Jungle Adventure

Dragon's Lair: Chapter 5 (Continuation of the short story)

There was a feeling like the big drop on a rollercoaster, then the smoke started to clear, revealing a thick jungle. The electronic sounds of video games were replaced by the sounds of birds calling and monkeys howling and other things the boys didn’t want to wonder about.

They were coughing and waving the smoke away when Greg asked, “How are we going to get home?”

“I don’t know, but I think when we save the boy we will probably return,” Kenny said.

“What’s wrong with your backpack?” Spider asked, pointing to Josh’s back.

“What?” Josh asked, pulling off his pack and looking at it. It was bulging oddly, like it was very full. He opened the top flap and pulled out a shield that was as big around as a manhole cover.

“Was that the toy shield that Mike gave you?” Greg asked.

“I think it was,” Josh said, staring at it in shock.

Kenny was already opening his pack to see what was in it. He reached in and pulled out a wooden box with intricate carvings on all the sides.

“What is it?” Spider asked.

“I don’t know, but it’s…vibrating, and it’s…warm,” Kenny said. “What do you have?” He asked Spider.

Spider reached into his pack and pulled out a sheathed sword. “Wow,” Spider said as he looked at it. “This was a stuffed toy sword just a few minutes ago.”

“Yeah, and mine was a stuffed thing that looked more like a frisbee than a shield,” Josh said. “What’s yours?” Josh asked Greg.

Greg opened his bag and pulled out a crossbow. “Cool,” Greg said, and then after a moment looking at it, “That’s weird.” Where there should have been a dangerous pointy crossbow bolt, there was a bolt with a ring at the back and a rounded end at the front. “Well, that won’t do much to a giant troll.”

“What,” Kenny asked, then looked over at Greg’s crossbow. “It’s for a rope so you can shoot a rope over a wall to climb up. Look, the rounded parts spring out when it hits to make a small grappling hook.”

“Cool…I guess,” Greg said.

“Mike did call you a thief,” Josh said.

“I’m not a thief! I’m a ninja!” Greg insisted.

“Right, you’re a ninja, and ninjas need to climb walls,” Josh said.

“I still think it would be cooler if the bolts were sharp, or it would be really cool if they exploded. … Boom!” Greg said with a sound effect.

“Well, you are a ninja. Are there any bolts that make a smoke screen?” Josh asked.

“Maybe, some of these,” Greg said as he pointed to a bunch of bolts that were attached to the underside of the crossbow. “They have pictures on the end, and one of them looks like a cloud. Ohh, one of them has a flame.”

“Look at this,” Spider said as he swung the sword. He had pulled it out of the sheath and had been playing with it while the others studied their gifts. He swung it, and the sword almost sang as it sliced through the air. The sword had an intricate carving from the hilt to the tip of the blade. A dragon was carved on the hilt, extending up to the guard, where the guard was the dragon’s jaws. There was a carving of flame on the blade that started at the guard like it was the dragon breathing fire. The flame extended out all the way to the tip of the blade, with some of the tendrils of flames reaching out along the blade, making jagged points.

“That thing is so cool,” Kenny said.

“Yeah, I know,” Spider said as he swung it.

“Look at this,” Josh said, now examining the face of the shield.

The shield was a deep burgundy color with scales covering the whole of it.

“It almost looks like dragon scales,” Josh said.

“Uhm, I think we have to get moving,” Kenny said after hearing the roar of a big beast.

“Yeah, I need to try this thing out,” Spider said, swinging the sword. “I’ll take the lead.” He looked around for the path. “How do we get started?”

“I thought you played the game before?” Josh asked.

“I did…the snakes kept killing me,” Spider confessed.

“Did you jump them?” Josh asked.

“No, I was kicking them. They would go flying, land a few feet in front of my character, then it would slither towards me again. If I kicked a few of them, they would all slither back to my character, and they would always bite me,” Spider said.

“You have to jump over them. They stay where they are and don’t chase you when you get by them,” Josh said.

“What’s after the snakes?” Spider asked.

The beast roared again and was now closer.

“I think it’s time to go,” Kenny said. “If we wait any longer, a giant lion is going to come out of the jungle and eat us.”

“Which way do we go?” Spider asked. They were in the middle of a clearing. All around them was a thick, impenetrable jungle. In one direction there was a short path that ended in a wall of vegetation.

“This way,” Kenny said, heading down the short path followed by Josh and Greg.

“But it’s a dead end,” Spider said, followed shortly by another roar from much closer now.

“Trust me,” Kenny said. He kept walking until he got about five feet from the jungle when it turned to a green mist and then quickly dissipated.

“See,” Kenny said over his shoulder to Spider.

There was another roar behind Spider, and he turned just in time to see the leaves shaking. “Ahh! I’m right behind you,” Spider squeaked and then ran after the others.

“Will it chase us?” Spider asked when he caught up to the others. He turned to see what had made the roar, but the clearing was empty.

“Not if we keep moving,” Kenny said. “In the game, if you stand for too long, the lion shows up, but it always warns you with a few roars first.”

The boys continued walking with the jungle in front of them continually disappearing, while behind them the jungle was reclaiming the path, leaving them with a clear area just slightly longer than the original clearing.

They continued on for about ten minutes when Spider spoke up, “How much further until we get to the snakes?”

“Pretty soon. There will be more vines, and all the big elephant ear leaves will be replaced by small leaves,” Kenny said.

They kept walking, and just as Kenny said, there started to be more vines. At first they were thin, then as they continued there were more and thicker. Finally, the vines were as thick as a ship’s rope, and the jungle overhead was blocking out most of the light.

