Bentwhistle the Dragon Box

by Paul Cude

  'It has been so long since I last used it,' she could hear him think to himself, forgetting about the physical link to his wife.

  'Are you afraid you won't remember how to?' she questioned.

  'It's not that. It's just that I thought this was all behind us. The running, fighting, the taking lives. All I wanted was for us to be left alone.'

  Remaining quiet, she abruptly tugged him to a halt. Crouched motionless on a sandy path, masked on either side by tall, wavy grass, some five or so yards above the beach, tears streamed from their eyes as the wind howled viciously around them. With their combined power, their senses extended further, with their physical connection acting as a conduit now, channelling each of their abilities together, making them stronger than the sum of their parts. The five (surprise ran through them at that discovery) dragons were starting to ascend the slope towards their position. With one ancient word, channelled magic cloaked their heat signature, making them all but invisible to their opponents. Before they both rolled to different sides of the path into the long grass, their last words through their physical bridge were to divide up exactly how they were going to launch their attack. Conjuring up her familiar as she hid amongst the long grass, a huge thick serpent with two mighty heads, looking like any dragon's worst nightmare flickered into life. She watched as it slithered off into the darkness, waiting to do her bidding.

  Padding along stealthily, the dragon elite ignored the blustery gale they found themselves caught up in, despite the shivers it sent splintering through their false human forms. One had dropped to the back of the group, bringing up the rear. Unable to see how just two of them could possibly outflank them, his briefing had stressed how dangerous these two were, and he was determined not to take any unnecessary risks. Cresting the rise, he could just make out the cottage in the distance, showing up as a dark, cold oblong over the shoulders of his troops in front of him. And then without warning, it happened! At first, he thought they'd been struck by lightning because that was the sound that accompanied the blistering surge of magic that had landed amongst them. But he was a professional and trained by the best, and so his survival instincts kicked in instantly, despite the terrible pain behind his eyes from the almost blinding assault. Switching his vision back to normal, an array of attacking mantras from which to choose leapt to the front of his brain as he rolled up onto his feet, after having dived for cover off to one side of the well travelled path.

  Others in his group hadn't fared so well. Three, the dragon in front, had taken a huge hit to his back, from the force of whatever had exploded amongst them, falling flat on his face, ears ringing, pain surging down his legs and up his neck. Spitting out the mouthful of sand he'd taken in, his powerful arms pushed himself up, only to be greeted by a dark shadow with a menacing smile standing out in the electrically charged air. Giving everything he had, his reactions were out of this world, but they simply weren't good enough. The shadow (he could just make out it was a woman now) let crackling bolts of bright blue, zigzagging lightning rip from her fingertips. On contact with his body the lightning surged across his skin, burning, flaying and destroying. Like nothing the well trained dragon had ever experienced, the pain was off the scale. In the blink of an eye, he was dead.

  In but a few seconds, Earth had unleashed her power to considerable effect. To her, it was rapture. The feeling was like nothing else. Here and now, she had many beings' lives quite literally in her hands. The power which accompanied that feeling was a rush like no other. Determined to make them pay, she sought out her next victim.

  At exactly the same time, Earth's partner in crime had been dealing with Two, who'd been thrown off the path by the force of the explosion, straight into his onrushing enemy. All Two really needed was a split second to get his thoughts together, but his opponent had other ideas. A swift kick to his right knee sent the Crimson Guard flying to the ground, a substantial CRACK the reward for such a well executed attack. Pushing the pain away, the guard tried to focus, but the dark shadow of Earth's husband was on him in an instant. First, a swift, sharp blow to the nose with the side of his hand. Thick red blood spurted everywhere as the guard started to choke. Reaching behind him to the side pocket of the backpack he wore, Earth's husband whipped out a deadly blade that had been secreted there, and plunged it with all his might into his opponent's heart.

  With two of the group dead in only a matter of a few seconds, the odds on the survival of the rest had shortened considerably, despite their leader being back on his feet and ready to join the melee. Four and Five were now both back in the game, with Four looking in desperate need of hospital treatment. Blood flowed freely from a hole in his left thigh, while a massive gash over his right eye left a huge, bloodied sheet of skin flapping about in the frozen wind. Nevertheless, he remained upright, determined to play his part.

