Johnny and the Dragon

There was a knock on the window. Johnny woke with a start. He looked at his little sister Annie, but she was still sleeping soundly.

‘Who could that be?’, Johnny wondered. ‘How could anyone knock on an upstairs window anyway?’

‘Meow’, said the family’s ginger cat, Alice who was not supposed to be in the children’s bedroom at night.

Johnny crept to the window and peered outside.

There was a dragon there.

‘Hello’, he said to the dragon.

‘Hi Johnny’, the dragon smiled.

‘How come you know my name?’

‘There is no time for small talk’, whispered the dragon, ‘We have to go now.’

‘Where?’

‘I’ll tell you on our way’, the dragon promised.

Johnny climbed on the back of the dragon. Alice jumped in front of him.

‘Meow’, she said.

The dragon flew away with his two passengers.

‘My name is Dougg by the way’, the dragon introduced himself.

‘Pleasure to meet you’, said Johnny.

‘Meow’, said the cat.

‘Pleasure to meet you Alice’, smiled Dougg.

‘Where do we go?’, asked Johnny.

‘You’ll see’, said Dougg.

Johnny was a bit annoyed with the dragon.

‘You said you were going to tell me on our way there’, he reminded Dougg.

‘Well’, the dragon sighed, ‘I’ve changed my mind.’

‘What?’

‘Meow’, added Alice crossly.

‘I’m not a liar!’, Dougg protested. ‘I just think it’s better if you see it for yourselves.’

‘Meow?’, Alice asked, worried.

‘Yes, there’s big trouble’, the dragon confessed.

‘Why are you taking us there?’, asked Johnny.

‘Meow’, Alice explained.

‘That’s right’, the dragon agreed, ‘You are the only ones who could save the Bramboreens.’

‘Save who?’

‘The Bramboreens. You’ll meet them in half an hour.’

They were all silent during the rest of the journey, deep in their thoughts. Half an hour later, the dragon landed in a field.

‘Here we are’, he said.

‘Where are the Bramboreens?’, asked Johnny.

Alice looked down on the ground. Her nose nearly touched the sand.

‘Meow’, she said.

‘Exactly!’, Dougg exclaimed.

‘What on earth – ’, cried Johnny taking a closer look.

‘Meow?’, asked Alice.

‘No, this is not their normal size. They are shrunken’, answered Dougg.

‘Who did that to them?’, asked Johnny.

‘Meow’, said Alice.

‘You are right’, said Dougg, ‘it was Grussworm.’

Alice trembled. Johnny looked at her, worried.

‘Who is Grussworm?’, he asked.

‘Meow’, Alice said.

‘That’s right’, Dougg agreed, ‘he is bad news indeed!’

‘Why?’, cried Johnny.

‘Meow’, the ginger cat urged them.

‘You are right’, agreed the dragon again. ‘No time to loose!’

‘For what?’, the boy cried again.

Johnny started to feel some tingling in his toes. Dougg felt the same.

Suddenly, they both shrank.

‘Meow’, said Alice.

‘It’s all right’, said the tiny dragon.

‘What happened?’, cried the tiny boy.

‘Don’t worry’, Dougg told him, ‘It was just Alice’s magic power.’

‘I never knew you had a magic power’, Johnny told his huge ginger cat.

‘Oh’, Dougg sighed, ‘Alice does have a few tricks up her sleeve.’

‘Meow’, Alice said and shrank herself, too.

There was Johnny, Dougg and Alice all tiny just like the Bramboreens around them.

Johnny looked at his ginger cat.

‘You are the same size as me, Alice!’, he exclaimed.

‘Look at me’, said the dragon. He was the same size, too.

‘Beep! Beep-beep! Beeeeep!’, they heard from everywhere.

Johnny looked around and saw an awful lot of small creatures, even smaller than him. They were plump with very short arms and legs, three fingers on each. Their skin was bright red. They had big black eyes and some scales on the top of their heads.

‘Hello Bramboreens’, Johnny greeted them, ‘pleasure to meet you.’

‘Beep-beep!’, said the Bramboreens.

‘What are they saying?’, Johnny asked, taken aback.

‘Meow’, said Alice.

‘They are happy to see you, too’, translated the dragon, ‘and they really hope you will save them.’

‘Of course I will!’, said Johnny bravely. ‘But how??’

‘Meow’, said Alice and out of nowhere, gave Johnny a green bottle with dark green liquid in it.

‘Should I just sprinkle this on them and they grow back to their normal size?’, Johnny asked. ‘What is a Bramboreen’s normal size anyway?’

Alice shook her head violently.

‘Meow’, she explained, ‘meow-meow, m-e-ow!’

‘This is for Grussworm’s beast’, Dougg translated for Johnny.

‘What?’, Johnny’s heart skipped a beat. ‘A beast??’

‘Meow’, whispered Alice.

‘Yes’, the dragon agreed, ‘a three-headed one.’

‘Stop!’, Johnny cried. ‘First things first. What shall I do right now?’

‘Beep-beep! Beep! Beep, beep! Beeeeep!’, the Bramboreens talked all at once.

‘Meow-meow, meow’, Alice explained.

‘What?’, Johnny looked at the dragon for help.

‘You have to travel to the Black Pool’, Dougg said.

‘Why? What is that? How?’, Johnny was a bit confused.

Alice meowed, and Dougg translated it for Johnny: ‘The Black Pool is a huge dark lake. Grussworm’s beast lives in it. If you want to defeat Grussworm, you have to cross the Black Pool first. But the beast would not let anyone across.’

‘What’s the use of this liquid then?’, Johnny shaked the green bottle.

‘Meeeeeow’, said Alice.

‘You have to pour it into one of the beast’s ears: the middle head’s right one. That is the only way to put him to sleep’, Dougg explained.

Seeing how confused Johnny got hearing all this, Alice explained to him with Dougg’s help all he needed to know about the beast. He is huge and powerful. His skin is rough and purple coloured. He has a robust body and four short, strong legs. His three heads all have a corn on their foreheads that can give you electric shock. His six eyes are bright red, he can see into your soul. His tongues are poisonous. But the worst thing about the beast is the smoke that he lets out of his ears. That smoke can blind you and make you unconscious, and once you are that vulnerable, the beast can do whatever he wants with you.

‘Wow!’, Johnny exclaimed bravely, ‘I am ready to meet him!’

‘Beep-beep! Beep-beep! Beep-beep!’, the Bramboreens cheered him.

‘Let’s go to the Black Pool!’, Johnny said.

‘Meow’, agreed Alice.

‘Let’s go’, said Dougg less bravely.

Suddenly, Johnny – instead of setting off – sat down.

‘Meow?’, Alice asked him patiently.

‘Before we go’, Johnny said, ‘I have a few questions. If you could shrink us, why couldn’t you grow the Bramboreens back to their normal size? Why is it a problem anyway that they are tiny? How am I supposed to pour the green liquid into the beast’s right ear on his middle head? How can I even get to him if he lives inside the Black Pool? What do I do if I defeated the beast and I get to that Grussworm? How can I possibly make him to grow the Bramboreens back to their normal size? Answer me, Alice.’

‘Meow’, Alice sighed.

Alice meowed, the Bramboreens beeped, Dougg listened for a long time. Then, he tried to explain everything to Johnny:

‘Alice has some normal cat magic powers but she cannot undo such a powerful spell as Grussworm’s. Since the Bramboreens are this tiny, they are unable to look after their pets: the Phoomies. The Phoomies are peaceful, timid creatures. They are not very clever and they seek love, so they really need to be looked after by the Bramboreens. Many times a day, the Bramboreens hug and stroke their Phoomies to comfort them. But now, the Bramboreens are so tiny, the Phoomies often trod on them when looking for grass to eat since they are blind and their sense of smell is not so great either. The Phoomies feel really unsafe and insecure without the Bramboreens comforting them and this makes all of them very sad.’

‘Poor Phoomies!’, Johnny sighed.

‘Beep-beep!’, the Bramboreens complained.

‘And poor you’, added the boy quickly.

‘Unfortunately’, Dougg continued, ‘Alice has no idea how you can pour the liquid into the beast’s ear.’

‘Oh, great!’, Johnny sighed.

‘Also’, the dragon said, ‘Alice is a cat so she will not go near the lake. You have to figure out yourself how to get to the beast, how to defeat it and how to make Grussworm grow the Bramboreens back to their normal size.’

