by Matthew Gallagher

Part 6

    The Dodo's little feathered chest heaved from the effort of climbing all the way to the top of one of the volcano in which Don the Dragon slumbered.  It took a moment, then leaned over the lip of the caldera.  It blinked back its eyes that were effected by the gasses that rose from the hot sulfurous cavern below its feet.

    "Dragon... oh, Dragon..." it whispered.  No response.  Dodo knew that the Dragon would be very cross if its nap were disturbed, but it couldn't be helped this time.  The Dodo took as deep a breath as it could, and yelled into the caldera, the echo of its voice bouncing throughout the volcano until it boomed in Don's ear.

    "Sailorhunters!  Sailorhunters are here!"

    In a deep dark chamber in the middle of the earth, A humungous eye flipped open.  People.  On the Dragon's Island.  Don's head shot up so quickly that he smashed it against the ceiling of his sleeping chamber.  The whole island shook with the vibrations from the impact!  Don let out a yell that caused all the birds in the island to flap their wings rapidly and cry out in answer.  All the flying birds took to the air and circled the island over and over.

    Cap'n. Curly stepped out of the skiff into the shallow water of the lagoon.  He immediately sunk to his wasted into the hole in the coral that was there.  Doody reached out his arm for Curly to grasp.  "Oh, Capteen!  How you have become even more shorter!"  Sister Lunita was nearly unable to suppress her laughter at Curly's mishap.  Thank goodness she was saved from embarrassment herself by a sharp jab in her torso from Sister Solita's elbow.

    After helping Cap'n. Curly to more a stable foothold, he leapt nimbly from the skiff and landed on the beach.  He proffered his arm to Sister Solita, to help her out of the little craft.  While Solita disembarked with a smile, Sister Lunita held out her hand to be taken, then stepped right into the hole on the coral beach which had surprised Curly.

    Curly, Doody and the Sisters were accompanied by ten or so able members of the Triumph's crew.  You could see some of the pirates' mouths water as they thought about the treasure they were going to find on this mysterious remote island with two volcanoes.

    Solita shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand and looked up at the dual peaks towering above the island.  "I don't think we should stay here long.  Looks like one of them is pretty active."

    "Not only can she tie knots, but she knows about volcanoes, too. Interesting."  Curly gave a glance back as he led the company across the beach toward the brush.

    Just as the pirates reached the beginning of the jungle, a tremendously loud shriek hurt their ears and the ground under them trembled!  Suddenly, the heavens around them were teeming with every kind of feathered creature imaginable!  The pirates cowered as falcons and pigeons and rooks and hummingbirds swarmed in the air.

    "This is a very bad sign! Birds are portents of very bad luck!" they cried.

    "Nonsense!  They are just bothered by the volcano, that's all!" Curly shut them up with a commanding voice, then led them further into the jungle.

    "Birds are very significant harbingers of what is to come, Captain," offered Sister Solita.  He shot a look back at her.  "At least in our religion," she said, and looked up at the sky.

    Soon the group came to the open grasslands of the island's savannah.  There they found the largest of birds running back and forth, and chasing each other in circles!  The dust kicked up by all the birds' fast-running feet made the pirates cough and rub their eyes.  Curly motioned to his crew that they should walk around the savannah and avoid the commotion from what looked like bird relay races!  They were nearly halfway along the perimeter when a great shadow eclipsed the sun all of a sudden.  The sky was eerily quiet, and then they were blown back by a gust of wind.

    "Run!" Screamed Solita.  "Into the forest, run!"  Well, she didn't have to tell those pirates twice, because they were speeding into the deep jungle as fast as their legs could carry them.  All the while the shadowy wind seemed to follow them.

    "What ees eet?" called back Doody in mid-flight.

    "A dragon!" yelled Cap'n. Curly and Sister Solita simultaneously.  Curly stared at Solita.  She just kept running through the forest until she spied a trail through the trees.  Breaking away from the group, she raced toward the path.  Most of the pirates stayed their course, but Curly and Sister Lunita veered and went after the blond girl.

    The trail led them up a hill toward the inactive cone of the double-volcano.  Along the way, Solita would stop, cup her hand around her mouth, and make a weird trilling noise toward the mountain.  When she was about halfway up the mountain the call was answered!  Somewhere on the peak, something had heard her strange call and responded.

    Solita looked down to see where her companions were.  Lunita was right behind her, and a couple of hundred yards below, Curly was climbing after them with difficulty.  Solita waited for Lunita to catch up with her.

    "We've found it!  Of all the luck, those pirates brought us right to it!"  They clasped arms, and continued their ascent up the volcano peak.