by Paul Cude
Confident that he was ready to go, he stepped up to the bright yellow skidoo, gave a hard yank on the starting cord and listened to the pleasing sound of the harsh petrol engine kicking into life. Donning his shiny, black crash helmet, he mounted the throbbing vehicle. Knowing that there might be residents watching his departure, he sedately headed out of the Station and into the frozen wilderness, heading directly towards Law Dome, the nearest small ice cap.
As soon as he was beyond the visual range of Casey, he opened up the throttle, gunning the poor skidoo for all it was worth. Even with his enhanced dragon abilities, which were severely limited by the freezing temperatures, riding the machine at high speed was a life threatening risk in this environment, with its steep slopes, rough hidden rocks, jutting peninsulas and detritus filled valleys, but he just couldn't resist. Risk and thrill seeking were simply part of his nature, as much as a ten foot tail, brown shiny scales and teeth that a crocodile would die for, were part of his body.
Every twenty minutes or so, he would stop and take in his surroundings, using his dragon senses to see if he could detect any sign of the missing scientists. By his third stop he'd had no luck whatsoever, but told himself that it was early days yet as he still had many hundreds of square miles to cover, and that was just the area the scientists were known to have been in.
Carrying on in the bright sunlight through the untouched powdery snow, Flash focused purely on the task at hand; his dedication to the mission was unparalleled in both dragon and human worlds.
After five and a half hours, he stopped the skidoo abruptly in the thick fresh snow, convinced that just for a second he'd felt something recognisable. Undoing his helmet and placing it on the skidoo's seat, he trudged through the knee high snow, the only sound accompanying him the sharp 'crunch, crunch, crunch' beneath his boots. Opening his mind to the harsh surroundings, he tried desperately to use the laminium in his ring and necklace to augment his flagging abilities, the brisk wind all the while clawing at the exposed parts of his unshaven face.
'There it is again,' he thought. 'There's something close by, but where...?'
Standing on the edge of a steep, rocky slope on one side, a valley laden with thick, fresh snow on the other, there was nothing he could see that led him to believe there was anything of importance here. About a hundred yards away stood a snowy, ice encrusted overhang, something he'd seen about fifty of already today. Still, his senses were telling him there was something of importance here. Knowing only too well that he could search this area for a week with all this fresh snowfall and not find a thing, he had to at least try. After wandering carefully through the lower part of the rocky slope for about an hour, figuring that he was more likely to find something there rather than in the deep, fresh snow field, frustrated he returned to the skidoo and procured a ration bar and a drink of water from the heated bottle in his pack. Opting to walk around the area as he drank and ate, his mind wandered, having not found what he was searching for. Before he knew it, he'd meandered up to the icy overhang that resembled something like a giant frozen wave. The snow had built up against its base, while delicate icicles hung like vicious looking needles from the overhang itself. In the brilliant bright sunlight, it sparkled like an expensive jewel. Even Flash, not known for his appreciation of any sort of beauty, thought that it looked magnificent. The perfect silence all around was shattered by the radio attached to his jacket.
"Casey Base to Foxtrot Two, come in... over," crackled around the icy overhang as Flash struggled to retrieve the radio.
Setting down his water bottle and stuffing the rest of his ration bar in his mouth all at once, he held down the long black button on the side of the radio.
"Casey Base, this is Foxtrot Two... over," he shouted above the harsh wind.
"Just checking up to make sure you're okay doc," came a squeaky voice through all the static.
"Thanks Casey," replied Flash, strangely comforted that these people he barely knew were concerned for his wellbeing. "I'm just checking one more site, and then I'm heading back to base... thanks."
"Okay doc, good luck, see you when you get here. Don't forget the darts tournament at Splinters tonight... starts at 20:00."
"Thanks Casey, I'll try and make it... Foxtrot Two out."