‘Oh great!’, the boy sighed again, ‘Let’s go then! Farewell Bramboreens!’

Johnny flew on the dragon’s back high in the sky hugging Alice tightly.

‘About the corns on the beast’s three heads’, he asked, ‘what are they really?’

‘Meow’, explained Alice.

‘They are like horns, but they are edible. Actually, rumour has it that they are delicious’, said Dougg.

‘Should I eat them?’, Johnny asked, taken aback.

‘Your choice’, smiled the dragon.

‘Meow’, Alice pointed forward.

There it was: the never-ending lake, Black Pool, the blackest black anyone has ever seen.

As they flew closer, they could actually make out the three purple heads of the beast.

‘I’ll land here’, Dougg said.

As they got near enough to the ground, Alice jumped down from the back of the dragon. All her fur stood up.

‘Meow-meow-meooow!’, she cried.

Johnny got off the dragon’s back as they landed and hugged his scared cat.

‘What’s the matter Alice?’, he asked.

‘Well’, Dougg explained, ‘you know that cats hate water, black or not. This is as far as Alice is willing to go.’

‘Do I have to fight the beast all by myself?’, Johnny’s voice trembled.

‘I am afraid you have to’, said the dragon. ‘I cannot go close to the beast because the smoke that comes from his ears is lethal for dragons. I shall fly around the lake with Alice and we will wait for you at the other side.’

‘Why can’t I go with you too?’, asked Johnny, hopeful.

‘You cannot get to Grussworm unless you’ve defeated his beast’, said Dougg. ‘Sorry’, he added.

‘Meow’, said Alice encouragingly and hugged Johnny’s left leg lovingly.

Johnny waved goodbye to his friends with a heavy heart.

‘I’ve only just started to learn to swim’, he thought to hinmself. ‘It’s quite impossible that I could swim to the beast, defeat him and swim to the other side. I must build a raft.’

Johnny looked around hoping to find some logs lying nearby, but there was absolutely nothing around the Black Pool, only desert.

Suddenly, he noticed something shiny far away. He ran towards it.

When he got close enough, Johnny stopped and stared at the metal creature.

‘Who are you?’, he asked, quite rude, without any greetings or introducing himself.

‘I’m Legster’, the creature answered. He really did have eight legs altogether. He seemed quite happy to finally meet someone in the never-ending desert. ‘And you?’

‘I’m Johnny’, said the boy. ‘Pleasure to meet you.’

‘What are you doing here?’, asked Legster.

‘You know’, Johnny sighed, ‘I’m supposed to defeat Grussworm’s beast in the Black Pool but I’ve no idea how to get close to him in the first place.’

Legster smiled.

‘I can easily get you close to him’, he said, ‘but I won’t stay there, that’s for sure.’

‘Can you swim?’, Johnny asked, surprised.

‘Of course I can’t swim’, Legster laughed.

‘Then, how can you get to the beast?’

‘I can run on the water’, said Legster proudly.

‘What? Running on the water? No one can do that!’

‘Well’, Legster smiled, ‘I can!’

‘All right’, said Johnny, ‘but how can you take me with you?’

‘You sit on my head and hold me tight.’

‘OK’, Johnny sighed, doubtful.

‘But I will not stay there. I’ll run with you there and I will run straight back.’

‘Well’, Johnny said, ‘I have to pour this liquid in the right ear of the beast’s middle head. That’s all.’

Legster thought it through.

‘Well’, he sighed, ‘that shouldn’t take long, should it?’

‘Erm’, Johnny said, ‘I hope not.’

‘Let’s go then!’

Johnny carefully climbed up to the top of Legster’s head. He held the green bottle in one hand and held on tight on Legster’s metal cover with the other.

‘Are you ready?’, the robot asked.

‘I guess so’, murmured Johnny.

‘Remember’, Legster said, ‘I will not stay there. I run to the beast, you pour the liquid in his ear, and I run back straight away.’

‘OK’, Johnny sighed.

So Legster ran. However scared Johnny was, he had to recognise that Legster could not only really run on the surface of the water, he was also super fast. Johnny started to hope that they would be successful.

Soon, they were able to see the beast who apparently had not noticed them coming yet. He was busy trying to get a bone out from between his front teeth of his head on the left side. His middle head and his right side head were trying to reach the naughty bone with their tongues.

‘Do not dare to lick me or else’, the middle head shouted angrily to the right side one.

‘I was only trying to help’, shouted the right head, offended.

‘Get it out NOW!’, shouted the left head.

Johnny and Legster looked at each other, and the robot made the final spin incredibly fast.

Johnny opened the bottle and he was about to pour the liquid in the right ear of the middle head of the beast when suddenly, the bone flew out from between the front teeth of the beast’s left head, and crashed into the bottle, breaking it into a thousand pieces.

All three heads grabbed Johnny immediately with their sharp teeth.

Legster ran away on the surface of the water, terrified.

‘Mine!’, roared the middle head while he was still holding Johnny’s trousers in his teeth.

‘He’s mine!’, roared the left head angrily. His front teeth were still hurting from the bone but he kept biting on Johnny’s T-shirt.

The right head did not say anything. He let Johnny go and bit the other two heads’ necks with surprising speed. The middle and the left head cried out in pain and let Johnny go. The right head grabbed one of his shoes in the air with his teeth again.

Johnny still had a bit left of the green liquid in the broken bottle that he kept holding.

He kicked off his shoe and jumped towards the middle head, managing, just about, to pour a small amount of liquid in his right ear.

All three heads of the beast fell asleep immediately, and the huge body sank in the black water.

Johnny did not even have time to look around. Legster slid under him and ran with him back to the shore.

‘Thank you’, Johnny said when they were both lying on the ground by the Black Pool.

‘You’re welcome’, Legster sighed. ‘Now, if you want me to run with you to the other side, hurry up. I don’t think that tiny bit of liquid will keep the beast asleep long enough.’

Legster was right. By the time they got to the middle of Black Pool, the beast woke, really angry.

Legster ran as fast as he could. Incredibly fast.

He did manage to get to the other side of Black Pool and ran into Alice and Dougg who were waiting for Johnny there.

Johnny, on the other hand, was caught again by the furious right head’s teeth that held his T-shirt firmly.

Alice shouted: ‘Meow-meow!’

Dougg shouted: ‘Break his corn!’

Johnny struggled to reach the right head’s corn and got a few minor electric shocks in the process. Finally, he reached it and pulled it with all his might.

The corn broke in two. It immediately blackened in Johnny’s hand and then, it simply turned to dust.

All three heads were crying madly in their pain and anger.

Johnny fell in the black water.

The next minute, he was on the shore fished out by Dougg.

‘You didn’t have the opportunity to taste the yummy corn, did you?’, the dragon hugged his friend.

‘Not really’, laughed Johnny and hug all three of his friends happily.

‘Meow!’, Alice said, very serious.

‘That’s right’, agreed Dougg, ‘now, comes the hard part: to defeat Grussworm.’

The next moment, Johnny fell on the ground.

‘What happened to Johnny?’, panicked Legster.

Alice sniffed Johnny’s face.

‘Meow’, she claimed.

‘What?’, asked Legster, really worried.

‘He must have breathed in the smoke coming out of the beast’s ears’, translated Dougg.

‘So what?’, Legster did not understand. ‘I breathed it in too and I am fine, aren’t I?’

‘Meow’, Alice looked at him angrily.

‘Well’, Dougg was a bit reluctant to translate this, ‘Legster, we like you very much, but –’

‘But what?’

‘Well, you are a machine after all –’

‘Oh’, sighed Legster. ‘What shall we do now with Johnny?’

‘Meow!’

‘Yes’, Dougg agreed, ‘we do need to get him Prenzlambs.’

‘Prenz-what?’, Legster shouted now.

‘Prenzlambs’, repeated Dougg.

‘Meow’, Alice explained. ‘Meow-meow-meooow!’, she added thoughtfully.

Although Legster did not understand the cat’s language, he did get that there was a great problem.

‘Well’, Dougg said, ‘Prenzlambs are those little purple flowers over there.’

Legster felt relieved.

‘Great!’, he said and ran straight away.

The next minute he was back, carrying a bunch of Prenzlambs in his mouth.

‘Here you go’, he smiled.

Alice did not say anything.

‘Well, thank you’, said the dragon politely, ‘but – ’

‘But what?’, Legster lost his patience. ‘You said Johnny needs the Prenzlambs to recover. Here they are. So heal Johnny quickly! What on earth are you waiting for?’

