Bentwhistle the Dragon Box

by Paul Cude

  Aviva kept up the stream of flame for as long as she could, the stench of scorched beetles attacking her nose. Out of breath, she opened her eyes. Crispy beetle carcasses crackled all around her, giving off an unforgiving smell. From what she could tell, they were all dead. Not wishing to look over the edge to see if there were any more, she shuffled round and began crawling further into the vent, her right hand checking to make sure the priceless laminium dagger was still tucked firmly into her belt.

  No more beetles appeared in her wake, despite her constantly checking over her shoulder. The further she crawled, the steeper things got. Air getting staler with every metre, she'd hoped that the further she got into the vent, the fresher the air might get, revealing how close she might be to the outside of the pyramid.

  Twisting and turning, there was little choice now but to continue on despite her knees being chafed and sore. During all this she took great comfort knowing that her enemies would assume her dead. Nothing much usually survives that amount of scarab beetles.

  Two hours passed with numerous stops to catch her breath, before she decided that the air might actually have changed for the better. A sharp turn and an even sharper incline later, she finally caught a glimpse of sunlight shining through the sides of an ill fitting block of limestone. Panting like an exhausted dog, she took in what little of the desert she could see through the narrowest of gaps. Exhaustion threatened to consume her. Not able to remember how long it had been since she'd been tricked into entering this godforsaken pyramid, she only knew that the lack of water and the long, slow, tedious crawl through the vent had taken its toll. Deciding to wait until it was dark to get out, for fear of being spotted, she curled up against the limestone block, dagger in hand, and promptly fell asleep.

  * * *

  Cold night air brushed her neck, raising goose bumps and startling her awake. Shaking off the muddiness of sleep, she quickly became alert. Night had fallen. Licking her dry lips with what little moisture remained in her mouth, she held the dagger up towards the limestone block, gently inserting it into the narrow gap. Using the dagger as a lever, she put all of her considerable strength into moving the block. Moments later, she stopped. It had given a little; she'd felt it.

  'If this is a vent, then surely this last block is supposed to move,' she mused, totally parched. 'Perhaps the lack of water is making me stupid.'

  Two more attempts at shifting the block with the blade proved fruitless. Sitting back against the cool rock, shivering just a little, she knew her best chance to escape was during the dark. With a little luck, she could in theory climb down the pyramid and make it to the nearest village without alerting anyone to her presence. How to get past this block though, seemed to be key to everything. Concentrating fully, ignoring just how dehydrated she was, her mind wandered all over the place, from thoughts of finding the dagger, to being chased by the baying mob in the narrow passages far below.

  'That's it!' she thought. 'I bet there's something hidden that will open it.'

  Sitting bolt upright, she slipped the laminium dagger into her belt and moved over to the block. Gently, with the palms of her hands, she felt its surface. Nothing. Probing the small gaps around the side of the block with the tips of her dainty fingers, hoping to find something out of the ordinary, about to give up, she noticed a small protrusion on the ceiling. It was tiny... not even worth bothering about, but that was probably the point. Engineers constructing the pyramids had been the best around and were extremely crafty, in more ways than one. Reaching up towards the ceiling, she gave the protrusion the tiniest of touches with her index finger. A faint rumble off to one side caused her to jump. Ever so slowly, the limestone brick lifted itself up and slid partially into the brick beside it, offering up just enough room for somebody to pass. Momentarily she stood still, in shock. As well as hearing all the gears and gadgetry, she felt as though there was something else, something she was missing because her head was too muddled from lack of water. Coming to her senses, quickly she darted through the gap, into the cold night air, not knowing how long the block would stay off to one side, or if in fact it was something that could only be used once.

  Perched on the edge of an outside limestone ledge, she was surprised at how high up the pyramid she actually was. In fact, she was very nearly at the top. Looking down, she could clearly make out lots of people, villagers and guards alike, around the base, lit up by an array of torches. Crouching carefully, she began to make her way around the outside of the pyramid, determined to see if any one side was less populated than the others. Half an hour later, after covering all four sides which was no mean feat., she discovered everywhere to be teeming with people and guards. She wasn't sure if there was a religious ceremony taking place, or whether her enemies knew she was still alive.

  Of course the most obvious thing to do would be to turn into her dragon form and fly away. However, she would undoubtedly be seen even in the darkness, and with the dragon council having only recently issued orders about agents not using their dragon guises in front of humans at any cost, it was hard to see any alternative other than to climb down and escape, which although time consuming, shouldn't really present too much of a problem given the nature of her clandestine skill set. Although sure the council would understand if she had to return to her natural dragon form, particularly given the relevance of the information she'd uncovered, the orders had been incredibly specific and had applied to all operatives, so she pressed on in her cold, nimble and determined human appearance.

  All she had to do was make it off the pyramid, flee the immediate area and then with nobody else about, she would be free to slip into her natural shape and return to the council.

  'Simple,' she thought, shaking her head and berating herself for not transforming and flying off the pyramid.

