Liam looked over at Jrasta with an expression that said, "See? He is a dragon!"

Jrasta instantly knew what Liam was thinking. He looked back and said, "Well, of course! NOW we can see that he is a dragon!"

They each drew their swords and Jrasta motioned for Liam to step forward. "This is your quest, Liam. Speak up."

Liam stepped forward and swallowed hard. His mouth was suddenly quite dry. "Listen up, Kenny the Dragon! We are here to take back what you stole from the King's Palace. We are after the key. You can either cooperate and give us back the key willingly, or we will take it by force!"

Liam was quite proud of that little speech. It was spur of the moment, but he had tried to sound confident and as if he were speaking with authority. As he spoke, Kenny's unblinking eyes watched him closely, and when finished, silence filled the room.

When Kenny spoke, Liam was quite shocked. He had a high pitched, whiny voice and spoke with a terrible lisp. "But I don't waaaaaaaana give you back the key! Ith miiiiiiiiiiine. I thtole it fair and thquare. I won't give it back, tho you'll have to fight me for it!"

Liam and the others stared at the dragon for a moment. Somehow a whiny dragon seemed less threatening, and they had to remind themselves that he was still a dragon.

As they stared at him, Liam saw that around the dragon's neck there was a thin chain with a tiny key. There was no way they could get through the situation without fighting Kenny. Ezra saw the same thing at the same time. The boys looked at each other and knew what had to be done. They raised their swords together, each crying out a war-cry at the same time. Liam yelled out, "For Arestana and for the future king!" and Ezra cried out, "I have a stone in my shoe!" Liam thought perhaps Ezra didn't quite understand the concept of a war-cry, but he said it with passion and charged forward with Liam.

Time seemed to slow down, and Liam heard epic music start up in his head. The music made the battle the stuff of legend. Side by side, the boys charged forward. Liam wasn't sure if the rest of his friends were behind them or sitting back and waiting to see how it all played out. As they approached Kenny, he reared up on his hind legs and let out a deep, terrifying roar. He then blew fire into the air, singeing the poor bats above him before coming down on all fours to face the charging boys.

The music played even louder in his mind as he leapt into the air just before reaching Kenny. They each swung back their swords for the attack. Ezra brought his sword down on Kenny's neck while Liam thrust his sword into Kenny's chest.

Neither sword did much of anything to the dragon. Each boy landed on the ground, rolling to a stop on either side of Kenny. They had accomplished nothing other than to get Kenny angry, but the music was still playing so they knew the battle was still on. Liam slid under the dragon in the hopes his belly was less protected, and Ezra took another swing, but that time at a leg. Both boys were unsuccessful and had to jump out of the way as Kenny swung his tail in a circle in an attempt to knock them down.

The tail missed Ezra completely, but caught Liam's right arm, knocking the sword clean out of his hand. It flew across the room. They could hear a couple people cheer and looked back to see their friends had found a place to sit and were just enjoying the show.

Liam pulled out his knife and threw it at Kenny's side. He hoped to do at least a little damage, but once again the attack just bounced off the dragon's scales.

As Ezra charged Kenny for another attack, the dragon whipped his head around and grabbed Ezra in his mouth. He tossed him aside. Ezra rolled for a bit on the ground and then came to a stop. At first, there was no movement at all and Liam feared the worst, but then he heard a little groan come from Ezra's direction. At least Ezra was alive.

The dragon turned his attention to Liam and brought his head around to stare him in the eye. Liam knew that if Kenny decided to blow fire at that moment, he would be a goner. Kenny opened his mouth a little to show large, sharp teeth and let out a high pitched giggle before speaking again in his whiny voice. "You are tho dead, little tholdier man. I am tho going to have you for a thnack."

Liam glanced over at his friends, who by that point were eating something that looked a little like popcorn. He knew he would find no help from them.

He realized he needed to come up with some kind of different weapon or some creative way to defeat a dragon. If he didn't, it would be the end. Once he was gone, Ezra might be next and who knew what might happen to his friends. As unconcerned as they seemed, perhaps Kenny would attack them as well.

Kenny came in so close Liam could smell his breath. Obviously, that time of day was morning for Kenny. There was drool dripping from the sides of his mouth, and his eyes seemed to glow like fire. His eyes... that was it! Liam took his finger and poked it as hard as he could into Kenny's eye. Liam knew that no one liked that kind of thing, not even a dragon.

Kenny once again reared up on his hind legs, but that time in pain. "Owthy! That hurth tho much. You boyth are mean to me!" With that, he turned around and bounded back into the cave through which he had originally come.

