Coward Ryan - Chapter 3 (Part B continued)

“All right you water elementals,” Strago’s voice commanded out of the mist. “Drop it back a little. The human won’t harm you.”1

There were a few splashes and then slowly the mist – which was nothing more than a fine spray of water droplets – receded several metres away and Ryan could once again see the whole of Strago’s body towering above him. 2

The dragon motioned with his head. “You can wash yourself in that shallow pool there. Make sure you get all the blood off you. But don’t go out beyond the mist or the water will be too cold for you. And too deep.”3

Ryan went to the edge of the pool. “All right,” he said, then he hesitated and looked back at the dragon. “I don’t have any other clothes to change into.”4

Strago harrumphed. “I’ve never understood you humans and your clothes. They’re too flimsy and fanciful to give you extra protection and they only require more washing.” 5

Ryan opened his mouth but was at a loss for what to say. How could you explain clothes to a creature that never wore them? It was as ridiculous as those children’s stories where all the animals walked on two feet and wore shirts and waistcoats and ties but no trousers to speak of. And when it came right down to it, Strago was right. Clothes did only get dirty again.6

“Hmm,” Strago said with a frown. “Maybe I can conjure some from the human world...” He settled down on his haunches to think. 7

“Aren’t there any clothes I could borrow from someone in this world?”8

Strago swivelled an eye to look Ryan in the face. “There aren’t any humans in this world, remember?” he rumbled. “And those that do have some vague resemblance don’t share your strange human ways. Now are you going to just stand there or are you actually going to take a bath?”9

“Oh. Ye-es,” Ryan said slowly. He looked at Strago but the dragon showed no inclination of leaving, nor of turning away. He looked back at the pool and then at his blood stained clothes. Embarrassment crept up his neck until he was feeling really hot and bothered. “Er,” he started.10

Strago lifted a brow and what Ryan had been going to say changed into something else. “Won’t the blood taint the water?” he stalled. He was too embarrassed to ask the dragon to leave so he could bathe. It would have been like explaining the concept of clothes.11

Strago waved a claw. “Ordinarily, yes. But this spring is born from the volcano and dies in the volcano. I made sure of that when I first came upon it. Now get on with it please. I dislike seeing so much of my blood lying around. Especially on a human.”12

Still embarrassed, Ryan bent to take off his shoes then slowly peeled off his socks. He was stalling, he knew, but he couldn’t see any way of getting out of this one. 13

True, Strago wasn’t human and had no understanding about the modesty a human feels nor did he care what Ryan really looked like underneath but, when someone’s staring at you intently while you’re trying to get undressed it doesn’t matter who or what they are, just that they have two eyes which are about to see things you’ve never shown to anyone since you were five.14

At least Strago’s a boy dragon, Ryan thought, and he took off his shirt which tore right down its cardboard middle and fell to pieces on the ground. He hesitated a moment then finally took off his shorts as well so he was standing there only in his underwear.15

It’s just like going swimming, Ryan thought desperately, trying to relieve his discomfort. His whole face and neck felt hot and prickly but he didn’t know if it was the heat of the cavern or if he truly was bright red from embarrassment. 16

Perhaps what made it worse was that his undies had pictures of different random superheros on them going BAF! and POW! and ZIP! He’d nearly died the day his mother had come home with them. There’d been stacks of them, she’d said, on sale at a bargain price, she’d said, and as soon as he’d seen them he’d known why. 17

No boy his age would want undies like that. But she’d gone and bought ten of them and he knew well from experience that she wouldn’t buy him new ones until all ten had been worn down to bare threads. 18

Of course, Strago knew none of this. All he was concerned about was the significant amount of his blood that was still exposed to the air. He was oblivious to Ryan’s embarrassment and Ryan was so small a creature anyway – his undies even smaller – that even if he’d been looking for it he wouldn’t have been able to make out the little blobs of colour on Ryan’s clothes.19

The dragon grunted, more than just a little impatient at how long Ryan had taken – he’d forgotten how fussy and impossible humans could be – and hooked a claw into the pile of clothes at Ryan’s feet. “Right,” he grumbled. “That’ll do, then.” And to Ryan’s relief, he turned to go back the way they’d come.20

“Wait, what are you going to do with them?” Ryan asked, suddenly anxious as an image of his mother’s stern face popped into his head.21

“Dispose of them, of course,” Strago said over his shoulder, and he continued on down the tunnel. 22

“Oh,” Ryan said in a small voice. Mum’s going to be really angry with me now, he thought fearfully, but then he looked around at how big and open the cavern was and he looked at the mist which blocked out most everything from view and he looked at the darkness of the tunnel stretching out behind him, and much larger – more pressing – fears overtook him.23

