Chapter 1

The Picnic

Have you ever experienced the fear of being truly lost, alienated and alone? No, well neither had they, until now!

Russell and Vicky were really enjoying themselves, they were having a great picnic by the edge of a forest. The picnic blanket, covered with paper plates, cutlery, sandwiches and lemonade, was set on a long gentle grassy slope. Away to their right was a long rock face reaching up to the sky, as though thrust upwards by some huge underground volcanic activity millions of years before.

They were there with their mum, dad and Rags their dog. Rags was a funny sort of dog, a mixture of everything really, medium sized with a wiry, sandy coloured coat and daft as a brush, but they all loved him to bits.

For the first time in what seemed like ages, they were together as a family. It seemed perfect. Dad worked in the computer industry and was away a lot on business. Mum was a psychiatric nurse, quite often she had to work shifts. It seemed that they never really got to spend any quality time together as a family, but today was different. A warm breeze, blue skies and a river, well more of a large stream really, to play and fish in. The children had two large clear plastic jars and one already had some tiddler's in it. This was going to be a good day.

Later, while they were all lounging on the grass eating their picnic lunch, Russell looked across at his sister Vicky and said, “hey lets go exploring after lunch shall we”? “Oh yes” she said her face coming alight with excitement, “we can explore the old caves in the cliff over there,” she said pointing off to one side. “Oh no not again” said Russell, “we’ve already explored them a dozen times already”. “You be careful how you go on in those caves,” said their father, “you might get lost”. “Huh there’s no chance of that in those caves dad, and they only go in three or four yards anyway’ said Russell, “and anyway we’ve already been inside them all”. “Well I want to,” Vicky said getting to her feet and stamping her foot impatiently, tears were starting to well up in her eyes. Russell seeing his sister was getting upset said “ OK Vic we’ll take Rags and go and explore them alright”, “well okay then” she said looking much happier, “we’ll go as soon as we have finished the picnic”. “Well now that you’ve got that sorted out, who wants some orange juice,” their mother asked with a smile.

When they had finished eating, they all helped to clear away the things, then the two children ran off to explore the caves. Rags, thinking this was playtime chased after them, barking with excitement.

They were typical children really, Russell was twelve years old with a mop of curly blond hair and blue eyes, and Vicky was ten, well ten and a half to be exact, also with blue eyes and shoulder length dark blond hair tinted with copper. Both were dressed in jeans, tea shirts and trainers, ideal for a lovely picnic day out.

Meanwhile their mother and father strolled to the nearby stream, Spread a blanket on the ground, and sat down on the grass, relaxing to the gentle babble of the water over rocks, and talked while they waited for their children to come back.

But the problem was, they didn’t come back.

Chapter 2

Trouble in the Caves

While Russell and Vicky explored the first three caves, Rags ran in and out barking excitedly all the time. Until that is they approached the fourth cave. Rags was about twenty yards ahead of the children when he entered the cave, and they could hear him barking happily. But as they drew closer to the entrance, the dogs barking suddenly became much fainter. The children stopped, looked nervously at each other, then without a word, walked on, but more cautiously than before.

They reached the mouth of the cave and looked in, somehow it seemed longer than they remembered, the back of the cave almost black with dark shadow. But there was no sign of Rags anywhere, though they could still hear him barking. “Where do you think he is” whispered Vicky, “I don’t really know, but he must be in there somewhere, come on lets have a look”, Russell replied quietly.

As they entered the cave they could see nothing unusual at first, but as their eyes became accustomed to the gloomy interior, they grew wide in excitement because they saw the entrance to a small tunnel leading off, right over in the far corner at the back of the cave. “That wasn’t there the last time we came in” Russell said, “and the cave didn’t seem so long either” Vicky added. Just then the muffled barking of Rags came echoing back from inside the small tunnel. “I wonder how far down he is, oh dear I hope he’s not stuck in there” Vicky said. Russell walked over to the small opening, saying, “I’ll go in and get him, it’ll be OK you’ll see”.

With that he got down on his hands and knees and poked his head into the tunnel. “Hey Vicky it gets bigger in here” Russell’s voice came echoing back at her, “ I’m going in to get Rags, you wait here” and with that he started crawling into the tunnel on his elbows and knees.

As Vicky watched his feet disappear, she felt a little uneasy and a bit lonely. “Are you alright Russell” she called out, there was no answer, she walked to the back of the cave and knelt down at the entrance of the small tunnel, “Russell are you alright “ she called, louder this time, she sounded really worried by now. After a long pause her brother’s muffled voice came back to her, “Vicky this is absolutely fantastic, come in here and have a look quickly,” “do you think that its safe” she asked nervously, “yes yes its safe, this is a really big cave, much bigger than the one your in”.

