‘Shut up, Dylan,’ said Charlotte. ‘You can do this, Billy. I once had a tooth knocked out in a ju-jitsu competition – you’ll be fine.’
‘Open mouth,’ said the rock troll.
‘This one,’ said Billy, pointing at one of his bottom front teeth. He didn’t want it to take a molar or one from the top. Then he closed his eyes.
His mouth was suddenly full of rocky, gnarled fingers. He felt them grind against his teeth, and then pause over one at the bottom.
‘Mine,’ said the rock troll and tugged.
‘OW!’ Blood filled Billy’s mouth.
The tooth came out faster than he’d thought it would. But, as his tongue probed the spot where his tooth had just been, he realized that there were two teeth missing.
‘You took two!’ Billy said, spitting blood.
The rock troll shrugged. ‘Accident,’ he said. ‘My fingers big. Your teeth small.’
‘Give me the pearl then,’ said Billy. ‘You took two teeth. I should get two things. Two for two, right?’
The rock troll seemed to consider this. ‘Okay,’ it said. ‘Fair.’ It tossed Billy the pearl and put Billy’s two teeth in his own mouth. ‘Mine.’
‘Yep, they’re your teeth now,’ said Billy, stepping out from round the hoard and joining his friends. He handed Dylan the pearl. Dylan breathed a sigh of relief. ‘I missed this,’ he said. He looked up at the rock troll. ‘Pleasure doing business with you,’ he said.
‘Easy for you to say,’ muttered Billy, wincing as he wiped blood from his mouth. ‘You didn’t have to give up any teeth.’
‘You have to admit, it did some pretty good negotiating. Surprisingly smart for a pile of sentient rocks,’ said Dylan.
‘I VERY SMART!’ roared the rock troll.
The children backed up. ‘That’s what I said, pal,’ said Dylan. ‘Smart.’
‘Can we get out of here before it decides it wants something else from us?’ asked Charlotte. ‘I’ve got an award-winning smile – I don’t want that thing to take any of my teeth.’
‘Don’t have to tell me twice,’ said Dylan, quickly walking back out into the light.
‘You are very smart,’ Ling-Fei said to the rock troll as she followed Charlotte and Dylan out of the cave.
With one last look at his teeth in the rock troll’s mouth, Billy ran after his friends.
A Ride In The Sky
Billy’s mouth ached and tasted like blood. As they walked back along the riverbank, he kept spitting, trying to clear the copper taste.
He still felt jittery from the encounter with the rock troll. In the moment offering his tooth had seemed like a brilliant idea, but now that they were out of immediate danger, and had Dylan’s pearl back, he realized just how much might have gone wrong. What if the thing had ripped off his entire head? Billy shuddered.
‘Good job in there, Billy,’ said Dylan, like he knew what Billy was thinking. ‘You really saved the day.’
‘Excuse me,’ said Charlotte. ‘I think you’ll find it was a team effort.’ But she was smiling as she said it and, with the support of his friends, Billy started to feel calmer.
They continued to walk along the river all afternoon and into the early evening, still keeping a careful eye out for enemy dragons and any other danger.
As the sun started to sink behind the black mountains, Dylan sighed. ‘Can we take a break? I’m tired.’
‘We need to find somewhere to hide for the night before it gets too dark,’ said Billy. ‘But I get it. I’m tired too.’
‘We’re all exhausted,’ said Charlotte.
‘I don’t think I’ve ever walked so much,’ said Ling-Fei. ‘And I love going walking in the forest.’
‘It isn’t just… being tired.’ Dylan said slowly. ‘I miss home. Not camp. Home home. Ireland home.’ He paused. ‘We will go home, won’t we?’ he added. ‘After all this?’
‘Of course we’ll go home,’ said Charlotte. ‘Stop being such a pessimistic possum.’
‘I’m not even sure I know what a possum is,’ said Dylan. ‘But seriously, do you guys think we’re going to make it out of here alive?’
Billy looked up into the twilight. ‘I hope so,’ he said.
They all were silent for a long moment.
‘We still want to do this, don’t we?’ said Ling-Fei quietly. ‘Our dragons would understand if we turned back.’
‘If we turn back, we’ll lose everything anyway,’ said Billy. ‘We’re what our dragons need to defeat the Dragon of Death. The world we know, everyone we know – everything – will be destroyed if we don’t stay and help.’
‘If I have a choice, I’d probably choose to have the world end while I’m in my own bed, fast asleep. Instead of, you know, being eaten alive by a dragon,’ said Dylan wryly.
‘We can go back, if you really want,’ said Billy slowly. ‘I don’t want to force anyone to do anything they don’t want to do.’
‘And know that I was dooming the entire world, both human and dragon?’ Dylan cracked a smile. ‘Can’t have that, can we?’
Billy grinned at his friend and slung his arm round Dylan’s shoulder. ‘That’s the spirit,’ he said. Being brave for Dylan and his friends was easier than being brave by himself. Despite his confident words, a small part of Billy wondered if they even had a chance of saving their dragons. Saving the world. Maybe they weren’t the right ones for this. Maybe the mountain shouldn’t have opened for them. Billy pushed the thought out of his head. He had to try. He was here now. He couldn’t let his fear get the better of him.
‘If we’re done with our little pep talk, can we keep walking, please? It’s getting darker by the minute,’ said Charlotte, looking over her shoulder. ‘I don’t want to know what comes out at night around here.’
‘Ling-Fei,’ said Billy, an idea occurring to him. ‘You know how you… sensed where the river was? And sensed that the cave
