by M. Arcturus
The dragon started ripping at the window, trying to open it up a little bit more so it could get closer to Juron. Noting the dragon’s dilemma, he knew this was his chance to escape. Juron tried to approach the door, but the flames were too hot. Grabbing the small throw rug in front of his bathroom door, he ran back to the door, trying to beat out the flames.
Giving up on enlarging the window, using the sharp metal plates on its tail, the dragon thrust its tail through the opening like a spear trying to pierce Juron. Repeatedly, the dragon jabbed but kept missing the big, round, yet agile target. Still trying to open the door, Juron kept risking the danger of the dragon’s tail. For once, stupidity served him. Instead of piercing him, the dragon’s tail kept hitting the door punching holes in it. Juron looked at the door. Just a few more hits and the door would either crumble, or a hole would be big enough to leap through. Looking down at his large, soft, physique, he was hoping for the door to give way completely.
He approached the door a few more times, braving the dragon’s tail. As luck would have it, the door held its ground. Though there was a hole big enough for him to jump through, for more leeway, he was hoping a few more hits would do the trick. He jumped up in front of the door again, but when the dragon’s tail never came, he looked up just in time to see the dragon’s head arc again as it let out another flame. Thinking quickly, he turned toward the door, and like a trained circus dog, he jumped through his own fiery hoop. He landed on the hard, cold, mirror floor of the hallway and rolled away from the door just as the pursuing flames burst through the hole in the door like a cloud of fire. He sat there in a moment of disbelief and ecstatic triumph, but that abruptly came to a halt when the dragon started to punch more holes into the door with its tail. Considering the force at which the dragon was driving its tail through the wood, Juron knew it would only be a matter of time before the dragon would be roaming the palace.
Juron scrambled up onto his feet. In a brisk, nervous walk, he took to the halls. He could still feel the heat from the last fireball, which had chased him out the door, radiating off the back of his neck. Without touching it, he could tell that his neck was burned. The air was silent and thick. Without the sounds of people, the halls felt eerie and hauntingly desolate.
When turning the corner, his foot landed in something gooey. Yet there was something small and hard beneath his boot. As he lifted his foot, it made a small scraping sound against the floor. Shock jumped up and slapped him across the face when he knelt down to examine the hard substance. Using his thumb and index finger, he fished it out of the ooze. He brought it to his face and stared at it in the dim candlelight of the hallway. It flashed its pale, teal, metal likeness in his eyes when the light hit it just right. Recognizing it at once, he knew it was a piece of his cargo. “So, I didn’t imagine the cargo!” he whispered to himself. In one hot flash, his happiness was replaced with anger. Someone had found it and was breaking every piece of it! That was the only reason his could think of as of why such a tiny piece would be laying in the hallway covered in slime. He wondered where the goo had come from.
Almost on cue, there came a low scratchy growl from the gigantic room at the large opening up ahead. The large opening was actually a massive mezzanine hanging over an ancient couloir, which at one time had been on the side of Mt. Caspen before lava flows had covered it up. Speculation had it that an escaping gas bubble kept the lava from filling in the couloir. The mezzanine branched out into other hallways and corridors. Come to think of it; the room was just the right size to house a dragon. The realization hit him like a brick as he watched the dragon step into view.
She carried a guard in her mouth. The guard started to barter with her, but her ears held no mercy. She shook her head from side to side. He began to scream out of pain and discomfort. Deciding to end his suffering, she shook her head even harder until she heard the snaps followed by his limp body. Tossing him aside like a sack of flour, she stuck her nose back in the ooze on the floor and continued sniffing around as if she was searching for something.
Juron could hear more broken bits of his cargo being pushed around by her nose as she combed the floor. In his half-crazed mind, he finally decided that it was the dragons that had started war with Atlantis to take his cargo! They must have messed with his cargo and broken at least a few pieces of it, if not the whole shipment. He felt the need to go to the original location of his stash to see if any of it was left untouched. His primary goal was to cut through the mezzanine, but with the dragon standing right there in the center of it all, he would have to follow a different route.
