Treasure Hunting, Dragon Style

Cramped in the dead end of a rock-walled maze, foot talons stuck in goo, wings brushing cobwebs, hand talons gripping flashlight and map, Ashley growled curses on the dragon whose directions had lead to this impasse. She was just doing her job, sent into the labyrinth to recover a treasure. Some dragons took protecting their treasure too seriously, but this guy was crazy. She’d passed taser traps, mouse-mazes, and a bucket-of-slime-over-the-door trick. Infantile stuff. Frederick Watstheprob was no genius. He should pay the bank the money he owed instead of playing silly games.

Static tickled Ashley’s ear. “You Okay. Over.”

“Yeah, yeah.” She twisted her long green neck, stuck the light between her sharp teeth, folded the map. Wait. That fold… Yup; she was a clever dragon. Bent differently, the map showed a secret button… over those rocks… There! She poked a talon into a hole.

A click. Levers shifting.

Good, she’d get out of here.

Wait. A buzz. Or a whir?

Two ceiling tiles hinged open, slapping beetles onto her head.

Oh, for Grock’s sake.

Time for a different approach. She wasn’t getting anywhere following this stupid map.

She arched her neck and sent dragon fire into the ceiling. The tiles turned to dust.

Ashley jumped, grabbed the rocks in the ceiling cavity, pulled her limbs up.

Okay. “I’m in an air vent. Above the maze. Any idea which direction I should go?” She sniffed in both directions. The smell was much worse to the right, so that’s where she headed.

“Frederick won’t say. Over.”

Of course not. Couldn’t trust him any way. Ashley snaked through the tunnel.

Yeah, this would definitely slow down, probably stop, some dragons. Narrow dimensions like this, angled downward. Some dragons wouldn’t be able to squeeze their wings through a vent this sma—Drat, drat, dratted rat of a sunburned brat.

Wedged on all sides by metal tubing, beetles tickled her feet (probably stuck in the goo). She giggled as an insect scuttled across her instep. She hoped it was a beetle; she hated spiders. She tried to stamp them dead but crammed herself more instead.

She sighed. Okay, suckered into a tube that was too narrow for her ample hips. At least she hadn’t gorged on the roasted bugs that fell onto her head. Some dragons (her arch frenemy, for instance) would have done so, and been way too lethargic and FAT to get through the tunnel.

Ashley was not too fat. Generously proportioned, perhaps.

Static fuzzed.

“I know,” she said before Headquarters could speak.

Ashley inhaled as deep a breath as she could manage. She closed her eyes, inhaled even deeper. She pictured the molten rock deep in her belly. She drew heat up into her chimney-like neck, gathered fire at the back of her throat. In a great long blaze, she released her dragon fire back towards herself. Her belly shrunk, the surrounding ore melted, and she shot forward on a lava-slide.

She clanged into a grate, the back of her neck absorbing the shock. The bulk of her body caught up and momentum crashed the grate open.

She clung to the grate for a moment, regaining her equilibrium.

She dangled above a hole about 60 feet deep.

There was a bit of a ledge just over there… She stretched, and aided by a beat of her wings, she balanced on a rocky lip.

She peered down. The diameter of the rock-walled hole was consistent to the bottom. The walls got smoother the deeper they went. Were there spikes at the bottom? Better yet, treasure?

She pulled out her flashlight. Many dragons refused to use hand-held lights, but in this darkness, even a dragon’s eyes couldn’t discern all possible traps.

Okay, the walls got very sleek down there. She had to know.

Ashley flew, lowering carefully until she came nose to nose with a bomb.

Interesting. When you invited the Venatores to seek your treasure, you weren’t supposed to blow them up.

Ah, see over there? A second bomb, and a third one on that side.

They were spring-loaded, designed to explode upward. Yeah, that platform-type thing masquerading as a wall… It would fall down, land on the bomb. When the bombs went off, unlucky dragons would be sent straight back where they came from, up through the air vent. Wouldn’t kill, but it’d be mighty uncomfortable.

And no gold or jewels or oil or anything of value. Just a snare to trap unwary dragons.

She flew out of the hole gingerly, striving not to brush against the sides in case that triggered an explosion.

On the skimpy ledge at the top of the hole and below the air vent, she shone her flashlight. She needed a better way out of here. If she flew out through the air vent, her colleagues would know that she’d fail to find any treasure at all. That was simply unacceptable.

There had to be some secret entrance, somewhere.

There! A tiny sliver of light. The walls weren’t as thick as they seemed in that direction. She shifted a couple of rocks, making the tiny sliver bigger.

Her ear crackled. “Five minutes. Over.”

Ashley pounded the wall, tearing and kicking.

There. Big enough. She wriggled herself through the gap, scraping scales. “At least I didn’t explode.”

“What was that? Over.”

“Oh, be quiet. I’m on the hunt.” Why had she let them hurry her?

She emerged into an underground canyon. She nodded, judging it. Nice wide area. Central stream. Patches of lichen emitting light. Homey. Bit cold for her taste, but many dragons would love it.

She flew over the river, deliberately taking her time.

To the left, a light blue glow revealed a pile of fish guts. The heap oozed with glassy eyes and spiky fins. Mounds of grey slime coated the surroundings rocks. The stench was revolting.

Treasure!

Ashley landed nearby. She carefully burped up one drop of magma from her belly to the back of her throat. She spat onto the broken fishes.

In seconds, they were ashes.

Ashley blew gently. She uncovered a dozen oval sapphires nestled around a ruby that pulsed with heat. Her green hand raised one of the sapphires to the light. A tiny embryo wriggled inside.

Now that’s a treasure.

“Headquarters, I have treasure. Mark the time. Gathering it now.”

“Quick as you like. Over”

Ashley put the gems in her satchel. As she picked up the ruby, she couldn’t help thinking how beautiful it was. Too big for a ring, of course, but it would make a stunning necklace.

A couple of the sapphires jumped.

Ashley froze.

    They’d better not be hatching. She didn’t need dragonlings interrupting her life, thank you very much.