  The three Crimson Guards approached the two rogue dragons head on in the darkness, on the narrow sandy path. With a vicious snarl on her face and the pent up anger and frustration of having been on the run for years, Earth forced her magic to produce a humungous ball of electricity which she carried in both hands. Blue and purple lightning coursed from the inside to the outer shell, making it look like a child's giant plasma ball. But this one was deadly and her opponents realised it, all simultaneously taking a step back. Bringing her hands round to one side, she thrust the ball in the direction of the three stunned dragons, who immediately all dived for cover, each missing the fatal ball by the merest fraction. With the ball having disappeared over the edge of the rise, One and Five jumped to their feet to once again confront their attackers. Four remained motionless, face down in the long grass. Without a moment to lose, One released an onslaught of bright green filaments in the direction of the husband and wife team. Earth cartwheeled off to the right, but her husband wasn't so lucky, being caught by two of the writhing green tentacles, one piercing his upper right arm, the other holing his stomach. Earth screamed in rage as her husband doubled over in agony. Five, in the meantime, had snuck off to the right, into the grass and, under cover of darkness, launched a blistering attack of poisoned bees at the still raging Earth, assuming that her all consuming anger had given him the distraction and opening that he needed. But as soon as the toxic bees got to within striking range, they sizzled and burnt, crumbled and fried from the invisible shield that the deranged woman in front of them had managed to erect around herself. Still trying to figure out how the hell she'd got a shield up so quickly, Five didn't see the movement in the grass behind him until it was much too late. From out of nowhere the two headed serpent with a body the thickness of the largest human thigh, slithered in behind the distracted dragon, biting both his legs in quick succession before starting to wrap itself around his lower left leg. Five howled in agony as the shiny dark serpent twisted up his torso.

  One kept up his onslaught on the male protagonist, determined to even the odds in his favour. With no time to contact the other groups, he knew they must have realised something was wrong by now and be on their way here. All he had to do was buy himself enough time and the odds would become overwhelmingly in his favour. And there would be hell to pay.

  Both the inland groups had contacted each other as soon as it became apparent that their leader couldn't be reached. A hasty decision was made to reach their leader's group with all speed. So ten dark shapes now rushed as fast as they could towards the last known position of their colleagues, all thoughts of stealth forgotten. Speed, each of them knew, was the key.

  Earth couldn't bear to hear her husband in so much pain. It turned her blood to fire, stoking her rage even more, if that were at all possible. With her serpent peppering the stricken dragon in the long grass with ever more poison, she darted left towards her husband, taking a flying leap, landing directly in front of him. Diverting all her magic towards her shield, she extended it out, cutting off the flying tendrils of bright green, dangerous magic. Exhausted, her husband slumped to the ground. Knowing that time was of the essence, she tur
ned to face a very confident dragon, one she assumed must be their leader.

  'Not for much longer,' she thought to herself.

  "You will desist and come..." he said, before his voice trailed off.

  Desperately, he clutched at his throat, scrabbling at it with his gloved black hands, but the invisible force around it could not be wrestled away.

  "I'd give you a message for your precious dragon council," screamed Earth, "but on reflection, I think your broken bodies might do the trick just as well. What do you think? Cat got your tongue?"

  One fought with everything he had, drew on every last resource of magic within him, trying to launch a counterattack, but the oxygen had been forced out of him and his vision was fading fast. In his mind he tried to lash out and unleash a deadly telepathic assault, but he just didn't have the strength.

  Turning to her husband, while still choking the life from the dragon force's leader, she urged him to get to his feet and run.

  "But I can't leave you here to face such numbers," he babbled.

  "GO!" she ordered. "I'll be right behind you, after I've cooked up a little surprise for them."

  Seeing little use in arguing, hunched over, he trotted past the upright, blue in the face body of One and headed north, not towards the beach, but the cliff side path. It would be harder work for him but there was more cover, and it would be more difficult for anyone to track him, especially compared with the sandy beach.

