Jesse James and the Dragon's Egg

Thrown to the Dogs

The first drops of rain were just hitting the blacktop as Jagadbandu stepped from his little store. Closing up shop early today what not what he wanted to do, bad for business. But he had a wedding to attend and his wife was adamant that they be early. He supposed she had a point. The groom was his brother, after all. Jag had just put his key in the lock when five teens came flying on bikes into his parking lot. Night had completely overtaken the sky and an unseasonable fog rolled in, fast and thick.

"Jesse, my friend! I'm afraid you're just a bit too late. I'm just closing up for the night..." An explosion of conversation quickly overwhelmed his speech. The teens tripped over each other, explaining to the Indian man what had just happened at Jesse's house.

"Please, children. One at a time."

"Jag!" Brad pushed his way to the front of the desperate little group. "Something's wrong with Jesse's mom!"

There then came the barking. Brad and John were busy pantomiming the wiggling shadows crawling on Jesse's house. Lamar and Kate were telling the story, but Jesse could barely hear them. All he heard was the barking.

A wall of trees surrounded the little convenience store and somewhere, somewhere close, there was a dog barking, a big dog. Another joined it, the deep bass of the dogs mixing with the rumbling thunder, the rhythmic, not too distant, thunder.

"Oh, no." Jesse said quietly, and the trees exploded.

Everyone screamed and ducked as great timbers bent and shattered outward and two horrifying, giant black dogs came a fighting, roaring, fumbling mess from the forest. Well over twenty feet tall, the giants were savaging an equally unlikely beast. The two giant canines were attacking a dragon.

The dogs leaked black smoke and a thick grey fog from their mouths and noses. They had set upon the dragon, biting and tearing at it. They had the dragon's massive wings pinned to the ground, but its head is free. It thrashed that giant cranium, like a club, and catching one dog in the side of the head, stunning the creature. Then, with snake-like grace and lightning speed, it sunk its teeth into the other's the neck. The dog gave an ear-splitting yelp, struggling to free itself from the dragon's teeth, but the beast would have no part of it. The dragon shook its head violently, rending flesh from bone and spilling crimson like rain.

"Children! Inside quickly!" Jag had finally freed himself from his own horror and he ushered the children roughly inside the little convenience store.

"You children are to stay here!" He ordered as he sprinted behind the counter, violently pushing a rack of assorted knick-knacks to the floor.

"Do not come outside until daybreak!" He slid aside a portion of the wall to reveal a large ornately carved wooden box and turned back to the teens. "No matter what you see!"

He lifted the lid from the box and pulled from it a large glistening scimitar. "Do you understand me?" And then, without waiting for their reply, he sprinted out the door.

Brad stood at the window and watched the man fly across the parking lot. He was infinitely small compared to the gargantuan horror he was running toward.

"Wow." The boy said quietly. "I really wish I could wake up now."

The teens gathered at the large plate-glass window, watching the unfolding of reality as they know it. The unassuming shopkeeper ran headlong into the fray. He screamed at the top of his lungs in a language none of them could recognize. The giant dogs took only the vaguest interest in the tiny man, being completely occupied with the still pinned and thrashing reptile. They took quick measure of that mistake as the shopkeeper raised his blade high into the air, speaking quickly as he did. There was a crack, like the sound of thunder, and a wild, explosive bolt of energy from the weapon. It found a quick home in one dog, laying open the now screaming beast's side. The injured giant stumbled sideways. It fell, hard and awkward, into its mate, which snapped reflexively at its stumbling brethren.

This was distraction enough, and the dragon was free. It took quickly to the air. Spreading its massive wings, it pulled itself hard and fast into the night sky. The dogs were quick to recover, one of them leaping up into the air after the escaping dragon, missing the beast's tail by inches. Its brother bounded after Jag.

"Come, you great horror!" He cried out, waving his sword wildly in the air. "Gehum Katara has been asleep these many years and she thirsts!" The great beast set upon him.

As Jag joined a battle that should have been ridiculously one-sided, the great dragon gained altitude. Mighty wing beats took it high into the storm. Slicing through the growing rain, it left a steaming vapor trail in its wake. The second dog had given up on the dragon, taking an unhealthy interest in the little man.

From its now great altitude, the dragon turned and dove, like an out-of-control airliner, toward the ever more one-sided battle. Gaining speed and slicing a great trough through the growing rain, the dragon opened its mouth wide and took a deep draw, filling its massive bellows. As the ground approached with deadly speed, it closed its jaws just slightly. There was an audible electric "pop" and an absolute torrent of flame flew from its mouth. Pavement boiled, steel melted, and anything that could burn did as the dogs sought screaming and yelping shelter from the onslaught.

"He's summoned the Shaddach!" The great dragon called to Jag as it lit on the still boiling pavement. "You must get those children to safety!"

Jag howled his frustration, but in the end he knew the great beast was right. As the giant dogs recovered themselves and their courage, Jag ran back to the store.

He called for the teens to join him at the window. "Children, I am afraid that we are in very great danger here and I need you to do exactly as I say." As the man spoke, Jesse could see shadows in the trees behind him. The shadows writhed and convulsed, as if they were trying to free themselves from the night.

"I'm afraid that what I am about to ask you to do may seem a bit odd."

"Ya think?" John, too, was transfixed by the writhing shadows.

"I need you to stand just here," Jag indicated a slight crack in the floor. "When I say, I want you to run as fast as you can and dive through this window. You will each need to eat one of these." He pulled what looked like a large chocolate bar from a little bag he had slung at his waist. There were chips all along the side of the thing, places where bits had been broken off. Jag popped six more pieces off and handed one to each of the children.

"What? Are you crazy?" Brad yelped, swatting away the piece he was being offered.

Jag glared at the boy, then took a deep breath. "Look." He reaches out his hand and, with no effort at all, without the slightest hint of hesitation, he put his hand into the glass. Not on it, or through it, as his hand did not appear on the other side, but actually into the glass.

"See. It's perfectly safe, Brad."

"Oh, what the...!" Brad backed away. "No way!"

There was a bright flash of dragon fire and a deafening howl from just outside the glass. Jesse turned. He stared straight into a giant eye. The pupil dilated and contracted and the thing that owned the orb screamed as it was ripped away. "Brad, come on, man! We've got to get out of here!"

"What? You can't seriously be considering listening to this man!"

"Enough!" Jag lunged at Brad. He grabbed the protesting boy, forced the chip into his still protesting mouth, and threw him, screaming, at the massive plate-glass window. There was an unnatural ripple across the glass, a distinct sizzling sound, and the sharp smell of ozone, and Brad was gone.

"Now, quickly! We haven't much time!"