Unfolded

I hunched over my homework at the kitchen table, trying to figure out a math problem. My little sister Angie burst in.

"Dan! I need your help." She clutched a bundle of brown paper that looked a million years old, all crumbling and musty.

I threw down my pencil and straightened up, stretching my aching shoulders.

"What gives?"

"I need you to come to Bordensia with me."

"I don't have time for your imaginary stuff. Look at all this homework!"

"It isn't imaginary. Bordensia is a real place, and they have a problem."

"Yeah sure. When are you going to grow out of that fantasy kingdom? You're twelve years old!"

"If you help me with this, I promise I'll help you do your share of the chores tomorrow."

"Seriously?" My ears perked up. I could use that.

"Yes, seriously. This is important."

I took one last look at the trigonometry that was driving me crazy anyway and stood up.

"Ok, fine. Let's go." I followed Angie to her room.

I figured a half hour or so playing pretend with her would be a nice break before Mom got home from shopping. Angie never invited me into her secret world. I usually teased her about it, so she didn't share much. Maybe I'll be her knight in shining armor.

Inside her room, she carefully unfolded what turned out to be an old-fashioned map.

"This is the map of Bordensia and surrounding lands." She pointed out a few landmarks: the queen's castle, the Wild Wood, some villages and farmlands, a strip of swampy beach along the Eastern shoreline.

"Know where there's any buried treasure?" I leaned in closer to read the name of an island: Dead Man's Head. "Hey, that sounds promising."

"We're not going there," Angie scoffed. She spread the map out on the floor and reached for my hand. "Come on, let's get started. Step on it at the count of three."

I smiled condescendingly. It seemed a pity to trample that nice antique map just to play; someone must've worked pretty hard drawing it up. But I went ahead and held her hand as she counted.

"One, two, three!"

We stepped on it. Suddenly we weren't in Angie's bedroom anymore. A cold shock tingled my spine as I looked around a thick, dusky forest that smelled of pine and damp underbrush. Wind whispered through the upper boughs, making them creak eerily.

"Wh-at!?"

"We landed in the Wild Woods," Angie said matter-of-factly. "Now we'll go see Queen Coraline. She's expecting us.'

"How far is it? Are we walking all the way? Have you been here before? How are we gonna get back home?"

She picked the map up off the ground and showed me the back, which now displayed our hometown.

"We'll leave the same way we came."

Surely I was having a silly dream at the kitchen table. I struggled to keep up with Angie as she plowed down the narrow trail. Branches caught at my clothes.

"Wait up!" I yelled, waving my arms. "Are there bears here? Or wolves?"

She turned to give me a stern look.

"Are you saying you're scared?"

I gulped and glanced around. I could almost see glowing eyes, considering whether I'd make a tasty lunch.

"Who, me scared? Naw. Lead the way, sis!" I bent down and grabbed a chunky stick for a weapon.

Somehow Angie knew exactly where she was going, and within a few minutes we came upon an open glade where the castle stood behind iron gates. It wasn't a cutesy pink fairytale castle, but rather a looming stone structure dripping with moss and ivy.

A gigantic guard in gleaming black armor approached, riding a frightfully muscular jet black unicorn. I gaped at the sharp, iridescent horn aimed in our faces.

"Angie, this is no place for kids! What are we doing here?"

"Chill out. This is my second home." Angie reached up and patted the unicorn's nose as if it were her favorite pony. "Gustavo, we're here to see the Queen."

Gustavo led us through the gates into the courtyard. Another, less alarming guard ushered us inside, where a lady-in-waiting brought us to the Queen's chamber.

Angie curtsied expertly. I bent low and almost fell over, never having bowed to anyone before.

"Your Honor, this is my older brother, Dan. He's fourteen. Is he the type you're looking for?"

Queen Coraline flipped back her long auburn braids and leaned forward to examine me.

"Looks about right. Young man, have you any experience with trapping dragons?"

"None whatsoever, Your Honor." My legs trembled. I glared at Angie. "My little sister neglected to explain what I was getting into when she hauled me here."

"Never mind that now. They're only baby dragons, but they're scampering around the castle at night and giving my servants such a headache. They've set the curtains ablaze a multitude of times!"

"Uh, yeah, I would imagine." I scratched my head. I'd never heard of an infestation of dragons! "How many do you think there are? And why are they here?"

She waved everyone else out of the room.

"I'm afraid one of my closest advisors is a traitor. But I don't know who. Someone filled the castle with dragons because they know they're attracted to gold. He thinks they'll lead him to my most closely guarded treasure, the stockpile which belongs to the kingdom. He wants it for himself."

"Where do they hide in the daylight?"

"Oh, everywhere. Just this morning a kitchen maid fainted when one came running out of the larder, between the flour sacks."

I shuddered.

"How big are they?"

As if on cue, a rustling erupted under the Queen's throne. She gasped and pulled her legs up as a shimmering red dragon about the size of a rat scooted out, tracking the base of the wall.

It ran a couple laps around the room, looking for a way out. Angie followed it with a broomstick. I knelt down, waiting until inevitably she chased it into my lap.

