Confident that he could not only singlehandedly dispel the ginger dragon's magic, but also take him down if need be, it was then that the cool rush of air washed over him, kicking his dragon danger sense into overdrive. Landing with a muffled thump, having been skulking high up above between a pair of blackened, burning rafters, a squat, angry looking dragon, a snarl of epic proportions carved into his face, appeared off to one side, two massive balls of raging fire rotating ominously, one in each hand. Magic pumping through what felt like an almost new body, Steel considered his response in less time than one flap of a hummingbird's wings.
Over the course of the last eight hours, they'd seen what they considered the enemy on numerous occasions. Nagas similar to the ones that had invaded the medical centre seemed almost commonplace, along with unusual feeling dragons, armed with odd looking bastard swords, each one brandished with a terrifying darkened sunburst on his or her body. Both ambushers here, although clearly presenting a threat, looked nothing like the other forces they'd encountered. That in itself was enough for him to take the chance. Throwing his arms up in the air and wings open wide in a gesture of submission, he still retained those words for the shield mantra, ready to cast it in but a fraction of a moment.
"Hold fire. We're not your enemy," whispered Steel, much to the surprise of those cowering behind him.
"I very much doubt that!" growled the tetchy little dragon off to one side, the magic in his hands crackling and spitting furiously.
"Hang on a minute," declared the well built ginger dragon taking two steps forward. "I know you. You're that laminium ball player. The captain..."
"STEEL!" Steel announced, hoping to diffuse the somewhat tricky situation sooner rather than later.
"That's right," added 'Ginger'. "What in hell's name are you doing here?"
"It's a long story," replied Steel, "but the gist of it is that the medical centre we were all in was attacked by an unknown force and so after taking them down, this is where we find ourselves. Ultimately we're looking to find out exactly what's going on and see if there's anything we can do to help. You?"
'Ginger', clearly the friendlier of the two, answered for them both.
"As is not untypical for us, we'd had a hard night on the sauce and as far as we can work out, we passed out in the cellar of an abandoned shop... something that, from the look of things, probably saved our lives. On coming round, we spent days clearing collapsed rubble away from the only exit, almost succumbing to dehydration. In the nick of time we managed to get out, only to find our beloved capital city in this state. Since then we've salvaged and hidden, avoiding clusters of those terrible beings wherever possible, desperate to get out, but the entire city seems to be in lockdown. You're the first true dragons we've encountered... alive, anyway. Vicious groups of marauding dragons are everywhere, all armed with the same murderous looking weapons. At first we thought them to be the King's Guard, but that was before we witnessed them slaughter a group of defenceless female dragons. Since then, we've given them a wider berth than the slithering reptiles. And so here we are, skulking, hiding, determined not to get caught."
Gritting his teeth, forcing down a smile... he just had to ask.
"Ummmm... and the... nail polish?"
Scared out of their wits at the turn of events, and only there because of Steel, the group of staff from the medical centre all at once looked down at the ginger dragon's talons. Sure enough, bright pink and yellow paint intricately covered each and every one of 'Ginger's' razor sharp talons, making it look as though he'd had not just a day's free pass to the nail salon, but a week's.
Preparing to scrutinise 'Ginger's' response, out of the corner of his left eye Steel just caught the faintest of smirks from his pent up partner.
'This should be good, by the look of things,' he mused.
"Huhhhh," sighed 'Ginger', realising he had nowhere to go and that his partner clearly wasn't going to come to his aid.
"Well... you see, DomCon here," he said, motioning to the full-of-rage, stunted looking dragon, off to one side, "and I are members of a sandskimming club and often spend time socialising with the ladies' teams there. What I failed to mention in my previous account, and the reason that I was in such bad shape, was that very stupidly after finishing drinking with DomCon (the full-of-rage dragon) I decided to continue drinking with a small, hardcore group of females. All I can remember after that is being escorted back to the cellar by them, where DomCon had told us he would be. On eventually waking up, not only did I have the hangover to end all hangovers, but I'd been made up to the 'nines'. We've managed to get most of it off, but despite searching high and low over the last few days, nowhere can we find any nail polish remover. It would seem, for the moment, I'm stuck with it."
"Female dragons... eh? They sound like absolute monsters."
"You don't know the half of it," uttered 'Ginger', his partner tittering in the background.
"So what's your story... short stop?" enquired Steel.
DomCon just gazed at the ground, unable to make eye contact with the confident laminium ball captain.
Sensing that things would go no further until this group learned the truth, 'Ginger' stepped in, hoping to spare his friend at least a little misery.
"Dom the Con came about because of a suspended jail sentence imposed after two King's Guards caught him at the scene of a supposed burglary. He maintains that he was only walking past the 'Pink Flamingo' bar, minding his own business at 3am in the morning when... 'SMASH!' the entire frontage, including the massive window and frame, came crashing down into the street for no apparent reason. Both King's Guards on patrol nearby arrived at the scene to find Dom here peering suspiciously inside the gaping chasm that was once a window, clutching a number of inflatable flamingos that had been used as window dressing, firmly to his chest. Once questioned, he claimed that he was just tidying them up, waiting for the authorities to arrive. Because nothing valuable was taken, his jail sentence was commuted, although still to this day he maintains that the whole thing just happened without him touching anything. So from then on, he became known as DomtheCon which soon became just DomCon."
"Smashing!" declared Steel, much to the amusement of the others in his group.
"Don't start all of that or his eyes will 'glaze' over," added 'Ginger'.
Dom, still gazing down at the ground, just shook his head.
"He must have been 'shattered' after such a long night," continued Steel.
"Quite possibly," chipped in 'Ginger' once more. "I still wonder though if he might not have been 'framed'."
They all smiled at that, even the increasingly embarrassed DomCon.
"So what now?" asked Steel, loosening his stance, but not entirely lowering his guard.
"What do you mean?"
"Well..." continued the laminium ball captain, "clearly it's a challenge staying under the radar of whatever's going on. And although not ideal, I would suggest that teaming up is the way to go. There's no doubt we'd be stronger together than on our own." Both 'Ginger' and DomCon paused for thought, taking in the offer.