The excitement in his voice drove away any fear that she had felt. So she too got down on her hands and knees and crawled into the tunnel. In a very short while she was standing next to her brother in a large cavern. It was about thirty yards long, ten feet high and three or four yards wide. But the strange thing was that they could see, there was a faint light coming from somewhere, but neither of them could figure out where it was coming from. Suddenly Rags appeared from the far end of the cavern barking noisily. “Rags you bad dog, where have you been” Russell said in an admonishing voice. Rags either didn’t notice or didn’t care, for he continued to run around barking, and then just as suddenly, he ran back the way he’d come and disappeared. They both ran across the cavern to the point where Rags had gone, but only when they got round a very large boulder could they see another tunnel. Only this one was much larger than the first one.

From what sounded like a long way off came the sound of Rags barking, “come on Vicky” said Russell “we’ll go in together and get him, this tunnel is big enough to walk in”, and so they started to walk after Rags. Russell promised himself that he was going to give the dog a good telling off when they got him back.

They had walked about fifty yards or so into this tunnel when they saw a small bright circle of light in the distance. “Hey look we’re nearly at the end” Vicky said. There was no sign of Rags at all now, and as it got lighter they ran along the tunnel together laughing happily.

That’s when it happened.

Chapter 3

Trapped

From a long way behind them came a 'Whaauump' followed immediately by a deep rumbling sound and the ground beneath their feet began to shake, Russell knew straight away what it was. “Quick run Vicky” shouted Russell “the roof’s caving in.”

They ran, and the rumbling grew louder, there was a loud roaring sound in their ears, as the wind went rushing past them full of dust making them start to cough. Vicky glanced over her shoulder and squealed in fright, Russell looked back and could see the roof of the cave collapsing, and falling in on the place where a few moments earlier they had been walking, and what’s more it was catching them up quickly. “Faster Vicky Faster” Russell urged his sister on, and her legs worked even faster than before.The rumbling grew louder and there was a loud roaring sound in their ears, as the wind went rushing past them full of dust making them start to cough.

The rumbling noise took on an even more threatening growl as the falling roof gradually caught up on the fleeing children. Closer and closer it came until suddenly with lungs bursting they were out of the tunnel and onto a very wide ledge, where they had to pull up sharply or they would have fallen down a very steep rocky slope. The roof collapse stopped just as suddenly as it had started, and when the billowing dust had settled they could see that the roof had stopped falling about ten feet back from this entrance. The reason for this was that there was a giant slab of rock in the roof, which seemed to be protecting the entrance of the tunnel, rather like a lintel over a doorway.

A quick look around showed Russell that the ledge extended out perhaps eight to ten yards and probably thirty to forty yards both to the left and right before it curved away out of sight. Looking back they saw that the tunnel itself was blocked solid with hundreds of tons of rocks and dirt. They both knew that there no way they could get back the way they had come. Vicky started to cry, big tears rolling down her cheeks, leaving big streaks on her dusty face.

“Don’t worry Vic, we’ll be alright” Russell said with more confidence than he felt. In truth he was he was really worried because he had absolutely no idea where they were. He thought he knew every inch of the local countryside, but this place was totally strange to him. It was almost like being in another world, …or another time.

Vicky was almost crying, Russell knew he had to calm her down. Turning to his Vicky he said, “come on Vic, let’s sit down and rest for a few minutes then we’ll feel better.” They sat down just inside the cave entrance and after a few moments Vicky crying died down to a gentle sob, suddenly there was a little whimper, and Rags popped his head round the entrance of the cave.

With a joyful yelp he bounded over to where the children sat, licking them both all over. Vicky threw her arms around the dog’s neck. “Oh Rags” she sobbed “why did you have to run off like that, we wouldn’t be here now if”,……”look it’s no good blaming Rags”, Russell said gently, “ he was only doing what any dog would have done.” “I know, “ said Vicky “but” “no buts Vic, we’ve got to think about getting back to mum and dad, they must really be worried about us by now “. “Where are we Russell?” Vicky asked. “Well I’m not really sure,” he said, and then seeing the sad look on his sisters face, he added “but we can’t be far away, we only came through a couple of tunnel’s in this silly old cliff. “ he said trying to cheer Vicky up. “ Anyway Vic we’ll be fine, we’ll get back, but let’s rest for a while” he suggested on seeing how tired his sister now looked. As they sprawled in the cave entrance the warmth of the sun made them both feel drowsy and after just a few more minutes, they both fell into a light sleep.

They were woken up by the noise of Rags barking excitedly. They looked across to where Rags was digging like a mad thing in the dirt and rock that had come down from the roof after the cave in. “Hello I wonder what Rags has found, come on let’s take a look” Russell suggested, getting to his feet, and taking Vicky by the hand, he pulled her up also. Then they walked the few feet to where Rags was still digging furiously in the dirt.

