Chapter Twenty Eight - The Dragon’s Cave

Inside the prehistoric cavern, the dragon landed in the gold pile. He dropped the golden sword and it clattered loudly. Then the dragon regurgitated some chewed up golden statues. They were covered in slime. The dragon yawned and curled into a ball, covering it’s eyes with it’s wings. The sailing ship of the Great Pirate Hammerstein was in one piece. It was one ship of many that survived. The dragon was not a butcher. He was a collector. These stupid animals had gold in their bellies but they did not move outside of water. Silly beasts. Stupid. The dragon had a dream about flying high into the sky and his wings twitched. He snored.

Inside the cave, a team of pirates had survived the journey. They were living inside a different, much larger ship, close to the entrance of the cave.

They had decided to stay there. They were trapped. The dragon’s cave had one entrance. It led to a massive dark cavern. This is where prehistoric creatures roamed. The pirates had already tried to escape in the beginning when the dragon had left. They were attacked by lizards the size of horses that were quick, They had glowing patterns on their backs. The lizards stayed well away from the cavern of gold, so the pirates decided to stay there.

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

They nicknamed the dragon. They called him “Red Mama”. They passed the time mostly by playing poker. They used real gold coins as poker chips. The money didn't matter, they were surrounded by gold, but also the massive downside of being trapped underground hundred of miles from the surface. They had no idea how long they had been there, no one could see the sun, just the light of a perpetual lava flow. It was humid and hot in the cave. They had survived by looting other ships for barrels of salted pork and casks of ship's bread and they were harvesting water from the waterfalls in the cave walls. Some of them were freshwater, though some were saltwater.

They played cards while the dragon outside the cannon windows slept. The cave of gold was massive. The pirates felt like they were in heaven, or hell.