Relative silence returned to the valley, apart from the whistling wind that had started to whip up the soft powdery snow a treat. Flash bent down to retrieve his water bottle. As he did so, the tiniest glimpse of colour caught his attention from the corner of his eye. Blinking in astonishment, for just a moment he could have sworn he'd seen the tiniest patch of crimson at the bottom of the solid wall of ice and snow that made up the overhang he was now standing under. Striding over to the wall and crouching down so that his entire lower half sunk into the powdery build up of snow, he rubbed at the wall with his gloved hands, clearing away the beautiful flakes in front of him. It wasn't until he'd rubbed away a decent sized portion of the wall that it hit him.
"Dear God, it can't be," he muttered only to himself, his breath freezing in the cold as he did so. Beneath the thick ice of the wall making up the overhang, was a crimson coloured wing. The thick membrane and wiry sinew could be seen clearly now that he was up close. He knew exactly what it was, well... not what, but who... Professor Rianne Pilkington, to be precise.
Flash's pulse raced as he crouched in the snow inspecting the frozen body of the lead scientist. A million questions raced around his spinning head, chief amongst them was: why on earth is she in her dragon form? No dragon in their right mind would turn into their true form in these conditions. They wouldn't last more than a couple of minutes at most, before they died horribly. It made absolutely no sense.
'There's nothing in the world that would make me return to my natural state here. Nothing,' he thought, tears streaming down his face.
Then, the most unbelievable thing in the world happened. A loud laugh pierced the howling wind, from just behind him. Standing up and turning around all at the same time, he struggled to comprehend the vision he saw before him. Two medium sized nagas, one very nearly gold all over, the other a purple bluish colour, stood not twenty feet away, grinning wickedly in his direction. The nagas were quasi-humanoids, with snake shaped bodies and a top half resembling a scaly, reptilian human. Both had tails about fifteen foot long, rippling with muscle and scale. Nearly seven feet tall, they both swayed from side to side like deadly cobras. Flash's first thought was that he was dreaming, and that perhaps he'd suffered some sort of trauma, maybe falling and knocking his head. Deep down inside though, his little voice screamed, "DANGER!" over and over, as loud as it possibly could. The golden tinted naga shook his head back and forth, before letting out a low rumble and grinning.
"Ahhhhh... it seems they've sent another one."
His partner smiled at that.
"When will they start to learn?" he replied, chuckling.
Flash couldn't work out where they'd come from, how it was that he couldn't sense them telepathically, why the cold or snow wasn't affecting them, or why they were behaving like this. Putting on his best smile, in the name of diplomacy of course, he addressed the golden coloured naga who seemed to be in charge.
"Please let me extend greetings and honoured intentions directly from the dragon king himself, clan of the mysterious nagas," he shouted calmly over the wind, phrasing his words in much the same way as he'd heard the king do on numerous occasions.
Both nagas' expressions turned serious, their wicked grins disappearing. Flash knew he'd made an impression.
'This diplomacy thing is a doddle,' he mused, hoping that the two snake-like beasts would consider helping him recover the bodies of the missing scientists, which could prove unbelievably difficult if they were all in dragon form. As both beings pressed forward, friendly smiles adorning their scaly faces, Flash breathed a sigh of relief, bending down to retrieve his discarded water bottle for a second time. Distracted for a split second, he had virtually no time to react when both of them spun aro
und simultaneously, their long, scaly tails heading straight towards him at high speed. Pushing himself back against the icy overhang, Flash tried desperately to bring his right wrist round, to unleash the toxic darts in his watch, but knew almost immediately that he was too late. As the pain from the impact rippled through his body, and darkness started to claim him, his last thought was,
'What the hell is going on?'