“Move over Rags and lets have a look at what you’ve found” he said pushing the dog out of the way and kneeling down, Vicky got down beside him, together they began to move away the rocks and dirt with their hands. “Oh Russell look at that,” Vicky said. What she had seen was what looked like part of a bright orange rock that had come into view after Russell had moved a large chunk of clay. As he put the piece of clay to one side, he glanced down at the weird colour showing through the dust and said, “well one things for sure, its not a rock, its too smooth, come on lets dig it out” and they set to with renewed vigor. “It’s a ball, It’s a big orange ball” Vicky declared with authority as more of the strange object came into view.

“Could be: Russell said “ but the shape doesn’t seem right……. Its almost oval, its…..an egg, it’s a gigantic egg.” Together they uncovered the rest of it. Wow I’ve never seen an egg as big as that before, I bet its even bigger than an Ostrich egg” Vicky said. “I think it’s a lot bigger than that, I’ve seen pictures of Ostrich eggs, and they are nowhere as big as this, an elephant couldn’t lay an egg this big, come on lets move it out of here”. He took off his shirt and together they gently rolled the egg onto it. Then with Vicky lifting the arms of the shirt and Russell the tail they very carefully carried it out onto the ledge and laid it down gently. They rolled the egg off Russell’s shirt, which after a quick shake to remove the dust, he put back on. “What a strange colour it is, I wonder what it is, I’ll tell you something, I’d hate to meet the bird that can lay an egg this size, what do you say Vic?”

Vicky thought for a moment. “Well I just hope its not hanging around here, or we could have some big problems,” then on a change of subject said, “do you know something, I’m hungry, I know it seems crazy because we’ve not long ago had a picnic, but now I’m feeling really hungry.” Russell contemplated for a moment then replied, “Yes come to think of it, so do I, come on, let’s see if we can find something to eat.” They left the egg on the ledge in the warm sunshine and went down the slope towards a group of trees. Rags ran ahead of them chasing brightly coloured birds.

Chapter 4

Magic Fruit

Meanwhile back on the ledge, the egg now released from the cool earth that had imprisoned it for so long started to warm up in the heat of the sunshine.

As they approached the trees, they could see a lot of large juicy looking fruit hanging down from the heavily laden branches, some so low they were almost touching the ground. “Hey Russell these look nice” Vicky said reaching out to pick one of the delicious looking fruits. “Don’t touch it” Russell yelled, and pushed her hand away from the juicy apple like fruit she was just about to pluck. “Just remember what mum and dad told us about eating strange food. I just wish there was some way we could find out if these are safe,” he mused. “Oh look Russ, there’s a monkey up that tree” Vicky said. He looked and sure enough there was a small monkey sitting in the fork of the branches about half way up the tree. As they watched it, the monkey ran along a thick branch, reached out and picked one of the fruits and started to eat it.

Now Russell had read somewhere that almost anything a monkey can eat, so can a human, mind you everything about this place was strange. The rumbling in his belly decided him. “I’ll try one first” he declared with the authority of an elder brother, and picking one of the juicy looking fruits from a branch he sank his teeth into it. Just what he expected he didn’t know, but certainly not this, “Its fabulous” he said, “it tastes just like sticky toffee pudding” which just happened to be favourite desert.

Unable to hold back any longer Vicky picked one and bit into it. “Mmm mine tastes like chocolate sponge with custard,” which coincidentally just happened to be her favourite desert. Rags meanwhile had picked up a windfall and was chewing on it, just like a big meaty bone.

Meanwhile back on the ledge, the egg was getting warmer.

When they had eaten their fill, they made their way back to the cave, taking as many of the strange fruits as they could carry with them. They stopped once to drink from a small spring which must have come out of the cliff somewhere because it was crystal clear and icy cold and it tasted lovely. By the time they reached the cave the sun was going down fast and the sky had taken on a purple hue with green streaks mixed in with it, “I’ve never seen a sunset like this before” Russell said, Its very pretty isn’t it” his sister replied.” I don’t think we are going to be able to get back tonight Vic, so we had better stay by the cave and make ourselves as comfortable as possible”.

Back at the cave, as it grew darker she said, “I wish we had a light of some kind”. No sooner had she said it than one of the strange fruits laying on the floor in the middle of the cave gave a puff of smoke and it’s stalk burst into flames, just like an odd shaped candle, only much brighter, they all jumped in surprise, “I hope that doesn’t happen to us” Russell said, “seeing as how we’ve already eaten some of them. HEY I’m only joking,” he added seeing the worried look on his sister’s face.

Chapter 5

The Hatching

By now it was very dark outside the cave, but the night was warm which was just as well because they had no blankets with them. “Come on Vic we’d better try and get some sleep because tomorrow we must try and find a way to get back to mum and dad”.

