by Paul Cude
"Ahhhhh welcome back," declared Gee Tee, spotting the king and Peter. "Nice of you to join us. I was just about to restart Flash's cellular structure. I will require the use of the ring, once my apprentice has finished putting all the necessary ingredients together."
Much to Peter's relief, the king chose to ignore the sarcasm and instead, just waved his hand casually and said,
"Carry on," much to the old shopkeeper's annoyance.
'Those two must have been a barrel of laughs when they worked together,' thought Peter. 'Either that, or it must be a getting old kind of thing. Maybe the older you get, the more you want to pick a fight. That would certainly explain the master mantra maker's behaviour.'
Gee Tee hovered over Flash's limp form on the sofa, muttering silently. Yoyo stood behind, keeping a close eye on the Crimson Guard, ready to step in at a moment's notice. The 'crunch, crunch, crunch' from Tank's pestle and mortar bounced off the walls, echoing around the room.
A sudden gasp, followed by a painful moan filled the room as Flash hurtled back to life. Yoyo was at his side in a split second, mopping his fevered brow with a towel and checking on the state of the rapidly deteriorating wound. Gee Tee turned his attention back to Tank.
"That's just about right," he called from over his co-worker's shoulder. "Now pour in all the sea salt."
Tank followed his employer's instructions, feeling as though a great weight had been lifted from him for the first time in almost... ever. 'Perhaps,' he thought, 'I should have stood up to him a long time ago. Things might have been so different.'
Flash continued to wriggle and squirm on the sofa, highlighting the sense of urgency.
Gee Tee looked over in Peter's direction and barked,
"Make yourself useful, youngster, and bring the fish tank over to my app... Tank, will you?"
Glad of something to do rather than just standing and watching, Peter raced over to the far side of the room and grabbed the huge fish tank that contained the clown fish, some coral, the anemone the clownfish lived in, and of course the compulsory open treasure chest on the bottom. Holding it steady, he moved over to Tank and placed it gently down beside him.
Walking over, Gee Tee motioned with his wings for Peter to get out of the way. Everybody in the room, with the exception of Flash, held their breath as the old shopkeeper captured one of the clownfish and quickly pulled it out of the water. Tank sat back from the pestle and mortar, waiting for his employer to weave his magic. Despite his occasional frustration with the master mantra maker, Tank knew there was no one on the planet more skilled with mantras and, as usual, looked on with a mixture of awe and admiration. With a firm grip on the first clownfish, Gee Tee, with a gentler touch than anyone in the room would have imagined, carefully scraped off a tiny amount of the slimy mucus that protects it from the sting of the anemone that the fish lives in, letting it drip directly into the centre of the mortar. Peter had to stifle a laugh on noticing the indignant look that had crossed the face of the little clownfish.
'I bet something that cute has never looked so angry,' he thought, his lips firmly clamped together. Unaware of the clownfish's objection or discomfort, the old shopkeeper thrust the little fish back into the tank and while that one cautiously swam into the anemone, he scooped up the other one and went through exactly the same process. After finishing with the second fish, Peter moved the tank out of the way as both Gee Tee and Tank continued mixing all of the ingredients in the mortar, until a gooey looking brown sludge with the consistency of bogies dangled from the pestle. Gee Tee then ordered everyone to hold Flash face down, exposing the wound on his back. With Peter and the king holding a leg each, Tank putting pressure on his shoulders and Yoyo being responsible for both of Flash's arms, the master mantra maker began to apply the gooey mixture to the injury. At the first contact, an undragon-like scream tore out of Flash's mouth, as he tried desperately to wriggle free from being held down.
"Hold him still!" demanded the shopkeeper, spreading more and more of the concoction on the gaping gash, despite Flash's protests. Once the whole area of the wound was covered, Gee Tee whispered in the king's ear. The king whispered back, so quietly that even with their enhanced senses, no one else in the room could hear what had been said. As the king kept a grip on Flash's leg, the master mantra maker placed his left hand against the edge of the king's magical ring, and then proceeded to mouth something. Pulsing bright blue light burst forth from the stone encased within the ring as it sprang to life, running across Gee Tee's entire body.