  Gingerly vaulting down the pyramid block by block, the cover of night shrouding her movement this high up, the chilly night air started to take its toll even with the laminium dagger boosting her powers. On top of that, her feet were absolutely killing her, having been barefoot since she somersaulted up to the vent entrance; it hadn't troubled her too much inside the pyramid which was silky smooth, but now that she was outside, the limestone blocks were rough and very hard going on the soles of her feet.

  Abruptly a dark shape appeared further along on the same level as Aviva. Throwing herself down onto the jagged surface, she looked up to see a burly guard carrying a torch in one hand and a sword in the other, nervously looking around, almost as if scared of heights. Feeling for her dagger, she knew she had to take him down quickly and quietly. As the guard approached, she used her free hand to search for any loose stones or gravel. Grabbing a few small stones, she lobbed them into the air, over the head of the oncoming guard. Turning instantly to look at the noise behind him, Aviva seized the opportunity and leapt, dagger at the ready. Covering the twelve feet in the blink of an eye, she clamped her hand over his mouth and swiped the dagger across his exposed throat. Warm liquid squirted across her exposed forearm, while a brief gurgle uttered from the dead guard's mouth. Slowly, she lowered him to the ground, breathing a deep sigh of relief. Quickly she removed his outer clothing and put it on. On close inspection she would have looked ridiculous because the clothes were considerably too big, but in the dark, she shouldn't have too much of a problem fooling anyone from a distance.

  Moving the guard's body so that it was lying totally flat, making sure the only chance of it being found was to stumble right on top of it, she grabbed the torch he'd dropped when she'd slit his throat. Using a little burst of flame from her breath, she ignited it and very carefully continued her descent.

  After an hour or so, she wasn't far from the base of the pyramid. Instead of climbing straight down at this point, she wound her way around, carefully avoiding prying eyes, trying to assess the best place for her to join the flocking crowds. After biding her time, she found what she was looking for, a throng of people with absolutely no guards. Casually she made her way down the
last dozen or so blocks and into the throng of people, where she quietly extinguished the torch and discarded it. Moving through the crowd at random, and keeping her head down, she headed for the nearest village where her first priority was to find some water and then a deserted spot to change into her dragon form.

  Nearly another hour later, Aviva had left most of the crowd and the pyramid in the distance, ditched the guard's clothes and was approaching the outskirts of the nearest village. By now, she was overcome with dizziness through dehydration. All she wanted to do was have a drink. Stumbling through the only undergrowth for miles around, moments later she found herself in the village good and proper. Heading towards the centre, as that's where the well would be, she struggled to lift one foot in front of the other.

  Finally making it to the well, she slid down next to it in a cold sweat, needing to catch a breath before attempting to lower the bucket. Holding her head in her hands, it was all she could do to remain lucid. With her throat as dry as the surrounding desert and with spots starting to appear in the periphery of her vision, she staggered up and started lowering the bucket into the well. The faint splash of water from below spurred her on, and once she could feel the weight of the liquid, she pumped the handle with all her might. Strength starting to wane as the bucket appeared out of the darkness, in a frenzy she began pouring the gorgeous cool water down her throat, not caring about the amount that was spilling down the front of her dress onto her bare feet.

  Pausing for breath, she wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, wondering why water had never tasted this good. As she did so, she just heard the faintest 'twang, zffooofff.' Pain erupted from her left calf as she dropped to the floor, spilling the remaining water from the bucket into the sand. Rolling onto her front, she tried to get to her feet, but couldn't. A very primitive wooden arrow had pierced her calf, sending wave after wave of pain up that side of her body. Grasping the side of the well to pull herself up, the agony she felt was suddenly interrupted by something much more sinister.

  A loud, booming, "HA HA HA," echoed through the night air, as Ptolemy himself strutted out from behind one of the adjacent buildings, followed by the archer that had shot her and, to her surprise, two dragon councillors, both in their human guises.

  Heart racing with fear at not knowing exactly what was going on, she steeled herself to face the beings in front of her.

  "Ah, brave Aviva," whispered Ptolemy, with just a hint of sarcasm. "My most loyal servant, or so it would seem. These loyal fellows though have put me right on that front, and quite a bit else."

  A split second was all that was needed for it to become clear. For a moment, she'd thought that the councillors were here to aid her, but that of course really wasn't the case. She should have known. Carrying an injury, this situation would have been hard enough to get out of, but having these two here made it all but impossible.

  'Still,' she thought pragmatically, 'you can be damn sure I'm gonna take one of them with me. And the biggest surprise of the lot is that they don't know about the laminium dagger which gives me more of an edge than they think.'

  Screwing up their faces in unison, the two councillors gave their best false smiles.

  "Aviva, you're so predictable. I bet right at this very moment you're contemplating taking one of us to the grave with you."

  Not a muscle moved in her face, so determined was she not to let them know they'd been right. Instead, she allowed all the rage and power inside her to build up, waiting to let it explode out when the time was right.