Meanwhile out on the ledge, and apart from the fact it was a nice evening, the sun had warmed the ground thoroughly through the day, so the egg stayed nice and warm.

For all that had happened to them, they slept reasonable well. The following morning they woke up to hear Rags barking and growling, and when they looked across they saw his attention was focussed on the egg. The sun was hot and the sky clear, the candle had gone out some time during the night, but they didn’t know when, and what’s more it now looked just like all the other fruit laying on the floor of the cave. They got up and walked towards the egg, Vicky picked up a fruit as she was passing and took a bite, when they reached the egg they heard a tapping sound, faint but quite strong. Russell reached out and touched the egg, it was hot, really hot,” blimey it’s hatching” he said, he made Rags go and lay down, much to the dog’s disgust, then they watched and waited.

The tapping became louder, almost frantic, as though whatever it was hadn’t quite got the strength to break out, “ I’m going to help it” Vicky said, and picking up a stone she began to gently tap on the outside of the shell. For a moment the tapping coming from inside the shell stopped and then started again, but more vigorously than before.

Vicky continued to tap on the outside of the shell until, after a short while a small crack appeared which gradually got larger until the egg shell finally split in two halves, and there sat in the middle was the strangest looking creature either of them had ever seen. It blinked its eyes a few times in the bright sunlight and then stared back at them. It’s gaze then shifted to the piece of fruit in Vicky’s hand. Suddenly it darted forward grabbed it and darted back again.

Vicky let out a yell of surprise and leapt in the air, “it tried to attack me” she cried, “I don’t think so Vic, I think it’s just hungry, down Rags“ Russell shouted as the dog on seeing his friend frightened leapt forward growling, wanting to protect her from this strange thing, however on Russell’s command returned to his previous watchful position.

The ‘thing’ meanwhile was eating away at the fruit like there was no tomorrow. “Vicky go and get me some more fruit from the cave please,” he asked, Vicky did as he had asked, and when she had returned Russell took one of the fruits and held it out towards the creature in front of him. The creature eyed him warily for a few seconds and then snatched it out of his hand, just as it had his Sister. “ Cheeky perisher” Russell said, never the less he resolved to try again.

When the creature had finished the second fruit Russell again held another one out before him. This time the creature stretched out it’s neck and took the fruit very gently from Russell’s hand, as though it knew they were not going to harm it. “What on earth is it” Vicky asked, “I honestly don’t know Vicky, I’ve never seen anything like it before”.

The strange creature kept on taking the fruit from the children, who took turns to feed it. At last all the fruit had gone and the thing just sat there looking at them, there was something different about it now. But neither of the children could put there finger on it until, “It’s getting bigger, look Vicky it’s growing,” they both stared at it, fascinated, and sure enough it was definitely getting bigger. In fact it was almost too big for the eggshell by now the two halves were being pushed apart as it grew before their very eyes.

As it grew it took on a more distinctive shape, although neither of the children could recognise it, “I wonder what it is,” Russell mused. “It looks like a baby dragon to me,” Vicky added. “Oh don’t be silly Vicky, there are no such things as dragons,” “well I’m not so sure, there’s lots of things about this place that aren’t quite normal” Vicky said, “I mean what about the fruit, or the candle, or the colour of the sky last night, eh, what have you got to say about that then? ”Well I’ve got to admit there’s a lot of weird things about this place that I’ve never seen before, but a dragon….no way!” “Why not a dragon clever clogs, you’ve already said that you don’t know what it is, and it does look like a dragon,” she added. “Well I suppose it could be” her brother conceded.

Chapter 6

Spooflunks

“I’m hungry,” a voice said from behind them, they both whirled round and looked about, “there’s no one here, I wonder who said that” Russell said.

“I did” they both stared at the ‘dragon’, “yes that’s right, me, now that you’ve both decided what I am, would you mind very much getting me some more food”. “Oh, you can talk” Vicky said in surprise, “well of course I can talk, whoever heard of a dragon that couldn’t talk, but would you please get me some more food I’m extremely hungry and we can talk later” the dragon said. Curiously the dragon spoke with the well-modulated tones of an English professor.

The children looked at each other in amazement. “Come on Vicky lets go and pick some more fruit, come to that I feel a bit hungry myself, Rags stay,” the dog lay down and watched them as they set of down the rocky slope. When they returned some thirty minutes later they could see that the dragon had grown even larger, it was now some three feet long and about eighteen inches high. “Wow look at it now” Vicky said. “Do you mind, I am not an it. My name is Spooflunks,” the dragon said solemnly. “Spooflunks” Russell said laughing as they sat down, “that’s a funny name.” “No funnier than yours” the dragon said, “I mean I’ve never heard of any children called Russell or Vicky before.” “What do mean before”, Vicky said “you only hatched out this morning, you’re not more that two hours old”.

