The Ivory Dragon 12/14

“He should be here any moment now,” he said and pointed out of the window. Brian looked in the direction indicated. A small aircraft appeared on the horizon, then as it got closer he could see wings flapping. He presumed that it must be some sort of ornithopter, but it rapidly became clear that it was really a large flying animal. He was in for an even greater shock. The dragon landed on the green beside the two men and picked up the sack in one claw.

“I see the squire came over today,” it said, “is there some sort of special occasion?”

“Come outside and met Tornak the Terrible,” said Mr Manners with a grin “ask him if he knows Jennifer Jane.”

A wobbly-legged Brian reluctantly followed the squire out of the pub.

“’Morning Tornak, I’d like you to meet Brian Taylor, he’s from the alternate world and hasn’t seen a dragon before!”

Brian nervously looked at the huge animal. It was a bit larger than a horse and he could see intelligence shining in its eyes as it looked at him.

“Pleased to meet you Tornak,” he said in as brave a sounding voice as he could manage.

Surprisingly the dragon laughed at him. “He’s from the alternate world alright,” he said, “he’s got the same accent as that Jennifer Jane.”

“Er I wanted to ask you about her actually, do you really know her, only she lives in the same village as me and we don’t know anything about her work in this world!”

Tornak looked at the squire. “I think the best thing you can do is take this one to the Witches’ Home and let them sort things out. If he hasn’t heard of us before, then he might be in a lot of trouble. I’ll fly him over if you like, it’s the quickest way!”

Brian squeaked in fright and ran back into the pub, while the dragon and all the villagers laughed. He watched with relief as it ran across the village green until reaching take off speed and flapped away into the distance, holding the rope handle of the sack between its teeth.

“Believe in dragons now?” asked the squire with a smile, as he came back to finish his drink.

Brian nodded his head, as he tried to settle his nerves with a deep draught of beer.

“Don’t worry old chap, none of the witches will hurt you. They’ve dealt successfully with visitors from your world before. Mind you I don’t know what they’ll do but I’m sure they’ll come up with an answer. Landlord please can I have a riddle for Gordon, I’ll take Mr Taylor to the Witches’ Home myself.”