Weregamers: Jack Dragon

Jack Dragon

by Bryan Hitchcock

Timmy stood by his bedroom door and watched his mom and step–father fight.

"How come you’re always doin’ this to me, Helen?" Dick slurred. "How come you lie about takin’ my money?" He was talking in short, mean chunks of speech. And Timothy could see the little bits of food and spittle he spit out as he spoke. Some of them caught on Dick’s long, black mustache .

"Oh, you son of a bitch," Timmy’s mom screamed. "Every weekend you get drunk and every weekend you accuse me of taking your money."

"What did you call me? What..."

Timmy went into his room. Dick was getting angrier. As Timmy leaned against his closed door he thought of the line from the "Incredible Hulk" T.V. show, "...and you wouldn’t like me when I’m angry." It seemed like Dick was always angry, especially on Friday nights when he drank. Timmy brought his really good report card home this time but, all Dick could say was that Timmy was a sissy just like his father was. Of course Dick didn’t say that around Timmy’s mom. At least not very often.

The lights were off but Timothy still closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears with his hands. He hated the slapping sound worst of all. Timmy knew he could go away though. And just as he always did when his parents fought, he began singing. And as always he sang the song that his mother sang to him when he was a child, "Puff the Magic Dragon." The voices of his parents grew fainter and fainter as Timmy drifted away from their world.

* * *

The house was always cold, but now Timothy felt warm and he could feel the tender heat of the sun on his skin. Then at last, he could hear the tittering voices of his friends in the Country.

"Look, everybody. Timothy Tanhair is back."

Timothy opened his eyes and sighed. He was back. All around him was the comfortable and glorious Country. There were all sorts of trees including the huge, brown ones with red flowers and sweet "pinks", a delicious pink fruit. The sky was deep and blue the way Timmy felt it should always be. He lay in a plush, grassy meadow, and all around him were the little people, the sprites. In their rainbow colored shirts and typically green or blue overalls, they were as colorful and peaceful as the Country itself. The sprites were very slim with sharp features, slanted eyes, long pointed ears, and the slightest tint of green to their pale skin. And even at twelve, Timmy was twice as tall as most sprites, so that when he sat up he was at their eye level. A young, sprite woman greeted and hugged him fiercely.

"Greetings, Timothy Tanhair. We’ve missed you here in the Country. Where have you been keeping yourself?"

"Greetings, Norna." He stared at his now booted feet and tried to think of something. "Um, I’ve been working on songs infar off lands."

"Play for us Tanhair," a little boy pleaded. Then the others joined him: "Yes, play for us Tanhair. Come on, Tanhair, play us a song."

Timothy Tanhair searched the pockets of the tan trench coat that he always wore in the Country, and found his flute. Then, he began to play the little tunes from all the television shows he had watched since his last visit to the Country. The sprites enjoyed the melody of the "Gilligan’s Island" theme song, but their all time favorite was "Puff the Magic Dragon." The sprites began to cheer as he finished that song, but their cries of joy were cut off by a tremendous hissing laugh from the Fairy Woods.

Timothy and the sprites turned to the west where the sun was setting over the woodlands, to see plumes of smoke over the Fairy Woods. There were screams and then a huge lizard rose into the sky from the midst of the Woodlands of the Fairies. The dragon had a hood like a king cobra, gigantic bat wings, six clawed legs, a whiplike tail, and a long, black, spittle dripping mustache. In its claws it held a limp, white robed figure. The dragon seemed to look directly at Timothy, from its lofty position, and then it stuck out its tongue and spit a huge spray of poison at Timothy and the group of sprites. There was no way they could dodge in time. Timothy picked up his top hat, reached in and said the magic words, "Hocimus Pocimus Lotofus In Troubleous, Leapinus Lizardus Rainbow Protecticus." He tossed a handful of colored sand from his magic hat and a rainbow swirled dome appeared over the group. The snake spit splashed on the dome with no effect, but the areas of grass that were unprotected sizzled and fizzled as the acid burnt craters into the meadow. When the steam cleared the dragon was gone.