Josh stopped and listened, then said, “I think I hear them.”

“And look, the ground is sand now,” Kenny said, looking down at the path.

“What do we do?” Spider asked.

“We keep walking until we see snakes,” Josh said.

“Then we kick them,” Spider said, kicking an imaginary snake.

“No!” Kenny yelled. “We have to jump over them.”

“Ok, ok, I won’t kick them,” Spider said, kicking the sand, disappointed.

“There,” Greg said, stopping and pointing to the base of the dissipating green fog. It cleared, revealing the first of the snakes.

“When I played the game with someone else,” Kenny said, while he looked at the snake a few feet in front of them. “We each had to jump the snake.”

“Who’s going to go first?” Greg asked.

“I will,” Spider said immediately but he didn’t look like he was all that committed. “How high will I have to jump?”

“I don’t think all that high,” Kenny said, still staring at the snake.

“You don’t know?” Spider asked, looking at Kenny.

Josh had been looking at the snake, only half listening to the conversation. He took a deep breath and then ran towards it. Kenny saw Josh start running and turned to watch. Seeing Kenny was watching something, Greg and Spider turned and saw Josh running. Just before he got to the snake, he closed his eyes and jumped as high and as far as he could.

“Wow,” was all the boys could say. Josh had jumped so high it looked like he had bounced off a trampoline.

Josh flew over the snake so high he almost hit the branches above. When he landed, the only indication that he had jumped like a superhero was a small cloud of dust that his feet kicked up on impact. He opened one eye just a slit to see if he was going to be bitten by the snake. Not seeing it in front of him. He turned around and saw it was ignoring him. “Woohoo!” He yelled as he pumped his fist in celebration and relief.

“How did you do that?” Greg yelled in amazement.

“What? I just jumped,” Josh said.

“You jumped like you were a rocket ship,” Greg said.

“Yeah, you almost hit those branches,” Kenny said, pointing up to the canopy overhead.

Josh didn’t respond just looked at them, not understanding what they were saying.

“Psh, I can jump higher,” Spider said, puffing up his chest. He took a deep breath and then started running. When he jumped, his jump looked almost exactly like Josh’s; he sprang up and up. Unlike Josh, Spider didn’t close his eyes while he was flying. Seeing how high he was going, he started to windmill his arms and yelling, “ahhhhhh!!!” Because he was moving his arms and legs, he didn’t land as gracefully as Josh and rolled a little past him. “Ouff,” he said when he hit. He stood up and held his arm where he had landed on it.

“How did you do that?” Josh asked, seeing Spider’s Superman jump.

“See, I told you I could jump higher than you,” Spider said, ignoring Josh’s question. Then he dropped his arms, pretending he didn’t hurt himself on his landing.

“I think Josh’s jump was higher,” Greg yelled back.

“What? I didn’t jump that high. That was incredible; you were like a superhero,” Josh said.

“My turn,” Greg said and started running. Knowing what to expect when he jumped, he didn’t swing his arms or move his legs; he just clenched his jaw to keep from yelling. He landed gently like he had just jumped a few feet over a crack in the sidewalk.

“Your turn, Kenny,” Josh yelled.

“Ok, give me a second,” Kenny said, screwing up his courage. “Did I tell you guys I’m afraid of heights?” Kenny stood and breathed, thinking about flying so high. He started running, but before he jumped, he skidded to a halt and then stood. “I don’t think I can do it.”

“You can,” Greg said, trying to encourage him.

“Yeah, you can do it,” Josh said.

“Come on, little brother. You’ve been higher on that swing ride at the fair,” Spider said.

Kenny turned around and walked back a little bit.

“Where are you going?” Josh yelled.

“I just need more room,” Kenny replied.

After he went a little further, he stopped and turned around and stood there looking at the snake, and the trail, and all his friends standing there.

The boys just stood there watching him. “Come on, little bro, you can do it,” Spider said quietly to himself.

Kenny stood, breathing and looking, shaking his hands like he had seen those Olympic runners do. He bowed his head to cover his trembling chin and the beginning of tears.

Finally, after what felt like to the boys a lifetime, Kenny raised his chin, tightened his fists, and then hunched down, getting ready to run.

“Grrrooow,” the ever-present, unseen man-eating lion roared.

Hearing the impending doom, Kenny started to run. When he got to the spot to jump, he gave an extra big jump and went flying up and up and up and actually went through the leaves above. He went so high he was at eye level with a monkey on a branch who had been watching the silly boys playing with the snakes.

“Oooh,” the monkey said in greeting.

Kenny was so startled by the unexpected encounter he forgot to be afraid and landed as gracefully as Josh, with the only sign of the impact was a tiny puff of dust.

“That was so cool,” Josh said, seeing how high Kenny went. “You were so cool you just jumped up and flew into the branches and then came down like you were just flying. That was awesome.”

“Yeah, you flew up and up and up,” Greg said while he raised his arms like he was Superman flying off to save the day.

Spider just grabbed him and hugged him, and said, “I knew you could do it, little bro.” When he let go of him, he wiped his eyes and nose, so no one would see he had started to cry too.

“Wow, that was soooo cool,” Kenny said once he had a moment to recover.

Josh and Greg stood for a moment looking at the jungle and the path, but not at Spider until he had composed himself, hiding his fear for his little brother.

“How many more of those do we have?” Spider asked, breaking the silence.

“Four or five, I think,” Kenny said.

“Well, let’s get going,” Spider said.

There were four more snakes that they had to jump. They were able to get by them without any drama. Each jump, Kenny got more sure of himself, so that by the time they jumped the last one, he was the first to go.