The children started eating breakfast, Vicky gave one of the fruits to Rags who started chewing it hungrily.

“Well it’s a long story” the dragon replied, “but what happened was this, about two hundred years ago, when my mother laid the egg from which I hatched. All her knowledge and wisdom was given to me. Now when she laid her egg, which was in a safe place up on the cliff top, unfortunately it appears that there was an earth tremor and the ground gave way underneath my shell and I slipped into a deep crack. Now without sunlight and warmth no egg can hatch, especially dragon eggs.

So there I stayed for all this time gradually slipping down the crack until the roof of the tunnel collapsed. I was very lucky my shell didn’t break. Anyway once you and your Sister had moved me outside, my hatching process started and here I am, but it should be another day at least before I’m fully grown”. The children stopped eating and Russell said, “you mean to tell us that you will be fully grown by tomorrow night,” “oh yes, providing I get enough food to eat, I shall grow to my full size by tomorrow night”. The children just looked at each other in silence, chewing solemnly on their food.

They had heard enough in the last few minutes that they needed a few moments to take it all in. They finished their meal in silence, Rags looked up licking his jowls as though he had just finished a bowl of dog biscuits.

Spooflunks was by now almost four feet long, and from either side of his body there seemed to be an arm growing. “Are they arms Spooflunks” Vicky asked, “no they are not arms, by tomorrow night they will be my wings”. “Wings” the children said in unison, “you mean you can fly”? “Well of course I will be able to fly, it’s no good having wings if you can’t fly, is it”? “Ostriches can’t fly, and they’ve got wings, mind you they can run as fast as a horse, can you run as fast as that”? Russell asked, Vicky gave her brother an admiring look.

Spooflunks thought for a moment then said, “well first of all this Ostrich creature sounds stupid to me, although I can’t say that I have ever seen one. Wings…can’t fly…ridiculous, now what’s a horse Vicky? You don’t mind me calling you by your names, do you”? Vicky looked slightly flattered, “no no of course not” she replied quickly and then went on to describe a horse, which was easy for her because she had her own horse and loved horse riding. “Oh you mean a quadruped” Spooflunks replied, looking at both in turn, then seeing the blank look on the children’s faces, he added “well lets agree to call it a horse shall we.

Now to answer your question, no I cannot run as fast as a quad……horse, I don’t need to when I can fly, do I”? “No I suppose not” Russell agreed. “What would you class Rags as then, Spooflunks” Vicky asked. “Oh that’s easy Rags is a member of the canine family, so you can call him a dog.” “That’s what we call him as well” Vicky said clapping her hands in delight, “but his name is Rags” “that’s a very nice name too” Spooflunks said.

“Are you strong enough to walk yet Spooflunks”? Russell asked, “because if you are, we had better get moving if we are going to find a way out of here.” “Well of course I can walk, but I think we’ll have to take it a bit easy for a while, just until my strength builds up. Don’t forget I’ve been cramped up in a shell for the last two hundred years, so it will take a few hours more for me to loosen up properly”.

Chapter 7

Lunchtime

After a quick check round to make sure they hadn’t left anything they set off walking carefully down the slope. At the bottom they turned left and walked parallel to the cliff face. The rocks and dry bare earth gave way to lush green grass, so tall that it nearly covered Rags, but he didn’t seem to mind one little bit. He was busy running around poking his nose deep into the grass and sniffing with loud snorts. The children laughed as they watched his antics.

Spooflunks after a somewhat shaky start, now seemed quite steady on his feet, and every now and then as they passed under some tree’s he would reach up and bite off one of the strange fruit’s that they had all come to depend on. The more he ate the stronger he seemed to become.

Every so often Russell would scan the cliffs, looking for a cave or a tunnel that might possible take them back through to the other side, but there was nothing remotely like it. Vicky catching his gaze looked concerned, “chin up Vic, we’ll make it back, you’ll see”, he said with more confidence than he felt.

At about midday they decided to rest in the shade of a small group of trees so they picked some more fruit and settled down to eat.

“Oh I’m starving I wish we had some fish and chips” Vicky said, “me too” her brother agreed as he sank his teeth into one of the fruits then just as quickly pulled it away from his mouth. “It can’t be, try yours Vicky” he said. Vicky bit into the fruit she was holding, and her face broke into a broad smile, “it’s fish and chips” she shouted “It’s magic,” Russell smiled and said, “hey Spooflunks what do yours taste like?” Spooflunks stopped eating and said, “mine tastes like the best quality dragon meal, quite superb really, and Vicky is right, this fruit will taste like whatever you wish it to taste like, so I suppose you could say that they are magic.” “I’m going to call them Mapples” Vicky announced dramatically. “Mapples” Russell and Spooflunks said together, “yes Mapples” she said, “It’s short for magic apple, and after all we don’t really know their proper name do we?” “Well no, now that you come to mention it, we don’t” Russell replied, and turning to the dragon he said, “do you know what these fruits are called Spooflunks?” Spooflunks thought for a moment and said.“ “As far as I can recall we dragons have always called them ‘The fruits of life’, but I must admit, Mapples is much less of a mouthful, to say the least.