The sprites cheered again for Timothy Tanhair, but their hero would have none of that. "There’s no time to celebrate, the fairies must be in danger. We’ve got to help them." Then he donned his magic top hat, straightened his trench coat and led the sprites into the Fairy Woods.

Tanhair had fond memories of the fairies. They were also small, delicate people, although they were huge compared with the sprites, as fairies were usually about Timothy’s height. The Fairy Woods were made up of enormous, gnarled trees which naturally formed the catacombs, caverns and tree tunnels in which the fairies lived. As Timothy Tanhair and the sprites entered the Wood of the Fairies to find the Palace Tree, they were joined by a large group of noisy, frightened fairies. This group continually flew around on fragile, butterfly wings, chattering and questioning Timothy. The fairy princess met them in front of the ancient, moss and ivy covered Palace Tree.

"Oh, Tanhair," cried the fairy princess. "Jack Dragon has stolen the fairy queen."

The crowd of fairies and sprites gasped in shock when they heard the news.

The fairy princess leaned on Timothy’s shoulder and shook withsobs. He was quite uncomfortable with this so he stepped back and said, "Don’t worry princess, I’ll save the queen."

"Oh would you? Could you?" The fairy princess spread her wings and fluttered up a few feet above him. "You know the king would do it but, fairy men are very fragile creatures. Not as strong as you are, Tanhair."

Timmy looked up at her. She reminded him of the girl named Ginger who lived down the street but, the fairy princess was much older looking. "Well of course I will save her and..." He could not finish his declaration because the princess swooped down and hugged him, splashing his face in fluffy, red curls.

"Oh, Timmy, you’re wonderful," she said, and Timmy felt warm inside.

Later, after a fine meal of pink fruit jam and sweet bean butter sandwiches, Timothy met with the fairy king in the palace library. The fairy king knew very little about Jack Dragon.

"The legends say that a day will come when the dragon shall rise again. The day is called Freeday, but we had no way of knowing when this would be since we do not keep track of time here in the country."

"Well I should have been told about this. Where I come from there is a day like that." Timmy thought about his mom and her dreaded day of the week. Then he looked at the frail, silver haired fairy king who sat across from him, worrying about his queen. "Is there anything more?"

"Not really," said the king, his wings twitching nervously. "Here is the best map we have. It is a very long and terrible journey. Oh dear, I wish there was some way to get there faster. Who knows what may be happening to my beloved wife at this very moment."

"Don’t worry, King, I have a friend who can help me."

The next morning, Timothy Tanhair sat upon the highest spire of the Palace Tree. He could see the Country all around him with no horizons, since the Country was flat. The landscape continued as far as his eyes could see and further. And off in the distance to the west, past the furthest reaches of the Woods, past the Misty Marsh of Mimi the Mad, and past the Fire Pits of Mojave, Timothy could see Icepick Mountain, home of the Dragon named Jack.

A cold wind stirred around Timothy but, he remained on his perch and drew his silver flute from his trench coat. He began to play the tune that his friend Peggy the flying horse taught him on a previous journey in the Country. Before long he heard the flap of Peggy’s downy wings and she swooped down to him from the sky.

"Going my way, big boy?" She said.

Timothy stared for a moment at the chestnut colored, winged horse which hovered before him. "Uh, well which way are you going, Peggy?"

"Now quit playin’ with me, young man. I’m taking you wherever you want to go."

"Even there?" He pointed to the mountain.

"Don’t tell me you’re gonna mess around with old Jack Dragon."

"He’s kidnapped the fairy queen and I promised the fairy princess that I would save her mother."

"Oh. Well, you wouldn’t wanna break a promise to the fairy princess now would you?" Peggy winked and whinnied a horsey laugh. Timothy didn’t understand but he blushed anyway. "Oh well. Never you mind, son. Just hop on." She backed up to the branch so he could climb on to her broad back and then Peggy zoomed away with Timothy Tanhair holding on tightly.

It only took Peggy an hour to cross the entire distance from the Fairy Woods to Icepick Mountain. She landed near the dragon’s lair and Timothy slid down to the rocky, red surface of the mountain.

"Well, just give me a toot on the whistle when you need me, boy, and good luck." Then she was gone, a brown streak across the blue sky.

