Chapter 2

Chapter 2 RUMBLE! GRUMBLE! A loud noise filled the village square the trio had just entered. The ground began to shake beneath Princess Pulverizer's feet. "Earthquake!" Lucas shouted nervously. His skinny legs shook, rattling his armor. RUMBLE! GRUMBLE! "I'm getting out of here!" shouted a tall man in a red hat as he covered his head and ran for safety. "Wait! I'm coming with you!" Lucas cried to the man. He started to run. But Princess Pulverizer grabbed him by the arm and held him in place. "You're not going anywhere," she told him. "But the earthquake...," Lucas began.

Princess Pulverizer studied the ground. There were no cracks in the road below her feet. And none of the houses or shops nearby were tilting or crumbling—the way they might if there had really been an earthquake. So if this isn't an earthquake, what is it? Princess Pulverizer thought nervously to herself. RUMBLE! GRUMBLE! Princess Pulverizer turned around quickly. The noise was definitely coming from behind

her. And if she wasn't mistaken, it was coming from inside of something. Make that inside of someone. "Dribble, it's your stomach making all that noise!" she said. The dragon's green cheeks blushed purple. "Excuse me," he apologized meekly. "It's not my fault. I'm starving." "So am I," Lucas admitted. "We haven't eaten in hours." "No problem," Princess Pulverizer said. "Dribble will just cook up some more of his amazing grilled cheese sandwiches for us." "No can do," Dribble told the princess. "Why not?" she asked him. "We're out of cheese and bread," Dribble replied. "But we had a whole brick of gouda and a huge loaf of sourdough just yesterday," Princess Pulverizer pointed out. "We ate it all," Dribble told her. "You had three sandwiches just for lunch." "Oh right," she admitted. "I forgot. Good thing my father gave me lots of gold and silver

pieces before I left on my quest. I'll just buy some more bread and cheese. Problem solved. Easy peasy." "I can sell you plenty of bread," the old woman who ran the food shop on Old Curds Way told Princess Pulverizer a few minutes later. "But we haven't got any cheese." "So much for easy peasy," Dribble grumbled. "More like hard as lard." Lucas gave him a funny look. "Lard isn't hard. It's kind of mushy, actually." "I only meant that nothing is ever as easy as Princess Pulverizer says it's going to be," Dribble told Lucas. "Do you know where we can buy some cheese?" Princess Pulverizer asked the shopkeeper.

The old woman stared at Dribble. "Is that a dragon?" she asked nervously. Princess Pulverizer nodded. "It's okay," she assured her. "He's a nice guy." "If you say so," the old woman said, moving farther away behind the counter. "I have a real hankering for some baked brie on sourdough bread," Princess Pulverizer continued. She patted her knapsack. "And I have plenty of gold and silver to buy it with." "You won't be able to get brie in any store around here," the shopkeeper replied. "How about swiss cheese, then?" Lucas suggested. "Or havarti?"

"You can't get cheese anywhere in the village of Ire-Mire-Briar-Shire," the woman told him. Dribble's eyes grew wide. "No cheese?" He gasped. "None at all?" The woman shook her head sadly. "IreMire-Briar-Shire used to be the cheese capital of this whole kingdom. We were overflowing with butter and yogurt, too. But someone has stolen all our cows, goats, and sheep. We have no way to get milk. And without milk, we can't make cheese." "Hmmm...," Princess Pulverizer mused. "Come to think of it, I haven't heard a single moo since we arrived in Ire-Mire-Briar-Shire." "Or a baaaa," Lucas added. "Or a maaaa." "This is an outrage!" Dribble shouted so loudly, the whole shop shook.