care if it's true, we just like your stories. It's better than listening to McDodd burp and break wind everyday, for sure.'
Both Syndar and Craster laughed, causing the bigger boy to turn red, threatening Kirsk with a punch. Craster switched sides and encouraged the fight.
'Yeah, knock 'im, McDodd. Knock his teeth in!'
Syndar rolled her eyes, and Kirsk sat motionless, familiar with the bully's threats.
'One day, Kirsk,' McDodd threatened even as he lowered his arm. 'One day you'll get what's coming.'
Ignoring the bully, Kirsk regarded Nollo and said, 'Tell us about the barn. Your father must have something special if you aren't supposed to tell anyone. What is it? A talking bird? You swore once you had a talking bird, but when we went to see it, he just pooped in Craster's hair. That was funny, only because Craster did all the talking.'
Syndar giggled at the familiar story, and McDodd punched Craster in the arm just because.
'Nothin' special. Just… animals,' Nollo mumbled, looking out the window.
McDodd finally found a target for his frustration. 'Ha! Just like the time you told us you had a beholder-a floating eye sack that could turn us to stone. 'Cept when we arrived, it wasn't floating, or wavin' its eyes around. Just some pumpkins that grew into a giant pumpkin, with a rotted hole for a mouth, and stems you swore were once eye stalks. Last year, you swore your pap had a drow girl in a cage. Syndar was so scared she wouldn't go into the barn. She believed you, but I knew better. Funny how the evil dark elf was actually Grapper's daughter covered in dirt and soot. A chimney sweep's daughter paid to pretend she was drow. Your pappy is so cheap, he didn't even give her fake ears!'
McDodd laughed with Craster joining in. Teh, yer pap is cheap! And stupid!'
Nollo flushed red, his embarrassment becoming anger at the taunts.
'You're all just stupid tree-cutters!' Nollo shouted. 'You wouldn't know a dwarf from a gnome from a halfling. I have fed a dragon. I did it tonight. And I said they're called wyrms!'
He stopped his outburst, seeing looks of surprise from the four local youth. They had never heard him so angry before.
'I… I should go,' Nollo said. 'My pappy is mad if I'm late two nights in a row.'
As he started for the rope ladder hanging from the side of the tree house, Kirsk's gentle hand paused him.
'Do you really have a baby dragon in the barn?'
Nollo stammered out his reply. 'Y-yes.'
'Well, I give the kid respect,' said McDodd. 'Three lies in three years, and each bigger than the last.'
Kirsk looked back to Syndar, who voiced everyone's thoughts: 'Let's go see it.'
Nollo shook his head and said, 'No! I promised my pappy I wouldn't tell. It's his big surprise for carnival this year. Every year he gets mad when no one comes to see his animals, so he said he'll get something so special, they'll beg him to stay and run the show all year long. Please, I won't be able to sit for a month if he finds out.'
The others looked to each other as McDodd said, 'I'll go, just to prove what a liar you are.'
Nollo looked to Kirsk, his expression changing as a new thought emerged.
'If he thinks I'm a liar, then I'll prove him wrong. 'Cept you all have to pay a coin each to see it. Two if you want a touch.' Nollo grinned, secure in the knowledge his father couldn't be sore if he turned profit like he was taught to.
Craster whined, 'I ain't got no coins.'
McDodd punched him, right in the same spot, and said, 'Yer stupid. We ain't payin' no coins to see a lizard in a cage. I'll bet you it's a lizard with wings of cloth, 'cause his pap is stupid and cheap.'
Craster winced as he rubbed his arm. 'Yeh, stupid and cheap.'
Kirsk shared a secret smile with Syndar before gesturing to the open night before them.
'Here's the deal Nollo,' he said. 'You take us to the barn, and show us your dragon. We'll pay you a coin each if we agree it's real.' McDodd started to swear but Syndar pinched him as Kirsk finished, 'In fact, if you have any fish left, I'll pay an extra coin to feed it myself. Is that fair, 0 carnival master?'
Nollo smiled at the title, swinging onto the ladder. 'Sure is! Better count your fingers though, you might not have them all when you're done!'
The young boy nimbly climbed down as Kirsk helped Syndar find her footing on the ladder. The pair exchanged another glance as Craster blew out the lantern, the night swallowing them.
Nollo led them to the warped peeling doors of the barn, wincing as the rusted hinges moaned when opened. Inside, the musty smell of hay, horses, and lantern oil greeted them. Poorly lit, they could hear the whinny of the caravan horses. Nollo crept forward, taking them around the back of one of the wagons, to a shroud-covered cage.
Nollo turned back to face them and said, 'Remember, one coin each for a look, two if you want to touch it.'
McDodd shook his fist as he spoke. 'I'll give you two of something else if you don't hurry up.'
Nollo ignored the threat, puffing out his chest in preparation for his performance. 'In all the realms there is no monster so fearsome, no danger so… so… dangerous, no beast so horrible that they cause fear by their very name!'
Nollo gestured grandly as Syndar whispered to Kirsk, 'Can a dragon be fearsome and horrible at the same time?'
Kirsk smirked as Nollo's voice rose. 'Cast away your eyes gentle folk, for you dare not see what I am about to show…'
But McDodd had had enough. He pushed the smaller boy out of the way, and grabbed the shroud and yanked it off, revealing a battered steel cage. The bars were warped from repeated blows, and the top of the cage was punctured from dozens of rents and tears. The cage was more fascinating than the mottled brown creature curled up inside it. Dull scales adorned the torso, and a long thick tail curled tight to the sleeping body.
'Gods, the stink!' McDodd said as he wrinkled his nose in disgust. 'That's the ugliest lizard I ever saw.'
Nollo unsuccessfully tried pushing the burly McDodd back.
'It's a dragon you axe-head, and you're the one that stinks.'
Syndar crept close, studying the creature as it stirred at the noise. One reptilian eye popped open, surveying the group. The beast opened its tooth-filled snout, a leathery tongue sliding out in a lazy yawn.
Nollo said, 'See? No lizard has that many teeth. Them's dragon teeth. Stick your finger in and see for yourself. Just make sure you have enough fingers left to count your coins.'
Kirsk smiled at Nollo's bluster, and looked to Syndar.
She shrugged, looked back to the cage, and said, 'I've only read about them in my mother's book, I've never seen one. I expected it to be… to be…'
McDodd finished her thought. 'Bigger, right? A dragon is as big as this barn, not smaller than my dog.'
As if in answer, the creature let out a cry that sounded more like a squawk than a roar. Its tail flipped back and forth for a moment, rattling the cage, and it sent an expectant look Nollo's way. Disappearing behind another wagon, Nollo returned, struggling to carry a bucket stinking of day old fish. Grabbing one of the slimy offerings, he hoisted it toward the cage.
McDodd stole it from his hand. 'Good thing this isn't really a dragon, you'd be too weak to even care for it.'
As McDodd slid the fish through the bars of the cage, the creature grew more animated. Syndar and Kirsk looked at each other as a thin membrane momentarily unfolded from the side of the body before disappearing against the scales once more.
McDodd wasn't finished having his fun, and as the creature opened its mouth to take the fish, he snatched it back, laughing.
Nollo, furious, made a grab for the fish. 'Don't tease it. Give it back!'
Kirsk started to complain, but McDodd drowned him out. 'Ha! A dragon would'a ripped the fish right from my hands. They move so fast yer dead before you even see them. This is just a lazy, fat lizard.'
McDodd held Nollo away with one hand, slowly swinging the fish in his other.
'McDodd, stop,' Syndar said, but her warning fell on deaf ears.
