"PETER," he shouted, "open the door to the workshop and then get the hell out of the way."
Although Peter couldn't quite understand what was going on, he did at least recognise the command and urgency in Tank's tone of voice. Running over to the door, he slid to a halt. Giving it a sharp yank, he continued to hold it open for whatever his friend had in mind. As he stood holding the door, a smooth whisper drifted in his direction.
"Hello Child. Come to join in the fun?"
It took Peter over a second to find the source of the voice, but when he did he found himself smiling. There, poking out from behind one of the oversized dragon chairs, were the distinct, square glasses that could only belong to one being... Gee Tee! With the smile still on his face, he gave the old shopkeeper a 'pleased to see you' nod, and turned back round to see what Tank was doing.
Tank, by now, had decided on a course of action. With his friend holding the workshop door open, he grabbed the mantra and began tossing it from one hand to the other as if it were a hot potato, all the time heading for the workshop at speed. Positively flying past Peter by the door he then threw the scroll down onto the nearest workbench, all the time trying to ignore the burning pain running up his hands and arms. Gee Tee stood up, giving his former apprentice a puzzled look. Making to pick up the scroll, one of Tank's powerful arms shot out to stop the master mantra maker.
"There's something wrong with it," Tank spluttered painfully. "It seems to be imbued with cold."
Shuffling his glasses back along his nose towards his eyes, the shopkeeper leant over to get a better look.
"Fascinating!"
A deafening crash followed by a rumble and a bump, reverberated throughout the shop.
"I don't mean to hurry you, or anything," exclaimed Peter, "but Flash is being chased by that thing, and I'm not sure exactly how long he can last."
Gee Tee glared across at the two friends.
"Why on earth didn't you say so?" With that, he grabbed a couple of mantra pens from a pile on the desk and proceeded to use them to fully unfurl the scroll.
* * *
All he could feel was his heart pounding in his chest. It was so loud, he thought he might die. Sprinting around another corner, he grabbed books from bookcases on either side of him and flung them as hard as he could back over his shoulder. Sweat dribbled down from behind his ears, racing down his neck, flooding his T-shirt with moisture. Instinctively he pushed the top half of his body forward, forcing himself into a roll just as two more deadly ice bolts carved through the air where his head had been only a split second before. Feeling exhausted and somehow... different, whether it was something to do with his transformation and being stuck in this ridiculous human form he didn't know, but he did know that he couldn't go on for much longer. It felt almost as if his human fuel tank was running on empty. Even in his most desperate state after being attacked by the naga's poison, he'd never once felt like this. With no time to think, he came to a T junction and without knowing any different, turned right... skidding straight into a dead end. His first thought was to clamber up the bookcase he was facing and jump down on the other side. But the bookcases he found himself enclosed by were at least fifty feet high, and he knew that the salamander would be on him before he could even get half way up. Turning round, he wondered if he had time to cross over to the aisle that lay directly opposite him in the distance.
Before he could take a step, he had his answer. Steaming with cold and pure, unadulterated rage, the giant ice salamander queen slithered into view, her vicious fangs bared, her scales bristling. Flash instinctively threw some more books at her from the shelves, despite the futility of it. Her snarl turned to more of a smile as she realised that her prey had nowhere else to go. Backing up the aisle as far as he could go, Flash only stopped when his back rested against one of the giant bookcases. She followed him, her head swaying from side to side, powered by her injured tail. For his part, the former Crimson Guard racked his brain for anything that would help him out, but nothing sprang to mind. Having done all he could, he hoped, with what he supposed was one of his last thoughts, that he'd bought his friends enough time for them to get out of this safely. As the frosty queen pulled back her head, baring her icy-white, needle sharp fangs, ready to strike, Flash looked on determinedly, facing his death with strength, pride, dignity and courage. Just as the queen's head darted forward, a look of shock and confusion rippled across her face, before the loudest POP in the world sounded and her whole body disappeared for good. Slumping down against the bookcase, sweat racing down his arms and legs, Flash had never felt so relieved in his entire life.
Seconds later, two sets of footsteps closed in on the aisle's dead end. Tank and Peter skidded round the corner, both coming to a direct halt right in front of the glittering puddle that only moments earlier had been the ice salamander queen. Both friends had exactly the same thought at exactly the same time... that Flash looked an absolute mess. Both had the forethought not to say it out loud.
"Somehow I imagined you'd be a bit fitter," Tank deadpanned.
Flash looked up from his sitting position on the floor.
"You're kidding me... right?"
"Well... you know... all that training and everything... seems to have been wasted, if you ask me."
Not able to contain himself, Peter burst into a fit of laughter as Flash hurled two dust laden tomes in Tank's direction with the very last of his energy. Tank dodged out of the way with much more agility than most people, or dragons, would have given him credit for.
Sidestepping the puddle, Peter and Tank each offered Flash a hand. Gratefully accepting, Flash let himself be pulled up by his friends. Tank slapped the exhausted ex-Crimson Guard on the back in admiration.
"Sorry it took so long," quipped Tank, "but you know what he's like... can't be rushed and all that, even when someone's life's on the line."
Flash just shrugged his shoulders in acceptance. It wasn't the first time he'd been a bedbug's eyelash away from death and he was pretty sure, the way things were going, that it wouldn't be the last.
Making their way back through the maze of bookcases, stepping over the wreckage as they did so, Tank already had a pretty good idea as to who would be tidying up the shop, and as usual, he was pretty sure it wouldn't be the old shopkeeper. Striding through the gap in the counter, the three of them sauntered into the workshop, just as Gee Tee appeared from behind one of the huge filing cabinets.
"I'm so glad you're okay," he whispered huskily, patting Flash gently on the head. "I would never have forgiven myself if anything had happened to you."
"It was a close run thing," gulped Flash, "but you just managed to reverse the mantra in time. Thanks."
"You're welcome youngster, but it is I who should be thanking you... what happened was a whole lot more than we'd bargained for... and yes, before you say it app... Tank, I've learned a valuable lesson today."
Tank nearly fainted in disbelief. In all the time he'd worked for the shopkeeper, hardly ever had he heard him apologise, let alone in the manner he just had.
'Who's stolen Gee Tee, and what have they done with him?' he thought, only half jokingly.