"Stop!" she shouted within her head for all to hear. They did.
"What's going on?" asked the female in charge.
"We need to all squeeze up as much as possible and extend the shield out in the direction of our friends... NOW! They've got company coming in from up above and won't stand a chance if we don't act."
"Knowing just how futile arguing with Richie would be, and encouraged to do so by a little nudge from Yoyo, the youngsters within the shield, Yoyo and Hook, all bunched up towards Richie, leaving a huge area of barrier behind them deserted.
Within her mind, the lacrosse playing superstar opened herself up, not only to the massive amounts of magic flowing through her, but to Yoyo's young band of rebels, hoping to hell that once again they knew what they were doing. Peter's life quite literally depended on it.
At the same time as the shield around the area with nobody in it began to constrict, the shimmering, transparent barrier in front of Richie began to stretch out in the direction of her friends. Looking up as far as she dared, Richie couldn't tell what was going to reach her friends first... their defensive barrier, or brutal death by murderous dragon. It was going to be close.
Ridding Fredric's body of as much rubble as they dared, and only too aware of what was going on, instinctively both Janice and Peter grabbed one of his arms, and without any kind of formality or warning started dragging his broken body towards the safety of the approaching shield, all the time keeping their eyes on the ground, not wanting to see what was hurtling towards them from the air.
Able to see what the despicable shapes on the ground were retreating towards, all four dark dragons poured on as much speed as they could muster, determined not to let their prey, and lunch, escape the grisly fate they had in store for it.
Hauling for all they were worth, ignoring the thick trail of brilliant red blood Fredric's legs left on the stone covered ground, and his babbling wails and cries of pain, Peter and Janice gave everything they had to reach the safety of the magical barrier the others sheltered behind.
Shuffling forwards, feeling the hot breath of those behind her tickling the back of her neck, Richie Rump assessed the dynamic of the situation with all her limited experience and immediately came to only one conclusion. They weren't going to make it. Not by far, but they simply weren't moving quick enough. Continuing forwards as fast as she dared, her focus shifted. Contracting the shield behind them, so that it closed in around Yoyo's group of dragons, instantly lessened the power she needed to draw from the laminium, momentarily anyway. Knowing it was but a fleeting pause in proceedings, the lacrosse playing dragon exhaled deeply in a sigh of relief, before once again closing her eyes.
Four wide-eyed predators moving at a mind numbing blur were but a split second away from annihilating their prey, the vicious snarls of delight and victory matched only by their stomachs rumbling in anticipation of something tasty to eat for the first time in a while. Savouring their triumph, each of them opened their jaws as wide as they could, brought their legs forward and opened up their wings wide, to provide some resistance and slow their rapid descent. As their shadows cloaked the ground in and around their quarry, a stuttered crackle pierced their ears.
As every atom of her body drew in magic from the necklace and the dagger, her mind projected what she needed out onto the battlefield, using every ounce of her impressive force of will. With a slight shimmer and a rustle, the magical barrier extended out in front of her, enveloping her friends, providing much needed solace. A 'BANG' akin to the sound of two vehicles colliding at speed jolted reality all around them. Straight away it was followed by three more, as the proceeding dark dragons followed their friend, smashing straight into the shield, all four knocked totally unconscious.
Wondering whether or not it was safe to leave the quartet of prehistoric beasts alive knowing that they could come back to haunt them at practically any time, Richie was secretly glad when the decision was taken out of her hands. With just the tiniest of wiggles, Fu-ts'ang backed up out of the two skewered dragons, their corpses dropping forcefully to the floor and, in a stunning display of aerial manoeuvrability, proceeded to stab each of the unconscious dragons on top of the barrier, precisely through their hearts, leaving them well and truly dead, and exactly nothing to chance.
Able to take her mind ever so slightly off powering the shield, Richie felt a flood of relief as her anguish faded to nothing and she was able to ask her friends how they were.
"He's hurt pretty bad," announced Peter, referring to his grandfather.
Squeezing through the others, Yoyo knelt down next to Fredric, shrouding both of them with his wings, giving the young hockey playing dragon a wink and a nod.
"He'll be okay. Just give me a few minutes."
"Do we have that long?"
"I don't know," replied Yoyo. "Do we?"
Before Richie had a chance to respond, the young female dragon who'd come up with the plan and had sorted everyone out, cut in.
"I'm not sure we do have that long. They're being overrun. Every second we waste puts them in increasing danger."
Yoyo and Peter shared a look, neither of them wanting to endanger the king.
"What about if you carry him, while I heal him?" urged Yoyo. "That way we can help with his recovery and head out towards the king without delay... the best of both worlds if you like." Keen to help out, he did briefly wonder how he was going to lift Fredric's rather impressive human shaped body aloft. Even enhanced with magic, it seemed a tall order. But he didn't want to let anybody down, and so in one fell swoop, ignoring the thick, red blood that oozed from the gashes on his well defined chest, he lifted up the man he loved dearly, despite barely knowing him at all, cradled him in his arms and began to follow the others as Yoyo healed. Protected by the magical barrier, they shuffled off in the direction of the king and his small legion of followers.
49
Committed to the End
Hunkered down behind yet more of their dead brethren, to a dragon, man and woman, they all fought down the nausea that threatened to ride up their throats and give away their position, so overwhelming was the smell from all the guts and gore. With little fuss and more than a few stealthy killings, against all odds they'd made it this far, and from their hiding place in the shadows could now see the Fleet Street entrance to the building that housed the giant crystal node, the one that they hoped would help them re-establish communication across the planet, the one their friends were currently inside. All they could do was wait, and pray that things somewhere deep within the building were going exactly to plan. If Steel set off the mantra they'd know, because the results of the magic would be visible even from here, which would be their signal to attack with everything they had.
It was dark... oddly dark. Immediately all three of them switched to their magical infrared vision, hoping to cut through the clutter and get a better idea of just where they were and just what they were dealing with. Strangely, it didn't help very much. Steel knew why. MAGIC! He didn't know what kind of magic, and couldn't explain just how he knew, but he'd never been more certain of anything in his life. It was almost as if he could taste it on the air itself. Something here was wrong, very, very wrong. Things, he thought, were not going to be as easy as he'd hoped.
Swallowing nervously, mainly for effect but partly because that's how he felt, he assumed whoever was already in here could see him perfectly well and, knowing exactly what kind of an advantage that gave them, he hoped to hell the other two were ready for what was about to play out. They'd all need their wits about them if they were to come out of this alive.