Bentwhistle the Dragon Box

by Paul Cude

  A row of dominos would be a fitting description... DNA dominoes. And all the naga king's magic had to do was knock down the first one. It did, and with impunity, they all began to topple.

  That first split second back was the worst. It always felt as though your mind had been forcibly pulled through a hole half its size. It was nauseating at the best of times. Today was not one of those. Heaving his heavy head up and away from Flash's, Vasuki rose to his full height before turning to face the threat that his body had been screaming out for him not to ignore. By the looks of things though, that was far too late.

  Rolling brilliant, bright emerald green balls of magic around in both his hands, Manson arrogantly stood only a short way off, amused to see the king of the nagas suddenly realise the trouble he was in.

  'This will be fun,' he thought to nobody but himself.

  Like any good domino construction, the lines turned this way and that, splitting into two, and then two again, before twisting off in totally the opposite direction. As each came crashing down, nothing known to either man or dragon could prevent this unstoppable force from reaching its inevitable conclusion.

  Something in him changed instantly, forcing the pain to disappear, flooding his essence with hope. Immediately he dived out of the ball he'd been in, smashing to the ground, metaphorically speaking. With the relentless force still exerting itself on him and pushing him ever closer to the fateful drop off the edge, his will reasserted itself. Powered by the new found hope, he staggered to his feet and began walking in the opposite direction. It was like striding into a hurricane, but slowly, inch by inch, he made progress in the opposite direction.

  Never before in the history of the universe had Death been so caught off guard or surprised. When he finally came to terms with what had just happened, and the fact that he wouldn't be needed right here today, like the fickle entity that he was, he just shrugged it off and moved on to the next one. There were plenty of others close by that required his services.

  "Mourning your friend there?" mocked Manson, the magic in his hands ready to be used at the first sign of trouble.

  Vasuki chose not to answer. What would be the point? Caught off guard, knowing full well he was unable to bring forth any kind of defence in time, the serpent-like king rose up regally to meet his fate head on, hoping against hope that his magic had made the difference.

  "Your brief glimpse of freedom was short lived. What's it like to suddenly have hope after all that time, and then find it pulled out from under you? Must be disappointing to say the least? Naga got your tongue? Ha ha ha."

  'Coooommmme onnnnn, coooooommmme onnnn, coooommmme onnnnn,' thought Vasuki. 'Ssssurrrrelllllyyy iiit mmmusssst hhhhavvvve wwwwooorkkkkeddd byyyy nnnnowwww.'

  Only a few branches of the DNA domino tree left to fall now, and if anyone had been looking at the smoking, corpse-like body of Flash, they'd have spotted wisps of crackling purple energy sparking over his skin. Vasuki had his back to the ex-Crimson Guard's remains, obscuring Manson's view totally, whilst everybody else in the chamber had more pressing matters on their minds.

  Wondering what was going on behind him, not daring to look round despite every atom in his body desperate to do so, the naga king's experience told him one thing and one thing only. Buy some more time! And so against his better judgement, he tried to do just that.

  "Whhhyyy dooooo yoouuu dooo aaalll oofff thisssss?" he hissed. "Suuurely theeere isssss noooo neeeeeed."

  "HO HO HO," replied Manson, anything but Father Christmas. "There's every need. It's my destiny to rule the planet, just like it was my father's. He might have failed, but fate wills me on to succeed. Benevolent beings like you are weak and have had your time. A new era is about to be ushered in, one that you were never going to be part of. Thankfully, due in no small part to your race, the world will belong to my Queen and I. And once it does, your race will be wiped from the face of the earth. How's that for ironic?"

  Fighting off a rising tide of fury, Vasuki wrapped himself in the diplomatic persona he hadn't used for decades.

  "You're aaa smmaaart, creedible drraaaagoon. Yoou caan't poossssibly waant toooo hurrrt aaallll oooof theesssse beingssss. There muusssst beeee sooome kiiind ooof cooomprooomisssse weeee caaaan reach?"

