Chapter 245: The Golden Dragon’s Lair

Day 13

“Kip, why don’t you and Serkia put on the night vision goggles and then stay behind me. I don’t know if it will prevent him from hypnotizing you, but it can’t hurt. Just focus on his nose or something and try not to look in his eyes. I’ll handle the dragon if you two will take care of anything else,” I told them as we entered the dim cave.

I then drew my sword and held it aloft. It immediately flooded the small cave with blue light. Flaminia appeared to be excited.

“You don’t think our weapons would be effective against him?” Kip asked.

“I don’t know, but Thesan’s advice this morning seemed to indicate as much,” I replied aloud. I wasn’t trying to keep quiet. I could sense that he already knew we were coming.

When we reached the spot where the cave turned to the left, I paused and looked back at Kip and Serkia.

“Are you sorry you went to work for me?” I asked Kip in jest. It was one of the things I had learned from him. He always liked to make funny quips at the most serious moments.

“Hell no! Dragons can’t be as bad as a nest of Viet Cong with a machine gun!” he quipped back.

“Men are weird!” Serkia added.

“You tell ‘em, Sister!” Izzy’s thought came through.

“Alright! Here we go!” I said as I turned the corner and strolled out into a massive cavern.

I’ll say this, Pennar’s description didn’t do it justice. I swept my eyes from left to right and spotted a hundred times more treasure than he had described. I also saw, over to the far right, part of an elongated black tube. I was sure it was a piece of Don’rahall’s spacecraft.

Then I let my gaze drift upward.

“Don’t look in his eyes!” I warned them. “In fact, you should probably step back into the cavern some, because I’m sure nothing less than a couple of sixteen inchers from a battleship could do any damage to this mother,” I thought to Kip and Serkia.

I could feel them fanning out beside me, searching for cover while I continued to look at the monster sitting on a pile of treasure in front of me. He released a powerful screech as he rose on his taloned claws and fanned his wings to their full width, almost touching the sides of the cavern. Then settling down, he lowered his long neck and moved his head to the side slightly.

“You cannot be he who’s coming was foretold... “ The dragon’s voice rumbled in my brain.

“It depends on who did the foretelling,” I replied aloud. “If it was my nephew, Zeus, it is to be expected.”

“Your nephew? My how the ways of the gods have changed. And if he is your nephew, then why does he seek to destroy you?”

“I don’t know. I guess it was because he lost the cornhole tournament to me at the last family reunion,” I replied.

“Cornhole? What is this cornhole?”

“It really doesn’t matter. I am here today to reclaim something he took from me.”

“I can sense you eyeing the black tube. Is that what you seek?”

“What I seek I seek lies within the black tube,” I told him.

I could feel him probing my mind.

“Ah, I see. You seek the armor,” he finally said. “And what can you offer me for this armor? You are so small, you would not even make a tasty morsel, much less a full meal.”

“I offer to allow you to keep breathing! And continue the life you have here now.”

“Ha! YOU would allow ME to continue to live?” he snorted and a small flame shot from his mouth.

I didn’t reply but simply nodded my head as I held Flaminia high in my hand. Her blue light bathing the dragon and his whole lair in her brilliant glow.

“Well ... what have we here?” he crooned, unafraid.

A mighty voice, feminine in nature, then echoed across the cavern, reverberating off the walls and causing the ground to shake.

“I am called Flaminia! Named by my maker, after the goddess of the Silva Ciminia. I was commissioned by Thesan, the Great Mother of all the gods, and forged by The Titan God Xenitus with metals brought forth from deep within the fires of Tartarus by the guardian of hades, Cronus, himself.” she cried.

Then a blue flash issued forth from Flaminia and in just moments, melted the large pile of gold at the dragons feet. The dragon flapped his great wings and lifted his massive body away from the molten slag.

“To me!” I commanded Kip and Serkia as I raised my shields.

The dragon was looking for another perch and I knew that I was about to feel his heat.

I turned to face the dragon and made sure that Kip and Serkia were covered by my shield.

Just then, the dragon issued a mighty roar and flames flew from his mouth. You could see them as they licked all around my shield, yet through it all, we appeared unscathed, albeit a little warm. As soon as his flames abated, I dropped my shield and aimed my sword at his eyes.

Once again the blue flame shot forth. This time, it was the dragon’s cry that shook the walls of the cavern as he screamed in agony. He quickly ducked his head under his wing and I could sense his pain. And his outrage!