Seemingly content, the old shopkeeper leant forward and cautiously ran one of his talons along the middle of Flash's goo covered gash, all the time remaining connected to the ring via his hand. As the others looked on, blue, pulsing magical energy surged into the goo on the wound, eventually filling it up. Flash, by now, was screaming like a baby that had lost its favourite toy. Gee Tee ignored the noise and, closing his eyes, began to recite a long-forgotten mantra from a much more civilised time. Despite having a near perfect memory, Peter couldn't remember the name of the language that the master mantra maker was speaking in, but some of the words were instantly recognisable, "Obliterate," or maybe "raze," was certainly in there, alongside... um... "hazardous," or maybe "treacherous," and the words "genetic material down to the very last micron." Just when he thought it was over and that it had failed to work, Gee Tee screamed a single word at the top of his voice, a word that Peter thought roughly translated as... "UNLEASH!!!!"
With this thought running through his mind, the pulsing blue of the wound exploded out across the room into the brightest light Peter had ever seen, forcing him to close his eyes and momentarily lose his grip on Flash. Moments later his vision started to return and he immediately reached down to regain his hold on the leg. But it was gone. Using both hands, he felt around the end of the sofa... nothing! Blinking furiously, he wiped his eyes, and upon opening them was astonished to see Flash sitting upright in the middle of the sofa, looking... perfectly okay. With the exception of Gee Tee, who'd known what to expect, the others had all clearly been blinded too, and were as surprised as Peter to see Flash looking so well. Yoyo stepped forward and gently slapped Flash on the back in a gesture of goodwill.
"It's good to see you looking so healthy. I haven't lost a patient in many decades, and I'm relieved I can continue with that boast. Well done, well done."
Stepping forward at the same time, Peter and Tank shook hands with Flash before making way for the king.
"Your courage, bravery and sheer refusal to die, continue to astound me Flash... but I'm afraid I will need to quiz you further about what went on in Antarctica," announced the king, a grin etched across his weathered old face.
"Of course, Majesty," replied Flash, nodding.
"But before we do that," declared the king, "I think congratulations are in order. Once again, Shopkeeper, I find myself in your debt."
Unusually, Gee Tee looked less cocky and sure of himself than he had in all the time he'd been in the king's company. He looked... nervous, which was indeed very strange for him. Everybody in the room except Flash had picked up on it now, and all were looking in his direction to see what would happen next.
"Well," stated the master mantra maker, scratching the underside of his jaw uncertainly, "perhaps we'll save the back slapping until we make sure everything is okay."
"What's that supposed to mean?" barked the king, sternly.
"That particular mantra, Majesty, was extremely old, nearly two thousand years in fact. A mantra that old, no matter how well delivered, can have unpredictable side effects, something this mantra had even when new. I would suggest we check Flash over fully before we break open the charcoal."
The king looked livid, and to be honest, Peter really couldn't blame him. There'd been no mention of side effects before the mantra had been applied. It was all a bit rushed, Peter supposed, but still, Gee Tee could at least have said something about it.
Through all of this Flash looked ultra composed, sitting
on the sofa, taking in the vast expanse of the king's living room and everything within it.
The king stood next to Flash as Gee Tee strode over.
"I feel fine, honest," announced the death defying Crimson Guard.
"That remains to be seen, youngster," replied Gee Tee softly. "Can you scroll through your different visions for me?"
"No problem," replied Flash, with the king looking on. "All works fine... as good as new."
Taking a deep breath, it was then that the old shopkeeper asked,
"Can you stand up and transform into your dragon guise... please?"
Tank and Peter swapped glances with each other. The moment Gee Tee used the word 'please,' they both had practically the same thought, which went something along the lines of: 'If he's saying please, then something really bad has happened or is about to.'
Standing up, Flash closed his eyes, drew in a deep breath and... nothing! Immediately his eyes shot open in shock. Composing himself, he tried once again, with exactly the same result.
Gee Tee wrapped one of his flimsy looking wings around the Crimson Guard and whispered,
"I'm really sorry, I truly am. But I had no choice. I knew there was a chance this might happen, but you were at death's door. If I hadn't tried, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."