  "COMPROMISE?!" shouted Manson, infuriated. "Do you know how many dragons I've killed? Thousands, if not tens of thousands, and that doesn't include their precious pets on the surface. You can probably add hundreds of thousands of those to the tally. Do you really think those in the dragon domain will be happy to do a deal with me? I DON'T THINK SO!"

  "Hoow caaann yooou knooow without trrrrying?"

  "Hmmmm..." murmured Manson. "What are you really up to? I don't believe for a second you think an agreement is possible. Buying some time in the hope of a rescue, are we?"

  Hopes dashed, with his feeble ploy all but revealed, the naga king was out of time and at the mercy of a being who had no concept of the word.

  With the tiniest 'tap' in the world, the last one fell into place, ending the cascade and launching the mother of all chain reactions. Locked and loaded, the torrent of magic within writhed and wriggled before finding the right path and once that happened the change was electrifying and much, much quicker than it should have been. Instantaneously, the being that had been on the verge of death was all but reborn, back to his prehistoric best thanks to the repairs made by Fredric to his damaged DNA, back in Antarctica, but with one crucial difference. Before the naga attack at the bottom of the world, the one that had almost proved deadly, the one that Gee Tee had saved his life from at the cost of his dragon form, his natural shape had been nothing too special. Not huge, not small, somewhere in between. Of course his training had made up for any shortcomings in his stature, as had his quick and lithe mind. But here and now, something was different. The feeling of the change was the same, his mind recognised that instantly. But something about the volume of it all felt odd. The reason would soon become apparent.

  About to decimate the being in front of him, that he thought of as substandard, with the powerful magic he juggled in both hands, shock and fright forced him to take two steps back as a mighty primeval dragon sprang into being out of nowhere behind the naga king, its prodigious gaze focused solely on him. The tables had been well and truly turned on Manson and, for a change, not only did he feel out of control, but terror and fear ran riot throughout his monstrous, human shaped body.

  Magnificent did not do him justice. Much, much bigger than his previous prehistoric incarnation, his new outer shell felt as though he'd just slipped into a tight fitting pair of gloves. Shiny, bright silver scales inundated his upper body, trailing off into gun metal grey around his head, the underside of his wings and down across his sternum. Nordic sky blue accentuated a whole host of features, running along the inside and outside of the wing phalanges, down his tail along the whole neural spine, culminating in the entire caudal spade at the end of his appendage. The same colour outlined his entire cranium. Quite literally, he was a dragon to die for.

  Euphoric at being back in the form that he'd entered this world in and being saved from death by the skin of his teeth, Flash, all dragoned up, let out an almighty "ROAR" in the direction of the evil Manson, causing the twisted mastermind to drop the powerful magic he'd been playing with and roll out of the way. In that instant Vasuki recognised his chance and so, slithering out from in front of the newly formed beast of a dragon, he brought his unusual naga magic to bear, creating a defensive shield of frost around his entire snake-like body, as well as readying a wicked looking, shimmering, spear of ice to go on the attack with.

  Stomping forward, causing the ground to shake and the marble to break, Flash stretched out his new born wings, scything them through the air, twisting them this way and that, delighted to feel the wind tickling either side of them. It felt so good to experience this again, he thought, especially since it looked for some time like he'd never do so. Pushing his feelings to one side, the logical, literal, agent pa
rt of him took control, knowing the trouble they were all in, determined to end things once and for all. And he knew exactly how. If he could kill Manson here and now, things would end, of that he was sure. The dragon world would go back to what it had been before. Simple really, at least that's what he told himself. Without hesitation, knowing exactly what had to be done, he... ATTACKED!