Alice sighed and brushed her face to one of Legster’s eight legs.

‘You know’, Dougg hesitated, ‘the Prenzlambs are no use to Johnny, unless a girl picks them. And well, you are – ’

A huge oily tear drop ran down on Legster’s cheek.

‘Yes, I know, I am just a machine!’

Alice hugged the robot’s leg fondly.

‘I know!’, shouted Legster, ‘Alice is a girl. She can pick Prenzlambs!’

The cat gently touched the robot’s face with her paw.

‘I see’, said Legster. ‘We need a human girl.’

‘Annie!’, the dragon cried.

Alice nodded.

‘Who?’, asked Legster impatiently.

‘Annie is Johnny’s little sister’, explained Dougg, ‘she must be sleeping in her bed at home. I’ll get her.’

And with that, the dragon flew away.

Alice and Legster leaned to the unconscious Johnny and they both stroked his pale face.

Annie woke with a start. A dragon was shaking her gently.

‘Hi’, said Annie, not surprised at all.

‘Hi’, said Dougg, quite a bit surprised.

‘I saw you taking Johnny with you earlier’, explained Annie. ‘I’ve wished so much that you would come back for me. And you did! Let’s go then.’

Dougg was quite shocked. He helped Annie climb on his back and flew away with her.

‘Now, tell me everything’, asked Annie while their were flying high above the town.

So Dougg did.

By the time they arrived to Johnny, Annie knew all about Bramboreens and Phoomies, about Grussworm and his beast and about Johnny’s new friend: Legster.

As soon as they landed, Annie ran to pick Prenzlambs and held them to Johnny’s nose while gently stroking his hair.

Johnny sneezed. Then he sneezed again. And again and again.

Annie looked at Alice, worried.

‘Meow’, said the cat reassuringly.

Annie hugged her cat and gave her a grateful kiss on her forehead.

‘Thank you Alice’, she said. ‘You are wonderful.’

Johnny sat up, still sneezing and stared at Annie.

‘You can understand Alice’s language, can’t you?’, he asked, really taken aback.

‘Meow’, smiled the cat.

‘Of course I can’, said Annie and hugged his big brother happily.

‘Hurray!’, came Legster and tried to hug Johnny, Annie, Alice and Dougg all at once with four of his eight legs.

The dragon discreetly wiped some tear drops away from his eyes and asked: ‘What shall we do now?’

‘Meow, meow! Meow-meow-meow!’, said the cat.

‘You are right Alice’, Annie agreed, ‘I go to the Bramboreens to look after them and their Phoomies. Will you take me there please, Legster?’

‘Of course’, the robot smiled happily.

‘And I go to defeat Grussworm’, said Johnny bravely.

‘I go with you’, said the dragon.

‘Meow’, said Alice.

Johnny hugged Annie tightly.

‘Thank you little sister.’

And they all went on their ways.

As soon as she arrived on Legster’s head, incredibly fast, Annie made friends with the Bramboreens and Phoomies. She loved hugging them all and they felt much safer now that Annie was there with Legster to look after them.

‘I am sure that Johnny will defeat Grussworm’, Annie reassured them.

Meanwhile, Johnny, Dougg and Alice got a bit confused.

‘Meow’, said Alice for the umpteenth time.

‘I know, I know’, Dougg answered, ‘but it is just not here, is it?’

Johnny started to loose his patience.

‘What?’, he shouted at Dougg.

‘The palace’, the dragon explained.

‘What palace?’

‘Grussworm’s. It should be here. But clearly, there is nothing around here.’

Johnny looked around. It was true: desert surrounded them as far as they could see. Apart from the Black Pool behind them, there were only a few rocks and some sad plants around. There was no palace anywhere to be seen.

‘Meow!’, Alice cried out suddenly. She curled up in pain.

‘What is it, Alice?’, Johnny hugged his cat, worried.

Alice freed herself from Johnny’s arms and grabbed his trouser leg in her teeth. She dragged him forward and then she extended her paw in the air and knocked.

They could all hear ‘knock-knock-knock’, although they could see absolutely nothing to knock on.

Johnny extended his hand forward and tried to knock. He felt something hard and cold, and they could all hear the sounds of knocking again.

Dougg tried it too. He got the same results.

‘Meow’, Alice claimed.

‘Yes’, Dougg agreed, ‘there is definitely a wall here.’

‘But it’s invisible!’, Johnny cried.

‘Indeed it is’, said Dougg.

‘What shall we do?’, asked Johnny.

Suddenly, Alice ran away. She rushed to pick some Prenzlambs, brought them back to her friends, and tore them into tiny pieces with her claws.

The dragon and the boy stared at her, totally puzzled.

‘Meow’, Alice commanded Dougg.

The dragon leaned closer and closed his eyes. The cat gently rubbed the crushed Prenzlambs on Dougg’s eyelids.

‘Wow!’, the dragon exclaimed as he opened his eyes.

Johnny leaned closer to Alice too, and closed his eyes.

‘See?’, Dougg asked Johnny, excitedly.

The boy opened his eyes, looked forwards, looked left and right. Then, he shook his head.

‘I can’t see any palace’, he claimed.

‘Can’t you see the mouldy black walls? Can’t you see the three skyscraping towers? Can’t you see the huge gate guarded by two golden sphinxes?’

Johnny stared and stared.

‘I can’t’, he said.

‘Why?’, asked the dragon from Alice, accusingly.

‘Meow’, said the cat sadly.

‘Maybe the Prenzlambs do not work this way on humans’, translated Dougg. ‘You are still lucky’, he added, ‘that it woke you up earlier!’

‘I guess so’, said Johnny, although at that moment, he did not feel lucky at all. ‘But how can I defeat an invisible enemy in an invisible palace?’, he wondered.

‘Meow’, Alice reassured him.

‘We’ll tell you about everything we see’, promised Dougg, too.

‘Alice didn’t even rub the Prenzlambs in her eyes’, Johnny complained.

Alice smiled.

‘Well, you know’, said Dougg, ‘cats are quite extraordinary creatures. Especially Alice here’, he smiled, and rubbed his nose to the cat’s silky fur.

‘I know that’, Johnny stroked Alice tenderly. ‘Let’s go then!’, he looked around, helpless, ‘Which way?’

Dougg gently nudged Johnny the right way.

‘Will you tell me everything?’, asked Johnny.

‘Of course we will’, the dragon promised.

They went closer, but Johnny could only see grey sand, some pebbles, and a few drying plants.

‘Wow!’, Dougg exclaimed, ‘Look at those golden sphinxes!’

‘I can’t see them’, Johnny said, irritated.

‘Of course, sorry!’, apologised the dragon. ‘So, they’re huge, they’re made out of pure gold and they guard the gate.’

‘That’s OK then’, Johnny sighed, ‘gold statues surely can’t hurt us.’

‘Meow’, Alice scolded him.

‘You should never trust Grussworm’, translated Dougg, ‘The sphinxes may seem harmless, but they might pounce on you when you get closer.’

‘Meow, meow’, Alice explained to them.

‘Actually no’, Dougg corrected himself with a trembling voice, ‘They’ll simply kill us with their glare.’

‘Well’, Johnny said, ‘lucky I cannot see them, then.’

‘Meow’, Alice said.

‘You might not see them, but they see you all right, mate’, the dragon explained.

‘Meow, meow, meow’, Alice suggested.

‘All right’, agreed Dougg, ‘you two crawl under the eye-level of the sphinxes, and I will fly over them.’

‘Good idea’, said Johnny, although he was not sure whether he could crawl low enough for the sphinxes not to notice him.

Alice sped between the two sphinxes. She was inside the gate in no time and waved encouragingly to her friends to come too.

Johnny started to crawl on his tummy as low as he possibly could.

Dougg few up in the air.

Johnny did not dare to lift up his chin to look at his friends. He crawled slowly and carefully.

Suddenly, there was a painful cry.

Johnny sped and got to Alice before he dared to lift his head up.

Then, he saw Dougg circling in the air, licking his tail and squealing in agony.

‘He must have let his tail dangle between the sphinxes’, Johnny whispered to Alice.

‘Meow’, the cat agreed.

The dragon fell on the ground and curled up in pain, holding his tail in his mouth. Fortunately, he fell inside the gate.

Johnny stroked Dougg’s back. He could feel the dragon’s ragged breathing and his heart racing.

