Revenge of the Dragon Lady (6 page)

Authors: Kate McMullan

BOOK: Revenge of the Dragon Lady

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With one claw, Seetha knocked the sword out of Wiglaf’s hand. With the other, she struck him. He went rolling head over heels.

Wiglaf came to a stop near the edge of the moat. Before he could get back on his feet, Seetha struck again. She hooked Wiglaf’s wolf pelt with her claw. She lifted him up off the ground.

Wiglaf swayed crazily in the air as the dragon lifted him higher and higher. Soon he was face to face with Gorzil’s awful mother.

“Back off, smelly one!” Wiglaf cried. “A thousands skunks are not as stinky as you.”

Seetha smiled. “Thank you,” she said.

Wiglaf was only inches from Seetha’s face. He saw that her scales were covered with dirt and scum. A crust of old, dried slime coated her nose. Her moss-covered fangs had holes in them the size of dinner plates.

“HMMMM...WHAT’S THE WORST WAY FOR YOU TO DIE?” Seetha said. “I KNOW! THE TICKLE TORTURE! YOU’LL DIE LAUGHING—JUST LIKE MY GORZIE!”

“Not me!” cried He-Who-Knows-No-Fear. “I can take it!” The dragon’s dirty claw came closer and closer to him.

“KITCHY-KITCHY-KOO!” Seetha cried. She tickled Wiglaf’s tummy. His neck. His armpits. “KITCHY-KITCHY-KOO!”

But Wiglaf never even smiled.

“NO FAIR! YOU’RE NOT TICKLISH!” Seetha pouted for a minute. “BUT I KNOW MORE GAMES. MANY MORE! LET’S PLAY ‘HIGH DIVE’!”

Still clutching Wiglaf, Seetha spread her wings and took off. She landed on the gatehouse roof. She held Wiglaf out, over the moat. “CAN YOU DO A JACKKNIFE WITH A HALF TWIST? HMMMMM?”

Wiglaf looked down. Hundreds of eels looked up at him. They hungrily snapped their jaws.

“You can’t scare me, Seetha!” Wiglaf yelled. He drew Erica’s dagger from his boot. “For I am He-Who-Knows-No-Fear!”

“OH, YEAH?” the dragon roared. “WELL, I AM SHE-WHO-MAKES-BRAVE-KNIGHTS-CRY-LIKE-BABIES!”

Wiglaf opened his mouth to reply. But a dizzy feeling swept over him. Bright lights flashed. He heard the rush of wind. Seetha’s face seemed to melt.

He squeezed his eyes shut.

When he opened them again, the courage spell was broken.

He-Who-Knows-No-Fear was gone.

Now, caught in the dragon’s claw was plain old Chicken-Hearted Wiglaf.

Chapter 14

“
A
yiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
!
”
screamed Wiglaf. His heart thumped with terror. Any second, Seetha would roast him! Or toast him! Or feed him to the eels!

He tried covering his eyes with his hands. But...what was
this
in his hand?

“MAYBE YOU SHOULD TRY A DOUBLE SOMERSAULT!” Seetha roared. She dangled Wiglaf further out over the moat.

Wiglaf didn’t answer. He stared at the dagger. What a sharp, sharp point it had. He could stab Seetha with it. But the very thought made him feel sick. With a shudder, Wiglaf let the dagger slip from his hand.

“OW!”
Seetha yelped as Stinger stuck her. “MY TOE! MY BEAUTIFUL BIG TOE! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?”

Seetha tossed Wiglaf away. He sailed through the air. With a thump, he landed on the ground. He bounced twice. Then he lay still.

Above him, the dragon howled in pain. “MY FAVORITE TOE! IT’S BLEEDING!”

Wiglaf moaned. He would be bruised all over. But thanks to Lobelia’s heavy leather tunic and thick, quilted breeches, he would live. He pulled himself slowly to his feet.

The dragon rocked back and forth on the gatehouse roof. “LET ME KISS YOU AND MAKE YOU ALL BETTER!” she said to her toe.

Wiglaf glanced up. Seetha held her hurt foot in her front claws. She puckered up her purple lips. With a loud SMACK! she planted a kiss on her toe.

Then Seetha began hopping up and down on her good foot. “I’LL GET YOU, WIGLAF!” she roared. “I’LL MAKE YOU SIZZLE LIKE A FRENCH FRY!”

Wiglaf groaned.

He was a goner!

