Jerry Mouse's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

The cheese wheel rolled across the open kitchen floor. Jerry chased it. It wobbled, slowed, and dropped flat in the middle of the tiles. No cupboard stood near. No crack. No shadow to hide in. Jerry stood in the open beside his prize. Behind him, the dragon squeezed through the pantry gap. Its black scales scraped the wood. Gold lines glinted along its back. Both its eyes found Jerry. He grabbed the cheese wheel and shoved. It was taller than he was. It rolled a hand's width, then stopped. The dragon spread its wings. It stepped onto the tiles, slow, sure that Jerry had nowhere to run. "Mouse! This way!" Jerry looked up. Ted Goldsworth stood on the leg of a fallen chair, the knight who had risked himself so Jerry could grab the cheese. His gold armor caught the light. He had not run. He waved his thin blade toward a dark gap under the cupboard. "Roll it here!" Ted shouted. "I'll slow the beast!" Jerry threw his shoulder against the wheel. It turned. Slow, then faster, rolling toward the gap Ted pointed to. The dragon lunged. Ted jumped down between them. He jabbed his blade at the dragon's foot. The beast hissed and pulled back one claw. "Come on, come on," Ted said, not to Jerry, to himself. He darted left. The dragon's head swung after him. Jerry kept the wheel rolling. Its edge caught the lip of the gap and stuck. Jerry pushed with all his weight. The wheel tipped. It fell through the gap into the dark space under the cupboard. Safe. Hidden. Jerry dove after it. But Ted was still out on the tiles. The dragon reared over the small knight. Ted swung his blade high. The metal caught the light like something far grander than a splinter of steel. The dragon flinched, just a breath. Ted turned and ran. He slid under the cupboard beside Jerry as the dragon's claws struck the floor where he had stood. The two of them pressed against the cheese wheel in the dark. The dragon's snout pushed at the gap. It was too big to follow. It snorted hot air. Then it drew back. "We did it," Ted said. He was breathing hard, still grinning. "Your cheese. My blade. Good team." Jerry rested a paw on the wheel. It was his now, out of the dragon's sight. But the space under the cupboard was small and closed. There was no other way out. The dragon settled its weight onto the tiles just beyond the gap. It did not leave. It waited. Jerry had the cheese. He could not carry it anywhere. And the dragon would not go.