Fizzling out into a puddle of green, Manson watched the supernatural, abnormal dragon magic he'd just dropped, disappear. Of course there was more to come. Unfortunately, he'd expended a great deal of mana in conjuring up that particular spell, hoping to provide a spectacular death for the king of the nagas, something every member of his race that was here could witness. But it wasn't to be, well... not just yet. As far as he was concerned, they'd only delayed the inevitable. With that in mind, he turned to face the more immediate danger, the immense silver dragon that had sprung up from the body that blessed naga had been hunched over. So that was their plan, that's what he'd been up to all along. Cursing any kind of anomaly, he let the magic within him rise to the surface and, in his mind, conjured up a whole host of evil. Get ready!
Against insurmountable odds, George the dragon king, Amelia Battlehard and the small group of defenders they found themselves aligned with were valiantly holding off all comers, to some degree, quite pleased with themselves at not having lost a single member of their tight knit band since the monarch had joined. Unfortunately, chaos continued to reign, getting continually worse with every second that passed, so much so that it was all but impossible for any of them to see out beyond their assailants. As yet more dark dragons dropped from the air, wielding their huge, shadowy, bastard swords, and nightmarish nagas slithered in to back them up, a sea of scaly bodies ten deep surrounded the circle of light sided dragons on the ground, as a dozen dragons pounded away at the king and his courageous charges from the air. Things were as grim and hopeless as George had ever known in the many centuries he'd been alive. As despair suffocated faith and hope, sensing victory closing in all around them, the dark force mounted one last sustained push.
"Let them in," she'd been told. She didn't like it; it wasn't natural. It went against everything she believed in, especially in the situation she currently found herself in. Sharing your mind with other beings was just... WRONG! Despite vehemently opposing this part of the plan, and against her better judgement, slowly Richie Rump lowered her mental defences, readying them to spring back up at a moment's notice. Any doubts she'd had though, were assuaged after a few seconds. It was an odd feeling, like being in a room with all the others, hearing their beating hearts, feeling their breath, sensing their agitation and suspicion.
'It's going to fail, it's going to fail,' was all she could think, ready to reinforce her barriers and cut off the connection. And then a calm, soothing, confident persona materialised, immediately setting all the others at ease, washing away any concerns and worries that they had. YOYO had that effect on most beings he came into contact with, none more so than this ragtag, eclectic bunch of misfits. They trusted him entirely and up until now he'd never led them astray, only ever having put his faith in each and every one of them. For him, there were two battles going on... the physical one out there, with magic ravaging and raging, the two forces using everything in their arsenals in an effort to defeat each other, and the internal battle threatening to consume the mild mannered healer. He'd promised to protect them, promised them they'd have a life, a future... everything a normal dragon had. But here and now that promise looked hollow, emptier than a politician's pledge. If he could go back, would he have gotten them involved? He wasn't sure, which in itself was a terrible thing for him to think. Without them, Flash would have attempted his rescue alone, and that would have led to disaster and almost certainly a bloody death for the ex-Crimson Guard, the naga king and, of course, for Peter's grandfather, Fredric. Effortlessly pushing his doubts to one side so as not to disturb the fragile meeting of minds deep inside Richie's consciousness, Yoyo vowed to do everything in his power to keep his young charges safe, even if it meant giving his own life.
"Let them feel the power from the dagger and the necklace flowing through you," asserted Yoyo, "give them just a tiny taste, just to get used to it."
Finding things almost too bizarre even for her, and given everything she'd been through in the last few days that was saying quite something, rather unwillingly, she drew them in and let them feel the magic flowing through her, that currently held the shield keeping them all safe, firmly in place.
The first youngster exhaled sharply, so enraptured was she at the touch of so much power. The next one, startled, gave a yelp, and then the next and the next. Before long, they'd all experienced it, all got an idea of what they were dealing with, each of them wondering what should happen next.
"You know what we need to do," announced Yoyo, the sound of his voice booming around deep within the lacrosse playing dragon's head. "It's up to you to implement the plan, but bear one thing in mind... time is of the essence."
Silence ensued, filling Richie with a disturbing sense of dread. Before she could act on it, the voice of one of the young female dragons very meekly resounded across whatever space it was they were all sharing.
"A division of labour is what we need if we're to expand the shield so that it's protecting us on all four sides, and rolling along at the same time. We should designate very specific roles to pairs of dragons, taking some of the burden off Richie, who we still need to power it through the necklace and the dagger."
'Oh, I like her,' thought Richie, stopping abruptly in case all the others could hear her. Luckily they couldn't.
The youngster continued.
"One pair can be responsible for maintaining the shape and integrity of the shield, making sure it's in contact with the surface at all times. Another can help with the movement, no small feat in itself. Some of the quantum mantras we've studied should help with that. Combine your brainpower and that should be a relatively straightforward task. One pair can be responsible for keeping our leader here cool, siphoning off the heat build up from the magic and applying any healing needed."
She sounded so authoritative that Richie didn't have the heart to tell her that Peter had been doing just that.
"One pair can be responsible for any debris, rubble and bodies we travel over, making sure that nothing untoward gets underneath and inside with us. If it does, I don't need to tell you the consequences. If it still has its head, make sure that it's dead!"
Slight chuckling reverberated everywhere at this.
"As for the rest, make sure everyone in here is safe, that their physical bodies are all keeping up with the shield's movement and if any of the pairs have a problem, assist them straight away. Keep your eyes open for anything unforeseen. I'd like to tell you what, but clearly I'm unable to. I'd like to leave Yoyo in reserve, and use his wealth of experience to provide an overview and tell us what we're doing wrong, or even right. How does that all sound?"
Richie was the first to pipe up.
"Brilliant!" she announced, causing the young female dragon's consciousness to blush, if such a thing were even possible.
With an ethereal nod of his head, Yoyo confirmed that he thought it was a sound plan, and so without further ado the youngsters paired themselves off and divided up the tasks, quickly and efficiently.
Richie realised that any doubts she'd previously suffered from had been well and truly sunk. These guys and gals were good, she thought... really, really good.
47
Into the Hornets' Nest
Ominously, they reached what would have been a gigantic entrance had a huge stone disc some fifty feet across not sat in the way. On the plus side, at least there were no guards this time; on the down side, they had no idea how to negotiate the hastily erected barrier.
Wondering about any secretive recording devices as mentioned by Steel a little earlier, Jar Man tried to appear as though he knew exactly what he was doing. Leaving the prisoner in DomCon's capable hands, the strawberry blonde dragon wandered straight up to the humungous granite disc and, without hesitation, placed his hand directly on it. Nothing! Taking two steps back, he proceeded to look it over, top to bottom. Miniature symbols that he didn't recognise had been carved around its circumference. Silently, he hoped to hell magic wasn't involved otherwise they'd never get past it, and would end up trapped in this gaping corridor. Eventually somebody would notice they'd never reached their destination and would trigger the alarm, and the element of surprise would be over. Stepping forward again, he ran one of his unfamiliar fingers across a couple of the symbols, making sure to feel the indentations as he did.