Dragons Of Kundar

CHAPTER....ONE

We stumbled upon the caverns by accident. All we were looking for was someplace to wait out the high mountain storm that caught us by surprise. We figured three days up in the mountains and then back to the daily grudge of work. Hoping the time would renew our energies for life. Government cubicles can suck the life out of you.

Looking at the three of us together we were as different as night and day. Thrown together by company expansion we quickly became friends

Chin Lee Woo was the youngest of us. At twenty three, he was a financial genius when it came to numbers. Small in stature and weighing not more than a hundred and fifteen pounds. Five foot tall if an inch; sandy blonde hair, short and curly. Asian.

Reece Tucker, an ex football lineman was steady and strong as an bull. African American and proud as hell about his ancestor's in Louisiana. Six foot six and weighing two seventy-five. He could sell a whale a drink of water.

The last one is myself, average height and weight. Chester A. Thomas, nicknamed cat by my friends. Logistics was my speciality.

All around us the air was filled with mist and rain. The damp environment put chills down our backs. Looking around we found some dry wood and started a campfire. The flickering flames would provide light and much needed warmth.

Setting the coffee pot outside in the rain, didn't take long for it to fill and soon the smell of coffee was in the sir. We were as snug as we were going to be tonight. We settled down on sleeping bags and tried to sleep. Strange sounds outside made it hard to get much of any. Some creature was crying out in pain. Kind of unnerving.

In the morning there was still a light misty rain, and fog was weaving it's way through the forest. Creeping along the ground working it's way closer and closer to the cave. I was glad we had found this place to spend the night.

Since it looked like we were going to be longer than expected, we decided to explore our surroundings. It was then we noticed this cave streched back for hundreds of yards and possibly miles.

"Have you guys noticed anything strange about the walls? Their all scorched black. Fire reaped through here and not all that long ago." commented Chin Lee.

Reece spoke up, " It gets weirder that. Look what I found." and he held up a large object that looked like a shield. Only it wasn't.

Upon closer obversation, we determined it was a reptilian's scale. One from an overly large creature. And none of us could think of a lizard that large. Least not living today. And we were thousands of miles from the island of Komodo.

"Let's look around more." I suggested and than added. "And guys, be careful. We have no idea what we might find."

None of us bothered to look towards the entrance. For if we did, we would have noticed that the fog stopped just outside the entrance to this cave. It would go no further and it should have filled this place up without any trouble. The campfire wasn't that warm. It was as if the fog was afraid of this cave. How could that be? Maybe I did noticed it , but it didn't click at that time.

"I'm finding more and more of these scales back here." said Reece. " I wonder what that could mean?"

"I'd be more worried about these guys. There must be thousands of bones here." Chin Lee gulped and turned to look further back into the cave that our flashlights barely lit up. He shined his flashlight back and forth before him. We quickly joined him.

"What did we get ourselves into?" I voiced all our concerns. "I think it's time we leave this place, Who cares if it is raining outside or not."

"I agree." spoke Reece.

"And me as well." commented Chin Lee.

We gathered up our stuff. Including the scale, we would take for experiments by some scientist when we found one. Turning to the entrance, large luminous Red eyes stared back at us. Soon these were joined by more. We turned and fled in the only direction we could take. Deeper into the cave.

The further we got, the more bones we had to step on or over. The smell of rotten meat got worse and we gagged to keep from vomiting. Water dripping off the ceiling down onto our heads added to the unpleasantness.

Reece took the lead, followed by Chin Lee and I brought up the rear. To save on batteries only Reece used his flashlight. It did little to light our way and I thought of other alternatives. Soon we lost our way and only wished to keep ahead of those eyes following us.

Pausing to catch our breath were heard the sound of claws scrapping across rock and heavy breathing behind us. Now and then we caught the whiff of smoke and sulpher. A roar from an unknown creature viberated off the rocks surrounding us. We pushed onward at a faster rate of speed. It was a mistake.

I went to step over a rock in the pathway, and slipped and twisted my ankle. "Wait! I've got to rest a moment guys."

"You don't have much time Cat. A moment only. Can you go on?"

"What kind of question is that Reece? What else can I do? Wait for whatever is chasing us? No. I don't think so. That roar sounded like something was hurt." I said.

"Or hungry?" commented Chin Lee.

"Precisely why we should be moving on. Chin take the lead. I'll help Cat." Reece instructed handing the flashlight to Chin Lee.