The magic had taken its toll. Both friends sat there totally wasted, the old dragon caked in sweat, looking more dishevelled and ruffled than an Ewok in a tumble dryer. Both were breathing heavily.
Many minutes later, neither had any idea of how long it actually was, for all concept of time seemed forgotten, it was the shopkeeper who spoke up first.
"It's hard for me to say this child, and the older I get, the more often I seem to have to say it, but I'm terribly sorry. I should never have doubted you and should have believed what you said from the off. I hope you can understand why I was so hesitant, and why I needed to see it for myself. Please forgive me for not believing in you, and for putting you through that rather... uncomfortable experience."
'That's an understatement,' he thought, recounting the experience that both of them had just been through.
"Does that mean that you believe me now?" Peter asked.
Gee Tee nodded.
"When you first told me, I found your story beyond belief. But seeing first hand so to speak... I'm convinced that she's the one the prophecy refers to."
"FANTASTIC!" screamed Peter, jumping to his feet. "All we a have to do is go to the council, you can talk to them, get them to take a look at Richie, and make them see sense. Let's go!"
Ancient scales in that prehistoric face that had seen and made so much history contorted in sadness and sorrow, about as much as they could. It had been a long time since they'd done so.
"What is it?" asked the young dragon angrily, getting a sense that all wasn't right.
Gazing down at the floor, Gee Tee sighed, unable to look his friend in the eyes.
"It won't work! They'd never believe you, and as soon as I become anything to do with it, you can be damn sure they won't believe it then."
"But they have to. You said yourself, she's the one. The one the prophecy mentions, the whole reason dragons have been blending in, waiting, guiding, protecting the humans for millennia. She's it!"
A weary look had set up camp on the master mantra maker's face, but for the lack of tents.
"I'm truly sorry child. I believe you, I really do. One hundred percent. But the simple fact of the matter is, the council won't."
Again he opened his mouth to speak, and again the old shopkeeper silenced him with one long, bony finger.
"Forget about the king... because I know what you're thinking... that he'll believe us and convince them. Remember, by his own admission, he has very little, if any, real power left. Even if he could use it, I doubt he would. You have to understand, your story sounds so far-fetched, it couldn't possibly be true. But it is! You have to trust me on this. In a million years, the council will never believe you, and they won't reverse the decision about your friend. If anything, it might make things worse."
Peter was angry now. Beetroot red-in-the-face angry.
"How the hell could it get any worse?"
"They could take what you say and misinterpret it. Fear of something you don't know or understand isn't confined to humans. Dragons are just the same in that regard. Instead of granting her the human life she led as a dragon, they may consider her dangerous or a threat, and instead decide it's best to keep her down here... incarcerated!"
Closing his eyes, Peter took a series of big, deep breaths as his friend looked on, very calmly and sedately. Mind racing at the thought of losing his friend, he knew that he had to save her, he just had to. But his hope had been extinguished by the one being he thought might just clinch victory from the jaws of defeat. Hollow was how he felt... empty... a useless husk of a shell, unable to help someone he dearly loved.
"I know how you feel child."
"Oh please..." replied the young dragon, done with all of it.
"No. I mean, I actually know how you feel. About Richie."
Looking across at the old shopkeeper, an uncomfortable silence developed between them.
"I'm not sure what the mantra did for you, but for me it was a work of art. I could feel every sensation that you felt. For a brief time... I was you. I know how you feel about your friend, and to say the things I've just said breaks my heart. She's lucky to have someone like you to count on. So is Tank."
Feeling himself welling up, the master mantra maker's next words soon put a stop to that.
"But rest assured child, you and I WILL be having a little chat about the human girl in the not so distant future."
The menace lacing those words was enough to keep Peter's mouth firmly shut. Sitting in silence for a few minutes longer, the old dragon unsteadily got to his feet and announced,
"I do have one more item to show you before we head back."
Reluctantly Peter followed the master mantra maker over to a set of shelves carved into the rock. Overflowing, quite literally, with trinkets and valuable of all kinds, his friend started eagerly rummaging through all the items, discarding those in his way on the floor. Precious looking amulets, bracelets and jewellery of all kinds came flying over his shoulder, landing mainly with a tinkle on the hard surface of the vault. Peter's obsession with neatness (almost bordering on OCD) nearly kicked in, but he figured the old shopkeeper would berate him if he started picking stuff up and tidying. Abruptly, something a little larger and considerably heavier than the trinkets crashed onto the rock at his feet.
'It looks incredibly like a picture frame of some sort,' he thought as he picked it up. It was then that things got off the scale weird. Turning the frame over, believing it to be empty, the sight that greeted him almost made his eyes pop out. There, framed for all to see, was... a certificate, well, more like documentation, signed by the dragon king, pronouncing Gee Tee to be a... LORD!!! His heart raced as the old dragon continued his search.
'A Lord,' he mused. 'I never even knew dragons had such things.' But there it was right in front of him, the official document, signed by the king, royal seal and all.
"Ahhh..." cried the master mantra maker, "here it is!"
Turning to find the most startled look on his young friend's face, it was then that he noticed the frame.
"Ohhh... that old pish. Forget it. It's not important."
"But, but, but you were made a... Lord!"
"You of all dragons," growled the shopkeeper, grabbing the frame and casually tossing it away, "should know that it's not shiny pieces of paper or awards that count, but your actions. If nothing else... remember that!"
Suitably chastised, he vowed to himself to find out more, any way he could.
"NOW... where were we? Oh... that's right. I've found it," exclaimed the old dragon, holding up some kind of dull, matt grey, metal band, about the diameter of a human's wrist. Tiny triangular dark indentations, which looked almost bottomless, ran around the entire circumference of the band, with one larger triangle not indented, but ever so slightly raised.
'That looks unusual,' thought Peter, 'but not worth all the fuss the old dragon's trying to make over it.' Deflated, as that's how he felt about his friend, it was as if all the hope had seeped out of him, like air from a punctured tyre.
"THIS," started the shopkeeper, "is like nothing else I've ever come across. Probably the rarest thing on the planet is the material, which certainly looks like a metal but has never actually been confirmed as such. It actually makes laminium look positively common in comparison."
That made the young dragon sit up and take notice.
"Legend describes it as being made from something that translates roughly as 'Nissix'. And the only Nissix I know that exists on the planet is this," announced the master mantra maker, holding the band up high. "Anyhow," he continued, "it's thought to be hundreds of thousands of years old, and how it was developed or conceived is a complete and utter mystery. But it does have a rather unusual and special purpose."