The king stepped in and looked Gee Tee right in the eyes.
"What's happening?"
"My best guess, and that's what it is, is that the mantra has locked Flash's DNA in place, meaning that he can't revert back to his natural dragon form. And before you ask, I don't know of any way to undo, cure or adjust what has happened. I'm sorry."
Flash plopped back down onto the sofa, with everybody else trying to comprehend what had just happened. Losing the ability to change back into his dragon form was worse than it would have been for a human to lose all of his or her limbs. It was simply unimaginable. Flash, understandably, was crestfallen as he sat with his head in his hands. Against the backdrop of the deafening silence, Yoyo acted first. Squeezing between the king and Gee Tee, he knelt down in front of the Crimson Guard.
"While I understand the frustration shared in this room that the potential side effects should have been made clear from the outset, Gee Tee is right in what he said. You would be dead now if he hadn't acted. How you managed to stave off death for so long is unbelievable in itself, but you were only minutes if not seconds away from losing the battle for life. I know after everything you've been through that you must be devastated, and I can't begin to imagine what you're thinking and feeling. But what I can say is this. In the short time I've known you, only a matter of hours, I've discovered what sort of dragon you are."
Flash looked up from the floor, anger flooding his face as he stared into Yoyo's eyes. Yoyo continued.
"And yes, you are still a dragon, no matter what you think. Your DNA maybe locked into place, but that DNA is dragon, not human. You may sit here looking like a human, but you have the heart and soul of a dragon, a brave, fearless, inventive, warrior dragon... one that I will always be happy to call... my friend, no matter what anyone else may say or do."
With that, Yoyo offered out his hand to Flash and waited to see if he would take it. The anger on Flash's face softened, with just a glint of a tear in his right eye as he reached out and shook Yoyo's hand. Peter and Tank came over and offered out their hands to the stricken dragon, telling him much the same thing Yoyo had. Flash's demeanour had changed dramatically over the last few minutes, thanks to the support of his new found friends. It was all a bit different to what he was used to. In the Crimson Guards, you all worked together, sometimes as a team, more often than not as individuals, but you never really counted on any of the others as anything more than colleagues, and certainly not as friends.
'It's been a long time since I've had a friend,' thought Flash, 'and just like buses or nagas, a whole host have arrived at once.'
Gee Tee was next, telling Flash that if there was anything he ever needed in the mantra department, he only had to ask or pop into the shop. Flash responded by thanking the old shopkeeper for everything he'd done, and that on consideration, he would rather be alive in human form, than dead. Everybody could see how relieved the old shopkeeper was to hear this.
Finally the king approached, looking more than a little uncomfortable.
"Before I ask for your full report on what happened in Antarctica, there are a few things I must say, even though it pains me to do so. I'm afraid it will be simply impossible for you to continue in the Crimson Guards, much as I appreciate all you have done. You and I both know that you could never do THAT job without the ability to take your natural form."
Flash nodded sadly, understanding that the king was right in everything he said.
"That doesn't mean you can just slope off and hide away though. I've got a very specific job in mind for you, something that in many ways will allow you to serve in a much more personal way than you have before."
Flash sat up straight on the sofa, his interest piqued by what the king had just said.
"Anyway," continued the king, "that can wait until it's just the two of us. But I do think it's best that you leave the barracks you're stationed at as quickly as possible. The fewer dragons that know about what has transpired, the better. And I bet you can guess what I'm going to say next," said the king.
They all could. Unsurprisingly, the king asked that everything they'd seen and heard throughout the course of the day's events be treated as top secret and not mentioned to anyone, no matter how trustworthy they seemed. They all agreed without a fuss, even Gee Tee, much to the king's surprise, who thought he might have had to threaten the shopkeeper in some manner. But the old dragon seemed to have been humbled somewhat by the debilitating side effect of Flash's cure.
"Shortly Flash, when our visitors have gone, I'm going to ask you to give me an intricate account of your time in Antarctica, but before that happens I would like to know a little more about one of the prisoners, specifically the dragon that helped you escape. I'd like you to think carefully about what you're telling me. It's important, of course, but it may well have some relevance to those here as well."