Liam rushed over to his friend. Ezra wasn't moving and was curled up with his face toward the ground. Liam grabbed his shoulder and rolled him back to see a look of pain on his face. "I think I broke a nail," Ezra moaned. He held it up for Liam and Liam confirmed that his friend had, in fact, broken a nail.

"That looks painful," Liam said, without much emotion. "We need to go after Kenny to get the key." The sound of Kenny's pathetic crying was getting fainter as he ran away from the cavern.

"Why don't we just use this key?" Ezra smiled as he used his uninjured hand to hold up the key they had been looking for. "When I tried to chop off Kenny's head, I happened to hit the chain, and the key fell to the ground. I grabbed it before he threw me over here."

Liam laughed and grabbed the key from his friend. Standing up he yelled to the others, "We have it! We have the key! We can go back to the castle, and I can go home!"

"Not so fast."

Everyone jumped as they heard the voice. They turned to see twelve guards standing in the cave which Kenny had used only a moment before. It was the soldiers from the castle. They still wore their armor, but they were covered in mud and looked quite upset. Obviously, the River Road hadn't worked out well for them.

"We'll take that key, now, if you don't mind." Sergeant Dimmock held out his hand while the other eleven guards drew their swords.

Liam thought that one through. They might be able to defeat the guards a second time, but Ezra was injured, if only slightly, and didn't appear to be able to do much of anything short of lay there and weep. Liam slowly walked over to retrieve his sword and knife, before wandering back to Ezra. He knelt down beside his friend and asked, "Can you run? Is your broken nail going to stop your feet from working?"

"Liam, you're so thoughtful and caring."

Liam rolled his eyes.

Ezra groaned before continuing, "I can run... if you help me up."

Liam pulled his friend to his feet while the guards continued to watch them closely. Liam knew he needed to communicate his plan to the rest of the team. The plan was simple. He wanted everyone to run for the exit. He decided the best way to let everyone know his plan was to yell, "RUN!!"

Everyone made for the small passageway through which they had entered. Once there, their eyes had to adjust to the dark, but they knew the guards would have the same problem. They ran as fast as they could toward the pit and charged up the stairs. If they could get to their horses, it would give them a head start. The guards' horses would likely be at the other entrance, quite a ways from the pit. Since they had obviously come through the same entrance Kenny had used, they might even have to contend with a grumpy dragon to get to their horses.

They ran up the stairs, round and round. The stairs seemed even more wet and slippery going up than they had coming down. They ran hard and could hear the guards coming up the stairs as well. About fifty steps up, they encountered a problem they were not expecting. Climbing stairs was exhausting. They had to stop and hold the wall while they gasped for air.

The guards continued to climb and had just about reached them when they themselves had to stop to catch their breath. Liam, Ezra, and the others started to climb again, but that time without as much energy. They looked back to see the guards having a tough time as well.

"Hold on... hold on..." Sergeant Dimmock gasped. "We aren't used to climbing stairs."

"No... we're not going to... let you... catch us..." Liam gasped back.

They all started running again and managed to make it another six steps before having to stop again to catch their breath. Each step was agony, and their legs felt like jelly.

As they started moving again, Jrasta slipped and began to roll back. DOHNK, the only one of their group behind the old man, managed to leap over top of Jrasta's rolling body as he sped down the stairs. He hit the twelve guards with the sound of a bowling ball hitting pins, and all of them started to roll as well.

"Go on without me! Save yourselves!" Jrasta hollered as he rolled.

They all watched in horror as Jrasta disappeared down the steps into the darkness. Liam started to go after him, but DOHNK grabbed his arm. "We have to go." Tears welled up in her eyes as she looked down into the darkness where her friend had disappeared. "We have to leave him. We must get the key back to the castle."

Liam felt a pang of guilt in his heart at the thought of leaving Jrasta behind but knew she was right. They turned back to their climb but continued to have to stop every six or seven steps to catch their breath. In time, they managed to get to the top and went straight for the horses.

They climbed up into their saddles just as the soldiers emerged from the pit. Liam and the others untied Jrasta's horse, and Jep hopped up on the saddle. DOHNK held the reins while they galloped away. No one spoke as they retraced their steps. They couldn't believe they had left Jrasta behind, but it was what he had wanted.

I hope you are enjoying Arestana: The Key Quest. Keep reading to find out what happens next! If you want to get a hold of this entire story, you can pick it up from Amazon, Chapters, Foyles or just about everywhere else!

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