  One's limp body fell to the ground with a THUMP. Earth revelled in the sick satisfaction of knowing just how much he'd suffered in his last moments. In her mind, she'd planned to conjure up some bombs and booby trap the dragon bodies, knowing full well the other groups would want to recover them. But she'd underestimated them. They were here, almost upon her, and she didn't have nearly enough time to execute her terrible plan. Glancing over her shoulder, she just managed to make out her husband staggering up the rise of the cliff top path, hundreds of yards in the distance. Spinning round, she took in her attackers, sprinting across the undergrowth, any hint of subtlety long gone. Fuelled by rage, she called forth everything she had, lighting up the scenery around her like a bonfire night celebration. Hoping to draw all ten of them to her, giving her husband half a chance to escape, the Crimson Guard were more disciplined than that. Six of them headed her way, while four sprinted off after him. Silently she cursed, but there was little she could do to help him at the moment; she just hoped he could hold on until she could reach him.

  They came at her all at once, no holds barred. Streaks of blue tinged flame rocketed out from one dragon, brilliant bright purple bolts of crackling energy ignited the air from another. One of the six had conjured up a golden lattice of pure energy, which hovered steadily in the air, all the time moving towards the, by now, raging mad Earth. This all happened in the blink of an eye, as the other three of the six designated to take Earth out, closed in for some hand to hand combat, determined to take her alive and present her to the dragon council.

  So many thoughts whizzed through her mind, primarily, how the hell she could catch up with, and save, the love of her life. Instinct and common sense fought off the battle lust that she felt, telling her she had to deal with the six in front of her, and fast. By the look of things, they were all professional and experienced. This was going to be no easy task. Searching her mind for something, anything, that might get her out of this hole, her search didn't include anything dragon related. There seemed little point. Clearly her attackers would be able to defend themselves against anything they already knew about, so it had to be something different, something that the nagas had taught her in all the time she'd spent with them.

  Off to one side, the Crimson Guard stood still, his eyes closed, concentrating with all his might on the golden net hovering in the air, getting ever closer to his target's position, totally unaware of the tiniest of movements in the long grass beside him. That is until a bite, causing him the most unbelievable amount of pain, made him lose focus and drop to the ground. The sizzling golden trap disintegrated into nothingness, with the overwhelming odds having just turned a little in favour of the rogue dragons.

  Earth's husband pulled up, dropping to his knees as he did so, wanting to vomit, but fighting against the urge. Instead, he coughed violently, globules of blood spewing out across the stony path that he found himself on. Knowing they were behind him, he was conscious that he had only moments to act. Before now, he'd never been afraid of dying. Many situations across the years had seen him close to death. In each and every one of those, he'd always faced his destiny with the typical arrogance that was probably a trademark of his old self. But over the years, he'd changed. Whether it was him, or because of her, or just the fact that they were together, he didn't know. But that arrogance was long gone, replaced with love, and regret. He didn't want to lose her; he didn't want to die. For the very first time he was afraid, not only for him, but for her as well. Staggering to his feet, all the while clutching his belly wound, he moved as quickly as he could into the breeze, the salty sea air a constant reminder of what he'd just lost.

  Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed her serpent taking down another of the hopeless dragons. A twisted smile writhed across her face. Not just because of what she'd just seen, but because she had it. The answer. And now she intended to use it. With the streaks of fire and purple bolts being deflected harmlessly away by her cleverly designed personal shield, she lowered her head to face the attackers who were almost upon her, twisting her finger in a very intricate fashion, putting all her rage, willpower and temper behind but one thought. BOOM! A solid ring of sound erupted out from her. All the Crimson Guards were thrown back, with the closest one smashing his head on a huge chunk of rock jutting up out of the path. The other two charging dragons had fared little better. One twisted his ankle, while the other was out cold, both of his arms twisted in unnatural positions where he lay. Both the Crimson Guard's who'd been casting spells stumbled to their feet, blood streaming from their ears and noses. All around, the 'thud', 'thud', 'thud', of birds dropping to the ground, dead, could be heard. In the sea, fish floated to the surface in nearly a half mile radius, while crabs stayed buried beneath the sand, never to move again. Earth strolled purposefully forward, heading straight for the two spell casters, stopping briefly on the way to break the neck of the unconscious dragon, which she accomplished with the ease of a trained professional. It clearly wasn't her first time.