3 In the Freezer
Not far from where Flash had been captured, at least not far as the crow flies, crude electric lights flickered and spluttered in a vast underground cavern looking, not for the first time, like they were about to plunge the whole place into total and utter darkness. Chained side by side along a vast icy wall were four prisoners, all from very different eras and all, despite appearances, anything but homo sapiens. The first, a human shaped dragon, sat on the wet icy floor, clad only in a dark, all-in-one thermal under suit, shaped much like a pair of wild west long johns, only much more up to date and made from heat insulating material. His hands were manacled to the frozen wall above his head, forcing his arm muscles to stay taut all the time he remained on the floor. His cover was that of a scientist, at least while he roamed amongst the humans of the earth, disguised as one of them. Despite his thermal clothing he was bitterly cold. Ice and moisture on the ground seeped through his suit, attacking his delicate human inspired flesh. Because he was a dragon, he was more susceptible to the cold than any other being on the planet. The biting pain from the ice, moisture and the sub zero temperatures caused him to keep on passing out. Each time he came round, all he would know once again was agony. This is how it had been since he'd been captured and taken there, more than two months before. Occasionally, from a long way away, he caught the odd glimpse of human shapes that seemed to have some sense of authority, but the only person or thing that came anywhere near him was a mean, young human, dressed in clothes and rags that looked to be decades out of date. Arriving every few days, he would kick and beat each of the prisoners until the amusement wore off, before tossing scraps of rotten fish to each of them. Other than that, the prisoners saw no one in the vast, desolate, freezing cold cavern.
Prisoner number two was manacled to the slippery, white, icy wall in much the same way as the first, some twenty feet or so further along. The big difference though, was the fact that this prisoner was a... naga. Although the naga in question looked haggard and filthy, clearly this was anything but an ordinary specimen of their race. Still looking magnificent and regal, despite his captivity, shades of blue flickered in the twinkling light along his entire body, right to the very tip of his tail which was the darkest blue imaginable, standing out abruptly against his icy white confines. Further up, the scales gradually lightened, almost in concentric circles, until the very palest sky blue beset his head and the ever moving gills off to one side. Clearly his captivity had taken its toll, but anyone who observed closely and knew what to look for would have recognised the keen glint in his eyes and would have realised that this was an exceptionally intelligent creature, far from being broken. In fact, this stunning looking being was the single most important in its entire race... he was the king of the nagas and had been imprisoned against his will for decades.
Some sixty feet or so further along the wall, sat the most remarkable sight of all; an ancient dragon lay curled up asleep against the icy mass, as moisture dripped onto its head from a set of stalactites, high up on the vast ceiling. Looking as though it were on its deathbed, all across the dragon's body, scales were missing, hanging off or just ragged around the edges. Holes through the membrane in its wings stood out like windows into another world. Outlines of bones beneath its scales were visible all over. As it slept, its breath wheezed in and out, like some kind of nicotine ridden pensioner, while all the time its entire frame shivered and mumbled incoherently, not at all like the mighty beast it should have been. Littered on the floor around it were signs of the abuse it had suffered over a seriously long period of time: dark claws that had been plucked out, along with shattered, shiny, white tooth fragments, lay frozen for all to see. Worst of all though was the tip of the dragon's tail. The last two feet or so had been hacked off in some dreadful deed, and stood tip down, embedded in the ice, just out of the dragon's reach.
Further along, in the darkest recess, was another human shaped dragon. Naked except for a hole littered, shredded pair of raggedy trousers, shivering against his cold, metal manacles, he squatted in the darkness, occasionally flexing his taut, honed muscles. Long, dirty, scraggy hair flowed halfway down his back, frozen solid in places from the extreme temperatures. His toned body looked like that of a boxer, muscles taut and shiny. A noticeable blue mark that looked like a tree of some sort adorned the left side of his chest, right over where his heart would have been, if he were truly human. Unlike the other human shaped dragon, this one kept his counsel, not having uttered a word in his time here, much to the disappointment of his captors. Horrific torture of every kind had been used against him on a regular basis, but had long since proved fruitless. Much like the other captives, he was abused by the guard who appeared infrequently, delivering scraps of foul food. Currently he was sporting the mother of all black eyes, a broken finger and what felt like two broken ribs. Numerous other minor bruises and cuts littered his body, but despite this, he still flexed the muscles he could, biding his time in the hope of returning to the life he'd once known.