Instead of turning the corner as planned, he went straight. He walked past rooms, which had become like home to him. The bio lab, the meditation room, the chapel—they all haunted his memory with thoughts from years past with different representatives who had attended Council meetings. The knowledge they shared changed his life in many ways, and it was always for the better. As he walked past the cryo lab without actually feeling the cold, he shivered. For some reason, that room always gave him the chills. He never dared to look through the window on the door for fear of seeing genetic experiments held in cryo chambers, but for some reason, he couldn’t resist. Ironically enough, for the first time of looking, it was a sight he didn’t want to see. Someone or something had rummaged through the laboratory. Lights were flickering due to power failure, for someone had ripped out parts of different machines and computers. Experimentations, which were normally held in stasis, were missing. Not knowing the Elders had done the rummaging, his mind wandered, thinking about all of the possible creepy causes for the disarray. He shivered once more before moving on.
He approached the end of the corridor where an entrance to the maintenance shaft stood. It was the long way around, but he had to reach the cargo hold, which stored his shipment. Juron closed the latch behind him, and the lights on the walls of the shaft automatically came on. The walls were stark white with spots of dark corrosion. Under the drab lighting, the shaft seemed very creepy and foreboding. He quickly shoved the thoughts out of his head.
On the left, there was a control panel on the wall, which displayed a map leading to different places, including the ship’s engine room. He had to stand there for a moment trying to decipher the Elder’s glyphs. Once satisfied with his mental translation, he selected the cargo hold button on the touchpad. A stream of running lights shot down the hallway to where he needed to go. After noting the directional path to the cargo hold, he followed the running lights and turned left, going further into the shaft. His footsteps echoed with each step he took. After a while of walking, he periodically came across ooze hanging on the walls and ooze puddles on the floor. It fueled his anger. How dare the dragons mess with his cargo!
It seemed like hours had passed since he first entered the maintenance shaft, let alone came across another map, and the running lights had stopped because something had damaged the paneling on the wall a few meters back. Juron was starting to feel uneasy. As he pressed on, the lights in the hallway were growing dim. It felt like he was being watched. He heard a scampering of tiny feet in the pipes, which ran overhead. Filled with hysteria, he thought to himself, the latch to the cargo hold must be here somewhere. He patted the walls with his hands and then finally, he felt something familiar. Turning the handle and pushing with all of his might, the door gave easily, causing him to stumble through the doorway before catching himself. When he caught his footing, he looked around the room to see baby dragons everywhere! Whether they were playing tag or sitting sadly, crying out for their parents, they all stopped what they were doing to stare at the human.
He didn’t stop to think about what he was doing before he started to chase them around, shooing them away from his cargo. From a quick glance, he could tell that most of it had been destroyed. “You little, scaled hellions have ruined everything!” He cried out. “Get away from there! You are carelessly breaking my beautiful cargo!”
While runni
ng around like an idiot, he stepped in some ooze, fell forward and went sliding on his stomach. He came nose to nose with one of the perfectly unbroken metallic spheres. Its violet coloration vibrated with brilliance. Without getting up, he wrapped his arms around it. He brought it close to his ear, and that’s when he heard it. A small scratching sound came from the inside of the shiny sphere. Cracks started to form on the outside.
He thought back to the first time he had spoken with the envoy. He had promised Juron that the magical spheres would bring him power and wealth beyond his imagination. Staring at the hypnotic piece of gold, he didn’t even think about where it had come from. He didn’t understand what it was until now. In one brief moment, it all came clear. These were not magical spheres. They were dragon eggs! Fear gripped him. Of course, one could rule the world and crush his enemies with a trained dragon, but the other dragons would crush you in return. Most importantly, he had discovered the true reason for the war. It was all his fault!
