a nasty charred flesh smell. I gagged slightly as I crept in front of his mouth. His teeth glinted in the tiny light I held.
The rock was right beside his mouth, and I needed to be very, very careful here. There were a few foot and hand holds on the rock and I started up it. My foot slipped when I was half-way up – about five feet or so – and I froze as pieces of rock crumbled and skittered off onto the floor.
Giganto never even twitched. I went slower so I wouldn’t slip again; next time I might not be so lucky and he might wake up or I might fall and land in his mouth. Now that was a nasty thought.
Finally I stood atop the rock, right over his huge face. His head was slightly to the side, with his mouth open a little bit facing me. One soft toss with the spell packet and it would all be over. I pulled the first of the packets out of my shoulder bag.
Balancing carefully, I made a slow underhand lob toward his mouth. The packet hit one of his teeth and bounced. I almost cried as I saw it falling towards the floor where it landed with a small plop. Well, I had two more.
I leaned out a little more over his head before I tossed the second packet. This time it landed in his mouth. I followed it quickly with the third packet, which also hit its mark.
When the third packet hit, he shifted irritably in his sleep. His head was now facing the other way. I hoped that the spell packets hadn’t fallen out of his mouth when he moved. I stood there on top of that rock watching and waiting to see if he was going to begin to shrink or if I was going to have to retrieve the fallen packet from beside his head and try again.
I waited what felt like forever, and he didn’t start to shrink. I was going to have to get that first, fallen, packet and try again.
Quietly, carefully, I climbed down from the rock and quietly, carefully I slipped towards his head. His claws were larger than I thought possible and his scales were enormous. I skirted his nose and reached the fallen spell packet. Picking it up, I went back around his head.
If I reached up, I could put it right in his mouth. First, though, I made a small rip in the covering. This time, some of the contents would be sure to get into his system. Before I could lose my nerve, I reached up and dumped the thing in his mouth hoping he would stay asleep and not notice.
He noticed. The stuff in the packet must have tasted bad – really bad. He jerked awake almost immediately, his head pulling up and his eyes flying open as he peered around frantically. He let out an ear-shattering bellow and shook his head, trying to get rid of what ever it was that tasted so awful.
When he reared up, I could see the two other packets where his head had been. Thinking fast, I grabbed them, ducked, and rolled over to the wall. Hopefully he was being loud enough that he wouldn’t hear me. The camouflage spell was still holding, so he couldn’t see me.
Giganto thrashed around, flaming the cavern randomly. I could see that he was starting to shrink, although it was painfully slow. I began to creep around the wall towards the entrance, or at least towards the safety niche I had found.
He quickly got his wits about him, and I heard the release word for the camouflage spell being roared out. This was not good – it didn’t take any magic to release the spell. I pushed myself against the wall and wished I were already on the other side of the cavern where that little hidey-hole was.
He didn’t see me right away, and I continued to creep in the direction of safety. He flamed all around the cavern and then he saw me, an evil snarl coming from his throat.
I made a break for it, running as fast as I could towards the other side of the cavern. I just needed to buy a little time while the spell worked and I literally darted right behind him, hoping to confuse him.
He whipped around to follow me, blasting fire as he went, his wings flipping out to help him turn quickly,. I must have moved faster than he thought – I certainly moved faster than I thought possible – and he mistimed his blast. Instead of hitting me, he hit his own wing with his flame.
While the dragons were proof against their own flames to a point, it still had to hurt quite a bit and he stopped pursuing me to roar with pain. I reached the far wall and paused for a second, hefting one of the leftover packets in my hand. What did I have to loose? I took aim and threw it as hard as I could. The packet hit home, landing in his open mouth and exploding on contact. I followed it immediately with the third one. This one went straight down his throat.
The previous packet was causing him problems, though. Even I could see that Giganto was getting ready to sneeze. I ran as fast as I could to the little place I had found to hide in and ducked in it just as he let loose the largest sneeze I have ever heard. Flames blew everywhere and even with the protective spell on me and rocks in front of me, I was singed. Two more sneezes followed the first and then there was silence. I looked out, and saw a wonderful sight. Giganto was shrinking very, very rapidly. Apparently all three spells had worked, and at the rate he was going he would soon be about the same size as Cosmo.
When he saw me, he roared furiously, but it was a tiny echo of his former roar and I actually laughed. Enraged, he charged at me, blowing flames at me, but my protective spell as good enough to keep me safe from his fire as small as he was now. Indeed, he was shrinking as he ran and looked more comical than anything else.
I could hear a grating behind me as the dragons in the other cavern opened the block on the door enough to get through. When he saw that happening, Giganto stopped and turned to run the other way. He was quickly overtaken by the dragons who rushed through the opening. I walked out to join Cosmo’s sister, exhausted.
“You have done it,” she said to me, and gathered me in her arms, hugging me like she had Cosmo.
“Yeah, I guess so. And I’m alive to tell about it.” I was on the verge of tears.
With no further comments, she led me through the Door to safety, where Cosmo leapt into my arms, doing more damage to me than Giganto had managed to do. Then I held him and cried.
****************
Three days later, I stood on the lawn and peered down into the ruins of my house. All that remained was a heap of rubble in the bottom of a pit. I could still smell the burning although Jon told me it had actually stopped smoking several days ago. The biggest surprise was the Door. The physical part of it in this world was still here at the top of the heap of debris, but all the magic was gone from it – it was just a burnt, faded, peeling green door with cracks running through the carvings.
The pit the house had collapsed into was caused by the hole the dragons dug to pull the magic of the Door loose from the bedrock it was set in. The house had collapsed into the pit and then burned from the flames that Giganto had poured into it. The powers that be on this world were calling it a sinkhole and massive gas explosion. It didn’t really matter what they called it. My home was gone.
Jon and Rob both told me I could come and stay with them while we sorted out what I was going to do next. Thomas, who had showed up after I shrunk Giganto, had promised me a new place to live by Christmas, with everything he could replace being replaced. I didn’t even have to get grumpy with him – although I did anyway. He took it well – he knew he deserved it.
I had had another offer of shelter, though. The dragons, Cosmo’s family to be precise, had told me I could stay with them in the interim. I had really enjoyed getting to know Felix despite the circumstances so I decided to take Cosmo’s family up on their offer. I would be traveling with Thomas back to the other portal tomorrow for my visit. Today I was taking care of business: explaining to the authorities that I had been away on camping trip when my house burned down (well, sort of, but I didn’t think I could explain what had really happened), buying some new clothes and knitting supplies, and trying to see if anything was left to save at my old house.
Thomas was down in the pit right now with protective spells on him, trying to find things worth salvaging. He had fireproofed some things because of Cosmo, and we hoped that they might have survived. Eventually, he came up with the hard drive from my computer, several photo albums, and a few other things. Rightfully, they should have been ashes now, but his spells had worked well. He was lucky – very lucky. I told him so. He looked relieved; he knew. He went back down into the pit to look at the remains of the Door and I could have sworn I heard him muttering about fixing it.
Tomorrow I would be setting out on another adventure; hopefully a much tamer one. And in a few weeks, I would have a new home – one that included Cosmo. He and I were bonded, both of us, quite thoroughly. I loved the little stinker. But for now, I was going in to a big dinner with my friends and there wouldn’t be any cave lizard at all served tonight.
-She Wolf © 2007
