Peter knew what was going to happen. Well, he didn't, but he knew whatever it was, it would end up with him being hugely embarrassed somehow. How right he was. Walking through the door as if nothing were there (he couldn't see anything, it looked totally normal, despite him knowing otherwise), he abruptly felt as though he'd walked into a bath full of treacle. An invisible sticky mass clung to his face, arms, legs, midriff... everything. Instinctively he tried to raise his arm to pull the stickiness off his face. But that just made things worse; he got more and more tangled and more and more entwined. Frustrated, he tried to spin away... a fatal mistake. It was almost as if he were cocooned in stickiness now, a human shaped, dragon caterpillar, waiting to emerge.
A suppressed giggle covered by a cough from the old shopkeeper was how it started. That in turn started Tank off, who guffawed with laughter. Flash just shook his head at his trapped friend, a huge smile woven across his face. Peter would have shaken his head at the predicament he found himself in, but he couldn't move... not even an inch. Every single part of him was fully immobile. Of course he could see the funny side and tried to laugh. But the stickiness that had enveloped his face prevented him from doing so.
"So you see," said Flash from behind Peter's back, "by adding the 'lentesco' to the main body of the spell, the web becomes tacky, acting as an adhesive to whoever walks through it. I'm afraid it's only effective on magic users, and of course in time they would almost certainly be able to break free from its confinement. But not easily, or quickly, thus making this a good gambit to buy yourself some time in a confined space."
Tank and his boss clapped. Peter didn't. Closing his eyes, Flash silently cancelled the mantra, allowing the previously captured dragon to drop clumsily to his knees. Offering out his hand, Flash pulled his friend up to his feet.
"Sorry," he said, "but I knew you'd be a good sport about it."
"Not to worry," replied Peter. "It was worth it to see how well the mantra works." On this they all agreed.
Despite the fact that it was well into the evening now and Gee Tee looked more than a little fatigued, Flash continued to share his knowledge on all things spy craft, in an effort to help his friends stay safe. Over the course of the next couple of hours, they learned all sorts of new and wonderful mantras. Scale detection nets, perfect for the ceiling of any cavern to catch out dragons in their natural form. Shadow concealment mantras to blend seamlessly into any darkened area and disappear almost for good. Clothes changing mantras: walk around a corner in one colour, reappear in something completely different, guaranteed to fool all but the most experienced onlooker. Rapid aging mantras for when a quick escape isn't always the first choice: age rapidly and with the right accessories, i.e. a walking stick, glasses, scarf etc, and appear to be totally harmless and innocent. All number of perception pullers, where anyone who's looking in your direction gets their focus pulled away on to another target, which makes it doubly difficult to maintain focus, even for the most determined agent of chaos. Crackle taiclass="underline" casting a tripwire that if activated will attach itself to the being and give off a sound and light show worthy of bonfire night. Anyone trying to be subtle will be lit up like a Christmas tree and flee in the opposite direction in no time at all. But Gee Tee could add another that even Flash, the ex-Crimson Guard, hadn't heard of.
"This," announced the old dragon, "is called 'sand trap'. Lay it down in front of you on ground that you know your shadow must walk on. It is of course keyed to magical beings and once they set foot in it, every step they take is like walking in deep, soft sand. It will feel like they're sinking up to their knees in it and however hard they try, they won't be able to shake off that feeling. The harder and faster they move, the deeper they will sink. It lasts for about twenty four hours, so it's great to use to get away, or even turn the tables on said pursuer."
Flash was impressed, and that took something extraordinary. It was a trick he would add to his repertoire straight away.
36
Sandy Sabotage
'You cowardly, cowardly, cowardly bucket of custard,' he thought to himself as the fine drizzle matted his hair, having just decided it was time to go home. He'd tried... he really had. But it was no good, he just couldn't do it, not after last time. Having planned it all out beforehand, how it would go, what he would say and how it would all be resolved in the happiest of endings... but he'd bottled it, lost any courage he might have had. It was all he could do not to cry.
Standing at the end of her street, sheltering outside someone else's house using one of the giant trees as a makeshift umbrella, for over forty-five minutes, only a few moments ago he'd given up and told himself it was time to head home. It had all seemed like such a good idea, but not being able to go through with even getting as far as the door made him feel like such a fool. He missed her so much, even with everything else going on in his life. Everything felt in motion at the moment, like a tornado ploughing across the landscape, constantly turning up new things, changing the view, and not just for the better. But at the back of his mind, she was always there. Janice, the diminutive bar worker, beautiful, caring and kind, with those melting eyes and her drop dead gorgeous pout. He missed everything about her, the seductive whisper of her voice, the warmth of her hands, the smell of apples in her hair. It should have come as no surprise that he couldn't pluck up the courage to at least knock on the door, after all, this was the third time in as many weeks that it had happened. His darkened mood led him to wonder if she'd moved on with her life, found someone else, someone more suited, someone not a dragon. A tiny part of him hoped she had and that someone could make her happy and give her the life she deserved, but most of him hoped it wasn't the case, despite the fact he couldn't see how on earth they were ever supposed to get back together, especially after his last visit to her house, in which she'd made her feelings abundantly clear.
Running his fingers through his tousled, damp hair, he was surprised at the amount of moisture there. He supposed he shouldn't have been, given that it had been raining on and off ever since he'd left his house. Needless to say, he wasn't looking forward to getting back. His home seemed so empty, mirroring the feelings inside him.
Expertly skipping around half a dozen badly damaged paving stones and the puddles they had inadvertently created, he recognised the single, run down shop on the road. Selling new and old guitars, he'd stopped to gaze in its window on both his previous visits, but not tonight, not in the cold and wet. However, as he trudged past he spotted something in the angled side window that led into the doorway and showed the scene directly behind him. Just for a moment, he'd spotted someone across the other side of the road, dressed very darkly, clinging to the shadows. Forcing himself to continue on in the same stride, he knew that anything unusual on his part would give things away to his pursuer.
Mind racing, fearing what might happen, a host of questions popped into his head. Who was it? What did they want? Were they human, dragon, naga or something else? His thoughts then turned to what he could do. Unable to phone Richie... what good would she be, now that she was no longer a dragon? Tank might be of some use, but he was pretty sure the big fella was on a coaching course somewhere else. And as for Flash, he could be just about anywhere in the world, and would almost certainly be doing something ever so important. And then it hit him. Flash... that was the key... the spy craft that he'd run through at the Mantra Emporium. Perhaps he could use some of the knowledge that had been passed on that evening. So stopping at a junction and waiting for a car to pass before crossing to the other side, a huge smile wiggled across his face for the first time in days, all thoughts of Janice momentarily lost.