When the baby dragon’s nose started breaking out of the shell, he realized that he had been laying there for too long, dazed and bewildered. He needed to get out of there and fast! Running out the door, he fumbled as he entered the hallway. He left just in time. A massive explosion followed by a series of loud eruptions and deafening bird-like screeches took place in the cargo hold for a whole cluster of eggs had hatched. Juron had no clue what had caused the explosions or the screeches. He didn’t even have time to think about it because before he knew it, he was being followed by a herd of baby dragons and ghastly shadows that glided on the floor and walls.
The gliding shadows started to burst into different colored flames, then streaked in a beeline headed straight for him. One fiery yellow streak caught up with him and flew along the wall parallel keeping within his peripheral vision. Just as it lunged for him, he sped up, and the little firebird bounced on its butt a few times when it hit the floor. It shook its head to clear its mind, and then took off lighting up its flame just as the rest of the herd nearly trampled it. As Juron’s uncanny luck would have it, the dragons’ legs were too short to keep up with his pace, and the young firebirds didn’t have the dexterity to fly at such speeds for great distances. However, that didn’t keep him from running like a bat out of Hell.
He ran for what felt like an eternity. Stopping to take a breath, he looked back at the herd, which was barely a few tiny black dots in the far distance. Much to his dismal delight, two events started to happen at once. From behind the wall on his right came an earsplitting, screeching sound. It was as if something impenetrable and of substantial size was scraping up against the opposite side of the wall; whatever it was stopped rubbing against the wall and started to ram it instead.
From behind the wall to his left came two familiar voices. It was a male and female’s voice calling out, “Rowyn!” He instantly knew who they were. It was Lord Cavatori and Nadia. They had bought an egg from him; two if he remembered correctly. A knot formed in his stomach. Something must have happened to their daughter. He knew they would blame him, and they had every right to do so. As he looked ahead, he had two choices. He could either keep going straight or take the perpendicular hall to the left, which would probably make him run smack dab into the formerly happy couple. All he knew was that he couldn’t stay standing there. The herd was catching up to him, and the thing on the other side of the wall had nearly broken through.
He decided to keep straight and ran for his life. Right as he was passing through the intersection, the couple stepped out in front of him, and they all hit the floor.
“You,” Nadia screamed, “you did this to us!” Her husband pulled her back before she could reach Juron. “That magical sphere hatched! It nearly burnt our daughter to a crisp. Then, being the caring little girl, she is, she followed the dragon and baby phoenix through the tiny vent and ended up somewhere down here.”
“I’m truly sorry for what happened to little Rowyn. I didn’t know they were dragon eggs. But if you look to your right, down the hall, you will see that we can’t stay here to bicker. If you want to stay alive to find your daughter, we better keep moving.” They saw the herd stop in front of the spot where the creature was ramming through the wall. Just as the head of a great rock dragon came exploding through the wall, Juron grabbed the two of them by their collars and took off down the hall they had just come from.
The rock dragon was elated to see the baby dragons. It nuzzled with them for a while until it heard the running feet of Juron, Nadia, and Cavatori. Its eyes narrowed, and it broke down the remainder of the wall, so it could step through. Standing in all of its glory, it shook off the dust and metal shavings from ramming through the wall. Its long body was made of stones, which clacked together when it moved. Like a sprinter coming off the blocks, it got down on its haunches and sprung into motion.
The stone dragon charged down the hall, intending to take the intersecting hallway to the left to pursue them. Juron peered over his shoulder just as the dragon tried to turn into their hallway. He watched as the dragon dug its claws into the floor, trying to slow down for the turn, but its body was too heavy. It skid past its turn, but regrouped and bounded down the hallway, gaining on them.