It was actually kind of cute, like a winged lizard. It flapped the wings ineffectually as I held it, little puffs of smoke coming out of its nostrils.

"Relax, fella. We're more scared of you than you are of us." I patted its forehead cautiously. It looked up at me with eyes glowing a ruby red.

"What should we do with it?" Angie asked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Look, I'm not a dragon expert. I don't know why…"

"Do you realize not everyone can hold a baby dragon and live to tell about it?" Angie folded her arms. "I knew you had the ability!"

"Uh… you mean I'm like a dragon whisperer?" I looked from her triumphant smile to the miniscule ruby-hued reptilian now dozing off in my hands.

"Of course!"

"So what are you, a unicorn whisperer?"

"As a matter of fact, I'm receiving training from Gustavo to be a Unicorn Guard right now." Angie drew herself up proudly.

"Great. So I'm supposed to know how to fix a dragon infestation, plus smoke out a traitor?" I shook my head. But the phrase "smoke out" gave me an idea. "So he's after the gold, eh? How about we give him some gold to collect?"

***

Angie wriggled impatiently next to me under the tablecloth in the castle kitchen.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

I checked my watch. It was 10:30 PM.

"We've got everything set up: flour sack decoys, one sack of gold coins, our little Ruby sleeping on top of it. The Queen let everyone in the castle know a payment of gold is sitting here, waiting for delivery to the king of Opelita tomorrow morning. All we need to do is wait for someone to come and take it."

"And then what? How are we gonna stop him?"

"Easy. He won't even know we're here. We'll ring the service bell and someone will catch him in the act."

Honestly, I sounded more confident than I felt. I worried about how long we'd stayed in Bordensia. Mom would have called the police by now. How could we explain ourselves when we got back home? What if we didn't get home…? I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a medieval kingdom of dragons, unicorns and traitors.

At 11:45, heavy footsteps thudded on the oak flooring. The kitchen door creaked open. The person strode directly to the table and stood there for some time. A sleepy squeak emitted from Ruby.

I breathed in and out with painful care, trying not to make the slightest sound. Dust bunnies tickled my nose, and my eyes watered as I held back a sneeze.

Angie reached out, lifting the tablecloth a couple inches and revealing enormous shiny black combat boots. I knew those boots; they'd been at my eye level when we reached the castle gates. The traitor was Gustavo.

The dust was too much for Angie. She let out a sneeze that would have woken the dead.

"Who goes there?" Gustavo thundered.

He tore aside the tablecloth and dragged me out. I thrashed and yanked and kicked, yelling for help.

"What are you doing, you rascal?" He held me by the shirt collar a few inches off the floor. "Where's the Queen's gold?"

"It's right here on the table," I gasped. "The dragon found it."

"That's only one bag! The rest is flour. You stole it!"

"You're the thief. I set a trap and you walked right into it."

"You can't prove I didn't come here only to see that all was well. Some trap this is—looks like you've trapped yourself good!" He laughed harshly. "Now, what to do with you…"

I twisted my head around to look for my baby dragon.

"Ruby."

Its glowing eyes marked the spot. With another squeak, it fluttered up to land on my shoulder. Gustavo tried to swat it away.

"Stupid dragon. You can't even find the hoard!"

Ruby wheezed. A waft of flame spurted out of its mouth towards Gustavo's face. He roared and stumbled backwards, dropping me. I fell limp against the pile of flour sacks.

Gustavo grabbed a meat cleaver and headed for me in a rage. I leaped away just as the double doors leading outside burst open. A mounted rider charged through like an explosive thundercloud.

"Dan! Are you ok?"

Angie reined up Gustavo's giant black unicorn and swung sideways as guards came flooding in behind her.

She slid down off her steed, hugging me tight.

"I didn't mean to leave you for so long!"

"I'm fine." I brushed my sweaty hair out of my eyes and hugged her back amidst the hubbub. "Can we go home yet?"

"Not until you round up all the other baby dragons Gustavo let loose," Angie reminded me.

I groaned.

"Sure. How hard could it be?"

***

We eventually managed to lure the infant firebreathers with strategically placed piles of gold. Once the dozen or so were collected, we brought them to a dragon sanctuary to be properly cared for.

"I'll miss Ruby," I sighed, giving my loyal reptilian a final rub behind the ears.

"What are you saying?" Angie rolled her eyes. "We'll be back any time you want. As a dragon whisperer, you are entitled to proper training, just like I've been receiving with the unicorns."

"I would be delighted to have you as staff," Queen Coraline added. "You and Angie make a fine team."

"I'll think about it," I replied.

Angie unfolded her map, and we stepped through into her bedroom quite uneventfully. I collapsed on her bed, plumb tuckered out. The clock read the same time we'd left.

"So, am I still imagining things?"

"Nope. But you still have to help me with chores. You promised."

"Agreed. I'd rather ride unicorns, though." She smiled.

"And I'd rather tame dragons."

We laughed over our shared secret.

Words: 1989.
Written for the November 2024 Official WdC Contest, Journey Through Genres. Required genre: Fantasy.