‘What happened to you?’, Johnny asked his friend, tears in his eyes.

‘Meow’, claimed Alice gently touching the dragon’s tail.

Dougg could not say anything, he was sobbing desperately.

Alice really carefully brushed Dougg’s tail with the ends of her whiskers for a long, long time, until the dragon finally stopped crying and sat up, really surprised.

‘What did you do?’, he asked the cat, totally taken aback.

‘Meow’, Alice explained.

‘Thank you ever so much my friend’, said the dragon and hugged the cat gratefully.

Dougg swished his tail around.

‘Good as new!’, he boasted.

‘Meow’, Alice reminded them.

‘Oh, yes’, Dougg said, ‘I’ve nearly forgotten, we still need to defeat Grussworm.’

‘That’s right’, Johnny agreed thinking about his little sister caring for the Bramboreens and Phoomies until they actually solved the problem.

‘If we can’, he thought to himself.

The three friends looked around in the courtyard of the palace.

There was absolutely nothing there, except for the three black towers.

‘What can you see?’, Johnny asked Dougg.

‘Sorry’, said the dragon, ‘I keep forgetting that you cannot see the palace. We are in the courtyard that is completely empty, except for the three black towers I told you about. They are incredibly tall! Also, there is no door on any of them. Each tower has only one window at the top but we are totally unable to reach those.’

‘Are there any other buildings around?’, Johnny asked.

‘Nothing’, answered the dragon looking around again. ‘There is the wall around us with only one gate: the sphinxes’ one where we came in. In the circle surrounded by the wall, there is absolutely nothing else, only those three towers.’

‘That can’t be’, Johnny said.

‘Meow’, said Alice, and even Johnny understood that she meant it could.

‘Well, OK then’, said the boy, ‘let’s go in one of the towers.’

‘How?’, asked the dragon. ‘Like I said, there is no gate or even a hole in any of them, apart from the windows extremely high.’

Johnny and Alice said it at the same time: ‘Meow?’, ‘Aren’t you a dragon, Dougg?’

‘Well’, Dougg hesitated, ‘I am but – ’

Johnny did not wait for him to finish his sentence. He lifted the cat and climbed on the dragon’s back.

Dougg sighed, and flew up in the air.

‘Which tower’s window?’, he asked hesitantly.

‘The right side one’, Johnny said decisively.

As they flew up close to the window of the tower on the right side, Dougg and Alice cried out at the same time: ‘No!’, ‘Meow!’

‘What is it?’, Johnny asked impatiently.

‘Well’, the dragon started to explain, ‘there is no window – ’

‘What do you mean?’, Johnny asked, irritated. ‘You said there was a window on each tower.’

‘Well’, Dougg hesitated, ‘there is a window but – ’

‘Is there a window, Dougg, or there isn’t one?’, Johnny lost his patience.

‘Meow’, explained Alice.

‘Yes’, the dragon said, ‘a fake one.’

‘ What do you mean fake?’

‘Someone painted a window-shaped black patch on the wall, so that it looks like a window if you look at it from far away.’

Johnny could not say anything to that.

Dougg circled around the tower. There was nothing to be seen from either side of it. Then, Dougg flew to the second tower. There was another fake window painted on that one as well. And on the third one, too.

‘Let’s go back to the right side one’, Johnny suggested.

‘All right’, said Dougg thinking that it did not make any difference which one they were looking at.

‘Are we there yet?’, asked Johnny.

‘Yes’, the dragon answered, ‘we are right in front of the fake window.’

‘OK’, Johnny took a deep breath, ‘now, fly in!’

‘Are you out of your mind Johnny?’, Dougg shouted.

‘Meow!’, said Alice decisively.

‘All right then’, sighed Dougg and flew right into the fake window.

They all closed their eyes, including Johnny who could not see anything anyway, apart from the clouds around them.

Whoosh!

‘Meow’, claimed Alice happily.

‘What?’, Johnny asked.

‘We are in!’, exclaimed Dougg.

‘That’s good’, said the boy, ‘but what is inside the tower?’

‘Well’, said the dragon, ‘I can’t see a thing.’

‘What?’, Johnny panicked. ‘You’ve lost your sight as well?’

‘No, no’, said Dougg ‘it’s just so dark in here, I can’t see anything.’

‘Alice?’, Johnny turned to the cat.

‘Meow, meow’, she described the surroundings for her friends.

‘Oh!’, sighed the dragon.

‘What?’, Johnny urged him to explain.

‘Alice says that is for the best that we can’t see what is around us’, confessed the dragon.

‘Oh’, said Johnny and tentatively extended his arms to feel around. ‘Ugh!’, he cried out suddenly.

‘What is it?’, Dougg asked, worried.

‘Well’, Johnny answered, ‘Alice was right. It’s for the best if we don’t see these.’

‘Don’t see what?’, asked the dragon, irritated and blew a tiny fire to have light to look around. ‘Ugh!’, he said.

‘How do you think they got here?’, Johnny asked.

‘Maybe this was the dungeon and Grussworm has simply forgot about them’, speculated the dragon.

‘Or Grussworm’s great-great-great grandfather, more likely’, Johnny said.

‘Meow’, the cat reminded them.

‘You are right, Alice’, Johnny said, ‘we shouldn’t worry about the skeletons, we have a living enemy to defeat!’

‘You are starting to understand your cat’, Dougg noticed.

‘Well’, Johnny tried to explain, ‘since I can’t see that you two can, my other abilities somehow got stronger. I mean, it’s really hard to fit it into my head that although I can feel the stone under my feet, I can feel the wall with my hands and I can see you two, all that I can see around us is nothing, as if we were walking in the air. So I guess my mind has to occupy itself with different thoughts in order for me not to go crazy.’

‘Huh!’, Dougg sighed, ‘I can’t even begin to imagine how you feel mate.’

‘Meow’, the cat said.

‘Thanks Alice’, Johnny answered, ‘I’ll try.’

‘Spiral staircase ahead’, Dougg informed Johnny, ‘twelve steps down, then a resting place with two stone seats, then steps again.’

‘Isn’t it so dark anymore?’, asked the boy surprised.

‘No’, Dougg whispered cautiously, ‘it’s gradually getting lighter as if the lower we go, the brighter it becomes.’

‘Let’s go down then’, said Johnny.

And they went down. After the resting place, there were twelve more steps, then another pair of stone seats, then twelve more steps and so on. Lastly, there were only six steps. Sixty-six steps leading down altogether. Then, there was a wooden door with seven huge heavy iron locks on it.

‘What shall we do?’, asked Dougg from Johnny, after he had described the door for the boy.

‘Let’s get in’, said Johnny simply.

‘How?’, asked the dragon.

‘Meow’, Alice reminded him.

‘Yes’, Johnny agreed, ‘Dougg, you keep forgetting that you are a big, powerful dragon.’

‘Oh’, said Dougg and took a deep breath.

The boy and the cat stepped back. The dragon blew some fire.

After a few seconds, the wooden door turned to ashes and the seven heavy iron locks fell on the stone floor with loud bangs.

Although Johnny could not see it, he smelled the fire and heard the bangs.

‘Well done Dougg!’, he hugged the dragon gratefully.

‘Meow’, Alice praised him too.

The dragon kicked the locks out of their way and they stepped in.

‘What can you see?’, Johnny asked his friends.

‘A heavily locked wooden chest’, answered Dougg.

‘Well’, Johnny smiled, ‘ I do not advise you to burn it to ashes Dougg, in case there is something interesting in it that is flammable.’

The dragon smiled.

Johnny tentatively walked towards where he thought the chest could be and extended his arms to touch and feel it. He could feel the iron locks: two little ones and a big one in the middle. He tried to pull them but nothing happened.

‘Meow’, Alice gently pushed the boy aside.

The cat slid one of her whiskers in one of the little locks. There was a clicking sound and the lock fell on the floor.

‘How did you do that?’, asked Johnny, amazed.

Alice did not answer, only smiled and opened the other two locks as well.

‘Meow’, she said to Johnny in the end.

‘Why me?’, the boy asked her, surprised.

‘Are you scared?’, Dougg teased him. ‘Don’t worry, whatever is in there, you won’t be able to see it.’

Johnny laughed, and bravely lifted the heavy lid of the wooden chest.

Instead of looking inside the chest, invisible for him anyway, Johnny looked at his friends asking: ‘So?’

Dougg looked into the chest. ‘Oh!’, he said.