Their hallway was coming to an end. They could either turn left or right. Thinking quick, Juron pulled them to the left. As if watching a rhino having to change course during a charge, the dragon slid and slammed into the opposite wall at the end of the hallway. It was no surprise to Juron that the wall didn’t even faze the dragon, for the dragon’s body must have been rock solid. They couldn’t seem to keep their pace. Fatigue was setting in on the three of them, but now with the dragon hot on their trail, resting was not an option.
They were headed for another intersection. This one looked a little menacing and dimly lit. Avoiding the darkness on the right side of the intersection, Juron moved over to the left side of the hallway. As they passed through the intersection, from the shadows a dragon’s tail flung out into their path. Juron was quick enough to jump over its tail, but the other two were not so lucky. The tail wrapped around their ankles and dragged them deep into the darkness. Juron heard a snap and saw a pool of blood collect on the floor. Other than the first initial squeal of shock, neither one of them had time to scream. He thought about Rowyn. Sorrow enveloped him. She was all alone now. That is, if she was still alive. For her sake, he wished she wasn’t. The latch leading into the palace was just up ahead. Her parents only had two more sections of the hallway to travel. It was a shame that they didn’t quite make it.
He opened the latch, stepped through it, and then slammed it shut quickly. The great stone dragon had not been far behind him, and it was already trying to pound its way through. He leaned up against the latch as if his body could keep the latch from giving way. He looked around the room. Juron was on the mezzanine, and there was not a single sign of the dragon he saw earlier or any other hint of dragon life for that matter, other than the stone dragon beating down the latch.
It sounded like the great stone dragon was giving up. The banging became less and less until it faded away. He let out a heavy sigh. Juron thought about the war raging on outside. “There has got to be a way to leave this isle without stepping foot outside. If I step outside, I’m dead—done for,” he said aloud to himself. Then it struck him. He remembered catching sight of the engine room glyph on the control panel. If the engines still worked, he might be able to fly away from Atlantis using the Elder’s ship. Using the ship lodged inside of Mt. Caspen would tear apart the palace and isle, but he would have a chance to live. Juron wasn’t thinking about the fact that the ship itself was most likely plagued with dragons. Even if he could fly away to safety, the dragons on board would see to it that he was eaten alive, but he was too busy plotting a course to the engine room. He would have to stick to the corridors. With the stone dragon lurking about, he had to avoid using the maintenance shaft.
After his long trek of wandering from corridor t
o corridor, bounding down endless staircases, Juron made his way into the bowels of the ship. He knew the Elders had removed a lot of their technology when they merged their ship with Mt. Caspen, but why could they not leave in a transporter or two? The stairs were a killer! He thought to himself. Juron’s woes were far from over. The metal double door leading into the engine room was rusted and bloated as if from water saturation.
The thought of water making metal bow out baffled him. There was a keypad by the door. He hoped that the security number the Elders had given him long, long ago would work, but to no avail, the doors would not budge. Realistically thinking, there was probably no way for the doors to slide off to the side with what looked like a Buddha belly bulge. He looked down at the floor, deep in thought, and that’s when he saw it. Off to his right, low to the ground, was a large square vent, which with a little bit of force could accommodate his round physique. He eyed the wires, noting that they could pose a problem, but what he liked most of all was that he could see into the engine room. At least he didn’t need to be concerned about the engine room being flooded; there was no water to be seen. Juron concluded that the doors must have buckled due to constant pressure from being under sea level. Surveying the vent, he noticed that he would only have to crawl about a foot, push on the vent cover on the other side to release it, and that should be it. Before he knew it, he would be in the clear on the other side. Juron was sure that his plan was foolproof.
He took off the vent cover and placed it to the side. Starting to wiggle his way through the vent, he got stuck midway. He wrestled around with the wires while he panicked, kicking his feet wildly. With significant effort, he removed the vent cover on the other side in anticipation of his freedom. Quietly, a young, bright green dragon roamed the halls and caught sight of Juron’s feet flopping around from the open vent in the wall. The predator slowly approached, trying to find the right angle to attack its prey.
