"Combined with the heavy water, Fu-ts'ang will freeze almost anything it comes into contact with... including either dragons or humans. If you can cover enough dragons, it would be possible to freeze many at once. You, my dear, may be the difference between success and failure," he continued, moving his gaze across to Janice.
"Cool," whispered Emma under her breath.
"'Rockin'," stated Hook, gazing lovingly at the trigger of the heavy water rifle.
"And now, I really must defrost our friend, before her anger gets the better of her." With a simple wave of his hand and a few muttered words, a jet of fire surrounded Richie, enveloping her in a cloud of steam that released her from her stasis.
"That was fun," she remarked with heavy sarcasm.
"Ahh, but now you see how we even up the odds a little."
Nodding her head, she could see how the old dragon was right. Before, as a group, they hadn't stood a chance. But now there was at least an outside possibility that they might be able to take on the aggressors in whatever action was being played out. She was starting to have a good feeling about it all, apart from the fact that she had nothing to fight with. Feeling naked, defenceless and incomplete, she needn't have worried though. Giving the inert backpack a little tug, almost as if reading her thoughts, the old dragon made it known that there were other things left inside.
"Did you think I'd forgotten about you?"
Richie should have known better. So she showered him with her best smile, the one that any film star on the planet would have been proud of, the same one that had melted hearts both above and below ground. Radiating a smile back at her as he reached into the rustic looking canvas bag, adorned with leather straps and buckles, something wrapped in an old cloth came out in the shopkeeper's hands. Suddenly Richie wasn't feeling so happy. It looked distinctly like she'd wound up with the booby prize.
"Why don't you wait and see what it is before you pull that face?" scoffed Gee Tee, trying not to laugh. "You of all beings should know not to judge a book by its cover."
Knowing he was right, briefly she wondered what on earth could be better than Fu-ts'ang? Reaching out to take the mysterious object from the old shopkeeper's hand, sheer raw power overtook her. It was akin to someone removing the kryptonite from Superman, Bruce Wayne donning his Batman outfit, and Green Lantern slipping on his ring, suddenly having all that power back. It was overwhelming, seductive, magical. Gripping the object and soaking up its power at the same time, Richie unwound the ropey old cloth and couldn't believe her eyes at what lay inside.
"Ahh... Peter's dagger."
"You know?"
"He's shown it to me."
"I was safeguarding it for him. And while I promised him with my life that I would keep it locked away, I think he of all beings would want you to have it here and now. In fact, I'm sure of it."
Slowly, Richie curled her fingers around the gold coloured, solid laminium, jewelled hilt. It felt intoxicating. Raw, unashamed power coursed through her as she sliced the dagger through the air in front of her. It felt as if there were no resistance at all, almost as if it were carving the atoms of the air itself apart.
"How do you feel?" asked the dragon, seriously.
"Strong, powerful... invincible," responded the young lacrosse captain, a keen glint in her eye, all the time wielding the dagger through the air in front of her.
"It should compensate for part of what you've lost. Remember though, don't let any other dragon get hold of it. If you do... well, I think you know the consequences."
She did. To let another dragon, one of the enemy, take that weapon would mean DEATH, and almost certainly not just for her. While enhancing her beyond belief and restoring almost all her dragon powers, albeit whilst still stuck in human form, the dagger was a huge responsibility. She would guard it with her life and intended to steal life from those that got in her way.
"I think it's time we made a move," exclaimed Gee Tee. "First of all we're going to make our way to the southernmost point of the bazaar because I believe that to be where we will all get the best view of exactly what's going on. After that, we'll have to improvise. I trust you, little one, to form a plan with the weapons we have at our disposal."
Nodding her agreement, Richie knew there was something she had to do before they left. Closing her eyes, she focused hard on two things. One... the dagger, and by that I mean drawing power, energy, magic, whatever you will from it. Secondly... her injured knee. With the dagger's power throbbing and humming, eager to be of use, she guided it down through her body, letting it loose around her injury. Instantly coalescing, she could almost feel it knitting and weaving the tendon on the inside of her knee back together. For a moment it felt glorious, intense and refreshing. And then it was done, her knee healed, as strong and perfect as it had been before. All this had been done in a fraction of a second. Having recalled how to do it, she marvelled at just how easy it had been.
"Good," said the shopkeeper, bringing Richie back from inside herself. "One last thing. When things kick off, it will be frantic. At that point, I'll do everything in my power to help. I've prepared a little surprise in the form of a mantra that I hope will slow them all down, almost as if they were wading through treacle. That should help to buy us some time. The only problem is, I don't know how long I'll be able to cast it for. I'm not as young as I once was, but I'll do my best."
Again Richie nodded, knowing better than to question the old dragon. Meanwhile, the others just looked at each other, not knowing what on earth was going on, or even what a mantra was. They were placing their trust, and their lives, in Richie's hands.
Strapping on the backpack and spreading his wings open, Gee Tee said,
"Lead the way, little one," to Richie. Instead of being offended, she smiled, and with a renewed vigour slipped off into the alleyway opposite, heading for the bazaar... to save her friends.
Flash, his thick, longer than normal, blonde hair matted to his skull, took the unerring pain, boxed it up and slid it into a compartmentalised part of his brain, just as he'd been taught to do in the Crimson Guards. Of course, he yelled, screamed and writhed about, but really it was just for show. He could take this and a little more, even stuck in this inconvenient form, he thought, dangling precariously from the hastily put together frame, Tank swinging next to him. Glancing briefly at his friend through his very swollen eyes, anger and pity fought amongst themselves at what was happening. A huge amount of flesh had been flayed off his friend's body, and his face looked as though it had lost a fight with an oncoming train. But still, Flash sensed there was more to the tough looking rugby player. A well of untapped strength, an instinct for survival sat beneath the surface, he was sure. All he had to do now was figure a way out of this mess. Off to his left the other Salisbridge dragons, having been rounded up, most of them taken by surprise, took up about a quarter of the square, all bound by restraints and all surrounded by deadly looking guards, just waiting for an excuse to kill. In fact, they already had. Dragons had already tried to rush the guards and escape. They'd been killed instantly by the magically enhanced bastard swords that all the guards carried. The rest were... shocked. Shocked at the brutality, shocked at the surprise of it all. Seven hours ago they were all going about their daily business: feeding livestock, washing, cleaning, working. But in almost an instant that had changed, and now they found themselves fearing for their very lives, for their very existence, and for the entire dragon domain, if what they'd seen was true.