Letting out a deep breath and scouring his eidetic memory, Flash recounted everything he could about his brief time in the frozen prison. Yoyo, Peter, Tank and Gee Tee had all taken to sitting in the comfortable chairs which littered the room, while the king hadn't stopped pacing. Once Flash had finished describing that part of his mission, the king continued pacing for a time, until he stopped, deep in thought.
"I want you to think very carefully about the answer to the question I'm about to ask you," said the king, looking serious. "The dragon who helped you escape, can you describe in detail the markings on his chest?"
Peter thought this was a really odd question to ask. Flash, having thought about the question for some time, had come up with his answer.
"Majesty, there were some marks on the left hand side of his chest, about level with where his ribs would be."
"Describe them in detail to me," demanded the king, still pacing.
Closing his eyes, Flash concentrated.
"They were dark blue, almost like the kind of birthmark you occasionally see a human carrying. If I had to say they looked like anything, then it would be like a tree with long, spindly branches. Some kind of willow or something I suppose."
Out of nowhere, the king let out a thunderous roar, while at the same time, smashing into a thousand pieces a huge ancient vase that had been sitting on a table near to where he'd been pacing. As well as being startled, everyone else in the room was stunned at the abrupt outburst. Remaining shrouded in silence, with everybody too afraid to speak, the king continued to pace around, anger coiled up inside him, his face flushed. After many minutes of steam pouring off him, he finally spoke, not to Flash, as everyone would have thought, but to Peter of all dragons.
"The dragon in the prison... I know him. And so should you... it's your grandfather."
&nb
sp; "Oh my God," was all that Peter could think to say.
Flash broke the shock, awe and silence with a question.
"Hang on a minute, that dragon... he's... he's not the one who founded the Crimson Guards, is he?"
The king turned and nodded a great big 'yes' to Flash.
"But he's supposed to have died long ago, on a mission."
"Yes, I thought so too, but he's clearly still alive," spat the king angrily.
The stunned room remained quiet and still for nearly a minute before Peter spoke up.
"We have to rescue him," he ventured, approaching the king. "Now, this instant! You can send the King's Guard. They'll have him back in no time."
Watching Peter carefully, taking in everything he'd said, the king's measured reply wasn't quite what the young dragon had hoped for.
"I only wish it were that simple Peter. Unfortunately it isn't."
Peter's jaw dropped open ridiculously wide, but before he had a chance to say anything, the king continued.
"Much as it may seem to everyone here that I hold the balance of power, not only in the dragon council, but throughout the whole of the dragon domain as well, it simply isn't true. There was a time, long ago, when that was the case and the king's word was practically law, but I'm afraid not now. When I first joined the council all those centuries ago, it was noticeable then just how much power the king wielded, and over time I've seen it diminish beyond belief, mainly due to political wheeling and dealing from the councillors themselves, and some of the very laws and policies they have passed over the course of many, many years. When I agreed to become king, I had no illusions about how little power I would have at my disposal, but I thought if I used it only when necessary, and proved to be honest, trustworthy and capable of making the right decisions for the dragon population of the world as a whole, most of the councillors would support me in just about everything.
Alas, that is far from the case. Some of the things that go on in the council chamber make the humans look positively naive and honest in their political dealings. Gathering a force to storm the prison and free the captives is now well beyond the political leverage and power that I wield. If there was any way in which I thought I could raise the dragon power required, I would do it in a heartbeat, even if I had to stand down as king to make it happen. But I don't see any way in which I can. Everything that Flash has told me I can take to the council in an effort to try and persuade them of the need to rescue the prisoners, but in my heart of hearts I already know what they're going to say... NO! Oh they'll dress it up, maybe even agree to form a subcommittee to look at all the options, which will probably take months. But the long and short of it is, the answer will still be... NO! They'll say it's too costly and requires too many resources that just can't be spared at the moment, particularly as the nagas look like they pose a very serious threat, not just to the dragon domain, but to the human world above. They'll also say that anyone with any sense would have long since moved the prisoners, so it will almost certainly be a waste of time, something I would tend to agree with."