  "Anyway, much as this reunion has been fun, I think it's time to get down to the business at hand," began Ptolemy, nodding at the two councillors.

  Taking the hint, she knew that the time had arrived. Faster than the eye could see, she grabbed the tip of the arrow poking out of her calf and yanked it free with all of her might, ignoring the mind numbing pain that accompanied it. Before anyone had a chance to react, Aviva had thrown the arrow at the archer some fifty feet away, and hit him straight through the forehead, rendering him instantly dead.

  As the archer crumpled to the ground, and Ptolemy wriggled behind the two councillors, Aviva smiled to herself.

  'Looks like I'm not the only one to be hit by a surprise arrow today. Karma and irony all wrapped up in one.'

  "You said you could protect me. You said she'd be no danger. Do something!" barked Ptolemy at the two dragon councillors.

  Both councillors took a step in Aviva's direction, whilst at the same time muttering under their breaths. Instantly they started to transform.

  Pretty sure she knew what would happen, Aviva forced a little sliver of dragon power into her calf to stop the bleeding and uttered a small lightning mantra, throwing some of the extra power from the dagger at it in the process, directing it at the sand between her and the two councillors. Sand blasted everywhere as the first humungous bolt frazzled into the ground, making it impossible to see more than two metres in any one direction. Fully prepared for the outcome, Aviva vaulted over the well and sprinted around behind two of the buildings, ending up next to the river. Panting with exertion, she spoke the words that would start her own transformation, hoping that she had bought enough time to catch up with the two councillors. A second in, tremendous pain whirled around inside her, something totally out of the ordinary. Something else unusual quickly became apparent... her change was taking fractionally longer than it would normally have. Things did not bode well.

  Finished, Aviva collapsed onto the river bank in her dragon form. Even in the cool night air, she really should have been fit and alert, she thought as she struggled to get her huge dragon body to respond. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a sense of danger screamed at her to get up, knowing her enemies were mere moments away. Tottering to her feet, she tried frantically to clear her mind. Looking down at her leg, she could see that it wasn't bleeding from the arrow wound. A few more seconds passed before she finally felt some sense of normality. Again, her sense of danger screamed at her, this time to take to the air. Not needing to tell herself twice, and despite the nagging sense that something was very wrong, she bent her knees and gracefully leapt into the air. Just as she did so, the building behind where she'd been standing splintered into a million pieces as one of the councillors smashed his way through.

  Circling overhead, she breathed a sigh of relief, not for one second letting her guard down. In the distance she could see Ptolemy roaring orders at some of his guards that had appeared out of the undergrowth. Suddenly, Aviva remembered the dagger. She didn't have it with her. In her haste to take to the air she'd forgotten to pick it up and now it lay beneath what was left of her clothes, not ten feet from the dragon councillor that had just destroyed the building.

  Distracted momentarily, she turned sharply as a rush of air brushed her back, just a little too late. Razor-sharp talons raked down her spine, as she painfully spun out of the way, only just managing to avoid a vicious jet of flame by dropping into a steep dive.

  Head spinning as she hastily headed towards the ground, thoughts of escape had long since passed. On top of everything, she couldn't work out why she felt so strange and underpowered. Maybe the arrow she'd been shot with had been poisoned, but her leg, although painful, showed no sign of any venom and was, in fact, starting to heal up just fine. Noting Aviva's approach, the dragon who'd decimated the building had now taken to the air to join the fight. Aware that her lifespan would now be measured in minutes, if not seconds, without the dagger, she knew that perhaps with it, just maybe she could turn things around.

  With one councillor charging up towards her from the ground, and one hot on her tail, quite literally, Aviva knew she had to take a chance to get the dagger back. Using all the magic she could spare to elicit a burst of speed, she accelerated towards the dragon heading up from the ground, his glinting red scales standing out in the darkness, back lit by the reflective surface of the river behind him. As the gap between them narrowed, she could see his prehistoric jaws twist into a smirk, th
inking that there was no way out for his prey. A quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that 'Yellow' (as she thought of him, because of the huge twisted stripe of that colour down one side of his dull, white belly) was only a matter of metres behind her, bearing the same knowing grin.

  Turning to face forward again, knowing that she needed a whole lot of luck in the next few seconds, 'Red' speeded towards her, his wings spread, the moonlight glinting off his sharpened talons, opening his jaws wider than it appeared possible.

  'This is it,' she thought. 'It's now or never.' Just as Red, hurtling up towards her, was about to snap his jaws shut, she curled up into a massive ball, her toughened frame smacking the councillor right in the mouth with a bone shattering CRUNCH. After that, her trajectory changed dramatically, falling almost like a rock towards the ground. Yellow, had been chasing her so closely, there was little he could do but crash firmly into his comrade. For the second time in quick succession, a resounding bone rattling crunch echoed over the village, as the two dastardly dragons collided in mid-air.