So Wiglaf did what any chicken-hearted boy would do. He crouched down. He covered his eyes and shook with fear.

“HERE I COME!” Seetha screamed. “I’LL...WHOA! HEY! WHOOO!”

Wiglaf peeked out from behind his fingers.

Seetha teetered on the roof above him. She still held her hurt toe. But something was wrong. Her wings flapped clumsily. Her tail lashed the air. She swayed dangerously back and forth. She lost her balance. Down she plunged.

SPLASH!

Seetha hit the moat.

A huge cloud of steam rose from the waters.

Wiglaf couldn’t see a thing.

Suddenly, the dragon lurched up, out of the mist.

Wiglaf jumped back.

“HELP!” Seetha screamed. “HELP ME, YOU FOOLISH BOY!”

But Wiglaf was not
that
foolish.

Seetha kicked and splashed. She slapped the water with her tail.

Wiglaf saw that Seetha’s scales looked clean but dull. Her yellow eyes had faded, too. Her horn was drooping to one side. Her tongue hung out the side of her mouth.

“I CAN’T TAKE THIS MUCH LONGER!” Seetha cried. “HELP ME! I’LL GIVE YOU HEAPS OF GOLD!”

Before Wiglaf could shake his head no, Mordred leaned out the castle window. “Gold?” he called. “But everyone knows that you have no gold, Seetha!”

“HA!” Seetha laughed. “THAT OLD RUMOR? I’VE GOT MORE GOLD THAN ANY TEN DRAGONS PUT TOGETHER! AND I HID IT ALL IN THE DARK FOOOOLUB—”

She disappeared under the water again.

Suddenly the drawbridge came down with a bang.

Mordred zoomed out of the castle. He pushed Wiglaf out of the way. He dropped to his knees.

“Seetha!” he cried. “Madam Seetha! Can you hear me?”

“GLUG-GOLD!” Seetha sputtered, popping up. “GET ME OUT OF HERE, BIG BOY-AND IT’S YOURS!”

“Mine?” Mordred gasped as Seetha sank. “Come back, Madam! We have to talk!”

Only Seetha’s purple lips popped up now. “GOLBLUB....GLOOOOPH!” The dragon belched and disappeared.

“Hold on, Seetha!” Mordred cried. “I’ll save you!” And the headmaster of Dragon Slayers’ Academy dove into the moat to rescue the dragon.

Wiglaf stood alone on the drawbridge. He watched Mordred dive down to find the dragon.

But it was no use.

Seetha’s head never again appeared above the dark and murky waters of the moat.

But Mordred’s did. “Dragons don’t drown!” he cried at last. “How can this be happening?”

Suddenly Wiglaf knew the answer.

“Seetha died from her secret weakness!” he called to the soggy headmaster. “It was a bath that killed the beast!”

Wiglaf straightened his ram’s-horn helmet.

Then, with his head held high, he walked across the drawbridge and back to DSA.

Mordred stood before all the DSA students in the dining hall that night.

“Did Wiglaf ask Seetha about her gold?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

“Nooooo!” Mordred answered himself. “So I have none of it! Not a single gold coin! All I have—” he sneezed loudly into his red hanky “—is double pneumonia!”

Mordred covered his face with his hands. He began to cry.

“I have some bad news, too,” Frypot told the students. The cook made his way to the front of the room.

“When Seetha fell into the moat,” he continued, “that filthy dragon poisoned the eels! She killed every single one of them dead.”

“What?” Mordred lifted his tear-stained face. “You mean now I have to buy groceries to feed all these little gluttons? Oh, this is cruel!”

“I’m sorry to tell you this, boys,” Frypot went on. “But your days of eating my yummy eel dishes are over.”

A hush fell over the great hall.

Then all the students jumped to their feet. They began clapping and stomping and whistling.

Angus shot Wiglaf a thumbs-up sign. “Let’s give a cheer for Wiglaf!” he cried.

And they all began to shout. Even Erica, the only DSA student who would actually miss Frypot’s eels:

“No more eel! No more eel!
Never again for any meal!
Wiglaf! Wiglaf! He’s our man!
If he can do it, anybody can!
Yeaaaaaaaaaa Wiglaf!”

The students kept clapping and cheering. It warmed Wiglaf’s heart. Maybe he hadn’t killed Seetha with his sword. Maybe his courage had come from a wizard’s spell. But tonight in the DSA dining hall, he was certainly a hero.