Carefully she sneaked down the hotel stairs, always mindful, on the lookout for any traps. It appeared he was being careless, but she knew him better than that. Being on the run and having seen his comrades gunned down would be enough to make him dangerously angry and unpredictable, and he had an uncanny ability to spot anything out of the ordinary. Knowing all this didn't bother her at all, because the naga spell casters had smothered her with spell after spell, negating the signs of her presence and abilities. If spotted, she would appear totally human and of little threat to anyone. Tiptoeing down the last step, she edged cautiously along the wall towards the fire escape that led to the alley behind the hotel. The door was still ajar. Sneaking a peek through the thinly veiled gap, half fearing some kind of ruse, she glimpsed her father kneeling behind a perfectly polished black car, facing away from her, his back fully exposed as two naga assailants headed in his direction down the alley. Savouring the moment, just as you would with a fine wine or the first bite of a perfectly cooked meal, the thought of what she was about to do sent her enhanced senses into overdrive. With her moment of glory almost upon her, she knew exactly what to do and nothing now could or would stop her. Silently she slipped through the gap in the door, creeping ever closer to her father Fredric, his attention fully focused on the human shaped nagas marching in his direction from the other side of the alley, sweeping their automatic weapons from side to side as they did so. Three paces away. That's how far she was from him. A feeling of euphoria washed over her, despite not yet having completed her task, which would have been stomach churning to most. With her heart pumping furiously, she took one more step forward, the mantra already set to be unloosed by her bony, white fingers.
Preparing to unleash hell on those damn Nazis heading his way, the tiniest splash in the world reverberated out from behind him. Before it happened, he already knew it was too late. He didn't even have time to turn around. But that didn't matter. Instantly he let rip the hell he'd been preparing for those scum sucking soldiers who only minutes before had cut down his dragon comrades. As a surge of pain ripped through the back of his neck, instantly knocking him out, he released the power he'd been holding on to. Magic crackled furiously out from the entire length of his body, purple, blue, orange, red, yellow and green waves of unadulterated, unstoppable energy filled the alley. The car saved the Nazi soldiers, or nagas as they were in their true form. Earth, well she wasn't nearly so lucky. Having flung nearly all her magic into her father's exposed back, she was caught off guard by the power that exploded out of him. Being so close, she caught the full force of it and more, with some being reflected back towards her from the shiny automobile Fredric was crouching behind. The magic behind the mantra Fredric had cast was not unlike the magic that his daughter had hit him with. Both father and daughter lay unconscious, side by side in the puddle littered alley, as the rain drizzled about them, before both being dragged off by the squad of nagas.
Fredric was condemned to his icy prison, never to return. Earth got what she wanted, well in a way. Upon waking, she had no recollection of her past at all. Nothing from before she was hit with her father's magic, and so was unable to reveal the importance of her prisoner, his identity, or anything else that she knew and had been saving up. But it didn't matter. From that day on, she became a high flyer, if such a thing were possible for a dragon that shunned its natural form. Nazi officers, as well as fiendish imposters, welcomed her with open arms, quite literally most of the time. Not once did she ever wonder about her father, indeed, how could she when she had no memory of him? Even if she had retained it, it's doubtful whether things would have been any different. That rainy night turned out to be of huge historical significance, something from which the world was still suffering.
55
Queen Of Hearts, Necks And Throats
It all happened so quickly. One minute she was curled up in a ball on the rickety old bed, in the cellar deep within the dragon domain, guarded by a squad of nagas. The next, she was being whisked through the shadows by her contingent of naga bodyguards, off to meet fate, and of course her love, thoughts of revenge on the dragons she hated so much, clouding her mind.
Tucked out of sight, hidden behind a stunning marble pillar situated at the top of the steps off to one side of the entrance to the council building, waiting to be introduced, she marvelled at the assembled army as it filed into the square in front of her.
Having bided her time for so long, a great sense of satisfaction breezed across her at having got this far, knowing it was very nearly PAYBACK TIME!
Trudging into the square past more pyres of dead dragons, the scale of what was happening finally hit Peter. Up until now, he'd thought it was just a renegade group and that they would be put down without mercy by the dragon authorities. But looking around at the burning towers of dead dragon guards, and the thousand upon thousand nagas in both human and their natural forms, as well as turncoat dragons, the reality of what was going on finally hit home.
'We're doomed,' he thought, still trying hard to keep in step with his marching captors and the equally shocked Tim.
The rebel army, as that's what they were, faced the steps leading up to the council building, the one that Peter had visited, the one that sat in front of the king's private residence. On either side of the steps, directly beside the swirling pools of mesmerising lava, poles with the heads of dragon guards lay on display for all to see. It was a terrifying sight, in so many different ways.
SMACK! Peter got a clout around the face for daring to look up at the council building off to his left.
"Keep your eyes forward," spat the nearest guard.
With his ears now ringing, his blood soaked face hurt even more than it had previously, something he wouldn't have thought possible. Desperately wanting to share a look with Tim, he was too afraid of being hit again to even try.
Turning slightly, the column of enemies made their way through a natural gap in the lines towards the very front of the building at the bottom of the steps, passing the fiercest and most frightening beings Peter had ever seen, giving him even more incentive to keep his gaze straight ahead, mostly looking at his feet. Abruptly, the guard in front of him stopped. Peter was too slow to react, and walked straight into the back of him. WHACK! The guard hit Peter with a powerful uppercut to the jaw, sending him flying up in the air, before spiralling down into a bedraggled heap, five yards away, blood flowing freely from his mouth, teeth littering the floor, much to the amusement of all the other guards around him. One of them grabbed his chains and forced him to his feet. When he got there, he swayed unsteadily.
"NO MORE!" issued the guard who'd picked him up, to the one who'd punched him. "The boss wants him in one piece, that's all I know." They shared a look, and then a nod.
Through the haze surrounding his mind, despite the pain and blood pouring from his face, his thoughts turned to the king, wondering where he was and if they had him. He hoped not. He hoped, even now, that he had a plan and that soon the evil out here would be wiped from their entire, miserable existence. As that thought circulated in his head, there was a commotion off to one side. Dragons and nagas alike were moving, no... kneeling in unison. Before he could see what was happening, powerful hands dug into his shoulders, forcing him to his knees. Trying to look up, a hand gripped his head, compelling him to look at the floor. Peeping out of the corner of his eye, he tried to see what was happening to Tim, but all he could see was the new dragon's knees, pressed to the cold floor just like his. Off to his right, people, no... beings, a group of them, sauntered past, making their way onto the steps.