Alice looked into the chest. ‘Meow?’, she said.

Johnny stared at his cat. ‘None of you can see anything in there?’

‘Meow’, said Alice.

Finally, Johnny looked into the chest. ‘Oh!’, he cried out.

‘Meow?’

‘Yes’, Johnny answered, ‘I can.’

‘What is it then?’, Dougg asked him, impatiently.

‘A tiny golden key’, said Johnny and lifted it up to show it to his friends.

‘I can’t see anything in your hand’, confessed the dragon.

‘Meow’, said the cat, too.

‘This is really strange’, Johnny commented, and slid the key in his trousers pocket.

The dragon and the cat walked around the room looking for another door to continue their journey. There was no door but there was a circular hole in the stone floor in the back corner of the room.

‘There is a hole here that seems very deep but I can’t it see properly because there is awfully dark in there’, Dougg described it to Johnny.

‘OK’, said Johnny, ‘let’s jump!’

‘Are you sure?’, the dragon tried to ask him, but Johnny and Alice had already jumped down into the hole, so Dougg followed them.

‘We must be really deep down under the ground’, said Dougg when he finally landed next to his friends.

Fortunately, there was something soft under them where they landed. Unfortunately, it smelled horrible.

‘I don’t really want to touch this smelly thing under us, whatever it is’, confessed Johnny. ‘Perhaps you could tell me what it is.’

‘Better not’, said the dragon disgusted.

‘Meow’, said the cat.

‘Rotten food?’, Johnny cried. ‘Why on earth Grussworm lets this much food to rot under his palace?’

‘Meow’, Alice explained.

‘I see’, Johnny said deep in his thoughts, ‘so he takes everything from everyone. Not because he needs any of this, but simply because he is cruel and wants the others to starve. Well, we have to put an end to this. Now!’

Alice and Dougg nodded.

The three friends climbed out of the rotten food heap and continued their journey under the palace. There were tunnels opening from tunnels opening from tunnels in many, many directions. Each time his friends asked him, Johnny told them decisively which one to go into. They walked in tunnels for what seemed to be like hours.

‘I am awfully thirsty’, the dragon sighed.

‘Meow’, the cat sighed as well.

‘So am I’, sighed Johnny, too.

They were lucky, because as soon as Johnny said that, they entered a circular room where there was a huge golden bowl inside, on a pulpit in the middle of the room, filled with water.

Dougg ran there and drunk half of it in one go.

Alice hissed at the dragon furiously. She was really angry with him.

‘It’s OK Alice’, Johnny tried to calm his cat, ‘you can see that Dougg is all right. It wasn’t poisonous!’

‘Sorry, sorry, sorry!’, Dougg whined.

Alice scratched the dragon half-seriously.

‘We don’t want to loose you, that’s all’, Johnny hugged the dragon.

Finally, Alice also brushed herself to the dragon’s scaly back.

The cat and the boy drank too and they could feel that it really was simply water, nothing dangerous.

As Johnny tried to push his face deeper in the bowl to reach the remaining water, he banged his chin on something.

Dougg took it out of the bowl.

‘A little locked golden box’, he said to Johnny, ‘but there is a tiny keyhole in it.’

Johnny got the tiny golden key out of his pocket.

‘Do you think this will fit in?’, he asked his friends.

‘Since we can’t see it’, the dragon said, a bit annoyed, ‘it’s hard to tell.’

‘Sorry’, said Johnny and clumsily tried to fit the key in the keyhole that was invisible for him. Dougg was not much help since he could not see the key.

As the tiny key turned in the lock of the little golden box, a thick golden fog started to come out and in a few seconds, it covered everything. Strangely, Johnny, Dougg and Alice were all able to see the golden fog. But then, none of them were able to see anything else anymore. They all felt increasingly dizzy.

First Johnny, then Dougg and finally Alice too fell asleep.

When Johnny opened his eyes, he was all alone. He felt nauseous, exhausted and really uncertain about everything. He did not know where he was, how he got there, and who he was anyway.

He looked around.

Johnny was in such a strange state, he did not even realise that he was able to see his surroundings now. He was lying on a soft, red, velvet carpet in the middle of a soft, red, velvety room. There was a small, one-legged glass table on his left and a small, one-legged iron table on his right. Both tables had a golden goblet on them with seemingly identical dark red liquid in them.

Johnny sat up and thought hard. He just knew that he had to drink one of those to get better. He also simply just knew that the other goblet contained poison.

He had not the faintest idea which one was which.

Johnny looked at the goblets intently. They seemed identical.

‘Well’, Johnny thought to himself, even though thinking was really hard for him then, ‘I feel fragile like glass. So maybe I should drink from the goblet on the glass table.’

He extended his arm to reach the goblet but then, he let his arm fall.

‘On the other hand’, Johnny thought, ‘I would like to be strong like iron. So maybe I should drink from the goblet on the iron table.’

He extended his arm towards the other goblet, but then, he let it fall again.

‘Perhaps’, Johnny though, ‘it is not about the materials the tables are made of. Maybe it’s about right and left. The right should be right, shouldn’t it? I chose the tower on the right hand side. Was that a good choice or a bad one?’

No matter how hard Johnny tried, he was totally unable to make a decision.

‘Maybe I am confused because I can see again’, he thought.

So he closed his eyes, stood up and twirled around until he no longer knew which way was what. Then, he opened his eyes, took the goblet that was before him and bravely drank up all its content.

The world seemed to gradually dissolve around Johnny until he was back to not seeing anything of the palace. Strangely, he felt much better and he was convinced that he chose the right goblet to drink from. Suddenly, all his memories came back to him.

‘Alice! Dougg! Where are you?’, he shouted.

There was no answer.

Johnny carefully started to walk in a random direction – not seeing anything, any direction was as good as another – extending his arms in front of him to prevent himself from walking into a wall or even worse.

Soon, Johnny’s hands bumped into a cold, mouldy wall. He kept touching the wall as he walked next to it. When there was no more wall, he felt around to decide which way he should turn. He was in a labyrinth of corridors again and he ha several choices which way to go. Johnny never hesitated, he followed his first instincts each time he had to make a choice.

Finally, Johnny arrived at a dead end. As he felt around, he knew that he was in a very small room with no other doors apart from the one he came in through.

In the room there was a soft armchair that Johnny guessed could be some kind of throne. He could even feel some cold metal inscriptions on its frame although he was not able to read them using only his fingers.

Suddenly, Johnny felt an awful tiredness.

‘Should I sit down?’, he thought but he had a strong aversion against the invisible throne in front of him.

Instead of sitting down on it, Johnny felt under it although he had no idea what he was looking for there.

There really was something under the throne. Actually, not something, but someone!

Johnny’s hands felt warm, sticky skin, and blood pumped by a racing heart under it.

Johnny pulled back his hands.

‘Who are you?’, he asked the creature curiously.

The answer was only some faint whining.

‘Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt you’, Johnny promised.

‘Don’t look at me!’, the creature whined painfully.

Johnny laughed.

‘It doesn’t matter whether I look at you or not’, Johnny tried to explain, ‘I can’t see a thing anyway.’

‘Are you blind?’, the creature asked, a bit braver.

‘No’, Johnny hurried to say even if he himself wasn’t completely convinced about it. He could certainly see his own body. But apart from that, nothing.

‘Then what?’, the creature asked him.

‘I’m not sure’, Johnny answered. ‘Maybe there is some kind of curse on me. I can see my body but I cannot see anything else around me. Although’, Johnny sighed sadly, ‘I was able to see my friends, until we lost each other.’

‘That’s good’, the creature said rather unexpectedly.

‘What’s good?’, Johnny asked her, quite taken aback.

‘That you can’t see me. Because I am – ’, the creature started to sob quietly, ‘you know, I am, rather – ’

‘What?’, asked Johnny, worried and impatient.

‘Ugly’, cried the girl.

Johnny smiled. ‘It doesn’t matter for me. Even if I was able to see you, even if you were the ugliest creature on earth, I could still like you, if you were a nice person.’

Johnny felt sticky, warm arms hugging him gratefully, wet, stinky hair brushing his face, and bad breath slightly smelling of garlic and rotten potato.

‘He – ’, the ugly girl continued sobbing, ‘he turned me into a –, you know, a mud monster!’

Johnny hugged the girl reassuringly trying not to breath in her not very pleasant smell.

‘Who are you?’, he asked again.

‘Giselle’, sobbed the girl.