Of the four, the human shaped dragon scientist was by far the most nervous, constantly wailing and crying, begging to be released by his invisible tormentors. Although seemingly resigned to his fate, the naga king was clearly on the lookout for the right opportunity to escape. The dozing dragon just looked like it was just waiting to die, whilst the prisoner in the darkest recesses constantly exercised in silence, as much as his bonds would allow.
Against the backdrop of the scientist's wailing and pleading, and the sleeping dragon's rattling breath, the constant sound of running water from a deep and chilly underground stream, not forty feet away, echoed throughout the cavern. It never stopped. Twenty four hours a day it gurgled and spluttered, tormenting the four captives in an entirely different way to their jailers.
* * *
Somewhere above the freezing dungeon, inside a gloomy cave carved into the side of Law Dome, Flash lay on the cold, rocky floor, hands bound crudely behind his back. A few minutes earlier he'd regained consciousness, but was currently trying to make out that he hadn't, whilst taking in his situation. Blurring his vision, his head rang like a bell, presumably from being hit by the nagas' gigantic tails. Despite being sheltered from the worst of the weather, the cold tore at him in ways that he couldn't previously have imagined. His outer clothing had been taken, leaving him in only the black, thermal base layer that he'd donned earlier on in the day. Also his boots were missing, but his thick socks, despite being damp, still covered his feet. The only thing in his favour so far, was the fact that his watch still clung to his freezing cold wrist, the metal strap burning his aching skin. Unfortunately his attackers had taken his laminium ring and necklace.
So far he'd managed to gain a limited amount of information, lying curled up on the hard floor of the cave. From what he could tell, he was right up against the back wall of the narrow cavern, which in itself looked to be about one hundred and fifty feet long. Through its entrance, he could see a torrent of snow steadily accumulating outside. Between him and it was an ever comforting fire, flickering and crackling as it danced towards the high ceiling, the smoke blanketed the cave, blown ever inwards by the howling gale outside. It was all he could do not to cough violently. Sitting either side of the fire were the gold-coloured naga from earlier, and a human wearing his missing clothes. Having studied the tracks on the ground, he assumed that the latter had to be the purple and blue naga, because the markings in the snow on the cave floor at the entrance showed what looked like a naga trail abruptly turning into a set of footprints. The surrounding snow was a little scuffed up, leading Flash to think t
hat the naga had changed into human form, and slipped on his precious clothing. Carefully, he fiddled with the restraints behind his back, trying hard not to make any noise and alert his captors to the fact that he was awake. Abruptly he stopped, hearing the two of them talking. Try as he might, he couldn't make out what they were saying over the crackling of the fire, and the ringing in his head. Opening his eyes just enough to look through his long eyelashes, he could just see the two of them arguing about something, through the thick, blue tinted smoke of the fire.
Racking his brain for a way to escape, the problems he had were two fold. With his hands restrained behind his back, he had no way of being sure the poison darts from his watch would hit their intended target. On top of that, it didn't seem likely to him that the darts would pierce the nagas' thick scales. They would almost certainly deal with the human shaped naga, but the one in its natural form probably wouldn't be affected at all. Desperately wishing the ringing in his head would stop because it was driving him to distraction, and he needed his wits about him, in case an unexpected opening to escape should present itself.
A tinny laugh bounced around inside of the cave.
"We know you're awake... dragon!"
Knowing it was pointless to pretend any longer, he rolled over, trying unconvincingly to sit up against the back wall of the cave, causing the ringing in his ears to get worse, his brain feeling as though it was being pummelled by a hammer on a hot anvil. Feeling the coolness of the rock on the back of his head, forced him to open his eyes and look at his two captors.
