Fredric and the naga king instantly became alert, both having the same thoughts.
'The human who feeds us is not long gone. This is something different and might be our one and only opportunity. We have to be ready.' Fredric stood poised, his muscles gleamed and quiet determination filled his eyes. Uncurled and risen to his full height, the naga king's eyes were alert as he gave off a sense of dignity, quite something given his circumstances.
Suddenly from out of the darkness and the icy mist came the evil little human, followed hot on his heels by a... man. At least, that's what they thought at first.
Cackling and chuckling, the deranged human jailer led this new face up to the row of prisoners. Fredric and the naga king both breathed deeply, not flinching even an inch, doing their best to ignore the hated keeper. They were too wise, too well trained, to be provoked into even the smallest of movements. Remaining asleep, the ancient dragon continued to cough and splutter. Hanging limply from the manacles that shackled him to the icy wall, the human shaped scientist shook fiercely as the cold attacked his ill prepared body, startling him awake, still shrouded in fear.
Very slowly, the human started to walk up and down the row of prisoners, with it becoming immediately obvious that he had a very pronounced limp. Fredric and the naga king also deduced from his body language that the man was used to something to support his weight, like a stick or a cane. The three prisoners that were aware of the inspection all remained stock still and silent, well... apart from the human shaped dragon scientist who, despite his best efforts, continued to shake and shiver involuntarily.
Although only having limited use of their magical dragon and naga abilities, both Fredric and the naga king could both tell that the human was much more than he first appeared. They'd both seen human shaped nagas relatively recently and had immediately known what they were. But this was something different. They were able to tell he was something other than human, wearing the form as a type of disguise, if you will, but as to his base identity, they had absolutely no idea whatsoever.
After having walked up the line, inspecting the ancient dragon (still coughing, wheezing and asleep) and Fredric at the very end, the human shaped whatever-he-was turned and limped back to the shivering scientist at the other end, all but ignoring the naga king as he did so. Reaching the scientist who by now was cowering against the icy wall, the large, stocky, human shaped whatever-he-was jutted out his square jaw that had more than a few days growth of stubble on it.
"YOU!" he shouted at the scientist. "What are you doing in Antarctica?" he snarled, "and don't give me all that global warming rubbish."
Shaking and shivering more from fear than cold, the scientist replied.
"I... I... I... I... It... It's... th... th... the global war... warm... warming that we... we... we... were sent to stuuuudy."
"LIAR!" raged the human shaped whatever-he-was, kicking the scientist brutally in the chest.
After the kick had landed, an awful CRACK echoed around the cavern accompanied by the scientist's high pitched scream. In the dark and the cold, Fredric rallied against his chains, pulling them taut, using every ounce of strength he could to try to break free, ready to step in and deliver what he considered justice.
"NOW... tell me the real reason you're here. You're only making things harder for yourself," raved the human shaped whatever-he-was, steam rising from the receding brown hair that dappled his head.
Curled up in a heap, crying like a baby wanting its mother, the scientist had nothing else to say, because he'd only been sent to Antarctica to research the effects of global warming and knew of no other mission, having no idea why he was here, who his captors were, or what would happen next. He just wanted to go home.
"You snivelling, spineless, putrid excuse for a dragon... you're pathetic!" spat the human shaped whatever-he-was. "JOSHIM... here," he ordered.
Slinking forward, the evil, creepy jailer suddenly appeared at his side. With a look of pure malevolence etched across his face, the evil shaped whatever-he-was gave his command.
"He's no longer of any use. Finish him off... now."
The scientist screamed,
"NOOOOOOO!" as the jailer skulked towards him, sneering menacingly, pleased to be able to show off his talents. Fredric and the naga king strained against their chains in an effort to protect their comrade against the fight, well I say fight, what I really mean is... murder. Joshim the jailer started with a brutal kick straight into the scientist's face. Bright red blood splattered across the shiny, icy surface surrounding the scientist, along with two or three broken teeth. Muffled by the sheer delight of Joshim, the prisoner muttered something, but no one in the deadly cold cavern could make out what had been said, either because of the scientist's broken nose, his lost teeth, or the fear that ran through him at the thought of what was to come.
With the scientist babbling incoherently now, Joshim continued his grim task with aplomb, all the time a sadistic smile ingrained on his face. Reaching down, the evil jailer picked up his organic punch bag and head butted him as hard as he could, the sickening noise reverberating up the line of captives. All the time the human shaped whatever-he-was watched in satisfaction, standing just far enough back so as not to get covered in blood, but just close enough to revel in the action. All the while, Fredric and the naga king continued to try and break free from their bonds despite knowing that it was all but impossible.
By now Joshim had rained down another series of blows onto the defenceless human shaped dragon, breaking most of his ribs by the sound of it. Fredric, who hadn't quite given up trying to break free, but had realised the fruitlessness of his efforts, forced himself to watch what was happening. Not because he was a violent being, or got any sort of kick out of it, unlike the human shaped whatever-he-was. No! Fredric forced himself to watch so that the scientist's death would be remembered, his sacrifice would not be in vain and most importantly, so that when his chance came along, and he truly believed it would, he could conjure up what was happening here and now and use it to power him to freedom, as well as exact revenge on those that had committed the atrocity. They WOULD pay for what they were doing now.
Lying perfectly still on the frozen surface, either unconscious or more probably dead, the scientist's battered and broken body continued to be assaulted by the crazed jailer, who took great pleasure in kicking, punching, slapping and even at one point biting a huge chunk out of the victim's leg. At the sight of this, the naga king let out a piercing scream that had ice and rock tumbling from the ceiling, but still it wasn't enough to distract Joshim from his grim mission. In fact all it managed to do was provoke a smile from the human shaped whatever-he-was.
Half an hour, that's how much longer the sadistic beating lasted, ending only when Joshim lay soaked in sweat and exhausted, next to what was left of the dragon scientist. Wandering over, the human shaped whatever-he-was patted the evil jailer on his sweaty head in much the same way a human would do to a dog that had just done something clever. With pieces of flesh hanging out of his mouth, Joshim looked up at his master appreciatively, grateful for any attention he could get.
Turning away from his wicked little servant, the human shape with the limp strolled past the naga king, grinning from ear to ear as he did so, careful not to get within striking range of the agitated creature. When he reached Fredric, the grin had subsided a little, but still remained around the edges of his mouth.
"How did you like the show?"
Fredric knew he was on a hiding to nothing. If he reacted he might get a beating, or worse; with the jailer being in this crazed state things might go a bit too far and bang, there would go the chance of ever being free. The only sensible course of action would be to stay quiet, not react, and hope that it was enough to keep him alive for now.