‘Well’, Johnny gently unfolded himself from the girl’s hug, ‘Giselle, how did you get here in the first place?’

‘Grussworm kidnapped me’, cried the girl.

‘Why?’, asked Johnny, quite taken aback.

‘I’m the only child of the king in Cremlandia: Cruxius the Fifth.’

‘What?’, Johnny stared at the emptiness in the space where he thought the girl was standing. ‘Are you a princess?’

‘I don’t really like that title’, confessed Giselle, ‘but yes, I’m the heiress of Cremlandia. And –‘, she started sobbing again, ‘I –, I used to be – rather beautiful –’, and she started crying uncontrollably.

‘Listen Giselle’, Johnny said, ‘I’m not a prince or anything, but I promise you that I will get you out of here and that I shall force Grussworm to give your beauty back.’

Giselle hugged Johnny again, even tighter this time, and she said: ‘I’m sure you’re a prince, only you don’t know it.’

Johnny quietly laughed to himself. ‘Prince Johnny’, he said, ‘I’m not sure my parents would agree. Or Annie for that matter.’

‘Who is Annie?’, asked Giselle, a tiny bit jealous.

‘My little sister’, the boy explained quickly. ‘She is with the Bramboreens and the Phoomies at the moment.’

‘I heard about them. Poor creatures!’, Giselle sniffed.

‘I’m sure Annie and Legster are looking after them very well’, Johnny said, and before Giselle could ask, he explained, ‘Legster is my friend, an eight-legged robot.

‘I wish I could meet them’, Giselle sighed. Then, she started sobbing again. ‘I mean when I’m not this ugly anymore.’

‘You will meet them, Giselle’, Johnny promised, ‘and my magical cat Alice and my dragon friend Dougg too.’

Johnny stopped talking because he felt that he was going to cry. He could only hope that Alice and Dougg were still alive, and that they shall meet again.

‘Let’s go’, he said when he got his breath back.

‘All right’, said Giselle, ‘but where?’

‘This way’, said Johnny swinging his arm in a random direction. ‘Ow!’

To her credit, Giselle did suppress her laugh when Johnny banged his arm on the wall, invisible for him.

‘Shall I guide you?’, asked Giselle helpfully.

‘No, thank you’, Johnny said, offended, ‘I can find my way perfectly well even if I can’t see!’

‘Of course’, Giselle laughed.

Johnny felt around him carefully before choosing which direction to go. The girl followed him.

‘Sorry’, she said, ‘I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.’

The boy did not answer.

‘Johnny’, Giselle continued,’I really appreciate that you are taking me with you and that you put up with my smell – ’, she stopped talking in order to avoid crying again.

‘It’s OK’, Johnny said. ‘Anyway, my nose is a bit blocked so I cant smell much.’

Even if it was clear for Giselle that Johnny had just made that up, she was grateful for it.

They walked in silence for a while.

Suddenly, Johnny stopped dead.

‘What is it?’, asked the girl.

‘Didn’t you hear it?’, Johnny asked.

‘Heard what?’, Giselle looked around.

‘Meowing’, whispered Johnny, ‘really painful meowing –’

‘Your friend?’, asked the girl and listened very carefully.

Johnny did not answer. He followed the faint meowing coming from somewhere far away.

As they got closer, Giselle was also able to hear the painful voice of the cat.

Finally, she saw Alice. The cat was trapped under a heavy stone column that luckily got stuck so it did not squash Alice completely.

Johnny on the other hand, could not see the column, only his friend’s little, ginger body shaking in a funny shape. Johnny ran there and tried to hug his cat, but he bumped into the column, invisible for him.

‘There, there’, said Giselle gently helping Johnny to sit down. The boy was nursing his arm and he seemed quite angry with himself.

‘What’s in there?’, he asked, irritated.

‘Meow’, Alice whimpered.

In the meantime, Giselle tried with all her strength, to push or pull the column in any possible way, so that Alice could crawl out, but the girl was not strong enough.

‘Hold it here’, Giselle said, gently guiding Johnny’s hands, ‘and push on three.’

She got hold of the other end of the column.

‘One, two, three!’, Giselle shouted.

Johnny pushed with all his might. Giselle pushed with all her strength. The column finally moved a tiny bit. But that was enough for Alice to twist her little body and slide out of the trap.

Johnny lifted his cat and hugged her tightly, stroking her ginger fur.

‘Meow, meow!’, said Alice. ‘Meow?’, she asked later.

‘She is my friend Giselle’, Johnny answered.

‘Meow!’, Alice said surprised.

Giselle felt that something was wrong.

‘What did she say?’, she asked Johnny impatiently.

‘That your father sent an army to defeat Grussworm and to take you home’, Johnny answered hesitantly.

‘But?’, the princess was really worried.

‘But – ’, Johnny took a deep breath, ‘Grussworm disarmed them all – ’

‘How do you know that?’, Giselle asked hoping that Alice had been mistaken.

The cat did not answer. She brushed her ginger body to Johnny’s legs.

‘Meow’, she said.

‘Alice says we should follow her’, Johnny translated it for Giselle.

‘How do you know what she is saying?’, asked Giselle. ‘How is it that you can see her, but you can’t see me? Not that I minded that you can’t see me now –’

‘Let’s go’, Johnny said, ‘We can talk about all these later.’

They followed Alice who ran through the corridors.

Giselle held Johnny’s hand – just in case.

Alice led them to a staircase that took them to the level of the ground – although for Johnny that hardly made any difference. He enjoyed the fresh air though, until Giselle started screaming:

‘My father’s men! What happened to them? Are they dead?’

‘Meow’, said Alice reassuringly.

‘They aren’t dead’, Johnny translated, ‘only petrified.’

Giselle went closer to one of the king’s soldiers lying on the ground.

‘This is Petrickus!’, she exclaimed.

Giselle sat down and lifted the soldier’s head on her lap. She gently caressed his hair and called him by his name: ‘Petrickus, Petrickus, wake up!’

But as soon as he did, Giselle jumped up leaving Petrickus head to bang on the ground, and she ran away.

Giselle hid in the doorway of the staircase.

‘He mustn’t see me like this! No one should see me like this!’, she muttered.

Johnny tried to feel for the soldiers hand.

‘Are you all right, Petrickus?’, he asked.

‘I think so’, the soldier answered. ‘What happened?’

‘You don’t remember, do you?’, asked Johnny, surprised.

‘No’, confessed Petrickus.

Only Giselle was able to wake the soldiers up, one by one, but she was scared that they would see her, so Johnny needed to lead the soldiers who were already awake, aside.

After Giselle woke up all the soldiers, she hid in the doorway and was not willing to come out at all.

Johnny kept asking the soldiers what had happened, but none of them remembered anything, apart from coming to Grussworm’s castle to save the princess.

‘Meow, meow, meow’, Alice suggested to Johnny.

‘All right’, said the boy and he turned to the soldiers. ‘You are all exhausted. Please have a rest. In the meantime, I and – ’, Johnny wanted to say Giselle but thought better of it. ‘I and my cat, we are going to look for Grussworm.’

The soldiers smiled at the idea of having a cat as a companion. Alice signalled to Johnny that it was all right, and he should not say any more.

Johnny and Alice went to find Giselle who was terrified of being seen. They started their search but not that of Grussworm.

‘First, we have to find Dougg’, Johnny said.

Giselle’s voice was shaking: ‘I’m a bit afraid of dragons. My Nanny used to scare me saying that one day, a dragon will kidnap me.’

‘You’re already kidnapped’, Johnny laughed, ‘so no need to worry. Dougg is really nice. I doubt he would kidnap you.’

Giselle started sobbing.

‘Sorry!’, Johnny said quickly, ‘I didn’t mean that! Remember that I can’t even see you.’

‘Thank God’, Giselle sniffed.

They walked in silence for a while from room to room from corridor to corridor, up and down on staircases.

‘Every room is empty’, Giselle told Johnny. ‘There is no sign of life here.’

‘Strange’, said the boy.

After a while the cat started to run meowing loudly. Giselle held Johnny’s hand and ran with him after Alice. Soon, Johnny and Giselle noticed what the cat saw from much further away: fire!

By the time they got there, the fire stopped and Dougg smiled at them, evidently very proud of himself.

‘Are you all right?’, Johnny hugged his friend.

‘Of course’, Dougg said. ‘Grussworm put me in this cage’, and he nodded towards some melted iron bars, ‘but I remembered that I was a dragon after all – problem solved!’