“OK we’re all agreed, Mapples it is” Russell said. When they had finished lunch they quenched their thirst by drinking from a nearby icy cold stream. Then they all lay back on the grass and relaxed, under the shade of the same tree’s that had fed them, all were feeling nice and full. The warm sun was shining down and in no time at all they all began to doze off, then gradually they fell into a deeper sleep.

Chapter 8

Ambush

Rags heard it first. A sort slithering or rustling sound, he lifted his head and looked around but could see nothing. Everything went quiet again, Rags rested his head on his paws, but didn’t close his eyes and go to sleep, but stayed alert, watchful. There was something strange about the noise he had heard, a sort of rhythmical pushing sound, like something moving in the grass. It started again, but closer this time. Rags let out a low rumbling growl that sounded like far off thunder. Russell stirred and opened his eyes. ”What’s the matter boy, eh, did you hear something,” he got up and went over to the dog. Rags was staring hard into the long grass behind Vicky’s head, his mouth pulled back in a vicious snarl, exposing sharp white teeth.

Rags started to crawl forward on his belly, his gaze fixed and hackles now standing on end, and all the while the deep rumbling growl coming from way down in his throat. Russell stared aghast, he had never in his life seen Rags act like this before. Vicky gave a gentle moan and opened her eyes, she started to sit up.

Suddenly there was a wild thrashing in the tall grass behind her, and with a weird evil hissing cry, a giant snake reared up over her, It’s head some seven or eight feet in the air. The massive head was swaying from side to side, the huge jaws gaping and the evil looking forked tongue flicking in and out, tasting the air between the monstrous venom carrying fangs. Its wicked black eyes were fixed firmly on Vicky.

Vicky let out an ear-piercing scream and tried to move, she couldn’t, she was petrified with fear and frozen to the spot where she lay. The giant snake slithered closer, its head drawing back ready to strike. Russell looked on in despair. He knew that from where he was he could do nothing to save her, the distance was too great.

Rags leapt forward galvanized into action at Vicky’s cry of distress. Snapping, snarling and barking with great ferocity, he knew he couldn’t beat the snake, it was much too big but if he could distract it long enough……..It worked. The giant snake saw this mad creature jumping in towards him, then away again, and knew it could be a danger and so shifted its attention away from Vicky to follow the darting Rags.

Russell saw his chance and raced across the ground and half-carried and half-dragged Vicky back to safety. At the same time Spooflunks, who had been woken up from a deep sleep by Vicky’s scream let out a mighty bellow and without hesitation came charging across the glade straight towards the giant snake. Which was just as well for the dog because although Rags was fast and had succeeded in distracting the snake away from Vicky, he was no match for it. Indeed it was all he could to keep out of the reach of those vicious, slashing fangs, until help arrived in the shape of the charging Spooflunks.

Chapter 9

Fight to The Death

The giant snake, on seeing this much larger opponent ignored the dog, much to Rags’ relief, who went over to join the children, and concentrated on Spooflunks. Only a much larger Spooflunks by this time measuring some ten feet in length not counting his tail and about four feet high at the shoulder.

Spooflunks stopped his headlong rush just out of range of the striking snake, and reared up on his hind legs using his strong tail as a counter balance, in this position he was almost as tall as the snake. He was also changing colour, from his normal sandy brown to a deep red, tinged with purple, and as everyone knows red stands for danger.

The two giant opponents weighed each other up, both their heads were bobbing and weaving, each looking for an opening, All the time the giant snake continued flicking its tongue in and out, tasting the air and the scent of his opponent this was accompanied with its evil hissing. Each knew it would be a fight to the death.

After what seemed to the watching children, an eternity but could have in reality only been ten to fifteen seconds, the snake made the first move, with a loud, evil shrieking hiss, the massive head lashed forward with incredible speed.

To the watching children it seemed impossible that Spooflunks could survive this terrible onslaught. But survive he did. With a speed that matched the giant serpent, his neck jerked to his right as the massive fangs scythed towards him.

he not only avoided the slashing fangs, but with lips pulled back over teeth that looked more like small tusk’s, launched his own counter attack and struck at the snake, biting deeply into the side of the snake neck as it went past him, just behind it’s head. With a strangled hissing shriek and a tremendous surge of power, the snake jerked its head back, taking Spooflunks; teeth still firmly locked on, with it.