Then, Timothy Tanhair turned and stalked towards the mouth of the cavern. At the reeking, steaming entrance, he looked back towards the Fairy Woods, tried to swallow the lump in his throat, and forced himself to turn and enter the darkness.

At the end of the tunnel was a large cavern, lit by a reddish glow from the walls. In the center of the lair the dragon lay asleep, sprawled amidst huge piles of shiny items. Timothy crept closer, excited that he might retrieve some fantastic treasure from the horde of Jack Dragon. Then, he saw that the dragon’s bed was not made of gems and treasure. The gleaming piles were mountains of bottles. Some were empty, some were full, and others were somewhere in between. But they all bore the label "Tennessee sour mash, ninety proof." Timmy realized after pulling the cork from one bottle that the liquid was both the dragon’s spit and his stepfather’s drink of choice on Friday nights. ’Some dragon,’ he thought. ’He doesn’t even have a treasure horde, he collects whiskey.’

Then some movement in a corner of the cavern caught his eye. Timothy moved there as quietly as he could and found the fairy queen locked in a cage. She appeared frightened but unharmed and remnants of a huge meal showed Timothy that the dragon was trying to fatten her up. The fairy queen was overjoyed that he had come to rescue her and he was forced to continually "shush" her. This was difficult for Timmy to do because she looked a lot like his mom.

Timothy took off his top hat, waved his hand above the opening and said, "Abera Kadabera, Unlocka The Doora." Then, he quickly reached into the hat, pulled out a key and unlocked the cage. The fairy queen rushed forward to embrace him but she looked above him and she fainted. Timothy tried to dive away, but he felt himself being lifted by his coat collar.

Then, he heard the deep, raspy voice of Jack Dragon. "Well, what do we have here? Looks like an after dinner mint to me." The dragon laughed a hissing, serpentine laugh. His breath was hot and alcoholic and Timothy struggled to dodge the spittle which leaptfrom the dragon’s slimy mouth.

"Wait," said Timothy. "You don’t want to eat me."

"I don’t, huh? Why not?"

"Because I am an entertainer. You like entertainment don’t you?" The dragon seemed confused so Timothy kept talking. "Really, I’m great fun. I write new songs all the time and I tell fantastic jokes. I do magic tricks and card tricks and I’m a great cook." He babbled on some more but, he was slightly distracted as the dragon’s tail continually swooshed up near him. Timothy noticed that the end of Jack Dragon’s tail was corked, just like all the bottles.

"Very well," said Jack Dragon. "Play a song for me." And he set Timothy on the ground.

Timothy Tanhair thought carefully and he edged slowly towards his hat. "All right," he said. "How’s this?" He pulled out his flute and began to play the tune that he always heard snake charmers play on T.V. shows.

The dragon was captivated. First, it stood up un its hind legs and its four upper legs began to sway. Then, the dragon’s whole body began to twist and wind like a supple belly dancer, even its wings rolled up and down with the slow rhythm of the tune. Timothy could hear the dragon’s scales rustling together as it danced. Then, Tanhair stopped playing and dove for his hat.

The dragon didn’t notice Timothy’s move until it was too late, and it looked down just in time for the next trick. Timothy pointed the hat at the dragon and quickly said, "Hokeimus Jokeimus, Pokeimus Inopticus." And a cement boxing glove at the end of a long spring shot from the top of the hat and jabbed Jack Dragon in the eye. It hissed a scream and fell backwards. Timothy Tanhair leapt for the dragon’s tail and held on as it thrashed around. He grabbed the cork and pulled just as he was thrown off.

As the steaming whiskey spewed from the dragon’s tail the dragon was tossed wildly about the room, smashing all of the bottles. Timothy created another rainbow dome to protect himself and the unconscious fairy queen. Finally, the dragon was dried out and deflated, a little lizard with nothing but broken glass bottles.

Timothy woke the queen of the fairies. She hugged him tightly. "Oh, thank you, Timothy Tanhair, thank you."

* * *

Timmy was awakened by his mother. She was sitting on the edge of his bed sobbing. He could still hear Dick yelling at her from the kitchen. Timmy cried, too.