  Fizzling out into a puddle of green, Manson watched the supernatural, abnormal dragon magic he'd just dropped, disappear. Of course there was more to come. Unfortunately, he'd expended a great deal of mana in conjuring up that particular spell, hoping to provide a spectacular death for the king of the nagas, something every member of his race that was here could witness. But it wasn't to be, well... not just yet. As far as he was concerned, they'd only delayed the inevitable. With that in mind, he turned to face the more immediate danger, the immense silver dragon that had sprung up from the body that blessed naga had been hunched over. So that was their plan, that's what he'd been up to all along. Cursing any kind of anomaly, he let the magic within him rise to the surface and, in his mind, conjured up a whole host of evil. Get ready!

  Against insurmountable odds, George the dragon king, Amelia Battlehard and the small group of defenders they found themselves aligned with were valiantly holding off all comers, to some degree, quite pleased with themselves at not having lost a single member of their tight knit band since the monarch had joined. Unfortunately, chaos continued to reign, getting continually worse with every second that passed, so much so that it was all but impossible for any of them to see out beyond their assailants. As yet more dark dragons dropped from the air, wielding their huge, shadowy, bastard swords, and nightmarish nagas slithered in to back them up, a sea of scaly bodies ten deep surrounded the circle of light sided dragons on the ground, as a dozen dragons pounded away at the king and his courageous charges from the air. Things were as grim and hopeless as George had ever known in the many centuries he'd been alive. As despair suffocated faith and hope, sensing victory closing in all around them, the dark force mounted one last sustained push.

  "Let them in," she'd been told. She didn't like it; it wasn't natural. It went against everything she believed in, especially in the situation she currently found herself in. Sharing your mind with other beings was just... WRONG! Despite vehemently opposing this part of the plan, and against her better judgement, slowly Richie Rump lowered her mental defences, readying them to spring back up at a moment's notice. Any doubts she'd had though, were assuaged after a few seconds. It was an odd feeling, like being in a room with all the others, hearing their beating hearts, feeling their breath, sensing their agitation and suspicion.

  'It's going to fail, it's going to fail,' was all she could think, ready to reinforce her barriers and cut off the connection. And then a calm, soothing, confident persona materialised, immediately setting all the others at ease, washing away any concerns and worries that they had. YOYO had that effect on most beings he came into contact with, none more so than this ragtag, eclectic bunch of misfits. They trusted him entirely and up until now he'd never led them astray, only ever having put his faith in each and every one of them. For him, there were two battles going on... the physical one out there, with magic ravaging and raging, the two forces using everything in their arsenals in an effort to defeat each other, and the internal battle threatening to consume the mild mannered healer. He'd promised to protect them, promised them they'd have a life, a future... everything a normal dragon had. But here and now that promise looked hollow, emptier than a politician's pledge. If he could go back, would he have gotten them involved? He wasn't sure, which in itself was a terrible thing for him to think. Without them, Flash would have attempted his rescue alone, and that would have led to disaster and almost certainly a bloody death for the ex-Crimson Guard, the naga king and, of course, for Peter's grandfather, Fredric. Effortlessly pushing his doubts to one side so as not to disturb the fragile meeting of minds deep inside Richie's consciousness, Yoyo vowed to do everything in his power to keep his young charges safe, even if it meant giving his own life.

  "Let them feel the power from the dagger and the necklace flowing through you," asserted Yoyo, "give them just a tiny taste, just to get used to it."

  Finding things almost too bizarre even for her, and given everything she'd been through in the last few days that was saying quite something, rather unwillingly, she drew them in and let them feel the magic flowing through her, that currently held the shield keeping them all safe, firmly in place.

  The first youngster exhaled sharply, so enraptured was she at the touch of so much power. The next one, startled, gave a yelp, and then the next and the next. Before long, they'd all experienced it, all got an idea of what they were dealing with, each of them wondering what should happen next.

  "You know what we need to do," announced Yoyo, the sound of his voice booming around deep within the lacrosse playing dragon's head. "It's up to you to implement the plan, but bear one thing in mind... time is of the essence."

  Silence ensued, filling Richie with a disturbing sense of dread. Before she could act on it, the voice of one of the young female dragons very meekly resounded across whatever space it was they were all sharing.