  Ignoring the pain they were in, the two Crimson Guards concentrated on channelling their power. But it was too little, too late. Earth was upon them, gouging the first one's eyes out in an instant, his howling screams carried off into the distance by the squally gusts. The second one, despite the severity of his injuries, lunged forward, swivelled and kicked Earth's feet from under her. Falling brutally to the ground, the wind having been knocked out of her, for a moment she was completely at his mercy. Knowing this was his chance and despite decades of training, his anger tore through him, controlling his every action. Leaping upon her, he rained down a torrent of punches into her face and chest, watching as her cheeks erupted in a shower of blood and bone. She tried to mutter some words, but they only came out as a gurgle of blood. With all consuming rage defining his actions, he'd decided what needed to be done.

  'To hell with the council and their judgement,' he thought, still hammering blows into the seemingly helpless Earth. 'She deserves to die,' he decided. And so calling forth every last ounce of power within him, he let rip. Purple bolts surged out of him, so lightning fast they looked like one long continuous stream. Her beaten body started to convulse and writhe with the pain, making him look like some demonic rodeo rider on the cold, dark, evil winter's night. Thoughts of justice and righteousness consumed the guard, knowing that for once he'd become judge, council and the king all at once. It was then that two huge mouths slithered up from nowhere and clamped themselves around his head, causing him to scream out in pain, all thoughts of his previous target forgotten. Rolling of
f Earth, hoping to shrug off the giant beast, he'd not counted on its teeth having firmly dug into his skull. He tried to get to his feet, but as he got to his knees, powerful muscles wrapped themselves around both his legs, squeezing as hard as they could. Tumbling onto the hard ground, all the time rolling, both his hands searched in the darkness for the beast's eyes, hoping to jab a finger or two into them. But it was no good, he couldn't find them and the pain was stopping him thinking. By now the evil looking snake had wrapped its entire twenty yard body around the guard, literally crushing the life out of him. As his vision went dark for the final time, and he expelled his last breath, he smiled, knowing that at least that witch of a rogue dragon would never harm anyone ever again.

  A sharp, metallic tang filled her throat and lungs. For all intents and purposes she'd died. But the single thought within her hadn't been told about that. All it cared about was him. And it knew that to keep him safe, this broken and battered body it was concealed in had to get up, get going, and fight. The thought urged the body to roll over and expel its contents. It did. Whacking great mouthfuls of blood were coughed up onto the sand beside it. Casting aside the pain it felt, Earth's body lurched to its feet and, avoiding the mass of dead bodies surrounding it, started to jog in the direction she'd last seen her husband.

  'He has to be alright, he just has to,' she thought, over and over again as she followed in his footsteps.

  Having never had his wife's skills with familiars, they were, for him, out of the question. But that didn't mean he needed to concede defeat. Resting behind a craggy rock on the cliff's edge, needing to catch his breath and focus his thoughts, the cold wind whipped at his face, keeping unconsciousness at bay. All his eyes wanted to do were close and stay that way. But as with his wife, one singular thought pushed him on. HER. He needed to fight and stay strong for her. They would be together again, he was sure of it. It was meant to be. Over the harsh screaming of the wind, his enhanced senses could just make out noises... no, words. With a great effort he lifted his head up against the rock he had his back to, all the time panting heavily, aware of the precarious drop to his left. The cliff path had mainly headed up, and the rock that he was sitting behind lay at its highest point, some hundred yards above the beach, somewhere below him in the darkness. With a fall like that, he'd definitely be done for, and there would be no time to revert back to his dragon form, even if he had the energy to do so, which of course he didn't. Weary and mindful of his enemies approaching, he grabbed a handful of large stones from the ground around him. Ignoring the blood seeping from his stomach wound, he channelled his magic into the stones. One by one, they turned the darkest shade of black known to man. Holding tightly onto what had now become something of an arsenal, he reached out behind him, searching for his ever elusive pursuers.