Dougg hugged Johnny and Alice, happy to be together with them again.

‘Who is this ugly creature?’, he asked nodding towards Giselle.

The princess immediately started crying. Johnny felt around for her and put his arm around her shoulders.

‘She is Giselle, the princess of – sorry, the heiress of Clemlandia, the only child of Cruxius the Fifth.’

‘I do apologise’, said the dragon really embarrassed and looked at his friends questioningly.

‘Grussworm cursed me’, Giselle sobbed. I’m not always this ugly –’

‘You are lovely’, said Johnny reassuringly.

‘Thank God, you can’t see me’, Giselle smiled, ‘I wish no one could!’

‘You can’t see her?’, Dougg asked, taken aback. ‘I thought you can’t see the palace but you can see the living creatures –’

‘I’ve thought so too’, Johnny confessed, ‘until I met Giselle and the soldiers.’

‘What soldiers?’, Dougg asked.

‘Meow’, explained Alice.

‘Wow!’, the dragon exclaimed, ‘You really must have been – I mean, you really must be beautiful if a whole army came to rescue you!’, he tried to make up for Giselle.

The princess laughed. ‘Even if I was really ugly, being the heiress, I needed to be rescued’, she explained to Dougg.

‘Of course’, said the dragon really embarrassed now. ‘Let’s get that army then!’

‘Do you know where Grussworm is?’, Johnny asked, surprised.

‘Yes, I know.’

They went back together to get the soldiers, but Johnny stopped them before they got to the courtyard.

‘We have two problems’, he said.

‘I know one’, said Giselle sniffing.

‘Meow?’, asked Alice.

‘One’, Johnny said, ‘Giselle does not want to be seen by the soldiers –’

‘Why?’, asked Dougg, but he realised his mistake straight away and apologised again, totally embarrassed.

‘Two’, continued Johnny, a little annoyed with his friend, ‘you are a dragon.’

‘So what?’, asked Dougg, offended.

This time, Johnny apologised.

‘Meow’, explained Alice to the dragon patiently.

‘What?’, asked Giselle. But before anyone could answer, she realised it herself, ‘The soldiers will be terrified of you, Dougg’, she said.

‘Oh!’, said the dragon. ‘What shall we do then?’

Everyone thought for a moment.

‘Meow, meow’, said Alice.

‘You’re right’, Johnny agreed. ‘Giselle, Dougg will take you there. Alice and I will lead the soldiers.’

‘Take me?’, asked the princess, suspicious.

‘Don’t worry’, Johnny reassured her, ‘It’s fun to fly!’

‘I –’, Giselle started timidly, ‘I have a fear of heights. They needed to move my chambers downstairs because I was feeling dizzy in the Princess’ Tower where princesses lived for centuries in our family.’

‘I see’, said Johnny. ‘Then, we have to cover your eyes. Sorry!’

With that, he ripped a bit off from the bottom of Giselle’s gown, and tied it around her eyes.

‘Actually’, he said, ‘it is really interesting not to see anything. All your other senses get sharper.’

‘Oh!’, cried Giselle trembling.

‘I’ll take good care of you’, Dougg promised.

‘Can’t you come with me Alice?’, Giselle asked, hopeful.

‘Meow’, explained the cat.

‘You know that Johnny cannot actually see the soldiers’, translated Dougg.

The friends hugged each other and wished good luck to one another before saying goodbye.

Alice gently pushed Johnny to face the soldiers, invisible for him.

‘My friends’, Johnny said, ‘I hope you had a good rest. Now, it is time for action. Grussworm is in his laboratory. We shall go there and force him to undo all his evil magic.’

Even though Johnny was unable to see the soldiers, he could sense their disapproval clearly.

‘Meow!’, said Alice crossly.

‘Who is willing to come with me?’, Johnny asked and hoped that there would be at least a few dozen hands in the air.

‘Meow!!’, said Alice, furious.

Johnny sighed.

‘All right’, he said. ‘Since there is not one of you who was brave enough, I go – ’ Johnny wanted to say ‘with my friends’, but he thought better of it.

And so he did. Alice followed him meowing angrily as passing the soldiers.

The boy and the cat went back to the corridor where they came from, but soon they heard footsteps approaching.

‘Meow!’, said Alice happily.

‘I just –’, started the soldier who ran after them, ‘My name is –’

‘Petrickus!’, Johnny cried recognising the voice. ‘Welcome my friend! I am really glad you’re coming with us!’

‘You know’, Petrickus started, unsure, ‘when I regained my consciousness, I though I heard Giselle’s voice. Giselle is the princess we came here to rescue, the daughter of the king I serve. I must have been still delirious hearing her voice when she was not even there. I heard her call me by my name – ’, tears ran down on the soldier’s cheeks. ‘I –, I am in love with her, you see. I know it is silly. I know that I could never marry a princess. I just wish to serve her as long as I live.’

‘That’s very noble of you, my friend’, said Johnny.

He thought it is best not to tell Petrickus about Giselle just yet. Although he did decide to prepare the soldier for the sight of the dragon.

‘You should know that our mission is not without risks – ’, he started.

‘Of course I know’, Petrickus hurried to answer.

‘You’ll meet a dragon’, Johnny started to explain, ‘but there is no need to be afraid of him. Dougg is on our side.’

Petrickus smiled, then sniggered, then laughed. Finally, he was roaring with laughter.

‘Dear boy’, he said patting Johnny’s head, ‘dragons only exist in fairy tales!’

Johnny stared at him for a while, then he said: ‘That’s OK then. Let’s go.’

Alice found the laboratory quite easily since Dougg had explained to them which way to go. As they got closer, Johnny and Petrickus were also able to smell the strong, bitter smells coming from there.

They stopped in front of the door.

‘Wait here’, Johnny told Petrickus thinking that he should first protect the soldier from the sight of the dragon – and Giselle.

‘I’m not waiting outside!’, said Petrickus decisively. ‘My job is to protect the princess!’, and with that, he opened the door and stepped into the laboratory fiercely.

Johnny and Alice followed the soldier, deeply worried about him.

The laboratory was a vast space, mostly covered by all kinds of different coloured smoke clouds. It was hard to see anything properly, even for the cat.

Johnny had the advantage of not being distracted by not seeing, since he did not see anything anyway. He was led by voices and smells.

‘Was that Petrickus?’, asked Dougg and hugged Johnny tightly.

‘What happened to him?’, asked Johnny hugging his friend back.

‘He caught the sight of me and ran towards the other end of the room’, smiled Dougg.

‘He did not believe in dragons’, Johnny explained.

‘I see’, Dougg laughed. ‘I hope he’s gonna be OK though.’

‘Meow?’, asked Alice.

‘She went to look around’, answered the dragon. ‘I can hardly move between all these tables and flasks, I am a bit too big –’

The three friends stood by the door, speechless and unsure about what to do. They were quite worried about Giselle and Petrickus.

After a few minutes, Petrickus ran towards them with a bundle of muddy clothes in his arms. As he got closer, Alice and Dougg saw that it was Giselle, unconscious, whom the soldier was carrying.

Dougg discreetly tried to hide behind a shelf full of jars containing the most extraordinary things, but he was far to big for that.

Petrickus stopped in front of them and reported:

‘I must be hallucinating. No wonder, in this terrible smoke. I imagined seeing a dragon twice. Actually, I’m seeing it right now’, and he pointed to Dougg.

The friends could not think of anything appropriate to say.

‘Never mind’, Petrickus continued, ‘it will pass.’

‘Hardly’, whispered Dougg sniggering.

‘The important thing is that I found the princess’, claimed Petrickus and lifted Giselle’s limp body in his arms, ‘but she is in a terrible condition. She must have fainted, and her beauty is distorted. Still, she is very beautiful’, he sniffed, not willing at all to put the princess down.

Giselle’s eyes opened and she sleepily sighed: ‘Petrickus! My saviour!’, but the next moment, she screamed and fainted again.

Petrickus hugged her even more tightly: ‘My princess’, he whispered happily, caressing a stinky, sticky, muddy lock of hair out of the girl’s undeniably ugly face.

‘Well’, said Johnny. ‘You take Giselle outside of the laboratory and take care of her.’

‘With pleasure!’, smiled the soldier.

‘And we go and find Grussworm’, Johnny finished.