  "A division of labour is what we need if we're to expand the shield so that it's protecting us on all four sides, and rolling along at the same time. We should designate very specific roles to pairs of dragons, taking some of the burden off Richie, who we still need to power it through the necklace and the dagger."

  'Oh, I like her,' thought Richie, stopping abruptly in case all the others could hear her. Luckily they couldn't.

  The youngster continued.

  "One pair can be responsible for maintaining the shape and integrity of the shield, making sure it's in contact with the surface at all times. Another can help with the movement, no small feat in itself. Some of the quantum mantras we've studied should help with that. Combine your brainpower and that should be a relatively straightforward task. One pair can be responsible for keeping our leader here cool, siphoning off the heat build up from the magic and applying any healing needed."

  She sounded so authoritative that Richie didn't have the heart to tell her that Peter had been doing just that.

  "One pair can be responsible for any debris, rubble and bodies we travel over, making sure that nothing untoward gets underneath and inside with us. If it does, I don't need to tell you the consequences. If it still has its head, make sure that it's dead!"

  Slight chuckling reverberated everywhere at this.

  "As for the rest, make sure everyone in here is safe, that their physical bodies are all keeping up with the shield's movement and if any of the pairs have a problem, assist them straight away. Keep your eyes open for anything unforeseen. I'd like to tell you what, but clearly I'm unable to. I'd like to leave Yoyo in reserve, and use his wealth of experience to provide an overview and tell us what we're doing wrong, or even right. How does that all sound?"

  Richie was the first to pipe up.

  "Brilliant!" she announced, causing the young female dragon's consciousness to blush, if such a thing were even possible.

  With an ethereal nod of his head, Yoyo confirmed that he thought it was a sound plan, and so without further ado the youngsters paired themselves off and divided up the tasks, quickly and efficiently.

  Richie realised that any doubts she'd previously suffered from had been well and truly sunk. These guys and gals were good, she thought... really, really good.

  47 Into the Hornets' Nest

  Ominously, they reached what would have been a gigantic entrance had a huge stone disc some fifty feet across not sat in the way. On the plus side, at least there were no guards this time; on the down side, they had no idea how to negotiate the hastily erected barrier.

  Wondering about any secretive recording devices as mentioned by Steel a little earlier, Jar Man tried to appear as though he knew exactly what he was doing. Leaving the prisoner in DomCon's capable hands, the stra
wberry blonde dragon wandered straight up to the humungous granite disc and, without hesitation, placed his hand directly on it. Nothing! Taking two steps back, he proceeded to look it over, top to bottom. Miniature symbols that he didn't recognise had been carved around its circumference. Silently, he hoped to hell magic wasn't involved otherwise they'd never get past it, and would end up trapped in this gaping corridor. Eventually somebody would notice they'd never reached their destination and would trigger the alarm, and the element of surprise would be over. Stepping forward again, he ran one of his unfamiliar fingers across a couple of the symbols, making sure to feel the indentations as he did.

  "PANTS!" he shouted at the top of his voice, pulling his hand back faster than a leopard powered by energy drinks.

  "Y... y... you okay?" stuttered DomCon, rushing round in front of Steel.

  "Guard the prisoner!" ordered Jar Man, cuffing his slightly diminutive friend around the back of the head 'Gibbs fashion' in an effort to keep up appearances.

  "It just gave me a little shock, that's all."

  An unexpected voice rang out inside their heads.

  "Stay away from their magic. Goodness only knows what it can do."

  Giving a little nod in the direction of their falsely restrained friend, the two so-called guards pondered their next move. Suddenly they were interrupted as a tiny hole opened up, and a dark metal globe on the end of a dark metal arm thrust itself in their direction, stopping just short of 'Ginger's' face. Standing stock still, all they could do was look on. Out of the blue, a pale green, circular light, very much resembling an eye, appeared on the surface of the globe nearest Jar Man's face. Fighting back nerves, he held his breath.

  A deeply monotonous voice spoke.

  "Present your request!"

  'Yikes!' thought DomCon.