The battle for survival raged back and forth neither one giving an inch, locked in a deadly embrace as they thrashed around in the long grass, each struggling for supremacy. Both knew they could not afford to make one mistake, it would be their last.

Then disaster struck. In the writhing struggle Spooflunks tripped over a protruding tree root and was forced to release his grip on the snakes’ neck. He fell awkwardly and landed on his back, he looked up to see the snake drawing back it’s head for the death strike at his unprotected belly.

The snakes’ head lashed down with blinding speed, (although to the watching children it all seemed to be in slow motion,) with jaws gaping and long fangs just aching to inject their deadly venom into the soft, unprotected belly of the dragon. Spooflunks was finished unless…..With a mighty bellow, a great jet of fire came roaring out of the dragons’ mouth.

The snake saw it coming and tried to avoid the lethal fire ball coming towards him with such terrible finality, but such was his own impetus that it carried him straight into the very heart of that roaring inferno. With a choking hissing cry his head was engulfed in the blazing inferno. He was killed instantly, and fell lifeless across the prone body of Spooflunks.

Neither of them moved, to the two children who had witnessed the whole fight, the tension was unbearable. After a few long moments they ran across the glade to where their pal Spooflunks was still laying prone on the grass. He was alive, he was breathing very heavily, his eyes closed, and Vicky knelt down by his side, and threw her arms around his neck. “Oh thank you, thank you thank you Spooflunks” she sobbed. Spooflunks opened his eyes and through heaving lungs gasped out, “that’s all right my dear, although I didn’t think I was ready for fire. You see the fire ducts and the glands that make the fire aren’t normally ready for least another day, but I think the pressure of the fight must have brought it on a bit quicker than I thought”, “Are you hurt?” Russell asked. “No I’m not hurt, just very, very tired, if you could move this snake off of me I would be very grateful”. Together the children shoved and heaved and eventually got the giant snake from across Spooflunks’ body.

Chapter 10

Night Camp and a Surprise

Using his tail like an extra leg for leverage, Spooflunks rolled himself over and stood up, “ah that’s better” he declared, “ now I would really like to rest for a while, just until I get my strength back.” “I’ll go and pick some Mapples for you” Vicky said, “that’s very kind of you, I must say I do feel rather hungry.

They sat down on the opposite side of the glade, from where the fight had taken place, away from the grim reminder of the epic battle and very soon Vicky joined them carrying as many of the luscious Mapples as she could hold in her arms. Spooflunks reached out and took one of the Mapples from her, as she set the rest down on the ground beside him. Spooflunks ate ravenously, Vicky and Russell weren’t hungry so they sat and watched in silence as Spooflunks had finished the whole lot. Then to the utter astonishment of the children he let out one of the loudest burps they had ever heard, which startled the dog and made it jump about two feet in the air, which caused them all to start laughing.

Rags gave Spooflunks a reproachful look, “Oh I do beg your pardon” Spooflunks said to the children, “I did rather make a pig of myself and eat that meal just a little bit too fast, didn’t I? “That’s all right Spooflunks” Russell said, “everyone burps now and then so it’s nothing to feel too embarrassed about.” “That’s very kind of you to say so, but now I must get some sleep, I feel absolutely shattered” Spooflunks said. With that he rolled over onto his side closed his eyes and was instantly asleep.

The children looked at each other a little unsure of what to do next. Then Russell made the decision. “We’ll make a camp and stay the night here, there’s plenty of food, and that stream “ he said pointing to a small brook about 30 yards away, “will give us all the water we need”. “Yes I think that’s best as well” Vicky agreed, “I wouldn’t want to go on without Spooflunks anyway”. “Yes I must admit we’d have been in real trouble with that snake if he hadn’t been here”.

Vicky shuddered as the memory of the giant snake came flooding back. “Come on Vicky” Russell said trying to take her mind of it, “lets go and collect some dead branches and we’ll build a barricade and a fire, then with both Rags and Spooflunks here we’ll be perfectly safe tonight, ok”. “OK” she said, and leaving Spooflunks fast asleep, snoring gently with his top lip fluttering, they started collecting branches and logs. Even Rags joined in gripping the smaller branches in his teeth and dragging them back to where the children had started to build their barricade. ”Every little helps Rags, fetch some more there’s a good dog. Rags was fairly glowing with praise as he ran off to do his masters bidding. Such was the abundance of dead wood lying around, that after about an hour and a half they had finished their barricade.

