บท 37: Onwards

"My son!" cried Cuthbert as he watched helplessly from the side of the cavern. "My little Sprat!"

"There there," Percy said, patting him on the shoulder. "You can make another one."

"It's not the point!" wailed the other zombie. "He was so young, so innocent! He hadn't even butchered anyone yet! Now he'll never taste the succulent flesh of a screaming adventurer. Oh, the injustice of it all!" He waved his fist at the shape of the dragon.

"Daddy!"

"Never pluck out a still beating heart…"

"Daddy! 'm here."

"Never gorge on an exposed brain…"

"DADDY!!"

"Huh?" Cuthbert looked around at the still tied body of the little zombie. "Sprat? Is that you?"

"It's me daddy."

"But you were…"

"When the bad dragon dropped the stone I came back here."

Cuthbert bent down and hugged Sprat. "Oh son! You're back! Oh joy! Oh wonder!"

"Oh crap," said Percy.

"How can you say that?" Said Cuthbert, "it's a miracle."

"And that is a very pissed off guardian." Percy pointed. "I told you we should have gone with the wizard and the woman back up into the tunnels."

The three zombies looked up as the dragon limped over to them. It spat out a tooth as it approached, and snarled. "Usually I don't eat dead meat, but for you lot I'm going to make an exception," it said.

Cuthbert stood in front of Sprat. "Take me! Just leave my son!"

"No deal. You're all going down." The dragon opened a giant maw.

Cuthbert put a hand in front of his eyes and waited for the end.

There was a pause and a familiar voice came from nearby.

"Now you have made me really mad!"

The zombie peered through his fingers. Climbing slowly over a ridge of stone, holding a black sword, was what appeared to be a burning skeleton.

"Dreth? Is that you?"

"In the flesh," came the reply. Then the form looked down. "Well, in the bone maybe."

The dragon turned to face the burning Dreth. "You! How are you still alive?"

"I'm very hard to kill," said Dreth. "Now then, I believe I owe you a guess." He pointed his sword at the dragon. The blade seemed to steam with black mist. "Care to give us a clue?"

The guardian paused, looking at the burning undead standing in front of it. Then it seemed to sag. "Er, Drago is probably a good guess."

"Drago the Dragon? Not very original is it?" said Cuthbert.

"Want to make something of it zombie?" the monster growled.

"Drago then. That's my guess. Unless you want to go for round 3 with me?" Dreth waved Darkblood.

The giant beast hesitated, considering. Finally it let out a massive sigh. "You're too much trouble. Another time," he replied. The dragon sat down heavily, causing a small tremor. "I'm hurt, and it's not worth the effort, damned Golem."

"So we can go on?" asked Percy, helping Cuthbert untie Sprat.

"Go on, help yourself. It's over there, in the mound." The dragon pointed with a long claw. "You need a key though."

"I think I know just where to find one," said Dreth, looking out at a broken stone body.