“I’d better wash before Strago comes back,” he said out loud, trying to chase away his fears with words. “The sooner I start, the quicker it’ll be. He won’t be happy if he finds me still standing here.” 24

But still, he shifted from one foot to the other and stalled further by pondering whether he should take off his underwear too. Nah, he finally decided. Who knew when Strago might come back? This isn’t like having a real bath, anyway, he thought. 25

Hesitantly, he stepped to the edge of the pool. There was what looked like hot steam coming off its surface but when he dipped in a toe, the water was only pleasantly warm. He got in and scrubbed himself as best he could without soap. The water only came up to his knees which made it even harder but gentle ripples wafted in towards him then carried the blood and gunk that was coming off him away into the mist.26

He couldn’t see what happened to it after that or where it went and suddenly it occurred to him that anything could be hiding out there in the mist. His movements slowed. What if a crocodile or a shark or something leapt out at him? All this blood was sure to attract them and he could only see for a few metres before the water vanished completely in the mist. 27

A splash sounded somewhere in the distance and fear crept up Ryan’s spine yet again. Something was out there! He remembered some of the creatures he’d seen at the Gathering and shivered. What if it was worse than a crocodile? Something bigger? And with more teeth? Or more heads?28

Another distant splash echoed in the cavern and then another. They grew steadily louder with each passing moment and soon the sound of dripping water reached Ryan’s ears. His imagination dug its claws into his fear and produced an image of some ferocious monster rising slowly out of the lake towards him.29

He scrambled backwards out of the pool, the water sloshing loudly around his legs. Would he be safe out of the water? Probably not but where could he go? He stared wide eyed into the mist, desperately trying to see what might be coming towards him but all he could see was blank whiteness and all he could hear were the splashes of water getting louder with each passing second.30

The current in the pool started to grow stronger, the gentle ripples of only a few moments ago turning into wavelets that crashed against the rock. Ryan had a crazy notion that the water itself was trying to get at him and only a moment later he found out that it was!31

A huge wave reared up through the mists and crashed bodily into him, slamming him back against the wall of the cavern. It receded forcefully between his legs, grabbing hold of his ankles and pulling them out from under him. Ryan shrieked and got a lungful of icy water for his troubles. It plugged his nose and blocked his ears and filled his mouth yet he could feel himself lying on the hard ground and his flailing arms struck nothing but air and rock. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to get his head above the water.32

At last, blackness drifted across his consciousness and both his fear and panic seemed to fade away. Everything started to go fuzzy and it became suddenly so tempting and easy just to let the fuzziness take over.33

But then, dimly, he heard a voice roar, “Get back, you blasted elementals!” and something blindingly bright and warm flared over him. Suddenly the water released him and blessed air surrounded him in abundance. Ryan hacked and coughed and gagged for a full two minutes. His chest felt squashed and his nose hurt and his head was all stuffy and headachy.34

When he finally opened his eyes and looked up blearily, Strago’s huge face was staring anxiously into his own.35

“Thank the myths!” the dragon rumbled in relief, then he turned his head towards the mist and blasted at it a second time, “Don’t you ever do that again! You hear me?”36

He waited a moment then turned back to Ryan – who was still rather unsure about what had happened or who the dragon was berating. “I apologise. Elementals react purely on instinct,” Strago said. “You must have frightened them somehow. What did you do?”37

Ryan just stared at him. He was still a little dazed and he had little idea what Strago was going on about. On top of that, his whole body was shivering. He was cold. There were goose bumps all over him from that water – it had been surprisingly icy – and the heat of the cavern was taking its sweet time to warm him up again. His teeth chattered.38

“Hmm,” Strago pondered. The cooling spell he’d left on the boy was still intact but rather badly bent out of shape. Strago frowned and put out a claw to right it. “Perhaps it was the disturbance they felt threatened by, then,” he said rather absentmindedly as he delicately pulled at the threads of the spell. “Odd, I thought I’d gotten rid of it – if temporarily – for at least as long as it would have taken me to return.”39

He tapped out the last kink then focused on Ryan once again who was beginning to feel deliciously warm. 40

“I think I’m all right now,” Ryan said cautiously, and he managed to get to his feet, if a little shakily. “I wish I had a towel, though.” He looked down at himself. He’d been in the water for far too long and his skin felt all wrinkled and prune-like.41

~~~42

To be continued...43

Start: Chapter 144

Previous: Chapter 3 (Part B )45

Next: Chapter 4