It was roughly twenty feet long and eight feet wide. “There” Vicky said, looking rather pleased with herself, “that should be big enough for all of us, even allowing for the fact that Spooflunks will probably grow some more.” Russell looked at his Sister and said “you know Vic you can be quite clever when you want to be”, Vicky smiled shyly at this praise. “Now come on, we’d better get some food in for Spooflunks and ourselves, he’s going to be quite hungry when he wakes up and I feel a bit hungry myself, don’t you?” Vicky nodded her agreement and together they went out through the large gate they had made in the fence.

By the time they had finished collecting enough food for all of them, and put it in the camp, the sun had almost dropped to the horizon. “I think we had better wake Spooflunks up” Russell Said. Going over to the sleeping dragon, he said in a loud voice “come on Spooflunks, it’s time to wake up,” there was no reaction. He stepped closer and leaned forward, resting his hands on the sleeping dragon, the skin felt quite smooth to his touch, and he rubbed his hand along Spooflunks’ side. “Hey Vicky”, he said, “his skin is really smooth.”

Vicky stepped closer and brushed her hand gently along the dragon’s side as well, feeling the smooth texture of hid skin. A burst of laughter rent the air as Spooflunks sat up laughing. “Did you have to wake me up like that?” He asked the children with a smile, “I’m sorry,” Vicky said, “we didn’t mean to tickle you, in fact I didn’t even know that dragons were ticklish,” “ well you know now that we are, I say that’s a jolly good idea”, Spooflunks added, looking over towards the camp site added, “yes very enterprising.”

“Well its getting dark now” Vicky said “I think it’s about time we went in and settled down, and have something to eat”. “Food, did you mention food? What a splendid idea” Spooflunks said where-upon he got to his feet and walked over to the camp. “Come on Rags “ Vicky called, Rags stopped chasing imaginary rabbits and came over to join the children as they made their way into the camp site.

When they were all inside Russell and Vicky closed the entrance with some sturdy logs and branches, (left aside for just this purpose,) to make the barricade complete.

Spooflunks had already picked his spot, stretching out comfortably, but within easy reach of the large pile of Mapples. The children and Rags settled themselves down, ready to tuck in. Now although the evening was quite warm, it was getting fairly dark, “oh well here goes” Russell said as he picked up one of the Mapples and then placed it on the ground away from the other’s. Setting it down so that the stalk poked up straight into the air, “I wish you were a candle,” he said, and yes, just like the night before there was a puff of smoke and the stalk ignited and started to burn quite steadily, giving off enough light for them all to eat and see each other quite clearly.

Spooflunks, Russell and Vicky had all watched this take place. “It’s fantastic” she said, “it would be such fun to have some of these Mapples at home, where ever that is”, she added.

By the time they had all eaten their fill it was really dark outside the confines of the camp perimeter, so they sat talking, explaining to Spooflunks what their parents and home life were like, schools, holiday’s, they talked just about everything. That is with the exception of Rags who was chewing away on what sounded like a marrowbone, but was in fact a Mapple.

“Yes I suppose that’s the trouble with children” Russell said, staring into the inky blackness over the camp wall. We don’t really know how much we need our parents until we lose them, and then it can sometimes be too late to say the things we feel but never say, or even just to let them know that we really do appreciate them”. “Well I’m definitely going to be much nicer to mum and dad when we see them again”, Vicky said. “Me too” Russell added dreamily, still staring out into the darkness, something at the back of his mind, deep in his subconscious was sounding alarm bells, but in his relaxed state it took a few minutes for him to realise what was causing it. “There’s a light over there”, he exclaimed, pointing away in the inky distance, Spooflunks and Vicky both looked to where Russell was pointing excitedly. " Do you see it", “yes I can see it” Vicky and Spooflunks said together.

“I wonder what it is?” Vicky said. “From what you have told me about your home life, I would say it’s far too big to be a house” Spooflunks said, “a town, maybe it’s a town” Vicky said, excitement in her voice. “No I don’t think so” Russell said, “there’s not enough light for it to be a town. Maybe it’s a large house like a mansion, anyway, whatever it is, that’s where we are going tomorrow, agreed,” both Vicky and Spooflunks agreed. Russell picked up a stick and drew an arrow in the ground, pointing straight at the distant light, and just to be sure he also wedged the stick into the barricade wall, also pointing straight towards the far away lights.

“Well at least we have a goal now” he said, “ whoever it is may be able to help us”, “it looked a long way away” Spooflunks said, “we’ll have to make a fairly early start, so I think we had all better get some sleep”. As they settled down for the night, the moon crept up over the horizon, casting its ghostly, silvery yellow glow over the landscape.

Once during the night, Vicky opened her eyes and looked at the moon, what was that, she blinked her eyes and looked again, But it was gone. She mulled over what she had thought she had seen, but then put it down to her imagination. After all, everyone knows that witches riding broomsticks only existed in fairy tales, didn’t they! .... TO BE CONTINUED

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