SPLASH!
A massive serpentine head burst from the water beside Sophie's family.
**"AHHH—!"** Agatha shrieked, promptly forgetting how to swim.
**BOOM! BOOM!**
Two fireballs slammed into the snake's snout.
**"That's for scaring my sister!"** Charles snarled, already conjuring another spell.
**"Take this!"** Sophie hurled fireball after fireball—her specialty.
Belindak, the lake's resident dragon-serpent, writhed in outrage. *"I was just coming up to complain about the noise! And now this?!"* Already suffering from a throbbing toothache, this was the last straw.
With a furious thrash, he summoned a tidal wave.
Sophie yanked Agatha into Charles' protective bubble just in time. The water tossed them like ragdolls, reminding Sophie of disaster movies. *"If only those ships had a mage like Charles..."*
Belindak watched smugly as the intruders scrambled ashore. *"That'll teach them."*
But Charles and Little White weren't done. They dove back in, spells blazing.
**"Time out! TIME OUT!"** Belindak bellowed after taking several hits. *"A six-hundred-year-old serpent, beaten by a child and a dog?!"*
Charles paused, intrigued. **"Talk fast."**
---
On shore, Sophie gaped as Charles and Little White rode the subdued serpent toward her.
**"Mom! He surrendered!"** Charles called.
Belindak grumbled, **"Two against one isn't fair..."**
Shrinking to human size, the serpent bowed. **"Greetings, noble lady. I am Belindak of the Dragon-Serpent clan. Welcome to Mirror Lake."** He winced mid-sentence.
**"You attacked us first!"** Sophie accused.
**"I merely surfaced to investigate the noise! Then—FWOOSH!—fireballs!"** Belindak protested, clutching his jaw.
Sophie considered this. *"Okay, maybe we overreacted."*
**"AUGH!"** Belindak suddenly convulsed.
**"What now?"** Sophie eyed him warily.
**"Tooth... pain..."** the serpent whimpered.
**"Snakes don't get toothaches!"** Charles blurted.
**"I do!"** Belindak groaned. **"Two years now! Worse every time!"**
Curious, Sophie ordered, **"Open up."**
The sight of Belindak's fanged maw made her shudder—*Jaws* meets *Anaconda*. One fang had a visible black pit.
**"You have a cavity,"** Sophie declared.
**"A... what?"**
**"Your tooth's rotting. Needs pulling."**
Belindak paled. **"That sounds painful!"**
**"More painful than constant agony?"** Sophie grinned. *"Hello, science experiment!"*
---
After shrinking to finger-size (for "safety"), Belindak endured Sophie's makeshift dentistry with a dwarven tool.
**"YANK!"**
**"EEEP!"** The tiny serpent's scream was comically high-pitched.
**"All better!"** Sophie chirped, examining the extracted fang—now the size of a rice grain. **"What have you been eating to rot your teeth?"**
**"Just... food?"** Belindak said vaguely.
**"Anything sweet? Like... honeydew melons?"**
**"Oh! Yes! Years ago, a man and a crate of melons fell in. I ate the melons. Then people kept throwing more in—with tied-up humans!"**
Sophie's eyes narrowed. *"Human sacrifices to a 'lake god'?"*
**"Where are the people now?"** she asked, dreading the answer.
**"At the bottom. They couldn't breathe underwater like me!"** Belindak said proudly.
*"Of course."* Sophie facepalmed.
---
Their party now included a toothless dragon-serpent—Belindak refused to be seen missing a fang. Stashed in the Phoenix Pouch, he discovered its trove of snacks and promptly forgot his duties.
*"Oops."*
Unbeknownst to him, the annual "melon sacrifice" was due. Unless Sophie intervened, Mirror Lake would claim another victim...
**Will our heroes stumble upon a ritual—and can they stop it before it's too late?**