Johnny, Alice and Dougg went into the colourful smoke clouds of the laboratory. All three of them kept banging themselves into tables and shelves, knocking off flasks and jars by accident, especially Dougg whose size was not compatible with the laboratory.

In the choking, bitter smoke, even Alice had trouble keeping her eyes open and finding her way.

Johnny simply closed his eyes so that the smoke did not hurt them and felt his way forward as much as he could.

The laboratory was huge, and smelt really horrible. Soon, the three friends started to feel unwell. They had a terrible headache, dizziness and nausea.

‘Let’s stop and think’, suggested Johnny.

‘I can’t think in this stinky place’, whined the dragon.

‘Are you absolutely sure that you saw Grussworm coming in here?’, asked Johnny.

‘Well’, sighed the dragon, ‘I didn’t actually see him. The door opened, a shadow went in, the door closed. This is what I saw.’

‘Wait!’, cried Johnny, ‘Are you saying that Grussworm had no solid form? That he’s only a shadow?’

Dougg thought long and hard. ‘I think so’, he finally said.

‘Let’s imagine what happens with a shadow in all this colourful smoke’, Johnny suggested.

The three friends tried to imagine it but they could not.

After a while, Johnny said, ‘We should air the smoke out.’

‘There are no windows here’, Dougg sighed, ‘as far as I can see, anyway.’

‘Meow!’, suggested Alice.

‘Brilliant idea!’, Johnny cried.

‘I – ’, Dougg started, ‘I’m not sure I can burn a hole into the wall of the palace.’

‘Meow!’, Alice urged him.

So Dougg tried. He blew fire, an awfully big one. Then, he took a deep breath. He blew fire again, an even bigger one. After that, he took another deep breath. Finally, he blew the biggest fire a dragon could ever have blown.

The wall started to melt. It bubbled, it sizzled, it boiled.

Soon enough, there was quite a big hole in the wall of the palace, and the colourful smoke clouds were rapidly sucked out through it.

Suddenly, there was no more smoke around the three friends.

Instead, in front of them, there stood a shadow.

Johnny realised that he could see the shadow, he could see the laboratory around him, he could see the huge hole Dougg had burnt in the wall of the castle.

‘Hi Grussworm’, he said.

The shadow twirled and twirled. Slowly, it turned itself into something solid: a creature.

He was short and thin, his skin was muddy brown, slimy and stinky. He had no eyes, no nose, only a huge, toothless mouth that produced brown saliva dripping from it in every direction as he spoke:

‘Hi Johnny. Nice to finally meet you in person.’

Johnny waited for him to say more.

Dougg growled.

Suddenly, Alice pounced on Grussworm with all her claws.

Johnny and Dougg cried out. Alice flew through the creature as if it was still made of smoke only, she banged herself into the wall, bounced back and landed on the floor meowing painfully.

Johnny and Dougg ran to her.

‘Are you all right?’, Johnny asked, lifting his cat in his arms.

Dougg stroked Alice’s ginger fur.

‘Meow!’, Alice said, frustrated.

‘Not real? What do you mean?’, asked the dragon.

Grussworm twirled and twirled, and he was only smoke again.

The friends looked at each other, puzzled.

‘Hello!’, the Grussworm-smoke cloud laughed and danced around them.

This time, Dougg did not need to be reminded that he was actually a big, powerful dragon. He took a deep breath and blew fire – a huge one.

Grussworm laughed. He absorbed the smoke of the fire and became much bigger.

‘Thanks mate!’, he said to the dragon.

‘Step back’, Johnny told his friends, and he took a step forward.

The smoke cloud twisted and turned playfully.

Johnny closed his eyes. He got so used to not being able to see and using his other senses instead the last few hours, he felt like being able to think more effectively if he could not see.

As Johnny closed his eyes, he could see Annie with his mind’s eye. His little sister was sitting among the Phoomies, next to Legster, telling a story to all of them. The Phoomies listened intently. Some Bramboreens were jumping up and down on Annie’s lap, they climbed up on her arms, sat on her shoulders, played with her long hair. Some of them were climbing Legster’s eight legs, jumping up and down on his head, trying to switch his buttons – which he did not let them do of course.

Johnny listened carefully.

Annie was telling the end of some story now: ‘And then’, she said, ‘Johnny closed his eyes and saw us in his thoughts. He saw all of you listening to my story and he saw me telling his own story.’

‘Beep-beep? Beep-beep?’, asked the Bramboreens, excited.

‘And at that moment’, Annie continued, ‘Johnny understood.’

‘What did he understand?’, Legster asked her, confused.

Johnny opened his eyes, the idyllic scene disappeared.

‘You’re so lonely, aren’t you?’, Johnny asked Grussworm.

The smoke cloud twirled.

‘You kidnapped Giselle and turned her into a mud monster – to have a partner, didn’t you?’

The smoke cloud twirled more slowly this time.

‘You shrank the Bramboreens so they’d not be able to look after their Phoomies – so that they all could feel some of the loneliness you feel.’

The smoke cloud twirled slowly as if in a trance.

‘You took all the food from the people – so that they could suffer as you were suffering.’

The smoke cloud stopped.

‘Poor you!’, said Johnny, and extended his arm to touch Grussworm.

The smoke cloud shook and with a pop, it turned into the creature. He fell to the ground and crawled in pain.

Johnny squatted by him and stroked him.

Alice and Dougg stared at them, totally puzzled.

‘Open your castle’, Johnny said. ‘Let people in. Show them your knowledge of science. They’ll be amazed. Let them explore your castle, let them fill it with life.’

The crawling creature on the floor, started to shed his skin. Stinky, slimy mud-brown pieces fell of him and turned to dust as soon as they had parted from his body. Grussworm shed all his outer skin, and he was freshly pink now.

He stood up and opened his eyes.

Johnny stood up too. He realised that the creature had always had eyes, only they were buried under his mud-skin, so he could not see.

They looked at each other for a long time.

Johnny extended his arms, and hugged Grussworm who hugged him back timidly.

Alice brushed herself to Grussworm’s pink skin. Dougg patted his thin arm.

Then, Johnny leaned out of the hole in the wall and called out to the soldiers:

‘My friends! Come inside. There is no danger anymore. Come in and explore the castle. Your princess Giselle is up here, waiting for you.’

The soldiers looked at Johnny and then to each other, confused. Finally, some of them stood up and went into the castle.

In that moment, Petrickus came running. He was still carrying Giselle in his arms. Actually, Petrickus seemed quite unwilling to ever put his princess down again.

‘Wow!’, Dougg exclaimed, enchanted. ‘You really are the most beautiful princess I’ve ever seen!’

Giselle smiled.

‘Heiress’, Johnny corrected his friend.

Giselle jumped down from Petrickus’ arms and hugged Johnny tightly. Then she hugged Alice and Dougg too.

‘Do you believe in dragons now?’, Giselle asked Petrickus teasingly.

‘I certainly do’, the soldier smiled.

The other soldiers arrived. They bowed to their princess and Giselle let them kiss her hand.

‘My friends’, said Giselle, ‘I invite all of you to celebrate my wedding with Petrickus.’

Petrickus blushed, and he fell on his knees before his princess.

‘You can marry in this castle’, Grussworm said timidly. ‘You can also live here. It’s big enough for all of you.’

‘Thank you Grussworm! We shall do that’, said Giselle majestically.

‘Wait, wait!’, Johnny said. ‘I need to get Annie here. And Legster. And the Bramboreens and Phoomies.’ He looked around, puzzled. ‘Where is Dougg?’

‘Meow’, Alice explained.

Dougg did come back in no time at all, carrying Annie and the Phoomies on his back.

Soon, the Bramboreens – back to their original size: bigger than the soldiers – arrived running a race against Legster. The robot got there first, needless to say.

Finally, the beast came. Sparkling, pink clouds of glitter came out of his ears. His missing corn grew back and vibrated with the other two in all the colours of the rainbow.

Grussworm smiled.

‘Meow’, said Alice.

‘No, no, no!’, Annie stroked her ginger cat, ‘I’d like to stay for the wedding.’

‘Alice is right’, said Johnny, ‘it’s time to go home.’

The dragon nodded.

‘Come back soon’, said Giselle, ‘until then, we prepare everything. This castle could do with some re-decorating. I also need to invite my father, and all the people of his kingdom. We’ll celebrate the wedding when you are back.’

They said goodbye to each other. Dougg flew up in the air with Johnny, Annie and Alice on his back.

Grussworm waved after them.

Cambridge, 2020